Week of May 1

This is going to be a fun filled week!! I'm going to start by jumping straight to Friday. Friday is PLAY DAY!! Play Day is our version of the ol' school Field Day's. :) We are outside for about two hours participating in the fun activities that Mrs.Gordon and Ms.Pomeroy have done all year with the students in P.E. Right now the weather men are forecasting the weather to be Sunny and 75*. 

To protect all the students and allow everyone to have fun~ make sure your child is wearing sneakers (double knot them if you have too!) and if they want to wear a hat outside they may. NO SUNGLASSES PLEASE. Also, if you ordered a Play Day shirt DO NOT worry- they are on their way! :) Also, Shaved Ice will be sold during Play Day. I believe the price is $3.00 for a cup. If you would like your child to buy one, please send their money in a ziploc baggie on Play Day.

Our Resources are Monday: ART, Tuesday, P.E. and Wednesday: COMPUTER LAB. ooh DOn't forget Monday is also Tea Time with Mom from 3:15-4:15. 

Now on to the rest of the week... We will be working a ton on our Africa Studies due to us being an International Magnet School. We will focus on Egypt and the animals, food and culture there. :) This will take up all of our Reading and Writing time. It may even take up a lot of Saxon time too! In Math I have planned to complete 2 Duval Math lessons... I am going to do my best do them, however I want to do some Math with Egyptian Numbers. So please bare with me!  

Now on to the serious stuff going on next week. We will be completing our i-Ready Math and Reading Diagnostics. The students will have as much time as they need to complete their Diagnostic. We will have laptops in our room and they will each have their own pair of headphones. PLEASE remind your child to listen to each question and think about the answer before they click and submit DONE each time. I want each child to make growth and have a higher score than they did back in August. :)

Week of April 21

 

I have a jam packed 4 day week!! :) Be ready because it's going to go by quick! We have Resources on Monday: P.E., Tuesday: GUIDANCE, and Wednesday: MUSIC. We will also be making Flamingo's for our May Bulletin Board on Thursday. And during Recess some students will be decorating their International Cultural Day t-shirt. (if that doesn't sound familiar to you, please check back on past blog posts.)

Also, I am finishing up Progress Report Testing and plan on sending home the checklists this week, so that you can review the items your child did not Master.

I almost forgot my reminder... THIS WEEK WILL BE THE LAST WEEK OF HOME LEARNING PACKETS!! 

MATH

We will be reviewing i-Ready lessons the class had trouble with. On my observation it was: Subtraction using pictures and number lines. Counting forward and backwards by 1's from any given number. Adding 2-digit numbers. 

Our lessons will focus on counting forward and backwards from any given number. Then using an abacus and a 100's Chart to count and focus on the numbers in a given column. For example the last column: 10, 20, 30, 40, etc. The first column: 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, etc. The sixth column: 6, 16, 26, 36, 46, etc.

SAXON, SIGHT WORDS, BLENDS & MORE!

In Saxon we are focusing on the combination qu and coding it with an arc. We are also reviewing sounds to write CVC and CVCe words, Along with reading the Fluency Readers.

We have two sight words this week: good & than.

Our blend is PR-. Have your child start thinking of words that have it at the beginning. Check out the slideshow below for some practice.

Our word family is -ook. As in look. Have your child think of words that belong in the family. Make sure they come up with a few words that have a blend before the family. :) Here is Youtube video to give some ideas!

We have focused on the long and short vowels in isolation. Now it is time to combine them and figure out the vowel in each word, along with whether it is long or short.

READING

We will be reviewing i-Ready lessons the class had trouble with. On my observation it was: changing the beginning and ending sounds to make a word that matches a given picture. Rhyming with pictures~ finding the two that go together. Then listening and reading comprehension questions!! Sometimes they read the story to the students and other times the students need to read the stories to themselves. 

This is our last week of Eric Carle. It has been so much reading colorful and exciting books!! I have noticed a lot of improvement retelling stories with the events in order. Not to mention the students have been amazing at figuring out the unknown words/ vocabulary in the stories. :) Well, our last book is The Foolish Tortoise. We will discuss the events that happen after he gets out of his shell. Then we will focus on the vocabulary that Eric Carle used to help make his story come alive!

WRITING

Now... I can't say  much about Writing to all of you. Because it's going to be a big surprise!! We are working on our Kindergarten Memory Books. It's a lengthy process... so plan on seeing these words in the next few weekly blog posts. But I promise, it will totally be worth it!

SCIENCE

We are working in our Science Books on pages that we never got to this year due to days off or schedule conflicts throughout the day. The students are loving the review of Science information. They have retained information that we learned back in August and are still able to apply it correctly. Very proud!!

T-Shirt Decorating for International Day

**This activity is not mandatory, but it is TONS OF FUN!** 

 

To get the students excited for International Day. Our class will be drawing/ painting West African symbols on t-shirts. (I have capied and pasted a few of the favorites on this post. These are ones I've drawn many time through the years.) To see all the symbols, go to this link. 
When the students bring a t-shirt to school, they will be asked what symbol they want drawn on their shirt. During Recess time the students will have the opportunity to paint their symbol with black paint. ~Many of you are probably thinking what shirt color... The answer is any solid color t-shirt! Since the symbols will be painted with black paint, all t-shirt colors will work!~

***T-shirts need to be sent in by May 5.*** 
I will hang the t-shirts in the closet at school and save them for International Day on May 12th. :) 

 Here is a slideshow of pictures showcasing some of the students from my class last year making their International T-shirts. :)

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Home Learning Packets

Home Learning News Flash!

Last week I had a meeting with all of the Kindergarten Teachers.  We all decided that next week would be our last Home Learning Packet. So on Wednesday, April 26, this will be our last Home Learning Packet. :) 

We all wanted to give the students time to practice the items they have not yet Mastered. 

With that being said... I will still send home Leveled Readers and Saxon books for Reading Challenges. Along with Duval Math homework sheets.

Library Visit with Mrs.Noah Thomas

Yesterday's Library Visit with Mrs. Noah Thomas did not disappoint! She is amazing!! I hope you visit the Webb Wesconnet Library and meet her. She's the best!

 She began by reviewing questions about the Library:
*How many Libraries are in Jacksonville? She called 8 different students, but no one remembered that there are 21 locations.
*How many weeks can you check out a book for? Joey answered correctly with 3 weeks!!
*Then she asked the name of the gentleman that did our story time when we had out Library Field Trip. TiDarius remembered that his name was the name of one of the Ninja Turtles... Mr.Raphael.

After that, she started her lesson by having the students name animals that fly and then rearranging her felt letters to spell the animal word BIRDS. Chloe tried and had a little trouble, so she called on Joey to help her. Together they did it!
 Next, she read the students two books: I Spy in the Sky and Cock-a-Doodle Quack Quack. The books were very interactive!! I Spy in the Sky gives the students a little peep hole as to what bird the page is talking about. The students were great using the tiny clue and the words to figure out the birds. Then in Cock-a-Doodle Quack Quack the bird was figuring out what sounds would wake up the animals. The students were laughing and yelling out with excitement, "That's a cow! Ooh that's a dog's sound!" haha
(You can check out both books at the bottom of this post. There was only 1 video for Cock-a-Doodle Quack Quack. So spread the word about the book and hopefully there will be more readings online! )

Then she also played a "Find Baby Chick Game" with Easter eggs. She had about ten eggs and the students reviewed their colors by naming which egg they thought baby chick was hiding in. She had a lot of silly shape and other animal pictures in the eggs... it took the class a long time to find baby chick! :)  Then they did a movement game with the eggs and danced to a bird song~ Rockin' Robbin!

Finally we had CRAFT TIME!! All the students made a parrot and they were the most beautiful parrots I'd ever seen!! Enjoy the slideshow of the students with their Pet Parrots. ooh they also received Tropical Fruit Snacks, but most were eaten during Recess time as their snacks. :)

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Chimney Lakes Summer Camp!!

I know everyone thinks Summer is far away, but it's coming FAST! You have many choices when it comes to Summer Camp and yesterday you all received a blue paper telling you about our camp here at Chimney Lakes. :) 

Well, I am working the Art Activity Rotation this Summer with Mrs.Phillips. I'm so excited!

So I thought I should take a minute to remind you of all the great things we will be doing!! We go on Field Trips (Bowling, Movies, Legoland, Orlando Science Center, etc), we have Activity Rotations at school  (Art, P.E., Crafts, Video Games, Cooking etc.) and we provide Breakfast and Lunch. 

Camp runs from June 7th to July 21.

The hours for Camp are 8:30-4:00

(Open from 7:00am-6:00pm)

**All Camp Fees must be paid in full by June 11th**

If you have any questions, please contact Dawn Little. Her number is 573-1100 ext.2493. Her email is littled@duvalschools.org.

Storybook Tea Time with Mom

On Monday, May 1 we will be having Storybook Tea Time with Mom event in the Library and Courtyard. The event takes place from 3:15p.m.-4:15p.m.  The letter going home says to bring a blanket and your favorite book. 

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend this event, but I hope you all are able to come and participate! I look forward to hearing all about it from the students on Tuesday morning. 

**If you're worried because Mom can't make it. Have a Grandma, an Aunt, or a female family friend join your child. :)

Please RSVP by April 25th. 

Week of April 17

I have begun testing for Progress Reports and the students are doing great! The only concern I have is completing the questions. For example: in Math a lot of the questions are 2-part ones and the students only complete the first half of the question. in Reading/ Writing it's remembering all the writing rules and applying them. The students can tell me "Use uppercase letters at the beginning of the sentences, stretch unknown words and write all the sounds you hear", but completing the steps is tricky.  So practice and I know everyone will continue to excel!!

Our Resources for the week are: Monday:MUSIC, Tuesday:COMPUTER LAB and Thursday:ART. On Wednesday, Mrs. Noah Thomas will be stopping by for a Library Lesson. :) Friday is School Spirit Day~ make sure to deck out in Blue and Yellow. Even with sunglasses or a hat too!! Show all your school spirit!! Gabriel will be bringing in Fun Friday Snacks. 

MATH

We are continuing to break up the teen numbers the Say 10 Way and getting ready to count to 100 the Say 10 Way. For example: we have been breaking up the teen numbers as a group of 10 and ___ more. Now we will learn how to skip count the Say 10 Way. Get Ready!!

10= 1Ten

20= 2Tens

30=3Tens

40=4Tens, etc. 

I wasn't able to find a Say 10 Way of counting video, but Jack Hartmann revamped his counting to 100's by 1 and I thought the class would enjoy it!

SAXON, SIGHT WORDS, BLENDS & MORE!
In Saxon we are continuing to stretch words for beginning, middle and end sounds. Then we are discussing the Combination sound of qu as /kw/. Next week the students will learn to code a combination by putting an arc below the two letters. We are also completing the decodable reader Spin to Win. (This is a reading challenge book AND can be written down on the Reading Log three times because that's how many times it needs to be read for a challenge. :)  
Our Sight Words are: them, were, other & first. **If your child has already read 80 sight words, I will not be testing them again before Progress Report time. So continue to practice and know that they will be tested for their total number of Sight Words before Report Card time. If you have any questions about this, please email me.)
Our blend is gr- and our Word Family is -ump. Plus we will be working on short and long u sounds.

READING
We are continuing with Eric Carle! We will work on retelling with the story The Tiny Seed. Then we will work on figuring out the meaning of unknown words with the story The Grouchy Ladybug. On Friday the students will have a Comprehension Check~ so review the stories with your child.
WRITING
We are finishing  up our Animal Report Books with Zebras. The students have done an amazing job!! They have used their research to write great sentence facts and I've noticed better writing as we have progressed through the animals.
On Thursday the students will each get a turn reading about one of their animals to the class. Then on Friday we are discussing Memory Books and what we should add to our Kindergarten one. :) 

Reading Logs

All year I have sent home Reading Logs for you to fill out with your child. Some students have done great at filling them out!! Others are taking a little bit more time to participate, so I wanted to remind you all one more time...

The past few years, the students that met the Districts Reading Goals were invited to a Reading Extravaganza and the Top Reader from our Class is presented with an Award at the End of the Year Award Ceremony!!
Here is a Video of Dr.Vitti promoting reading and below it you can find the Goals for each Grade Level.

Annual Reading Expectation by Grade Level

Grade	Books
Pre-K to K	75 picture books read with an adult or independently
1st	75 picture books or 25 chapter books read with an adult or independently
2nd	150 picture books or 50 chapter books independently
3rd	200 picture books or 30 chapter books (large type of 100 pages or more) independently
4th	30 chapter books (large type of 125 pages or more) independently
5th	25 chapter books (large type of 150 pages or more) independently
Middle School	25 young adult novels (small type of 150 pages or more) independently
High School	25 young adult novels (small type of 175 pages or more) independently

**If you need a new Reading Log, please write me a note in your Child's Blue Folder. :)

Happy Easter!!

I want to wish all of you a very Happy Easter! We didn't have an Easter Egg hunt at school, but some of the students were positive they'd be enjoying one this weekend. :) So I hope many of you are getting a chance to participate in one or two! haha

On Thursday we took Easter pictures and I was finally able to pass out the Easter presents I made for the class. (They'd been in the classroom over a week... the students mentioned them to me every day! haha)

Enjoy the slideshow and PLEASE!! Do not send in candy as a snack for your child. Thank you!

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Box Top Winners!!

Our class won the Box Top Contest for March and we were presented today with SAND TOYS from the PTA!! The students were cheering so loud! It was too cute.  

Anyway, although it's not Fun Friday... we will be bringing them outside today to enjoy. :) 

Keep collecting those Box Tops!!

Week of April 10

 This week there will be a lot of testing going on with the Upper Grades and we will have our Resource Time switched to 8:55. (It is 8:55-9:40.) This means we will be stopping to clean up breakfast earlier than normal. So... if your child is late to school, they will miss breakfast, but no worries our lunch time will be the same.

Our Resources for the week will be: Monday: ART, Tuesday: ART with Ms.Schmidt and Wednesday: Computer Lab. On Thursday I am passing out the Easter Treats I purchased for the class.:)

Math

We are reviewing the vocabulary 1 more than and 1 less than using the teen numbers going up and down stair cases. We are also completing a few Report Card Assessments: writing numbers, counting groups and making groups to 20.  There are also a few students that still need to count by 1's to 100.

Saxon, Sight Words, Blends and More!

In Saxon we are reviewing how to use the breve and macron when coding unknown words. Our Sight Words are: way, call & then. Our Blend is FL__ and the Word Family is __ock, Plus we are discussing the long and show vowel sounds for O. Below are a few slideshow and videos that we will be using.

Reading

We will be discussing and retelling the book A House For Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. We will also be reading some FUN Easter Books and reviewing character, setting and plot with Story Maps.

Writing

By now I hope you were all able to check out the post made on Elephant Reports. Those reports were great and the students were so amazing reading their reports in front of the class. I loved it!! This week we are finishing up our Lion reports and writing Giraffe reports. We will then discuss Zebras to get us prepared for next week. :) 

Sunglasses Day

There is something about teaching a lesson to students wearing their sunglasses that just makes me smile. :) It's adorable!! 

Here are a few pictures of the Silly Sunglasses Gang!

It is Leilani, Gabriel, Jaiden, Alexis, Jada, Jamari and Noelani!!

Elephant Reports

I was looking over the Home Learning Packets and I noticed that quite a few students had trouble writing their reports. I saw quite a few students began with the words, "I like..."

So, here are the reports the students wrote in class and they were WONDERFUL!! We watched a few Youtube Videos and read a few books. Then we had discussions about the facts that we knew and the facts we learned. The kids were AMAZING! They took turns listening to the facts their friends said and if they repeated the fact- they extended the sentences. For example: Elephant trunks suck water. It was expanded by another student who said: Elephant trunks suck water and then they squirt it in their mouths.

Before you watch the slideshow, I want you to know we wrote one Fact sentence together and most of the students have the sentence on their paper: Elephants are the largest land animal and they spelled it phonetically. :)

Enjoy looking at the pictures of the students sharing their reports with the class! 13 students shared. Others were either busy writing more sentences or they just wanted to listen to the others share. 

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Western Day

This was the cutest Fun Friday Dress Up!! All the other teachers and students that passed us in the hallway were in AWE of how amazing the students looked. :) 

Enjoy watching the slideshow!!

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Dr.Seuss Reading Challenge

There were five girls that completed the Dr.Seuss Reading Challenge. Congrats Girls!! Here are a few pictures of Emma, Alexis, Noelani, Leilani and Chloe.

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