A Week In Pictures: October 24th

This week went by so fast.  Your children loved our first field trip to MSU Tollgate Farm.  It was cold, but lots of fun was still had by all.   Halloween reminders:  please send your child to school with a costume that they can put on independently.  It's best if the costume can go on top of their clothes.  If you are attending the parade, please meet us behind the school at 9:30 am.  You do not need to sign in at the office.

Reading

We have learned so many strategies that readers use since the beginning of the year.  We are working on these strategies every day.  

Each week we read a new BIG BOOK.  It is called shared reading.  We read the book together every day and then each child makes their own version of the book to put in their book bins.  You can see the yellow highlights on the pages.  Each week we look for specific concepts of print.  On this picture, we searched for capital letters and periods.   These concepts help students build a foundation for reading.

MSU Tollgate Farm

As you can see from all of the smiling faces, a good time was had by all at the farm.

The 2nd set of popcorn words will go home on TUESDAY.  Please keep them handy and talk about them.  Maybe keep the words where you read to your child.  After you read a book, try searching for the POPCORN words in the book.  Happy Reading.

Please see Mrs. Nickel's Weekly (link above) for information regarding our school parade.  Immediately following the parade, our class will be going to art.  After art we will be having cider, donuts, and making Spookly the Square Pumpkins.  Please be sure to send your child in costumes that they can put on and take off independently.   Thanks again for your help.

A Week In Pictures: October 17th

This was a very FULL week in Kindergarten.  It's so amazing to watch them grow as learners every, single day.  I am so proud of all of their hard work.

The November 8th - Parent Teach Conference sign up is now available in Skyward Family Access.  Please be sure to see the email I sent earlier this week with directions.  If you have any difficulty with the system, please let me know.

Literacy

During reading, we are working on uses skills that readers' use.  This week your child learned to read like an EXPERT when they are reading nonfiction books.  They are really enjoying reading the "real
life" books.

Additionally, each week we focus on a new BIG BOOK.  This week we read Plop!  At the end of the week, your child creates their own small version of the book to put in their book bin.  They are getting quite the collection of books that they can "read" on their own.

Math

This week in math we spent a lot of time learning about patterns.  Yesterday, they created their own HALLOWEEN pattern on the gate of a Haunted House. 

Science

In science, we are continuing to learn about the 5 Senses.  This week the focus was on Touch.  The favorite was the MYSTERY BAG activity.  They had to reach their hand inside the bag (without looking) and try to figure out what the mystery object was!

FIELD TRIP ON THURSDAY.  We will be going to the MSU Tollgate Farm RAIN OR SHINE on Thursday.  Please be sure your child is dressed for the weather.  I would suggest sending them to school in boots since we will be visiting the pumpkin patch.

POPCORN WORDS

Next week will will continue to work with these popcorn words.  I will not be sending home new words.  Through the week, I have noticed that most of the children need more practice.  New words will come home the following week.

Please see Mrs. Nickel's Weekly (link above) for information regarding our school parade.  Immediately following the parade, our class will be going to art.  After art we will be having cider, donuts, and making Spookly the Square Pumpkins.  Please be sure to send your child's costume to school in a bag.  Be sure that they can put on and take off the costume independently.   Thanks again for your help.

Ms.  Rian came and started Motor Moms (and Dads) with the kids today.  She is working with the children in a small group to help develop large motor skills. Thank you for volunteering your time to help the Room 17 Kindergarten students.

A Week In Pictures: The Week of October 10th

Hello Families,

We had a very busy week in Kindergarten with lots of new learning.  Mrs. Nickel sent out our WLE Weekly today.  Here is the link in case you missed it: https://www.smore.com/52zhh.  In the weekly, directions are included to schedule PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES.  All conferences MUST be scheduled in FamilyAccess.  I do not have the ability to do it for you.  I hope that you all have a relaxing weekend filled with family time.

The Walled Lake Fire Department visited this week to discuss fire safety.  They asked all of the kids about smoke detectors in their homes and whether or not they have a safe spot to meet if a fire happens.  Does your family have a safe spot?

 In math, we have been learning about numbers and shapes.  Today they used a 5 Frame and played a game to count how many counters their partner placed on the mat.  With this game we are working on a skill called subitizing, which means to instantly see.  The goal is that when given 3 counters, they know that it is three by looking instead of counting one by one.  One way to help develop this skill at home is to play games involving dice - YAHTZEE, etc...

We began interactive writing this week.  When we do interactive writing, I use one color (green) and the kids use another (blue) to write a message.  This week we wrote about a read aloud - Swimmy.  You can see that they helped me with punctuation and the beginning sounds of some words.  

Another visitor that we had this week was Mrs. Ferguson.  She came to read us a story in English and in Spanish.  The kids began to learn some color words in Spanish - verde, rojo, azul, and amarillo.

In science, we continued to learn about Our Five Senses.  This week we focused on sight.  They sorted buttons and we observed leaves that we gathered from our play ground.

POPCORN WORDS
Next week will will continue to work with these popcorn words.  I will not be sending home new words.  Through the week, I have noticed that most of the children need more practice.  New words will come home the following week.

Please see Mrs. Nickel's Weekly (link above) for information regarding our school parade.  Immediately following the parade, our class will be going to art.  After art we will be having cider, donuts, and making Spookly the Square Pumpkins.  Please be sure to send your child in costumes that they can put on and take off independently.   Thanks again for your help.

Kindergarten: A Week In Pictures (October 3rd)

Week of October 3rd

Buster the Bus visited Walled Lake Elementary to teach us about bus safety.  We also had our very first tornado drill and your children did an excellent job.  We also learned about cafeteria expectations.  As a new reward this year, the class that cleans up their table the best will win the "Magical Dustpan Award"!  We have our fingers crossed that our class will get picked for being the cleanest and "leaving no trace" in the cafeteria. 

This week we started Our Classroom Jobs!  Each week your child will be assigned a job.  They will be responsible for the job for the entire week.  New jobs start each Monday.

In math, we have been learning about numbers.  Specifically we have been learning about one to one match.  When we say a counting number, our finger touches the next object.  We also began using Mathematician Notebooks.  The children have been learning about how you can represent a number in more than one way.

We started our first science unit this week: The 5 Senses.  Your child worked together to explore objects and answer the question, "What Do You Notice?"  They did a very nice job.

 The children even got to explore some different foods.  Here are some of the words that they used to answer the question, "What Do You Notice?"

Watermelon: Juicy, soft, squishy, tasty, red, wet, cold

Goldfish: salty, crunchy, good, hard, cheesy, goldfishy

Marshmallows: soft, chewy, fluffy, squishy, sticky

Next week will will spend more time learning about how we can use our sight to observe as scientists.

 Next week your child will begin to bring home POPCORN words.  As a beginning reader, it's important to begin to recognize some frequently used words.  We will be doing some work with these words in class.  If you could cut the words apart and keep them in a safe place, you could review these commonly used words often.  Thank you for your continued support.

Speaking of reading, your children have begun learning about some things that readers do.  The picture above is an anchor chart that we use EVERYDAY to help remind ourselves what readers do when they are successful.  Ask your child about the ways that they are readers.  They could even show you what these items mean with a book at home.  Happy Reading!

OCTOBER WLE TV NEWS

October 4th:  https://safeshare.tv/x/deVP0N4hwD0
October 6th: https://safeshare.tv/x/TOTyATdzzFs

October 11th: https://safeshare.tv/x/s-4co43Gmto
October 13th:  https://safeshare.tv/x/2gkhWzkNsQM

October 18th:  https://safeshare.tv/x/8xXXzCGLuBM#v
October 20th:  https://safeshare.tv/x/v_oj3PmnCGY#v

October 25th:  No NEWS - 5th grade is at CAMP:)
October 27th:  https://safeshare.tv/x/DwF6n7XlONs#v

What Do We Do With the Take Home Bag?

Hello Families,
   Starting today, take home bags are going to begin going home with your child.  There are 8 different bags, so each child will take home a bag every other week. Each bag is filled with a different activity complete with all materials needed to do the activity.  The bags will go home on Monday and are DUE BACK TO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY.  Below, I have included directions for each of the bags.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Take Home Animal Bags:  

There are 2 different ones.  A kangaroo and a giraffe bag.  These will come home multiple times throughout the year.  The children are going to have so much fun seeing what the other kids write in the journals.

There are directions on the inside cover of the journal in the bag.  Please be sure to return ALL items to school that are included in the bag.

CLASS BOOKS

 There are 2 class books that will be rotating through the class.  Please read and return when you are finished.  There is a page in the back of the book for your family to leave a comment about the book.

MATH BAGS:  There are 4 different bags.

Bag 1:  Exploring Pattern Blocks.  The direction card is in the bag.  While working with your child encourage them to:               1.  Name the shapes used.                                         2.  Count the number of blocks used.                      3.  Count the number of sides on each of the               shapes.                                                                     4.  Name the color of each shape.                      

Bag 2: Number Stations

 The directions are in the bag.  Also included in the bag is a notebook for your child to record (draw a picture) of some of the ways that they made the number that they chose.

Some questions to ask:
1 - How many are in the set?
2 - Can you make it another way?
3 - How do you know for sure that you have ____?

Bag 3: Pattern Block Creatures
 The directions are in the bag.  Also included in the bag is a journal and crayons.  Your children should trace one of their creatures in the journal.  Be sure to have them write their name by the creature.  They could also name the creature that they made.

SOme questions that you could ask:
1- What are some of the shapes that you used?
2- How many shapes did you use to create your creature?

Bag 4:  Cookie Jar Game
This is a favorite game that we play during math workshop.  Encourage your child to explain how to play the game.

I hope your family has a lot of fun together with the take home bags.  I can't wait to see what your child does!

A Year in Review

Favorite 4th Grade Memories!

First Day of 4th Grade

Valentine's Day

Oakland University Field Trip

4th Grade Recorder Show

Favorite Quote from our Favorite Book, Wonder - "When given the chose between being right or being kind - choose kind."