Category Archives: Newsletters

News of the Week—March 22-26

POPCORN WORDS: AS HAS

MATH: We reviewed various math concepts such as solving addition & subtraction problems, drawing & writing partner equations for story problems, identifying 3D shapes, writing number partner equations, drawing tens & extra ones for teen numbers on Monday. On Tuesday, the kinders worked inside their “office spaces” to take the Unit #4 test. These tests will come home soon. We began Unit #5 by telling math stories and drawing scenes with teen numbers. We looked for partners of 10 by using Stars in the Night sky. We solved addition problems by cracking open Easter eggs and rolling a giant die to find partners of 6. We ended the week by playing a fun game called BUNNY HOP. The kinders LOVED hopping out addition equations to find the answer.

WRITING: We began a new style of writing….NON FICTION. We read a collection of non-fictional books about pigs and located many interesting facts to write on our chart paper. We used this information to help us write our information writings All About Pigs. The kinders are beginning to use spaces between words, popcorn words and sentence stoppers with more regularity. Hooray for them!

FAIRY TALES: THE THREE LITTLE PIGS: We also read the classic story The Three LIttle Pigs as well as some books with a twist The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Three Horrid Pigs and the Big Friendly Wolf and The Three Little Pigs and the somewhat bad pig. Of course we needed to practice our retelling skills by creating props (character puppets and the straw, stick and brick houses out of a milk carton!) so that your kinder can tell you the story at home. We sang this fun song (using my CD) frequently this week. I found it on YouTube so that you can enjoy it at home. Here is the link to The 3 Little Pigs Blues by Greg and Steve.They also practiced reading popcorn words by playing RUN, PIGGY, RUN. Look for this game inside your kinder’s folder.

READING: We started a new reading unit learning about non-fiction books. The kinders first reviewed what fiction and non-fiction books are. Then they learned that reading non-fiction books isn’t that different from fiction books. Readers look closely, ask questions, point and talk so that they become experts on topics. Readers also ask questions, just like reporters do by saying “This just in…”. The kinders had fun practicing this after we read a Let’s Find Out newspaper about beavers. We said “This newspaper was mostly about how beavers build their homes. One example was……….” Have fun listening to your reporter give you some facts at home!

LITERACY/PHONICS: We practiced writing CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, unscrambling sight words and reading sight words, We learned that rhyming words are sometimes spelled the same at the end. Word part power can help us hear and see what is the same in a tricky word so that we can read and write them. Example: hop, top, stop, flop.

KOOL KINDER AND THE SURPRISE BAG: The items this week were: a football, Biscuit the dog, a pet cage, a motorcycle and a parrot

USING OUR 5 SENSES: We reviewed what our 5 senses were…hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching. The kinders were then asked to use their 5 senses to observe and describe a bunny Peep. What fun!

REMINDERS

Bring 2 snacks each day to school and a water bottle with a spill proof lid please.
Return take home books and library books on Wednesday
Watch the weather. Please keep in mind that even though the season is spring, some days will be wet and rainy and maybe snowy :(. Please continue to send a hat and mittens, along with a coat, with your kinder. Boots are not needed unless it snows or rains. Thanks!
Change of clothes check. Be sure to check the extra clothes baggy in your kinder’s backpack that they are season and size appropriate. With spring weather, recess can sometimes get messy.
TAKE HOME Books: Your kinder will not have a book to take home over Spring Break. They will be taking home a new book to read on Wednesday, April 14. If you have free time, continue to practice popcorn words, addition & subtraction stories with written partner equations and write various kinds of stories…narrative, informational and pattern books.
MONTHLY CALENDARS: The APRIL calendar can be found under CALENDARS at the top of our blog. It lists birthdays, events, and more. Please take time to read it. I also sent home a paper copy today. Here is the link to the April lunch menu.
WEEKLY HOMEWORK: The subtraction page was missing from the homework packet that was passed out on Wednesday afternoon. I placed it in your kinder’s return to school section of their Blue Daily Folder. Please look for it and return it with the homework next Wednesday!

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, March 29—STEAM

*Tuesday, March 30—MUSIC

*Wednesday, March 31—GYM; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due

*Thursday, April 1—ART. Read and Feed: Wear pj’s or comfy clothes for reading!

*Friday, April 2-Friday, April 9 Spring Break—NO SCHOOL

*Monday, April 12. WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL

***Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—March 15-19

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POPCORN WORDS: COULD WOULD SHOULD (as a bonus word) The kinders practiced identifying these words in books, in messages and in writings.

MATH: We practiced solving more addition and subtraction number sentences, drew teen numbers using a ten stick and some more, discovered 3-D shapes, and made a teen number book. We finished the week finding partners of 10 using a “pot of gold and gold coins”. They are getting so good at solving equations on their own. I am so proud of them!

WRITING: We wrote another persuasive paper this week. Our topic was cleaning up our table spots when asked. We gave reasons why this is a problem and then gave a solution to the problem. We finished the week by signing petitions that we will clean up right away.

On Wednesday talked about how lucky we are to know each other and be a family this year. So…each kinder was given a friend’s name and they needed to think of one ‘nice dice’ compliment they could give them. It was precious to hear the kinders read their message (in front of the class) to their friend and to see the smiles and excitement on the faces of the recipient. Some messages were: “I like you as a friend. You are nice. I like to play with you”. I am SO LUCKY to have such kind hearted kinders. What an awesome way to spend my days!! 🙂

READING: We became copycat poets! We listened to the poem Are You Sleeping? and then made up poems that sound like that one…they had the same tune. We had fun using magnifying glasses to look for popcorn words in our own poetry books! The kinders enjoyed writing them in their journals.

LITERACY/PHONICS: We practiced reading and writing words that belonged to certain word families. We also practiced reading sight words and unscrambling sight words, CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, listening for the medial sounds in words and listening for the beginning blended sounds in words. This was a fun busy learning time!

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AWARENESS: This month is not only March is Reading Month in Kindergarten. It is also March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Today, our class was gifted a book about disabilities from the Fountain Family called Just Ask. One of the kinders at Georgetown, Nora, has a big brother, Joshua (a first grader here at Georgetown) who was born with Down Syndrome. As we continue to celebrate Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month we thank the Fountain Family for helping us all become more aware and celebrate all of our differences.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY FUN…We had a fun St. Patrick’s Day! While we were at steam, a leprechaun visited our room and left his footprints, some coins, and a pot of gold…gold cereal that is! Wow…we were surprised! Mrs. Bohl gave us a fun treat to take home too!

REMINDERS

Bring 2 snacks each day to school and a water bottle with a spill proof lid please.
Return take home books and library books on Wednesday
Boots, snow pants only when needed. Watch the weather. Coats as the days are still chilly.
Change of clothes check. Be sure to check the extra clothes baggy in your kinder’s backpack that they are season and size appropriate. With spring weather, recess can sometimes get messy.

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, March 22—ART

*Tuesday, March 23—STEAM

*Wednesday, March 24—MUSIC; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due

*Thursday, March 25—GYM

*Friday, March 26—ART March is Reading Month: Wear jeans! You can even add a belt or boots if you’d like!

*Thursday, April 1–Read and Feed: Wear pj’s or comfy clothes for reading!

***Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—March 8-12

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THANK YOU AGAIN FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ATTEND YOUR KINDER’S CONFERENCE. THEY ARE MAKING FABULOUS PROGRESS AND GROWTH. I WAS SO HAPPY TO SHARE THEIR PROGRESS WITH YOU! IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS AS WE MOVE INTO THE SPRING, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

POPCORN WORDS: WHERE THERE WERE Please, please keep practicing at home! Some of these popcorn words are a bit more challenging to learn and remember. You are unable to stretch them out but need to just remember them by looking at them. However, we do like it when some words rhyme like ‘where’ and ‘there’. 🙂

MATH: The kinders worked on drawing and writing number equations, decomposing teen numbers into tens and extra ones (refer to the number booklet sent home), writing numbers in order, doing dot to dot pictures, looking for number partners and solving addition and subtraction problems. It was a busy week for math learning!

WRITING: The kinders worked on another persuasive writing. This week’s topic was about lining up quickly when the whistle blows at the end of recess. We thought of 2 reasons why this is a problem and then wrote a solution to the problem. The kinders enjoyed creating a poster to remind us to line up fast!

LITERACY/PHONICS: We worked on the these skills….syllables, rhyming, word families, medial sounds (vowels), sight words and h brothers. Mabel put on her cowgirl hat and used her lasso to rope the word-part of a word while we added new beginning sounds. For example: -op to create mop, top, pop.

READER’S WORKSHOP: The first few days of the week, the kinders learned that avid nonfiction readers compare information by noticing what is similar and what is different in two books on the same topic. We did this by looking at books about dragonflies and honey bees. For example, we found out that the legs on both insects have important jobs. The kinders learned that nonfiction readers can pretend and act out parts of the text, just like they did with fiction stories. The last few days of the week, the kinders started to explore poetry. We practiced reading a favorite poem The Isty Bitsy Spider and a new poem The Swing for meaning and feeling.

Kool Kinder and the Surprise Bag: This week the SURPRISE BAG was filled with a shark, a talking bird, a monster truck, a bird and a mailbox. What great clues this week!

REMINDERS

Bring 2 snacks each day to school and a water bottle with a spill proof lid please.
Return take home books and library books on Wednesday
Boots, snow pants when needed. Watch the weather. Coats as the days are still chilly.
Saddle Up and Read…March is Reading Month Each kinder that brings back their TAKE HOME books on Wednesdays will be entered in the school-wide March reading month giveaways. Kinders will not be participating in keeping track of reading minutes on a weekly calendar. Dress up Fridays…..Wear clothing with words on them
Turn your clock forward Saturday night….SPRING AHEAD!

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, March 15—GYM

*Tuesday, March 16—ART

*Wednesday, March 17—STEAM; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due St. Patrick’s Day—Wear Green

*Thursday, March 18—MUSIC

*Friday, March 19—GYM; March is Reading Month: Wear clothing with words on them.

***Have a wonderful weekend! Don’t forget to SPRING AHEAD by turning your clocks ahead 1 hour Saturday night. Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week–March 1-5

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POPCORN WORDS: HOME. WENT. ABOUT. The popcorn words are becoming a bit harder to recognize so I can not stress it enough that practice at home is so crucial to your kinder’s growth. We practice identifying our words many times and in many different ways throughout the day but your kinder needs to practice them at home too. Thanks for taking on this important role. Your February flash cards were sent home this week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS: We celebrated his birthday on Tuesday wearing Dr. Seuss attire. We learned that Theodore Seuss Giesel was Dr. Seuss’s official name and he wrote books under two names….Dr. Seuss and Theo. LeSeig. This is what we did:

Read Green Eggs and Ham, The Tooth Book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, In a People’s House
Read a couple newspapers that were filled with fun facts different genre of books.
Made a craft of Cat in the Hat
Solved addition and subtraction problems and wrote the equations using red and blue fish (based on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish).

LITERACY/PHONICS: We did Dr. Seuss themed activities this week. We worked on reading popcorn words, creating rhyming words and reading & writing -am real and nonsense words. TIC TAC TOE, GREEN EGGS IN A ROW was so fun playing at school that you can play it at home with your board games and green eggs and ham.

MATH: We completed dot to dot pictures, wrote numbers 1-20, solved addition and subtraction problems, drew “tiny tumblers” that are tumbling down each side of the mountains and more. We finished the week by learning more about cubes and other shapes.

READING: We looked closely at non-fiction books. We started learning about how Avid Readers talk like an expert – they use fancy words. Using a book called Honey Bees, we found the fancy words pollen and nectar. We looked at non-fiction books and found WOW things and shared them with our reading partners. It was fun having reading playdates with our reading partners using non-fiction books. We spent time playing school and playing games with non-fiction books too! We finished the week with each table studying a topic of non-fiction books. It was fun learning all about certain topics!

WRITING: We started a new type of writing— PERSUASIVE WRITING this week. First we thought of problems we have at school and decided to write about walking in the hallway. Next we gave reasons why this is a problem and gave a solution to the problem. At the end of the week we made a poster to persuade others to walk in the hallway at Georgetown. Celebrate with your kinder as they show you their writing & sign this weekend. This was hard work but everyone persevered.

KOOL KINDERS ARE BOOK LOVERS:

We have started another round of being the Kool Kinder. This time the kinders will be taking home the SURPRISE BAG. They will need to fill the bag with an object, write down 3 clues so that their friends can guess what is inside. So far the items have been a band-aid, stuffed animal named Dude and a Barbie doll.

SADDLE UP AND READ! is the school wide theme to celebrate March is Reading Month. Each Friday will be various “dress up” days. Please refer to our kindergarten March calendar that was sent home to see the themes listed.

Each kinder that brings back their TAKE HOME books on Wednesdays will be entered in the school-wide March reading month giveaways. Kinders will not be participating in keeping track of reading minutes on a weekly calendar. Lasso a good book and have fun reading at home!

We had fun decorating our classroom door with Gingerbread Cowboys after reading the book with the same title. Our hallway board is decorated with some cute cows.

REMINDERS

WINTER GEAR: Hooray for a bit of warmer weather and the snow starting to melt. Unfortunately, the melting snow is causing a LOT of water puddles on our playground. Please continue to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day! We are planning to continue to wear it outside to help keep us warm and protect our clothes from the mud.

SNACK & WATER BOTTLE: Please remember to send 2 healthy snacks AND a water bottle with your kinder each day.

VACATION: If you have a vacation coming up and your kinder will be missing school, please contact the office for a vacation request form.

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, March 8—MUSIC; Parent/Teacher Zoom style conferences

*Tuesday, March 9—GYM

*Wednesday, March 10—ART; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due Parent/Teacher Zoom style conferences

*Thursday, March 11—STEAM; Book Fair Purchase Day

*Friday, March 12—MUSIC; March is Reading Month: Dress like a cowboy or cowgirl–wear flannel or plaid!

***Have a fabulous weekend! Enjoy the touch of spring weather. Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—Feb. 22-26

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Welcome to March and the anticipation of spring. We learned this week that the weather during March can be like a lion (wintery, cold) or a lamb (spring-like,warm breeze). The kinders made a lion or lamb based on how they think March will begin. Check out our results….

POPCORN WORDS: AND. GET

MATH: Number bonds were introduced to the kinders this week. This is just another way to see number partners. The kinders did an amazing job working with this new skill. They were also introduced to Tiny Tumblers who live on Math Mountains. The Tiny Tumblers practice their tumbling all day long. Some Math Mountains have a lot of Tiny Tumblers on one side of the mountain and not so many on the other side, but when you count all of the Tiny Tumblers they equal the Math Mountain number. These math mountains help the kinders learn and practice number partners. For example, on math mountain 6 there are 4 tiny tumblers living on one side and 2 tiny tumblers living on the other side. (4+2=6) Here is a YouTube video that explains how we use the tiny tumbler concept in math that you might like to watch. We also practiced identifying 3D shapes, positional words such as under, above, behind, between, in front of, etc, compared numbers using the terms GREATER THAN and LESS THAN and writing numbers.

READING: We started learning about reading playdates! We learned that avid readers don’t only share books, they are always inventing fun things to do with books and friends. We used the chart below to guide us with our reading play dates! Students were able to pick if they wanted to play school, play games or play pretend! The students had fun working with their partners and taking part in the reading playdates! We also learned that really good readers act out the story in their mind, every time they read. We are learning that reading is a lot like going to the movies because of all the pretending we are doing! The kinders practiced reading non-fiction texts and talking like an expert about the books we read. They read books as groups and found things they thought were WOW about the books or moments when we want to ask questions, to learn more!

WRITING: We finished opinion writing by writing about the topics of: 1. Our favorite breakfast. 2. Our favorite color. 3. Our favorite snack. 4. What we like about Georgetown. We finished our learning by taking an assessment to show what we know about writing an opinion paper all by ourselves! That is called an “on demand” writing. The kinders had to decide on their own opinion, give reasons why to support their opinion and remember to write sentences that start with an uppercase letter and end with punctuation. That’s a lot to do all by themselves. I am so proud of them! I am excited to share these writings with you at our conferences.

LITERACY/PHONICS: The kinders identified sight words, blended and segmented sounds in words, identified final sounds in words and created new words by adding different letter sounds at the beginning of sight words (and, get).

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER This week we learned that George W. Carver was a scientist and inventor. He invented many uses for his favorite snack…peanuts. Thanks to him, we learned that we can be curious about many things.

We also learned about Mae Jamsion by reading a Scholastic newspaper. She was the first black female astronaut.

KOOL KINDERS SPREADING KINDNESS AND A BEING BOOK LOVER

REMINDERS

SNACK & WATER BOTTLE: Please remember to send 2 healthy snacks AND a water bottle with your kinder each day.

VACATION: If you have a vacation coming up and your kinder will be missing school, please contact the office for a vacation request form.

CALENDARS: Here is the MARCH calendar You can read about upcoming events, birthdays and more. It is also posted under CALENDARS at the top of our blog. Here is the March lunch menu

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, March 1—MUSIC

*Tuesday, March 2—GYM. Dr. Seuss’ Birthday…Dress in your Seuss-ish attire (black, white, red colors or your favorite Dr. Seuss character?)

*Wednesday, March 3—ART; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due

*Thursday, March 4—STEAM; If your kinder would like a sack lunch from the lunch service, please email me or write a note by Thursday, 3/4

*Friday, March 5—GYM; Fast Friday (Early Release) 12:15 p.m. Dismissal. HATS OFF FOR READING! Wear a cowboy hat or bandana

*Monday, March 8 and Wednesday, March 10…Parent/Teacher Zoom style conferences

***Have a fabulous weekend! Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—Feb 15-19

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Look what we learned in kindergarten this week

ALL ABOUT PRESIDENTS: In honor of Presidents’ Day this past Monday, the kinders learned some interesting facts about 2 famous presidents. We learned that George Washington was our very first president, he owned 5 farms, he wore white powder in his hair (Ewww…many thought this was strange), his picture is on the quarter and the one dollar bill. Abraham Lincoln was an honest man who lived in a log cabin. He was the 16th president, he wore a stove pipe hat and kept important papers inside of it and his picture is on the penny and the five dollar bill. We read some books to learn facts and placed facts on posters. The kinders enjoyed making a fun President flip craftivity to complete their learning. Did you ask them what they learned?

READING: We learned that we can use more precise words to tell how a character is feeling besides just happy or sad. When the character was happy, we tried to think of a word that would describe happy in more detail – like excited or thrilled. When the character was mad, we tried to think of a word that would describe mad in more detail – like angry or frustrated. We learned that avid readers make goals to help them be better readers – something that we are each going to work on during reading time.

WRITING: Our opinion writing topics this week were: 1. Eating ice cream in a bowl or in a cone. 2. Favorite holiday…Halloween, Christmas or Valentine Day. 3. Favorite special…Art, Steam, Music, Gym. The kinders are really working hard during this time. They are enjoying using my microphone to read their reasons to their friends. I am proud of them!

POPCORN WORDS: HAD BAD MAP

MATH: We practiced adding “food” from the “grocery store”. We used some of our play food and added different food items together. Then we pretended we ate some of the food and practiced subtraction. We also continued practicing teen numbers. We wrote the equation and then showed the group of ten and extra ones. We compared numbers using the terms GREATER THAN and LESS THAN and solving addition and subtraction math stories. The kinders completed pages in their math workbooks, used 11-20 mats and manipulatives.

LITERACY/PHONICS: We worked on listening for beginning, medial and final sounds in words and identifying sight words. We activated our word-part power to add a letter in front of a snap (sight) word to make a new word. (f-in=fin, p-in=pin, m-an=man, r-an=ran). We sang a fun song to help us practice this power. We also sang “Down by the Bay” to practice rhyming words. We used this week’s sight words to create new words by substituting letters in the beginning, middle and end. For example: mad-map-mat-hat-hot-pot OR bad-bed-red-ted-ten.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: RUBY BRIDGES This week we learned that Ruby Bridges showed courage and bravery when she never gave up and became the first black girl to go to a white school. Thanks to her, anyone is welcome to attend a school of their choice.

ASSESSMENTS: Assessing your kinder in their literacy and math skills are underway. I am so proud of the progress I am noticing. Notes stating your kinder’s independent reading levels are starting to come home. Notice that their TAKE HOME books have reflected the change in levels. Please continue to work with your kinder at home by writing upper and lower case letters with proper formation, reviewing their popcorn words, reading books with them and listening to them read to you. Don’t forget the math skills of counting by 1’s and 10’s to 100, writing numbers 1-20 with proper formation, telling, drawing and solving addition/subtraction stories and looking for number partners (2+4=6 & 10+4=14). As you can see, we are very busy learning and reviewing many skills in kindergarten. I am excited to share your kinder’s personal progress with you at our March virtual conferences.

BEHAVIOR: As we move into the last of February and hopefully the beginning of spring as well as our curriculum grows it is essential for our kinders to be ready to learn. Following classroom rules class rules (in the classroom, in the hallway, on the playground) is a must. Our rules are simple: 1.FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS QUICKLY. 2. RAISE YOUR HAND TO SPEAK. 3. MAKE SMART CHOICES 4.BE KIND. 5. MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY. Being in a class filled with friends can be a challenge for a 5 and 6-year-old. We always strive to help the kinders to remember “how is my behavior helping or hurting my team (class)?” We also let them know that mistakes are important because it helps us to learn red choices (bad) and green (good) choices. Please encourage your kinder to try to be and do the best that they can. Thanks for your continued support!

KOOL KINDERS SPREADING KINDNESS AND A BEING BOOK LOVER. The kinders are showing kindness by playing with their pets, giving their mom and dad hugs, reading a book to Grandma and more. It is fun reading books at school that the kinders like reading at home.

NEW KINDER: We are so excited to welcome another new kinder to our class family. This week Junseo (pronounced ChoonSaw) Choi from South Korea joined our class. This is Junseo’s first experience in American school so this is a big adjustment for him…especially since he is learning how to speak and understand English too! I am so proud of the way the kinders are modeling how to do things, showing Junseo where things are located and just being kind kinders. We LOVE how our class family continues to grow!

REMINDERS

WINTER GEAR: Please remember to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day! Unless the wind chill is below -0, we go outside for some fresh air and exercise.

SNACK & WATER BOTTLE: Please remember to send 2 healthy snacks AND a water bottle with your kinder each day.

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, February 22—STEAM

*Tuesday, February 23—MUSIC

*Wednesday, February 24—GYM; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due

*Thursday, February 25—ART

*Friday, February 26—STEAM

*Tuesday, March 2 Dr. Seuss’ Birthday…Dress in your Seuss-ish attire (black, white, red colors or your favorite Dr. Seuss character?)

*Friday, March 5– Fast Friday (Early Release) 12:15 p.m. Dismissal

*Monday, March 8 and Wednesday, March 10…Parent/Teacher Zoom style conferences

Enjoy the weekend! Be safe and stay warm! Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—Feb 8-12

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POPCORN WORDS: NOT WHO

MATH: We started Unit #4 by telling math stories using our fruit from our ‘fruit & vegetable market’ and looking for groups of items 1-10 in a market scene. We practiced finding partners of 10 by looking at ladybugs that were sleeping and awake. We made teen numbers 11-20 using a 10 group and extra ones using ten sticks and mini cubes. We learned you can write a teen number equation two different ways but they mean the same thing. One way is to write the partners first and then the total (10+4=14) or write the total first and then the partners (14=10+4)

READING: This week the kinders learned that an AVID READER reads a lot, finds places everywhere to read, keeps a stack of book nearby, can’t stop reading and really pays attention to the book but a BLAH READER is disinterested. The kinders sorted pictures to decide if it showed an avid reader or not an avid (blah) reader. They also learned that AVID READERS try to feel what the characters are feeling. Are the characters feeling happy, sad, excited, scared? This makes the story enjoyable to read. We re-visited an old favorite The Carrot Seed to notice feelings along with the poems Mary Had a Little Lamb and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. The kinders found important parts in their books and put a sticky note on that page.

WRITING: We continued with Opinion writing. After hearing a story that relates to the day’s writing, the kinders give their opinion, write two reasons to support why they feel that way and write a closing sentence such as “_____ is my favorite.” or “I really like _______.” WOW! WOW! They are encouraged to include popcorn words, spaces between words, sentence stoppers as well as giving awesome reasons. Our topics this week were: 1. Favorite season…winter or summer. 2. Choosing hot lunch or home lunch. 3. Going to the beach or playing in a pool. This is difficult writing but they are working hard and making progress.

LITERACY/PHONICS: We worked on sorting pictures by /ow/ like in snow or /ow/ like in cow, hearing syllables in words, using our word-part power by putting a new letter at the beginning of a snap word. (b-at=bat, h-ot=hot, f-in=fin) and matching CVC words to the picture.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: JACKIE ROBINSON This week we learned that Jackie Robinson showed determination when he never gave up and became the first black man to play in the major league. Thanks to him, anyone is welcome to play baseball.

VALENTINE FUN!: After listening to a valentine story of The Day it Rained Hearts, the kinders retold the story by recalling the characters, setting (where did it take place) and the order of events. Enjoy hearing your kinder retell you The Day it Rained Hearts using the picture cards at home.

I introduced the kinders to one of my favorite book characters, Love Monster. We read Love Monster and learned about making friends. We read another Love Monster story called Love Monster and the Last Chocolate before creating our own math story of dark and milk chocolate candy. The kinders had fun making their own Love Monsters!

After reading Big Hugs, Little Hugs we tasted candy hugs and candy kisses. Yum! Next we colored our paper kiss to reflect our choice. Then we created a graph of Hugs or Kisses on the board. Last we gave a reason why we liked a candy hug or a candy kiss.

We created a mini book about Things I Love..

We used candy hearts for some math activities

We played Valentine Bingo

We enjoyed eating a Valentine party snack

KOOL KINDERS SPREADING KINDNESS AND A BEING BOOK LOVER

REMINDERS

WINTER GEAR: Please remember to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day!

SNACK & WATER BOTTLE: Please remember to send 2 healthy snacks AND a water bottle with your kinder each day.

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, February 15—ART

*Tuesday, February 16—STEAM

*Wednesday, February 17—MUSIC; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books!

*Thursday, February 18—GYM

*Friday, February 19—ART

Enjoy the weekend! Be safe and stay warm! Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week–Feb 1-5

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GROUNDHOG DAY: We learned a few fun facts about groundhogs, we made a groundhog craft and predicted if the groundhog would see his shadow and go hiding for 6 more weeks of winter OR would he not see his shadow and stay outside for an early spring. According to our classroom graph, many of the kinders were predicting a cloudy day. How about you? What did you predict?

POPCORN WORDS: HOW NOW The kinders noticed right away that these two words rhyme and that we wrote “how” A LOT of times during our How to….writing.

READING: They learned that snap words (popcorn words you can identify in a snap) can be disguised with endings of -ed, -ing, -s. The kinders activated their extra strength book talk power by remembering what we read by retelling who was in the story, where it took place, and predicting what might happen. The kinders are developing this skill as their reading level grows.

MATH: We reviewed math skills in preparation for our unit #3 test on Wednesday. The kinders worked hard as “office workers”. I will share their math test results with you next week. We enjoyed reading Ten Grouchy Groundhogs a few times before we read and completed the emergent reader Ten Little Groundhogs. We looked at the ten frame to determine how many groundhogs there were. Then, we reread the text and crossed off the last groundhog. Last, we completed the number sentence at the bottom of the page. See the earlier posting for our Day 100 activities. We will begin Unit #4 next week.

WRITING: The kinders began learning how to write a new style of writing…..Opinion writing. We started with learning the difference between fact and opinion. Then we sorted statements into an opinion or fact column. After hearing a story that relates to the day’s writing, the kinders give their opinion, write two reasons to support why they feel that way and write a closing sentence such as “_____ is my favorite.” or “I really like _______.” WOW! WOW! The kinders are working towards writing like almost first graders! Do I dare say that? 🙂 They are including popcorn words, spaces between words, sentence stoppers as well as giving awesome reasons. Our topics this week were: 1. What animal would you take home from the zoo? 2. Liking the swings or the slide. Have I said lately, how proud I am of them! 🙂 . This is difficult writing but they are off to a GREAT start!

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: ROSA PARKS This week we learned that Rosa Parks showed courage when she refused to give up her seat on a bus. Thanks to her bravery, anyone can sit where they choose on a bus.

WE HAVE MAIL: Yes, we have mail inside of our valentine mail bags. How exciting! The kinders were able to begin mailing the valentines this week. They were a bit disappointed that the mail bags were not coming home right away but they became excited when they found out more valentines are coming their way. Memory kind of moments. 🙂 I also wish that I could include the conversations that took place during these first mailings. So many kinders filling each others’ buckets by offering to help and squealing with excitement when they saw similar valentines. Oh my…I love this time of the year! Please bring the rest of the valentines to be mailed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

KOOL KINDERS SPREADING KINDNESS AND A BEING BOOK LOVER: We heard about kinders showing love to their cats and giving their parents and grandparents hugs this week. What kind hearted kinders! 🙂 We also read some fun books.

PE NEWS: Kids Heart Challenge through Feb 15. Please see the PE Blog for more information. Below is the sign up link. http://www2.heart.org/goto/georgetown

TAKE HOME BOOKS: I want to take a moment and thank you…kinder families…for writing comments about your kinder’s reading. Those comments are very helpful. I am working on having the kinders read for me to determine their best independent reading level. Your kinder may be taking home new level books.

REMINDERS

WINTER GEAR: Please remember to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day!

SNACK & WATER BOTTLE: Please remember to send 2 healthy snacks AND a water bottle with your kinder each day. If possible, enlist your kinder in choosing their snacks. Many are commenting that they don’t like the snack that is packed.

HEADPHONES: Please send in a pair of headphones for your kinder to use in STEAM If you have not already done so. Thank you!

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, February 8—Winter Break–NO SCHOOL

*Tuesday, February 9—ART Mail Valentines. STUFFED ANIMAL DAY Bring a small stuffed animal that fits inside the backpack.

*Wednesday, February 10—STEAM; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packets due Mail Valentines

*Thursday, February 11—MUSIC

*Friday, February 12—GYM Valentine Party

Enjoy the 4 day weekend! Be safe and stay warm! Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—Jan 25-29

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POPCORN WORDS: with big

WRITING: This week the kinders were encouraged to write their own HOW TO… stories. It was exciting to see what they chose to teach others through their writing on how to do something. They did an amazing job stretching out unknown words, using sight words, including finger spaces and sentence stoppers! They are becoming awesome writers!

MATH: We spent the week looking at teen numbers (finding ten and extra ones), telling math stories, identifying shapes, adding and subtracting numbers from 0-5, writing numbers 0-30, and showing partners for numbers 2 through 7. Next week, we will be reviewing math concepts we learned in this math unit before taking our Unit #3 test.

READING: The kinders learned how important it is to check our reading! We learned that if we see tricky words in our book and we are not sure how to read them we can stop and ask:

Does it make sense?
Does it sound right?
Does it look right?

Also that when reading challenging books you need to use picture power that has “extra strength“. That means you really need to spend time looking at the pictures, noticing more and more details while making sure the words match the pictures. The whole picture may give us clues about words we are unsure of and it also tells us quite a bit when it comes to retelling the book! The kinders are developing this skill as their reading level grows. We learned that readers can move from reading a pattern book to reading a storybook. We practiced this by starting to read Wake Up Dad!

We learned that readers can move from reading a pattern book to reading a storybook. We practiced this by starting to read Wake Up Dad!

LITERACY/PHONICS: We worked on our sight words, added another book to our blue book box with our popcorn words (with, big) in it, listened for syllables in words, sounded out 3 letter words (CVC – consonant, vowel, consonant words) and listened for medial sounds in words. We also learned that punctuation marks matter when reading sentences.

KOOL KINDERS SPREADING KINDNESS AND A BEING BOOK LOVER: It is time to be the Kool Kinder again! Your kinder will be doing two activities. They will spread kindness by picking a kind act to do at home and drawing a picture, plus they will choose a favorite storybook so that we can read it at school.

P.E. News: The Annual PE Apparel sale is happening now until February 1. The store is online only. For more information go to the PE Blog. http://mvankoev.edublogs.org

Kids Heart Challenge is starting next week! Please see the PE Blog for more information. Below is the sign up link. http://www2.heart.org/goto/georgetown

REMINDERS:

WINTER GEAR: Please remember to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day!

SNACK & WATER BOTTLE: Please remember to send 2 healthy snacks AND a water bottle with your kinder each day. Many of the kinders are very hungry in the morning and want to eat both snacks. If possible, please take time to give your kinder a good breakfast.

HEADPHONES: Please send in a pair of headphones for your kinder to use in STEAM If you have not already done so. Thank you!

CALENDARS: Here is the FEBRUARY calendar You can read about upcoming events, birthdays and more. It is also posted under CALENDARS at the top of our blog. Here is the February lunch menu

UPCOMING DATES:

*Monday, February 1— ART

*Tuesday, February 2—STEAM Day 100 celebration. Bring in 100 collection! (see note that was sent home)

*Wednesday, February 3—MUSIC; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packets due Mail Valentines

*Thursday, February 4—GYM If your kinder would like a sack lunch from the lunch service, please email me or write a note by Thursday, 2/4 Mail Valentines

*Friday, February 5—EXTRA RECESS Fast Friday (Early Release) @ 12:15pm. Mail Valentines

*Mon. Feb 8—Winter Break–NO SCHOOL

*Tues. Feb 9—School again!

*Fri. Feb. 12–Valentine Party

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—Jan 18-22

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Oh my goodness!! I totally forgot to post last week’s blog. I am sorry about the delay!

LITERACY/PHONICS: This week’s activities focused on writing popcorn words, identifying popcorn words, listening for initial, medial and final sounds in words, changing initial letter to make new words & syllables. We also learned about the H Brothers! The H Brothers story is about 5 brothers who all have an h as the second letter in their name. The H Brothers names are Charley, Shane, Whit, Phil and Theo. Each brother gives helpful hints as ways to remember what sound the start of their name makes. We had fun labeling things around our classroom with sticky notes. We are getting good at stretching out words and listening for all of the sounds we hear. I am so proud of the progress that they are making. It was a good week of working hard during this time.

MATH: A few math skills we covered this week were decomposing teen numbers to show ten and extra ones, writing number partners, solving addition & subtraction problems. We had fun playing a game to learn number partners. The kinders played TEEN NUMBER MEMORY (matching teen numbers & the equation) and BEARS IN THE CAVE (finding number partners of 7)

POPCORN WORDS: HE SHE

WRITING: We wrote HOW TO… stories using another new format….one page paper. That was exciting! We wrote about How to eat an orange, How to put on winter gear and How to eat a snack. The kinders are getting more and more comfortable writing how-to papers, trying a little more on their own each time. Way to go kinders! Next week the kinders will be writing their own HOW TO…stories!

READING: We used a book this week called Can you see our eggs? and a poem called We Will Go to help us learn that readers notice blends, like “gr” in “ground” or “fl” in “flower” to solve tricky words. We reminded ourselves that we can do this through sound power; looking closely at the beginning and the ending sound to solve the word. We also learned that when we come to a word we may not know, we can bring out an imaginary magnifying glass to look closely at the letters. We come to a snap word, we put the magnify glass away because we should know that word in a snap! It is so exciting to see the kinders making a connection to these reading skills when we are reading or writing together. Keep practicing those snap/popcorn words at home with your kinder!

HANDWRITING: We practiced writing our full names….first and last names correctly. Any extra practice at home would be helpful. Some ideas to make writing fun is to use shaving cream (messy but oh so fun!), markers, pour salt in small tin, covering just the bottom and use finger to write, build name using blocks, legos, Cheerios, etc.

NEW KINDER: We are so excited to have another new kinder be part our class family. Lily joined our class this week. She has been learning virtually and now will be learning with us at school. I am proud of the way the kinders made Lily feel welcome!

P.E. News: The Annual PE Apparel sale is happening now until February 1. The store is online only. For more information go to the PE Blog. http://mvankoev.edublogs.org

REMINDERS:

WINTER GEAR: Please remember to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day!

CALENDARS: Here is the FEBRUARY calendar You can read about upcoming events, birthdays and more. It is also posted under CALENDARS at the top of our blog. Here is the February lunch menu

UPCOMING DATES:

*Monday, January 25— GYM

*Tuesday, January 26—ART

*Wednesday, January 27—STEAM; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packets due Book Orders Due (online or check & paper form)

*Thursday, January 28—MUSIC

*Friday, January 29—GYM

*Tues. Feb 2–Day 100 celebration. Bring in 100 collection! (see note that was sent home)

*Wed. Feb 3-Wed. Feb. 10–Bring in Valentines (see note that was sent home)

*Fri. Feb 5–Fast Friday. (early release day)

*Mon. Feb 8—Winter Break

*Tues. Feb 9—School again!

*Fri. Feb. 12–Valentine Party

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Bohl