December

We had a fun Friday designing and gingerbread houses.  Thank you to everyone for coming to the rescue with candy.  We had an overabundance of candy for the children to be creative designers!

Today we went to Bay Square nursing home to share some holiday cheer with the residents. 

On Wednesday, we will be performing our play, Gingerbread Baby at 2:00.  If you are not able to make it on Wednesday, please find someone who is available to come and support your child. 

And, lastly, please remember to send in indoor shoes with your child on a daily basis.  We do not want them to be in their boots all day as that can be uncomfortable and hot.  Also, the are required to wear sneakers on PE days.  They may leave a pair of shoes at school if that is easier. 

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 27

THis week in...

Reading we:

• have been introduced to the following members of the reading super power team.  The members I have introduced thus far are...

• worked on vowel sounds
• new letters--p, h, r, k
• new popcorn words--at, and, am

Writing we:

• are swimming in writing pattern books--pattern books are simple books that have a word pattern on each page and only 1 or 2 words change.  They are also the type of books the children are reading right now. They are great at helping writers learn to spell their popcorn words correctly.
• worked on putting spaces between words.
• discussed what to do when you make a mistake.
• learned about getting ideas from each other and from the books we read.

Math we:

• introduced the word "sum" and played Find the Sum.
• played a spin a number game.
• made hexagons in multiple ways.

• counted by 10s .
• counted by 10s from random numbers.
• played a double ten frame game.
• during calendar we are discussing the different types of equations.

1+2=3
3=1+2

  1
+2
___
  3



Practice at home:

• +1 and +0 facts
• number stories (aka: word problems) Have your children tell you whether your story is a join (+) or take away (-) number story.
• estimating

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 6

This week in:
Reading we--

• Talked about what good buddy reading looks like
• Read Dex, The Heart of the Hero, and discussed that, as readers, we have reading superpowers just like real superheros.  To build our reading muscles and stamina, we need to use our reading superpowers.
  
  
  
  
  
• New popcorn words: like, to 

Writing we--

• Wrapped up our Looking Closely unit
• Practiced counting words in sentences
• Continued learning about syllables and how it helps us write words 

Math we --

• Introduced the 10 frame
• Made 10 frame turkeys
• Gareth taught us a domino game that he invented!  It reminded me of Qwirkle.  We all played and loved it!  Thanks Gareth!

Practice at home:
As I hand out the popcorn words at conferences, I wanted to share with you ideas I have pinned on my sight word board on pinterest.  Obviously there are many more ideas to choose from, but I thought I'd get you started with these, if you're interested. 
https://www.pinterest.com/bmelevsky/sight-words/

WEEK OF OCTOBER 23 AND 30

This week in...

Reading we: 

• Retelling is one of the skills we work on throughout the year in kindergarten.  I hope everyone was able to hear their child retell the Big Pumpkin Story.  They all did a nice job in school.
• We started "shopping" for leveled books this week.  
• Introduced syllables and did an activity about how many syllables are in our names
• Tried to figure out the main idea of some of our books 
• New popcorn word: the  
• Have your kids sing you--"You can say the and you can say the (long e), but you always spell it t-h-e"
• New letters: d, s, g, a

Writing we:

• Learned how to zoom in really close on one part of an object. 
• Tapping out words
• Went for a nature walk to find items to look closely at.  Thank you to everyone who sent in objects

Math we:

• Learned about the tricky teens.  All teens start with the number 1....

and why are 11, 12 and 13 not called oneteen, twoteen, and threeteen?!?!  It really makes my job more challenging. :)

• Played a guess my number on the class number grid.  Played like twenty questions.  Children asked questions about numbers such as, "Does it have a 2 in it?" or "Is it less than 50?" and I eliminated numbers until the number was revealed.
• What comes next? counting activity
• Counting by 10s

Practice at home:

• Counting by 10s.  Count by random numbers for a challenge
• Clap out syllables in words.  Words with only one syllable are the trickiest

Wolfe's Neck Farm Slideshow (courtesy of Heather Jabar)

WEEK OF OCTOBER 16

This week in...
Reading we:

• Had our first official meeting with our first grade reading buddies!!!

• We spent some time this week learning about how the picture AND the first letter are big clues when finding out the word on the page.
• New popcorn words: can, see
• New letters: c, o

Poem--
Bippity Boppity Boo 
A bat flew over you
Bippety Boppity Bee
A bat flew over me
Bippity Boppity *Bohn
A bat flew over *John!

Writing we:

• Started our "Looking Closely" writing unit.   We learn how to write like scientist by observing objects closely, drawing what we see, labeling and writing about it. 

Math we:

• Learned about tricky teen numbers
• Played tricky teen BINGO
• Practiced counting on with 2 dice.  Say one number and count on from there with the second dice.

WE HAD A FUN DAY AT THE FARM...Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures :(!

WEEK OF OCTOBER 9

This week in...
 
Reading we:

• Added our first popcorn words to the word wall.  Ask your children why they are called popcorn words.  

is, mom, dad, love, you, me 

• We added a song to our poem folder that teaches us how to spell the last 5 words

• For 2 days we talked about fun ways to interact with our books.  One being acting our book out.  The kids had fun trying it out and I had fun watching all the smiles. Here is a snip-it...

Writing we:

• Your kids are coming home with a story they wrote about our trip to the fire station.  Please have them share it with you.  We wrote 1 page a day together at the meeting spot and then off to try on their own.  They all worked really hard on it.   Some examples of reinforcing compliments to give:

"Your story makes a lot of sense!"
"Your pictures match your words!"
"Look at all the words/letters you wrote!"
"You really stayed on topic...it's all about your field trip!"
"Your story has a beginning, middle, and end!"


Math we:

• Made shape collages

Played dot card top-it (war).  Introduced language such as greater, less. more, fewer

Practice at home:
Try spelling little words instead of saying them.

For example,

• Turn the lights o-f-f 
• I   l-o-v-e     you
• G-o   to bed! :) 

Coming up: Field trip to Wolfe's Neck Farm--Wednesday!

WEEK OF OCTOBER 3

This week in...

Reading we:

• Practiced 1:1 correspondence with a new book "Where Are We?".  Developing the habit of pointing while you read is a critical skill as your kindergartener begins their journey into reading!
• Added an apple poem to our poetry folders
• Continued to discuss what makes a good choice book for me when "shopping" for new books in the classroom

Writing we:

• Made scientific drawings of butterflies--After getting "feedback" from our writing partners about our first draft, we listened to their advice and completed a second, more accurate drawing of a Painted Lady butterfly.  We did a lot of noticing and adding detail.  We then added color and labels. It took us all week.  Final drafts coming home today.

Math we:

• Talked about the difference between repeating patterns and growing patterns
• Described and compared shapes 
• Learned how to cross things out as you count them on a page
• Built a 5 staircase with Cuisenaire Rods and played "Which one is missing?"

Other:

• Our butterflies hatched!  Even the chrysalises that fell were safe and sound!   Yea!

Practice at home:

• Count forward and backward (from random numbers)
• Remind your child of things that have happened in their lives that they can write stories about at school
• Spray shaving cream on the counter and have your children practice writing their letters and numbers in it.  Clean counters and learning all in one!

Open House

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 25

This week in:

Reading we...

• Got reading partners

• Learned how to "make a plan"
• Discussed books we would want to be in and books we would NOT want to be in
• Learned that pictures give clues
• Pointed and read a pattern book called "Daisy the Pirate".  Everyone got a copy for their book bins 
• Had a special guest reader, Dr, Dolloff!

Writing we...

• Made a Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar? class book 
• Discussed how to put a booklet together
• Sorted story pages
• Read Ralph Writes a Story
• Introduced how to use the alphabet chart to help us write

Math we...

• Played "under the rug"--a game in which you have 5 objects on top of a "rug" (you can use anything).   Player 1 hides some of the objects under the "rug".  Player 2 figures out how many objects are under the rug by looking at how many are left on top.  Great game to play at a restaurant.  Use sugar packets and call it "Under the Napkin!"  Increase the number as they gain understanding.
• Played a dot card memory game
• Introduced the 5 frame
• Made a how old are you graph 

Other...

 Our caterpillars are in their chrysalises.  We had a little accident, but we are waiting to see what happens!  Fingers crossed!









A painted lady butterfly was spotted on the playground!

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 18

This week in :

READING WE...

• Started Reader's Workshop--Reader's Workshop is a time when reader's are spending time with books and practicing strategies that I have taught them through my mini lessons.  This week we learned that there are 3 ways to read a book.

• Talked about what good reader's look and sound like.
• Introduced letters t, f, b, n
• Made a class book, I LOVE MY SCHOOL SHOES!

WRITING WE...

•  Started Writer's Workshop--Similar to reader's workshop, but writing.  Writer's have been drawing pictures and practicing adding details to picture to make them more interesting.  We are writing about true stories.  Here's a picture we drew all together by adding detail by detail.  Everyone had a turn.
   
  Got writing partners and writing spots.  Our writing partners are there to be our writing coaches when needed!

MATH WE...

• Did a math sheet using our new interactive whiteboards!  SO FUN!
• Practiced careful counting
• Played a symmetry game with pattern blocks
• Practiced numeral writing--all numbers have been introduced now and have a rhyme to go with them.
• Introduced Geoboards and Cuisenairre rods
• Multisensory counting--I dropped coins into a tin can and children had to count with their eyes closed

OTHER

• Monday is Open House 
• Family Collage project due Monday!  You can bring it to Open House.
• Tuesday is picture day
• I will need a baby picture of everyone for our birthday bag Guess Who? game.  Send it to me via email or folder.  
• We had our first guidance lesson
• Friday is Library---Return your books day!

WHAT TO DO AT HOME

• Brainstorm ideas for your kindergarten to write about during writer's workshop.  Things that have happened to him/her.  Big or Little.  
• Ask your child if they can remember any of the rhymes that go with writing the numbers 
• Do multisensory counts at home

Crescent Beach June 2017

Arbor Day

WEEK OF APRIL 24 AND MAY 1

This week in....

Reading we:

• Discussed having an opinion about a book
• Rated our books with 1, 2, or 3 stars
• Recommended and lent books to our reading partners
• Did a popcorn word jumble activity 
• Read Elephant and Piggie books to prepare us for the play on Monday
• Learned about Bossy "e"!

Writing we:

• Spent the week writing opinions.  Here were some of our topics:

• Should the boy step on the ant?  Prompted by the book "Hey, Little Ant"
• Should the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Prompted by the book...:0
• Do you like tomatoes?
• What's the best pet? 
• Book reviews

• Started small moments again
• stretched out the middle of our stories
• discussed how to end our stories
• noticed many small moment stories have people talking in them
• learned how to change the eyebrows and mouth on the people in our pictures to show feeling

Math we:

• Played a dice subtraction game
• Made triangles using other shapes.  We had a discussion/challenge on weather you could make one using a square as one of the shapes.  We concluded the answer was "no".
• Learned and practiced a new app called ADDIMALS
• Played a +1 dice game
• Used positional words to describe a shape design we made to our partner to see how closely they could match it and then revealed!  Fun game to play at home!

• Surveyed and graphed "Would you like to have a bird on your head?" (Elephant and Piggie story)
• Played a doubles game

Other

• Celebrated our Lunch Heroes by making the a sign we hung in the cafeteria!  Thank you to Ms. Barb and Ms. Nancy for all you do to keep our kids healthy, trying new foods, and making lunchtime so fun and festive!
• Community Services is running a Reading and Writing Summer Camp for Rowe Students only from July 31-August 11 at Rowe School!  Most children regress in the summer.  This is a perfect way to keep the reading going with some fun summer reading and projects.
• Field trip Monday to Merrill Auditorium
• Arbor Day Celebration May 19

Kindergarten Funny:
I want to be a mathmagician when I grow up.

WEEK OF APRIL 10

This week in
Reading we...

• Compared and contrasted books.
• Learned that "when 2 vowels go awalking, the first one does the talking!"
• Poem of the week "SPRING SONG"

Writing we...

• Created and celebrated ALL ABOUT POSTERS (coming home today!) 
• We celebrated my going around and posting compliments on each others posters.  So fun!

Math we...

• Counted 10s and 1s
• Made a number story book
• Came up with a survey question and surveyed our friends
• Played counting backwards ZAP

The highlight of the week was the LIGHT LAB on Monday.  The children went to five different stations to predict, test, observe and conclude!  The conclusions from the five stations were...
1. Light can bend
2. You need light to see objects
3. Light can bounce
4. Light can go through some objects
5. Light is made of colors

Here is a little taste of your scientists at work!

LIGHT LAB

WEEK OF MARCH 27

This week in
Reading we...

• Worked on the sounds oo (oodily oo's) and ee (eedily ee's) 
• Sorted reading strategies we thought we were experts in and ones that we thought we could use a little practice on
• Learned about periods, question marks and exclamation marks
• We are listening to The Boxcar Children during brain vacation.  I occasionally act out the book while they are listening to guide their visualization.
• Made a popcorn word game board (coming home today)  

Writing we...

• Wrote All About Me stories 
• We spent several days learning about the table of contents.  Many writer's choose to write books with a table of contents and did a great job!  I talked about how it is like planning your book before writing it.  
• Chose a non-fiction book feature to add to our books

Math we
...

• Painted symmetrical irises
• Played an addition game adding +0, +1, +2
• Played a doubles addition game (sent home)
• Used graph paper to record turn around facts

Other:

• We made this chart at the beginning of the month.  Lions win!  :(

• Guidance this week was about "What Makes a Good Friend" 
• Had a special artist come to art class who taught us how to papier mache
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Practice at home:

• Play the popcorn word game that is coming home today
• Read or watch non-fiction videos.  See if you can remember 5 facts.  If you can you are an expert and you can write a book about it in kindergarten!

WEEK OF MARCH 13

We started out week with an absolutely fabulous field trip to Whittemore Farm.  Steve Dugas taught us all (adults included) everything we wanted to know about maple sugaring.  At home, I hope you were all able to reap the benefits by tasting the delicious syrup that was given to each child. Thank you Mr. Dugas for offering your time and knowledge to provide a wonderful experience for the kids! Here are some pics from the trip!




In Writing we...

• Did some buddy writing.  We wrote 2 All About books together. 
• If I were a Leprechaun.... 

In Math...

• Learned about turn around facts  (2+3=5  so 3+2=5)
• Practiced "Friends of 10" (combinations of 10)

My Slideshow

My Slideshow

WEEK OF MARCH 6

This week in...
Reading...

• Went on a scavenger hunt in non-fiction book looking for non-fiction book features such as labels, close-ups, captions and bold words.   
• Compared 2 non-fiction books about bears
• Practiced naming important words from a book
• Learned how to do the four finger flip trick after reading a book.  Can you remember four things that happened in your book (without peeking!)?

Writing...
We spent most of the week publishing our How To books.  The writers worked extremely hard, using their neatest handwriting, and 5 star pictures to complete a published book.
They will be hanging in the hallway. If you are in the building make a trip down to see them!



Math...

• Learned that there are join (+) and take away (-) number stories.
• Learned that number stories end with a question
• ....Learned what a question was :) 
• Played a train game with attribute blocks (adding a block to the train that has only 1 different attribute from the one before)
•  Game day Friday

Coming up...

• Monday is our field trip to Whittemore Farm for maple sugaring.  If you haven't sent in your permission slip, send it on Monday or email me permission. Have students wear boots and dress warm. We'll be outside! Thank you Dugas Family!

• Next week we'll be starting ALL ABOUT books aka non-fiction writing.  A homework will come home next week to list some things your child is an "expert" on (knows at least 5 things about).  HOW TO books coming home today!

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 28

This week in...

Reading we:

• Compared Fiction and Non-fiction texts
• Took a trip to the library to pick out a non-fiction book
• Learned about /ou/ and /ow/ chunks
• Got new reading buddies
• Practiced reading chorally

 Writing we:

• Learned how to zoom in on a picture
• Talked about turning our vacation experiences into how to books
• Got reminders about editing and fixing our books up
• Are getting excited about publishing a how to book next week
• Did a Dr. Seuss Write Around the Room with popcorn word list B words

Math we:

• Played "Guess my shape" (see above)
• Played top it with double digit numbers
• Did a careful counting Dr. Seuss activity
• Listened to and practiced The Doubles Rap Song
• Did an estimation activity
• Had Friday Game Day! Keep playing strategy games at home!

Practice at home:

• Write popcorn words on Jenga pieces
• Write popcorn words on paper cups and hide an object under one of them. Have your child read the word on the cup until he/she finds it.

• Put number cards in order from least to greatest 

3D Shapes I Know (solid shapes song- including sphere, cylinder, cube, c...

Buddy Reading Expectations

The Friends of 10 (Ten Frame Version)

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 6

This week in...

Reading we:

• Continued to practice reading stamina.  Twenty minutes is our record!
• Practiced different ways to partner read
• Looked for -sh, -th, and -ch words
• Got a refresher on what it looks and sounds like to partner read--aka being a "coach"

Writing we:

• Learned how to edit using green pens
• Practiced adding tips and warning into out how to books
• Acted out our how to books to find out if we missed a step
• Read some how to books by previous students and Ms. Melevsky
• Brainstormed fancier words for "put"  

Math we:

• Played hidden bears (combinations of 10)
• Introduced 3 dimensional shapes
• Played the disappearing train game
• Discussed the minus sign and the words subtraction, take away and minus
• Explored tangram puzzles
• Worked on our number books 

Practice at home:
1.Estimating is a critical math skill.  Many children who have a strong number sense often have difficulty with estimating.  Keep this in the back of your mind and when the opportunity arises....ask your kids to estimate.  Other than estimating a group of objects, you can also think about this: what is 11+15 (adjust numbers accordingly for your children.  Make it a problem that they won't know the answer to immediately)?  Ask questions like:
What number do you think it is close to? Do you think it is more than ___? less than___?  Explain why?

2. Spell popcorn words out loud for you kids and see if the can visualize the word and name it.
Here are some of the trickier ones!
he                in                see                an
so                and            it                am   
can            like                up                do
we                on                you

Other:
Send in 100 pennies for YCAN!
Valentines day fancy snack is Tuesday

WEEK OF JANUARY 23

This week in:

Reading we...

• Revisited what good readers do
• Started a reading stamina chart
• Sorted SH TH and CH words
• Sorted song and short i

Writing we...

• Talked about stretching out a page in our books
• Picked new goals 
• Learned that there is a vowel in EVERY syllable

Math we...

• Practiced teens on double ten frames
• Put the equals sign on the other side...12=10+2
• Actual half way day...today!
• Snowman symmetry--finish the half drawn snowman
• Worked on our Number books

Other...
We had some special 7th grade guests this week.  A few old student of mine game back to kindergarten to practice being teachers.  They planned and executed three, color themed stations for the students to rotate through.  So fun!

Practice at home...

WEEK OF JANUARY 16

This week in...

Reading we:

• Learned A LOT about vowels!
• Flippy Dolphin is the last reading strategy
• Added this poem to our poem folder

Writing we:

• Made writing goals 
• Read "Song and Dance Man", a small moment story
• Continued to practice and reinforce telling your story across the pages and planning it out

Math we:

• Played a game called "Nim".  This was the game the children were playing on Seesaw.  It is a strategy game that is fun and easy to play!  Try it at home.
• Played "The Growing Train Game"
• Played "Addition Top-It"
• Discussed the word HALF 
• Mitten Math
• Combinations of 10
• Counted by 10 from random numbers

Other:
We had a community meeting about making the world a better place
Ms. Rancourt taught us about telling in and telling out
Our halfway day is next Wednesday!!!!

Practice at home:
Have your children...

• sing you the vowel song
• teach you how to play Nim 

When you have small moment experiences with your children say, "This would be a great story to write about at school!"

WEEK OF JANUARY 9

In reading we...

• Learned how to use the following reading strategies when stuck on a word

 

• Played popcorn word games
•  Made a "Where is my Mitten" book
• Added a poem to our poem folder "The Snowman Cheer"

In writing we...

• Discussed that good writers add feeling words
• Talked about stretching out the details
• You can fancy up your illustrations and your words!

In math we...

• Practiced proving if a number story was right or wrong with pictures and words
• Described and drew shapes free hand and with a template and compared which was easier
• Made shape snowflakes
• Finished our Months of the Year activity
• Played "Zap" counting backwards from 20
• Counted on from random numbers

Here's the song we sang...




Other...

• We planted fast plants and put one under a grow light, one in the window and one covered with black felt.  We made observations and asked questions.