Week of December 10-14

Hello from the light blue room!

We had a wonderful week together. This week, we have been talking about the second habit: "Beginning with the End in Mind." We read a story about this habit and the character Goob taught us the importance of starting our day by beginning with the end in mind. In the story, Goob makes sure to save his money so he has enough to do all of the things he wants to. He plans ahead and thinks of others before making choices.

Together, we thought about how each of us wanted to end our day. We talked about filling our fishbowls, helping mom and dad out at home, making a new friend, etc. We also drew pictures of ourselves beginning with the end in mind and wrote about those choices. We talked about how we could all reach our goals if we continue to be the leader of our choices each day.

Deputy Knott came in to talk to us about safety and how we can help our community to be safe.

This week we read a book called "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" This book talks about how everyone in the world has an invisible bucket. When a person is feeling loved their bucket is full. We talked about how something as small as giving someone a smile can fill their bucket. We also talked about how when we fill other friend's buckets, we are also filling our own. We are using this term in our room when we talk about how our actions affect one another. We all want our room to be safe, happy, and a place where everyone feels loved with a full bucket. 

Checking out the police car!

We learned two new sight words this week: in, can. Your child should have come home with their first sight word list this week. Please study these words along with reading your child's JRL book. Every Tuesday I will be assessing students to see if they are ready to move on to their next list. Way to go readers!

We are continuing to talk about authors and illustrators in both reading and writing. Before reading books we talk about the author and what the book may be about just by the title and looking at the cover. In our daily fix-its, we continue to focus on the beginning of our sentence having an uppercase letter and punctuation marks. This week we learned about quotation marks and how they tell us when people in the book are talking.

Brody, Olivia, Abraham and Alexis writing and designing a thank you card for one of the donors of our school.  

Way to work as a team!

In writing this week we learned about writing lists. We discussed how writing comes in many different forms: stories, lists, letters, etc. As a class we talked about what a list might look like and how there are many different kinds of lists for many different reasons. We discussed how people may make grocery lists, chores lists, present lists and more. Individually we created our own personal lists and will continue working on them next week. Soon we will learn about writing letters!

In math this week we continued to work on simple addition and subtraction math equations. We also focused on the teen numbers and drawing numbers using 5-groups. We put two 5-groups together and added more tiles to make the teen numbers. We talked about how when we solve math equations, we can draw pictures, use our fingers or use math manipulatives if we need extra help. What a phenomenal group of mathematicians!

Memphis, Braylee and Abraham working on Frosty hats for our caroling!

On Monday, we finished our Civics and Government unit. Deputy Knott came in to discuss his role as a police officer in our community. He talked with us about community safety and how we can practice good citizenship. We also learned the Pledge of Allegiance. We talked about why we say it and where it came from. Later in our week we role played different safety situations and what we should do in those situations. We "practiced" calling 911 and talked about when to call and when not to. At the end of our week, we began our Economics unit. The students learned what a good was and classified different goods as needs or wants. Next week we will learn about services.

Notes/Reminders:

-Youngest Friend's field trip is this Wednesday, December 19 to the Appledorn Living Center. Please drop off your child's labeled car seat that morning or they will not be able to join us on the field trip.

-Spelling tests will begin when we come back from break.

-Please continue to review the sight word list your child brought home.

-The Beta high school students are putting a talent show together for this coming February. If your child is interested, please see the Innocademy blog for more information.

-Growth portfolios will be sent home again this Thursday.

Have a great week!

Ms. Monica

Week of December 3-7

What a wonderful week!

We had a great week together in the light blue room. In reading this week we continued to practice our punctuation marks. We are able to use and recognize a period, exclamation point and question mark. When reading with your child, point these marks out and ask your child what they are and what they are used for. We practice our sight words every day and buttered them in our Funny Fish booklets. Everyone took home our first sight word list this week. As your child learns more words, they will bring home new lists to practice. Please practice these sight words with your child. Next week we will begin learning more about authors and illustrators. Students continue to meet with me for small group reading time and are doing a fabulous job!

Spanish time with Ms. Mel!

Writing our sight words.

Practicing story sequencing during centers.

In writing this week we continued to work in our booklets. We are focusing on stretching out our stories into four events. We are also working on adding details to our pictures and our words. In our room we practice "writing with stamina." This means we write for about 25 minutes and we keep going. We remind ourselves that when we think we are done with our writing, we are just getting started. This helps the kiddos really focus on their small moments and turn them into beautiful pieces of writing. I am so proud of these authors!

Writing math equations.

In math this week we learned about partners of numbers 1-6. To introduce this concept, students came up to the front of class to act out each partner of each number. Then, we used number tiles to show these partners as well. The students also used white boards to show each equation using number partners. For example, 2+3=5. We talked about how even though these number partners will stay the same, they may switch order. For example: 2+3=5 and 3+2=5. At the end of the week we practiced solving addition and subtraction equations. We talked about how we could use our fingers and draw pictures to help us solve these equations. They did a fantastic job on solving their equations!

Acting out positive choices and good citizenship.

iPads during Friday Fun Centers!

Going through the obstacle course in Brain Blast!

Acting out math partners!

In social studies we talked about positive and negative choices. Students demonstrated these choices in front of the class and we discussed if it was a positive or a negative choice. Later in the week we talked about good and poor citizenship. Students took pictures of good and poor citizenship, sorted and glued them in the appropriate column. We had a discussion about our own personal lives and how we are working on sharing, taking turns, and sticking to our class pledge.

Notes/Reminders:

-Please pack a morning snack for your child

-When your child is the "Innokid" of the week they will be able to bring show and tell all week

-I will be doing assessments this week on sight words. Look for your child's individual list this week!

Have a great week!

Ms. Monica

November 26-30

Hello from the youngest friend's room!

We had such a wonderful week this week! Everyone had such a great time walking around the marketplace and book fair with his/her older friend. We had so much fun looking at all of the items and supporting our older friends and their field trips!

This week we began new specials! We continue to have Music and Art, but we also have Technology and Brain Blast on Fridays now!

Jossalyn, Isabelle and Ezekiel working on the iPads in Tech!

Exercising our brains and bodies in Brain Blast!

In reading this week we learned two new sight words: black and white. We continue to practice our sight words every day. We will soon be sending home individual sight word lists with about 8 words on them. Please continue to practice these high frequency words with your child. We have learned the following sight words so far this year: 

a is

to my

go me

like on

in we

and yellow

green blue

orange red

purple black

white 

the 

I

We continue to do small group reading in class at their just right level. We also continue to practice our letter sounds and punctuation. Ask your child to show you what a question mark, period, and exclamation mark look like!

This week we worked on the letter Ee and learned our "Elmo the Elephant" song! This song is more challenging than our previous songs but the kiddos did a great job with it! Each student received their very own "Elmo the Elephant" book and we "buttered" our sight words in them. They did a wonderful job!

 Micah, Jossalyn, Olivia, Sierra and Brody working on their "Elmo the Elephant" books.

In writing this week we worked on stretching out small, true moments and putting them in our booklets. We talked about how writing in booklets helps us write like real authors, putting one piece of our story on each page. When writing, we are learning to picture each moment in our minds, stretching it out, and putting the pictures on each page. After that, we add words to each picture and part of our story.

This week in math we took our Unit 2 math test. On Wednesday we began our third unit in our just right math books. We talked about groups of ten and groups of five. Using pennies and our ten strips, students created math equations! We are focusing on the teen numbers. Students organized their pennies into groups of ten and added more to that group of ten with pennies. They then wrote equations to show the teen number they had made (10+4=14). This was great practice for learning our teen numbers.

On Monday, we finished our Geography unit by talking about ways we can improve our environment. We read a book about this and students learned about recycling and other ways we can reuse our resources. On Wednesday we began our unit on Civics and Government. We discussed the concept of safety and citizenship at school and at home. As a class, we made a list of class promises that would help us stay safe at home and at school. We also talked about what it means to be a responsible citizen. We talked about how our actions affect others and why it is important to keep our class promises both at home and at school.

Abraham, Braylee, Aliana and Bryce making snowmen during our Friday Fun Centers!

Notes/Reminders:

-If you have not turned in your child's growth portfolio, please do so by the end of this week.

Have a great week!

Ms. Monica

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

Week of October 22-26

We had a wonderful week together in the youngest friends room!

In reading this week we learned our last two letters and zoo friends: y and z. Ask your child to show you Yancy yak and Zeke zebra! They are doing a fabulous job remembering the motions of the zoo friends along with the names and sounds of the letters. 

In writing this week we continued to practice using the tools around us when writing, like our zoo friends banner, word wall, and other print in the classroom. Students are working on taking their time when writing and coming back to finish writing another day if they need more time. Our authors have grown so much already, it is so fun to see them improve every week!

In math this week we continued to tell math stories. Students were given their own opportunity to share a math story from his/her own life. We practice telling addition and subtraction stories as a group. We also worked on the numbers 6 and 7. We practiced writing these numbers and drawing groups of 6 and 7. We also worked on math equations using pennies. Students practiced showing numbers 1-10 with pennies and we practiced different math equations as a group with addition, subtraction, and equal signs. This week we really focused on writing the numbers 1-10 in order. This was great for number recognition and penmanship as well.

In social studies this week students finished their classroom maps in partners. I loved watching them work collaboratively with their partner! They did a wonderful job mapping out our classroom in pairs. Not only did they work well together, they accurately showed a map of our classroom that identified all areas! We also talked about different environmental characteristics between home and school. Students helped me create a chart of items you would see at school and at home. They did a great job!

Notes/reminders:

-Please pack a snack for your child for our 10 a.m. snack time

-Please send an extra change of clothes to school with your child. They may keep this in their backpack or locker at all times.

-Please send any lunch money or notes in your child's blue folder. Please do not use the JRL bags for this as it may get misplaced or lost

-If your child brings home a JRL book with no words, that is okay! This is an important age where we are learning to read with pictures as well as words. Students may do a "picture walk" and tell their own story with the pictures. This is a great tool to use when learning to read.

Have a great week!

Ms. Monica