PANDA NEWS:

On Friday, our school will celebrate Read Across America.  There will be several activities happening.  The kids and teachers are asked to dress up like their favorite book characters and bring the book (dressing up is optional).  We will have an assembly and a guest reader.    

Language Arts:  

 

We have begun an introduction to procedural writing "How To's".  The have started to reads some "How To's" and brainstorm things they could write about.   We have learned the different the characteristics of a "How To".  They usually contain photographs,  they might have some words in bold, and they may have a glossary.  The kids have begun to write their own books.  They are using the characteristics in their books.

 

Math:

 

The Pandas have been learning the difference between 2D and 3D shapes.  We have been focusing on the cube and cone.  We have also introduced the concept of dividing things in half.  We continue to practice the sums through 5.

 

Art:  

 

 The students have been working on making chicks to decorate the room with.     

Science:

 

Have you heard the news.  We are going to be the proud parents of new baby chicks.  They are due to arrive the week before vacation.  The students have been learning about the life cycle and caring for them by waking them each morning.  Ask your student how they do that?  You may also want to ask them what other interesting facts they can remember. 

 

I am asking every student to bring in one piece of their favorite fruit on Monday.  We will be doing several things with it.

   

Book of the Week:  various chick books

Upcoming Events:

Handwriting Letters: review of all lowercase letters

Phonics Letters: review of all phonic letters

Word of the Week: me

Read Across America: 3/28 (dress as your favorite book character)

Favorite piece of fruit: 3/31

Spring Conferences: 4/9 & 4/16

First "All Day" Wednesday Experience: 4/30

PANDA NEWS:

I hope everyone enjoyed the vacation last week.  We are back in the swing of school.  Thank you to all who came along on our field trip to The Music Hall.  It was a great show!  The Pandas enjoyed the happy ending of the play the best.  We were able to compare and contrast it to the book.  They noticed a lot of similarities and a few differences.

 

Language Arts:  

 

The students found my in the sight word book.  We also practiced all our sight words this week.  The more sight words they recognize in their reading the less work they will have to do as a reader.  It is a lot like learning your math facts in math.  We have begun an introduction to procedural writing "How To's".  The have started to reads some "How To's" and brainstorm things they could write about.   

 

Math:

 

The Pandas practiced math facts this week using dice games and unifix cubes.  How is nightly math fact practice going?  I will not send any flash cards home this week but please continue to practice all of the +1.  The will get a Homelink in addition to the math facts.

 

Art:  

 

 

The students made pots of gold and clouds to go with rainbows they made.   

Science:

 

We began a science experiment this week.  We started to grow grass (aka leprechaun hair).  The students each have a cup of grass seed we planted.  We hypothesized what we thought would happen with our seed.  We have a control group without water and one without sunlight.

   

Book of the Week:  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Song of the Week:  The Numeral Song by Dr. Jean

 

Upcoming Events:

 

Handwriting Letters: review of all lowercase letters

Phonics Letters: review of all phonic letters

Word of the Week: go

No School Friday: 3/14

School District Meeting: tonight @ 7:00 babysitting will be provided by STA

First "All Day" Wednesday Experience: 4/30

 

PANDA NEWS:

Happy Valentine's Day!   
I have a few house-keeping items before I review our short but busy week.  The 4th and 5th grade S.O.A.R.S. group is collecting for "end 68 hours of hunger".  They are looking for students to bring in cans of pasta like Spaghetti O's.  The kids can bring them in all week.  They just finished collecting over 1000 cans of tuna. 

After vacation, we will be adding to our math homework.  We will begin practicing our math facts through 5.  A letter and the materials will be sent home after vacation.  Be on the look out!

I have added pictures to Flikcr.  They are of the kids enjoying the 100th day of school and working in the post office.  Speaking of the post office, if your child receives a secret valentine in the mail or in their folder they were suppose to.  Shhhh, it is form a classmate.  We read a book about a secret valentine and then we made them.  (Secret Valentine by Laura Damon)

 

Language Arts:  

 

We worked on proper formation of all letters introduced.  I am still find a lot of children starting from the bottom.  We also continued to work on our reading strategies.  We have learned good reader use a lot of different tools when they read. 

 

Math:

 

The Pandas worked with attribute blocks.  We played a game help them sort by different attributes to find the mystery shape.

 

Art:  

 

We made valentine's crafts with paint and glitter.

 

Social Studies:

 

The students worked in the post office all week.  Check out the pictures.

   

Book of the Week:  Secret Valentine by Laura Damon

Song of the Week:  The Valentine's Dance Party Song by Jack Hartmann

 

Upcoming Events:

 

Handwriting Letters: review of all lowercase letters

Phonics Letters: review of all phonic letters

Word of the Week: on

February Vacation: 2/24-2/28

School District Meeting: 3/7 @7:00pm

Field Trip:  3/5

 

PANDA NEWS:

Gung Hey Fat Choy!  Happy Chinese New Year.  We celebrated today.  The children made dragon masks and drums.  I have posted some pictures on Flickr. 

 

On a different note, progress reports went home today.  Please sign and return the envelope and the copy of the report is yours to keep.

 

Thank you for all the tissue donations.  Our noses thank you!

I link the SMS February Lunch Menu to the Parent Resource Page.
 

Language Arts:  

 

We worked on lowercase f, q, x and z.  We also worked on the word up. We continue to practice our reading; we have a lot of great readers!  They are also great writers.  We have been practicing our sight words in isolation and in the context of reading.  You may want to practice finding them in books with your children.

 

Math:

 

The Pandas continued to review math games to build number sense.

 

Art:  

 

We made dragon masks along with Chinese lanterns!  We had a dragon parade this afternoon.

 

Social Studies:

 

The students will be learning about the US Postal System during the month of February.

Please send in a self-addressed stamped envelope (child's name) by February 7th.

 

 

Book of the Week:  Lion Dancer by Kate Waters

Song of the Week:  various Chinese music

 

Upcoming Events:

 

Handwriting Letters: review of all lowercase letters

Phonics Letters: review of all phonic letters

Word of the Week: do

Report Cards: 1/31 today please sign and return the progress report envelope

100 project:  2/5

Valentine's due: 2/7

February Vacation: 2/24-2/28

Public Hearing: 2/5 @ 7:00pm

School District Meeting: 3/7 @7:00pm

Field Trip:  3/5 please sign and return permission slip by Monday 2/3 with money

 

 

PANDA NEWS:

We have had an addition to our classroom.  His name is Austin and comes to us from Massachusetts.   I will send home an updated version of the Panda Address Book.  The kids have done a great job making him feel welcomed.

Language Arts:  

We worked on lowercase m, h and b.  We also worked on the word like. We have begun to work on writing our own list books.  We have learned that these stories have a simple language pattern and contain some of our sight words.  The pandas have enjoyed being authors this week.  We also worked on Reader's Workshop.  We practiced getting our minds ready to read and make connection to our lives and other stories.

 

Math:

The Pandas played kindergarten Yahtzee.    They rolled dice and crossed out the sum.  The pandas found out it takes a lot of rolls or luck to roll a 2 or 12.  The also made a snowman graph with the letters in their name.  We analyzed the data and made some comparisons.

 

Art:  

We made a melted snowman with a crayon resist background. 

 

Book of the Week:  The Mitten by Jan Brett

 

Upcoming Events:

Handwriting Letters:  f, q, y and z

Phonics Letters: c

Word of the Week: up

Early Release: 1/29

Report Cards: 1/31

Chinese New Year: 1/31

 

Wish List:

tissues

PANDA NEWS:

Paige sharing a story she wrote with the class.  It included all her classmates.  We enjoyed hearing her story.  Well done!

Language Arts:  

We worked on lowercase p, r and n.  We also worked on the word can. We have worked on mid-year assessments.  This information will be used to complete progress reports, which will sent home at the end of January.

Math:

The Pandas wrote the numbers 1-10 for a math assessment.  We played a sequencing teen number game.  We also worked with the concept of addition and subtraction. 

 

Art:  

We made snowmen out of Model Magic.  They finished their winter people and made a stained glass mitten.

 

Social Studies: 

We talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and what made him important

 

 
App of the Week:  Train Phonic

Upcoming Events:

Handwriting Letters:  m, h, & b

Phonics Letters: e

Word of the Week: like

No School: 1/20

Early Release: 1/29

Report Cards: 1/31

Chinese New Year: 1/31

 

Wish List:

tissues

PANDA NEWS:

Welcome back!  I hope you had a restful and fun vacation.  We are getting back into the routines of the classroom. 

Language Arts:  

We worked on lowercase k, y and j.  We also worked on the word to. They practiced the word in several different ways as well as reviewed other sight words.  We also have begun to blend sounds together to decode simple cvc words.

Math:

We worked on estimating snowballs.  They also worked on number puzzles by finding patterns on the hundreds grid.  We continued to practice counting to 50 and are working on recognizing our teen numbers.

Art:  

The pandas made there January art for the homework calendar.  We created glitter snowman and started work on our snow people. 

Science:

Did you notice a snow theme this week?  We ended our week by making snow inside.  It was just like real snow.  Kids loved playing with it! 

App of the Week:  Quickimage

Upcoming Events:

Handwriting Letters:  p, r, & n

Phonics Letters: x & y

Word of the Week: can

No School: 1/20

Early Release: 1/29