Everyone came back from our lengthy winter break ready to hit the ground running. I hope everyone's holidays were filled with good health and joy. In writing, we have spent the last month learning about linking words (i.e. so, because, and), transition words (i.e. next, after that, finally) and tenses. The children were introduced to where commas and quotation marks belong. Letter writing took place and we learned where the date, opening, body, and closing belongs on the page. The kindergarten post office opened in December. We have been busy drafting letters to friends, siblings, study buddies and teachers. Writers' Workshop lessons have also included how to write an intriguing beginning, long vowel letter patterns in spelling, and how the process of publishing works. We have been trying to make our writing juicy by including adjectives. Reading has been a wonderful time in the classroom over the past few weeks. Students are reading independently following mini-lesson topics about main idea, key details, and retelling. We worked in groups to read and retell four Aesop Fables. The students chose to retell their stories in the form of a skit. Several of our read aloud books for story have been by Kate Messner. Ms. Messner Skyped with us and it was exciting to hear how the publishing process works from a real author! There will be another opportunity within the month to purchase a personalized book signed by Kate. She has several new titles out now as well. In math we have been studying place value and the basic addition and subtraction facts. The students have worked on building numbers into the hundreds with flats, rods and units. They know how to write numbers in expanded notation (i.e. 100 + 80 + 2 = 182) as well as word format (one-hundred eighty-two). We used our 1 - 100 and 1 - 1000 charts to practice skip counting and found patterns within these numbers. Finally, we have done more work with the basic fact practice. Students are using counting on, counting backwards, making tens, using other facts they know, doubles, and near doubles to solve unknown sums and differences. We have learned several new card games: Go Fish (Make 10s instead of pairs), Salute, Addition/Subtraction War, and the Subtraction Card Game. Ask your child how to play one of these games. It's great fun and super for fact practice. We have begun project work. Each child has chosen an animal to study. We finished writing sections and questions to get us started with what we want to learn. Several lessons on using non-fiction text features and how to take notes have prepared the students to begin their research. As a school, we are focusing on the core value of respect for the month of January. It would be wonderful if you could tie this in to your discussions with your child at home to reinforce what we have been learning here. As always, if you have additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call or email me.
Important Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, 1/20: Papermaking with Mrs. Martin
Thursday, 1/29: Tracking (snow) Lesson with Mrs. Martin
Thursday, 2/5: Field Trip to CT Historical Society
Important Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, 1/20: Papermaking with Mrs. Martin
Thursday, 1/29: Tracking (snow) Lesson with Mrs. Martin
Thursday, 2/5: Field Trip to CT Historical Society