Fun at the Zoo!

May 24, 2013

                                    Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds.  All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home.

Word Family’s:  We completed the short u family.

Popcorn Words: This week we learned the words black, orange, white, brown and all.  Over the summer please practice all 95 of your words whenever you have time. 

Reading:  We continued our animal theme this week.  We read two different versions of Henny Penny.   In the first version one of the animals was tricked by the fox and was eaten for dinner.  In the second version Henny Penny was dreaming and the animals had a chance to run away.  We also read Three Hens and a Peacock and Listen Buddy where Buddy the rabbit runs into trouble and encounters a mean scruffy varmint because he is not a good listener.  Buddy does eventually learn his lesson and realizes how important it is to be a good listener.

Writing:  We wrote about how we are a good listener.

Math:  We focused on fluently subtracting numbers up to five.  We practiced counting to 100 and worked on counting to 100 by tens.  We also learned about 3-D shapes such as a sphere, cone, cube, and cylinders.  We also learned that the flat surfaces on the 3-D shapes are called faces.

Social Studies: We talked about Memorial Day and how we honor our service men and women.  We also read a story called Lincoln and Grace.  Lincoln and Grace is a true story of a little eleven-year-old girl who wrote to Abraham Lincoln and suggested he grow a beard in order to receive more votes for the Presidential Election.  After Abraham Lincoln is elected President he does stop in the hometown of Grace’s and asks to meet her. President Lincoln tells Grace that the reason he grew his beard was from the influential words of a little girl and he wanted to thank her.

Thank You to all the parents who helped out with our field trip to the zoo.  The children had a great time.

REMEMBER:

No school Monday May 27^th- Memorial Day

Please return any library books your children might still have at home.

Please remember to check the ABC Countdown Sheet.  

Please practice the popcorn words with your child over the summer.

Friday May 31^st- Field Day-  Fun activities will be planned for the children.  Please wear comfortable shoes and dress according to the weather because we will be outside weather permitting.

Monday June 3^rd Children’s musician Jim Gill will be having a private concert at school for only the kindergarten children.

Kindergarten Graduation Day is Tuesday June 4^th 2013. 10:00 A.M. for the morning class and 2:00 P.M. for the afternoon class.  All family members are welcome.

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!

The Countdown!

May 17, 2013

                                    Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds.  All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home.

Word Family’s:  This week we started the short u word families.  We worked with the un and ug word families.  Next week we will continue the short u word families.

Popcorn Words: This week we learned the words blue, yellow, red and pink.  Please practice the popcorn words every night, we are getting quite a few and they are getting more difficult. 

Reading:  We started our animal theme this week.  We read Feathers for Lunch.  We also read books about pigs such as The Three Little Pigs in play format, Pigs to the Rescue and Me First.  In Me First Pinkerton the Pig learned that you do not always have to be the first to do something and it is not always the best to be first.

Writing:  We continued to write in and complete our memory books for our year in kindergarten.  The children really enjoyed writing about their first year in school, the friends they made, all they learned, and what they liked about kindergarten.

Math:  We focused on fluently subtracting numbers up to five.  We practiced counting to 100 and worked on counting to 100 by tens.  Next week we will continue with our counting, with the focus this quarter of counting to 100.  We will be taking a two-minute subtraction quiz.  The children will have two minutes to complete the quiz.  Next week we will continue with subtraction.  We will also talk about three-dimensional shapes. 

REMEMBER:

This past Wednesday was our last library checkout of the year.  Please bring your library books back by next Wednesday May 22^nd.

Please remember to check the ABC Countdown Sheet. 

Brookfield Zoo Field Trip- Thursday May 23^rd 2013.  Permission slips went home Friday May 5th.  Please sign and return if you have not already

Please practice the popcorn words with your child.

Kindergarten Graduation Day is Tuesday June 4^th 2013. 10:00 A.M. for the morning class and 2:00 P.M. for the afternoon class.  All family members are welcome.

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!

Happy Mother's Day!

May 10, 2013

                                    Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds.  All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home.

Word Family’s:  This week we reviewed our short o word families.  We will be starting our short u family next week.

Popcorn Words: This week we learned the words pretty, funny, under and find.  Please practice the popcorn words every night, we are getting quite a few and they are getting more difficult. 

Reading:  We started our animal theme this week.  We read the story Run Away in which the animals in the forest think something is after them when all it is nature with the wind blowing and branches moving.  We also read When Dinosaurs Came With Everything.  Since Mother’s Day is this upcoming Sunday we also read Are You My Mother?, which is part of the Dr. Seuss series, Celebrate Mother’s Day, and Eric Carle’s famous Does a Kangaroo Have a Mothers, Too?

 

Writing:  We wrote a poem about Mother’s Day. We started writing in our memory books with the end of the year quickly approaching.  Please check your child’s folder to find the great Mother’s Day gift.

Math:  We focused on fluently adding and subtracting numbers up to five.  We practiced counting to 100 and worked on counting to 100 by tens.  Next week we will continue with our counting, with the focus this quarter of counting to 100.  We will take a two-minute addition quiz this Friday.  The children had two minutes to complete the quiz.  Please look for the quiz in their folders early next week.

Social Studies- Our Weekly Reader this week focused on sea creatures.  We learned about some of the strange and interesting ways that sea creatures sleep, move, eat, and hide.  We also learned how some fish scare away their predators.

Art:  This week we made a butterfly project for Mother’s Day.  The children took great pride in their work and were very excited to give their gifts to their mothers.

Thank you to all for all the very generous gifts this week.  It is very thoughtful of you.  It is my pleasure to work with your children each school day.

Happy Mother’s Day!

REMEMBER:

Half Day-Friday May 17^th:  Only the afternoon class will come to school.  The day will be 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.  The children will then take their regular bus home.  If your are picking up your child that day please send a note and pick-ups will be in the office at 12:10 P.M.

Please remember to check the ABC Countdown Sheet. 

Brookfield Zoo Field Trip- Thursday May 23^rd 2013.  Permission slips went home Friday May 5th.  Please look sign and return if you have not already.

Please practice the popcorn words with your child.

Kindergarten Graduation Day is Tuesday June 4^th 2013. 10:00 A.M. for the morning class and 2:00 P.M. for the afternoon class.  All family members are welcome.

Bring your library books on Wednesdays!

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!

ABC Countdown!

                                                        

                                                           May 3, 2013

                                       Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds.  All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home.

Word Family’s:  This week we worked on our short o word families.  We also began working on a new word family, ock.

Popcorn Words: This week we learned the words was, saw, are and well.  Please practice the popcorn words every night, we are getting quite a few and they are getting more difficult. 

Reading:  We continued our Spring is Here reading theme this week.  We read the book Three Billy Goats Gruff, Eric Carle’s The Lamb and the Butterfly, and a poem titled I Saw It, in which we highlighted all our popcorn words we have learned so far and we focused on our new word saw.

Writing:  We wrote about a butterfly using two of our new popcorn words, was and saw, from this week.

Math:  We focused on fluently adding and subtracting numbers up to five.  We practiced counting to 100 and worked on counting to 100 by tens.  Next week we will continue with our counting, with the focus this quarter of counting to 100.  We completed our Caterpillar Addition project.  We have taken two addition quizzes since last Friday and they will be in your child’s folder this Friday.  The children had two minutes to complete the quiz.

Social Studies- Our Weekly Reader this week focused on butterflies.  We learned what their legs, eyes, wings and antenna are used for.  We even learned what the butterflies’ proboscis is.  Please ask your child to tell you about what they have learned about butterflies.  The children had a great interest in learning about the butterflies. 

Thank you to all who came to our Open House last Thursday April 25^th.  The children were very happy to show off all the projects they worked very hard at completing. 

REMEMBER:

Please remember to check the ABC Countdown Sheet.  

Brookfield Zoo Field Trip- Thursday May 23^rd 2013.  Permission slips are going home today Friday May 5th.  Please look for them in your child’s folder today.

Please practice the popcorn words with your child.

Kindergarten Graduation Day is Tuesday June 4^th 2013. 10:00 A.M. for the morning class and 2:00 P.M. for the afternoon class.  All family members are welcome.

Bring your library books on Wednesdays!

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!