Reindeer Day

We read the Wild ChristMassage Reindeer by Jan Brett and made antlers to wear and got red noses.  Only 1 1/2 days left til Christmas break!!

News

Kindergarten News

Week of December 12-16, 2016

Mark your calendar:

Winter party:  Friday, December 16^th 10:00-11:00

Early dismissal:  Friday, December 16^th at noon

Winter Holidays:  December 19^th-January 3^rd 

School resumes: January 4^th

Cold weather clothes = lots of buttons, snaps and zippers!  Many children could use some practice putting on and taking off their jackets and sweatshirts.  Outerwear should be loose enough to go on and off without assistance.  Also, if your child brings a jacket/sweatshirt, please make sure his or her name is inside it. J

RCE is celebrating the upcoming winter holiday!  The teachers have been dressing with a theme for the last week, and we’d like the kids to join in the fun next week.  This is just for fun; no need to go out and purchase anything extra.  Just participate if you can!

Monday:  Wear a Grinch shirt or wear green

Tuesday:  Wear your coziest holiday socks

Wednesday:  Wear reindeer antlers and paint your nose red

Thursday:  Wear a jingle bell

Friday:  Rock your favorite holiday shirt and CELEBRATE!  Our winter break is here!

Please send a heavy snack or a light lunch with your child on Friday, December 16^th. We want to be sure the kids eat a little something before they leave at noon.  Send whatever suits your child - a muffin, fruit, a sandwich, breakfast bar, cheese stick, etc. 

COINS FOR CUSTODIANS & CAFETERIA WORKERS

Please send some loose change to school this week to put in the Santa jar in the office.  We’re doing a school-wide collection to divvy up among some of our very hard-working and least appreciated people.  It would be good if your child could donate so they learn to understand that giving is one way to show our appreciation to others.  Thanks, in advance, for your kindness.

It’s time to tie!  Please help us by helping your child learn to tie his/her shoes.  There are lots of great YouTube videos with many different methods.  Grab an old shoe and practice over the holiday.

Theme: Happy Holidays

Reading:  Shared reading and Interactive read-alouds about holiday themes, making predictions, re-telling the story, recalling the sequence of events and discussing the characters, setting, problem, the rising action and solution/conclusion in a story that forms a story arc.

Writing:  Writers Workshop!  Shared, interactive and modeled writing and Independent writing continue. We use a book format to write our own stories.

Word Wall Words:  REVIEW: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, white, pink, brown, black, my, is, to, like, can, see, go, the, in, it, all, me, and, big, has, on, we, but, look, at, little, for, he, said, was

We are testing the children on their sight words.  Please review the words.  They need to be able to read them quickly by sight (not sounding them out). J

Word Family:  Review -at, -an, -all families

Math: Review: tally marks, graphing, counting aloud, counting sets, counting objects with one to one correspondence, and determining more/less (Focus is numeracy to 20).

Science:   Continuing force and motion

Social Studies:  Holiday Traditions

Homework: Read 20 minutes every night.

Optional Activities:

·       Monday:  Ask your family what their favorite holiday symbol is:  dreidel, Christmas tree, or a candy cane?  Record their answers with tally marks!

·       Tuesday:  Write a sentence using the word SAID and a sentence using the word WAS.

·       Wednesday:  Put five toys in a line.  Practice describing them using your ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.)

·       Thursday:  Visit www.raz-kids.com

·       Friday: Enjoy family time, read a story, and/or play outside!

News

Kindergarten News

Week of December 5-9, 2016

Colder weather means the kids are wearing jackets, sweaters and hoodies to school in the morning.  We try hard to keep up with all the outerwear, but sometimes things get misplaced.  Please put your child’s name in every jacket they wear to school so it can be easily returned. 

Next Wednesday, December 7^th, all kindergarten teachers will be out at a workshop.  If you have changes of transportation for that day, please be sure to put them in writing in your child’s folder.

Mark your calendar:

Winter party:  Friday, December 16^th 10:00-11:00

Early dismissal Friday, December 16^th at noon.

Winter Holidays December 19^th-January 3^rd. 

School resumes on January 4^th.

Theme: Holidays

Reading:  This week we will continue to enjoy the books with a holiday theme, focusing on retelling using story arcs.  Creating story arcs will aide us as we write our own narratives.  We’ll also look at the characters in the story and talk about character traits.

Writing:  Book writing continues.  The children are learning to revise and edit their writing, adding elements and details to make their stories interesting to read.  We continue to stress capital letters, ending punctuation, and appropriate spacing.

Word Wall Words:  REVIEW: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, white, pink, brown, black, my, is, and, big, to, like, has, on, can, see, we, but, go, the, in, it, all, me, little, for, look, at, said, he

NEW WORD FOR THE WEEK:   WAS

We are testing the children on their sight words.  Please review the words J

Word Study: This week, we will work with the word family ALL (call, mall, fall, tall, small, etc). 

Math: During math workshop, we will reinforce the skill of more and less.  Specifically, we will use this concept to help us solve story problems.  We will also create numeral sets to 20, count aloud to 75, and back/forth to 30.  We will tally and graph! Our main focus continues to be a strong numeracy to 20.

Science: We continue our exploration of magnets and magnetism

Social Studies:  Holiday traditions

Homework: Read 20 minutes every night.

Optional Activities:

• Monday: Make a list of -ALL words. 
• Tuesday: Visit www.raz-kids.com 

• Wednesday: Be a magnet detective!  Walk around your house with a magnet.  Make a list of 5 things that are magnetic. 
• Thursday:  Do an act of kindness for someone in your family.  Be ready to share in class tomorrow!
• Friday:  Return your library books and practice your home reader!  Send your bag on Monday.

Gingerbread Men

This week we will be reading lots of  versions of the Gingerbread Man.  We will be talking about story sequence, beginning, middle and end, and comparing/contrasting stories.  Today we read the Gingerbread Boy and worked on sequencing the story.  We also got to eat a gingerbread cookie and graphed which part we ate first.

News

Kindergarten News

Week of November 21-Dec 2, 2016

Thanks for coming to the Thanksgiving program!  We are especially thankful for those who helped with costumes and provided cookies.

Tuesday, November 22 – Turkey Trot at specials time.  Come to the covered hardtop at 12:25 and trot around the track with your child.  Parents, grandparents, and friends are welcome!  Keep your fingers crossed for sunny weather—the event will be canceled if it is a rainy day.

November 23-25 – School Holidays  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Now that cooler weather has finally arrived, please help us by writing your child’s name in their jackets, sweaters and hoodies.  Be sure to include a last initial or name…we have many duplicate first names. 

Theme: Fall, Thanksgiving, Gingerbread Man

Reading:  We’ll read a few more stories about Fall and Thanksgiving.  We’ll continue to retell and sequence events from the stories we read and include important details from beginning, middle, and end. 

Writing:  Independent book writing continues. The children will focus on use of capitals, periods, and appropriate spacing as we write about Pilgrims, Native American, and traditions.  We will continue to add details to make our writing more interesting.  We will also use letter sound knowledge to make lists. 

Word Wall Words: 

REVIEW: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, white, pink, brown, black, my, is, to, like, can, see, go, the, in, it, all, me, and, big, has, on, we, but, little, for

New words:  said he

Word Study: We will read and write words using the AN word family (pan, fan, man, can, etc}

Math: During math workshop, we will continue to explore numeracy to 20 while we count forwards/backwards, explore ten frames, dot cards, more/less, ordinal numbers, tally marks, and number writing.

Social Studies/Science:  We’ll tie up loose ends with maps and globes and matter concepts. 

Homework: Read 20 minutes every night.

Optional Activities:

·      Monday:  Make a list of things you’re thankful for. 

·      Tuesday: Visit www.raz-kids.com 

Return your library books and practice your home reader! 

Have a nice week!

Thanksgiving Program

It was a big success!  They sang nice and loud and remembered their parts.  Yay!  

News

Kindergarten News

Week of November 14 - 20

We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, November 17th  for a Thanksgiving program.  Please come a little before 9:00 to sign in at the office.  Then come to the cafeteria for our program.  Afterwards, the kids will enjoy a cookie and recess on the playground.  You’re welcome to come back for lunch at 11:30 to enjoy the cafeteria’s Thanksgiving meal.

Theme: Fall and Thanksgiving

Reading:  This week we will continue to enjoy fall and Thanksgiving stories.  We will identify characters, setting, and problem.  We will retell using story arcs. We will continue to utilize the skill of mental imaging while listening to stories.  This skill will help us add details to our writing.

Writing:  This week we will make literacy connections to Thanksgiving stories and use these stories as a basis for our own individual book making/writing. The children will focus on use of capitals, periods, and appropriate spacing as we write about Pilgrims, Native American, and traditions.  We will continue to add details to make our writing more interesting.  We will also use letter sound knowledge to make lists. 

Word Wall Words: 

REVIEW: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, white, pink, brown, black, my, is, to, like, can, see, go, the, in, it, all, me, and, big, has, on, we, but, little, for

No new words this week!  Spend some time reviewing the words that are tricky for your child.

Word Study: We will read and write words using the AT word family (at, fat, cat, chat, attack, etc).

Math: During math workshop, we will continue to explore numeracy to 20 while we count forwards/backwards, explore ten frames, dot cards, more/less, ordinal numbers, tally marks, and number writing.

Social Studies:  Native Americans, Pilgrims, Family Traditions and finishing up maps

Homework: Read 20 minutes every night.

Optional Activities:

·        Monday: Do an act of kindness for someone.  Be ready to share tomorrow! J 

·        Tuesday: Line up ten toys.  Tell your mom what is first, second, third, etc. 

·        Wednesday:  Visit www.raz-kids.com 

·        Thursday:  Write a list of what you want your family to make for Thanksgiving dinner or who is coming to your Thanksgiving dinner.

·        Friday:  Return your library books and practice your home reader! 

News

Kindergarten News

Week of November 7-11, 2016

We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, November 17^th, at 9:00 a.m.  for a Thanksgiving program.  Stop by the office for a visitor sticker, then come to the cafeteria for the show.  The cafeteria will be serving Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for lunch this day.  Come and join us for lunch at 11:30.

November 8^th   Spirit Night At Chik-Fil-A   Head to the Dairy Ashford Chik-Fil-A for dinner on election night.  Turn in your receipt at the counter after you pay and a percentage of your bill will be returned to RCE. 

November 23rd – 25^th   Thanksgiving Holiday  No School

Theme: Fall and Thanksgiving

Reading:  This week we will continue to enjoy fall and Thanksgiving stories.  We will identify characters, setting, and problem.  We will retell using story arcs.  We will continue to utilize the cognitive skill of mental imaging while listening to stories.  This skill will help us add details to our writing.

Writing:  Book making/writing continues.   The children will focus on use of capitals, periods, and appropriate spacing as we write about all things fall and Thanksgiving.  We will continue to add details to make our writing more interesting.  We will also use letter sound knowledge to make lists.  For example, we will make a list of what we want to eat on Thanksgiving!

Word Wall Words: 

REVIEW: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, white, pink, brown, black, my, is, and, big, to, like, has, on, can, see, we, but, go, the, in, it, all, me

NEW WORDS FOR THE WEEK:  FOR, LITTLE

Word Study:  We will review all of the consonant sounds taught so far.  Also this week, we will explore s blends:  st, sp, and sl.  For example:  spider, stop, slide.

Math: During math workshop, we will continue to explore numeracy to 20 while we count forwards/backwards, explore ten frames, dot cards, more/less, ordinal numbers, tally marks, and number writing.

Social Studies:  We will talk about elections and voting, then continue our work with maps.

Homework: Read 20 minutes every night.

Optional Activities:

• Monday: Ask your family what their favorite Thanksgiving Food is- tally the results 
• Tuesday: Look at a map with your family.  Find the map key and the compass rose.   What are some symbols in the map key?

• Wednesday:  Visit www.raz-kids.com 
• Thursday:  Have your mom say a teen number! Can you write it down?  Remember numbers in the teens start with a 1.  Watch this video to practice counting up to 20.  Can you count backwards, too?
• Friday:  Return your library books and practice your home reader! 

Elections

Today we watched Duck for President and read Grace for President and discussed tomorrow being Election Day.  We practiced voting by getting a ballot and voting for our favorite animal.  Then we tallied the data and wrote about our results.

Maps

Thanks for sending in the maps.  We explored them yesterday and then discussed what we noticed.  We will be spending the next couple weeks on maps andlearning lots about them.

Skeleton Math

We sorted, graphed and labeled Skeleton bones in math today.

Book Character Parade and Spirit Rally

We had a fun filled day of costumes, Toro the bull at our spirit rally and book buddies with our 2nd grade friends.

Science Fun

Yesterday we used the energy of the sun to melt chocolate. Then we used kinetic energy to run around and play.  Today we changed a liquid to a solid when we made butter.  Tomorrow we will hopefully have time to explore some more energy.

Witch Patterns

Getting ready for Halloween!! in math we reviewed patterns and made witch legs. They did a really good job this year!

News

Kindergarten News

Week of October 24 - 28, 2016

Thank you so much for coming to conferences this week.  It was a treat to visit with you!  Feel free to email any time there is a question or concern. 

Our book character parade will be Friday, October 28^th.  We will start right after the morning announcements.  Plan on being in position for the parade before 8:05.

This is the LAST week to get your reading logs finished up…they are due October 31st!

Theme: Halloween and Fall

Reading:  This week we will enjoy more Halloween and fall stories.  We will identify characters, setting, and problem.  We will retell using picture cards.  We will practice using mental imaging while listening to stories.  This skill will help us add details to our writing.

Writing:  This week we will make literacy connections to stories. We’ll use these stories as a foundation for our own individual book making/writing. We will focus on use of capitals, periods, and appropriate spacing as we write.  We will continue to incorporate sound words (Swoosh!) during writer’s workshop, as well as adding other illustrative details to make our writing more interesting. We will begin the idea of non-fiction writing as we discover the life cycle of a pumpkin.

Word Wall Words: 

REVIEW: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, white, pink, brown, black, my, is, to, like, can, see, go, the, in it, all, me, and, big

NEW WORDS FOR THE WEEK: ON, HAS

Word Study: We will focus on the letter sounds of J and W.

Math: During math workshop, we will measure (length and width), create/extend patterns, create number sets, count forwards and backwards, and problem solve.

Science:  We’ll be exploring the ways matter can change its size, shape and state.

Social Studies:  Finish up American symbols

Homework: Read 20 minutes every night.

Optional Activities:

• Monday:  Make a list of things that start with J and W 
• Tuesday:  Visit the book fair at Barnes and Noble!
• Wednesday: Have your mom or dad pick a number from 11-20.  Can you count forwards from that number?  Can you count backwards?
• Thursday:  visit www.raz-kids.com
• Friday:  Return your library books and practice your home reader this weekend! TURN IN ALL READING LOGS- LAST CALL!!

Partner Math

We worked with partners today guessing how many counters they had while showing us some. We all had 10.  They would show their partner say 3 and then their partner would guess how many they had behind their back.

Urban Harvest

We worked in the outdoor learning center with a volunteer from Urban Harvest.  We shelled black-eyed peas, planted green beans, smelled herbs and even got to take some home. Your child should have a bag of rosemary, spearmint and sage.

News

Kindergarten News

Week of Oct. 17-21, 2016

Thank you to everyone who joined us on the field trip to Dewberry Farms!  The kids had a ball and we really appreciate your help. 

Reminders for this week:

Keep sending your library reading logs each Monday. There is still time….so keep reading.

October 20^th and 21^st are noon dismissal days for conferences.  We will eat lunch at school, but there will be sack lunches ONLY for those days.  We will also eat lunch earlier on those days.

A reminder for your conference will be coming soon.  If you don’t get a reminder and you’ve forgotten when we meet, send me an email and I’ll check for you.  Conferences are on a tight schedule this year. Please arrive on time so we can talk for a full 30 minutes without running into the next time slot. 

Jacob Baker, a third grade student, is collecting socks for the homeless in Houston.  Jacob would like to collect 1000 pair of adult socks.  We’ll be collecting NEW socks until October 31^st.  Drop off in the library.  View Jacob’s slide show for more information. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LPoXhpy_rAQwQ6cQHDBMaBcbvTdv1BIrtMGwPjzjjH0/edit?usp=sharing

Don’t forget to stop by the book fair October 17-21.  The fair will be open during school hours M-F, and from 5:00-7:30 pm on Monday night.

The Book Character Parade will be on October 28 at 8:15 am.  Please be thinking of a costume associated with a book character.  Your child will carry the book with them in the parade.

Red Ribbon Week will be October 24-28.  See the attached flyer for all the fun activities for that week.

Theme: Fall is in the air!

Reading:  This week we will enjoy Halloween and Fall stories.  We will identify characters and setting and retell using story arcs.  At literacy stations we will also be enjoying some fun activities with a Halloween/Fall theme. 

Writing:  This week we will make literacy connections to Halloween stories and use these stories as a basis for our own individual book making/writing. We will focus on use of capitals, periods, and appropriate spacing as we write.  We will incorporate sound words (Bang!  Swoosh!) during writer’s workshop. We continue to focus on using illustrations to better tell our story.

Word Wall Words:  No new words this week. 

REVIEW: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, white, pink, brown, black, my, is, to, like, can, see, go, the, in, it, all, me, and, big.  

Word Study: We will focus on the letter sounds of L and K.

Math: During math workshop, we will create/extend patterns, create numeral sets, practice counting to 50, review ordinal numbers and problem solve. 

Social Studies:  We will finish up and review the meaning behind some special US symbols.

Homework: Read 20 minutes every night.

Optional Activities:

·       Monday: Make a list of L and K words. 

·       Tuesday:  Teach your parents Five Little Pumpkins. 

·       Wednesday: Write a simple sentence using go and all.  Do you have a capital and a period? 

·       Thursday:  Count to 50!  Now pick a number and count backwards J

·       Friday:  Read your home reader and return it, along with your reading log/library books on Monday.  If you have time, visit www.raz-kids.com this weekend