Report Cards
Hello, everyone! Your child should have brought home his/her first kindergarten report card on Friday. They were all sent home, and I personally made sure each child had it before leaving the classroom. Please let me know right away if it got misplaced between school and home. This is important information for your review. Also, please be in touch with any questions. I know it's a lot of information. I hope the document explaining kindergarten learning expectations was helpful.
Hello, everyone! Your child should have brought home his/her first kindergarten report card on Friday. They were all sent home, and I personally made sure each child had it before leaving the classroom. Please let me know right away if it got misplaced between school and home. This is important information for your review. Also, please be in touch with any questions. I know it's a lot of information. I hope the document explaining kindergarten learning expectations was helpful.
NWEA
Students took a computer-based assessment this week on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. They took two separate tests: Common Core Reading and Common Core Math. For more information, please check out these resources from the NWEA website:
NWEA MAP Parent Toolkit
NWEA Resources for Parents
I do not frame this as a test in my talk with students because I am concerned about causing undue anxiety. Just like any other school work, though, I do encourage them to put their best effort forth. We often say, "Quality work takes time." This assessment is no different than any other task--we do our best and take our time! I was proud of everyone. They are much better at navigating the Chromebooks than they were during our trial run of the assessment in October. It seemed like most students actually enjoyed the process and weren't feeling any stress about it.
The results of these assessments will help me make instructional decisions about areas I need to focus more on with the entire class. They will also help inform my decisions about how to group students and which skills/concepts need more work.You will receive information about your child's performance on these assessments in the near future.
Students took a computer-based assessment this week on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. They took two separate tests: Common Core Reading and Common Core Math. For more information, please check out these resources from the NWEA website:
NWEA MAP Parent Toolkit
NWEA Resources for Parents
I do not frame this as a test in my talk with students because I am concerned about causing undue anxiety. Just like any other school work, though, I do encourage them to put their best effort forth. We often say, "Quality work takes time." This assessment is no different than any other task--we do our best and take our time! I was proud of everyone. They are much better at navigating the Chromebooks than they were during our trial run of the assessment in October. It seemed like most students actually enjoyed the process and weren't feeling any stress about it.
The results of these assessments will help me make instructional decisions about areas I need to focus more on with the entire class. They will also help inform my decisions about how to group students and which skills/concepts need more work.You will receive information about your child's performance on these assessments in the near future.
Upcoming Events
We have many fun events coming up in the next two weeks!
Tuesday, December 9th: School Sing Along
There will be a holiday sing along during the school day at 2:30 for students.
Wednesday, December 17th: Pajama Day!
I haven't officially announced this to students yet, but we will have a special Polar Express pajama day next Wednesday. Mrs. Morgan, our fearless leader, will also be coming in to read and have hot cocoa with students. I am not sure what books she'll read, but I know it'll be a fabulous, cozy experience!
MSU Singers: An a capella singing group will visit Blair at 2:15 that afternoon to treat us to some holiday songs--I've heard they are amazing!
Friday, December 19th: Classroom Holiday Party, 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Please join us in our classroom for some crafting and healthy snack creating! We will do this "station style": students will rotate through 4 stations. I have put a sign-up sheet online if you'd like to contribute to the food/materials. You can find that sheet here.
December 22-January 2: Holiday Break
School resumes on Monday, January 5th.
We have many fun events coming up in the next two weeks!
Tuesday, December 9th: School Sing Along
There will be a holiday sing along during the school day at 2:30 for students.
Wednesday, December 17th: Pajama Day!
I haven't officially announced this to students yet, but we will have a special Polar Express pajama day next Wednesday. Mrs. Morgan, our fearless leader, will also be coming in to read and have hot cocoa with students. I am not sure what books she'll read, but I know it'll be a fabulous, cozy experience!
MSU Singers: An a capella singing group will visit Blair at 2:15 that afternoon to treat us to some holiday songs--I've heard they are amazing!
Friday, December 19th: Classroom Holiday Party, 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Please join us in our classroom for some crafting and healthy snack creating! We will do this "station style": students will rotate through 4 stations. I have put a sign-up sheet online if you'd like to contribute to the food/materials. You can find that sheet here.
December 22-January 2: Holiday Break
School resumes on Monday, January 5th.
Math We officially moved into a new unit of math about patterns and functions, though we haven't had much time to dig into it because of our NWEA testing last week. Since we did some work on patterns in the fall, most students are quite adept at creating and extending visual, spoken, motion, and sound patterns. They are ready to rock! :-) Our mathematicians have become very skilled and meta-cognition during our math discussions--thinking about their thinking. For example, instead of just giving an answer to a question and moving on, students are challenged to tell how they came to the solution and to 'explain their thinking.' We often do our math talk in partnerships and then share out with the class. Our unit on Counting and Comparing was very successful. Students are building their number recognition and understanding every day in many ways. Students are proficient at using math vocabulary to compare the length of objects--they were feeling pretty proud of themselves for knowing terms like 'greater than,' 'less than,' and 'equal to.' They have also become quite expert at counting and double checking every time. Along with our unit on patterns and functions, we will spend more time digging into those 'tricky teen' numbers, as many students are struggling to recognize numbers 11-20. |
Sharing Sharing has become one of my favorite times of the day! It's so fun to listen to students tell about things they care about and do in their daily lives. Not everyone is sharing at this point--ask your child if he/she has shared yet. It can be helpful to plan what your child wishes to say ahead of time. Rehearsal/planning can take away some anxiety. After vacation, I hope to have all students sharing during our sharing time. Not only is it interesting to learn more about everyone, this time in our day helps students develop skills related to the Common Core State Standards in Speaking and Listening. We talk about being brave in kindergarten as well--willing to take risks and try new things. |
Literacy Stations/Daily 5 It's been a bit slow going this year, but I think we are ready to try adding the Daily 5 literacy station routine to our daily schedule again. We tried earlier in the school year with some success, but they needed more practice in working quietly and independently. Students have now had the opportunity to learn many ways to practice the alphabet, letter sounds, and sight words to help them prepare to be successful in the Word Work station. They have also become more independent as writers, which will help in the Work on Writing station. They are adept at using Chromebooks, which will be useful for the Listen to Reading station. Their love of books and reading will help them be successful at the Read to Self and Read to Someone stations. I am eager to start formal reading groups. I've done a lot of conferencing with individual students, and I will continue to do so, but I'm eager to start small group guided reading instruction. I think the class is ready to work independently in stations so that this can happen. Hooray! |
Writing Workshop This week students learned that writers often write about topics they love. When we write about topics that are near and dear to us, we are much more motivated to write! We are transitioning from writing about things we know a lot about (expert topics) to writing personal narratives (small moments). These stories from our lives are important in helping students to develop a better understanding of writing structures. We will work on writing stories with a beginning, middle, and ending using lots of details both in pictures and in words. Please help your child write at home too! Students have been introduced to about 15 sight words, so they should have a core of high frequency words they can draw upon when writing. We have also been working regularly on stretching and writing sounds in words. By this point, students should be writing the beginning and ending sounds for most words in a phonetic way. Practice is essential, though, and working together at home to help coach your child though this process is very useful. |
Science!
I am so happy to be starting our first science unit--"Exploring with Our Senses." We have read books about our senses, watched a great BrainPopJr. video, started a cool Christmas Five Senses book, and taste tested foods to explore different types of tastes. I will admit these weren't the healthiest choices, but they certainly were popular! Next week we'll do the healthy version! :-) We will do experiments to explore all 5 senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Now that scientists have had a taste (no pun intended!) of this unit, I will challenge them to think of questions they have about our five senses. We will then seek to find answers to these questions in order to make this unit more personal and meaningful for students. Also, that's what scientists do! They question their understanding of the world and seek to find answers.
I am so happy to be starting our first science unit--"Exploring with Our Senses." We have read books about our senses, watched a great BrainPopJr. video, started a cool Christmas Five Senses book, and taste tested foods to explore different types of tastes. I will admit these weren't the healthiest choices, but they certainly were popular! Next week we'll do the healthy version! :-) We will do experiments to explore all 5 senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Now that scientists have had a taste (no pun intended!) of this unit, I will challenge them to think of questions they have about our five senses. We will then seek to find answers to these questions in order to make this unit more personal and meaningful for students. Also, that's what scientists do! They question their understanding of the world and seek to find answers.
Of course, this post barely scrapes the surface of the happenings in kindergarten, but I hope it gives you a glimpse into what we're doing. I will post next week about our latest art project with our reading buddies in Miss Knue's class. We made silly reindeer drawings/paintings and they are going to be so very cute! I can't wait to share the finished product.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!