Dear Parents,

We are loving this time of year!!!  We are so busy learning about "Everything Fall".  We have enjoyed making many apple activities and correlating them to reading and writing.  For example, we read the book, The Seasons of an Apple Tree, and we created an apple and labeled its parts.  We also finger-painted an apple and wrote one fact that we learned from this non-fiction story. 
We are continuing to discuss the roles of an author and illustrator, as well as, comparing fiction to non-fiction books.
Next week, we will begin to discuss story elements such as the main characters, setting, and sequencing events in order from beginning, middle, and end.  We will revisit the story Chrysanthemum and Nubs. We will also complete an apple sequencing activity.
I hope that your child is enjoying practicing their sight words on the rings for "homework".  When you think your child is fluent in reading each word, please send them back and we will continue to add new words in small increments to ensure success.
In Math, we are continuing to elaborate about shapes.  Today we learned two new skills. One, you can take a small shape and make a new picture using that shape; and two, you can cut a rectangle in half to make a new shape.  Two squares can make a rectangle and two triangles can make a rectangle.  What two shapes put together make a pentagon?  what two shapes put together make a rhombus?
Next week, we will compare a solid shape to a flat shape and discuss their similarities and differences.  For instance, how can you compare a circle to a sphere? or a triangle to a cone? or a cube to a square?
In Science, we will continue our exploration of textures and using our 5 senses to sort given pictures.

Thank you so much for your support at Chick-Fil_A community event on Tuesday.  We had the most participants and won a free lunch for the entire class!!  Way to go!!!

Please do not forget about the Fall Festival on Saturday, September 29th from 2-6!!  I am looking forward to it!

"This is fun"

Dear Parents,

I typically do not post anything on Fridays but I was so excited about our day today; that I just had to share!!!  We had a terrific day during Curriculum Connections.  Thank you so much, Amber Manganelli, for preparing all the activities!!  I emailed some pictures, but I also wanted to post a few.  We completed an apple shape matching; we read the story 10 Apples on Top by Dr. Suess; we matched lower-case letters to upper-case letters; and the best of all we made homemade apple sauce!!

Have a great weekend!!

"Not too much!!"







Thursday September 18, 2012

Thank you so much for attending Curriculum Night!!  I hope that you enjoyed seeing what "Life as a Kindergartener" is all about!

In Math, we started our 2nd unit of Describing and Comparing 2D and 3D shapes; as well as; counting up to 40, counting in patterns-10's; and making sets of objects up to 20.

We are working hard counting out sets of objects and recognizing numerals of set objects.

In Reading, we are continuing our theme about Friendship and we read the story Nubs: A story about a Mut, a Marine, and a Miracle. We are discussing the roles of an author and an illustrator.  We are also comparing fiction and non-fiction stories. Next week we will focus on comparing two non-fiction stories about Apples and Fall.

Here are some pictures of Daily 5 in Action

They all seem to enjoy having the opportunity to read to themselves and read to a "buddy".

Thank you so much for the additional listening CD and books!! Also, I wanted to send out a special shout-out to Mrs. Driggs for coming in and leveling our books based on Fountas and Pinnell.  Thank you so much!!

We will finish our 2nd unit in Social Studies about Me on the map on Friday.  On Monday, we will start our first Science Unit about identifying different objects based on different attributes such as texture and buoyancy.

Dear Parents,

I hope that everyone enjoyed their 3-day holiday!! Even though this is a short week, we are working hard on a variety of projects.  In Reading, we are enjoying our read-aloud about Frog and Toad are Friends and Frog and Toad Together.  We are learning about the value of friendship and qualities that make a good friend.  The students are currently completing a friendship journal that will be sent home on Friday. 

During Daily 5, we are continuing to work on letter identification and sounds; sight words; rhyming words; and segmenting words into syllables.  The students enjoyed their Popsicle on Tuesday.  YEA!!! we met our goal for reading independently for 15 minutes. We have started our guided reading groups and will continue to work on skills based on individual needs. 

We are having so much fun experiencing shapes with hands-on activities.  I hope you all have enjoyed your pictures of us making shapes out of marshmallows and completing our food sort.  I hope these activities have helped your child understand the difference between flat and solid shapes, as well as, see shapes in our everyday lives. Our next unit will begin next week.  We will focus on counting 1-40; counting in patterns: 2's,5's and 10's; and making sets of objects 1-20. 

Yesterday, we started our 2nd unit in Social Studies entitled Me on the Map.  The students are expected to know the difference between a map and a globe and know where they are in relation to the world.  Tomorrow we will begin a two-day activity where we will make the world and break down each component of the world, continent, country, state, county, city, and home.

I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow night for Curriculum Night. Also, Fall pictures will be taken on September 11th.

Thanks,
Amanda Malone