I will be out of the building on Tuesday to attend a conference. If you have any changes in pick-up schedules or any issues that need to be addressed immediately, please call the main office. I will also try to check my email throughout the day.
Wednesday will be a special day for our class. We have a partnership with Junior Achievement of Chicago so the kids in 106 will be participating in activities for the majority of the day. Junior Achievement is the nation's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA's programs—in the core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy—ignite the spark in young people to experience and realize the opportunities and realities of work and life in the 21st century.
The remainder of the week will focus on beginning Words Their Way and adjusting to the new spelling schedule, finishing chapter 3 in math and completing the next two investigations in our Light and Sound unit in science. The kids will explore two new Scholastic News magazines, learn to use checklists in Writer’s Workshop, and read and complete activities about Martin Luther King Jr.
Words Their Way/Spelling
The students have been placed in one of four spelling groups based on an assessment given on 12-13-18. Your child will be in one of the groups sorted by color, listed below. You will know which group he/she is in based on the color of his/her folder.
You will notice that some groups have more spelling words than others. This is because the groups are based on developmental abilities. Some students have more practice with spelling patterns, thus are placed in higher groups. I was extremely careful when scoring these assessments, and used the checklist created by the publishers to construct the groups. Therefore, the kids will all begin in appropriate sorts but if at anytime you feel that the sorts/words are too difficult please let me know so we can discuss what is best for your child. Due to the fact that we are working a grade level ahead, this may seem like a lot of work so keep me updated on the progress at home.
IN CLASS-
Every Monday, I will meet with each spelling group to introduce the spelling sort and the words for the week. The students will receive notecards to write all of his/her spelling words on. Then they will cut all of the words out and glue them on their sort boards. The students will receive a Ziplock bag with his/her name on it in which to store his/her cards for the week.
AT HOME-
The folders will be sent home on Mondays. Please do not send the WtW folders back to school until Friday. The students will complete all spelling activities at home for homework.
Monday- Explain the spelling sorts to an adult and sort the note cards, using the headings.
Tuesday- Orally spell each word to an adult and explain which group the word belongs to.
Wednesday- Complete one Choice Board Activity.
Thursday- Complete the worksheet in the folder that is on the back of the word sort sheet.
Friday- Return all of the papers and folders back to school. I will administer the tests every Friday morning.
Word Lists for the Week of 1/14/-1/18
Purple Group- Within Word, Sort 20- CVVC Patterns ai, oa, ee, ea
throat, beast, beach, cream, need, pail, coast, coat, sheep, train, grain, wheel, tail, toast, cheek, cheat
Blue Group- Within Word, Sort 11- Short a (CVC) and Long a (CVCe and CVVC-ai)
brain, dash, mane, faint, train, stamp, blame, paint, snake, crane, snack, want, flash, place, snail, black
Yellow Group- Letter Name, Sort 15- Consonant Digraphs ch & sh
chick, chair, shirt, shell, check, chin, shadow, shelf, shoe, cheese, ship
Red Group- Letter Name, Sort 6- Word Families -at & -an
fan, dad, sad, man, pad, van, mad, can
Week of October 22, 2018
Language Arts
The students in 106 will continue to explore the short /a/ sound by building words and identifying them in texts. They will participate in leveled word work groups and guided reading groups as well to focus on skills at their levels.
Math
The chapter one math test went very well! I will be sending them home on Tuesday for you to review.
We started chapter 2 today and will continue to work on subtraction strategies over the next couple of weeks.
Week of October 15, 2018
We will be moving on to study the author, Mo Willems. We will explore several stories to discuss:
* text features such as movement lines, directions lines, thought bubbles, speech bubbles, big words, and quotation marks.
* author's purpose
* punctuation marks
* characters & settings
* beginning, middle and end
* summarizing the plot
* themes, ideas and morals
* needs and wants
We will finish our review of the letters Xx, Yy and Qq and introduce short a, and word families: -at, -am, -an, -ap. The students will practice handwriting of these letters and word families and attempt to incorporate into Writer's Workshop.
Week of October 9, 2018
Language Arts
We are wrapping up our second JGB story- "Big Wolf, Little Wolf" and will be moving on to study the author, Mo Willems. We will explore several stories to discuss:
* text features such as movement lines, directions lines, thought bubbles, speech bubbles, big words, and quotation marks.
* author's purpose
* punctuation marks
* characters & settings
* beginning, middle and end
* summarizing the plot
* themes, ideas and morals
* needs and wants
We will practice, review and study the letters Xx, Yy and Zz.
Writer's workshop this week will focus on visualization and adding to current topics and stories using details and our five senses.
Math
We will conclude chapter one this week and have our first test next Wednesday, October 17. The review pages will come home next Monday so the students can practice.
Science
This week, the students will focus on the needs and wants of animals as well as habitats.
Social Studies
As we move along our first quarter of kindergarten, we continue to practice rules and procedures. The students are working on using kind language, using manners, taking turns, staying in line and working quietly and respectfully. They continue to learn about themselves, what they like and dislike and how to be a friend to others.
Week of October 1, 2018
Please note that there is no school on Monday, October 8.
I am also sending home a sheet regarding Scholastic Book orders. Feel free to order books online (preferred) at any time. I will submit the orders when I receive them and shipping usually takes 7-10 business days.
As far as curriculum is concerned, we will be finishing up Chapter 1 in math. Please see the skills in the last week's information below.
In language arts, we will finish our sessions focused on "Big Wolf, Little Wolf". We will review the letters Kk and Jj this week. Students will participate in leveled activities in the classroom to practice handwriting and initial sounds.
We started writer's workshop last week and the kids are super excited to teach us about their chosen topics. We will continue this unit until the end of the quarter.
In social studies, we continue to work on how to be a good friend and how to make friends by utilizing role playing and sharing ideas/examples. The students will be drawing and writing to tell about their ideas.
Science- We are moving away from weather and will focus on animals over the next couple of weeks. This week we will discuss animal needs, animal homes and safety.
Week of September 24, 2018
Language Arts
We will be working on and reviewing the letters Hh, Mm & Kk this week. Our story in JGB is "Big Wolf and Little Wolf". Students will focus on the following skills:
* Taking a picture walk to make predictions
* Using choral reading strategies
* Using questioning to explore the story
* Identifying the characters, setting, problem and solution
* Using evidence to tell about character traits
Writer's Workshop will begin this week. Students will learn how to think of something that they know about and use pictures and words to put their ideas on paper. They will explore the idea that they are all authors and can make wonderful stories using the writing process.
Math
We will continue with Chapter 1 and will continue to focus on the skills listed below.
* Use pictures to Add To- Students will use pictures to "add to" and find sums
* Model Adding To- Students will use concrete objects to solve "adding to" addition problems
* Model Putting Together- Students will use concrete objects to solve "putting together" addition problems
* Model Addition- Students will solve adding to and putting together situations using the strategy make a model
* Add Zero- Students will understand and apply the Additive Identity Property for Addition
* Add in Any Order- Students will explore the Commutative Property of Addition
* Put Together Numbers to 10- Students will model and record all the ways to put together numbers within 10
* Addition to 10- Students will build fluency for addition within 10
Science
We will finish up our weather unit by exploring the seasons and how to predict weather.
Social Studies
We will use graphic organizers, pictures and words to describe how to work together in the classroom and how to become good friends to our classmates.
Week of September 17, 2018
Language Arts:
We have been reviewing the initial sounds: /s/, /t/ and /b/ and identifying words that begin with these sounds within poetry. The students have been practicing writing these letters using the D'Nealian handwriting curriculum that the options department uses here at Bell.
We have introduced the following high frequency sight words this week and last: like, I, big, and, can & for and will continue practicing these words through fun centers and activities over the next week.
Students have been composing inventive writing within their daily journals.
We started our Junior Great Books reading curriculum this week with our first story, "Cornelius". JGBis a flexible, interactive read-aloud program that combines:
* Engaging, complex literature
* High-level thinking activities
* Student centered discussion
This program uniquely combines skill-building in literacy, reading comprehension, listening and speaking, and critical thinking.
Math:
We started the year identifying, counting and writing numbers 0-10.
We are moving into chapter 1 in our Go Math curriculum. Below are the skills we will focus on over the next two weeks.
* Use pictures to Add To- Students will use pictures to "add to" and find sums
* Model Adding To- Students will use concrete objects to solve "adding to" addition problems
* Model Putting Together- Students will use concrete objects to solve "putting together" addition problems
* Model Addition- Students will solve adding to and putting together situations using the strategy make a model
* Add Zero- Students will understand and apply the Additive Identity Property for Addition
* Add in Any Order- Students will explore the Commutative Property of Addition
* Put Together Numbers to 10- Students will model and record all the ways to put together numbers within 10
* Addition to 10- Students will build fluency for addition within 10
Science:
The students in 106 are becoming "Weather Watchers". Using the Mystery Science curriculum, we are completing hands on activities to explore our outside world.
