Week in Review ~ March 12 - 16

Between last week's early release and snow day and this week's snow day and two-hour delay, we are lucky we have accomplished as much as we have. 

In ELA we are talking about the animal kingdom.  Last week we talked about how animals are alike and different.  This week our essential question was how do you take care of different kinds of pets?   Our vocabulary words were depend, responsibility, compare, train and social.  We listened to the stories The Birthday Pet, The Family Pet, and The Perfect Pet. We focused in on the letters Gg and Ww and introduced the sight words of and they. As a reminder, please practice the kindergarten sight words at home.  As I am sure you have noticed with the books sent home in the book bags, kindergarten sight words are everywhere.  If a child fluently knows the sight words introduced it will help them with their reading. If you need another set of sight words let me know.  There is also a complete list on the tab at the top of the blog titled "Kindergarten High Frequency Words."In learning centers we worked on sorting pictures by the initial sound of /g/ and /w/, practiced writing the letter Gg, wrote about why we are lucky, tapped out and wrote cvc words such as pig and wet, rainbow wrote our sight words, and practiced reading cvc words.  In reading groups we are busy reading stories.  I am always talking to the K2ers about how we want to sound like we are talking when we read and not like robots because that means we are becoming more fluent.  I am very proud of how well everyone is doing with sounding out and reading.  Keep up the great work of practicing at home with the book bags. 

 In Math we continued with Topic 7 on subtraction. The K2ers worked hard on writing, reading and solving subtraction equations.  We will be finishing up topic 7 next week.  We also worked on some addition and subtraction St. Patrick's Day themed math centers. 

Today we were  lucky enough to have some Irish Step Dancers in to perform for us. Some of the dancers were our very own Johnny Appleseed students. The K2ers were very entertained during the performance.  There was even a leprechaun sighting through out the hallways and classrooms!

Next Tuesday, K2 will be visiting the Scholastic Book Fair during their library special: 11:15 - 11:55.  Parents are welcome to come during that time to shop with their child. If you are unable to make it there is no need to worry because there are plenty of adults there, including Mrs. Ouellette and myself, to help them shop.  

Students came home this week with a notice about World Down Syndrome Day which is Wednesday, March 21st. Our Developmental classrooms at JA are inviting students to  wear as many socks as they can and the crazier or more mismatched the socks, the better!  This day is also near and dear to my heart because my ADORABLE 5 year old nephew/godson, Evan, has Down Syndrome. Here is Evan practicing for World Down Syndrome Day by rocking his crazy socks. Could he be any cuter?!?!?!?!

I hope everyone has a nice weekend and just 4 more days until Spring. Fingers and toes crossed that we are DONE with snowstorms!

Animal Habitats

Check your child's message tube today for information about a project on animal habitats that is due March 23rd!

Week in Review ~ February 26 - March 2

We had a fun week back from February vacation  especially with our Dr. Seuss themed days!

In ELA our essential question was "How can you stay safe in bad weather?" Our vocabulary words were safe, prepare, notice, celebration, and enough.  We reviewed the letters Hh, Ff, Ee, Bb, and Kk and the sight words is, little, she, was.  We listened to the stories Waiting Out the Storm, Rainbow Crow, and Be Safe in Bad Weather. In learning centers we practiced reading and writing our sight words, looked around the room for February words, practiced writing the letters we reviewed,and spelled a lot of cvc words.  We even had a couple of fun Dr.Seuss-themed centers such as Mystery sight words on cat in the hat hats and rhyming words.

In Math we started Topic 7 titled "Understand Subtraction." We discussed different vocabulary words related to subtraction such as subtract, take away, difference, left (as in how many are left), separate, and minus sign.  We explored the idea of subtraction and represented subtraction as taking apart and taking from.  We will continue with Topic 7 next week as well.

Today is Dr. Seuss'  actual birthday. We learned that if he were still alive he would have been 114 years old today.  In celebration of his birthday it is also "Read Across America Day." We had a special community reader come in to read to K2. Our community reader was Alicia Remillard. Alicia is one of my very best friends and also works at IC Federal Credit Union in Fitchburg.  We were so happy to have her in to read to us today. Thank you, Mrs. Remillard!

I hope everyone has a great weekend...only 18 more days until spring!!