WEEK OF JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 4, 2011

KINDERGARTEN HOMEWORK

MONDAY TO THURSDAY: EACH NIGHT PRACTICE READING WORD LIST FOR 5 MINUTES; COMPLETE HALF-SHEET OF READING/MATH PRACTICE.

ALSO: TUESDAY NIGHT: GET 100 OF SOME ITEM AND PUT IN ZIPLOC BAG; PREPARE TO DRESS LIKE A 100 YEAR OLD (IF WE HAVE A SNOWSTORM ON WEDNESDAY, WE WILL CELEBRATE THE 100TH DAY WHENEVER WE RETURN).

MRS. DENNIS' NEWS

THIS WEEK WE WILL LEARN ALL ABOUT THE CONSONANT Cc AS IN CAT, CANDY AND CUTE. WE WILL HAVE SHOW 'N TELL ON FRIDAY. WE WILL LEARN A SPECIAL RULE THAT WILL HELP STUDENTS KNOW WHEN TO SPELL THE /K/ SOUND WITH A C AND WHEN TO SPELL IT WITH A K. THEY WILL BE INTRODUCED TO THIS RULE IN KINDERGARTEN AND THEN WE RETEACH IT IN FIRST AND SECOND GRADE.

IN READING WE WILL READ A FANTASY STORY ABOUT TWO FRIENDS, "FARFALLINA AND MARCEL." THIS IS A STORY ABOUT A DUCK AND A CATERPILLAR AND HOW THEIR FRIENDSHIP CHANGES OVER TIME. WE WILL REVIEW THE CONSONANT Ff AND DISCUSS THE CONCEPT OF PLOT. WE WILL CONCENTRATE ON WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END OF THE STORY.

IN MATH WE WILL CONTINUE WORKING WITH DIMES, WE WILL MATCH NUMBER CARDS TO A SET OF OBJECTS AND, PERHAPS, EVEN GET TO SHARING A WHOLE BY SEPARATING IT INTO TWO EQUAL PARTS. THE CHILDREN WILL BE INTRODUCED TO A NEW CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY (THEY'LL SAY GOODBYE TO THE PARALLELOGRAMS OF JANUARY-CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY KNOW WHAT ABOUTS TRAPEZOIDS AND PARALLELOGRAMS). IN FEBRUARY WE WILL WORK WITH AN AABB PATTERN USING RECTANGLES (HOW EASY!).

OF COURSE WEDNESDAY BEING THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL WE WILL DO LOTS OF COUNTING. CHILDREN WILL COUNT BY 1'S, 5'S AND 10'S TO 100!!!

WE WILL PRACTICE WRITING THE CAPITAL C AND THE LOWER-CASE c. I WILL REMIND CHILDREN TO START THEIR Cc's AT THE TOP. ALL LETTERS SHOULD BE FORMED STARTING AT THE TOP. MOST CHILDREN STILL NEED TO BE REMINDED OF THIS.

VALENTINE'S DAY IS COMING AND WE WILL HAVE A PARTY. I WILL SEND HOME A LIST OF THE CHILDREN IN OUR CLASS SO THAT YOUR CHILD CAN WRITE HIS/HER CARDS FOR THAT SPECIAL DAY. LOOK FOR THE LIST ON FRIDAY, FEB. 4TH. THEN YOUR WILL HAVE 10 DAYS TO GET THOSE CARDS WRITTEN.

CAN WE MAKE IT THROUGH THE WEEK WITHOUT A DELAY, EARLY DISMISSAL OR A CLOSING? IT DOESN'T LOOK THAT WAY, BUT WE WILL SEE.

WEEK OF JANUARY 23-28, 2011

KINDERGARTEN NEWS

THIS WEEK WE WILL STUDY THE CONSONANT Zz AS IN ZEBRA, ZOO, AND ZERO. THERE WILL BE NO SHOW 'N TELL ON FRIDAY.

INSTEAD OF SHOW 'N TELL STUDENTS WILL BE PRESENTING A REPORT ON A STATE. EACH CHILD SELECTED A STATE LAST FRIDAY AND BROUGHT HOME INFORMATION OF THE REPORT. THIS IS TO BE AN INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH AND ORAL PRESENTATIONS; IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE ELABORATE.

WE WILL READ A NEW BIG BOOK, "SEE HOW WE GROW." WE WILL TALK ABOUT HOW PEOPLE CHANGE FROM BEING A BABY TO AN ADULT. WE WILL LEARN ABOUT THE LETTERS Dd AND Kk, THE H/F WORDS-LOOK, SEE. STUDENTS WILL LEARN ABOUT CAUSE AND EFFECT.

IN MATH WE WILL BE COUNTING BY TENS A LOT! WE WILL ESTIMATE COLLECTIONS; IDENTIFY DIMES AND TRADE 10 PENNIES FOR A DIME. STUDENTS WILL WORK WITH PATTERNS, IN PARTICULAR WITH ABB SOUND/MOVEMENT PATTERN. STUDENTS WILL COUNT DIMES TO 50 CENTS.

DUE TO THE MANY DELAYS OUR SCHEDULES ARE REALLY GETTING CHANGED. THE CHILDREN WERE TESTED ON READING WORD LIST #8 ON FRIDAY. THEREFORE, THEY TOOK HOME READING WORD LIST #9 IN THEIR FOLDERS ON FRIDAY. STUDENTS WILL BE ASSESSED ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 28TH.

THE CHILDREN ARE VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL. WE WILL CELEBRATE THAT DAY WITH LOTS OF COUNTING AND FUN. IF THE WEATHER COOPERATES, AND THERE ARE NO MORE SCHOOL CLOSINGS, WE EXPECT FEBRUARY 2ND TO BE THE 100TH DAY. MORE INFO ON THAT SPECIAL DAY WILL COME HOME SOON.

MONDAY, JANUARY 24TH WILL BE DAY 2 AND WE WILL HAVE ART.

HOMEWORK

MONDAY THRU THURSDAY: PRACTICE READING WORD LIST EACH NIGHT. EACH NIGHT A HALF-SHEET OF READING/MATH PRACTICE WILL COME HOME IN YOUR CHILD'S FOLDER.

WEEK OF JANUARY 17-21, 2011

KINDERGARTEN NEWS

When we return to school, it will be Day 3; our class will have Music.

The letter for the week is Uu as in umbrella, unicorn and United States of America. Students will study the letter Uu in Phonics and Handwriting. We will not do Show 'n Tell. Instead your child will be doing a report on one of the fifty states in the U.S. A letter will be sent home with information about the report. Attached to the letter is the name of the state your child picked and the day of the week(next week) that s/he is presenting the report. This is not to be an elaborate report; just an introduction to doing research. Any questions, please feel free to call or e-mail me.

In Reading we will be reading an informational text about a Panda that lives at the San Diego Zoo. I have already shown the children the Zoo's website on the smartboard. You and your child can even view a panda-cam and watch one of the pandas.

Later this week we will have a special show featuring Rand Whipple from the Box of Light in Danville. He has done many shows at our school and they have been informative and entertaining. Please ask your child about it. The show is scheduled for Thursday (weather permitting).

WEEK OF JANUARY 10-14, 2011

KINDERGARTEN NEWS

Monday, January 10th is Day 3 and we have Music.

This week is Bb week as in bells, bears and boys. We will practice this consonant and the sound all week in Phonics. Due to the 4-day week, there will be no Show 'n Tell on Friday.

In Reading we will start a new unit called "Watch Me Change." These stories will show how people, plants and animals change as they grow. We will start with an informational text called "Little Panda." Students will even get to watch a panda-cam on the smartboard so that they can watch a real panda at the San Diego Zoo. the panda's name is Hua Mei. We will review the consonant Nn and introduce the high-frequency words--me, with, she.

In Math we will be solving a problem by acting it out. We will test children on sorting shape pieces. We will start a new set of lessons beginning with the identification of a cube and counting with one-to-one correspondence. Next we will match number cards to a dot cube. Then we will work with the geoboards and geobands to make line segments, shapes and designs.

During this 4-day week we will also be testing the children on the skills they learned during the second marking period. Yes, that means that report cards will soon be coming home (January 22nd, to be exact!).

Children will also be doing the DIBELS test sometime this week. The Reading teachers give these tests and they give us a fairly accurate picture of the progress that your child is making with his/her reading skills.

Children will be tested on Reading word list #7 on Monday, Jan. 10th. We will send home list #8 on Monday too. Then next Tuesday, Jan. 18th students will be tested on that list.

HOMEWORK

Monday to Thursday: each night practice reading word list and complete the half-sheet of practice sent home in your child's take-home folder. When possible also practice sight words and/or counting by 1's or 10's to 100.

WEEK OF JANUARY 3-7, 2011

WELCOME BACK/HAPPY NEW YEAR

Monday, January 3rd will be a Day 2; we have Art class. This week we will be studying the consonant letter Kk as in kite and king. As a matter of fact, boys will get to be a "king for a day" later this week and will get to wear a crown and make commands. Boys-just remember that girls will get to be "queen for a day" when we study the letter Qq later this year. Show 'n Tell bags for Kk will be sent home on Monday and we will have show 'n tell on Friday.

Due to the long winter vacation, we will take extra time to review the reading word list #6 and students will be tested on Tuesday. However, we will send home Reading word list # 7 to practice for next week's assessment on Monday. The children are doing very well with these lists. Keep up the great work!

We will be reading "Whose Garden Is This?" this week (we did not get to it last week, due to holiday activities). We will review the vowel Ii and all of the high-frequency words. We will talk about realism versus fantasy. We will write about what kinds of things they would include in their own garden.

In Math we will explore geoboards (another topic, we did not get to before the holidays) and make shapes on them. We will work with graphs, shopping with pennies and identifying the ordinal position of an item. We will review making patterns with shapes. During our math meeting we will work with the calendar to discuss the beginning of the calendar year along with our usual questions about months, dates, days of the week, shapes and the number of days we have attended school to date (we are getting closer to the 100th day of school).

Children will be listening to a series of books about a funny pigeon and I hope to start reading aloud chapter books to our class (I usually start with "Junie B. Jones" books about a curious and active kindergarten girl).

Weather permitting we hope to visit our tree (located next to the NSHS lower-level parking lot). We would like to make some birdseed treats to hang on our tree and I'm hoping our reading buddies will walk with us to help us hang the treats this Friday.

Homework

Monday thru Thursday: complete half-sheet of reading/math homework. Also-study reading word list # 6 and after Tuesday, #7.