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

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!
     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!!!

Thank you for all your support!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne

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!

Thank you for all your support!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne