Counting, writing, learning!

The children have been working on learning how to count 10s and 1s and representing numbers with manipulatives as 10s and 1s. 
This is a fun activity to do at home with straws or craft sticks. 
Our kindergarten friends have enjoyed coming up with descriptive words about their paintings.  They are working on taking these words and creating detailed sentences.  This is so much fun!  Please try out descriptive writing at home.  You will be amazed at the create words your kindergartener can come up with.

Book Fair

The book fair is coming!
You can come to school any morning February 4th-8th to purchase books with your child. It will be opening for parents and students from 7:45-8:30. This is a fun time for you to shop with your child. :)
On February 5th you can come to school at night to enjoy some book fair time as well.  Time TBA...
We will not be taking instructional time to visit the book fair, so please do not send in money as we can't leave the classroom to take them to the library. 
We hope to see many of you during the week of Feb.4th. :)

Illustrators

The children are enjoying being illustrators.  They are creating a winter scene based on what they have learned through reading non-fiction text.   Yesterday we learned  two water color painting techniques.  Today we will learn two more. Once their art work is complete the children will write a descriptive narrative about their work.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Inspired Us!

Parent Connection

Happy Monday!
Today we revisited our calendar math skills. While we have calendar every day, today our focus was on telling time to the nearest hour and identifying the hour hand and the minute hand and identifying coins and their values.
The children enjoy singing songs that help to reinforce these skills.
You can view these songs by going to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2I9AlYp2zk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biann2PWqIA

Our week...

This week our focus was on learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his impact on our country.  The children did a writing activity where they shared their dreams to change the world. Check back on the blog in a few days to see and hear  their work.
We revisted citizenship through this lesson and talked about the importance of fairness, kindness, and showing repect to one another each new day.

Please make sure your child is writing and reading each new day.

I am also continuing to assess everyone on writing, math,  reading skills and strategies. The last day of the grading period is Jan. 24th.

Some school wide events:
Jan. 24th is WHITE OUT Day
Wear white and hope for snow

Jan. 28th please send in a can of soup. Donations will be made to the local food bank

Authors and Illustrators Hard At Work

Our focus for the next few weeks is writing.
At this point the children are expected to begin with an uppercase letter, finger space, sound out the beginning letter of words (most of our friends are doing beginning, middle, and ending sounds), ending with puncuation, and making sure their picture matches their words along with labeling. 
Today the children enjoyed writing about their favorite part of Waiting For Winter.
The book brought much laughter to our room.  In science we are learning about Life Changes and Seasonal Changes. This book was a great way for us to integrate science and writing.
This writing piece will be used as an assessment and will be coming home in the next few days.
Please continue to encourage writing at home.
We have offically moved from a journal to a "real" composition book! 

A side note, because it was a short week we did not have homework. This is a good week to practice journaling. Hint, Hint. ;)

We can sit where ever we want!

An author hard at work



Working hard



Sounding out and finger spacing!

Snack

Happy New Year! Please remember to send your child in with a healthy snack.