Good Afternoon JK Parents!

The children were buzzing about our party and so excited to start the week!  We had such a wonderful Valentine's celebration.  I cannot thank you enough for all of the generous contributions of treats and decorations!  They were spoiled like crazy.  We had fruit for days!   

We are studying great African American leaders, athletic heroes and great musicians as we celebrate Black History Month.  We learned about Ruby Bridges, Garrett Morgan and Harriet Tubman.  We watched a video on Ruby Bridges and wrote journal pages about being a friend.

Literacy/Language Arts:
The children are working on their sight words (popcorn/high frequency) with games in our circle at morning meeting.  We are beginning to discuss digraphs and blends as a group but concentrate on the skills in each reading group according to readiness.  We are working to scale our upper and lower case letters, so as they are practicing their writing remind them to make their lower case letters the same size and their upper case letters bigger.  Our reading groups read high frequency word books and letter books, along with some new Bob books.

Math/Science:
We learned about icicles and how they temperature has to be 32 degrees or lower for them to form. We also learned that it must be sunny for icicles to develop and that they typically form on the south side of the building/structure.  We brought huge icicles inside for study, as we talked about the danger as these melt and release from the gutters and rooftop overhang.

The children created 3-D shapes with tooth picks and marshmallows, and one even recreated the shapes by drawing them on paper!  We now know he is able to recreate a tetrahedron, octahedron complex!  They surprise me every single day.

We practiced grouping and categorizing coins and extending complex patterns as we become more familiar with money.  The children practiced writing their numbers on writing sheets as we sang our money song.

We played a game the children love,  helping them concentrate on the details of observation.  We separate children into two groups who all share something in common within their group.  They must find the similarities and differences, sometimes minute.  It's interesting to see the differences and similarities I had not even thought of to include!

Fine Arts:
We created stop lights in celebration of Garrett Morgan, the inventor of the electric stoplight.  The children were thinking of all sorts of ways to use them at home!  They wrote the colors on each circle, practiced their scissor skills by cutting out the light signals, and writing words that begin with the same color as the different signal colors.  We discussed how different life would be without stop lights, and what it means to be an inventor.

Have a lovely holiday weekend!  Spring will be here before you know it.  I don't want to rush the winter, because it will be one step closer to this amazing school year coming to an end.

Ms. Massey

Good Afternoon JK Parents!

This week has been lovely as we have shown our school spirit by dressing up according to our theme of the day.  Our class has had such a fun-filled time celebrating each day.  I mean, who doesn't love wearing PJ's to school?!

Centers this week:

Language Arts:
We have read such fun books, including:  Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School, Ms. Bindergartens 100th Day of Kindergarten, Pajama Party, I don't Wanna Go!, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose, Honey, I love, The Day it Rained Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Color Dance, Tar Beach, Creepy Carrots, Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Love.  We practiced our sight (popcorn, high frequency) words with pieces of popcorn in our turn and talk exercise.  We practiced sounds at the beginning of words while we read our morning message and looked around the classroom while playing "Eye Spy" for words that begin with a particular sound.  We practiced our zoo phonics and danced to the letter sound song.

The children completed a name book where they practiced writing, saying and spelling their name in various ways, including cutting out each letter for letter boxes.  Every child is encouraged to continue working on their tripod hold and letter formation, as it's less natural to start in the "air" on the page so must constantly fight that urge to begin on the line by encouraging children to start from the top when writing their letters.  It is an every single time they write struggle, so please assist me when you see them beginning to write their letters from the bottom.

Math/Science:
The children played our rainbow rug game where we sequentially count to 100 around the circle. The children love anticipating their number as well as assisting friends for the tricky teen numbers and at each new tens number.  We are also practicing counting by tens.  We played number bingo and all practiced writing our numbers on the white board.  We discussed numbers and which is higher, lower, bigger and smaller.  We begin counting at different random numbers to break up the sing song and work on the actual one-to one correspondence of the number sequence.

We are discussing the science of icicles, and will continue to study ice and snow for the next couple of weeks, along with Black History Month and Caring and Sharing for Valentine's Day.

Fine Arts:
The children have been busy creating all kinds of Valentine pictures, making beaded bracelets, coloring with pastels and water colors, cutting out different shapes for Valentines, and using stamps to create collages.

Please be thinking about your items for the 100th day of school next week.  There will be no school this friday for parent teacher conferences as well as no school Monday for President's Day.  I look forward to discussing your child's progress as we meet for our conference!

Ms. Massey

Good afternoon JK parents!  Happy Groundhog Day!

We have been singing and dancing to our Zoo Phonics letters this week.  The children love mimicking all of the motions and it's very helpful for the children who are still learning their letter sounds or those who have a couple they confuse.  Most all of the children are mixing up the "W" and "Y" sounds and need help with their vowel sounds, because there are so many exceptions when making words and blending each letter with others.  I am so pleased with their progress and all they have already learned this year, and we still have half the school year to go!  This is the time where it is so much fun because the routines are in place so we can move at a faster pace with all of our activities, focusing on the material and not the logistics of routines!

We have continued our study of the Inuit people this week.  It has been fun creating igloos and exploring the Arctic world.

Be sure to sign up for a conference time if you have not already, or contact me for another time not listed!  I am here early and available most mornings to meet 7:45-8:15 am.

Language Arts Center:
We have been building different words with letter blocks and playing a game where we fill in the consonant at the beginning of a word based on the picture clue and the remainder of the word. Breaking words into syllables is helpful too.  We clap as we practice counting syllables in words in our morning meeting, along with rhyming words and popcorn/sight words.  The children LOVE writing in their word books and feel so grown up to have their own books to work in, and it provides great letter formation practice for them.  ANY writing they do is beneficial, so writing centers at home with various pens, markers, pencils, crayons etc. are great!  Whenever you can excite them and make it interesting for them to color, sound out words and use their inventive spelling, label their illustrations, etc. I encourage you to.  If you are looking for helpful activities to do at home, just writing and going over each letter in their name and the letter sound or exception is extremely beneficial.  If they have mastered their first and last names, add their middle name, street address or phone number to discuss and practice writing.  The letters Ww, Uu, Ii, A, Ee, Oo, Yy, Qq, Bb, and Dd are the most troublesome for the class, with confusion about the recognition as well as the sounds each makes.

Our third grade reading buddies came to visit, read and help us create our journal page this week. They love having the older kids read with them!  It's such a great way to deepen our sense of the school community.  The children used inventive spelling to label or write about the story they read together.

We have read many higher level stories this week, breaking them up as we do our chapter books. The children are becoming more interested in more intricate plots and are able to sit for longer periods of time while they enjoy being read to.  Chapter books at home are wonderful at this age too! Introducing new vocabulary to them through literature is an amazing way to improve their reading comprehension skills.  We continue to discuss the characters, settings, and sequence of events when reading.

Math and Science Centers:
We use manipulatives in our games to make adding and subtracting fun.  Counting and stressing the one first on teen numbers, and even calling "10" "ten-teen" is helpful for some children to remember which number comes first.  They are learning that the one comes first in teen numbers, but the 10, 11 and 12 can be tricky since they are exceptions to the "ending in teen" rule.  Please reach out to me for further explanation if this is confusing.  We are also practicing counting by 10's.  This is another Kindergarten skill but I love introducing this to the children early and for those who are ready it's another fun counting rhyme and also begins to build the basis of their numerology understanding. For the students who are still practicing their counting to 100, it will be familiar when they begin their Kindergarten math.

We have discussed many science-related concepts, about the animals and how they survive in the arctic to different plants and animals and what is able to grow and flourish in cold temperatures.  We read a story about a lost polar bear who has never seen a butterfly before.  This provided a great basis to discuss different regions and climates and things that are specific to those.

Fine Arts Center:
We finished constructing our igloos and inuit people, and practiced our scissor skills and writing skills while creating February calendars.  We also discussed the concept of symmetry when creating hearts and how they are symmetrical.  I apologize for the glitter.  We sprayed them all to set the glitter, but it still finds a way to get everywhere!  We colored, cut out, and made grass fringe for groundhogs in celebration of groundhog day!

Please check to be sure your child has seasonal clothing in their cubby, as many times they will get wet when playing in the snow.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Massey