Last week we wrapped up our learning on Bears and began a new unit based on many different gingerbread stories. We will continue reading gingerbread stories all week! There are so many different fun versions.
Reading: We are having fun comparing and contrasting the characters and how the stories end. We have noticed that in each story the 'big idea' is the same...a gingerbread character escapes from the oven and is chased by many different animals and people! In each story we eventually meet a sneaky, clever fox. Will the fox trick the gingerbread character or will the gingerbread character escape?! This is always the most exciting part of each story. So many of the children were shocked when the fox ate the poor gingerbread man! We love chanting the repeating verses that occur in each story. As you can imagine, we are having a lot of fun with these stories. :)
Projects: As part of this unit, we will build gingerbread houses with our 5th grade buddies on Tuesday during the school day. We will decorate the houses on Thursday, December 18th at 2 pm. Please return the green paper and any supplies for our houses to help me plan accordingly. Thank you so much for your support! Also, our December Family Projects are due Monday!
Gingerbread Exchange: Last week the children each decorated a gingerbread man. We sent 24 gingerbread men to 24 different schools in different states throughout our country. We included a letter from our class telling a little bit about class. Soon we should be receiving gingerbread projects from other schools in different states! All three kindergarten classes are participating in this exchange program this year. This means our school should receive approximately 75 projects from schools all over our country! This is a new and exciting project for us. :)
Math: This week we will focus on addition and writing addition number sentences. We have been learning addition skills all year, but this will be our main focus during math activities this week. We will work with many manipulatives to help us practices our addition facts.
Recess: Weather permitting, please continue to send in snowpants, hats, gloves, boots, and warm coats for outdoor recess time. Sneakers should be packed inside your child's backpack each day. Boots are worn outside for play. Sneakers are worn during the school day in our classroom. The children are truly doing a great job getting ready for recess and LOVE playing in the snow together. I'm not sure of the forecast, but the children and I hope we get some more!!!
As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to a week filled with lots of fun and energy! :)
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Bears
I hope you all had a great
weekend! This is a busy time of the year for families and for us at
school too! Please be sure to check the important dates listed on the
left sidebar of our classroom blog.
Word Wall: This week we will add three new words:
'run', 'see', & 'can'. The words on our Word Wall are: I, a,
the, is, me, go, it, and, no, in, at, my, like, will, yes, not,
to, you, run, see, & can. Practice reading these words at
home. Can you find them in stories and on signs? You can also use playdough
or magnetic letters to make these words at home. We put each word on a
heart to remind us that we soon we will know all of these words 'by heart'
without needing to stretch out the sounds.
Math: We are continuing our work on teen
numbers. This week we will continue counting, reading, writing, and
searching for missing numbers from parts of a number line. We have also
been busy learning about adding numbers too! We have even talked about double
facts...even though that is really 1st grade work! Our math minds are
thinking all day long in our kindergarten classroom :)
Reading & Writing: We are reading many books about bears.
As we read, we are practicing to 'retell' the parts of the story in the proper
sequence. Using our voices to 'retell' stories is a very important
skill. Try doing this at home too! Talk about the main characters,
the setting, the problem, and the solution as you read each day. Also
discuss the big idea and what happened first (beginning), next (middle), and
last (the end). These skills help us when we are writing stories our own
stories during writing workshop as well! We will continue reading about
bears, but will soon begin comparing all different kinds of gingerbread
stories.
Teddy Bears: We will wrap up our Bear Unit on Wednesday.
Your child may bring in one bear (small enough to fit in his/her backpack) to
school on Wednesday, December 10th. Our bears will help with our
reading, writing, math, and learning throughout the day. Any bears who do
not follow our classroom rules will spend some time hibernating in our cubbies
during the day. Be sure to ask your child how his/her bear did! ;)
Scholastic Book Orders: You many order books online or by sending in
the form along with a check. There are some great book choices. The
children love the Bear Snores On series. I will place all orders on
Thursday, December 11th. This will allow plenty of time for delivery to
our classroom. Please send me an email or a note if you are ordering
books as a gift. I will put the books in a manilla envelope and tell your
child it is 'boring parent stuff' from the main office!
Extra: Our children are very fortunate to be working
with a new friend Tylor from the high school. On Tuesday mornings, Tylor
is working with small groups of children from our kindergarten class. Tylor is
visually impaired and he is teaching the children all about the tools he uses
to help him learn. The children are currently learning about
braille. We are very lucky to be working with our new high school friend.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Welcome December!
I hope you all had a terrific
Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. I was certainly grateful to
spend time visiting with some of my closest relatives and friends during
our time away from school.
This week we are beginning a fun unit on bears! We will read some nonfiction and fiction books to help us learn all about bears in our classroom. We will learn true facts from our nonfiction reading. We will learn about the different elements of a story from our fictional books: main characters, settings, problems, solutions, and the big ideas in our different stories about bears. Be sure to ask your children all about our learning!
This week we will also add three new words to our Word Wall~ 'not', 'to', & 'you'. We now have eighteen words in all on our Word Wall: I, a, the, is, me, go, it, and, no, in, at, my, like, will, yes, not, to, & you. Please practice reading these words at home. Knowing these words 'by heart' will help your child to begin the process of reading! We practice our 'heart words' each and every day in our kindergarten classroom.
During math we are learning how to read, write, and count numbers 10 - 20. Ten frames helps us to count these tricky teen numbers. We will be using different types of materials to help us with our math learning each day.
Mystery Readers are a huge hit in our classroom. Please send me an email or a note if you haven't signed up to read to the class and are still interested in participating in this activity. The children absolutely LOVE it!
This week we are beginning a fun unit on bears! We will read some nonfiction and fiction books to help us learn all about bears in our classroom. We will learn true facts from our nonfiction reading. We will learn about the different elements of a story from our fictional books: main characters, settings, problems, solutions, and the big ideas in our different stories about bears. Be sure to ask your children all about our learning!
This week we will also add three new words to our Word Wall~ 'not', 'to', & 'you'. We now have eighteen words in all on our Word Wall: I, a, the, is, me, go, it, and, no, in, at, my, like, will, yes, not, to, & you. Please practice reading these words at home. Knowing these words 'by heart' will help your child to begin the process of reading! We practice our 'heart words' each and every day in our kindergarten classroom.
During math we are learning how to read, write, and count numbers 10 - 20. Ten frames helps us to count these tricky teen numbers. We will be using different types of materials to help us with our math learning each day.
Mystery Readers are a huge hit in our classroom. Please send me an email or a note if you haven't signed up to read to the class and are still interested in participating in this activity. The children absolutely LOVE it!
Family Project~ This month's family project will be sent home this week. Please help your child to work on tracing your family members' hands. Color, decorate, discuss, and write about the special things you do during this time of the year as a family. Have fun!
Gingerbread Houses~ Please mark your calendars! We will be decorating gingerbread houses in our classroom on Thursday, December 18th at 2pm in our classroom. Please join us for this very messy and fun event. More information will come home, but I wanted to make you aware of the date.
Please make sure your children have winter clothing for outdoor recess each day! The children need warm coats, hats, and gloves every day. On snowy days the children play outside. Please send in snow pants (they will go home each day) and wear boots. Sneakers should be packed in your child's backpack. Sneakers are worn during the school day and boots are worn for outside play!
Thank you so much for your support in your child's learning and play. I am looking forward to a terrific December!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)
Sunday, November 9, 2014
November is a busy month!
This week we are continuing to read about families and about Thanksgiving. We will compare families from today versus families from long ago. We will also learn about the first Thanksgiving and about being grateful for all that we have. This is a busy month filled with many different activities.
Please send in a picture of your family if you have not already done so. The picture should be 4 inches by 6 inches in order to fit inside of our project.
Our Family Turkey Projects are hanging in our kindergarten hallway! Thank you for sending them in.
Reading Logs are due each Monday. Please help your child to keep track of his/her reading during the week. I will send home new reading logs at the beginning of each week. The logs are double sided in case you need to start a new one or lose track. Thank you for supporting reading at home! :)
We have some great educational websites that you can use at home. An updated note listing the sites, usernames, and passwords was sent home last week. Have fun exploring some of these sites at home with your child.
Our 50th Day of School will take place this Monday! Please have fun helping your child to dress like someone from the 1950s. You can google images to find many great ideas :) We will be sure to take lots of pictures!
Pajama Day is Tuesday! Our classroom 'warm and fuzzy' jar is all filled up. The children voted to wear pajamas to school as a way of celebrating the great choices we have been making as a class :)
Mystery Readers! It's never too late to sign up! Our first Mystery Reader read to the children this week and the children loved it. I am still scheduling dates and times as I receive responses. I will send home notes confirming times along with a form to list three clues about the mystery reader. The children love guessing who the reader is! Please think about signing up to read during the month of November or December if you haven't already done so. We have a little over half the class currently signed up.
American Education Week and the Scholastic Book Fair are this week. Please return the yellow note to let me know if you or someone in your family will be joining us on Thursday, November 20th. It helps me to better prepare the children for our activities on that day. Thank you!
Our new Heart Words on our Word Wall are in, at, & no. We are working hard on printing letters, words, and sentences each day! We are also working on reading and writing stories. We have begun working in small reading groups too! Your child might bring home a book from school in a plastic bag from time to time. Please return all books the very next day so that other students and teachers can use them.
I'm looking forward to another fun week in kindergarten! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Please send in a picture of your family if you have not already done so. The picture should be 4 inches by 6 inches in order to fit inside of our project.
Our Family Turkey Projects are hanging in our kindergarten hallway! Thank you for sending them in.
Reading Logs are due each Monday. Please help your child to keep track of his/her reading during the week. I will send home new reading logs at the beginning of each week. The logs are double sided in case you need to start a new one or lose track. Thank you for supporting reading at home! :)
We have some great educational websites that you can use at home. An updated note listing the sites, usernames, and passwords was sent home last week. Have fun exploring some of these sites at home with your child.
Our 50th Day of School will take place this Monday! Please have fun helping your child to dress like someone from the 1950s. You can google images to find many great ideas :) We will be sure to take lots of pictures!
Pajama Day is Tuesday! Our classroom 'warm and fuzzy' jar is all filled up. The children voted to wear pajamas to school as a way of celebrating the great choices we have been making as a class :)
Mystery Readers! It's never too late to sign up! Our first Mystery Reader read to the children this week and the children loved it. I am still scheduling dates and times as I receive responses. I will send home notes confirming times along with a form to list three clues about the mystery reader. The children love guessing who the reader is! Please think about signing up to read during the month of November or December if you haven't already done so. We have a little over half the class currently signed up.
American Education Week and the Scholastic Book Fair are this week. Please return the yellow note to let me know if you or someone in your family will be joining us on Thursday, November 20th. It helps me to better prepare the children for our activities on that day. Thank you!
Our new Heart Words on our Word Wall are in, at, & no. We are working hard on printing letters, words, and sentences each day! We are also working on reading and writing stories. We have begun working in small reading groups too! Your child might bring home a book from school in a plastic bag from time to time. Please return all books the very next day so that other students and teachers can use them.
I'm looking forward to another fun week in kindergarten! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Welcome November!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with family and friends. The children were so excited about Halloween and trick-or-treating! I can't wait to hear all about it. :)
During the month of November we will focus on families, being grateful, and Thanksgiving. We will read and write many stories about these topics. We will learn about families from today and families from long ago. Todd Parr is a terrific author and illustrator that will help us with our learning. We are also continuing to focus on three letters and add 'heart words' to our Word Wall each week. This week we are focusing on the letters Uu, Ll, and Yy. Our new heart words are I, me, & go!
Homework: Our November Family Project will be sent home this week. Please return all projects anytime before November 13th. Also, please send in a family picture by next Monday, November 10th. The pictures should be 4 inches x 6 inches in order to fit into our projects that we will work on at school. A weekly reading calender will also be sent home this week and every week. Please have fun reading with your child each night. 10-15 minutes is all you need! :) In addition to our reading calendar, I will also be sending home additional math and printing practice for the children. Please note that these practice pages are optional. Work at your own pace and return once they are completed.
Eagle's Silent Auction: Thank you for sending in donations for our raffle basket. Our Silent Auction is a terrific fundraising event. I hope to see you there!
American Education Week & our Scholastic Book Fair will take place the week of November 17th. Parents are welcome to join us at 12:00 on Thursday, November 20th for a classroom activity. You will also be able to visit the Book Fair at this time. A note will be sent home this week about American Education Week.
Thank you for your support as we enter into a terrific time of the year! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
During the month of November we will focus on families, being grateful, and Thanksgiving. We will read and write many stories about these topics. We will learn about families from today and families from long ago. Todd Parr is a terrific author and illustrator that will help us with our learning. We are also continuing to focus on three letters and add 'heart words' to our Word Wall each week. This week we are focusing on the letters Uu, Ll, and Yy. Our new heart words are I, me, & go!
Homework: Our November Family Project will be sent home this week. Please return all projects anytime before November 13th. Also, please send in a family picture by next Monday, November 10th. The pictures should be 4 inches x 6 inches in order to fit into our projects that we will work on at school. A weekly reading calender will also be sent home this week and every week. Please have fun reading with your child each night. 10-15 minutes is all you need! :) In addition to our reading calendar, I will also be sending home additional math and printing practice for the children. Please note that these practice pages are optional. Work at your own pace and return once they are completed.
Eagle's Silent Auction: Thank you for sending in donations for our raffle basket. Our Silent Auction is a terrific fundraising event. I hope to see you there!
American Education Week & our Scholastic Book Fair will take place the week of November 17th. Parents are welcome to join us at 12:00 on Thursday, November 20th for a classroom activity. You will also be able to visit the Book Fair at this time. A note will be sent home this week about American Education Week.
Thank you for your support as we enter into a terrific time of the year! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Pumpkins, Spiders, & Halloween!
I hope you had a terrific weekend. I can't wait to hear all about Eagle's Spooktacular from the children. They were so very excited about this fun event!
Last week we began learning about pumpkins. Thank you to my parent volunteers who helped the children explore pumpkins. We measured, counted, discovered that pumpkins float, and we even scooped out the seeds! It was busy, fun, & messy. This is how we learn best in our kindergarten room! Last week we also met our 5th Grade Buddies. They helped up work on a pumpkin craft activity and then read fall stories to us. We will be working with our new 5th grade friends on most Friday afternoons. Be sure to ask your child about it!
This week we will be busy reading, writing, and creating different projects to go along with some of our fun fall themes...pumpkins, spiders, and Halloween. We will also focus on three new letters: Pp, Jj, & Kk. Our 'letter experts' will help us remember the sounds and proper letter formation during writing activities. The children love this important job!
Please note that Eagle's Silent Auction is coming up! Our kindergarten classes are responsible for putting together a raffle basket filled with Gift Cards. A yellow/golden colored note was sent home earlier in the month. Please send in any gift cards or donations that can be put towards the purchase of gift cards by Wednesday of this week. Thank you so much for your generosity and for supporting Eagle's Silent Auction. It is a terrific fundraising event for our school! :)
November is quickly approaching and is filled with activities! Kindergarten homework (optional) will begin in November. Eagle's Silent Auction, the 50th Day of School, American Education Week, Eagle's Book Fair, and Thanksgiving all take place in November! Please be sure to check the left sidebar of the blog for important dates to remember. Parents are welcome to come into our Kindergarten classroom on November 20th to participate in a classroom activity. A note will be sent home soon! The 50th Day of School is November 17th...We encourage the children to dress like children from the 1950s on this day! A note will also be sent home about this activity, but I wanted to give families some dates to think about :) Thank you so much for your support.
I am looking forward to another great week in our kindergarten classroom. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Last week we began learning about pumpkins. Thank you to my parent volunteers who helped the children explore pumpkins. We measured, counted, discovered that pumpkins float, and we even scooped out the seeds! It was busy, fun, & messy. This is how we learn best in our kindergarten room! Last week we also met our 5th Grade Buddies. They helped up work on a pumpkin craft activity and then read fall stories to us. We will be working with our new 5th grade friends on most Friday afternoons. Be sure to ask your child about it!
This week we will be busy reading, writing, and creating different projects to go along with some of our fun fall themes...pumpkins, spiders, and Halloween. We will also focus on three new letters: Pp, Jj, & Kk. Our 'letter experts' will help us remember the sounds and proper letter formation during writing activities. The children love this important job!
Please note that Eagle's Silent Auction is coming up! Our kindergarten classes are responsible for putting together a raffle basket filled with Gift Cards. A yellow/golden colored note was sent home earlier in the month. Please send in any gift cards or donations that can be put towards the purchase of gift cards by Wednesday of this week. Thank you so much for your generosity and for supporting Eagle's Silent Auction. It is a terrific fundraising event for our school! :)
November is quickly approaching and is filled with activities! Kindergarten homework (optional) will begin in November. Eagle's Silent Auction, the 50th Day of School, American Education Week, Eagle's Book Fair, and Thanksgiving all take place in November! Please be sure to check the left sidebar of the blog for important dates to remember. Parents are welcome to come into our Kindergarten classroom on November 20th to participate in a classroom activity. A note will be sent home soon! The 50th Day of School is November 17th...We encourage the children to dress like children from the 1950s on this day! A note will also be sent home about this activity, but I wanted to give families some dates to think about :) Thank you so much for your support.
I am looking forward to another great week in our kindergarten classroom. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Fall Fun!
I hope you all enjoyed another fall weekend with family and
friends. Below are some
highlights regarding our kindergarten learning.
Parent Conferences: We will have a half day (11:45 dismissal) tomorrow (Monday) for Parent Teacher Conferences. Thank you to those families that I have already met with. I look forward to meeting with more families this week.
Literacy: We are working hard in our classroom learning all about what readers and writers do. As readers we have learned that we can read books in three different ways: read the pictures, read the words, and/or retell the story. We have also been practicing 'reading to someone' or 'partner reading'. We sit side by side, elbow to elbow, knee to knee, book in the middle, so we can both can see! We are doing a great job spending time with books each day. As writers, we have begun working on our very own stories. We are working hard on sticking to one idea and expressing our ideas across many pages
Math: This week we will continue counting, playing games, reading, writing, and comparing numbers 6-10. We have been using dominoes, dice, beads, and pipe cleaners to explore numbers in different ways. On Friday we were really excited because our friend Zero the Hero spent the day with us to celebrate the 30th day of school! Be sure to ask your child about our friend. :)
Science: We will continue to explore our Five Senses this week while also learning about leaves and pumpkins. We will use our sense of sight, touch, smell, taste, and listening while exploring real pumpkins in our classroom. *** I am looking for three parent volunteers to help us with a pumpkin carving experiment this week. We will work on our project this Thursday at 2 pm.*** Please email me if you would like to help us out! You will need to bring in one medium/large size pumpkin along with come pumpkin carving tools. It will be a fun and messy activity that will help us explore our senses while using pumpkins :) We will then donate our pumpkins to Eagle's Spooktacular event.
Spooktacular: Eagle's Spooktacular will take place on Friday 6-8pm. This is great time for children and families to share their Halloween costumes with their Eagle friends. We do not wear costumes to school on Halloween, but we can have fun wearing orange and black or festive shirts to school.
Thank you for all of your support and have a great week!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne
Parent Conferences: We will have a half day (11:45 dismissal) tomorrow (Monday) for Parent Teacher Conferences. Thank you to those families that I have already met with. I look forward to meeting with more families this week.
Literacy: We are working hard in our classroom learning all about what readers and writers do. As readers we have learned that we can read books in three different ways: read the pictures, read the words, and/or retell the story. We have also been practicing 'reading to someone' or 'partner reading'. We sit side by side, elbow to elbow, knee to knee, book in the middle, so we can both can see! We are doing a great job spending time with books each day. As writers, we have begun working on our very own stories. We are working hard on sticking to one idea and expressing our ideas across many pages
Math: This week we will continue counting, playing games, reading, writing, and comparing numbers 6-10. We have been using dominoes, dice, beads, and pipe cleaners to explore numbers in different ways. On Friday we were really excited because our friend Zero the Hero spent the day with us to celebrate the 30th day of school! Be sure to ask your child about our friend. :)
Science: We will continue to explore our Five Senses this week while also learning about leaves and pumpkins. We will use our sense of sight, touch, smell, taste, and listening while exploring real pumpkins in our classroom. *** I am looking for three parent volunteers to help us with a pumpkin carving experiment this week. We will work on our project this Thursday at 2 pm.*** Please email me if you would like to help us out! You will need to bring in one medium/large size pumpkin along with come pumpkin carving tools. It will be a fun and messy activity that will help us explore our senses while using pumpkins :) We will then donate our pumpkins to Eagle's Spooktacular event.
Spooktacular: Eagle's Spooktacular will take place on Friday 6-8pm. This is great time for children and families to share their Halloween costumes with their Eagle friends. We do not wear costumes to school on Halloween, but we can have fun wearing orange and black or festive shirts to school.
Thank you for all of your support and have a great week!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne
Sunday, October 5, 2014
All About Farms!
I hope you had a terrific weekend!
This week we will be learning all about farms as we celebrate 'Farm to You Fest'. Please see Eagle's homepage for more information. This is a great week to bring in healthy snacks that are grown in gardens and farms to help us with our learning. Children are also encouraged to bring in fresh fruits and vegetables to help 'squash hunger' all week.
As readers we will be learning about the letters Nn, Bb, and Ff this week. We will also be learning more about reading to self and reading with partners each day. We are working very hard on building our stamina and using whisper voices during reading time. The children are doing a great job and are truly excited about reading each day.
During math we will talk about reading, writing, and comparing numbers. Some of the vocabulary we are using is: more, fewer, greater, and least. We are using dice and many other math manipulatives to help us show numbers in different ways each day.
Reminders:
~Wednesday is Picture Day! We will be taking our pictures early in the morning :)
~Friday is our first Parent Teacher Conference Day. The children will be dismissed at 11:45 on Friday. Your child will not receive a report card at this time. We will use this time to discuss how your child is transitioning both socially and academically and to address any concerns or questions that you may have. Please note that each conference will last approximately 15 - 20 minutes.
~Our first Family Project will be sent home on Monday and is due Thursday, October 16th. Have fun working with your family on this!
~Monday, October 13th: No school due to Columbus Day
Wishing you all a great week :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, September 28, 2014
More Apple Fun!
I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend. Though it feels a bit like summer, we are learning about fall in our kindergarten classroom!
This week we will wrap up our unit on apples. Please send in 2 apples by Wednesday. The apples can be red, yellow, or green. We will be using the apples for graphing, tasting, painting, adding, writing, and making some homemade applesauce in our classroom! It will be messy, but also fun :) Thank you for your support in helping us with this unit.
As readers, we are working on what reading looks and sounds like in our classroom. We are 'Reading to Self' and 'Reading to Someone/ Partner Reading'. The children are really doing a great job with this. We love to spend time reading pictures, words, and retelling familiar stories each day as kindergarten readers. Practice these skills at home too. We are also learning about the letters G, I, and T. Please be sure to check your child's folder to see if he/she is our 'letter expert' this week! Next week we will begin Kindergarten Reading Logs as part of our home/school connection.
As writers, we practiced writing in our journals and writing what we know. We spent some time talking about what we are 'experts' at. This helped us to think of ideas to get down onto paper. We are experts at swimming, riding bikes, swinging, making cookies, making beds, climbing the monkey bars and so much more! The children are so excited to begin the process of writing workshop. We are currently working on using our voices to talk about our ideas, drawing pictures, and adding details. Some of our friends are writing labels, words, and sentences too! We will continue writing workshop time each day in our classroom throughout the school year. :)
During math, we will continue to work on counting, building, reading, writing, and drawing numbers. We are having fun comparing numbers and talking about greater than and less than. We will use apples this week to create graphs and patterns during work stations and activities.
Our first Scholastic Book Order was sent home last week. You may order books online by using our classroom code or you can write a check and send in the paper order. Whichever works best for you is fine with me! :) I will place the classroom order on Tuesday, Sept. 30th. The orders usually arrive quickly.
Also, our first Family Project will be sent home this week. You will have plenty of time to work on it with your family. Take your time and have fun! :)
I am looking forward to another fun week of kindergarten learning! As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns that you have.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)
This week we will wrap up our unit on apples. Please send in 2 apples by Wednesday. The apples can be red, yellow, or green. We will be using the apples for graphing, tasting, painting, adding, writing, and making some homemade applesauce in our classroom! It will be messy, but also fun :) Thank you for your support in helping us with this unit.
As readers, we are working on what reading looks and sounds like in our classroom. We are 'Reading to Self' and 'Reading to Someone/ Partner Reading'. The children are really doing a great job with this. We love to spend time reading pictures, words, and retelling familiar stories each day as kindergarten readers. Practice these skills at home too. We are also learning about the letters G, I, and T. Please be sure to check your child's folder to see if he/she is our 'letter expert' this week! Next week we will begin Kindergarten Reading Logs as part of our home/school connection.
As writers, we practiced writing in our journals and writing what we know. We spent some time talking about what we are 'experts' at. This helped us to think of ideas to get down onto paper. We are experts at swimming, riding bikes, swinging, making cookies, making beds, climbing the monkey bars and so much more! The children are so excited to begin the process of writing workshop. We are currently working on using our voices to talk about our ideas, drawing pictures, and adding details. Some of our friends are writing labels, words, and sentences too! We will continue writing workshop time each day in our classroom throughout the school year. :)
During math, we will continue to work on counting, building, reading, writing, and drawing numbers. We are having fun comparing numbers and talking about greater than and less than. We will use apples this week to create graphs and patterns during work stations and activities.
Our first Scholastic Book Order was sent home last week. You may order books online by using our classroom code or you can write a check and send in the paper order. Whichever works best for you is fine with me! :) I will place the classroom order on Tuesday, Sept. 30th. The orders usually arrive quickly.
Also, our first Family Project will be sent home this week. You will have plenty of time to work on it with your family. Take your time and have fun! :)
I am looking forward to another fun week of kindergarten learning! As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns that you have.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)
Sunday, September 21, 2014
All About Apples!
So far we have earned about the letters Aa, Ss, Cc, & Mm. This week we will learn about the letters Dd and Oo. We will have two new 'letter experts' this week to help us learn about our new letters. Please practice printing these letters and identifying the sounds they make. Be sure to check your child's folder each day. Every child will eventually get the opportunity to help us learn about a letter. Thank you for your support with this important kindergarten task! :)
We are also continuing to learn about one another as we crown a new child king or queen for the day! We have been having so much fun interviewing our friends and learning all about our likes and dislikes. This is also helping us to learn about our names, how many letters are in each name, and whose name is the longest. We are using unifix cubes to 'build' our names each day. This helps us to compare how long or how short our names are! We are 'sneaking' in some math and counting during our literacy work. :)
As readers, we will begin learning about what reading looks like and what it sounds like in our classroom. We will talk about the three different ways to read a book: read the pictures, read the words, & retell a familiar story. We will spend a lot of time practicing working as readers this week.
During math, we are counting, writing numbers 1-5, and arranging and rearranging objects to match numbers. We are also building towers and drawing what we see. We can move objects around but the number is still the same! Continue to practice counting and printing numbers at home too. Talk about which numbers come before and after a given number.
During science, we will begin a fun mini unit on apples. We will read many nonfiction books about apples and create several projects to go along with this theme. We will even use real apples for some of our projects. Feel free to send in a picture of your family if you have been apple picking! Write a sentence to go along with the picture and we can share them during this unit.
Thank you so much for your support. We are looking forward to a fun week of kindergarten learning!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne
PS I will send home a Scholastic Book Order this week. These book orders are optional. They have some great titles for discounted prices. Your purchases help me to purchase books for our classroom as well. You can send in a check with the paper order or you can order online with a credit card. Look for the order in your child's folder. I will place the orders next weekend.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Our First Full Week!
This week we will continue to work hard on learning our routines, learning about one another, and forming friendships in our classroom each day. We read some great books about going back to school. So far we read The Kissing Hand books by Audrey Penn. We even had fun searching our school for Chester, making our very own hand prints, and creating a Chester the Racoon craft during one of our work stations. The projects will soon be hanging in our kindergarten hallway for all to see!
This week we will begin reading alphabet themed books such as Alphabet Adventure and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! to help us recognize and identify letter sounds. Each week we will focus on learning 2-3 new letters. We will begin with the letters A & S. We will even have kindergarten letter experts to help us learn all about the alphabet. Be sure to check your child's folder to see when it is his/her turn to help with this important task!
During math, we will begin using many types of manipulatives to practice sorting and counting each day.
We are also learning to recognize and print numbers correctly. Practice
counting during everyday activities at home too. Make it fun! :)
Thank you for your support as we begin this exciting school year together.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne
PS....The PTO would like me to remind families to return the PTO Student Directory forms so that your family can be included in the school directory. Thank you!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Welcome to Kindergarten! :)
I hope you are having a terrific summer! I can’t wait to meet you and hear all about it! I have been spending lots of time with my four children, my husband, and my dog. I have also been very busy getting our classroom ready for the school year and planning many fun things to do together.
I am looking forward to meeting you on September 2nd, 3:00 - 4:00. This is a great chance to meet some of your classmates, find your cubby, and drop off your classroom supplies. Below is a list of the classroom supplies that you will need each day!
These items will be community supplies – please do not label with your child’s name:
2 Boxes 24 crayons
12 sharpened yellow #2 pencils
1 Pink Eraser
2 Boxes markers (boys)
2 Boxes colored pencils (girls)
10 large Elmer’s glue sticks
8 dry erase markers
1 4-pack play dough (optional)
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Please label the following items with your child’s name:
1 pair of scissors
2 laminated 2-pocket folders (pockets on the bottom)
1 Primary journal (Mead Brand - vertical pages and has primary lines with a place for a picture on each page)
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This blog will be updated weekly once school begins. Please bookmark this site and check it throughout the school year. In an effort to save paper, I will not be sending home weekly newsletters. Thank you for your support. I am looking forward to a great year! Enjoy the rest of your summer :)
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)
Saturday, June 14, 2014
June 16th
Thank you so much for attending our Kindergarten Graduation. We hope you enjoyed our songs and treats. The children were super excited and did a terrific job! They have been singing their little hearts out each day. :) Also, thank you to all of the families that donated treats and supplies to make this event special.
We are truly in the 'homestretch' of the school year. I am currently organizing pictures and reflecting on the children's work from this year. I can't help but notice how much the children have grown ~ in every single way! Some are missing teeth, some have shorter hair and some have longer hair, and they all have simply stretched out and lost that 'preschool baby look'. These kids are readers, writers, poets, scientists, and mathematicians. They are loving, kind, polite, and filled with growing confidence. Please know how very proud I am of each and every child. They have all come so far since our early days of September and are now ready to rock First Grade!
During our final days we will spend time reading, writing, playing, and getting ready to be First Graders. Eagle's Field Day is Friday, June 20th. Please have your child wear his/her orange graduation shirt, socks, sneakers, & sunscreen to school on this day. Water bottles and baseball hats are also great ideas...especially if the weather is sunny & hot! The children will participate in many different fun activities during the day. The main goals are teamwork, cooperation, following rules, and having fun!
As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
PS I hope your families have a wonderful 'Father's Day' and enjoy the project that your child made for your family.
We are truly in the 'homestretch' of the school year. I am currently organizing pictures and reflecting on the children's work from this year. I can't help but notice how much the children have grown ~ in every single way! Some are missing teeth, some have shorter hair and some have longer hair, and they all have simply stretched out and lost that 'preschool baby look'. These kids are readers, writers, poets, scientists, and mathematicians. They are loving, kind, polite, and filled with growing confidence. Please know how very proud I am of each and every child. They have all come so far since our early days of September and are now ready to rock First Grade!
During our final days we will spend time reading, writing, playing, and getting ready to be First Graders. Eagle's Field Day is Friday, June 20th. Please have your child wear his/her orange graduation shirt, socks, sneakers, & sunscreen to school on this day. Water bottles and baseball hats are also great ideas...especially if the weather is sunny & hot! The children will participate in many different fun activities during the day. The main goals are teamwork, cooperation, following rules, and having fun!
As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
PS I hope your families have a wonderful 'Father's Day' and enjoy the project that your child made for your family.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Welcome June!
Wow! We are truly getting into the final stretch of our school year. We still have many fun activities planned to help us learn, play, and grow each day.
Our graduation t-shirts are here! Please check your child's backpack on Monday for his/her t-shirt. The children should wear their t-shirts to school on Friday (for Kindergarten Graduation) and the following Friday (for Field Day). The children are very excited to sing some songs and share some treats next week with family and friends. Please send back the purple note if you haven't already done so. It helps us with planning and setting up seating for Friday's celebration.
On Tuesday we will be starting our Kindergarten Countdown to the end of the year. We will have fun counting the last 12 days of school. Each letter in the word KINDERGARTEN will represent an activity for the day. A copy of the activities for this countdown will be sent home on Monday. Tuesday is the first day of our countdown. It will be K day, which will be Kindness Day. We will be showing kindness to our 4th grade buddies by making them thank you cards for a great year! Most of these activities will be done during the school day. You do not need to worry about sending anything in from home, but we wanted you to be aware of our countdown. Be sure to ask your child all about it!
Throughout the remainder of the school year we will be reading and learning about different sea creatures. We will also continue to practice our Heart Words as we read and write each day. During math we are working on sorting objects and identifying different types of shapes and patterns. The end of the school year is approaching, but we are still learning each day!
Thank you for all of your support. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)
PS... As the weather gets warmer, please feel free to send in a water bottle with your child each day. The children may keep their water bottles at their tables. Please fill all bottles with water only. Thank you!
Our graduation t-shirts are here! Please check your child's backpack on Monday for his/her t-shirt. The children should wear their t-shirts to school on Friday (for Kindergarten Graduation) and the following Friday (for Field Day). The children are very excited to sing some songs and share some treats next week with family and friends. Please send back the purple note if you haven't already done so. It helps us with planning and setting up seating for Friday's celebration.
On Tuesday we will be starting our Kindergarten Countdown to the end of the year. We will have fun counting the last 12 days of school. Each letter in the word KINDERGARTEN will represent an activity for the day. A copy of the activities for this countdown will be sent home on Monday. Tuesday is the first day of our countdown. It will be K day, which will be Kindness Day. We will be showing kindness to our 4th grade buddies by making them thank you cards for a great year! Most of these activities will be done during the school day. You do not need to worry about sending anything in from home, but we wanted you to be aware of our countdown. Be sure to ask your child all about it!
Throughout the remainder of the school year we will be reading and learning about different sea creatures. We will also continue to practice our Heart Words as we read and write each day. During math we are working on sorting objects and identifying different types of shapes and patterns. The end of the school year is approaching, but we are still learning each day!
Thank you for all of your support. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)
PS... As the weather gets warmer, please feel free to send in a water bottle with your child each day. The children may keep their water bottles at their tables. Please fill all bottles with water only. Thank you!
Monday, May 26, 2014
May 26th
I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend with your family and friends. It's hard to believe that we are in the last week of May already! The end of the school year is approaching, but we will continue with our kindergarten learning each day. We have so many different fun topics to still learn.
This week we will continue to learn about sea creatures. We are reading many different fiction and nonfiction books to help us with this unit. We will also create some fun projects to go along with our learning. :)
During math, we will begin a new unit on measurement. We will work with different types of materials to learn about measuring, weighing, and capacity. Many of our lessons will involve working with hands on materials each day. This is usually a fun unit that the kids really enjoy.
During writing, we are continuing our work on persuasive/opinion writing. We have been reading many different books about taking care of the earth. As a result, many children are writing letters to friends about the importance of keeping our earth clean and recycling.
As readers, the children are working on different Daily Five Literacy Stations each day. I am currently taking some time to read with the children one on one instead of in groups during our literacy stations each day.
We have also been reading books and talking about Memorial Day, the American flag, and different symbols in our country. Tomorrow we will have a Memorial Day Assembly for the children. If possible, please have your child wear red, white, and blue on Tuesday.
Thank you for your support! I hope you all have a terrific week.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
This week we will continue to learn about sea creatures. We are reading many different fiction and nonfiction books to help us with this unit. We will also create some fun projects to go along with our learning. :)
During math, we will begin a new unit on measurement. We will work with different types of materials to learn about measuring, weighing, and capacity. Many of our lessons will involve working with hands on materials each day. This is usually a fun unit that the kids really enjoy.
During writing, we are continuing our work on persuasive/opinion writing. We have been reading many different books about taking care of the earth. As a result, many children are writing letters to friends about the importance of keeping our earth clean and recycling.
As readers, the children are working on different Daily Five Literacy Stations each day. I am currently taking some time to read with the children one on one instead of in groups during our literacy stations each day.
We have also been reading books and talking about Memorial Day, the American flag, and different symbols in our country. Tomorrow we will have a Memorial Day Assembly for the children. If possible, please have your child wear red, white, and blue on Tuesday.
Thank you for your support! I hope you all have a terrific week.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Saturday, May 10, 2014
May 10th
I hope you are having a terrific weekend! The end of the school year is getting closer and many families are very busy! Below are a few reminders.
~Last week a note was sent home regarding Kindergarten Graduation T-Shirts. If you have not already done so, please return the form with cash payment or a check made out to CASH. The children will wear the t-shirts for graduation and for our June field day activities. We will be placing the order on Tuesday!
~Our last Kindergarten Family Project (timeline of important events) was also sent home and is due May 20th. The children love seeing pictures of one another!
~Kindergarten Graduation will take place on Friday, June 13th at 9:45am.
~Eagle's Field Day will take place all day on Friday, June 20th.
~Our last official day of school is Wednesday, June 25th (Dismissal is at 12:10)
As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns. Happy Mother's Day! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
~Last week a note was sent home regarding Kindergarten Graduation T-Shirts. If you have not already done so, please return the form with cash payment or a check made out to CASH. The children will wear the t-shirts for graduation and for our June field day activities. We will be placing the order on Tuesday!
~Our last Kindergarten Family Project (timeline of important events) was also sent home and is due May 20th. The children love seeing pictures of one another!
~Kindergarten Graduation will take place on Friday, June 13th at 9:45am.
~Eagle's Field Day will take place all day on Friday, June 20th.
~Our last official day of school is Wednesday, June 25th (Dismissal is at 12:10)
As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns. Happy Mother's Day! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Welcome May!
I hope you enjoyed the children's projects from our Dinosaur Exhibit! We worked so hard and were very excited to show off our final pieces. Most of the work was sent home on Friday. The remaining projects will be sent home this week.
During this week, we will continue practicing reading and writing Word Wall words and working in our Daily Five literacy stations. Thank you for returning the books each week! It makes tracking our reading groups so much easier :) As writers, we will practice the different ways to write persuasive/opinion pieces. Last week we learned that we can write letters, poems, songs, and posters to help convince others to agree with our ideas. This week we will work on adding more to our writing to make it even better! The children are enjoying this new unit.
During math, we are working on building numbers 10-20. We are using manipulatives, drawings, and number sentences to practice reading and writing these numbers. For example:
10 (part) +5 (part) = 15 (whole)
This week we will also begin reading books written and illustrated by Eric Carle. This is one of my favorite children's authors! We will read several books by Eric Carle and create beautiful projects to go along with them. We will also read some books about mothers, grandmothers, and aunts as we prepare for Mother's Day! ;)
**On Friday, a note was sent home regarding Kindergarten Graduation T-Shirts. Please return the form with cash payment or a check made out to CASH this week. The children will wear the t-shirts for graduation and for our June field day activities.
**Our last Family Project directions was also sent home. Have fun working on this final kindergarten project with your child. I know that we will enjoy sharing them. :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a terrific week!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
During this week, we will continue practicing reading and writing Word Wall words and working in our Daily Five literacy stations. Thank you for returning the books each week! It makes tracking our reading groups so much easier :) As writers, we will practice the different ways to write persuasive/opinion pieces. Last week we learned that we can write letters, poems, songs, and posters to help convince others to agree with our ideas. This week we will work on adding more to our writing to make it even better! The children are enjoying this new unit.
During math, we are working on building numbers 10-20. We are using manipulatives, drawings, and number sentences to practice reading and writing these numbers. For example:
10 (part) +5 (part) = 15 (whole)
This week we will also begin reading books written and illustrated by Eric Carle. This is one of my favorite children's authors! We will read several books by Eric Carle and create beautiful projects to go along with them. We will also read some books about mothers, grandmothers, and aunts as we prepare for Mother's Day! ;)
**On Friday, a note was sent home regarding Kindergarten Graduation T-Shirts. Please return the form with cash payment or a check made out to CASH this week. The children will wear the t-shirts for graduation and for our June field day activities.
**Our last Family Project directions was also sent home. Have fun working on this final kindergarten project with your child. I know that we will enjoy sharing them. :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a terrific week!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Dinosaurs!
We have been so busy in our kindergarten classroom learning about dinosaurs. We have some great dinosaur experts that are keeping me on my toes! :) We have been reading many fiction and nonfiction books and creating many different fun projects. On Friday we made dinosaur eggs with our 4th grade buddies. This was a fun and messy adventure. We will work on painting our eggs and wrapping up a few more projects before our Kindergarten Dinosaur Exhibit on Thursday, May 1st. Our exhibit will take place from 2:00-2:45. There will be a 'sign out sheet' for anyone who will be taking their child home following the exhibit on this day.
Throughout the week we will continue to work on Word Wall, Writing Workshop, Handwriting, Daily Five Literacy Stations, Math lessons and so much more! Last week we began a new writing unit: Persuasive/Opinion Writing! Our goal is to teach the children that they can use words and pictures to solve problems and make the world around them a better place. So far we have had some kindergarten writers trying to persuade children how important it is to... put the caps on our markers and glue sticks, to keep our cubby area clean, to take care of our books, and to 'not break apart lego structures' that kids are working on. We are off to a great start with this writing unit. I am so very proud of the children's hard work and their growth in writing.
I am looking forward to seeing you on Thursday! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Throughout the week we will continue to work on Word Wall, Writing Workshop, Handwriting, Daily Five Literacy Stations, Math lessons and so much more! Last week we began a new writing unit: Persuasive/Opinion Writing! Our goal is to teach the children that they can use words and pictures to solve problems and make the world around them a better place. So far we have had some kindergarten writers trying to persuade children how important it is to... put the caps on our markers and glue sticks, to keep our cubby area clean, to take care of our books, and to 'not break apart lego structures' that kids are working on. We are off to a great start with this writing unit. I am so very proud of the children's hard work and their growth in writing.
I am looking forward to seeing you on Thursday! :)
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Welcome Spring!
I hope you all had a terrific weekend. Hopefully we will begin to have some nice warmer weather! Please continue to send in boots for outdoor recess during the month of April. This is often a wet and muddy month! The boots help to keep our feet dry. Snow pants are helpful if the temperatures are cold or if it is extremely wet and muddy outside, otherwise...the children can keep snow pants at home. I probably just jinxed us and we will get hit with a spring snowstorm!
Last week we spent some time wrapping up our unit on the Solar System. We had so much fun learning all about the moon, the sun, the stars, constellations, and planets. The children had such great questions and were truly engaged during all of our lessons and activities. We have had some terrific kindergarten writers sharing some nonfiction books that they have worked on as well.
This week we will begin a new unit ~ All About Dinosaurs! We will read, write, and have fun with many different activities to help us learn all about different kinds of dinosaurs. This week we will learn all about paleontologists and what they do! Please mark your calendars. We will have our Kindergarten Dinosaur Exhibit on May 1st, 2-2:45. We would love for all of our families to come.
During math we will begin a new unit on composing and decomposing numbers up to 10. We have worked very hard learning addition and subtraction facts. This unit goes right along with our understanding of how to join numbers together and break them apart... 8 (whole) = 6(part) + 2(part) We will work with some hands on materials as well as our math books to practice these skills.
During writing we are continuing our work on How-To books. The children are doing a nice job writing stories that 'teach' others. Some examples are: How-To Do A Cartwheel, How-To Catch a Fish, How-To Play Soccer, How-To Make Brownies... It is truly amazing how much all of the children have grown as kindergarten writers. They love getting their ideas down onto paper and into books. :)
As readers the children have been working hard on reading 'just-right books' and participating in different literacy activities each day. We are using our Word Wall to help us read and write many different sight words. Thank you for your support at home as well! The children love to tell me who they read their books to at home.
I am looking forward to another busy and fun week in our kindergarten classroom!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Last week we spent some time wrapping up our unit on the Solar System. We had so much fun learning all about the moon, the sun, the stars, constellations, and planets. The children had such great questions and were truly engaged during all of our lessons and activities. We have had some terrific kindergarten writers sharing some nonfiction books that they have worked on as well.
This week we will begin a new unit ~ All About Dinosaurs! We will read, write, and have fun with many different activities to help us learn all about different kinds of dinosaurs. This week we will learn all about paleontologists and what they do! Please mark your calendars. We will have our Kindergarten Dinosaur Exhibit on May 1st, 2-2:45. We would love for all of our families to come.
During math we will begin a new unit on composing and decomposing numbers up to 10. We have worked very hard learning addition and subtraction facts. This unit goes right along with our understanding of how to join numbers together and break them apart... 8 (whole) = 6(part) + 2(part) We will work with some hands on materials as well as our math books to practice these skills.
During writing we are continuing our work on How-To books. The children are doing a nice job writing stories that 'teach' others. Some examples are: How-To Do A Cartwheel, How-To Catch a Fish, How-To Play Soccer, How-To Make Brownies... It is truly amazing how much all of the children have grown as kindergarten writers. They love getting their ideas down onto paper and into books. :)
As readers the children have been working hard on reading 'just-right books' and participating in different literacy activities each day. We are using our Word Wall to help us read and write many different sight words. Thank you for your support at home as well! The children love to tell me who they read their books to at home.
I am looking forward to another busy and fun week in our kindergarten classroom!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, March 16, 2014
March 17th
We continue to be very busy in our kindergarten classroom! Monday is St. Patrick's Day. We will be working on some fun crafts with our buddies to celebrate this day. Please encourage your child to wear green clothes on Monday. Also, our school will be hosing a Book Fair this week. The children will look at books on Monday and can shop for books Tues - Thurs.
Last week we continued reading and listening to books by Dr. Seuss. We have also begun reading and listening to books about the Solar System. We will continue our learning about the Solar System this week. We will be making some fun projects to go along with our learning. We are also working on a mini book about the Solar System that the children will bring home once it is completed.
As writers, we are getting the hang of writing 'how-to' books. This past week we practiced adding diagrams to our stories, and making our writing 'readable' by making sure we were listening to letter sounds and including spaces between our words. We also continue to read our stories to our writing partners and help one another along with our thinking. The children really love writing workshop and being the 'boss of their writing'! :)
As readers,
we continue to work on different literacy activities each day. We call this part of our day Daily Five. We will also
continue to work in small reading groups during this time. The children sometimes bring home books from school. Please listen to your child read, identify sight
words in the story, and talk about the beginning, middle, and end of the
story. Thank you so much for returning the books each day. It really helps with managing the books!Last week we continued reading and listening to books by Dr. Seuss. We have also begun reading and listening to books about the Solar System. We will continue our learning about the Solar System this week. We will be making some fun projects to go along with our learning. We are also working on a mini book about the Solar System that the children will bring home once it is completed.
As writers, we are getting the hang of writing 'how-to' books. This past week we practiced adding diagrams to our stories, and making our writing 'readable' by making sure we were listening to letter sounds and including spaces between our words. We also continue to read our stories to our writing partners and help one another along with our thinking. The children really love writing workshop and being the 'boss of their writing'! :)
In math we have begun learning about subtracting numbers. We are working on telling stories and solving problems by using manipulatives and writing subtraction sentences.
Also, please remember to write down your at home reading minutes on the record sheet for Read Across America! Please use this reading log to track your child's reading minutes each week during the month of March. The class with the most reading minutes wins a pizza party at the end of the month! Our class did so much better this past week :) Keep reading!!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Welcome March!
We had a very fun and busy week to end the month of February. Thank you so much for your support with our activities. The kids looked adorable in their 100 year old outfits! We read stories about the 100th
day of school, counted by tens, stacked collections of 100 items, created a
portrait of what we might look like at 100 years old, graphed and ate a snack made up of
100 treats, and so much more!
This week we will spend time reading books by Dr. Seuss in honor of his birthday. We will
be reading lots of his books and creating some fun projects to go along with
our learning. Monday is crazy hat day at Eagle. Your child may wear a crazy
hat (or any hat) to school on this day! We will also be making hats, so no need to worry if you forget! Throughout the week, your child may also bring in his or her
favorite Dr. Seuss stories to share with his/her classmates. We will wrap up this unit on Friday with a green eggs and ham breakfast snack in our classroom. It's always fun to watch the kids 'try' the green eggs :)
As writers, we are beginning a new unit! The children will work on writing 'how-to' books. We began brainstorming ideas for our books. Please help your child to make a list of things that he/she knows how to to do. For example: make a snowman, bake cookies, paint a picture, make a sandwich, build a castle... Please look for a note in your child's folder. Thinking and talking about ideas at home will help your child to write many 'how-to' books at school!
As readers, we are working on various literacy activities each day. We are also working in small reading groups. At times, your child might bring home a book from school. Please listen to your child read, identify sight words in the story, and talk about the beginning, middle, and end of the story. After reading and discussing the story, please put the book and the note back into the bag and into your child's folder so that another child may use it. The children are growing so much as readers and love showing off their skills! :)
Also, please remember to write down your at home reading minutes on the
record sheet for Read Across America! Please
use this reading log to track your child's reading minutes each week during the month of March. The class with the most reading minutes wins a pizza party at the end of the month!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne
Sunday, February 23, 2014
February 24th
I hope everyone had a wonderful vacation! Welcome back :)
Please note, due to our snow day, we will have our Valentine's Celebration for the children on Monday. The children are invited to dress up fancy on this day. Also, if you were signed up to send in a treat for our party, please drop it off at the office by 10 am. Due to scheduling conflicts, this celebration will be for the children only. We will have a 'family celebration' during the spring. I will be sure to keep you posted on the dates.
We will have our 100th Day of School celebration on Tuesday where students can dress up as a 100 year old man or lady! There are some great examples on pinterest if you are looking for some easy ideas. Also, please help your child to gather a collection of 100 items to bring into school. The items should be placed inside a gallon sized plastic bag or a labeled container. We will start our 100th Day activities on Tuesday and finish up on Wednesday. We have many fun activities planned. Thanks for helping with this fun day. :)
This week we will also talk about Presidents' Day, keeping our teeth healthy, and nutrition! These themes will be taught during the next two weeks in our kindergarten classroom along with our reading, writing, and math lessons each day.
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Please note, due to our snow day, we will have our Valentine's Celebration for the children on Monday. The children are invited to dress up fancy on this day. Also, if you were signed up to send in a treat for our party, please drop it off at the office by 10 am. Due to scheduling conflicts, this celebration will be for the children only. We will have a 'family celebration' during the spring. I will be sure to keep you posted on the dates.
We will have our 100th Day of School celebration on Tuesday where students can dress up as a 100 year old man or lady! There are some great examples on pinterest if you are looking for some easy ideas. Also, please help your child to gather a collection of 100 items to bring into school. The items should be placed inside a gallon sized plastic bag or a labeled container. We will start our 100th Day activities on Tuesday and finish up on Wednesday. We have many fun activities planned. Thanks for helping with this fun day. :)
This week we will also talk about Presidents' Day, keeping our teeth healthy, and nutrition! These themes will be taught during the next two weeks in our kindergarten classroom along with our reading, writing, and math lessons each day.
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
Sunday, February 9, 2014
February 10th
This will be another busy and fun week in our kindergarten classroom. We will spend some time celebrating Valentine's Day, talking about Presidents' Day, and beginning a new science unit on Properties.
We will celebrate our kindergarten friendships and Valentine's Day this Friday at 12:00 in our classrooms. Please encourage your child to 'dress fancy' on this day. You are welcome to join us for a quick snack, some math fun, and reading our Valentine's Day cards. Please let me know if you will be attending so that I can prepare the kids and plan accordingly. Also, please send in decorated Valentine's Day mailboxes and Valentine Cards anytime before Friday. Thank you so much for your help with these projects.
This Wednesday we will also have Pajama Day. The children have been working very hard on filling up our classroom 'warm and fuzzy' jar. It is now full! The class has voted on a Pajama Party. We picked Wednesday for our celebration because it is not a PE day :) The children can wear a pair of cozy, comfy pjs to school. They can also bring in a cozy stuffed animal to spend the day with us. Please make sure that the stuffed animal can fit in your child's backpack.
Academically, as readers we will be working in small guided reading groups throughout the week. The children are now beginning to bring home 'just right' books during the week. Please listen to your child read to you, discuss some of the heart words, and return the book the next day. The children are so excited to take off as beginning readers. We will also continue practicing our Word Wall words and handwriting skills each day. During math, the children are working on learning addition facts. We are using cubes, counters, beads, cheerios, pictures...to help us remember our facts. We also learned that we can switch numbers around and still have the same answer: 2+3=5 AND 3+2=5 We call this a switcheroo in our classroom!
Thank you for sending in winter gear, boots, and sneakers each day! The children are having so much fun playing in the snow with their friends at recess. It is so good for them.
I am looking forward to a very fun and very busy week!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)
We will celebrate our kindergarten friendships and Valentine's Day this Friday at 12:00 in our classrooms. Please encourage your child to 'dress fancy' on this day. You are welcome to join us for a quick snack, some math fun, and reading our Valentine's Day cards. Please let me know if you will be attending so that I can prepare the kids and plan accordingly. Also, please send in decorated Valentine's Day mailboxes and Valentine Cards anytime before Friday. Thank you so much for your help with these projects.
This Wednesday we will also have Pajama Day. The children have been working very hard on filling up our classroom 'warm and fuzzy' jar. It is now full! The class has voted on a Pajama Party. We picked Wednesday for our celebration because it is not a PE day :) The children can wear a pair of cozy, comfy pjs to school. They can also bring in a cozy stuffed animal to spend the day with us. Please make sure that the stuffed animal can fit in your child's backpack.
Academically, as readers we will be working in small guided reading groups throughout the week. The children are now beginning to bring home 'just right' books during the week. Please listen to your child read to you, discuss some of the heart words, and return the book the next day. The children are so excited to take off as beginning readers. We will also continue practicing our Word Wall words and handwriting skills each day. During math, the children are working on learning addition facts. We are using cubes, counters, beads, cheerios, pictures...to help us remember our facts. We also learned that we can switch numbers around and still have the same answer: 2+3=5 AND 3+2=5 We call this a switcheroo in our classroom!
Thank you for sending in winter gear, boots, and sneakers each day! The children are having so much fun playing in the snow with their friends at recess. It is so good for them.
I am looking forward to a very fun and very busy week!
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)
Saturday, January 18, 2014
January 21st
I hope you all have a terrific weekend and enjoy the extra day off from school.
Last week we spent time sharing our Family Snowman Projects, reading and listening to different snowy stories, and comparing and contrasting some of these stories. We learned about Venn Diagrams to help us organize our thinking after reading two different versions of The Mitten. The children did a terrific job sharing what they remembered from the stories.
During math, we wrapped up our unit on place value and 'tens' and 'ones'. We will, however, continue practicing reading, writing, and building those tricky teen numbers each day! This week we will begin working on adding numbers together. We will use pictures and manipulatives to help us with our learning. I will also be sending home practice flash cards for each child. The goal is for the children to know these facts quickly by the end of kindergarten. Please keep the facts in your child's folder for safe keeping.
During writing, the children are learning all about revising and editing their true stories. Last week we used post it notes and blue pens to help add more to our stories through pictures and words. This week we will learn about writing and publishing our very best stories. We are trying so hard to make our stories easy to read. The children are growing so much as beginning writers!
Our Word Wall is also growing. Each week we continue to add three new words to our classroom wall. We also practice reading and writing words in the same word family. Ex: at is on our wall. We are reading and writing bat, cat, hat, sat... Try doing this at home too! :) I will send home a copy of the words we have learned so far.
Later on in the week we will begin learning all about penguins. We will read fiction and nonfiction stories. We will also create some fun penguin projects to go along with our penguin theme.
Report Cards will be uploaded to BC@Home at the beginning of February. I will be sending home notes regarding conference times. Please return the note and I will schedule conference times according to the responses I receive.
*We will celebrate Friendship and Valentine's Day* on February 14th at 12:00 in our classroom. A note will be sent home with additional information about our next classroom event, but I wanted to make you aware of the date in case you wish to attend.
Thank you so much for your support.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)
Last week we spent time sharing our Family Snowman Projects, reading and listening to different snowy stories, and comparing and contrasting some of these stories. We learned about Venn Diagrams to help us organize our thinking after reading two different versions of The Mitten. The children did a terrific job sharing what they remembered from the stories.
During math, we wrapped up our unit on place value and 'tens' and 'ones'. We will, however, continue practicing reading, writing, and building those tricky teen numbers each day! This week we will begin working on adding numbers together. We will use pictures and manipulatives to help us with our learning. I will also be sending home practice flash cards for each child. The goal is for the children to know these facts quickly by the end of kindergarten. Please keep the facts in your child's folder for safe keeping.
During writing, the children are learning all about revising and editing their true stories. Last week we used post it notes and blue pens to help add more to our stories through pictures and words. This week we will learn about writing and publishing our very best stories. We are trying so hard to make our stories easy to read. The children are growing so much as beginning writers!
Our Word Wall is also growing. Each week we continue to add three new words to our classroom wall. We also practice reading and writing words in the same word family. Ex: at is on our wall. We are reading and writing bat, cat, hat, sat... Try doing this at home too! :) I will send home a copy of the words we have learned so far.
Later on in the week we will begin learning all about penguins. We will read fiction and nonfiction stories. We will also create some fun penguin projects to go along with our penguin theme.
Report Cards will be uploaded to BC@Home at the beginning of February. I will be sending home notes regarding conference times. Please return the note and I will schedule conference times according to the responses I receive.
*We will celebrate Friendship and Valentine's Day* on February 14th at 12:00 in our classroom. A note will be sent home with additional information about our next classroom event, but I wanted to make you aware of the date in case you wish to attend.
Thank you so much for your support.
Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)
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