December 15th - December 19th

What We Are Learning

Reading:  This week we practiced retelling several stories we read. We read several holiday books to practice this skill. Ask your child which one they enjoyed the most.

Alphabet: We focused on the sounds the letters Jj, Xx, Ww, Zz & Qq, make.  When we come back from Christmas break we will be focusing on vowel sounds and how they are the glue that sticks words together. 

Writing:  This week we finished publishing our narrative stories! We also shared these stories with our fourth grade reading buddies. They were pretty impressed!  Look for these stories to come home after Winter Break.

Math: We finished our addition and subtraction unit.  I assessed your child on addition and subtraction word problems, as well as how fluently they could solve addition and subtraction facts 0 through 5.  We will revisit this skill next quarter as well.

Theme: Your child has created and wrapped a Christmas present for you all to enjoy.  I hope you enjoy them as much as your kiddo did making them! They all turned out super cute!

Data Sheets

I placed another data sheet inside your child’s take home folder.  It shows you which addition and subtraction facts (0 through 5) your child knows fluently.  They are considered fluent when they can solve them consistently, accurately, and with speed. Any additional time you can spend with your child practicing these facts will greatly help them! Thanks for all your support.

Assessments

These last two weeks I have been super busy assessing your child on reading, alphabet, and math skills.  Feel free to look at the data sheets inside your child’s take home folder to see the progress your child has made this quarter.  Over Winter Break I will be adding this information into Mastery Connect.  The information on Mastery Connect can sometimes be tricky to understand. I would recommend using the data sheets inside of the take home folder to help you see the skills your child has mastered and ones they need further practice on. Also, I am always available to answer questions!    

Popcorn Words

Please practice reading, writing, and spelling our Popcorn Words.

This week’s words:

Review Week

Previous words:

said, are, got, get, it, on, had, has, he, do, look, in, like, and, a, up, at, I, see, am, we, to, the, is, my, can, me, & go During Winter break I plan on uploading pictures of the Holiday Party onto the classroom blog. Click on the Classroom Pictures tab to see some of the fun things we did.

Dates to Remember

December 20^th-January 4^th: Winter Break

January 12^th: Report Cards Go Home

December 8th - December 12th

What We Are Learning

Reading:  This week we learned how to summarize stories we read. We practiced summarizing several holiday books.  Ask your child which one they enjoyed the most.

Alphabet: We focused on the sounds the letters Cc, Ee, Yy, Dd, & Uu make.  We also learned that the letters Cc, Ee, and Uu have three sounds and the letter Yy has four sounds!

Writing:  We continued to learn how to publish our narrative stories.  We made sure that they had a beginning, middle, and end.  We also made sure that we had correct spaces, capitalization, and punctuation.  When we had all parts, we created a cover to go with our story!

Math: During math this week, we were very busy.  We continued to practice the difference between addition and subtraction story problems.  We also solved number bond problems (example: _+_ =5). Number bonds are a challenging concept.  Practice his skill with your child.

Theme: We finished our unit on gingerbread.  We decorated our own gingerbread man using real candy and then wrote words to describe it.  We taste tested gingerbread cookies and created a graph using the data. We also conducted a science experiment asking the following question: “Why didn’t the gingerbread man want to get wet?” Ask your child what happened!

Classroom Pictures

I have uploaded even more pictures onto our classroom blog. Click on the Classroom Pictures tab to see some of the fun things that have been going on in our classroom.

Holiday Party

Our Holiday Party is scheduled for December 19^th at 9:00. Here is the tentative schedule for that morning:

9:00-9:20 Snack in the Commons

9:25-10:30 Games and Craft in the Classroom

10:30-10:45 Cleanup and Quiet Time

10:45-11:30 Tiger Pride Assembly

Come and enjoy the fun!

Popcorn Words

Please practice reading, writing, and spelling our Popcorn Words.

This week’s words:

said & are

Previous words:

got, get, it, on, had, has, he, do, look, in, like, and, a, up, at, I, see, am, we, to, the, is, my, can, me, & go

Ronald McDonald House

Mrs. McKinney’s class is collecting items for the Ronald McDonald House, and I want our class to help! Here is a list of items that you can donate to help this great program:

Magic Erasers         

Snack size food

Small Trash Bags        

Travel size toothpaste

K-cups (all varieties)     

Toilet Bowl Brushes

Clorox Wipes     

Furniture polish

Disinfecting/bleach spray cleaner

Dates to Remember

December 19^th: Holiday Party 9:00

December 19^th: Tiger Pride Assembly 10:45

December 19^th: Dismiss at 12:30

December 20^th-January 4^th: Winter Break

December 1st - December 5th

What We Are Learning

Reading:  This week we learned a new strategy to help us read accurately.  Stretchy Snake reminds us to stretch the word out slowly and then put all the sounds together. We also practiced making words from the word families –ot & -et (examples: got, pot, spot, get, let, met, etc.).

Alphabet: We focused on the sounds the letters Ff, Rr, Kk, Bb, & Uu make.  We also learned that the letter Uu has more than one sound.

Writing:  We learned how to publish our narrative stories.  We made sure that they had a beginning, middle, and end.  We also made sure that we had correct spaces, capitalization, and punctuation.  When we had all parts, we created a cover to go with our story!

Math: During math this week, we continued to practice strategies to solve subtraction and addition word problems. We drew pictures and highlighted words to help us understand which of the problems were subtraction and which were addition.

Theme: We started a new unit on gingerbread.  We read several stories and retold them using pictures to help us remember the events.  We also created a Gingerbread Man class book.

Classroom Pictures

I have uploaded several pictures onto our classroom blog . Click on the Classroom Pictures tab to see some of the fun things that have been going on in our classroom. My plan is to update this section more frequently.  

Wish List Items

Here are just a few items that we could use inside our classroom:

Dry Erase Markers (thin & thick)

Unique Pencils

Cool Erasers

Special Markers

Glittery Pens

You all are always so generous! Thank you for helping our classroom run smoothly!

Ronald McDonald House

Mrs. McKinney’s class is collecting items for the Ronald McDonald House, and I want our class to help! Here is a list of items that you can donate to help this great program:

Magic Erasers         

Snack size food

Small Trash Bags         

Travel size toothpaste

K-cups (all varieties)      

Toilet Bowl Brushes

Clorox Wipes      

Furniture polish

Disinfecting/bleach spray cleaner

Popcorn Words

Please practice reading, writing, and spelling our Popcorn Words.

This week’s words:

got & get

Previous words:

it, on, had, has, he, do, look, in, like, and, a, up, at, I, see, am, we, to, the, is, my, can, me, & go

Dates to Remember

December 9^th: PTO Meeting 6:00

December 19^th: Holiday Party 9:00

December 19^th: Tiger Pride Assembly

December 19^th: Dismiss at 12:30

December 20^th-January 4^th: Winter Break