Oak Room Newsletter
Week of March 2, 2015
REMINDER: NO SCHOOL MONDAY, MARCH 9TH
THANK YOU!
Thank you all so much for working so hard to have your child ready to enter the classroom at 8AM!! It is wonderful to start the day with everyone in our classroom community in our meeting space on the rug!
This week (as told by the Oak Room Kindergartners)...
We played a new game in math where you rolled dice. We had a mini exploration and a dance party. We did writing. We acted out how to teach a baby something.
We had Community Gathering again. We didn't have recess again. All of the first graders sang a song. When it was Reading Workshop time we switched books.
We had recess outside!!!! We had lots of different teachers today. Sara, Michelle, Brooke, and Elizabeth all came to our class.
We got to read with our grown ups. We had Word Study in the morning. We played the math game again.
This week in literacy (and things to do at home)
This week in Reading Workshop we spent time reviewing old tools to get ready for our reading celebration! We practiced the different ways to partner read (choral, echo, and taking turns). We practice different ways to retell or talk about a book. Also, we reviewed an important tool that helps us figure out words when we are reading on our own--the matching tool. The matching tool reminds us to look at the picture on a page, say what we see, and then try to match what we said to the words on the page. Of course, there are many tools we can use and we can use more than one at a time. Please take some time this week to review reading tools with your child at home!
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our reading celebration! The Oaks enjoyed partner reading and retelling with grown ups!
In Writing Workshop we learned how to put spaces between our words and periods at the end of sentences. We came up with ideas of things we know how to do really well and then taught others how to do it by breaking it down into steps. We also got to act out our steps which helped us to think step by step.
In Word Study we played Sight Word Bingo! We also introduced a new vowel--O--and three new word families: -op, -ot, and -og. This week's sight words were mom, man, or, not, out.
This week in math (and things to do at home)
In Math Workshop we played a game called Part/Whole Bingo. In the game, you roll dice or pick a card to give you a number. You then have to use unifix cubes to cover different parts to make the whole number. For example, if you're card says 6, you can cover the towers 5 and 1. At home continue thinking about different combinations of numbers to make totals between 3 and 10. For example, at dinner ask your child how they can arrange 9 peas on their plate. Maybe 4 on one side and 5 on the other? Are there still 9 peas all together?
sharing family cultural traditions and celebration!
Cultural traditions are anything a family does together. In one family a tradition might be watching a movie and eating pizza every Friday. In another family it is a tradition for Grandma to make Yaki Mandu at big family gatherings. In another family it is a tradition to make pancakes for breakfast every Saturday. In another family it is a tradition for Dad to sing songs in Spanish and play the guitar.
What are some things your family does together??
Below is a link to sign up. Please pick ONE 30 minute time slot to teach and share your family's cultural tradition. Anyone from your family may come to share. The more the merrier! Please plan to arrive early if you have materials or things that need to be set up. In those 30 minutes you will be with a small group of 6-7 children. You are welcome to cook, sing, play a game, or do whatever it is your family does together! Please jot your activity in the "My Comment" section once you've selected your time slot:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0844a5a922a3fd0-sharing
We would LOVE to have all families participate. If none of the date/time options work for you, please let us know and we can try to find another time that works.
Finally, we will be having a grand celebration to end our study on family on Thursday, April 2nd from 3-4PM with the Maple class. Location, details, and more information to come!
As always, let us know if you have questions. We are so excited to learn more about our Oak families!!
Field trip to Megan's Job on Tuesday; We need 2 chaperones!
What: The class will tour the gallery, watch a taping of BK Live and take turns in the studio/control room learning how TV gets made!
Where: BRIC Arts Media Brooklyn, 647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY
When: Tuesday, March 10th from 12:30 to 1:30pm. Students will each lunch at school.
Why: As part of the integrated unit on family our goal is for the children to get to know more about each other and each other's families. One thing the kids are curious about is what their grown ups and each other's grown ups do for a living! What better way to learn and research than through a hands-on, interactive trip?!
***We will be walking from the school to the media center. Please make sure your child has appropriate footwear and outerwear!
***We are seeking TWO chaperones to come with us! Please email Pascale at pascale@brooklyncompass.org if you are available and interested. First come, first served!