Dec. 9, 2016

12-9-16

KB News

Literacy/ Social Studies: Next week, we will begin a new Social Studies unit about Holidays Around the World.  Here are some of the important things we will learn about:

            -What customs and traditions are and why we celebrate

            -Mexico: Las Posadas

            -Germany: Christmas and St. Nicholas Day

            -Italy: Christmas

            -Sweden: Saint Lucia Day

            -India: Diwali

            -Israel: Hanukkah

            -Australia: Christmas

            -United States and Canada: Kwanzaa and Christmas

We are looking forward to a fun unit!

Math: This week we worked on playing various games that involved the numbers 1-20. The focus of these games were to reinforce number recognition and number comparisons.

Sharing: The week of Dec. 19^th will be our final week for sharing.  We will devote our scheduled sharing time to learning Jolly Phonics Tricky Words. 

Important Dates:

         Dec. 21           Winter Party

            Dec. 22           Big Blast and Limo Rides – Cadet Wear

            Dec. 23-Jan. 2 Winter Break

            Dec. 22           End of 2nd Quarter/ 1^st Semester

            Jan. 3              Beginning of 3rd Quarter/2^nd    Semester

Dec. 2, 2016

12-2-16

KB News

Writing: We read the story titled Lunch by Denise Fleming. The children discussed how authors write about things they like to eat. As a class, the children generated a list of their favorite foods. Then from the list the students created their own stories.

The words like, of , and to were displayed on to the word wall in our classroom. The students were able use the word wall as a reference to write about their favorite foods.

MAP Assessments: Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test results. These tests determine your child’s instructional level and measure academic growth from year to year in the areas of mathematics, reading, and language usage. MAP tests are unique in that they are adaptive tests your child takes on a computer. That means that the test became more difficult the more questions your child answered correctly. When your child incorrectly answered a question, the test became easier. Therefore, your child will take a test specifically created for his or her learning level.

Next week all Kindergarten students will be taking MAP assessments. It would be beneficial for the students to be well rested and have a nutritious breakfast all next week

Science: We have been talking about hibernation for a couple of weeks.  Angela Bries Howard County Naturalist presented  a “ Winter Survival” program Thursday.  The children learned the three ways animals survive the winter months.  The animals migrate, adapt, or hibernate in order to survive winter weather in Iowa.

    Weather: Our cold winter weather is here! Please remember to dress your child according to weather conditions. Please help out by making sure your child comes to school with a hat and mittens. This week several children didn’t have a hat or mittens. It may also be a good idea to put an extra pair of socks and mittens in their backpack as the children get pretty wet playing outside in the winter. Thanks for your help!!

Nov. 11, 2016

11-11-16

          

KB News

Literacy:  We read the book Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.  The children focused on strategies that good readers use when they read.  The strategies focused on this week include predicting, retelling details, inferring, and sharing their opinion about the story.

Math: This week the children learned that a pan balance is a type of scale that is used to compare the weights of objects.  They had a great time experimenting with different things in the classroom.

Writing: We read the story titled Freight Trains by Donald Crews. We then drew and labeled pictures of things that we thought were interesting. The pictures were then shared with the class.

Jolly Phonics: Please continue to review letter sounds at home. Thank you for working with your child on sound books, word lists, and leveled books found in the Jolly Phonics Envelopes.

Guest Visitors: A big thank you goes out to all the Veterans that were able to eat lunch with us today. We appreciate all that they have done for us!  

Sharing:  Please have your child bring in an item that starts with the same beginning sound as their first name. (ie. Tammy would bring in a toy to share – both start with the /t/ sound.)

Special Event: All K-6 students attended the High School Play Seussical today. The children so enjoyed the play!  Thank you to the high school students for sharing their time and talent with us!

Important Dates:

         Nov. 23            No School Teacher In-service

         Nov. 24-25      No school Thanksgiving Break