Report cards went home on Friday. Please sign on the line next to the highlighter. Students should return the envelopes on Monday. You may keep your child's report card. In addition to your child's report card, contact information was also included in the envelope. Please look it over and return it as well. If the information is correct, please write correct or no changes and return it. It is extremely important that the school always has accurate contact information. Thanks for your help!
What we did this week:
Reading- Students brainstormed words that start with the letter S. They also worked on sounding and stretching words. When students worked with me in small groups, I was completing the unit 1 reading assessment. Students were assessed on their ability to identify letters, words, beginning sounds, and rhyming words. I will continue the assessment next week.
Writing- Students also had a formal assessment in writing this week. They completed a narrative piece which told a story about a time they were happy or sad. We brainstormed, wrote a rough draft, edited, and wrote a final draft. Students are expected to stretch words and their pictures should match their words. We worked on adding details like who you were with, what you were doing, and where you were, as well as including a beginning, middle, and end. This are concepts that were introduced, but we will work on all year. When I grade the writings, I will look for students beginning to use capitalization, puncutation, and spaces. Students' writing makes great improvements throughout the kindergarten year. I hope you have already noticed some growth at home. I started recording students reading their final piece on Friday. I will finish recording students next week and post the videos on the blog.
Math
Last week, students counted objects in bags and wrote the appropriate number. Students played a game on Friday where they spun a spinner with numbers or number words and had to color in the matching number of spaces on their boards. The goal for last week was for students to match the numerals to that number of objects. We sung Dr. Jean's numeral song to review how to write the numbers 0-10. I also checked in with students one on one on their counting ability. Our goal is for students to count and label objects 0-20 and count to 100 to meet the kindergarten standards. Please practice counting with your child at home. Students typically get stuck in the teens, 29, or 39. Also work on counting by tens to one hundred.
Social Studies- We discussed Christopher Columbus more this week. Students saw on a map where Columbus wanted to go and where he actually did go. We dicussed character traits of Columbus as well. On Monday, we will discuss items he brought from Europe to the Americas and wrap up our unit.
Science Lab- Students went to the science lab on Friday. They did an experiment with motion. Students investigated cars on various ramps. This lesson will help students as we being our motion unit next week.
Coming up:
- Field trip on Wednesday. I have 2 volunteers (Thanks Brent and Lluvia!) If anybody else is interested, let me know. You are welcome to attend.
Other
- Please return your child's book character parade paper. I plan on making my first trip to the library this week to pick up needed books.
- Please remember to work on your child's All About Me paper that was sent home last week. It is due Oct. 25th. If you need another one please let me know. I am going to plan a lesson incorporated each child's learning style results. Thanks!
- I came across this article and thought I'd share it. It is about things you can do as you read with your child. Click here to read it. The most imporant thing is to read with your child and enjoy that time together.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs. Daugherty
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Science Day
Science day started with the egg drop. Katherine and Madison K. both made egg vessels that we watched fall from the school's roof. Great job girls! Mr. Gauthia dressed up as a chicken to drop the eggs. :-)
(The videos of the drops aren't loading, but it was an exciting morning. I hope your kids told you about it!)
The rest of the day students rotated to different kindergarten classrooms and learned about the 5 senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch.) The activities with each sense is below:
Sight- Students tossed a ball and counted how many times they caught it. Then, their eyes were covered with an eye patch and they completed the same activity. They compared the number of time they caught the ball with one eye to two eyes.
Hearing- Students learned about sound waves and made an instrument.
Smell- Students smelled yummy and yucky smells.
Taste- Students learned about their tastebuds. They tried foods that we sweet, sour, and bitter.
Touch- Students learned about braille and texture.
Students enjoyed a popcorn treat where they saw and heard it pop, felt it, and tasted it.
Donuts with Dad
Thanks to everyone who was able to join us for Donuts for Dad. We had lots of special guests and fun activities. Students wrote about their dads and decorated ties earlier in the week. Students also drew a picture of their dads and dictated a clue about their dad. 
When guests came, they were asked to match the clue describing them with their picture. During donuts with dad students rotated through four centers. The centers were eating donuts, playing dominoes, playing pin the tie on the dad, and writing in shaving cream. Check out the pictures below. I wish I had gotten more! It was wonderful to see the kids interact with our special guests. I hope everyone enjoyed it!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Looking Ahead
October Dates:
10/17 Sky Zone 3-7pm
10/23 Field Trip to Teaching Museum North
10/25 REES Fall Festival 4:30-7pm
10/31 Book Character Parade 8am
10/28-11/1 Red Ribbon Week
This week we will....
Math
Review counting by ones and tens. Continue to practice counting and labeling objects. The week after we will work on counting on from a number. For example, count from 6. 6, 7, 8. Students will also learn to sequence numbers. Please practice counting 0-100 by ones and tens with your child at home.
Writing
We will complete our narrative writing assessment. Students brainstormed about times they were happy and sad. They chose a topic and wrote a rough draft. This week we will edit and complete the final draft. Next week, we will start learning about informational writing.
Social Studies
Students will learn more about Christopher Columbus this week. We will discuss the things Columbus brought with him to the Americas. We watched a clip on Christopher Columbus from brainpopjr that tells the truth in a child friendly way about Columbus. Students are taught he is an explorer who didn't find America first, but did tell Europe about the Americas. At first, he made a mistake and thought he was in India.
Reading
We will be studying the letter s and identifying it at the beginning and ending of words. We will read stories that contain S words. We will also be completing our 9 week reading assessments. I will assess students on their letter sound and identification knowledge. We have also been learning about syllables and rhyming words. You can review these concepts at home. When the assessment is completed, you will see a copy in your child's signed papers.
Signed papers will go home on Wednesday along with a paper about the Book Character Parade. Please fill out the Book Character Parade sheet and return it in your child's folder as soon as possible. It is a fun event, and we want to make sure everyone has a book to go with their costume!
* We can have 2 volunteers come on our field trip on the 23rd. You would not ride the bus; instead, we would meet you at the Teaching Museum. If you are interested, please let me know and I can get you more information.
10/17 Sky Zone 3-7pm
10/23 Field Trip to Teaching Museum North
10/25 REES Fall Festival 4:30-7pm
10/31 Book Character Parade 8am
10/28-11/1 Red Ribbon Week
This week we will....
Math
Review counting by ones and tens. Continue to practice counting and labeling objects. The week after we will work on counting on from a number. For example, count from 6. 6, 7, 8. Students will also learn to sequence numbers. Please practice counting 0-100 by ones and tens with your child at home.
Writing
We will complete our narrative writing assessment. Students brainstormed about times they were happy and sad. They chose a topic and wrote a rough draft. This week we will edit and complete the final draft. Next week, we will start learning about informational writing.
Social Studies
Students will learn more about Christopher Columbus this week. We will discuss the things Columbus brought with him to the Americas. We watched a clip on Christopher Columbus from brainpopjr that tells the truth in a child friendly way about Columbus. Students are taught he is an explorer who didn't find America first, but did tell Europe about the Americas. At first, he made a mistake and thought he was in India.
Reading
We will be studying the letter s and identifying it at the beginning and ending of words. We will read stories that contain S words. We will also be completing our 9 week reading assessments. I will assess students on their letter sound and identification knowledge. We have also been learning about syllables and rhyming words. You can review these concepts at home. When the assessment is completed, you will see a copy in your child's signed papers.
Signed papers will go home on Wednesday along with a paper about the Book Character Parade. Please fill out the Book Character Parade sheet and return it in your child's folder as soon as possible. It is a fun event, and we want to make sure everyone has a book to go with their costume!
* We can have 2 volunteers come on our field trip on the 23rd. You would not ride the bus; instead, we would meet you at the Teaching Museum. If you are interested, please let me know and I can get you more information.
Looking Back
Hello! I'm sorry for the delays in posting.
Looking back.....
We started centers in reading. Students visit two centers a day and rotate through ten centers during the week. Some centers include: listening, big books, activboard, computer, abc, writing, write the room, pocket chart, and creation.
In math, we completed our shapes unit. Students should be able to identify 2D and 3D shapes. Here are links to songs we used to help learn the shape names and think of real life examples. 3D shapes song and 2D shapes song. Students also learned to compose shapes (ex: 2 triangles make a rhombus) and compare shapes. Lastly, students identified shapes as 2D/flat or 3D/solid.
In science, we studied physical properties. We created texture hands to discuss textures such as rough, bumpy, soft and smooth. We also learned that things are made up of different compositions. As a class, we sorted materials by plastic, wood, cloth, and rubber.
The class went though the entire writing process during A week. Students brainstormed about fall, and then we picked to write about apples. Rough drafts were written in students' journals. Next, we discussed describing words, and students wrote adjectives on apple dicuts. Students' edited their sentences by adding these describing words and finally published their apple sentence.
The next week we focused on writing about a trip each student had taken. It could be a trip to the beach, a restaurant, the zoo, etc. Students enjoyed writing about themselves and sharing their stories. Each day we practiced adding more information to make a more interesting story. Students wrote where they went, what they did there, and who they went with.
Looking back.....
We started centers in reading. Students visit two centers a day and rotate through ten centers during the week. Some centers include: listening, big books, activboard, computer, abc, writing, write the room, pocket chart, and creation.
In math, we completed our shapes unit. Students should be able to identify 2D and 3D shapes. Here are links to songs we used to help learn the shape names and think of real life examples. 3D shapes song and 2D shapes song. Students also learned to compose shapes (ex: 2 triangles make a rhombus) and compare shapes. Lastly, students identified shapes as 2D/flat or 3D/solid.
In science, we studied physical properties. We created texture hands to discuss textures such as rough, bumpy, soft and smooth. We also learned that things are made up of different compositions. As a class, we sorted materials by plastic, wood, cloth, and rubber.
The class went though the entire writing process during A week. Students brainstormed about fall, and then we picked to write about apples. Rough drafts were written in students' journals. Next, we discussed describing words, and students wrote adjectives on apple dicuts. Students' edited their sentences by adding these describing words and finally published their apple sentence.
The next week we focused on writing about a trip each student had taken. It could be a trip to the beach, a restaurant, the zoo, etc. Students enjoyed writing about themselves and sharing their stories. Each day we practiced adding more information to make a more interesting story. Students wrote where they went, what they did there, and who they went with.
Career Day
We had a fantastic career day on Monday! We had many guests who came to visit our classroom. Some jobs included an occupational therapist, a firefighter, a paralegal, a makeup artist, a filmmaker, a wireless networker, an IT specialist, and a physical trainer. Just to name a few! Thank you for everyone who was able to volunteer! Take some time to talk to your kids about what you do. We have discussed why people work (to earn money) and the purpose of money (to buy our needs and wants.) Students also learned that each job provides a good or a service. Jobs that provide goods are professions such as a baker or chef. They make things. Jobs that provide a service help people or doing something such as a doctor or barber. Our community helper unit goes through September 13th. Below are some career day pictures. Sorry I couldn't capture everyone!
< Mr. Stevens talking about finding actors for a movie.
< Mr. Rogers using Edouardo as a volunteer for stop, drop, and roll. He also let students touch his hat and listen to what it sounds like when a firefighter is breathing through his tank.
Each student got to lift (with assistance) the weight and learned some self defense moves (for when they aren't at school :) ) 
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