Weekly News (Feb. 18-21)

All About Me

We enjoyed learning all about Emilia this week.  The class LOVED her "FurReal" puppy, and they enjoyed learning about her favorite candy---orange Mambas!  Emilia loves Barbies, and she enjoys dancing and playing dress-up with her sister!

Diana also shared her "Me Box" this week.  The class loved her puppy too.  We learned that Diana enjoys spending time with her family, and she loves visiting her relatives in Poland, especially her grandparents.  We also learned about the beautifully decorated top that Diana wears on special occasions.  The class LOVED it!

The afternoon class learned all about Maggie this week.  We learned that Maggie likes to swim, and she enjoys coloring.  She loves spending time with her sister and doing ballet.  She also enjoys reading and collecting shells!

Math
The children continued to explore measurement this week and used three different sized "feet" to measure objects in our classroom.  They used their own foot, a partner's foot, and a standard foot to take their measurements.  Then we compared our results.  We talked about why the number of "feet" were different each time and that using a standard measuring tool, like a ruler, helps keep our results consistent, or the same.  The children also explored another measuring tool this week, a measuring tape, and used it to measure their supply boxes.  They recorded their measurements in their math journals and drew a picture to match.  We also completed a graphing activity where the students voted for their favorite pet.  We tallied our results and determined which pet was the favorite.  Dogs were the clear winner in both classes!

Jolly Phonics
The children are blowing me away with their sentence writing homework.  We have been doing a lot of writing in class too during Writer's Workshop time, and they are growing by leaps and bounds!  Knowing those Jolly Phonics sounds automatically really boosts the students' confidence when writing.  They are able to write with more ease, and they are more willing to take risks with their writing.  When I read the children's sentences, I can see how they are really stretching out their words to listen for sounds, and they are doing a great job.  Your support at home is truly valuable, and I thank you for remembering that the students are NOT expected to have their words spelled correctly and that proper spelling is a skill that continues to develop over time.  Continued practice at home with our Jolly Phonics sounds will really help the students continue to grow as readers and writers.  Be on the lookout next week for a set of Jolly Phonics cards for you to use at home. 

Literacy/Social Science
This week we focused on the skill of retelling during our read aloud stories this week.  The children enjoyed several Jan Brett stories including: Hedgie's Surprise; Honey, Honey…Lion; and Mossy.  They also enjoyed a nonfiction book about George Washington in celebration of his birthday and even made their own George Washington portraits.  The students also met in their guided reading groups this week and spent some time reading with a buddy.  

It was fun to see many of you at the Variety Show.  What a great night!  I was nervous, but the Dryden Staff dance turned out to be a big hit! Click HERE to watch the video. 

Weekly News (Feb. 10-14)

Two celebrations in one week!  The children had a great time celebrating our 100th day of school and Valentine's Day.  It was a great week!

All About Me

The afternoon class learned all about Ella's favorite things. We learned that Ella loves gymnastics, and her favorite color is purple.  She loves spending time with her family, especially in Disney, and she is proud of her Italian heritage!

Math

The children continued to learn about measurement this week and had an opportunity to measure objects in the classroom.  We also used counters to help solve addition problems.  We will continue to practice our math facts throughout the year.  We reinforced several math concepts on 100's Day including: counting by 10's, making arrays to show 100, identifying numbers on a hundreds chart, and even singing a song about our 100th day of school! 

Literacy

This week the children learned the sight word "you" and brought home a new sight word book.  We also completed a Valentine patterning activity that required careful reading of words you, yes, no, and love.  We revisited the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears by reading two clever stories.  The first story, Beware of the Bears, tells the story of what happened after Goldilocks left the Bears' house, and it involves the Bears wanting some revenge!  The second story, The Three Bears ABC, is a unique alphabet book that retells the story of Golidlocks.  We read a 100's day story too, which the children compared to our 100's Day Celebration, and we read a book about Abraham Lincoln in honor of his birthday.  

The children have been doing a fantastic job with their sentence writing homework.  They have been working hard to remember some of the things we have been working on during or Writer's Workshop time--starting each sentence with a capital letter, leaving a space between words, using an end mark, and really stretching out those sounds to write down our ideas.  Keep up the fantastic work!!

Valentine's Day

A big thank you to our room moms and to all of the parents who helped provide treats and supplies for our Valentine's Day party.  The children had a great time celebrating!  

Happy Valentine's Day

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Feb. 3-7)

Wow!  A full week of school!  It sure felt great having the students for a full week of instruction.  We were really able to get back in the full swing of things this week!

All About Me

The morning class loved learning about all of Mateo's favorite things.  Mateo showed the class his favorite stuffed chick, which everyone though was cute!  We learned that Mateo loves cats, and he enjoys collecting cars and trains.  His favorite movie is Despicable Me 2!

It was fun learning about Charlotte this week too!  Charlotte brought all of her favorite things in a beautifully painted box.  The class loved Charlotte's Sofia the First magical amulet, and they thought her crystal amethyst was really neat! Everyone enjoyed looking at her Chuck E. Cheese cards and her porcelain doll that Charlotte's dad gave her as a souvenir!

Math

This week in math we revisited the concepts of sorting, patterning, and making comparisons using our attribute blocks.  The children each chose an attribute block, and then we played a game where the children had to figure out the "mystery block" by listening to clues related to the color, size, and thickness of the shape.  The children also learned about measurement by using their own feet to measure various objects throughout the room.  The children quickly noticed that different size feet gave us different measurements.  We talked about how it would be a good idea to use a standard measuring tool (like a ruler) to get more consistent results.  

Jolly Phonics

Literacy

The children LOVED listening to more Jan Brett books this week, and they are becoming quite the experts in identifying the unique characteristics of her writing and illustrating style.  They really enjoyed  The Three Snow Bears, and they did a great job comparing it to the familiar tale of Golidlocks and the Three Bears.  We used a Venn diagram to compare some of the similarities and differences between these two books.  Take a peek below!

The children also loved listening to The Umbrella, which followed a similar pattern to The Mitten, except this time animals of the rain forest tried to squeeze inside an umbrella.  This story also provided the students with an opportunity to explore positional word such as: above, below, beside, and behind.  We listened to The Hat this week as well and completed a worksheet to help us match the animals from the story with the clothing each animal took from the clothes line.  

The children have also been enjoying some stories from our guest readers.  In the morning class, the children read the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear with Rique's mom and then listened to Toy Story 3.  The afternoon class enjoyed Big Mean Mike with Tyler's mom as well as Falling for Rapunzel and Tippy, Tippy, Tippy, Hide! from Natalie's mom.  We always LOVE our guest readers!! 

Olympic Ceremony

The highlight of the week was our very own Olympic Ceremony to celebrate the start to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.  Both the morning and afternoon classes paraded through the school, and they even received medals from one of the 5th grade classrooms.  They had a blast showing their Olympic pride with handmade torches and flags representing countries from around the world!

Centers

The children were thrilled to be back working at centers this week.

Listening to Polar Opposites at the Listening Center

Familiar Reading

Reading to our Furry Friends

Creating Number Stories on the iPads

Fill in the Blank Phonics Stamps

Kitchen Time

A Heartfelt Good-bye

Our afternoon class said good-bye to a good friend this week.  We will miss you Mario!  Wishing you and your family the best of luck in Germany!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great week!

Weekly News (Jan. 27-31)

For a short week, we sure were busy!

All About Me

This week the morning class loved learning about Olivia.  We learned that she loves to play with her Barbies,  and her favorite movie is Sophia the First.  She is a great swimmer, and she is a TERRIFIC big sister!

The afternoon class enjoyed learning about Mario too!  We learned that Mario likes Angry Birds, and he enjoys playing soccer.  Mario also has a dog name Yogui, and he loves spending time with his brother Julian.  We absolutely loved seeing a photo of Mario's house in Germany.  We will are really going to miss him when he moves back to his hometown!    

Math
This week in math the students played a game called Guess My Number, which encouraged the students to use both their problem solving skills and mental math strategies to figure out a mystery number.  The children also brought home their February calendars this week.  Please continue to use the calendar at home to reinforce number writing and other math skills.

Literacy
This week we began reading books by an amazing author and illustrator---Jan Brett.  Not only are her books well written, they are also beautifully illustrated.  Her books are a great way to help students learn how both pictures and words work together to tell a story.  We kicked off the week with one of my favorite Jan Brett books--The Mitten.  When a boy drops his new mitten in the snow, the animals of the forest squeeze inside one-by-one to stay warm--even a big, brown bear!  Then I bet you can guess what happens when a tiny mouse squeezes into the last spot on the bear's nose--the bear sneezes and all the animals fly out of the mitten!  The loved the story and had a great time making their own mittens and animal cards to practice retelling the story.  Retelling practice is a great way for the students to strengthen their reading comprehension skills by using their own words to retell the story.

Retelling of The Mitten

The children also had a great opportunity to practice their writing skills this week.  After reading another Jan Brett book, Annie and the Wild Animals, the children drew a picture of an animal in their natural habitat and wrote three clues about their animal.  The children also had a chance to practice their reading and oral speaking skills by sharing their clues with the class.

The children also learned the sight word are and brought home a new sight word book.  We sang our January song for the last time this week, and a copy of the song was sent home this week too.  

  Have a great weekend!

Thanks for reading!