Groundhog Day Fun!

Today during enrichment time the K2ers learned all about Groundhog Day. They each came home today with a groundhog day emergent reader as well as a paper they worked on. Then the K2ers also predicted whether they think the groundhog will see his shadow on Thursday.

Here is what they think will happen...

Here is a quick little song about groundhog day that I told them I would post on the blog for them to watch again.

Week in Review ~ January 23rd - 27th

For what looked to be a "quiet" week turned out to be a very crazy week in K2. Between a snow day and testing we only got one full day of ELA in so we will be continuing with Unit 5 Week 3 next week.  Just to let you know so that your K2er can practice them, we had two new sight words that were introduced this week: he and with.

We finished up Topic 6 in Math on addition. We will finish up the Topic Assessment on Monday and then move into Topic 7 on subtraction.

Today we met with our Book Buddies. We haven't seen them since we worked on the Toy Drive together back in December so it was so nice to see them.  Our 3E book buddies read a book to us and, for the first time, the K2ers read a story to them!

Enjoy the Weekend!

"Time for Kids" booklet

Today each K2er is coming home with a "Time for Kids" booklet in their message tube.  PLEASE take a few moments tonight to fill in the names and addresses of at least 7 family members or friends and return it to school TOMORROW.  The more kids that return these booklets with at least 7 names and addresses the better our chance is to get a "Time for Kids" subscription for each student at no cost to Johnny Appleseed.  Time for Kids is a weekly news magazine made just for kids that encourages children to read. Often the topics are Science and Social Studies related.

The classroom that returns the most booklets, with at least 7 names and addresses filled out, will earn a dance party along with the choice of a pizza or ice cream party! The K2ers were VERY excited to hear about that incentive.

If there are not at least 7 names and addresses filled out in the booklet, it does not count.

Week in Review ~ January 16th - 20th

Even though we had Monday off and a 2 hour delay this week, we still were able to get a lot done! In ELA we talked about how things change as they grow. We listened to the stories "A Grand Old Tree," "The Pine Tree," and "From a Seed to a Tree." Our vocabulary words were develop, amazing, content, enormous and imagine. This week we focused in on Ee. This can be a difficult vowel for students to hear the short sound of but everyone did a great job. We brainstormed words with the short and long vowel sound for Ee, sorted pictures by if they had the long or short vowel sound and we looked for picture cards of Ee words around the room.

The sight word "are" was also introduced. During learning centers we wrote in journals about how we have changed since we were babies, sorted the sight words my and are, listened for initial sounds in words and practiced using sight words in sentences.

 

In Math we continued with our topic on addition. We worked on representing and explaining addition with equations such as 2 + 3 = 5, started working on addition word problems by finding the important parts to join together and we looked for patterns to start to develop fluency in addition up to 5. We will finish up Topic 6 this coming week and then will be moving into subtraction.

As a reminder Books & Beyond is still going on. We had our first K2er complete all 8 stations and will receive a medal in the spring. Many students have been passing in sheets regularly so I am expecting many more to earn a reading medal as well...Keep up the great work and continue to read, read, read with your child.

This morning I saw this great chart on ways a parent can help with reading so I thought I'd share it with you.

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and Go Patriots!!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Week in Review ~ January 9th - 13th

It was another busy and fun week in K2! In ELA we started Unit 5 where we discussed what living things need to grow. Our vocabulary words were require, plant, harmful, soak and crowd. We discussed that a plant has roots, a stem and leaves and that it uses the roots to suck up food and water from the soil and the stem acts like a straw. We also did a science experiment with celery placed in red colored water.  We listened to the stories My Garden  and Growing Plants. The letter we focused in on this week was Hh and the sight word my was introduced.  We also worked on writing narrative stories. We talked about the process that an author follows to write a book and how they start with a plan. We will continue with this skill and move onto different types of writing as we go such as opinion pieces.
In Math we continued with Topic 6 on Addition. I am very impressed with how well the K2ers are understanding this concept.

I also introduced a new game called "Bump It" which once again this year seems to be a favorite. Have your K2er explain to you how to play the game.  I have MANY variations of the game (addition, sight words, letters, nonsense words, etc...) so as the rest of the year goes I will be introducing more and more of the games.

Back in the fall I put in a request on Donorschoose.org for iPads for K2 and unfortunately my request was not fully funded in the allotted time frame. I have decided to try again for "iPads for Our Class." The great thing is  that for the next 7 days any donation up to $50.00 will be matched dollar for dollar. Feel free to share with any family or friends who's business may be interested in making a donation. Thank you in advance!

Donors Choose ~ iPads for Our Class

As a reminder, there is no school on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr Day.  Today the K2ers listened to a story about MLK, Jr and then wrote about what they dream about to make our world a better place.  I showed them a picture I took of the memorial I saw this summer in Washington D.C. so I thought I'd share it with you in case you haven't seen it before.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Half Day & Patriots Day at JA

Tomorrow, January 13th, is a half day for students and dismissal will be at 11:30 am. We will go to lunch in the morning around 9:00 am so your child can eat a lunch or just bring a snack to enjoy at that time.

Also, we will be having Patriots Day to help cheer on the Patriots for their first playoff game on Saturday night. Students are invited to wear Patriots gear or red & blue. NO Face Paint allowed.

GO PATRIOTS!!

A Note From Nurse Jenny

With the upcoming cold temperatures, it is important to remember to dress your child appropriately for cold weather. Hats, mittens, and roomy waterproof boots with socks are essential to protect your child’s fingers and toes against extreme cold. This is especially important for those children who either wait for a bus or walk to school. It is also a good time to remind your child to use his or her own hat and to avoid sharing such headgear, to minimize the possibility of head lice transmission.

Also, please remember to keep your child home if he/she: 

•  Has a fever over 100 degrees f or higher.
•  Has a persistent cough or cold.
•  Has had vomiting or diarrhea within the past 12 hours. 
•  Has an unidentified skin rash.
•  Has “pink eye” with itching and drainage. 
•  Has a contagious illness i.e. strep throat, chicken pox. 
•  Has active head lice or body lice. 

In order for your child to receive any medication while at school I will need a medication order from the doctor, signed parental consent, and the medication (which must be brought in by a responsible adult). This is a state wide policy and is strictly enforced here at JA. Lastly, please make sure that your child has an extra change of clothes with them in their classroom or backpack. As always, should you have any questions please do not hesitate to call me at 978-534-7765 

Nurse Jen 

http://janursejen.blogspot.com/

Week in Review ~ January 3rd - 6th

Happy 2017!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! The K2ers seemed happy to be back to school and quickly fell back into the routines of room K2. 

In ELA we worked on Week 3 of Unit 4, which was perfect timing because it was a week full of review.  Our essential question was How can people help to make your community better? Our vocabulary words were community, improve, harvest, quarrel and confused.  We listened to the stories Roadwork and the Aesop Fable The Bundle of Sticks which had us talking about the importance of working together to get a job done.  We reviewed the letters Cc, Nn, Ii, Oo and Cc and we also reviewed the sight words to, go, and, you, do. During learning centers we worked on sorting pictures by their initial sound, practiced writing the sight words and wrote about our new year's resolutions.  As the bulletin board out in the hallway says, New Year, New Goals in K2!

Today we made an Anchor Chart that is hanging up in our room to help us remember that letters form words and words form sentences. Each K2er wrote a letter for the chart as well as a word.  As we begin writing more and more hopefully this chart with be helpful.

In Math we started Topic 6 titled "Understand Addition." The K2ers represented addition as adding to a number.  They joined groups of items to find how many of something there in all.  We will continue with Topic 6 next week as well.  

With winter weather upon us we are in need of tissues as our stock is getting low. If you are able to donate a box or two it would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, we started our "Blurt Chart" this week as we still have some friends that forget to raise their hand when they have something to add to the conversation. We read the story My Mouth is Like a Volcano by Julia Cook. As explained to the K2ers, if they lose all 3 of their blurts in one day then their square on our "Top Dog" chart will turn to yellow and they will need to fill out a form to let you know that they are having a tough time blurting out.  I explained that I love to hear everyone's thoughts and ideas, but that it is so hard to hear when everyone yells out.  This is what the blurt chart looks like. Have your K2er tell you about it.

Enjoy the Weekend!

Please send your child ready to go outside even when it is cold.  A hat and mittens/gloves can easily fit into back packs so that your K2er is prepared when we go outdoors on cold days.