Week of January 19

Our Resources for the week are: Tuesday P.E. and Wednesday ART. 

We have two students joining the Six-Year-Old Club~ Samantha on the 19th and Kimberley on the 22nd. 

**Reminder: NO SCHOOL Monday, January 18 and January 22.**

Handwriting/Writing

We will be reviewing our writing checklist and discussing different ways to begin sentences. Examples of sentence starters: The best part was, They are, My Mom/Dad likes, etc. 
 *Not all sentences begin with I- I like, I think, I am, etc. 
We will also work on getting more confidence with using our sounds when stretching words and using the word wall so that we spell all of our Sight Words correctly. 
One writing piece will be collected for the quarterly writing grade.

Math

As we finish up a unit on comparing numbers and quantities we revisit capacity and weight this week. Next week there will be an assessment on recent work using all of the comparing skills learned in January. Also, we begin to focus on numbers 16-20 to prepare us for upcoming new skills.

Science

It is a short week so hopefully we will be able to wrap up our fun with motion. As we look ahead gravity will be our topic.  This week the students will have hands on opportunities working with a marble run and creating systems to move their marbles through a maze. I hope we get some good pictures to share!

Reading

Sight words for the week are: how and do. Our Word Family is the -est family. Practice having your child make words that would belong in the family~ best, vest, chest, etc.

We are finishing up our Module on Native Americans. We will be reading a few Native American Books and completing our Module Test.The books we plan on reading are: Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, The Sacred Dog and Brother Eagle Sister Sky.
To make sure your child is ready for the test review shelters, clothing and how each tribe gets its food.
Below is a video of one of the books for you to enjoy with your child. :)

Native American Name

All this talk of Native Americans and their "COOL" names got us thinking.... What would our Native American names be? Well, we only had time to figure out the name for one student. And the students were very excited to see what their Native American names would be had they been part of a tribe. :)

Check out this link to take the quiz with your child.

Word Wall

We are really stressing that Sight Words be spelled correctly in your child's writing and we wanted to show you what our Word Wall looks like at the current time. :)   

The students refer back to this Word Wall all the time during writing!! Also, if they begin to sound out a word and it is on the Word Wall, we will say to them, "Check out the Word Wall and look under the beginning sound of the word." (This is very helpful for words that have tricky vowel sounds~ was, all, etc. )

Enjoy watching the slideshow and PLEASE pardon all of our items on top of the cubbies. I took the pictures and totally forgot to clean! So embarrassed!

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Week of January 11

Our Resources for the week are: Monday#1-18 MUSIC & #19-30 P.E., Tuesday ART and Thursday MUSIC. Friday is Sunglasses Day!!  The students are able to wear their sunglasses during Recess Time. Jackson will be bringing Fun Friday Snacks for the class.

**NO SCHOOL next Monday, January 18 and January 22.**

Handwriting/Writing

We will be reviewing our writing checklist and discussing different ways to begin sentences. Examples of sentence starters: The best part was, They are, My Mom/Dad likes, etc. 
 *Not all sentences begin with I- I like, I think, I am, etc. 
We will also work on getting more confidence with using our sounds when stretching words and using the word wall so that we spell all of our Sight Words correctly. 
One writing piece will be collected for the quarterly writing grade.

Math

This week we continue working on comparing numbers and using vocabulary such as: more than, less than and the same as. Last week we painted snowmen. This week we will measure them and compare their height! It should be a fun activity!  Here is a short song about comparing numbers. We are also counting by 5's and 10's for the rest of the year. Keep on practicing!

Science

Motion is the still  word of the week but now we will add force to our vocabulary! We start the week discussing how animals move than we look at Force and how it affects motion. Very cool! I will be bringing out my antique "marble works" set the kids to enjoy during recess. I hope they tell you about it later in the week! Enjoy this Jack Hartmann video. It's one of the classes favorites!

Reading

Sight words for the week are: time, for, we and part. Our Word Family is the -ell family. Practice having your child make words that would belong in the family~ bell, fell, tell, etc.

We are continuing our Module on Native Americans. We will discuss the Wampanoag's and hear how the animals referred to them as the "Upright Walkers" and then read about the Lenape and what they did during each season.
We will also read the story A Native American Alphabet and draw our four favorite pictures. :)
This video shows the exact story we will be reading in class. However, we will spend more time on each picture. :) The video breezes through each picture!

Writing Post

The students are doing a great job writing!! 
Everyone is remembering the items on our Writing Checklist and making sure to complete the items while they are writing. :) It's a tricky concept... but not too tricky for our Smart K Class!

One thing we noticed, quite a few students need to practice and be reminded of beginning their sentences with an Uppercase Letter. However, remembering spaces- we have got spaces down!! haha The students use spaces better than any other class we've ever had. Plus, the students are doing a great job using their sounds to stretch words. 
**Remember they only write the sounds they hear in unknown words, unless it is a sight word and then we do expect it to be spelled correctly.** 

Check out the slideshow to see the writing that was put on our bulletin board. :) 

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Fun Friday Activities :)

Here are some very LATE slideshows (I forgot to take my camera home during break).... Sorry for posting so late, but they were too cute not to share. Enjoy!

Fun with Mrs. Thomas :) 

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Fun Friday Activities from the month of December and our first one in January :)

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Gingerbread Family Project

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Week of January 4

Our Resources for the week are: Monday#1-18 P.E. & #19-30 ART, Wednesday MUSIC and Friday#1-18 P.E. & #19-30 COMPUTER LAB. Wednesday is an Early Release Day and Friday is Toys Day!!  The students are able to bring one toy to Recess. Graham will be bringing Fun Friday Snacks for the class.

**We are not held accountable for any toys lost or broken on the Kindergarten Playground. Please use discretion on what toy your child brings to school.**

Handwriting/Writing

We will be reviewing our writing checklist and discussing sentences to write that would match pictures shown to us. The pictures are from the Farm Unit we completed before break. 

Here are a few pictures for you to practice this activity with your child. :)

 

Math

This week we are working on comparing numbers and using vocabulary such as: more than, less than and the same as. The students counted this week to test mastery of counting to 100. Many students were able to count to 100 already!! Congratulations! Some students are getting stuck at "transition" numbers. For instance, 39,40 or 69, 70. Keep on practicing. We are also counting by 5's and 10's for the rest of the year.

Science

Motion is the word of the week! How things and people move is our focus. We have enjoyed exploring motion and will continue next week with motion and force.Today we read a great story about ways animals move. You can find it by visiting http://mycapstonelibrary.com. The username and password is " jacksonville". Once you are on the site type in "fast and slow". The story has interesting facts and beautiful illustrations of how animals move!

Reading

Sight words for the week are: was, not, has and come. Our Word Family is the -en family. Practice having your child make words that would belong in the family~ Ben, men, Jen, hen, etc.

We are beginning our new Module on Native Americans. We will be making a Chart that compares our environment, clothing, food and shelter with a few tribes. This week we will focus on the Lakota Sioux. We will read a story about Mapiya (mah-PEE-yah) in Where's Winona? and Little Bear in Little Bear Goes Hunting. We will compare the characters with the information we have learned about the Lakota Sioux tribe. (Click on the story titles so that you can enjoy them with your child.) 
Also, enjoy reading this video to your child. The music is primarily instrumental.