Learning Update Feb. 24th

It seems we are getting back to our normal routines...kind of. This week will be Dr. Seuss themed due to the Read Across America event on Friday. See the newsletter or pink letter that was sent home for more information about what to dress up as each day.

Writing
We wil have a combination of persuasive writing prompts and Dr. Suess prompts this week. Students will also particpate about some creative writing. At the writing center during literacy centers, students will design a hat and then use describing words to write about it.

Reading
We are focusing on stretching out three letter words and identifying beginning, middle, and end phonemes (sounds.) Students may discuss some diagraphs as well in their reading groups (sh, th, ch, etc.) Book in a bags will go home Monday through Thursday this week. Please read the leveled book at home with your child and then return it the next day to school. We reread books often to build fluency and sometimes I need to return them to the library to get a new set of books. I can't return books unless I have the complete set. Some books being sent home will be paper because I printed them from an online A-Z program the school pays for. Thank you. On Friday, students will participate in Dr. Seuss activities all day. Our literacy centers will be suess inspired as well. Students visit 2 centers each day. The centers this week are:
abc- word sort
game- seuss sounds
activboard- letter J writing, word sorts, blending
computer- starfall.com
pocket chart- sorting nonsense words and real words
library- count the number of sight words in a story
creation- design and describe a hat
writing- If Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to my house....
write the room- find words around the room that start with the letters C-A-T-A-N-D-T-H-E-H-A-T
listening- Stop, Drop, and Roll to prepare us for our field trip in March to Safety Town. Students wil identify the characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.

Math
We are continuing our addition and subtraction unit this week. We are still working with story problems. We discuss if the number is going to get bigger (make plus sign with fingers) or less (make minus sign to take away.) Last week, students used manipulatives and themselves to act out problems. This week students will learn to draw pictures and use their fingers to solve a story problem. In the middle of the week, students will practice writing equations to match the story problem. Ask your child to tell you a story problem. They have been doing well coming up with their own stories!

Social Studies
This week we will once again be discussing presidents. We had to change our pacing with the snow days. I will be assessing students on their knowledge through a cut and paste sort. Students should be able to identify objects that are associated with Lincoln or Washington. Students will describe why we celebrate Presidents Day and share what a monument is. We will be discussing monuments, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument on Monday. Lastly, students will pick a president and share something about them. They will have to identify if the president is alive now or was a long time ago. We have talked briefly about Barack Obama so obviously he would be alive now. :)


FYI, I will be out on Wednesday because I am attending a STEM training. STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. River Eves wants to be a STEM school next year. This training will provide me with more knowledge and K-2 examples. I'm hoping it will be worth missing a day! A fabulous substitute I have worked with before will be in our classroom as well as Ms. Madojemu. They will have detailed lesson plans about what to do. I will not be there to check sight word folders so students may bring them in, but I will check them Thursday when I return.

I have enjoyed the conferences I have had so far and am looking forward to the ones scheduled this upcoming week. The Gkids reports were sent home last week. The letters at the top stand for:
ND- Not Demonstrating
EM-Emerging
P-Progressing
M- Meeting
EX- Exceeding

The learning approaches abbrievations are:
AC- Area of Concern
DE- Developing
CD- Consistently Demonstrating

You should not be alarmed if a skill is still developing; Also, the writing standards (narrative, informational) will be reassessed in the spring.


Thank you so much for the Valentine goodies! I really appreciate all of the sweet cards, notepads, and candy. Kindergarten is the best grade to teach because they are so loving!!!

<3 Mrs. Daugherty

Read Across America

If you would like to be a volunteer reader in our class during our Read Across America Dr. Seuss celebration on Friday, February 28th please sign up using the link below.

Thanks!

To sign up, go to:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C084EA5A822A3F58-reading

Learning Update Feb. 10-13

Good evening,

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Below is an overview of each subject and what we are doing this week.

Social Studies
     This week we begin our two week unit on President's Day. This week we will discuss leadership, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. Students will listen to books, make some crafts, and watch a short video to support their learning.

SSH1 The student will identify the purpose of national holidays and describe the people/event celebrated. F) President's Day.
SSKH3 The student will correctly use words adn phrases related to chronologty and time to explaing how things change.
SSKG1 The student will describe American culture by explaining divers community and family celebrations and customes related to President's Day.
SSKCG2 The studetn will retell stories that illustrate positive chracter traits and wille xplain how the popele in the stories (Washington, Lincoln, Obama, etc) show teh qualities of honesty, patriotism, loyalty, respect, truth, pride, self-control, moderation, and accomplishment.

Math
     On Monday, we will wrap up our measurement review centers, and students will take the STAR test if they haven't already. The STAR test is a test on the computer that provides feedback on their learning. They take it 3 times during the year.
     The rest of the week we will be starting our addition and subtraction unit. Students will take a pretest to give me knowledge about what they already know. Then, the rest of the week will be spent on story problems. It is critical students develop an understanding of what addition and subtraction means before memorizing math facts. The memorization and equations will come later. This week we will focus on the strategy of acting out story problems.
An example may be: There are 3 kids on the playground. 2 more kids come to the playground. How many students are playing on the playground?
Another example would be: There are 7 frogs on lilypads. 4 jumped off. How many frogs are left on the lilypads?
We will write equations to match the story problems but not yet. Students will focus on if the answer will be more or less than the number they started with. Building this foundation will help them with word problems for years to come. I will keep you updated on the skills we are adding each week. On Thursday, we will have story problems related to candy hearts!

MCCK.OA1,2 Represent and solve additiona and subtraction word problems with objects, fingers, mental impages, drawings, equations, etc.

Writing
     Some students will be completing their publishing project. Students will also be writing more persuasive pieces with an opinion and reasons to support their opinion. Students have learned the purpose of persuasive writing is to make the reader agree with you. Students began writing about the best superpower to have on Friday. We will edit their work and complete a final draft this week. Students will also hear a book and develop an opinion if their teacher should be president. :)
Students should be writing 3 phonetically spelled sentences with capitalization and punctuation at this point in the year.

Reading
    The letter of the week is v.  In addition to identifying and manipulating ending and middle sounds in small groups, students will review what to do when they come to unknown words in a text. The five strategies we have talked about are:
1) Sound it out
2) Look for chunks
3) Check the picture
4) Think about what makes sense
5) Get your mouth ready
Please review these at home as you read with your child. Also continue to review sight words with speed. Students should be able to read 30 words in a minute by the end of the year. I assessed students on this standard last week so it will be updated on their GKIDS report that will go home Thursday. Also, review characters and setting with your child. A character is a person or animal in a story. A setting is where the story takes place (mountains, farm, school, park, etc).
ELACCKRF3 Know and apply grade level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
ELACCKRFd Isoloate and pronounce the inital, medial vowel, and final sounds in three phoneme words (CVC words).
ELACCKRF4 Read emergent texts with purpose and understanding.

Other
- I apologize folders did not make it home on Friday. We had a busy afternoon and somehow skipped folders! They will go home on Monday. Hopefully, you can find all needed information here on the website. If you have any specific questions, please comment or email me.
- No school Friday, Feb. 14th or Monday Feb. 17th. I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!
- Your child may bring in his/her valentines any day this week. Our mailboxes have been decorated! Students will bring them home Thursday. Thank you to everyone who sent in a cereal box or shoebox.

<3 Mrs. Daugherty

Learning Update Jan. 29 and Feb. 3

Reading
This week in small groups we are focusing on stretching out words. We are also completing the final draft for our book project.

Social Studies/Science
Students are learning about rocks and soils. We have discussed that the Earth is made up of rocks, soil, water, and air. They will need to name these items for the assessment. Then, we investigated all kinds of cool rocks. Next, we will focus on comparing rocks by attributes such as color, hardness, texture, appearance (shiny/dull), etc. When they visit the science lab on Friday, students will test if rocks float or sink. We are also focusing on soil. Soil samples are due Thursday (now Tuesday, Feb. 4). Students will share about their soil sample and will compare their soil with a partner. It is part of their assessment!

SKCS3. Students will use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and

manipulating objects in scientific activities.
SKCS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
SKE2. Students will describe the physical attributes of rocks and soils.
a. Use senses to observe and group rocks by physical attributes such as large/small, heavy/light, smooth/rough, dark/light, etc.
b. Use senses to observe soils by physical attributes such as smell, texture, color, particle/grain size.c. Recognize earth materials— soil, rocks, water, air, etc.
Math
This is our final week of our measurement unit. On Monday, we celebreated the 100th day. We are having measurement olympics during the middle of the week (or when we return)! I introduced the winter olympics to students on Tuesday. We watched a short video clip of the Olympic sports on www.olympics.org. It fascinated the students! Students went to one center on Tuesday and will visit the other two later. Students imitate the ski jump by jumping as far as they can on the carpet. Then, we measure how far they jumped. Students will compare their jumps and try multiple times. The second center revists sorting. No directions are given to the students as they decide the best way to sort a pile of flags from various countries. At the final center students will compare by height. We are comparing students' heights as well as athletes that will compete in this year's Olympics. If your child came home saying they wanted to learn how to do flips in the snow.....it's my fault. :) The snowboarding tricks were intriguing. After the Olympics, we will complete the assessment. Students will be circling items that are heavier, lighter, taller, shorter, longer, and shorter as well as measuring a given item. Students should know these vocabulary terms as well as know a scale is used to measure weight and cubes/paperclips would measure lenght/height. We will do this now the week of February 3rd and review some other skills for GKIDS. Progress skills checklist will go home Feb. 13th.

MCC.K.MD1  Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight

MCC.K.MD2 Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has “more of”/”Less of” the attribute, and describe the difference.

Writing
Students are gettting to choose topics to write in their journals while I pull students to work on their final drafts for their books. This takes a little while....:) It is nice to see what students choose to write about. On Tuesday, students wrote about what they wanted to do in the snow since it was really coming down outside!

Thanks for all of your flexibility during the past week. I'm glad to hear everybody is safe and enjoyed some time in the snow!

<3 Mrs. Daugherty