Week of April 25

CELEBRATING  AFRICA

Our Resources for the week are Monday #1-18 MEDIA and #19-37 ART, Tuesday #1-18 P.E. and #19-37 MEDIA and Wednesday ART. Wednesday is also an Early Release Day and our class will be making an Egyptian Craft for Africa.

Thursday we will have our Kindergarten Africa Craft Day. All the Kindergarteners will be participating in making African crafts. :)  There is no school on Friday, enjoy the three day weekend!
Our newest member of the 6-year- old club is Jacob on the 26th and then Ms. Finocchiaro has a birthday on the 30th.  

HANDWRITING/ WRITING

We are completing handwriting by writing our weekly sight words, writing words for the word families and then writing CVC or CVCe words.
 
We are taking a break from persuasive writing to work on our Kindergarten Memory Books. We will complete one page daily. Once we have completed every page of the book, the students will go back to fix/ add/ color anything that needs their attention. :)

MATH

The class is picking up counting by 5s quickly! They are really getting quick at their math facts too! KG students are only suppose to focus on math facts through 5 but we are adding up to 10 as they do so well through 5. This week we continue to work with the teen numbers and counting on from 10. For example, if they see a bundle of 10 objects and 4 extra ones  they will count: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. This is a difficult concept but as soon as they master this skill they become more effective counters and this will equip them for 1st grade math!

Social Studies/ International Magnet Program
This week we will focus on our magnet emphasis and learn more about Africa. Wednesday and Thursday will be extra fun as we do some special crafts related to Eqypt and the continent of Africa.

READING

Our Sight Words for the week are our, say, where and through. Our Word Families are: -ay and -ake. Our blend is fr. Here is the slideshow we will be using. Our Medial Vowel sound is U. We will discuss whether it's a short u or long u sound using this slideshow. We will also continue to practice making more opposite matches. Then end by writing CVC and CVCe words. The class is getting really good at remembering the vowel rules we have learned and writing these words.


 



We are reading our last story in the Colonial Times Module. The story is one of our favorites!! There are many different versions, so make sure to click on the title and read this one with your child. :) The story is Stone Soup. On Wednesday we will be taking our Reading Test. Please review the different trades from each story and discuss the materials/ tools that each trade used.

Earth Day Spirit

We have been discussing the planets in Science. So it was only natural for us to wear blue and green and celebrate "Mother Earth" on Friday. We made an earth day book, read two different earth day poems and mounted them to poster board given to us by the PTA (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!) and then we discussed all the important things the class could do for the Earth... even though they are just kids! It was a great day!!

Enjoy the cute slideshow. :)

Make your own free slideshow design

Purple for Support of Military Families

Our students supported the military families at Chimney Lakes by wearing purple shirts. :) 

Check out the cute kids below!

Week of April 18

Our Resources for the week are Monday #1-18 ART and #19-37 MUSIC, Tuesday ART and Thursday MUSIC. Friday's Fun Friday Activity is to wear Green and/or Blue in support of Earth Day. Abigail has brought snacks in for the class. :)

Report Cards are going home Monday, April 18. Make sure to sign the report card slip and return it to school with the envelope. Thank you!!  

HANDWRITING/ WRITING

We are continuing Persuasive Writing. The class has come up with a list of things that they would need to PERSUADE you all to buy and places they would need to PERSUADE you to take them. haha They will be choosing one of the items to write about and we will be focusing on "I statements" and "You statements."These statements include, "I think. I feel. I believe, You should, You could, You would, etc"

Please make sure to correct any letter reversals your child writes. We have discussed a lot of the mix ups we have been seeing!! Also, make sure your child writes their sight words correctly and uses their sounds for unknown words. The students are expected to write words with beginning, middle and ending sounds. :)

MATH

Teen numbers can be tricky. Often students flip the numbers and write the numbers incorrectly. For example, they write 81 for 18. Here are two fun videos that we are using to help remember what teen numbers are and how to write each number correctly! Also, we are experts at counting by ones and tens. Now we are going to start counting by fives!

 

SCIENCE 
What do you do during the day? What do you do at night? Does everyone do the same things each day and night? We will look at activities we do during the day and night and how sometimes people do different things! This week our class will discover that there are patterns we follow and that nature follows patterns also!  

READING

Our Sight Words for the week are way, went, then and could. Our Word Families are: -ank and -unk. Our blend is st. Here is the slideshow we will be using. Our Medial Vowel sound is O. We will discuss whether it's a short o or long o sound using this slideshow. We will be practicing more opposite matches and taking a quiz.
   

We have been learning all about Tradespeople!  The students are doing great listing each of the jobs and telling me what each one does, along with the tools they need. We have also been doing a lot of comparing with life in the 1700's vs. life today. The class really makes us laugh by telling us how "strange" things used to be. :)
Here are the stories we will be reading this week. We are really focused on figuring out unknown words.~ Discussing the clues the story gives us to figure out the meanings.~ They retelling stories with the events in the order that they occur~ Beginning, Middle and End.
The Elves and the Shoemaker
The House Builders:Bricklayers, Masons, Carpenters
The Blacksmith
The Little Gray Pony

Week of April 11

Our Resources this week are:
 Monday #1-18 MUSIC and #19-37 P.E., 
Tuesday #1-18 MEDIA and #19-37 P.E., 
Wednesday MUSIC and 
Friday #1-18 Computer Lab and #19-37 P.E.
Friday's Fun Friday Activity is to wear Purple. This is to show our support for Military children and families. Graham is bringing in snacks for the class. :)
Wednesday is an Early Release Day. We will be making African Huts for our Africa Day Activity.
And make sure to say a big Happy Birthday to Kaylin!! 
She joins the six-year-old club on Monday April 11. 

Handwriting/Writing

We are continuing Persuasive Writing. Last week the students worked hard to persuade me to get a Class Pet. The class came to an agreement that a Hermit Crab would be the best pet for us. Then they came up with some strong reasons as to why we should get one. :)
 

**Picture of the Class Pet Sentences Coming Soon**

This week we will read the book I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. (Check out the video if you've never heard the story before. It's cute!) We will also be making a chart of the items the students want, but they REALLLLLLLY need to persuade their parents to get.

MATH

At the beginning of the week we will finish up working with the number ten. Knowing all the ways to make ten is an essential skill as your child progresses with their math. Mr. Ray, a terrific 3rd grade math teacher was impressed by our class' work with addition and subtraction. He even mentioned how great it was that we were working so in depth with ten. Towards the end of the week we will start new math centers and working with teen numbers. The standard states that Kindergarten students will be able to:

Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 18 = 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones. 

Phew! That is a long one!!

 I know we will have great success mastering this standard!

SCIENCE 

How many planets are there? The number has changed recently!! 
We will spend a few days exploring our solar system! Here is a great video we will watch in class. Watch it at home with the family. 
I'm sure your child would love to see it again! 

Reading

Sight words for the week are: things, good, just and name. Our Word Families are the -ing and -ink families. Practice having your child make words that would belong in both~ king, wing, sink, wink, stink, etc. Along with the DR- blend. Practice having your child think of words that would begin with the dr blend: drum, drink, drag, etc.   Here is a slideshow I made for us to use in class. We are discussing medial vowel sounds= whether the word makes a short sound or a long one. Examples fit (short i) and site (long i). Here is the slideshow we will be practicing with after we watch the videos below. :) We will also be discussing opposites and beginning an Opposite Chart.

 

We are beginning Module 10~ Colonial Towns and Townspeople. We will be doing a lot of comparing about life in the 1700's versus life now. We will discuss chores, trades and getting food. The students will have a whole story devoted to making bread and selling it to customers once it's finished baking. If you wish to read the stories to your child, click on the titles. :)
The Country Family      A Trip To Town     
 The Bread Makers
The Cloth Makers     
 Dressmakers, Tailors, Hatters and Cobblers

Mayflower Bulletin Board

We completed our Module on Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims. Our culminating activity was a Mayflower Book. Hopefully you saw the completed book in your child's folder and if you did not... it's because your child's book is hanging on the bulletin board. :)

A photo slideshow by Smilebox

Ice Cream Party

We met the FSA Buddies for an Ice Cream Extravaganza!! The students were so excited to meet their buddies, give them huge hugs and then make an ice cream sundae.

We had cookies, gummy bears, m&m's, whip cream and MORE! 

Enjoy looking at the slideshow and seeing the pictures of your child with their buddies.

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FSA Buddy Announcement #4

Today our Buddies had their last day of FSA Testing. The teachers and students are exhausted, but we know they all did GREAT!!

Our treat for the buddies was Nerds Candy. :) Here is the poster we hung near their classrooms.

Well everyday has been great, but today the students received a Super Special Treat!! Chips and soda.( The picture at the beginning of this post shows how much we received.) The students loved it!! Here is a slideshow of the huge smiles. :)

A free digital slideshow by Smilebox

** We are having an Ice Cream Party with our buddies on Thursday. We will take pictures of the kids together then. :)

Play Day T-Shirts and Shorts

This is the design that will be on the Play Day Shirts.

We are starting our Play Day T-Shirt and Shorts Sale. The sale goes on from now until Wednesday, April 13. Each grade level has a different color shirt. The color for Kindergarten this year is RED.

If you wish to order a shirt for your child or yourself, fill out the order form and send it back to school with payment. (The order form is pictured below.)  Or if you would prefer... they are offering online ordering this year! You can submit your order at HTTPS://CHIMNEYLAKES.ITEMORDER.COM. The Shirts range in price from $12.00 for youth up to $24.00 for XXL shorts.