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.