Sharing:  The Eeyores will share this week.  We have a new topic! Be sure to look on this site under the "More" tab for the monthly sharing assignments.

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the final blend /sh/.  Our craft will be making 3-D stuffed fish.  Our snack of Goldfish Crackers will be contributed by Wiley.

This week we will meet Letter Person Mr. Q who loves to ask questions.  I'll be that this sounds a lot like your children, who always are curious and want to know everything about their world.  We will work on asking questions and the difference between a question and a statement.  We will practice the correct printing of the letter Qq, another letter that dips down below the bottom line.

It is hard to believe that we are going to begin the month of February this week.  We are finishing up our Benchmark unit on Animals and reviewing high frequency sight words from the unit as well as reviewing the differences between birds, mammals and reptiles.  

In Room K we spend a lot of time establishing and learning social skills.  We practice listening and talking clearly, and we discuss our emotions and feelings during Council and Second Step.  We also write about these thoughts and feelings in our journals. Please support your child's social skills at home by reinforcing our school rules of Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful. Reinforce good manners and how to create and maintain successful friendships.  As parents, you are of course, your child's first teachers.  When children enter formal school, we build on and reinforce these skills that are so necessary to get along in large groups and to be a successful student.

Friday is Ground Hog Day, and it is a time when we talk about the weather, how animals hibernate and notice the small changes in the seasons.

Our Schedule:
Monday:  Let's Find Out! magazine, Big Buddies
Tuesday:  Speech & Language, P.E.
Wednesday:  Art, Yoga, Council
Thursday:  P.E., Second Step
Friday:  Ground Hog Day! Morning Assembly,Planet Bravo, Homework Review, Sharing, Science Hike  

Speech & Language:  This week we will have a pragmatic lesson in Speech.  We will not have homework and there will be no snack. We will be practicing using conversational skills and listening skills.

Sharing:  This week the Winnie-the-Poohs and Eeyores will share.

This week, progress reports will be going home.  Not all students will receive one as they are only sent to students in jeopardy of receiving a below proficient grade on our next report card. 

This week we will be meeting Ms. P and her pointy patches.  We will practice writing the letter.  The lower case /p/ is tricky because it dips below the line.  We will practice the sound of the letter and think of words that begin with the sound.  We are also continuing our Benchmark Unit 6 study of animals.  We are making an animal book by cutting shapes to create animals, a task that requires following directions, cutting skills and a bit of artistic talent too.  The children are having a good time creating their paper animals and we are writing a sentence on each page.

Our math skills are addressed in both our math journal and our Benchmark workbook.  We continue to practice patters, shapes, addition, and counting.

Superheros:  We have been learning to be superheros.  This is another way to reinforce our Conscious Discipline program-using our "big voice."  We take the Superhero stance and speak up if someone is doing something we don't like.  We are learning "No means no." and "Yes means yes."  This is empowering our young students and discouraging bully type behavior, or simply unwanted behavior.  Ask your children to show you how they can speak up for themselves to feel safe.  Here is a great link to watch a TED talk about how your body language may shape who you are:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc 

Our Schedule:
Monday:  Let's Find Out! magazine, Big Buddies
Tuesday:  Speech & Language, P.E.
Wednesday:  Art, Yoga, Council
Thursday:  P.E., Second Step
Friday:  Morning Assembly, Planet Bravo, Homework Review, Sharing, Science

Thank you for all you do to support Room K!
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will be practicing the initial blend of /fr/.  We will make a frog and our snack of fruit salad will be provided by Balam.

Sharing:  This week the Tiggers will share.

I hope you all had an enjoyable three-day weekend.  This week we will meet Mr. O who teaches us about opposites.  How many opposites can your child think of?  We will be writing about animals in our Benchmark workbook as well as practicing letters and sounds.  We are learning about animals this month including ways they are alike and different.  We are also learning about animals in science.  We have had lessons about mammals and birds and will be learning about reptiles and amphibians too. The children are very enthusiastic about this topic!

In math we are continuing patterns, addition, subtraction and of course counting by 1s, 5s, 10s, 20s.  How high can your child count?  We are quickly approaching the 100th Day of School and will celebrate with a special day of fun math activities.  I will be sending more information and a sign up for those able to help us with out 100th day trail mix snack.

In P.E. we are working on balancing, throwing, catching and tumbling.  Be sure to have your child wear tennis shoes and socks, especially on P.E. day.

Our Schedule:
Tuesday:  Speech & Language, P.E.
Wednesday: Art, Yoga, Council
Thursday: P.E.
Friday: Morning Assembly, Planed Bravo, Homework Review, Sharing, Science

Thank you for all you do to support Room K!
Mrs. W

Speech & Language:  This week we will be practicing the blend /bl/.  We will be making blocks and our snack of blueberries will be provided by Paloma!

Sharing:  We have a new sharing assignment for January so be sure to check the website.  This week the Piglets will share.

Happy New Year Room K!  I am looking forward to seeing everyone Monday morning and I am sure the children are ready to get back to school, learn new things and see all of their friends.  It is always amazing to see how much they change in just three short weeks.

This week we will meet Mr. N and his noisy nose.  We will practice the sound of /n/ and learn how to correctly write both capital and small /N/.  We will work in our writing journals and practice more independent writing, use our alphabet dictionaries and Handwriting Without Tears workbook.  Additionally, we will begin Unit 6 in our Benchmark reading program.  Unit 6 is all about animals and I am sure the children will love the stories.  Our high-frequency words this week are:
is
on
where
in
the
We will be creating sentences about animals using our high-frequency words.

We will work in our January math journals and additional math pages.  We will play math games and use pattern blocks, dominoes, linking cubes and wooden blocks to explore creating shapes, patterns and use our geometry skills.

Reminders:
Remember to turn in your child's Read-O-Rama pledge form!  Thank you all for encouraging your child to read during winter break.

Please encourage children to wear safe rubber-soled shoes and socks to school and dress your child in layers. Often mornings are cold, but by lunch time, the weather has warmed.  On that note, label all clothing, containers, water bottles and lunch boxes with your child's name for easy return if found on the playground or campus.

Something new for 2018:
*We will begin our Question of the Day graphing activity.  I put a new question in a chart each morning and the children put their name on the graph to answer the question.  What does this do?  It encourages reading!  Please do not read the question to your child, encourage them to read high-frequency words and sound out other words.  They will help each other.  It often is exciting to watch the children eagerly come in to see what the Question of the Day is.

*Kindergarten students will be starting additional homework to prepare them for the riggers of First grade and to support our classwork.  It is self-explanatory, but of course if you have any questions please let me know. 

*Kindergarten students will be given the Mid-Year DIBELS (diagnostic indicator of basic early literacy skills) assessment in January.  We will be practicing decoding nonsense words, which is an item on the test, as well as letter recognition, decomposing words, and letter sounds.  I will send home the assessment report after completion.

Schedule:
Monday:  Let's Find Out! magazine, Dance, Buddies
Tuesday:  Speech & Language, P.E.
Wednesday:  Art, Yoga, Council
Thursday:  P.E., Second Step (empathy training)
Friday:  Planet Bravo, Homework Review, Sharing, Science

Thank you all for your help supporting your child's education and Room K!
Mrs. W