Week of November 12-16

Our youngest friends finished their MAPS testing this week! It was wonderful watching the kids work so hard on their very own computers! The kiddos took tests in math and reading and did a great job.

This week in reading the students learned a new sight word: purple. They did a great job with this! We are almost complete in learning our color sight words. As you read with your child, ask them to point out any sight words they may know. We are continuing to practice our zoo phonics letters a-z. Ask your child to act out any of the zoo friends! Remind them that the motions will help them remember their letters and sounds. When reading, it is very important that they know their letters and sounds. This will also help in writing when stretching out words. We also continue to do our daily fix-its, and the youngest friends will continue to work on punctuation, including periods, question marks and exclamation points!

In writing, we have been writing in booklets, just like real authors! In the beginning stage, students are encouraged to think of a true moment from his or her life.  They then draw pictures on each page of their booklet that help tell the story. After this, they add words to their booklets! This technique in writing helps students to organize their thoughts and ideas when writing about a true moment from their life. They are doing a wonderful job with this and I am so proud of these authors!

In math, we learned all about hexagons! Students described hexagons by the number of sides they have, corners, sizes, etc. We also talked about where we can find hexagons in real life. We also talked about the differences between the numbers 6 and 9 and practiced writing these numbers. We continue to practice the -1 pattern and the +1 pattern. Ask your child to tell you what 9-1 is, or 6+1, or any other combination. They may use their fingers for help. They are doing a wonderful job with this!

In social studies we talked about the differences between wants and needs. As a class, we made a t-chart to illustrate the differences between wants and needs. We had a wonderful discussion about this and the kids showed great understanding! We then talked about how people use the environment to meet their wants and needs.

Reminders/Notes:

-Growth portfolios may be returned in the next 2 weeks. They will be sent home again with more work added to them. Please do not empty the contents, this may be done at the end of the year.

Thank you and have a great week!

Ms. Monica

Week of November 5-9

What a wonderful week in the light blue room!

This week flew by! We continued with MAPS testing and the youngest friends are doing a great job! It is so fun to see them working independently on computers.

In reading this week we learned two new sight words: orange and red. We will continue working on our colors sight words. You can practice our sight words on flashcards at home. These words are a big part of reading vocabulary for our youngest friends. We are continuing to do our daily fix-it in class as well. In our daily fix-it we use our sight words and the students help me write and read the sentence. Together, we fix the mistakes in the sentence. This week the youngest friends learned what a question mark looks like and when it is used in reading and writing. They did a great job! They now know what a question mark, period and exclamation point is. When reading at home with your child, point to these punctuation marks and ask them what they are and why we use them. How exciting!

In writing this week we worked on stretching our stories out onto more than one page and into booklets. We focused on a true, small event from our lives. Students were given booklets with four pages in them. We practiced telling our stories first. Next, we practiced drawing pictures in our booklets to tell the story. Lastly, we added words to our booklets. The kids did a wonderful job stretching out their words and stories like real authors.

We continued to make groups of numbers this week with pennies using our new math vocabulary: less than, more than, minus, add, take away, etc. The students told math stories using addition and subtraction. We introduced the plus one pattern and the minus one pattern. In these patterns, students learn the pattern of adding and subtracting the number one from numbers 1-10. They did a great job! Practice adding and subtracting with your child at home using the number one as a base. You can also ask your child to tell you a math story using a real-life example.

In social studies this week we discussed the differences between natural and physical characteristics. The students helped me create a t-chart that focused on these differences. They did a great job with this and we had a great discussion as a class! The youngest friends then created their own t-charts that showed the differences between natural and physical characteristics. You can practice this activity at home and ask your child to find natural and physical characteristics.

Have a wonderful week!

Ms. Monica

Reminders/Notes:

-please pack a snack for your child to eat during our 10 a.m. snack time

-please pack an extra set of clothes for your child to keep at school or in their backpack

-growth portfolios will be sent home this Friday 

Week of October 29-November 2

We had a great week in the youngest friend's room!

We had a fun-filled week this week! On Wednesday we enjoyed a musical performance from some of the members of the Grand Rapids Symphony. We even received autographs from the symphony members! On Thursday we helped keep our school clean by picking up trash outside. The kids were a great team and did a wonderful job! We also had our annual Harvest Party. Our youngest friends had a great time traveling around the stations with an older friend. On Friday we took our very first MAPS test. The youngest friends did a great job using the computers!

This week in reading we focused on the letters d and e. We learned a new song this week called "Daisy Doll." They did a great job learning this song while brainstorming words that start with the letters d and e. Our new sight word this week was blue. We are now focusing on the colors sight words. It is so fun to see our youngest friends grow in reading while building their sight word vocabulary. We continue to do a fix-it every day where students not only help me write the sentence on the board, they help me correct the mistakes! Ask your child why the beginning of each sentence needs an uppercase letter. They also now know the difference between a period and an exclamation point. How exciting for our young readers!

In writing this week we focused on writing true stories from our lives. I challenged students to really focus on a small memory that they had and expand on it in their writing. They did a wonderful job! Next week we will be moving forward as we learn to write lists.

In math this week we continued to focus on telling math stories through pictures and our own experiences. When telling the math stories, we also wrote the math equation to go with them. We have learned what an addition, subtraction, and equal sign are. When telling these math stories, we are learning new math vocabulary. Some examples of this math vocabulary is take away, less than, more, now, and altogether. The youngest friends are doing a wonderful job telling math stories! This week we focused on writing the numbers 6,7,8 and 9. We also practiced drawing groups of these numbers. 

This week on social studies we focused on the difference of natural physical characteristics and human characteristics. We created a t-chart to tell the differences between home and school characteristics. They did a great job with this and are really growing as leaders when having group discussions!

Have a great week!

Ms. Monica