February

I can’t believe it is already February – we are just soo busy and the time is flying by!

 

Hopefully this week we will be able to celebrate Groundhog's Day on Tuesday because I have some fun books to share with my friends, but I guess we will see if the weather forecast comes true or not!

This week we will also be getting ready for Valentine’s Day. This year students at Meadow Lane are only allowed to bring non-edible items to share with their friends - there were some great suggestions in the Meadow Lane newsletter these past few weeks.  We have 21 kids in my room and children are just asked to put their name on it so we know who it is from. You can start bringing Valentine's next Monday, Feb. 8th. If you have any questions about this please just let me know!

In reading we will be reviewing all of the letters and words we have learned so far. But we will be learning some new vocabulary words and they are safe, prepare, notice, celebration, and enough. Our essential question is “How can you stay safe in bad weather?” and we will be discussing this and also practicing this at school. We will also be reading “Waiting Out the Storm”, “Rainbow Crow”, and “Be Safe in Bad Weather”. During guided reading your child will either read “Bad Weather” or “Getting Ready” and we will read “Mack and Ben” in our crabby books. We are really becoming such good readers – we know the difference between genres of books, we can visualize, make predictions and find key details, and we can even make connections between stories. This week we will be talking a lot about question words that start with “who, what, when, where, and why”.

In math we will be telling story problems using fruits and vegetables, and comparing two groups of numbers using the words more and fewer. We will also be looking at numbers 11-20 on our counting mats and will be using our teen equations cards and discussing our teen numbers. We will also be reviewing different shapes and how you can put them together to make new shapes and practicing patterns.

In writing we will be working on adding details to our stories and using transitions words to write about what happens in our stories. We are also working hard on using good handwriting and writing our last name! I am amazed at some of the sentences my friends are able to write!

We finished up our weather and seasons unit and will start learning more about transportation! We will be talking about how you can get from one place to another either by land, air, or water!

The Meadow Lane Science Fair is next Thursday, Feb. 11^th and I would love to see you all there if you don’t have any plans for that evening – I understand you may not want to do a project this year but I urge you to come and check it out. Henry, Lily and I will be doing a project I hope– the topic is still yet to be decided… seeing as we can not agree on anything yet (my children can be quite stubborn and opinionated :) and don't love all the ideas mommy has given) two years ago we researched Elk and found some fun facts and pictures to share and last year we did an experiment with balloons and vinegar and it was so much fun that we will definitely be doing something again this year for the Science Fair! If you have any questions about this please let me know!

Well it is going to be another fast fun week in kindergarten!

Queen Scarlett

Scarlett was the Queen of the Jungle this week and it was a great week because Scarlett was a wonderful Queen and we loved learning more about her! She loves the color blue, soccer, and kittens. She also loves the movie Frozen and the song Let It Go! Her favorite food is string cheese and she likes the book "The Rolly Polly Spider" which was a really great book we read today! She is a special girl because her mom and dad love her very much! Something she likes to do at home is play with her littlest pet shop toys! When she grows up she wants to be a zookeeper and I think that would be a great job for her! Scarlett had a fantastic week and her is a video of her as our Queen!    

Happy Half Birthday to Nathan and Kingston!

Today we had two birthday elves come to our classroom to help us celebrate some birthdays that happen in July! Both Nathan and Kingston are 6 years old and have birthdays in the middle of the summer - they are both now super excited to be 6 1/2 years old! Although this morning we were all a little confused because we had no clue whose birthday it really was. And since today was not their actual half birthday it made things even trickier - but luckily both boys were excited to celebrate their half birthdays today together at school! Here are a few pictures from our day!

 Half Birthday Boy Nathan!

 Half Birthday Boy Kingston!

 Half Birthday boys with the Birthday elves!

 Singing Happy Half Birthday to Nathan!

 Singing Happy Half Birthday to Kingston!

 The Half Birthday boys and their gifts from us!

 The boys and their friends!

 Nathan and the Birthday elves!

 Kingston and the Birthday elves!

The Half Birthday boys had a great day!

100 days SMARTER!!!

This week in Literacy we will be talking about what happens in different kinds of weather. Our vocabulary words are predict, temperature, drought, clever, and storm. We will be learning about the letter k and learning the words “she” and “was”. We will be reading “Rain”, “The Frog and the Locust”, and “Cloud Watch” and we will be focusing on sequencing the story and looking at speech bubbles. In the crabby books we will be reading “Kim and Nan” and during guided reading your child will either be reading “The Rain” or “Weather is Fun”. All of these books will be perfect because they go along so well with the different kinds of weather we are talking about during Unit Studies!

In Math we will be telling story problems, doing many activities with our counting mats and continuing to talk about the number 100! We sure do love numbers and math time!

In writing we will be working on stories that have a beginning, middle, and an end and using leads and transition words. We will continue to work on using adjectives and verbs in our writing and we even learned about plural nouns this past week and will be moving right along to talk about proper nouns this upcoming week!

Also please don't forget that on Tuesday it is a PLC day so we get out of school at 2:18! And this Friday is Movie Night at Meadow Lane so I hope you can all come back and have fun watching a movie with your family at school! More detailed information will be coming home about this event as well!
Also I know this is a month away but don't forget that parent teacher conferences will be coming up on us soon! They are Tuesday, Feb. 23rd, and Thursday, Feb. 25th - it will be on the same day and time as your fall conference - and if you don't remember when that was or you already threw your 2015 calendar away don't worry or panic because I will be sending home a confirmation note with the date and time in a few weeks - but wanted to give you a heads up! I always look forward to talking with my friends and their parents about how they are doing in kindergarten - so again please plan on bringing your kindergartener to the conference!

On a different note...

On the 100^th day of school we had so much FUN!!! We celebrated being 100 days smarter in so many different ways. We started the day off by showing off the projects we made with our families and they were awesome!!! We loved all of them and the kids are so excited to bring them back home – I just can’t part with them yet because they are so cute and I love seeing them in our coat hall! We also made necklaces using 100 beads – we first used our counting mat to make 10 groups of 10 and then we started to make our necklace. We also talked about what we would buy if we had $100 and drew a picture and wrote a little story to go along with it. During daily math routines the kids were soo excited to get to 100 – we now know that we can show 100 in many different ways – it can be 1 group of one hundred, 10 groups of 10, or 100 ones. We are sooo smart! We also got to read some great books about the 100^th day of school and some of us even dressed up like we were 100 years old! It truly was a wonderful day and I hope it is one that your child will not forget!! Here is the video I made from our super fun day!                       

King Kingston

This week Kingston was the King of the Jungle and oh boy did he love it! His favorite color is blue, and he likes pizza and baseball. His favorite animal is a dog and he likes the song Mary Had a Little Lamb. His favorite movie is Ninja Turtles and he even brought in one of his ninja turtles to show all of us. His favorite book is "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie". He is special because he is really good at taking pictures and when he is at home he likes to play on his trampoline. When he grows up he wants to be a teacher. He loved being the King of the Jungle - please check out his video!
                   

Halfway through January!

Last Friday we got to spend a lot of time discussing and learning about Dr. King, we read a few books about him and his life. We learned that he had a dream for peace in the world and we even got to write down one dream that we have for the world. We also got to make a colorful world with our hands and a freedom bell! Our projects are up in the hallways so if you are in the building you will have to stop by and check them out!

This week in Literacy we are starting Unit 6 “Weather for All Seasons “and will be talking about how weather and seasons affect us which ties in very nicely with our Unit Studies book we are making about the weather this week! Our essential question this week is “How are the seasons different?” and our vocabulary words are weather, seasons, migrate, active, and spot. We will be reading “Mama, Is It Summer Yet?”, “A Tour of the Seasons”, and some poems about the seasons. In our crabby book we will read “Is it Hot?” and during guided reading your child will read either “It is Hot?” or “Little Bear”. Again this week we will be learning two new words and focusing on two letters they are “is” and “little” and B and L, we sure are moving right along! We will reading three different genres of books this week and will be comparing them to see if we can make any connections between them. We will also be using the “visualize” strategy this week while we read our stories and of course blending sounds together and listening for certain sounds.

In writing we will be continuing to work on stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end and remembering all the things that good writers do! We have also been learning about pronouns – yes that is what I said pronouns! We know that a pronoun replaces a noun in a sentence and we are getting really good at finding them and using them. Also watch out this week because we will even be talking about plural nouns and that is on our homework this week!!

In Math we of course will be focusing on the number 100 – but we will also be starting Unit 4 which will focus on adding, comparing numbers, writing numbers 1-30, and number partners. Also we will be getting ready for the 100th day of school – we enjoy counting by 1’s, 5’s, and 10’s during daily math routines and we can’t wait until we make a new group of 10 and finally 1 group of one hundred. Remember this Friday we will be celebrating our 100th day of school and I would love for you to do a project at home using 100 objects –and then bring your projects to school so your child can show all of their friends and explain what they did. Also your child can dress up like they are 100 years old! It is going to be a super fun memorable day! We will make hats/crowns and counting mats and talk about the fun things we will be doing to celebrate being 100 days smarter in the coming days! We might even get to look at some fun projects on pinterest and pictures of older people – remember I would love for you and your family to do a project using 100 of something – but if you don’t have time for a project your child can bring in 100 of something. I can't even believe we have been in school for 100 days- time sure does fly when you are having fun!! I know it is going to be a great week!!!

Also I apologize because I had on our calendar that report cards were coming home last week but I was wrong- they are coming home this week- so make sure to look in your child's kindergarten folder for the report card and as always please let me know if you have any questions!!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

We remember MLK, 

Honored on this special day.

He had a dream that we would stand

United together in this land, 

That we would strive to find a way

To live as friends in peace today.

He wanted each of us to see

The beauty of equality.

He taught that right overcomes wrong, 

That hope can turn the weak to strong, 

And showing love instead of hate

Would make our country truly great.

His message, meant to set us free, 

Was filled with hope for you and me.

So on this day let freedom ring, 

As we remember Dr. King!

                                              
                                              Please watch our Dr. King video we made! 
                      

100th day of school is approaching!

Just a reminder on Friday, Jan. 22^nd we will be celebrating our 100^th day of school! We will be completing all sorts of fun math activities on that day! We would love for you to do a super fun project with your family revolving around the number 100. We would like you to create something using 100 items, please be creative and have FUN.  You could make something with 100 legos, a picture with 100 pieces of paper, use 100 pieces of pasta to make something cute, please look on the internet or pinterest for some great ideas! Here is a picture of my family project from last year!

I would also love for all of my friends to dress up like they are 100 years old on this day– so start thinking about your outfits! We are so excited to be 100 days smarter! Have a wonderful weekend!

Queen Daria

This week Daria was the Queen of the Jungle and she loved it! She was a wonderful Queen and worked hard all week long! Her mom even came in and read us all an alphabet story and it was so funny and she stayed to have lunch too! Here is a little information on Daria. She loves the color red, basketball, and pizza. Her favorite book is Sleeping Cinderella which she brought in and we got to read and it was a very silly story about well known fairy tale princesses trading places! She also likes the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and the song "Frosty the Snowman". She is a special kid because she is so fun to be around and she likes learning! When she is at home she likes to play and spend time with her family. Also did I mention she loves woolly mammoths and wants to be a vet when she grows up because she loves animals! Daria had a great week as Queen! Please check out her video!
             

First full week of 2016!

This week we will be talking about what kinds of things grow on a farm. We will learn about the words fresh, delicious, beneath, raise, and special. It is going to be getting crazy with week as we will be learning two new words and two new letters this week and they are “with” and “he” and F and R. We will be reading “An Orange in January”, “Farms Around the World”, and “Farmer’s Market” and in our crabby books we will read “Ron with Red”. During guided reading your child will either read “Let’s Make a Salad” or “The Farmer”. We will also be focusing on rereading and finding key details in our stories. Oh boy will it be a fun week in literacy!

In writing we of course will be working hard and we will be learning about the writing trait of organization and how most stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. We will first start by just telling stories orally and then will move on to learning how to use a planning page. This week we will start by writing our stories together.

In math we will be comparing numbers and making teen numbers with real objects. We will also be exploring more with shapes and teen numbers. We will also be preparing for our Unit 3 math test that we will be taking at the end of the week! We are also starting the countdown to the 100^th day of school that will soon be coming, Monday marks day 92! WOO HOO we can’t wait! Please look for more detailed information that will be coming home about this super fun day in your child's Kindergarten folder!

In Unit Studies we will be continuing to learn more about the seasons and will be working on our seasons book and then we will start learning about different kinds of weather and will hopefully start talking about the different kinds of weather we have during each season by the end of the week!

This week we will also be talking about Martin Luther King Jr. –his birthday is this week and we will be reading and talking about how brave he was and will be doing some fun projects.  Next Monday, on Martin Luther King Day we do not have school. 

Here we come 2016!

I can’t believe that we are half way done with kindergarten and are starting the second semester of school. I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday and all of my friends had a fabulous break. I am ready to get back into the school routine and see what my friends can learn this semester!

This week we will be reviewing a lot of our school routines and rules! We have new desks, new literacy station partners, and maybe even a new spot to sit at on the carpet - we are starting the new year off with a bang!  We will also get a chance to make some goals for the new year – we are going to be reading, writing, and solving problems like crazy in 2016!

In math this week we will be focusing on teen numbers, solving story problems, and getting back into the routine of our daily math routines!

In reading we will be starting Unit 5 Week 2 and will be talking about how living things change as they grow. We will be focusing on the letter E and learning the word “are”. Our vocabulary words are develop, amazing, content, enormous, and imagine. I am excited to see how we will use these words in sentences! We will be reading “A Grand Old Tree”, “The Pine Tree”,  “From a Seed to a Tree”, and “Ed and Ned”. During guided reading we will be again practicing our routine and reading either “The Tree” or “Many Trees”.

In Unit Studies we will start talking about the four seasons and reading some great books! We will start to make our own seasons book this week as well!

During writing we will be reviewing what good writers do and writing about the fun things we did over our break! 

This Friday, January 8th is a spirit day where we get to wear our pajamas to school! Please just make sure your child has good shoes to go outside during recess with!

Again I am very excited to get back into the routine of things and I know that we are going to have a great week and year for that matter! Also in case your kindergartner didn't tell you or you haven't seen me lately I am having a baby in March. I am working on finding a wonderful sub who will fill in for me the 5 weeks I will be gone. I am hoping the baby comes during spring break so that will be counted as one of my 6 total weeks I will take off. Please know I plan on coming back to school for the last 4-6 weeks (depending on when Baby Woita decides to come out) to finish out the year with all of my friends! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns - but hopefully it will be an easy transition! Now I just have to get organized so everything is ready to go for my friends!