February 1st - 5th:

This week we are starting a new theme called "Let's Play". Your child is reading Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo by Kevin Lewis and Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. We will stretch our imagination as we read and talk about these stories.

Our new sight words are: one and see

Us the word one in a sentence with your child----An example is:

Our family has one __________. (fill in the blank)

Or if you are in the car say:

I see one ___________. (fill in the blank)

In Math we will continue working on numbers 10 - 30. Have you child show you how high they can count. Then practice counting backwards from 30.

This week Ena's mom will come into our classroom and present the first two pieces of art in the Adventures in Art Program. This program is provided by our PTA. The class will have the opportunity to learn about great works of art that are displayed at the Art Institute. After the art pieces are discussed, the student will create their own artwork!

Today we worked in centers and.....WOW! What a great job K - 5 did!

You have to take a look!

On Wednesdays, Mrs. Stahlke volunteers in our classroom. We are so lucky to have her come in! She helped some of the students build short o words.

Bryce is reading!

Jake and Kalkidan are in the Game Center.

Grace and Eathon are working in the Math Center. They are working on numbers 10 - 30.

Here is Jesse in the Writing Center. He is working on writing sight word sentences!

Lance reading

This week, we will be rereading stories from the theme “Whatever the Weather”. Each day we talk about the weather and we will discuss seasonal changes.

Our sight words this week are: you and look

Look at you!

To help your child learn these sight words, you can do these activities at home:

* Read each word together as your child point to it.

(You can use the sight word flash card I gave each student at Christmas.)

* Give your child a clue about each work.

For example, say “This word rhymes with book.”

Then have your child point to and read the word.

* Ask your child to read you or look. Then together, think of rhyming words.

In Math we will be working with “Zero the Hero” on numbers from 10 – 30. We will be putting the number in order from 1 to 30 and then counting and arranging them backwards. At the end of the week your child will bring “Zero” home. Practice putting the numbers in order at home, too! Have your child practice writing each number. First, have them write the numbers in order and then randomly say any number between 1 and 30. Have your child write that number.

On Thursday, we go on our Field Trip to Stages Theater to see "The Snowy Day"!

We will be reading Winter Lullaby by Barbara Seuling and Bear Snores on by Karma Wilson. The students will be learning about how the land, plants, and animals change for colder winter weather.

Our Sight Words are: where and do. We will be using and writing these words in sentences all week long. Where are we going today? Where will you line up? Where will we go? What will we do? Do you like cats? Where do you line up for the bus?

Our new vocabulary words are: arrives, creep, nestle, slumbering, delight, and blustery.

We will be working in our Literacy Centers, too. The students will be listening and then talking about a story. They will be reading, then writing and rereading sight word sentences. The students will be focusing on writing their letters from the sky down to the ground. Also they will be trying to space their words in a sentence and end it with the right punctuation mark. They will be working on memorizing the words "where" and "do". In the Letters and Sounds Center they will be building and writing words with the short i sound. I will be working with small groups using our decodable books.

In math we will be starting on Chapter 6: Numbers 10 - 30. The students will be learning how to group numbers using ten-frames.

The play that the kindergarteners will be seeing on Jan. 28th, at Stages Theater, is called, "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. Below is a review I found online. We will be reading the book in class.

The Snowy Day


Story & Illustrations by Ezra Jack Keats

Review by: Christina Mark

This is a story about a small boy named Peter who has one magical day playing in the snow. The reader follows Peter as he walks through the snow, leaving footprints behind as he walks with his toes pointed in and then again with them pointed out. He witnesses a snowball fight, which he becomes a victim of, and then proceeds to make snow angels and a snowman. He then slides down a hill of snow and pockets some of the snow as a souvenir before heading into his warm house.
 This book really captures the innocence of children and their wonderment of the world around them. It's hard to read this book without conjuring up images from your own childhood. The illustrations are truly captivating with each page displaying beautiful artwork.
 This book, although based on such a simple concept, really epitomizes just what it is to be a child exploring the beauty of nature. I think children really enjoy this book because they ARE Peter. They would do everything that we see Peter do, from whacking a tree with a stick to release the snow from its branches, to building a happy, smiling snowman.

This week flew by! Today the class wrote sentences, talked about spacing their words in the sentences, discussed different punctuation marks to use, worked more on symmetry and fractions and learned the difference between a non-fiction and a fiction book.

We looked at the following website to work on fractions:

http://kids.aol.com/KOL/2/HomeworkHelp/archive/homework-help-jr-math-fractions

(You can copy and paste this website to your google bar to go there)

Then go down to "Pizza Fractions" and click on that.

You can work on fractions at home when you are cooking, baking or eating a pizza with you child! Have fun with math!

In Math, the students had fun designing geometric shape using tooth picks and marshmallows! Try it at home!

Kalkidan is creating his geometric shape!

Pastries With Parents: Sam, Owen and Connor enjoyed pastries with their parents!
Here's Owen and his mom.

Here's Sam and his mom.

Here's Connor and his family.

Today, K-5 played a new game: Snowman Meltdown! It is a fun way for the students to learn their sight words. K-5 had a great time!

Today K-5 learned a little more about symmetry! We used a program on my computer to show symmetry. Look at Dakota, Anida, Hannah and Laniah! If you put a line right down the middle of each picture, each side is the same!

This week we are starting a new theme: Theme 5: Whatever the Weather. We will be reading "What Will the Weather Be like Today?" and "When a Storm Comes Up". The students will be learning about different kinds of weather in these books.

We will be learning and writing the letters Bb and Kk.

High Frequency Words: me, for. Work at home with your child by using the words in sentences. Also, you can use the sight words I gave the students at Christmas! Put the sight words, me and for, on your refrigerator. Have them read them and try to think of words that rhyme with them each day.

The students will learn the vocabulary words: prefer, fading, warn, whirl, perhaps, property.

I will be asking the students:

*Show me which you prefer - to whirl or to stand still

*Tell how a meteorologist might warn us about the weather

*Tell about something that perhaps might fade in the sun.

*Tell about your property. (Your backpack, your toys, the things in your room)

In math we will be finishing up Chapter 5-Geometry and Fractions. We will be starting on Chapter 6 at the end of the week - Numbers 10 - 30. The students will be learning how to group numbers using ten-frames.

Pennies for Patients Activities:

K-5 is bringing so many pennies in! We watched a power point presentation that was made by Abby Thoma's parents that explained why Shirley Hills is raising money for Leukemia. Abby is a fourth grader her at Shirley Hills. She has been cancer free since Kindergarten.

A lot of us wore Jerseys last Friday!

Jan. 11-15 is Bring a coin in every day!

On Monday - bring in a penny

On Tuesday - bring in a nickel

On Wednesday - bring in a dime

On Thursday - bring in a quarter

On Friday bring in a dollar to wear a hat for "Hats off for Leukemia!"

Jan. 19-22 - Cookies for a Cause! On Friday students can bring money in to buy frosted

cookies. There will be other great things to buy too!

Jan. 25-28 - Cozy Up for a Good Cause! On Thursday students can bring in a dollar and wear their pajamas or cozy clothes.

We also retook a math challenge worksheet. The students used “offices” for privacy and listened to me say each question. We tried this on Thursday and we did a “redo” on Friday. I had some help from Lance at the overhead. Thank you, Lance!

On Friday, everyone in K-5 shared something that was special to each boy and girl. They either brought in something or shared a story about someone special. Each student listened and showed respect as everyone took a turn. Here is Hannah. Maxx and Lance are listening to Jake tell a story. Ena is showing two special things!

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a great New Year! I want to thank you all for the wonderful gifts you gave me. Thank you all very, very much!

K - 5 has been waiting for the first day of winter. We start each day with our morning meeting and go through the calendar. We say the day, month, year and season. The first day of the winter season is the day of the year when the Sun is farthest south (on December 21st). On Monday, Jan. 4th the students are gong to be so excited to say it is Winter! They have all been saying, "It feels like Winter, but not yet!" Well, it definitely feels and is winter!

This week will be a good week to review some things we learned before the holiday break.
We will review our sight words: like, come, to, here, this, he, a, I, my, the and go.

We will work on word building using the phonograms: -it and -ip and we will listen and try to isolate the middle sound in words.

We will reread our Big Book Stories and work on comprehension using graphic organizers to remember what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the stories.

We will also review our vocabulary words: squabble, anxious, mischief, huddle, uproar, moans, tend, productive, soggy, idle, wobble and scrumptious.

On Tuesday and Thursday we will be working in our Literacy Centers.