Author: Anna Williamson

January 27, 2023 Class News

We had another great week in kindergarten! We are busy learning and having fun, especially at the Seattle Prep carnival! Check out what we were up to this week. 

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: all and were. Next week we will learn we and when. Is your child practicing their sight words at home? Try using them as flash cards or practicing them before bedtime! 

Phonics: Our phonics focus this week was word families –op and –ot and –og. Students cut out their sort cards (that now have pictures and words), played memory match, glued them onto their graphic organizer and lastly spelled our own words within these word families. Some even wrote sentences in their writing journals using words that ended in –op and –ot and –og!

Literacy Centers: We worked hard during centers this week! Students listened to stories of the bible and practiced letter writing on the iPads. They enjoyed looking at and reading picture books at the independent reading centers and created CVC words using foam letters at the phonics center! In reading groups this week we continued to dive deeper with word families. Some students used word family wheels and used these words in sentences, other students continued practiced sounding out CVC words within our word families this week.

Writer’s Workshop: This week we began our “How-to” unit. We read the story Charlie Needs a Cloak and noticed the author added new pictures and words to show the different steps he took to make a cloak. We decided we could write just like the author, Tomie dePaola! We wrote a “how-to” story as a class, and then students wrote their own how-to stories (in three steps) using pictures and words as well as adding transition words such as “First,” “Next,” “Then,” and “Last.” We will be adding on to our “how-to” stories in the coming weeks.

We continue to write our own real or make-believe stories and adding details using our five senses to help give us ideas for details. We continue to focus on including 4 things in our sentences, using our writing checklist:

1. Capital letters at the beginning of a sentence.

2. Spaces between words.

3. Period at the end of a sentence.

4. Mostly lowercase letters.

Math: This week began chapter 5: Addition! Chapter 5’s essential question is: How can I use objects to add? We learned some key words: add, join, and in all. “Join” and “in all” are special math word clues that tell us information of how to solve a problem. We practiced telling addition story problems using these clues and practiced math illustrations as a problem-solving strategy.

Religion: We enjoyed Primary Mass on Wednesday and continue to practice the Our Father, Prayer Before Meals, and the Hail Mary.

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can count to 100 by ones and tens.
• I can count forward beginning with a given number within the known sequence (instead of starting at 1)
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.

Important Dates:

• January 29^th – February 4^th – Catholic Schools Week. Please see school website for more details on this week!
• Wednesday, February 8^th – Dress Uniform, Primary Mass, 9am. Join us if you can!
• Friday, February 10^th – No School, Teacher In-Service
• Tuesday, February 14^th– Valentine’s Day Celebration!
  • Your child may bring in one Valentine for each student in our class (26 students). No names please!
• Wednesday February 15^th – Dress Uniform, St. Valentine Day Mass
• Friday February 17^th – Noon Dismissal – Winter Holiday
• Monday February 20^th – Tuesday February 21^st – No School, Winter Holiday
• Wednesday, February 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Ash Wednesday Mass

January 20, 2023 Class News

We had a wonderful week in Room 1! We are excited and preparing for Catholic School’s Week. Take a look at what we have been up to.

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: not and what. Next week we will learn all and were. Are you practicing sight words at home? You can make simple flash cards out of our words and practice them with your child!  

Phonics: Our phonics focus this week was word families –ap and –ag. Students cut out their sort cards (pictures and words), played memory match, glued them onto their graphic organizer and lastly spelled our own words that begin with –ap and –ag. We are discovering words in books and around the campus that are a part of our weekly word families. Can you help your child spot words around your house or in the neighborhood that end in –ap and –ag?

Literacy Centers: We worked hard in literacy centers this week! At the library center, students enjoyed reading picture books independently. At the sight word center, students created sight word flashcards with glitter pens that can be used to practice at home. At the iPad center, students worked on reading stories and following along to the words. At the phonics centers, students played sight word memory match. They flipped over two cards, read the sight words and tried to find a match! At our guided reading center, we either worked on reading and answering comprehension questions by finding and highlighting the evidence in the text, or reading our reading group books. 

Writer’s Workshop: This week, we started preparing for Catholic Schools Week by talking about why we love our school. Students completed the prompt: “I love St. John School because…” Students love to learn, love their teachers, and love being with their friends! Ask your child why they love our amazing school!

We continue to focus on including 4 things in our writing:

1. Capital letters at the beginning of a sentence.

2. Spaces between words.

3. Period at the end of a sentence.

4. Mostly lowercase letters.

We will continue to master these writing requirements throughout kindergarten. 

Math: We continue to explore taking apart and putting together (composing and decomposing) numbers 0-20 with the use of many types of math tools – dominos, dice, white boards, bingo markers, and more! We are also practicing how to skip count by 10s.

Science: We are continuing to learn about engineering! This week we continue to learn what a STEM lesson consists of (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and completed our own STEM lesson! Students are given a problem, design and plan, create and test that plan, and see if there is any improvement needed. This week, students were given a problem: The children are having a snowball fight. They need a place to hide! The challenge: Build an igloo. Using toothpicks/popsicle sticks, and mini marshmallows students designed and built an igloo! They drew a picture of their idea and then at the end discussed if it worked and what improvements could be made. We enjoyed sharing our results with each other and discussing our project like true engineers!

Kelso’s Choices: Our school counselor, Ms. Shaw, came into our classroom this week! This week, students discussed the difference between a small problem and a big problem, as well as the difference between tattling and reporting. Students listened to a scenario and categorized it as a small problem that they should use a Kelso’s choice to solve, or a big problem where they need an adult’s help. We learned that tattling is when you tell an adult about a small problem that you can solve on your own with a Kelso’s choice. Reporting is when you tell an adult about a big problem! Ask your child to tell you the difference between a big problem and a small problem.

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can count to 100 by ones and tens.
• I can count forward beginning with a given number within the known sequence (instead of starting at 1)
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.

Important Dates:

• Wednesday, January 25^th – Dress Uniform, Primary Mass, 9am. Join us if you can!
• Friday, January 27^th – Field Trip to Seattle Prep! 
• January 29^th – February 4^h – Catholic Schools Week. Please see school website for more details on this week!
• Wednesday, February 8^th – Dress Uniform, Primary Mass, 9am. Join us if you can!
• Friday, February 10^th – No School, Teacher In-Service
• Tuesday, February 14^th– Valentine’s Day Celebration!
  • Your child may bring in one Valentine for each student in our class (26 students). No names, please!
• Wednesday February 15^th – Dress Uniform, St. Valentine Day Mass
• Friday February 17^th – Noon Dismissal – Winter Holiday
• Monday February 20^th – Tuesday February 21^st – No School, Winter Holiday
• Wednesday, February 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Ash Wednesday Mass

January 13, 2023 Class News

We had a nice week together in kindergarten, reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr. and his teachings.

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: by and words. Next week we will learn not and what. 

Phonics: Our phonics focus this week was word families –ad and –an. Students cut out their sort cards (that now have pictures and words), played word family memory match, glued them onto their graphic organizer and lastly drew and spelled our own words that begin with –ad and –an. Can you brainstorm words at home that end in –ad and –an?  

Literacy Centers: Students were busy practicing their literacy skills during literacy centers this week. At the library center, students enjoyed reading picture books and used a special recording sheet to go for a sight word search. At the phonics center, students played ZINGO! A fun word building game where students used two letter tokens to create CVC words. In our reading groups, we are working on fluency and comprehension. We are asking questions while we read stories. Do we have a home/story connection? Can we retell the beginning, middle, and end? What sight words can we spot? We continue to sound out words slowly like to hear every letter in the word.

Writer’s Workshop: This week we read one of my favorite winter books, “Snowmen at Night” and wrote our own version of what we would do if we were a snowman at night. We ripped up paper to create a mosaic snowman to go with our writing. Then, we read a different version, “Snowmen at Christmas” and used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two stories. 

We continue to focus on including 4 things in our sentences, using our “Fab 4 checklist.”

1. Capital letters at the beginning of a sentence.

2. Spaces between words.

3. Period at the end of a sentence.

4. Mostly lowercase letters.

Math: We continue to explore taking apart and putting together (composing and decomposing) numbers 0-20 with the use of many types of math tools – dominos, dice, white boards, bingo markers, and more!

Social Studies: We read books about Martin Luther King Jr. and took time to notice and celebrate the differences in our own classroom! In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., we created a dove “peace” necklace! We also listened to Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech where he shares the dream that “my four children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We then discussed what he meant by those words. Ask your child if they can explain the meaning to you!

Kelso’s Choice: Ms. Shaw, our school counselor, visited our classroom this week! She will be coming into our class this trimester to introduce the class to our conflict management skills curriculum, Kelso’s Choices. There are 9 different specific strategies for children to use to solve small problems on their own. The choices are wonderful because it empowers our students to solve problems at recess, in the classroom, at home, everywhere! It might be helpful for you to familiarize yourself with the choices and reinforce them at home – the “wheel of choices” are below. They can also be found in the “helpful handouts” page. We are excited to learn about Kelso’ Choices this trimester!

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can count to 100 by ones and tens.
• I can count forward beginning with a given number within the known sequence (instead of starting at 1)
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.

Important Dates:

• Monday, January 16^th – No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Friday, January 27^th – Field Trip to Seattle Prep! 
• January 29^th – February 4^h – Catholic Schools Week. Please see school website for more details on this week!
• Friday, February 10^th – No School, Teacher In-Service
• Tuesday, February 14^th– Valentine’s Day Celebration! (Your child may bring in one Valentine for each student in our class ((26 students)). No names, please!)
• Wednesday February 15^th – Dress Uniform, St. Valentine Day Mass
• Friday February 17^th – Noon Dismissal – Winter Holiday
• Monday February 20^th – Tuesday February 21^st – No School, Winter Holiday
• Wednesday, February 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Ash Wednesday Mass

January 6, 2023 Class News

We are so happy to be back together in kindergarten! The kids were excited to write about their adventures over Christmas break and be back with their friends!

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: one and had. Next week we will learn by and words.

Phonics: Our phonics focus this week was the word family –at. Word families are new starting this week – words that end the same are in the same word family (for example cat, bat, mat). The kids observed right away words within a word family all rhyme! Students cut out their sort cards (that now have pictures and words), played word family memory match, glued them onto their graphic organizer and lastly spelled our own words that begin with –at. Can you brainstorm words at home that end in –at?  

Literacy Centers: This week we continued with sight words, iPads, phonics games, independent reading, and reading groups. In our guided reading groups, we are working on decoding words. We continue to practice making observations and predictions about what our story may be about before reading it, along with answering questions throughout the story to check for reading comprehension. We also discovered that there are often sight words within other words! Using sight words to “chunk” bigger words can help us decode words, too! At the phonics center, students used stamps with pictures and beginning missing letters. Once they stamped their stamp onto their recording sheet, they had to write the missing letter to complete the word on the stamp! Students continue to read stories and write sentences with sight words at the sight word center, and read along with stories at the iPad center.

Writer’s Workshop: This week we wrote about what we did over our winter break! We introduced what we call our writers checklist – a checklist of things we must have to make a complete sentence. We discussed that even professional authors used checklists to write some of our favorite books! 

This checklist helps us focus on 4 things when writing:

1. Capital letters at the beginning of a sentence.

2. Spaces between words.

3. Punctuation at the end of a sentence.

4. Mostly lowercase letters.

We will continue to master these writing requirements throughout kindergarten. 

In honor of our new year, students learned what a resolution is – a goal you set to help yourself or others be better. Students came up with their own goals for 2023 and wrote them using complete sentences. One student’s goal was to become a better reader; another’s was to make more friends. We also created a self-portrait to go with our new year’s resolutions! 

Math: We finished up Chapter 3 this week and began a new Common Core Standard – composing and decomposing numbers 1-10 (breaking down numbers into their sub-parts, for example we can break apart 4 into 2 and 2, 3 and 1, 4 and 0). We explored this concept by using a number of bear manipulatives and breaking them apart in two groups in a variety of ways. We also explored this concept by using two different colored counters to show numbers on a tens frame. This skill helps lay a foundation for algebraic and operational thinking.

Social Studies: In preparation of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr., we read biographies and talked about his dreams he had for all people. We talked about the incredible work he did to make our world more fair for all people, of all colors. We brainstormed ways we can continue his work in our school, community, and out in the world, like playing and including others that may look different from us, and using our voices to stand up for those that may not be heard. Students then brainstormed dreams they had for their family and the world! Ask your child what their dream is! 

Second Step: We completed Unit 3 in Second Step which focused on empathy and kindness. We continue to practice ways that we can be kind at school, like offering a hug when someone looks sad, or offering our help to someone that may be upset.

We will be pausing Second Step lessons this trimester as our school counselor, Ms. Shaw, will be joining our classroom beginning next week to teach problem solving lessons!

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can count to 100 by ones and tens.
• I can count forward beginning with a given number within the known sequence (instead of starting at 1)
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.

Important Dates:

• Monday, January 16^th – No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Wednesday, January 25^th – Dress Uniform, Primary Mass, 9am. Join us if you can!
• Friday, January 27^th – Field Trip to Seattle Prep! More information to come.
• January 29^th – February 4^h – Catholic Schools Week. Please see school website for more details on this week!
• Wednesday, February 8^th – Dress Uniform, Primary Mass, 9am. Join us if you can!
• Friday, February 10^th – No School, Teacher In-Service
• Wednesday February 15^th – Dress Uniform, St. Valentine Day Mass
• Friday February 17^th – Noon Dismissal – Winter Holiday
• Monday February 20^th – Tuesday February 21^st – No School, Winter Holiday
• Wednesday, February 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Ash Wednesday Mass

December 9, 2022 Class News

We had a super fun and spirited week in kindergarten as we prepared our hearts for Christmas.

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: this and have. Next week will be from and or. 

Phonics: During our Words Their Way phonics lesson this week we learned the letters /y/ /v/ and /z/.  We cut our “sort” cards, sorted them by beginning sounds, glued them on a graphic organizer and lastly drew and spelled our own words that begin with y, v and z. 

Literacy centers: We continued with our reading groups, sight word center, independent library center, and iPad center. At the phonics center, students used letter beads and CVC word cards to build words! In our reading groups, we are working on fluency and comprehension. We are asking questions while we read stories. Do we have a home/story connection? Can we retell the beginning, middle, and end? What sight words can we spot? We continue to sound out words in order to hear every letter in the word.

Writer’s Workshop/Social Studies: To assist in the understanding of the Advent season, this week we spent time discussing the difference between a need and a want. We defined a need as something we have to have in order to live. Some needs we came up with are – water, healthy food, clothes to keep us warm, and shelter. Some wants we came up with are – phones, iPads, video games, toys and junk food. Students cut and sorted different pictures into a “want” or a “need.” You can keep this conversation going at home by donating things you no longer need to others during the Advent season, or maybe as a point of prayer to thank God that we have all that we need.

We also learned and discussed what an acrostic poem is. Students brainstormed words, transferring their knowledge about what Christmas is all about, and filled out an acrostic poem of ‘Christmas.’ We came up with so many words-ask your child what some of them were! Try writing your own acrostic winter poem at home!

Math: We continue to work on Chapter 3, showing numbers beyond 10. We are practicing writing teen numbers and identifying numbers 1-100 on a hundred chart! 

We also created math sequencing trees! Students received 7 strips of paper and had to figure out how to create a Christmas tree out of the strips! 

Religion: We continue to prepare our hearts for Jesus. Monday morning, we watched as the second candle was lit in the church to celebrate the second week of Advent. We added ornaments to our Jesse tree each morning – each ornament symbolizes something different about the Advent season. One symbol we added this week was the sun. Just as the sun gives light and warmth to our planet, Jesus lights our way and warms our lives with his love. Ask your child if they can remember an ornament that we added this week! We are working on identifying and sharing connections we make in class to our Advent tree. 

Second Step: Last week, we learned that kindness is a way to show people that they care and that doing kind acts can make both the giver and the receiver feel good. We shared personal examples and discussed how we felt when we gave or received kind acts.

This week, we practiced two kind acts: asking, “Would you like to share?” and “Would you like a hug?”. We learned that not everyone will accept the offer of a hug, and instead can brainstorm other ways to help others.

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can count to 100 by ones and tens.
• I can count forward beginning with a given number within the known sequence (instead of starting at 1)
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.

Important Dates:

• Thursday, December 15^th – Primary Christmas Program 6:15pm, Location TBD
• Friday, December 16^th – Noon Dismissal, Christmas Break
• Tuesday, January 3^rd – Classes Resume
• Friday, January 6^th – Dress Uniform, All School Mass
• Monday, January 16^th – No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

December 2, 2022 Class News

We had another fantastic week together in kindergarten. We are getting ready for Advent and thanking God for all we have! Your children are progressing tremendously in so many ways. They are growing into confident learners!

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: at and be. Next week will be this and have.

Phonics: During our Words Their Way phonics lesson this week we reviewed the letters /l/ /k/ /j/ and /w/.  We cut our “sort” cards, sorted them by beginning sounds, glued them on a graphic organizer and lastly drew and spelled our own words that begin with l, k, j, and w. 

Literacy centers: We continued with our reading groups, sight word center, independent library center, and iPad center. At the phonics center, students created sight words using alphabet apple cards and put them onto a sight word basket to create the word. In reading groups, we played ‘roll-a-word’ where students rolled two dice to create a CVC word. They then read it and determined if it was a ‘real’ or ‘nonsense’ word and recorded it accordingly. We also continue to work in our Explode the Code books which help students with handwriting, letter sounds, CVC words, and more! 

Writer’s Workshop/Social Studies: We learned all about elves this week! We brainstormed ‘adjectives’ – words that describe elves. A few we came up with are: happy, sneaky, and small! We used a writer’s workshop skill to label the parts of an elf, and noticed patterns and trends of clothing we often see Elves wearing – hats, belts and pointy shoes. We exercised our creative writing skills this week by writing two different stories – pretending an elf came and visited us, and what we would do if we were an elf! One person wrote they would feed the reindeer, and someone else wrote they would help make the toys! On Friday, we had fun making our own sneaky, helpful and adorable elves to display in our classroom! 

Math: We continue our investigation of the 100s chart! We are practicing to become 100 chart experts. We are learning to count and recognize numbers to 50. We also learned a new game called, Race to 120. I sent home a copy in their Friday folders, they can teach you how to play! All you need is a dice and two kinds of player pieces.

Science/STEM: This week we were able to explore and experiment in our school’s Maker Space! Students created “snowball launchers” made out of cups, balloons, and cotton balls. Students then answered the question, what makes this snowball fly? Was it the balloon, the cup, air, force?  Thank you to Mrs. O’Campo for leading such a fun S.T.E.M. project!

Religion: This week we learned who the Holy family is – Mary is the Mother of Jesus, Jesus is the Son of God and Joseph cared for Mary and Jesus. We read the story of the birth of Jesus. Each day, as a part of our Advent prayer, we learn a new symbol of Advent. We then add that symbol as an ornament to our Advent trees. Some of the symbols we have learned about so far are – sun, dove, cross, garden and the evergreen tree. Ask your child if they can remember what any of these symbols mean. We continue to practice the Sign of the Cross and our daily prayers. 

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can count to 100 by ones and tens.
• I can count forward beginning with a given number within the known sequence (instead of starting at 1)
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.

Important Dates:

• Thursday, December 8^th – Dress Uniform, All School Mass
• Friday, December 9^th – Field trip to the Children’s Museum! Please do not order hot lunch for this day. Please return your child’s permission slip if you have not done so already!
• Thursday, December 15^th – Primary Christmas Program 6pm, Egan Hall
• Friday, December 16^th – Noon Dismissal, Christmas Break
• Tuesday, January 3^rd – Classes Resume

November 18, 2022 Class News

We had another wonderful week in Kindergarten! We have been working hard, having fun and learning new things!

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: they and I. Next week, due to the short week, we will not be introducing any new sight words. We will of course keep reviewing the ones we have learned! The students continue to use their sense of sight and hearing to spot sight words everywhere!

Phonics: During our Words Their Way phonics lesson this week we learned the letters /j/ /w/ and /q/.  We cut our “sort” cards, sorted them by beginning sounds, glued them on a graphic organizer and lastly drew and spelled our own words that begin with j, w, and q. 

Literacy centers: We continued reading groups, sight word center, phonics center, independent library center, and iPad center. At the library center, students enjoyed a variety of picture pictures. At the phonics center, students wrote the room, finding various Thanksgiving themed picture cards. Once they found a card, they recorded it on their recording sheet! In reading groups, we continue to work on letter sounds, sounding out CVC words, and reading our blue decodable books! 

Writers Workshop: In celebration of the upcoming holiday, we discussed what it means to be thankful for something – to feel happy and pleased that you have something or someone in your life. We first brainstormed as a class about things we are thankful for (mom, dad, the Earth, life, sunshine, teachers, and Jesus!). Then, we then took those ideas and wrote them on a graphic organizer. In order to spell words, students are working on sounding out their words in order to hear every sound in the word so they know what letters to write down. We wrote a sentence about what we were thankful for, including our ideas from our graphic organizer! Some students challenged themselves by using the word and or because! We continue to work on keeping finger spaces between words, writing lowercase letters, and putting a period at the end of a sentence. 

Math: Our essential question for chapter 3 is “How can I show numbers beyond 10 (10-20)?” We are showing numbers 10-20 on tens frames to help us grow our number sense and understand the place value of teen numbers (group of ten and how many more?). Students are learning to explain how they can count a number…can you count by 5’s to get to the number? Can you count on from 10?

Students created “decomposing turkeys” where they chose two numbers to create a larger number! They used feathers and numbers to show their thinking.

Social Studies: We read a mini-book about Veteran’s Day and drew a picture of why we are thankful to be free – to go to school, to vote, to have food, etc. 

Second Step: This week we learned about the feeling, calm. We learned that we can feel strong feelings like happy, sad, and mad. Sometimes a strong feeling can take over our attentions and actions. In order to help our strong feelings, we can do things like take a slow, deep breath and ask a grown up for help!

Religion: This week we are practicing prayer and expressing gratitude by taking a few seconds at the end of every day to thank God for 2 things. It is wonderful to hear the things the students are thankful for each day. Sometimes I hear things as simple as “Thank you God for the yellow ball at recess today.” We will continue to practice the act of thanking God for all of our blessings, big and small. 

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can count to 100 by ones and tens.
• I can count forward beginning with a given number within the known sequence (instead of starting at 1)
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.

Important Dates:

• Monday, November 21^st – Dress Uniform, Thanksgiving Mass, 9am
• Tuesday, November 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Grand Day for 3^rd-5^th Grade
• Wednesday November 23^rd-Friday, November 25^th – No School, Thanksgiving Holiday
• Wednesday, November 30^th – Dress Uniform, Primary Mass, 9am – Join us if you can!
• Thursday, December 8^th – Dress Uniform, All School Mass
• Friday, December 9^th – Field trip to the Children’s Museum! Please do not order hot lunch for this day. More information to come!
• Thursday, December 15th – Primary Christmas Concert, Egan Hall, 6:15pm
• Friday, December 16^th – Noon Dismissal, Christmas Break
• Tuesday, January 3^rd – Classes Resume

November 4, 2022 Class News

We had a fun week filled with celebrating Halloween, All Saints Day mass, and creating turkeys! I am looking forward to conferencing and sharing your child’s successes with you next week. I treasure being able to partner with such wonderful families. Your children are excited, kind and happy learners!

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: with and his. 

Phonics: Our Words Their Way phonics lesson this week was /l/ and /k/. We cut our “sort” cards, sorted them by beginning sounds, glued them on a graphic organizer and lastly drew and spelled our own words that begin with l and k. We love to come up with new words that begin with our letters of the week!

Literacy centers: This week we continued reading groups, sight word center, independent library center, iPad center, and the phonics center. In the library center, students read a story, wrote the title, and drew their favorite part of the story! At the phonics center, students used Thanksgiving cards to put them in order to make Thanksgiving sentences! In reading groups, we continue to to observe picture clues and word clues to make predictions about what the story will be about. We are stretching out words slowly to hear every letter in the word. We continue to practice reading CVC words and sight words in our reading group books. Thank you for all our parent volunteers who have been able to sign up!

Writers Workshop: This week, we read the book “Arthur Writes a Story” and continued to write our own stories in our writing journals! In order to spell words, students are working on “best guess spelling” in order to hear every sound in the word so they know what letters to write down. At home, when your kids ask you how to spell something, remind them to do their “best guess spelling” and put down all the sounds they hear. We are working on using capital letters to start a sentence, finger spaces between words, writing mostly lowercase letters, and punctuation at the end of a sentence!

Math: This week we learned what an ordinal number is (up to 5)! Ask your child about first, second, third, fourth, and fifth! We continue to work hard in our math journals and use manipulatives to explain our thinking!

Religion: The entire kindergarten and 7^th grade was able to attend the All Saints Day mass on Thursday! We loved participating in the liturgy. We are Christ-centered students! (SLE) 

Second Step: In this week’s lesson, we learned to use body language and context clues to figure out when someone feels mad. We practiced looking at a person’s face and body, as well as thinking about what’s going on in the situation to determine if or why they may be feeling mad.

Art: With Thanksgiving coming up, we began to focus on and discuss as a class things that we are thankful for. Students created turkeys with 6 feathers, on each feather, students wrote something they were thankful for! Students brainstormed things like family, friends, school and food. Ask your child what they wrote on their turkey and the things they are thankful for in their life! We will continue this discussion throughout the month of November and will continue to discuss and add things in our lives that we are thankful for!

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can count and divide words into syllables.
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can tell how the words and pictures go together in stories.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can help my class learn about a subject and then write about it.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.
• I can count up to 10 to tell how many things are in a group.
• I can understand that the last thing I count tells the number of things in a group.
• I can name the number for each thing in a group as I count them.

Important Dates:

• Wednesday, November 9^th – Parent-Teacher Conferences (Students do not attend)
• Thursday, November 10^th – Parent-Teacher Conferences (Students do not attend)
• Friday, November 11^th – No School, Veteran’s Day
• Monday, November 21^st – Dress Uniform, Thanksgiving Mass
• Tuesday, November 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Grandparents Day for 3^rd-5^th Grade
• Wednesday November 23^rd-Friday, November 25^th – No School, Thanksgiving Holiday
• Friday, December 9^th – Field trip to the Children’s Museum! Please do not order hot lunch for this day. More information to come!

October 28, 2022 Class News

We had a terrific week learning together in kindergarten! Your children are working hard and having fun! Take a peek at all we did this week:

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: are and as. Next week we will learn with and his. 

Phonics: During our Words Their Way phonics lesson this week we learned the letters /d/ and /f/.  We cut our “sort” cards, sorted them by beginning sounds, glued them on a graphic organizer and lastly drew and spelled our own words that begin with d and f. We are working on our “best guess” spelling, meaning they write whatever letters they hear! Take a look at your child’s spelling coming home in their Friday folder.

Literacy Centers: This week we continued reading groups, sight word center, independent library center, and iPad center. In our phonics group, students “wrote the room.” They carried clipboards as they wrote different Halloween words around the room. In reading groups, we continue by taking picture walks to make predictions about what the story will be about. We are also practicing reading and writing CVC words and sight words in our reading group books. 

Writers Workshop: On Wednesday, we spent time writing about what we were going to be for Halloween. Students were so excited to share about costumes and festivities! We continue to work on finger spaces, writing with lowercase letters, and using punctuation at the end of our sentence.

Math: Students were excited to practice estimating with candy corn! We had one large class jar that students had to look at and make an educated guess as to how many candy corn they thought were in the jar. We then used 120 charts to count how many there were. Ask your child if they remember how many there ended up being! We continue to focus on “one more” when counting numbers 1-10, and are continuing to practice using ten frames. We know that a full tens frame is 10, and half of a tens frame is 5. We know this without even having to count!

Science: We used our five senses to observe our class pumpkins. The class came up with terrific describing words using our five senses to guide our thinking. As scientists do, we had a fun pumpkin investigation lab, where we got to measure the parts of a pumpkin with unifix cubes, count the lines, and we even investigated whether our pumpkins float or sink in water! These investigations led to other questions and wonders so we got to experiment a bit further based on the kid’s own questions!

STEM: This week we challenged ourselves with our first STEM project! Students were given candy pumpkins and toothpicks and tried to make a haunted house. The goal was to have the house stand up and to fit a “ghost” inside. Ask your child if their haunted house was a success! 

Second Step: This week we continued our unit on Emotion Management and learned that sometimes we can feel sad. We know that everyone can feel sad sometimes, and we can tell when others may be feeling sad by looking at their face or their body. Students talked about times when they have felt sad, and what they can do to help themselves or others feel better! 

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.
• I can understand that the last thing I count tells the number of things in a group.
• I can name the number for each thing in a group as I count them.

Important Dates:

• Monday, October 31^st – Happy Halloween! Students may wear their Halloween Costume on this day! 
• Tuesday, November 1^st – Dress Uniform, All Saints Day Mass
• Wednesday, November 9^th – Parent-Teacher Conferences (Students do not attend)
• Thursday, November 10^th – Parent-Teacher Conferences (Students do not attend)
• Friday, November 11^th – No School, Veteran’s Day
• Monday, November 21^st – Dress Uniform, Thanksgiving Mass
• Tuesday, November 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Grandparents Day for 3^rd-5^th Grade
• Wednesday November 23^rd-Friday, November 25^th – No School, Thanksgiving Holiday
• Friday, December 9^th – Field trip to the Children’s Museum! Please do not order hot lunch for this day. More information to come!

October 21, 2022 Class News

We had another great week together in kindergarten! We were busy learning the parts of a pumpkin, going on a leaf walk, and participating in the Great Shake Out! Check out what else we’ve been up to!

Sight Words: Our two sight words this week: on and for. Next week we will learn as and are.

Phonics: During our Words Their Way phonics lesson this week we learned all about the letters /c/ and /h/. We cut our “sort” cards, sorted them by beginning sounds /c/ and /h/, glued them on a graphic organizer and lastly drew and spelled our own words that begin with c and h. Some words they came up with were ‘Halloween, haunted house, candy, and cat.’ 

Next week will be beginning sounds /f/ and /d/.

Literacy Centers: This week we continued reading groups, sight word center, independent library center, and iPad center. At our phonics center, students used magnetic letters to letter match! They placed the magnetic letter that matched the first letter in a picture. For example, students put the letter ‘a’ over the picture of the apple. In reading groups, we continue to take picture walks before we begin reading to make predictions about what our story may be about. We are also practicing reading and writing CVC words and sight words in our reading group books. Thank you to Ms. Julia, Ms. Emily, and Mr. Noah for volunteering during centers this week! We are so excited to welcome parent volunteers into our classroom and appreciate all the help!

Writers Workshop: During writer’s workshop, we compared and contrasted a pumpkin and an apple using a Venn diagram! We used pictures and words to see how they are the same and how they are different! See if your child remembers what the similarities and differences are. We also reviewed the lifecycle of a pumpkin by completing a second pumpkin life cycle! Ask your child if they remember the lifecycle of a pumpkin!

Math: In math groups, we practiced “shake and spill” where students decomposed 5 or 10 on a tens frame. We filled a cup with 10 two-sided math tokens (one side yellow, other red), shook the cup and spilled them. Then, we moved the tokens to show the number on a tens frame. Lastly, we wrote the number of yellow and red tokens to 10! We also practiced showing numbers 1-10 with tally marks, dots, words, tens frames and numeral. We created a pumpkin patch book by matching various forms of numbers on pumpkins to the matching numeral pumpkin patch. Check out your child’s pumpkin patch book in their Friday folders!

Religion: This week we learned what a safe touch is. A safe touch is a high five, a hug from your guardian, or holding hands with grandma! We continue to be Christ-centered people who pray with intention and reverence (SLE) by mastering our prayers – Guardian Angel and Prayer Before Meals. We also start each morning by praying The Our Father. Ask your child to show you this prayer at home! 

Art: In honor of Halloween, we created “mosaic candy corns!” Students riped white, orange and yellow paper to create their own unique mosaic!

Common Core Standards we’re working on:

• I can read common sight words.
• I can read emergent level text with purpose and understanding.
• With prompting and support, I can ask and answer questions about key details in text.
• I can spell simple words phonetically.
• I can read CVC words. 
• I can speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. 
• I can read the words in a book in the right order.
• I can say the most common sound for each consonant in the alphabet.
• I can draw or write to help me share what I think.
• I can print lots of upper and lowercase letters.
• I can write numbers from 0-20.
• I can understand that the last thing I count tells the number of things in a group.
• I can name the number for each thing in a group as I count them.

Important Dates:

• Monday, October 31^st – Happy Halloween! Students may wear their Halloween Costume on this day! 
• Tuesday, November 1^st – Dress Uniform, All Saints Day Mass
• Wednesday, November 9^th – Parent-Teacher Conferences (Students do not attend)
• Thursday, November 10^th – Parent-Teacher Conferences (Students do not attend)
• Friday, November 11^th – No School, Veteran’s Day
• Monday, November 21^st – Dress Uniform, Thanksgiving Mass
• Tuesday, November 22^nd – Dress Uniform, Grandparents Day for 3^rd-5^th Grade
• Wednesday November 23^rd-Friday, November 25^th – No School, Thanksgiving Holiday
• Friday, December 9^th – Field trip to the Children’s Theatre! Please do not order hot lunch for this day. More information to come!