Week of October 31

Happy Halloween

If you have any candy you would like to donate to school, I will gladly accept it. Please make sure the candy does not contain any peanuts. :) Thank you!

Our Resources for the week are: Monday-COMPUTER LAB and Tuesday-P.E. (We will miss Thursday's Resource due to our all day Field Trip.) Wednesday is an Early Release Day. Thursday is our Field Trip to the Amazing Grace Crop Maze. Please make sure your child wears tennis shoes and brings a bag lunch the day of the trip. I will be sending home Ziploc baggies. Lunch Boxes are not allowed to be brought on this field trip. **Chaperones please make sure to bring a lunch too!

Friday is Sunglasses Day and Annalysia will be bringing in Fun Friday Snacks.

Math

We are still learning about shapes and position words. We will review 2D shapes and then focus on learning the names of 3D shapes.  Our little saying to remember the shapes is "2D are FLAT and 3D are FAT." The shapes we will focus on are cone, sphere, cube and cylinder.

Enjoy this video for 3D shapes.

Reading

On Monday we will take a break from our Plants Module and read the story The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything. We will practice retelling the story using all the body parts that try to scare the woman. Also, Mrs.Thomas ( she was our substitute the day I was absent) will be coming in to complete a Scarecrow Craft with the students.)

If you aren't familiar with the story, check out the Youtube video below.

Our stories this week are: 

The Gigantic Turnip

budge, gigantic, stew

Polly the Honeybee's Flower Tour

honey, nectar, petals, pollen, pollination

The Fruits of Polly's Labor

blossoms, core, fruit, produce, scrumptious

Make sure to discuss the story with your child and review the vocabulary listed below the stories title. In this week's homework packet, there will be a Plants sheet where students will need to match the word to its illustration. 

Make sure to practice Sight Words at home. I sent home multiple sheets of Sight Word Money for you to practice words with your child last week. This quarter the students are expected to read 40 Sight Words.

Writing

We will have a Grammar Lesson on Verbs. Review with your child how verbs are action words. Have them act out a verb and allow you to guess what it is.

 We will continue working on How To Writing. We will discuss the steps for completing many tasks: making oatmeal, walking the dog, playing catch, etc. (I tried to find a video for you watch, but the videos either have too many steps or the host is a young silly teenager. haha)

Even though our genre has changed, we are still working on using our sounds to write. 

Science

We will discuss opposites this week. We will visit Capstone Books to hear all about animals that are big and small, then smooth and rough. Discuss this vocabulary in your home and have your child find items that they can compare. Example: a spoon to a pillow, a cup to the carpet, etc.

Also, watch the video to discuss why the animals are opposites. The video doesn't have any sound, but it goes by quick. So be prepared to pause the video and discuss it with your child.

**I wasn't able to embed the item, but you can find it by going to this link. **

November Calendar

Here is an updated November Calendar. This isn't the final update... but I forgot birthdays and Spirit Days and they HAD to be added! :)

***New Center Groups***

I changed Center Groups today. :) 

Please review the group with your child and discuss the people that are in their group. I plan on reviewing the groups Monday and starting our new centers Tuesday.

Thanks for your help in making this a smooth transition for your child. 

Gabriel   Del'monie   Sophia   Jaiden

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Emma   Jamari   Lily   Noah

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Kingston   Gesler   Noelani   Alexis   Jada

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Komarea   Joey   Annalysia   Jeremiah

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Chloe   Leilani   James   TiDarius

Story Book Character Parade

This was the longest Story Book Parade I have ever seen at Chimney Lakes!! It was the absolute best parade ever. :) SO many kids dressed up, along with teachers and ALL 3 Administrators dressed up too! Our Principal Mrs.Walker was Little Red Riding Hood, our Assistant Principal Mr.Hill was the Big Bad Wolf and our Assistant Principal Mrs.Metz was Skippy Jon Jones. (If you aren't a Chimney Lakes Facebook friend, become one and go online to see all the pictures taken throughout the parade! Plus it lets you know everything that's going on at CLE!)

After the parade a few parents and grandparents joined us in the classroom to take a few pictures. Thank you to everyone that came! You helped make the date great for the students. 

Enjoy watching the slideshow of all the Story Book Characters!!

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School T-Shirt Lunches 3

Here are pictures from another great week of eating lunch with the students. :) 

Also, I wanted to tell everyone THANK YOU for participating in the Shirt Sale. All together our class purchased 44 shirts!! Woohoo! 

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Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon Week was a huge success!! We began the week by wearing red and ended it today with an Assembly on Being Drug Free. They played a song for the students and had them sing along, but I was unable to find it.

So I'm leaving you with this FUN song from a guest on Sesame Street and pictures taken thoughout the week. :)

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Week of October 24

This week we will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week. The students will pledge to be Drug Free!! Then on Friday we will have a Story Book Character Parade and a Fall Activity Day. (Some students will spend all day in the Character Costume, others will want to change into another outfit. You know your child, please send a change of clothes if you think they will want to change.) 

We also have the following Resources: Monday~ P.E., Tuesday~ MEDIA, Wednesday~ MUSIC, Thursday~ MEDIA and Friday~ART. Also, Wednesday is an Early Release Day and it is the last day to turn in money for School Shirts. Thursday is the last day to submit payments for the Amazing Grade Crop Maze Field Trip. *PLEASE NOTE: Payments will not be accepted late for the field trip.

As if Friday can't get even better, with all the fun things we have planned... Joey will be bringing in Fun Friday snacks for the whole class.

MATH

We are starting a new Module on Shapes. Be ready for your child to discuss shapes with you ALL THE TIME! Knowing the names of shapes is important, but knowing how to describe them is even more important. We begin with flat shapes- 2 Dimensional shapes= 2D. Your child will want to count the sides and corners, discuss rectangles and the "special rectangle" the square and they'll even want to draw a six sided shape for you.  Then your child may ask you to play Simon Says. We will plan this game by using shapes and placing them in front of us, beside us, above us, behind us and next to us. However I will not be naming the shape but instead describing the shape. For example, "Place the 6 sided shape below your feet."

Although we will be focusing on shapes, we are still counting sets, making sets and writing numbers for 11-20. Plus the students are expected to count to 50 this quarter. So please make sure to practice these items at home with your child.

Here is a fun Youtube video that discusses shapes and use a lot of the vocabulary that we will be discussing in class. I feel the need to mention it is a rather long video though, a little over 9 minutes.

READING

We are beginning a new Module on Plants. This module is one of our Non-Fiction modules and it focuses on using illustrations to check and support comprehension of the stories. Identify that words have multiple meanings~ plant (a verb and a noun). Along with drawing the different parts of the plant and gluing the life cycle of a plant in order. 

The stories and the vocabulary we are reading is as follows:

Introduction to Plants: environment, nutrients, plants (noun), plant (verb), soil

Plant Parts: flowers, leaves, photosynthesis, roots, seeds, stems, survival

The Life Cycle of a Plant: germinate, life cycle, mature, sapling, seedlings

(Don't forget to click on the title of the story. You can read it again with your child and discuss it with them. I will warn you the stories discuss the illustrations a lot! I wasn't able to post them in, so you may want to find pictures before you read the story.)

Saxon

We are focusing on letter Mm. Then we are reviewing sounds for the past letters discussed and reading words. Please make sure to review the Saxon sheets that go home with your child. On the past few Oral Assessments, all of the students have been able to code the words, but only about half have been able to read the word.

We will also continue to review rhyming words and count the sounds in words. 

Sight Words

The words for this week are down, is, my & in.

Writing

We are beginning a new Writing Genre. We will begin How To Writing. We begin by discussing the different things that the students can do as five year olds and making a chart. Many of the students will say pick up toys, go down a slide, unpack their backpack. Some of the students will say tie my shoes, button my pants, make a bowl of cereal.

We will be writing as a class. This means the students will be telling me the steps and together we will be sounding out the words and writing. We do this so everyone can practice chopping up words, use spaces and punctuation in their writing & see the steps that a real writer takes.

There will be less drawing in this writing genre and more sound usage. So make sure to practice letters sounds! 

Red Ribbon Week!!

The week of October 24th is Red Ribbon Week. 

Our school will celebrate being drug free all week long by participating in the following activities:

Monday: wear red~ shirt, shorts, socks, etc.

Tuesday: wear silly socks

Wednesday: wear hats

Thursday: wear your favorite sports shirt or team shirt

Then on Friday we will have the Story Book Character Parade. :)

Box Tops!!

If you haven't sent in your box tops yet, please do so soon! The PTA Box Top Competition will be ending Friday, October 28. The Class that turns in the most gets a prize!!

*It's okay if they box tops are not taped to one of the papers. Put them in a ziploc baggie and label it with your child's name, teacher's name and how many box tops are inside the box. :)

Library Field Trip

The class felt that today was the best day ever and I can't blame them... it was an awesome day! Everyone was excited about riding the bus and being "up high." They loved pointing and yelling out "my house is that way!" It was adorable!! :)

Anyway, we arrived at Webb Wesconnett and we were greeted by Ms. Jessica and Mr.Raphael. Ms.Jessica works in the adult section of the library and she told us she would see us a little later to explain the different parts of the library. Then our class and Ms.Louer's class followed Mr.Raphael to the Children's Section. He read the students three books: Fox Trot by Becka Moor, Tommy Can't Stop! by Tim Federle and Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae.
Here are two of the books I was able to find on Youtube.

 

In between the books the students learned a few chants. They were;

It Is Story Time

It is story time

It is story time

Circle round

Circle round

When our ears are ready

And our hands are steady

We will start

The best part

"Marching Song"

We;re marching 'round the room

We're marching 'round the room

High ho the derry-o

We're marching 'round the room

(tiptoeing)

(jumping)

(dancing)

Then they learned the Toota Ta. I need not even write the words, but instead put up the Youtube video for your child to show you the dance. :) haha

       

Finally we were taught the Goodbye song.

Time to say Goodbye

Now it's time to say goodbye to all our friends

Goodbye!

Now it's time to say goodbye to all our friends

Goodbye!

Now it's time to say goodbye

Wave your hands

Wink your eye

Now it's time to say goodbye to all our friends

Goodbye!

When we returned to school it was almost 12:00, so everyone ate lunch outside. Enjoy all the pictures on the slideshow. 

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I want to say a big thank your to Mrs.Edmonds. I enjoyed having you on the Field Trip today and you helped make Jeremiah have the best day ever!! Hope you come back to Volunteer again. 

School T-Shirt Lunches 2

The second week of eating lunch with the students was even better than the first! I can definitely say we have the sweetest funniest class!! haha They talk non-stop through the lunch time about anything and everything! All of them are very excited about Halloween. :) and most do not like the vegetables that school cooks for lunch. haha

Enjoy the pictures and if you haven't ordered a school shirt yet... do it soon! All orders are due by Wednesday, October 26. :)

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It's Spookley Time!!

The class did a great job with their Spookley's! I loved watching their faces when they shared their project and they sneak glances at the wall just to smile at it. :) ooh not to mention the names are PERFECT! 

Enjoy watching the slideshow to meet all the Spookley's!  

 

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Week of October 17

This week is going to be great!! We have resources, a field trip to the Webb Wesconnet Library and the students are off on Friday. :) Please know Quarter 1 ends this Thursday. Monday, Oct.24 we begin Quarter 2.

Our Resources for the week are: Tuesday~ COMPUTER LAB, Wednesday~ ART and Thursday~ P.E. (P.E. was not listed on the Calendar due to our Field Trip, but First Grade Teachers graciously switched their resource time with us.) This week we have Delmonie joining the Six Year Old Club!! Make sure to wish her a Happy Birthday on Wednesday, Oct.19.

Field Trip News: Please make sure your child wears a closed toe shoe, so they can safely load and unload on the school bus. Also, discuss bus safety with your child. The students are to stay seated with their seat belts buckled at all times. Hands and other objects are not to go outside the windows and MOST IMPORTANT every time the bus stops, the students need to go to a Voice Level 0.  **Chaperones are not able to ride the bus. The Chaperones for this field trip are Ms. Lockwood, Ms. Sutherland and Mrs. Edmond.

Math

The students did great adding 1 more to a group and drawing a group of one more. Now we will work on 1 less. This can be a little tricky for Kindergarteners, but we will be working on it by playing fluency games= Sunrise/ Sunset (when the sunsets we count down from a given number to 0), building a staircase that shows the stairs going down, and counting down while clapping our hands from a given number (5 -clap-, 4 -clap-, 3 -clap-, 2 -clap-, 1 -clap, 0 -clap).
On Wednesday we will begin our End of the Module Assessment. It encompasses everything we've worked on this model. Counting, writing, drawing! As long as you have been reviewing the Problem Sets and completing the Home Learning, your child should do great!!

Science

We will discuss two important Science Tools. The balance scale and the thermometer. We will use a balance scale to distinguish whether two objects are equal weight, or if one is heavier or lighter than the other. To keep the students engaged, They will have their arms stretched out and model how the scale looks. When we discuss the thermometer, we will visit a district approved site to hear about temperatures in Celsius and Fahrenheit.

 Reading

We are finishing up this Module by reading the stories Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Tug of War. (Click on the titles to read the stories to your child.) We will be using the graphic organizer below to show the characters, settings and events of the story.  

Finally we will complete the Standard and Content Tests. The Standard Test focuses primarily on Chicken Little and The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids. If your child is not able to tell you the events in order for either of the stories, PLEASE review it with them. (You can check past weekly posts to find the stories.) The Content test asks questions from every story in Module 3.

We will not be learning any new information from Saxon. I got behind due to End of the Quarter testing and the students have two Oral Assessments to complete with me. The Oral Assessments are all done 1-1. The only item on the assessments I think the students could have trouble with is coding and reading the words.

Sight words for the week are: have, make, be & up.

Writing

This week the students will be using the characters and settings from the stories we read during Reading Time to illustrate something they enjoyed. The students will complete one on Goldilocks and the Three Bears & one on Tug of War. The students will get to choose the one they turn in for a writing grade. Some students will be writing a sentence to match their picture, but the grade solely focuses on Characters and Settings.

Stuffed Animal Day

The students were so excited about their studded animals in their backpacks, I couldn't fight excitement... so the animals spent all day in the class learning our lessons and participating in centers. :) The students were adorable sitting with their stuffed animals in their laps at the carpet. Holding them during work at the tables. 

Our day was non-stop and I wasn't able to take individual pictures, so I decided to take class photos! Annalysia wasn't in the room for the photos, but Leilani held her stuffed animal so she made it in!

Taking a picture with 18 students and a handful of stuffed animals is a little tricky, so I took a bunch! haha  Enjoy!! 

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School T-shirts Lunches

T-shirts are going great! Our class purchased 13 shirts last week. Woohoo!! I can't wait to see how many shirt orders come in this week. :)

Here are pictures I took, along my other photographers Sophia and Joey.  Enjoy the pictures and check back next week to see more!           

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Fire Station 52

Yesterday the Fire Fighters of Station 52 visited CLE. :) Fire Fighter Terrell and Engineer Troy taught the students not to be scared of Fire Fighters and have a plan in case their house gets caught on fire. Fire Fighter Terrell put on all of his fire fighter gear and the students were able to hear him talk while he was breathing with his oxygen tank. (A few were scared, others laughed and thought it was funny... please explain to your children that his voice was not meant to be scary and he is talking that way because he is protecting himself during the fire.) The students had a chance to see all the tools they use to get people out of places they are stuck in: a locked room, a smushed car, etc. Finally the Fire Fighters made sure to stress to the students that they needed to make a Fire Escape Plan for their houses. They added that the students should have a Primary Escape Plan, but just in case there us a fire blocking that route, they should have a Secondary Escape Plan. Click HERE to get a grid to draw your house on and label your escape routes. 

Enjoy the Slideshow!  

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Science Time!!

Today we completed our Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads and we used the hand lenses to see teeny tiny pictures. They were so cute!!

As a whole class we went through the directions of gluing the body parts and bow. I allowed the students to decide whether to make the bow a hair bow or a bow tie. Watching them decide was adorable! Finally we labeled the body parts with our knowledge of the Five Senses and students had time to add a setting to their picture.

During Science time the students had a partner and they discussed the details they were able to see in a teeny tiny picture thanks to the hand lense making the photo appear larger.  The class was so excited to get their hands on the hand lenses that you could hear a pin drop in our room. For the activity, my directions were to cut out the tiny pictures and place them on top of the larger picture they matched. If your child wants to enjoy the activity again at home~ click HERE to print the pictures and if you don't have a hand lense... someone mentioned that Dollar Tree sometimes carries them.

Enjoy the pictures!!

 

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Math Time

Today we made a class staircase and discussed how each step is one more than the step before it. The class then broke out into partners of their choice and made amazing ten step staircases!!

They were all engaged in working with their partners, no one wanted anything to do with me. haha So I decided to take a few pictures. :) You'll notice only one student even looks up from his staircase. The rest were too busy working to look up... they were serious Mathematicians!

Enjoy the pictures!

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Groovy Joe Drawing Contest

Today our Scholastic Book Order came and inside was a flyer promoting this contest. :) It looked like fun thing to participate in, so I thought I'd share.

Directions: Draw a picture of your favorite animal singing a song.
Send entries to:
Groovy Joe Drawing Contest
P.O.Box 714
New York, NY 10013-0714

1 Grand-Prize Winner

will receive a 

classroom visit from 

Groovy Joe author 

Eric Litwin!

10 Runners-Up

will win TWO groovy 

listening libraries---

one for school and

one for home.

Entries must be received by November 1, 2016.
*Student name and age
*Teacher name
*School name, address and phone number.

~ All students age 3-6 who are US residents and currently attending a US school are eligible to enter except employees and immediate family members of Scholastic Book Clubs or its parent company.

Week of October 10

I hope this post finds all of you well. These storms have really put a damper on the school year, but I'm not going to let it get to our class. :) If you need more time to complete your Family Project- take it! No rush!! We missed a few days of planned lessons, so I am sending some items home. Be on the lookout for the Hurricane Matthew packet tomorrow. Also, our Book Fair date was cancelled due to school being cancelled. However, if your child brings money in, they can still go down to the Book Fair and shop during "Open Time" from 2:00-2:30. 

Our Resources this week are: Tuesday~ART, Wednesday~COMPUTER LAB and Friday~MUSIC. On Tuesday we are having laptops in the classroom. :) Wednesday is an EARLY RELEASE DAY. Friday we have the Fire Department stopping by to discuss Fire Safety and... it's Stuffed Animal Day. :) Please make sure your child's stuffed animal is in their backpack. If it doesn't fit inside their backpack, please choose another stuffed animal. Also, Sophia is bringing in Fun Friday Snacks for the class.

MATH

Our Math this week consists of number patterns. The students will be practicing number patterns using staircases and bracelets. We will discuss how each step up shows one more than the group before. After we make staircases we will play the "Take Away" game by taking out stairs in the staircase and figuring out what is missing. In this game the students will say the number that is missing, for example "6." Then their partner will tell them that, "6 is 5 and 1 more."

**Students that master this concept, will be introduced to the concept of one less and may begin making their staircase go down. **

SCIENCE

I have rescheduled last week's lesson on the Hand Lens. :) The students will get to use hand lenses to see close up details on items around the room. Then (Fingers Crossed!!) we will get to play the matching game of mini pinky nail pictures, to the real size photo.

For now, here is a fun Science Video to enjoy!

READING

In this Module we are focusing on listening to stories and retelling them using pictures or drawings. I your child has trouble telling you about the stories we read in class. PLEASE reread them the story and then together practice telling the events in the other they happen. Make sure to use the transition words; First, Next, Then and Last. Also, make sure your child knows that first means beginning, last means end and that next & then refer to the events in the middle of the story.

The stories we are listening to this week are: The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids and The Story of Jumping Mouse Part 1 & Part 2. (Click on the titles to see the full stories). We will also have a mini comprehension check for characters and settings of the stories read thus far.

Vocabulary:

The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids: bleated, disguise, kids, miller terrified

The Story of Jumping Mouse=

Part 1: brush, journey, perilous, swayed

Part 2: compassion, enormous, fragrances, misused

I am still testing Sight Words. So we will not have any new words introduced this week.

Also, Saxon is getting ready for another Oral Assessment. Make sure your child is practicing blending words. The words we are working on have a short vowel sound in the middle. It may be the short o sound or short a sound. Below are two videos from Hooked on Phonics. In the past I have used them more for word families, but I thought they would be good for right now too. Please keep in mind the words are not coded... Also, your child should know the sounds that the following letters make, if they do not please focus on these letters!! The letters are: G, P, H, L, A, O.

Writing

We will have a Grammar lesson this week on Nouns. The students will learn that a noun is a person, place or thing. Then we will discuss how we can make a singular noun plural by adding an s. We will still be stretching words and writing only the sounds the students hear. Plus we will be looking at pictures and thinking of a sentence to write that matches the picture.

Look at the pictures below with your child and ask them what sentences they could write to match each picture. (This activity lets students see that there can be multiple sentences written that match a picture. Their sentence might not match yours, but both of you can have a sentence that matches the picture.)

     

Math Slideshows

Last week I retested the students on counting sets, recognizing numbers and rote counting. WOW! They have been working hard and the testing showed all their hard work. ooh I also added the names of the students who joined the 100 club!! WOOHOO! Make sure to check it out.

Anyway, I made two new slideshows today. One for counting sets and another for recognizing teen numbers.  Enjoy practicing and listening to your "Mathematician Smartie!"

 

Walk to School FUN!

National Walk to School Day was a big success! 

I want to send out a big THANK YOU on behalf of Chimney Lakes to all the students, parents and teachers that participated.

Here are a few pictures I took during the event...
You will see our very own Leilani and her mom on the top right. :) The other pictures are of my past students and their moms; London 2nd grader, Kentrell 4th grader & his sister Taylor 7th grader and Layla 1st grader. I also took a selfie with Theresa, her mom is our Art teacher, Mrs. Phillips. You'll also notice the picture of Mr. Hill, one of our Assistant Principals, and the Subway Sandwich guy.

 Enjoy!

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