Weekly Update
August 21-25th
Curriculum Night at Heards Ferry
Please join us virtually on August 31, 2023, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for Curriculum Night at HFE. Curriculum Night is intended to give parents an opportunity to meet their child’s teacher as well as receive an overview of the curriculum and classroom expectations for the 2023-2024 school year. We look forward to “seeing” you there!
Details-
When: August 31, 2023, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Microsoft Teams- Your child’s teacher will send an invite the week of Curriculum Night. All sessions will be recorded and posted to your child’s classroom teacher’s S’more Newsletter following the event.
Cookies for character!
Yearbook Cover Art Contest!
DONT FORGET TO RETURN DAILY YELLOW/BLUE COMMUNCATION FOLDERS DAILY PLEASE
Hello Parents!
Happy Friyay!! We had a busy week filled with lots of learning and getting in the swing of things. I have some notes about some behavior issues in the class that I'd loved to see some home connections with to reinforce and build accountability as this has impacted our learning time.
A few notes that I have and that our special areas teachers also noted to me when picking the class up are:
-listening to instructions the first time
-not speaking over the teacher
-using school/classroom supplies correctly (we have had students taking our math tools and sliding them under the bathroom doors)
-using an inside whisper or table talk voice
-silent dismissal (especially when the afternoon announcements come on and potential bus changes are announced.)
-picking up after ourselves (any picking up any food that falls on the floor)
-keeping hands out of mouths and noses (using a tissue)
-walking in the halls and in line
-being respectful (SOAR behavior)
The class LOVED going to the media center on Tuesday and checking out a book. We will be going to the media center every other week to check out a new book. Please make sure your child can say their first and last name (this is part of the checkout process). Students cannot check out another book unless they return their first book. I will allow students to go to the media center on non-library days, usually in the mornings during (7:10-7:35) and if there are other opportunities during the day. Please make sure your student keeps track of their book and brings it with them when we go to the media center as a class. I would hate for them to miss out on checking out a new book because they didn't bring their book back. (This ties in wonderfully with our IB unit next week and our discussions on being responsible citizens). Students learn how to "hug" their book when they are leaving with their book, so that they can take care of it.
This week I introduced our own classroom system of individual punch cards. Students can earn a hole punch in their punch card as they work towards an individual goal, which can then be traded in for a trip to the treasure box! The goal is 10 hole punches. These goals are individual goals. Hole punches are also earned for SOAR behavior. This is in addition to the PBIS points students earn while displaying SOAR traits. I have introduced our PBIS store (and there is a school store you can checkout on the app!!) (where students can trade in x amount of points for something) choices include experiences (flexible seat choice, bring a fuzzy friend, show and tell, teacher's assistant, etc.). We will not start trading in our points until a few weeks from now.
We also have a class goal we are trying to reach. The goal is for the class to have a good report from the cafeteria, specials, during the day on the carpet, in small groups, and at recess. The class has brainstormed a list of rewards that will be reached after filling in each SOAR letter. Some of the rewards are bring a stuffed animal, extra recess, a special treat, and PJ day.
Some key notes for next week:
- Tuesday: Townhall meeting with Mrs. Dunagan. We are reviewing expectations at school.
- Friday: We will have a Rekenrek formative (quiz) We will have our first Science Lab! We will be doing an introduction science lab with Mr. John. We will go once a month on the fourth Friday at the end of the day. Students won't want to miss it!
Math:
I will finish up pre-assessing students on the GKIDS baseline assessment and our first math unit Wondering About My World and Investigating to Find Answers. The information from these assessments will help me plan for instruction. Students will continue to rotate and work in independent centers, my table and Mrs. Helton's table. You can find all the resources for home linked right here for your convenience (just click the word 'math' in blue). Students will be working with a rekenrek this week as we continue to focus on counting (one to one correspondence) and subtilizing.
What you can do at home: Students can begin working on counting to and backwards from 20 by 1's and to 100 by 1's and 10's. Eventually students will need to be able to count to 100 by 1's and 10's and write their numbers 1-20. Check out the family resources I linked on the math page. You can also introduce a rekenrek!
Students can work on counting to 20 by 1's and to 100 by 10's for this unit.
Reading/ELA: I will finish up pre-assessing students on the GKIDS baseline assessment. The information from this will help me plan for instruction. Students will work in independent centers during reading, rotate to my table and Mrs. Helton's table. Students will also work on creating their own ABC book, using our big book Animals in the Park and visual letter posters. We will work on rhyming words and syllables. We will also practice the days of the week. For whole group reading, we will work on listening comprehension and oral language with the stories, "Kindergartners Can" and " We Can Help." We will also do a shared reading with the story, "What Can I Do?"
What you can do at home: Give students a word and have them give you a word that rhymes. When reading stories at home, choose a few words from the stories and have them clap out the syllables in those words.
Phonics: We will begin Core 95 next week. Please see the parent letter attached below to see what we will be covering and for what you can do at home.
High Frequency words this week: I, a, the, can - please practice HFW daily
What you can do at home: Review the letters of the alphabet and say the names and sounds of the letters. This is a great video for proper phonemes.
Writing: I will model writing sentences. Students will write about texts and write what they can do at home and school and how children are feeling in a story we have read.
What you can do at home: Have students practice writing their first and last name with correct capitalization. Students can also practice writing the high frequency words.
Social Studies: We will begin talking about community helpers. We will compare and contrast community helpers and how their tools, uniforms, roles, and responsibilities are the same and different. We will listen to the story, "Officer Buckle and Gloria" as read some other community helper books.
We will continue our first IB Unit:
Transdisciplinary theme: Who We Are
Central Idea: Roles and responsibilities help us make connections.
Lines of Inquiry: Different roles in the community (function)
Related Concepts: roles, citizenship, relationships
Similarities and differences between communities (connection)
Attitudes: appreciation, respect, tolerance
My role as a citizen in a community (responsibility)
Learner Profile: Communicator, thinker
Key Concepts: Function, connection, responsibility
Transdisciplinary skills: communication, social, self-management, research
Final reminders...
Thank you again for your continued support and have a wonderful weekend!!