We Know Our Letter Sounds

I upload this video onto YouTube as an unlisted/private video. Enjoy!

January 19th- January 23rd

What We Are Learning

Reading:  This week we learned how to identify characters, the setting, and retell events from the beginning, middle, and end of a story. These story elements will help us to comprehend the stories we read.

Alphabet: We focused on syllables.  We learned how to say a word and count the syllables by clapping.  We will use this strategy to help us break apart words into smaller sections. This should help us read and spell bigger words correctly. We also learned the sounds sh and ch make.

Writing:  This week we finished writing “How To” stories.  We put the finishing touches on our How to Build a Snowman book. Ask your child to tell you about the cover of their book!

Math: We finished our geometry unit this week. We reviewed 2D and 3D shapes, sorted shapes based on their attributes, and practiced combining shapes to make new ones.

Theme: During theme this week, we did a book study on the book Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. We did a fun writing activity and craft after reading the book. Ask your child what they would do if they were a snowman at night!

Alphabet Video

We have been working hard and practicing all the sounds the letters make.  The students were so proud of themselves that they decided you all needed to see what they know. I have uploaded a video on our classroom blog of the kiddos saying the sounds they have learned. Feel free to watch it and tell your child you are impressed with everything they have learned this year.  I bet you will even be surprised with some of the sounds the letters make!

100th Day of School

Thank you all for donating items for the 100th day of school! You all really made this day special. I plan on adding several pictures from our fun filled day onto our classroom blog. Feel free to check out all the different ways we celebrated the number 100!

Popcorn Words

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

This week’s words:

of & for

Previous words:

you, come, here, have, 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

Dates to Remember

January 29th: Tiger Pride Assembly

February 6th: Spring Pictures

February 13th: No School

February 16th: No School

January 12th - January 16th

What We Are Learning

Reading:  This week we learned a new reading strategy to solve tricky words.  Flippy Dolphin reminds us to flip the vowel sounds when a word doesn’t sound right.

Alphabet: We focused on vowel sounds this week. We reviewed long and short sounds the letters Ii, Oo, & Uu make. We also reviewed that vowels are glue that stick words together.  Ask your child to sing you the Sticky Letters song!

Writing:  This week we continued writing “How To” stories.  We practiced together how to create a title and describe three steps on how to do something.  Ask your child about their “How to Build a Snowman” story.

Math: We continued our geometry unit this week. We moved on from 2D shapes and started learning about 3D shapes. We learned how to recognize cones, spheres, cubes, and cylinders in real world items.

Theme: During theme this week, we learned about Martin Luther King Jr.  We read several books to learn about his life and how he helped people.  We used the information we learned to create a sentence describing him. Ask your child about the craft we created once our sentence and research were complete.

Report Cards

Report cards went home on Monday. I attached a paper describing your child’s strengths and areas they need to work on in reading, writing, alphabet and math.  Remember, many of these skills do not have to be mastered until the end of kindergarten. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have!

100th Day of School

Can you believe the 100th day of school is January 23rd?  This day is a HUGE day in kindergarten.  That day we will be doing several fun activities to help us understand what exactly the number 100 is. To make this day special, I need your help! I would appreciate any of the following items donated before Thursday, January 22nd:

Fruit Loops    

M&Ms      

Pretzel Sticks

Small Marshmallows              

Goldfish Crackers       

Teddy Grahams   

Chocolate Chips

Cheerios 

Raisins

Thank you all for making the 100th day so special!

Popcorn Words

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

This week’s words:

you & come

Previous words:

here, have, 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

Dates to Remember

January 19th: No School

January 23rd: The 100th Day of School

February 6th: Spring Pictures

February 13th: No School

February 16^th: No School

Janurary 5th - January 9th

What We Are Learning

Reading:  Because two weeks is a long time to take a break from our Daily 5 reading routine, we reviewed expectations for read to self, read to someone, word work, work on writing, and listen to reading.  We also practiced retelling and sequencing stories.

Alphabet: We focused on vowel sounds this week. We reviewed long and short sounds the letters Aa, Ee, & Ii make. We also learned that vowels are glue that stick words together.  Ask your child to sing you the Sticky Letters song!

Writing:  This week we started a new writing unit.  We are now writing “How To” stories.  We practiced together how to create a title and describe three steps on how to do something.  Ask your child about their “How to Build a Snowman” story.

Math: We started a new geometry unit this week. We reviewed how to identify circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, and hexagons. We also described the attributes these shapes have (sides and corners). Ask your child about the activity they are doing with magazines.

Theme: During theme this week, we did a book study on the book The Mitten by Jan Brett.  We retold the story using pictures, created our own class book, and wrote a sentence describing a mitten we created.

Holiday Party

A HUGE “Thank You” to everyone who helped with the Holiday Party! The kids loved everything! I have uploaded several photos from that day onto our classroom blog (mrshappelslittleapples.blogspot.com).

Glue Sticks

We are in despite need of glue sticks. We use them regularly and could really use some for our classroom.  Thank you all for your generosity!

Class Blog

I make updates weekly onto our classroom blog (mrshappelslittleapples.blogspot.com). On the front page of the blog, I have placed a section you can enter your email address to get updates when I create a new post. Feel free to sign up so you can stay up to date on what is happening in our classroom.

Popcorn Words

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

This week’s words:

here & have

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

Dates to Remember

January 12^th: Report Cards Go Home

January 19^th: No School

January 23^rd: The 100^th Day of School

February 6^th: Spring Pictures

February 13^th: No School

February 16^th No School

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