It is a sunny Saturday and it is almost March! I know SO many people who are very glad to have February over. I think having some sunshine will help. I know the children need to get outside more often and run around and I also need some fresh air. We have such a short time for recess but we may try getting outside when we can. Our playground is still pretty snowy but if kids bring boots maybe we can go out now and again. We may even try the big playground from time to time since they will be out there next year and need to learn the rules.
Literacy Night is this Tuesday, March 2nd from 6:00-7:30. I hope all of you can come.
Your children are doing marvelous jobs reading. The more chances they have to read, the better they get. If your child is still sounding out every word, have him/her practice the slow way (sounding the words out) and then practice reading the fast way (trying not to sound out unless needed). This will help with fluency.
Have your child practice saying the names of letters (both caps. and lower-case). They will be tested on this in April. They have to say the letters correctly and quickly.
Another thing they will be tested on is reading nonsense words. A good game you can play is to write out a common ending on a piece of paper (see my suggestions following). Write it pretty large. Then, using the letter cards from the homework notebook, put all the consonants upside down on the table (your child should be able to sort consonants and vowels). The first person draws a consonant and puts it on the front of the word ending and reads it. If it makes a word s/he gets a point. The next person then draws a consonant and puts it on the front of the same word ending and reads it. S/he reads it and gets a point if it is a real word. The person who makes the most real words wins. By playing this game s/he will be practicing reading real words and nonsense words.
Here are some word endings for the above game to get you started: at, it, ut, ug, ox, et, og, ip, ap, ell, ot.
Our letter in phonics this week is "w" and we will be writing sentences about a wagon.
In math we are working on the larger numbers 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20. Your child needs to be able to count up to these numbers but also be able to recognize and write the numerals out of order. We only need to add up to an answer of 10 but if your child can add amounts that are larger, it is good practice for them for first grade.
Our vocabulary words this week are witty, plump, aware, prod, and scraggly.
We are working on writing a book called, "All the Way up the Hill." It is about playing in the snow with friends. Be sure to have your child read this several times to several people when s/he brings it home. Also, when you come for literacy night be sure to look at the writing our class did about what we like in kindergarten that is hanging in the hallway! It is amazing how well they write! It is hard to believe that kindergarten students can do so much!!!!!
Have a fun weekend playing outside!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
End of February
Can you believe it is already the end of February and almost March? My husband and I were driving through Nibley over the weekend and saw all these really cute baby calves. It gave me hope that Spring is on the way!
I am ill and was gone today (Monday) and will be gone tomorrow (Tuesday) but am sure I will be back on Wednesday. Mrs. Lemon is our substitute. She has worked with me in kindergarten a lot (She used to be one of our aides.) so she really knows how our day goes. I am sure things will be fine. I sure miss being there!
This week we are working on the letter "x." Most of the students already know this letter's name and sound. It is a fun letter. I am not sure why....but the kids always seem to like it. Help them to "spy" the letter when they are out and about.
We are also working on subtraction. Practice with your child by asking questions while you do things. You can fold clothes and ask, How many shirts are there?" Take away some and ask "How many are there now?
We are making a number book and are practicing numbers from 11-20. Your child should practice counting different amounts up to 20. He/she also should be able to write all the numbers in order and out of order. He/she should also be able to recognize the numerals 1-20 (1-30 by the end of the year) out of order.
Our new vocabulary words are communicate, chatter, stalk, creak (the sound), and action.
Be sure to have your child practice our spelling words each week. Some children are doing really well and some are struggling. Another way to practice is to have your child write things at home (letters and notes to people, lists, sentences to go with pictures he/she draws). Some kids are trying to sound the spelling words out. These are not words they can sound out (Although I am glad they understand sounding out words.) so when you work with them help them to figure out what parts of the words they can sound out. Also, make up ways to help them remember. For the word "four" we say, "F, oh, you are 4!" because the sentence says the letters in the word. It has helped some remember.
Thank you for all your help! Have a wonderful week. It is cold but it is sunny!
I am ill and was gone today (Monday) and will be gone tomorrow (Tuesday) but am sure I will be back on Wednesday. Mrs. Lemon is our substitute. She has worked with me in kindergarten a lot (She used to be one of our aides.) so she really knows how our day goes. I am sure things will be fine. I sure miss being there!
This week we are working on the letter "x." Most of the students already know this letter's name and sound. It is a fun letter. I am not sure why....but the kids always seem to like it. Help them to "spy" the letter when they are out and about.
We are also working on subtraction. Practice with your child by asking questions while you do things. You can fold clothes and ask, How many shirts are there?" Take away some and ask "How many are there now?
We are making a number book and are practicing numbers from 11-20. Your child should practice counting different amounts up to 20. He/she also should be able to write all the numbers in order and out of order. He/she should also be able to recognize the numerals 1-20 (1-30 by the end of the year) out of order.
Our new vocabulary words are communicate, chatter, stalk, creak (the sound), and action.
Be sure to have your child practice our spelling words each week. Some children are doing really well and some are struggling. Another way to practice is to have your child write things at home (letters and notes to people, lists, sentences to go with pictures he/she draws). Some kids are trying to sound the spelling words out. These are not words they can sound out (Although I am glad they understand sounding out words.) so when you work with them help them to figure out what parts of the words they can sound out. Also, make up ways to help them remember. For the word "four" we say, "F, oh, you are 4!" because the sentence says the letters in the word. It has helped some remember.
Thank you for all your help! Have a wonderful week. It is cold but it is sunny!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Adding and Subtracting Games
A great way to help your child to practice adding is to take the Aces (1), 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s out of a deck of cards. (Two decks might work better since there will not be a lot of cards with one deck.) The first player draws two cards and adds them together. The other player draws two cards and adds them together. The person with the highest sum gets all four cards. If there is a tie then both players keep his/her own cards. Keep playing. The person who either gets all the cards or gets the most cards wins.
This game could also be played with subtraction by taking the Aces, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s and putting them in one stack and the 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s in another stack. The player would take a card from the higher numbered cards and one from the lower numbered cards. The player would then subtract the lower number from the higher number. The person with the LOWEST number wins the cards in this game.
At this point your child may need to count the shapes on the cards or use fingers or counters (like beans or blocks) to figure out the addition problems. For subtraction they may need to use their fingers or counters to figure out the problems.
This game could also be played with subtraction by taking the Aces, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s and putting them in one stack and the 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s in another stack. The player would take a card from the higher numbered cards and one from the lower numbered cards. The player would then subtract the lower number from the higher number. The person with the LOWEST number wins the cards in this game.
At this point your child may need to count the shapes on the cards or use fingers or counters (like beans or blocks) to figure out the addition problems. For subtraction they may need to use their fingers or counters to figure out the problems.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Another Short Week
Well, here we are having another short week. The really amazing thing is that (if I figured correctly) we have 7 weeks until spring break and then another 7 weeks until summer! It goes SO fast!
This week we will be working on the letter "j." You can help your child by asking him/her to find that letter when you are out and about (like at the grocery store). Then ask the name and sound of the letter.
In math we are subtracting! We will be separating a whole number into groups and then another day taking away. The best way to practice this with your child is with simple math stories. If you are eating chips or cookies you can say something like, "I have five chips and now I eat one. How many chips do I have left?" Have your child also tell math stories.
This week's vocabulary words are plea, baffled, flustered, startle, and slumber.
Be sure to have your child practice the spelling words (attached to the homework sheet) for Friday's test.
We don't have library this week since we missed Monday. We sure seem to miss out on library a lot!
Have a great week!
This week we will be working on the letter "j." You can help your child by asking him/her to find that letter when you are out and about (like at the grocery store). Then ask the name and sound of the letter.
In math we are subtracting! We will be separating a whole number into groups and then another day taking away. The best way to practice this with your child is with simple math stories. If you are eating chips or cookies you can say something like, "I have five chips and now I eat one. How many chips do I have left?" Have your child also tell math stories.
This week's vocabulary words are plea, baffled, flustered, startle, and slumber.
Be sure to have your child practice the spelling words (attached to the homework sheet) for Friday's test.
We don't have library this week since we missed Monday. We sure seem to miss out on library a lot!
Have a great week!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Be sure to read....
Be sure to read Deb Reynold's comment on my last post! She goes into number bonds even further and gives a great website!
Next Week's News
O.k., as far as I know, I will be at school all week. I still have a medical appointment coming up on the 23rd in the morning but nothing until then...at least as of now.
The news this week is that we won't have a spelling test because of the Valentine card exchange on Friday. Fridays are so short, and we weren't able to get last week's test done on Friday so we will do it on Monday.
Friday we will be exchanging Valentine cards. No one HAS to bring cards but if your child does he/she needs to bring equal-value things for all the students. Also, as the note that was sent home on Friday said, please just have him/her write his/her own name on the card. It makes it a lot easier to pass out if the children haven't written the other students' names on the cards. (Because of the Valentine exchange, we won't have math rotations on Friday.) Also, we will be making large envelopes in class for the students to put their Valentines in.
The Math news is that our district math committee has us scheduled to not actually do math lessons from the program this week but to work with composing numbers (addition) and number bonds to practice what we did last week. We will be working a lot in math journals so there may not be math pages coming home.
What, might you be asking, is a number bond? In order to understand numbers and how adding and subtracting relate we talk about 'number bonds' which are pairs that make up each number. As an example the number bonds for seven are 3+4, 2+5, 1+6 and 0+7 (you can also reverse these to 4+3, 5+2, 6+1, and 7+0). You can "compose" numbers by finding the number bonds that add up to a certain number and "decompose" numbers by breaking the number into its number bonds. (Didn't we use to just call this adding and subtracting numbers?) One thing about education....there is always new language to learn. (O.k., Mrs. Reynolds, if I didn't explain this very well or correctly, please leave a comment! Mrs. Reynolds is our math expert at our school.)
In phonics we are studying the letter "v." As you are out and about, or even at home, see if your child can either find the letter "v" on things, or items that start with the /v/ sound. Honestly, Mrs. Duque and I didn't arrange things to teach "v" on Valentine week....but hey, it sure worked out great!
Our vocabulary (another "v" word) this week is enormous, swaying, delighted, cooperating, and struggling. These are great words to use in everyday conversation!
Well, I guess that is enough news for one day! Please let me know if these posts are helpful!
The news this week is that we won't have a spelling test because of the Valentine card exchange on Friday. Fridays are so short, and we weren't able to get last week's test done on Friday so we will do it on Monday.
Friday we will be exchanging Valentine cards. No one HAS to bring cards but if your child does he/she needs to bring equal-value things for all the students. Also, as the note that was sent home on Friday said, please just have him/her write his/her own name on the card. It makes it a lot easier to pass out if the children haven't written the other students' names on the cards. (Because of the Valentine exchange, we won't have math rotations on Friday.) Also, we will be making large envelopes in class for the students to put their Valentines in.
The Math news is that our district math committee has us scheduled to not actually do math lessons from the program this week but to work with composing numbers (addition) and number bonds to practice what we did last week. We will be working a lot in math journals so there may not be math pages coming home.
What, might you be asking, is a number bond? In order to understand numbers and how adding and subtracting relate we talk about 'number bonds' which are pairs that make up each number. As an example the number bonds for seven are 3+4, 2+5, 1+6 and 0+7 (you can also reverse these to 4+3, 5+2, 6+1, and 7+0). You can "compose" numbers by finding the number bonds that add up to a certain number and "decompose" numbers by breaking the number into its number bonds. (Didn't we use to just call this adding and subtracting numbers?) One thing about education....there is always new language to learn. (O.k., Mrs. Reynolds, if I didn't explain this very well or correctly, please leave a comment! Mrs. Reynolds is our math expert at our school.)
In phonics we are studying the letter "v." As you are out and about, or even at home, see if your child can either find the letter "v" on things, or items that start with the /v/ sound. Honestly, Mrs. Duque and I didn't arrange things to teach "v" on Valentine week....but hey, it sure worked out great!
Our vocabulary (another "v" word) this week is enormous, swaying, delighted, cooperating, and struggling. These are great words to use in everyday conversation!
Well, I guess that is enough news for one day! Please let me know if these posts are helpful!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
This week's vocabulary
Here are our vocabulary words for this week:
solitude, muddle (mixed up), sprinkle, expectations, progression
Please help your children learn these words by using them and asking your children to use them in sentences.
solitude, muddle (mixed up), sprinkle, expectations, progression
Please help your children learn these words by using them and asking your children to use them in sentences.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Quick update
Just to let you know, I won't be at school on Tuesday or Thursday morning. (I will be back in the afternoons on those days.) I have important appointments and those were the only times I could schedule them.
A quick update on what we are learning this week. In phonics we are learning the letter "d." Since the students have already learned this letter in reading, it shouldn't be too difficult. In math we are beginning to add numbers with sums up to 10. Finally, it will be the 100 day of kindergarten on Friday so we are doing some writing this week about the number 100.
A quick update on what we are learning this week. In phonics we are learning the letter "d." Since the students have already learned this letter in reading, it shouldn't be too difficult. In math we are beginning to add numbers with sums up to 10. Finally, it will be the 100 day of kindergarten on Friday so we are doing some writing this week about the number 100.
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