Dr. Seuss Dress Up Schedule

Reading is fun

with Dr. Seuss!

 

Dear Families,

We will be celebrating “Read Across America” the week of February 23^rd-27^th, 2015. All across America, parents will be urged to pick up a book and read to their child. It is also Dr. Seuss’ birthday (March 2nd) and we will be celebrating all week by reading some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books. We also thought it would be fun to have a different theme each day, so we would love it if you would help your child participate.

Monday, February 23^rd:  “Oh the Places You’ll Go”: Wear a shirt from a different country or a shirt you bought/wear on vacation.

Tuesday, February 24^th: “If I Ran the Zoo”: Wear animal prints.

Wednesday, February 25^th: “My Many Colored Days”: Wear as many colors as you can (don’t match!).

Thursday, February 26^th: “Fox in Socks”: Crazy or mismatched socks.

Friday, February 27^th: “Dr. Seuss’ Sleepy Book”-Wear your pajamas to school with sneakers.

                                               

                                       

School Family Update 2.17

This week will be a short 3 day week.

Reading
Students will practice identifying the middle vowel sound. Students will also review phonetic skills at their level: beginning sounds, sounding out words, long vowel sounds.  All students will practice listening to a story and bubbling in an answer for comprehension questions. Students will use a dictionary to find j words and practice handwriting. Lowercase j is tricky for many. Leveled readers will not be going home this week. If you have a book in a bag at home, please return it.

Writing
Students will be writing persausive pieces this week. They will choose the topic. The goal of persuasive writing is to make the reader agree with you. Students should share their opinion and 2 or more reasons to support their opinion. They will also get some practice writing a letter.

Social Studies
This week we begin our unit on national symbols. Students will learn about the flag, the pledge of allegience, the bald eagle, and the statue of liberty in this unit. We will be learning about the term symbol on Wednesday. Thursday students will make a flag book, and Friday they will make statue of liberty hats.

Math

Review creating story problems and solving them at home. At the end of last week, students practiced writing an equation to match the story problem. An example will go home tomorrow in their folders. This week students will practice solving addition equations with sums. The kindergarten standard is solving equations with sums 0-10. If students met this standard on the pretest, they will be given a different assignment.

Other
- Thank you for all of the valentines! The kids were super sweet, and I'm grateful for a loving group of students.
- The students earned 70 stepping stones so they will have their prize of an extra music class next Monday!
- Dad's Lunch is this Friday. Dads are invited to join their child for lunch and sit on the stage. Our lunch time is 10:56-11:26.
- Next week is Dr. Suess/Read Across America week. Check back for updates! I will be asking for some volunteer readers.
- An optional conference paper went home on Friday. Please return by Wednesday. I will be making a schedule Wednesday after school.

 

I will be out of the building Thursday.  I am going to a training titled Number Talks with the CST and a few other teachers. I'm looking forward to some new math ideas! 

 

~Mrs. Daugherty

Specials due to ice

I hope everyone is staying warm and safe with this icy day off! The specials schedule will be pushed back a day. Therefore, we were supposed to have art today, instead we will have art tomorrow. STEM on Thursday, and the media center on Friday (bring library books!). PE will be Monday and Wednesday next week. Please have your child wear tennis shoes or he/she will be unable to participate.

Playground Update

Our school playgrounds have been under construction. Below is an email update we received.
 

"This note is to keep you informed about the progress of the play-scape replacement projects underway at your schools. Projecting a timeline for completion is difficult this time of year due to the weather’s unpredictability. Lately, the ground has been frozen in the mornings and as it thaws during the day becomes too wet to work on. Attempting to work in these wet conditions could lead to unsuitable concrete or damage to the site, thus causing further delays.

While it may not look like the work is progressing quickly, please understand that we are working as quickly as we can while taking measures to prevent site damage or other setbacks. You are encouraged to share this information with parents and others in the school community so they can understand why installation of the new play-scapes may be slower than we would all like. Thank you for your assistance with this. If you have any questions or concerns, call Len Box (678-429-8773) or Jimmy Ziegler (504-296-1872). "

My Heart Padlet

Students had the opportunity to be movie stars again! Our technology coach, Mrs. Fragale, visited our class on Thursday to record students sharing their "My Heart" writing. Students wrote, "My heart belongs to __________. _________ is special because _____________." They were adorable! There work is currently displayed on our bulletin board in the hallway. It will go home in a few weeks. To hear their writing, visit their padlet.


Directions:

To hear your child read their writing go to www.padlet.com/daugherty/typechild'sname. You will be prompted to enter a password. It is your child's birthday MMDDYYYY. Feel free to share with extended family members too! Guests can leave a comment back for students to see. Thanks to everyone who has visited and commented already!

School Family Update 2.9

Happy February everyone! Last week, we learned about the Groundhog, had a STEM day with magnets, and completed our measurement unit. This week we have more excitement in store!

Reading
Students are visiting literacy centers with a letter v theme this week. While they work, I will pull groups for reading and phonics work. Students will bring home 2 books this week in their book in a bag. Please return these books daily. A reading standard we will be focusing on this week is changing a letter to make a new word. For example, I can change hop into hot by changing the ending sound. We will work on changing beginning, middle, and ending sounds with magnetic letters. Some groups will work with blends.

Skills to review from last week: Syllabes, rhyming, ending sounds

Writing
We have begun our persuasive writing unit. Persuasive writing shares an opinion or something that you think/want and then the writer gives reasons the reader should agree with them. This is the language I am using with the students. Last week, we read "Hey, Little Ant" which is a conversation between a boy and an ant. They gives reasons why/why not the ant should be squished. Students wrote reasons that were given from the text and then decided if they would squish the ant. They also made an ant during creation center.

This week, we are starting the week with the book "My Teacher for President." The author gives reason his teacher should be president. For example, they both go to meetings, they are both used to people following them (students/secret service), etc. We listed the reasons together on Monday. On Tuesday, students will write if they think their teacher should be president and give reasons. The rest of the week students will be write persuasive pieces sharing their opinion with at least 2 reasons. Some topics will include the best playground, if students should choose their own seats, and if they should do their work with markers.

Skills to review: What is persuasive writing? Stretching words, using correct capitalization and punctuation.

Social Studies
Students have been learning about President's Day. We learned about leaders last week. Students saw pictures of our mayor, governor, and current president. Then, we have been focusing on two presidents: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. This week we are discussing the monuments in Washington to remember them by. On Friday, students will complete the assessment where they will sort pictures that belong to Lincoln or Washington.

Facts to review: Lincoln lived in a log cabin. He is on the penny, wore a tall had, and was our 16th president. Washington was our first president. He is on the quarter and the dollar bill. There is a story about him chopping down a cherry tree and telling the truth.

Math
Last week, students visited measurement centers as I assessed each child. Students were asked to measure the length and weight of a marker using paperclips, cubes, and a scale. They also compared pictures two pictures to identify the heavier/lighter/longer/shorter item. Their results of the test will be in their signed papers.

This week we are beginning our addition and subtraction unit! Students took a pretest to let me know their prior knowledge. This week we are focusing on story problems. We acted them out today. The rest of the week we will go over strategies such as acting it out, using our fingers, or drawing a picture to solve the story problem. As students are ready, we will add a number sentence (equation) to match the story problem. A story problem is like a word problem.
Example 1:
There are 3 ducks in pond. 2 more ducks join them. How many ducks are in the pond?
Example 2:
There are 6 teddy bears. Some kids came in and bought 4 teddy bears. How many bears are left in the store?

I am working with the students to repeat the story problem and visualize it. Then think are more coming or some leaving. THen, will the number get bigger or smaller. Going through these steps promote a deeper understanding and will help with more complex word problems in their future.

Other
- We will celebrate Valentine's Day this Friday. Students are welcome to bring in valentines for every student in our class and deliver them any day this week. Their mailboxes will come home Friday. We will also have a fun, festive snack.
- Please make sure you have sent in a wallet size picture and an Author Profile for students' books. Our author party will be March 31st at 8:00am. Students will share their finished books. We'd love to see you there!
- STEM days are the first Friday of every month and last from 8:00-10:00am. If you are interested in volunteering please let me know.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!
<3 Mrs. Daugherty