Dec. 3-7

Hello Families,

Wow!!! It is already December.  Time flies!!!! These next few weeks will go quick and then we have a long time off.  When you are on vacation, please remember to read with your child and practice counting.  One of my favorite things I used to do with my child was play games.  It is a great way to communicate and also learn new concepts.

This week, we will be finishing up gingerbread stories and how to measure the 3 different sizes of gingerbread man, boy, and baby with marshmallows.  We will be making some great winter projects. 

Sight word: play

In math, we will be counting forward and backwards on a number line. The class is using a variety of ways to count in counting collections.  Students are finishing up Unit 3.  In your math books, you can start unit 3 in your books.

Reminders:
Monthly Assembly- December 7
Writer's Workshop Publishing Celebration- Next week
Gingerbread Hunt-December 13
No centers the last week-Dec. 17-20
Winter celebration- Dec. 20 (more info in email coming out)
Winter vacation -Dec. 21-Jan. 15

Have a great week,
Ms. Werner

November 19 - 23

Hi Kindergarten Families, 

Since we only have school on Monday and Tuesday next week, we’ll spend time reviewing prior concepts and continuing to observe and study our caterpillars.   On Tuesday, we will have a small “feast” in honor of Thanksgiving.  We will give the students a small snack and focus on manners, friendship and the meaning of being “thankful” and “giving”.  With Thanksgiving on my mind, I’d like to thank all of you who have volunteered/donated to our class in many different ways this year. Without your support we would not be able to do so many exciting activities in our class. I am very thankful for each and every one of you and your wonderful children!

Word wall word: are

After our Thanksgiving break, we will start our unit on Gingerbread Man stories.  We will read a variety Gingerbread Man stories that are very different.  We will be comparing the different settings, characters, and events.  Every year, we find more stories with a Gingerbread theme!  If you have any Gingerbread stories at home, please send in to share.  Besides comparing stories, we will measure different sizes of a Gingerbread Man, Boy, and Baby with marshmallows.  We decorate our own Gingerbread Boy/or Girl and a gingerbread house.  We also have a couple math games.  

In Writer's workshop, we will be finishing up our narrative writing piece during the week of Dec.3 and have a celebration at the end of the week.   We have been writing about special first moments such as riding a roller coaster, flying on plane or riding a bike.  Another teaching point was using strong emotions when writing, like a time when you got hurt or was scared, etc.    I talked about a moment when I did a cart wheel off a chair and broke my arm.   These have become so detailed and all have been excited to tell me their stories!!! We can't wait to share our stories after our celebration.

In math, we are working on fact families and how numbers are related.  We have been using a number line to add and subtract.  We will begin to focus on place value and understand that the teen numbers have a group of ten with some extra.  In counting collections, students have been adding by 1's, 2', 5's, and 10's.  This is something you can do at home too!!!!

Upcoming events:

November 28 -Banana Slug band assembly 

December 6- Writer's workshop celebration

December 7- Friday Assembly

December 20-Rock Band Concert/ Winter Party in classroom (More info coming)

December 21- No School (Teacher work day)

I wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving filled with friends, family, and all the things that you love!

Ms. Werner

Nov. 5-9

Hi Kindergarten Families,

Thank you to all the families that came to help out at the Halloween party.  It was great to see all the different costumes.  Thank you to our room moms Theresa and Kristie!!!

This week is Parent/Teacher conference week. It is very important that you arrive on time for your conference due to our very packed schedule (each conference is only allotted 15 minutes).  If you are early, you can check out the Book Fair that is happening in the library. We have created a Wish List at the Book Fair in case anyone is interested in contributing to our classroom collection of books!

Here is what's going on in Kindergarten this week:

Word Wall Word: have 

Writer’s Workshop: Students have made amazing progress with sounding out words.  Remember, the goal is not for their sounded-out word to be spelled correctly, but for them to begin writing the sounds that they hear in each syllable.   

Art/Science: We will continue to observe our classroom caterpillars and study the life cycle of butterfies and facts about butterflies.  

Reading: By now students should be able to read simple 3 letter words with “short a” and “short i” middle sounds (ie: cat, ran, bit, pin).  Please help your child practice these skills at home if needed. Students are working on reading with fluency, meaning that if they are slowly decoding (sounding out) each word in a sentence, they should go back to read the sentence smoothly again. Fluency builds confidence, motivation, and is an important step for comprehension. Please help support your child with this skill at home by having them read the paper books over and over again until they are reading them fluently and with confidence.  Please review elements of the story of each book they read.  We have focused on characters, setting, problem and solution.

Math: Students are learning how to solve problems using a variety of strategies which include tally marks, ten frames, number bonds, counting on, and drawings.  We have started adding in word problems with subtraction.  It is amazing to see their progress.  The students are also explaining their thinking/reasoning to their peers.  Please continue to practice number writing at home if your child is still writing some numbers backwards. 

We have been discussing positive behaviors in class and on the playground.  Please review these guidelines at home.  Students should be keeping their hands and body parts to themselves.  We have had a hard time understanding personal space and students are not liking others in their personal space.  Students have asked these students to stop but they are continuing.  It has become a game in the classroom and will be taken serious if it doesn't stop.   In class, I have reviewed the definition of bullying is when a student repeats the behavior after they have been asked to stop.  We have had several class meetings with acting out the correct behavior and have students come up with suggestions of what they can to do to avoid this from happening.  Thank you for your support in helping your child understand the importance of personal space!

Reminder:

No school on Monday, Nov. 12.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Ms. Werner

Oct. 29-Nov. 2

Hello Families,


Another month is almost come to an end!  These students are so amazing.  Their growth in academics is simply incredible.  As I  assess them for our conferences and report cards , I am very impressed with the strides they made!


This week, we have Halloween on Wednesday.  We will have centers and party starting at 11:00.  If you are helping, please come around 10:45  to help set up centers and food.  Thank you for the support for the party and thanks to our room moms, Kristi and Theresa for planning the Halloween party!  Students can not wear scary costumes with blood or weapons.  Please keep those for Trick or Treating at home. Halloween parade is at 8:30 am.

Conferences are next week Nov. 5-9.  We have our regular schedule.  However, we do not have centers that week. 

This week, we will be starting our Butterfly theme.  We will be discussing the life cycle of a butterfly and create art projects that will help us remember the stages.  Students will measure with butterflies on non-standard measurement activity. 

Reading: The class has starting reading books with short vowels please practice at home. In RTI, we will be reading the book The Lion and the Mouse.  Students will be asked to talk about characters and setting and cause and effect. 

www:  for

Math: We still are using number lines for counting on and back.  We introduced the number bond to organize our thinking.  We will be finishing up Unit 2.  You may do unit 2 in your math book.

Reminders:
Conferences are Nov. 5-9, please contact me if you don't have a time. 
No centers conference week
Picture retake Friday, Nov. 2
No school Monday, Nov. 12  in observation of Veterans Day.

Have a great week and safe Halloween!!
Ms. Werner

Kindergarten Update - 10/ 22 - 10/26

Hello Kindergarten Families,

This week, we will be finishing up our "Wild Things theme"as well as our spiders, pumpkins, and bats.  I hope you enjoy playing the games with the pumpkin number line that we will make on Monday.  There are many other games you can find with a number line on Pinterest or other websites.
The next couple weeks, we will be getting "Career & College" ready theme. This is a school-wide/district wide theme that will be discussed  throughout each grade.  We will be reading Oh the places We Go by Dr Suess.  This will open up discussions on what we want to do in the future and what we need to do now to prepare for our future careers.  We will talk about different careers and paths such as schools that are focused in one area like "engineering" or "glazier".  This is great time to talk to your child at home about the path you took  to get the job you have too.

word wall words: you , me

Writer's workshop:  We will be finishing up our "Launching Workshop" writing piece this week and have a celebration on Friday.  Please have your child bring in a small stuffed animal for them to read their story.

Math: In math, students are coming up with many strategies to solve math word problems.  We have talked about drawing a picture, number bonds, using a number line or a ten frame and at the end we want the "dessert" which is the number sentence that explains what we did to solve it.  In counting collections, we are starting to group our collection in 2's, 5's, and 10's besides counting by 1's.  You can have them practicing counting collections at home.  If they have a collection have them put them into groups and count them in their groups.

Star of the Day: Bring in book or something that represents "Fall".  Please do not bring in a stuffed animal.  You can have  make up 3 clues if you want the class to guess.

Halloween:  We will have Halloween parade on Wednesday, Oct. 31.  It will start at 8:30am.  It goes quick so be here early.  Costumes should not have blood or any weapons.  Please keep the weapons at home.  Our centers and party will start at 11:00.  Our room mothers Kristi and Theresa send out a sign up. We need a couple parents to help prep the art projects for that day.  Please let me know if you can help  with party prep or centers.

Conferences Nov. 5-9 _ We will not have centers that week.  Also, we will have the same schedule as normal.  School will start at 7:52 and ends at 11:25 on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday.  On Wednesday we will have restructured and will get out at 12:20.  I will send out the conference time for you next week.  If you don't have a conference time, please sign up or email me.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Ms. Werner

10/15 - 10/19

Hi Kindergarten Families,    

Hope to see you at the  Harvest Festival tonight from 5-9!

The new "Star of the Day", this round is about "Fall".  You can bring in any books, things from nature, but please no stuffed animals.  You can put it in a bag with the child's name and return to school.

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

Reading:  In centers,  we have one more book with sight words and then we will be starting short vowel sounds.  The first book is "Nat at Bat".  Again, please read at home.  Also, when you read at home find books that are at your child's comfort level (Please practice reading paper books until they reading them accurately ). If they aren't reading yet, have them look at a book and tell their own story using the pictures.  Many scholastic books have books that are easy readers you can find them on their website. As you read together at home, students can locate sight words in books that you read together and talk about characters and settings.  

New Theme: “Monsters and Wild Things”! We will be reading “Where the Wild Things Are”.  This theme is a great way to discuss the concepts of “Fiction” vs. “Non-Fiction” which we will be comparing through a variety of books and charting the differences between each genre. We will also talk about the “characters”, “setting”, “problem” and “solution” in each book that we read. While reading with your child at home, please ask them to identify these story elements in their favorite stories. 

Art/Music/Science: Students  will be talking about fiction and non-fiction.  We will be making our own "Max" from the book Where the Wild Things Are.  We will be finishing up our facts on bats and spiders.  Last, we will be making our own bat. Students will be making a pumpkin number line and I will send it home and include ideas for games that you can play with using the number line.

Writer's Workshop: Our hard working writers have almost finished their first narrative book. We have been learning about creating a story with a  beginning, middle and end.  Soon we will  celebrate our first book being published.

The students have been enjoying all of our Halloween inspired songs and chants in class such as "5 Little Pumpkins", "" and "Halloween Cat"- ask your child to sing these songs to you at home!

Word of the Week: “is, look”. 

Math: Students will practice counting forwards and backwards within 20 using the number line and “counting collections”. They will continue to practice a variety of math strategies with partner collaboration to solve word problems and number sentences.  They will begin using a number line to tell addition/subtraction stories in class. 

Have a great week!

Ms. Werner

Oct 8-12

Hi Kindergarten Families,    

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

 

We will continue our unit on pumpkins, spiders and bats.  We didn't get to do the experiment last week with pumpkins and will do it this week.  Students will continue to learn about spiders and bats.  We have tons of art projects all over our room.  Please stop by and check them out when you get a chance.  Please ask questions about what they have learned about pumpkins and spiders.

    

Art/Music/Science: Students will learn songs and create art that is focused on classic Halloween animals such as black cats, bats and spiders!

Reading: We are almost done reading our readers with sight words.  Please continue to read these books and others at home and have them locate sight words in the books you read together.  We will begin short vowel words.

Math: Our math centers will focus on number sense to 10. Math games will include number lines, ten-frames and a “race to five” game.  We will start word problems next week in which students will use different strategies to solve addition problems.  They will explain their reasoning with the class.  Please continue to practice writing numbers 1-10 correctly at home.  

Word of the Week: “here”.  By now your child should be able to read and write the following sight words: I, like, see, a, go, the, to, my, and, at, it. Please review these words daily at home with your child if needed.

Our school's Harvest Festival is this Friday, October 12^th from 5:00-9:00. This is SUCH a fun event! I hope to see you there!

If you need a conference time, please email me.

Have a great week, 

Mrs. Werner