Newsletter Information

October 30^th, 2014

Notes~

v Practice the syllables each word has by having your child clap them out.

v Practice our word wall words that come home each week.

v Practice counting to 100!

v Practice writing numbers to 30.

v Listen to your child read their take home book.

What We Are Learning~

During our reading time we have been focusing on Halloween.  We spent one week discussing bats.  We learned a lot about bats.  This led us into discussions on fiction and nonfiction books.  We defined each of them as fiction-a made up story (not real), nonfiction-giving us true information.  So each time we read a book we discuss if the book was fiction or nonfiction.  We also introduced our first comprehension strategy of schema during this time.  Schema is all that information we have in our heads on all different types of things.  Now we are using our schema before we read to see what we already know about the topic.  What fun it has been!

In math we have been very busy learning our 3D shapes and also learning all about the features each of these shapes have.  We have discussed: cone, sphere, cylinder, and cube.  We have worked hard on deciding if they roll, stack, or slide.  We have been doing some building with shapes also.  What fun we have been having while we learn!

We just finished up our basics to the Writer’s Workshop.  We learned all the different aspects to becoming a writer.  Now we are beginning our first unit on personal narratives.  It will be fun to see our writing as we continue!

Upcoming Events~

v October 31 – No School

v November 5- Early Out

v November 13- End of 3^rd Trimester

v November 19 – Early Out

v November 26, 27, 28 – No School

Newsletter Information

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October 17, 2014

Notes~

v Practice writing the upper and lower case letters.

v Practice the syllables each word has by having your child clap them out.

v Practice counting to 20 or even higher!

v Practice writing numbers as high as your child can go.

What We Are Learning~

During our reading time we have been focusing on fire safety and the author Eric Carle.  The students have learned a lot of great things during both of these studies.  We also have been really working on our reading skills.  We are working very hard on the word wall words and looking at the beginning sounds in unknown words we come to while reading books.  Many have been working on beginning readers in our room.  It is great to see their excitement and I hope you are enjoying hearing about these adventures at home.

We have spent the last couple of weeks working very hard on our shapes.  We started out with our 2-D shapes.  These were: rectangle, triangle, square, circle, and hexagon.  We really investigated the sides, vertices, types of lines, and things in real life that make these shapes.  Now we have moved on to 3-D shapes.  We are working on: cone, cylinder, sphere, and cube.  These can be tricky so be sure to discuss these with your child.

We have finished up our lower and upper case handwriting curriculum.  Now we will be utilizing what we have learned as we really get into our Writer’s Workshop time.  We have been learning the basics of Writer’s Workshop currently but will start learning about writing personal narratives in the weeks to come!  Have your child show you their writing skills!

Upcoming Events~

v October 22 – Early Out

v October 23- Early Out-P/T Conferences

v October 27 – Early Out – P/T Conferences

v October 28 – Picture Retakes

v October 30- Halloween Parade 2:30 in gym

v October 31 – No School

Fire Safety!

We spent last week learning all about how to be safe during a fire.  We talked about calling 911, stop drop, and roll, and the equipment that at fire fighter may have to use.  This was all a lot of fun.  We really got into learning about all of these things.  We ended the week with a visit from our local fire department.  They were kind enough to bring a truck, dress in the gear, and even show us all around the truck!  What a great experience!!

Joining Shapes

We have been very busy working on our shapes.  We currently just finished up the 2D shapes in our shape unit.  We will be moving to 3D shapes.  We are very excited and are learning a lot about shapes.  We spent many days last week working on joining shapes together to see if we could make any other shapes.  We had a lot of fun doing this.  You will see some pictures below of all that we were busy doing!

Pumpkins

We learned all about pumpkins last week!  What fun we had!!!  We talked about the process that it takes to grow pumpkins, the types of pumpkins, and even what we could make out of the pumpkins.  On Friday we were able to do a little finger painting with pumpkins.  These are hanging in our hallway!  We LOVED to do the painting!

Guest Reader

Last week we were able to have a guest reader from the high school come over and read to our class.  It was homecoming week and students from the high school could sign up to read to an elementary classroom.  We had a great time listening to her story and also asking her questions about high school!

Newsletter Information

http://mrshendershotskindergaren.blogspot.com/

October 3, 2014

Notes~

v Continue working on the sounds each letter makes

v Practice writing the upper and lower case letters.

v Practice the beginning sounds in words.  Give them a word and have them tell you the first sound.

v Continue to work on rhyming words.

v Practice counting to 20 or even higher!

What We Are Learning~

We have been working very hard in our Daily’s every morning.  We now have all of them in place and do three each morning for 20 minutes.  While the students are doing their Daily’s I am working with small groups on a variety of reading skills.  Some are working on letters, sounds, blending words, word wall words, and reading books.  Keep working hard at home on all these skills.  It will show in the classroom!

In math we finished up our work with positional words.  The students did a very nice job on this unit.  We will still continue to practice these.  Please work hard on right and left, as that is always the hardest one.  J  We now have moved onto our 2-D and 3-D shape unit.  This one is always a lot of fun because it will be very hands on!  Make sure to discuss this with your child!

We have also been very busy in handwriting.  We finished up writing all our capital letters and now have moved onto the lower case.  Please take some time to continue practicing these.  We also have been working very hard on our Writer’s Workshop.  This is a time where we are learning about how to become a writer.  We are starting to use our journal and really working on hearing all the sounds in our words.  It has been a lot of fun!

Upcoming Events~

v October 8- Early Out

v October 13- No School

v October 22 – Early Out- P/T Conferences

v October 23- Early Out

v October 27 – Early Out – P/T Conferences

v October 28 – Picture Retakes