Weekly News Feb 3-7

We have been working as a classroom family to solve problems that may come up between us!  We call small problems bummers in here!  We created and have been practicing using this chart every day before play workshop!  I am impressed at how this is allowing the students to be assertive and solve problems in a calm and respectful way!  I am sharing in case it could be useful or spark some conversations at your house!!

Important Dates and Reminders:
February 7: 100 day of school- dress like you are 100 years old
February 14: Valentine day celebration- here is a list of names for valentines
February 17: NO SCHOOL
February 27: PAC Field Trip (more info to come)


Reading: Every reader that solves a word, monitors to see if the word makes sense in the context of the book, if it sounds right (like something we would read or say) and looks right (has the correct letters). This week, we will be digging in to how to check for those three things as we solve words. Stay tuned for a chart we will make a a class to help us support our reading process!!

Writing:  Kindergartners begin writing opinion pieces this week! As you may have seen in your child's folder, each student is welcome to bring 4 items from home that they have strong feelings about. For example,  it could be their favorite toy OR a picture of a food that they do NOT like. We will use these items to start discussions and generate ideas for our writing. The goal is for students to start their writing with "I like/do not like_____" and then add reasons to each page of the book. I can't wait to learn more about the opinions in our classroom!

Math: This week we will be wrapping up Unit 3.  We will be reviewing teen numbers, partners and doing some work with composing and decomposing shapes!  We will also take some time to discuss the number 100 and will build it by making ten groups of 10 many times during our 100 day celebration.  The kids have been anxiously awaiting for the day since day 1 of school!

Researcher's Workshop: Students will be wrapping up self study centers and learning how to use Seesaw to share our learning. Your child will have his or her own learning journal, and you can get notified when your child adds new items. It's completely private -- only you can see your child's journal outside of class. I will be sending out a link to access Seesaw later this week!

Weekly News Jan 27-31

Important Dates and Reminders:
February 7: 100 day of school (more info to come)
February 14: Valentine day celebration- here is a list of names for valentines
February 17: NO SCHOOL
February 27: PAC Field Trip (more info to come)


Here's what's happening in K this week:

Reading: As we continue to learn about becoming avid readers, students will have "playdates" during their partner reading time. According to research on cognitive development, children increase focus, stamina, self-regulation abilities, and abstract thinking through play. During the "reading playdates", book clubs will meet and can choose from a variety of fun activities to do with books. These activities could include: acting books out, playing school, having a read aloud, hunting for snap words, etc. Try one of these fun games while reading with your child at home!


Writing: As we head toward the end of our how to unit, we will work on adding introductions and conclusions to our books. Writers will be reminded to use all the strategies they know to make their books easy to read and include all of the things that our mentor texts taught us how to writers do (like add tips, comparisons, zoomed in pictures, covers, and more!) We will celebrate by having a friend read through our book and act out what they are learning how to do!


Snap words: Here are the words we have learned so far:

the, I, to, a, is, my, go, me, like, on, in, so, we, up, and, it, at, see, he, do, you, an, can, no, am, went, are, this


Math: This week mathematicians will work with story problems and will learn to listen closely to math stories and solve them using tools, drawings or fingers.  We will also focus on deepening our understanding of part-part-whole.  We will be building numbers and breaking them apart to see how the parts or 'part'ners work together to make the whole or the total. We will also continue to really understand teen numbers and know that teen numbers can be read and written two ways:  as two digits or was a group or drawing of ten objects with some extra.

Researcher's Workshop: After starting to think about what makes them so special, students will have a chance to show what makes them unique in the following centers:

Photographs—We will sort pictures on a timeline. Then students will create their own timelines.
Books—read All About Me books and write own
Collage—Kindergartners will look through magazines and cut out things that represent them. They will glue these onto a poster. We will share these at closing circle.
Starfall.com—Students will work with partners on Ipads to “write” about themselves

Weekly News Jan 21-24

Check out these awesome Super Readers!!  It looked like fun was had by all!  

I just can't wait to give them all a big hug (and then wash hands, we CANNOT have RSV at our house 🤣) and most importantly continue learning with them!  This is my favorite time of the year in Kindergarten as they just take off as learners in so many ways!!

This is such an important week to celebrate our school!  Each and every student and their family make NDLC such special place!  Thank you for being a part of our community!We hope you can join us for Family Night on Thursday!

Here's what's happening in K this week:

Reading: Kindergartners will learn about being an avid reader. We will sort pictures of avid readers and "blah" readers to identify what readers can do to become even stronger! Students will start to post it ideas and notice character feelings to share with their reading partners. Share what being a reader means to you so that your child can be surrounded by avid readers at home and at school!


Writing: We will study other How-To books to see how we can make ours even better! We will focus on choosing descriptive words,  giving our readers warnings, suggestions, and tips, and using comparisons just like in published How-To books.


Snap words: Here are the words we have learned so far:

the, I, to, a, is, my, go, me, like, on, in, so, we, up, and, it, at, see, he, do, you, an, can, no, am, went, are, this


Math: This week, mathematicians will learn about different strategies they can use to solve addition and subtraction problems. We will use the following mat that shows some of the tools/strategies Kindergartners often use to solve problems efficiently.


By the end of the year, students are expected to solve addition and subtraction equations within 5. Right now, we are building the base of that knowledge by letting students explore those equations using concrete tools/visuals. Eventually, we will move away from using the tools and students will solve the +/- equations automatically using patterns.



Researcher's Workshop: As we continue knowledge building for our self study, the researchers will learn to compare and contrast by creating a Venn diagram with a friend showing things about them that are the same/different. Students will reflect on what they are learning about themselves and start to set some social goals.

Jan 13-17

We can't wait to celebrate being super readers this Friday! If you are planning to donate table cloths for our capes, please send them to school by Wednesday. Thanks in advance:) 

Important Updates:

January 14: Classroom 1/2 Birthday Celebration

January 16:  Classroom 1/2 Birthday Celebration

January 17: Half Day

January 20: No School

January 21-24: Celebrate NDLC Week!

Here are the dress up days for the week:

January 21: dress up as what you want to be when you grow up

January 22: twin day

January 23: active wear/sports wear

January 24: NDLC wear---crazy purple day

Here's what's happening in K this week: 

Reading: We will have our Super Reader celebration this week! Kindergartners will create capes to show that they really are Super Readers! They will build snap word towers to knock down! Swat at letters to match a sound! Read with other Super Readers! It will be a day to celebrate how far we have come as readers!

Writing: These students jumped right into how to writing and are already writing some amazing teaching books!  As we continue to work with How To books, students will work with partners to act out the books to check if the directions/steps make sense. They will add labels to their pictures and diagrams. Finally, they will look at our charts to set goals to create the very best writing they can! For example, students may choose to focus on writing details about their topic. I am excited to see how the students set goals for themselves.

Snap words: Here are the words we have learned so far:

the, I, to, a, is, my, go, me, like, on, in, so, we, up, and, it, at, see, he, do, you, an, can, no, am

Math: This week in math we will take some time to really focus on seeing numbers as a whole and parts.  We will relate using the parts we see in pictures to the way we write equations (part + part = whole). We will also be introduced to a new way to see and organize partners of numbers...math mountains!

Students will use both tools and drawings to show partners and write equations to match.

Researcher's Workshop: We will start to build a base for our Self Study inquiry with a read aloud, video aloud, and song. Students will have whole class conversation about the book It’s Okay to be Different by Todd Parr. We will create a class book after watching a video of a poem called, “I am Me!” Here is the link  to the poem. Each student will add a page that says, “No one _____ the way I ____.” Finally, we will create a self-portrait after listening to  the song “What I Am” by Will.I.Am. Here is the link to the song. I am excited for students to start thinking about what makes them special…we know they are!

Jan 6-10

Important Updates:

January 7:   Classroom Birthday Celebration

January 7:  Matt Wilhelm Assembly about kindness and anti-bullying while incorporating bike tricks

January 10: Classroom Birthday Celebration

January 14:  Classroom 1/2 Birthday Celebration

January 16:  Classroom 1/2 Birthday Celebration

January 17:  Early Dismissal 11:30

January 20: No School

January 21-24: Celebrate NDLC Week!

Here are the dress up days for the week:

January 21: dress up as what you want to be when you grow up

January 22: twin day

January 23: active wear/sports wear

January 24: NDLC wear---crazy purple day

Here's what's happening in K this week: 

Reading: As these readers grow stronger and stronger, they will learn that they can rely on their knowledge of snap words and searching the picture for meaning to solve unknown words. Even after they solve an unknown word, the readers can check their reading to make sure that word makes sense in the book, that it has the letters they hear when they say that word, and that it sounds right in the sentence they are reading.  Toward the end of the week, students will think about how stories to help them think about what might happen next and how using those predictions can help us tackle tricky words.

Writing: We will be learning to write How To books during this unit. Writers will be reminded that with any type of writing, you still follow the steps of the writing process: think of an idea, say how the pages will go, draw, and then write!  To help your child generate ideas to write about, talk through the steps of things your child does at home. For example, a bed time routine, cooking dinner, getting ready for school, etc. What comes first? Next? Last?

Snap words: Here are the words we have learned so far:

the, I, to, a, is, my, go, me, like, on, in, so, we, up, and, it, at, see, he, do, you, an, can, no, am

Math: Mathematicians will continue to solidify our understanding of teen numbers.  We will be making teen number arrangements and working to write equations that show the number of 10's and ones in each teen number.  We will also be revisiting 2D shapes and will work to show how shapes can work together to make new shapes.

Researcher's Workshop: To reboot and start our year off right, we will be reviewing classroom expectations and working on social curriculum. The lessons will include expected/unexpected behavior in a group, how our behavior impacts the feelings of those around us, and listening with our whole body.