Kid, you'll move mountains.
~Dr. Seuss
8/25/2019 0 Comments ROAR!!! Are you ready for the first FULL week of kindergarten? After the heat this weekend and the fun that's ahead, be sure to drink lots of water, put kids to bed on time, and be patient as we all adjust to the new routines. This week we are going to use the theme of dinosaurs to learn about our school mascot the zephyrosaurus, ROAR, math and reading foundations. ROAR stands for respectful, organized, attentive, and responsible. We will learn what that means in the classroom, hallways, lunchroom, specials, and recess. Learning what to do and what not to do means pushing limits, making mistakes and taking risks. It is ok to make mistakes. Actually, it is more than ok. It is important and a good thing, and we will talk about that quite a bit in our classroom. I will refer to this throughout the year as a "growth mindset." As I get to know your students, we will explore what we know know in math through number sense, shapes, colors and sorting. Those simple concepts set a foundation for learning and becoming mathematicians. One of the foundations for literacy is learning to hear and isolate sounds. We will also learn about holding a pencil correctly and how to sit "like a writer." We will listen for the first sounds in words and even start identifying sight words. Sight words are words we know just by looking not sounding them out. PLEASE don't start quizzing and using flashcards. We sing, dance and play with words and letters long before we memorize. Really, it is just an exciting year and time of development for your child! The kids' sweet little brains are growing by leaps and bounds which means.... THEY WILL BE TIRED! Please be mindful of bedtimes, healthy meals and rest. Trust me! I thank you in advance. Have a great week filled with fun, laughter and DINOSAURS!
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8/18/2019 0 Comments Ready or not!Can you believe your child is ready to head to Kindergarten? What an exciting and sometimes scary new adventure! I can assure you that your child is going to have fun, make new friends, and be exhausted after exploring the new world of Zach Elementary.
Here are some logistics to get you started. Open House is Monday from 3:30 to 4:30. This is optional for Kindergarten students because it can feel overwhelming. Parents and students K-5 are all there, so it is crowded and hot. I will leave this one up to you to decide. Back to school night is Monday from 5:30-6:30. We ask that kids stay home for this because it is an informational meeting for parents. I will go over the first week, drop-off and pick-up procedures, classroom routines, and some information about me. Please try to come to back to school night! If you can't come, be sure to read through the paperwork I send home carefully to catch-up. Supplies: Please do not label supplies. We will share everything besides headphones and the binder. You can bring supplies on Tuesday or at back to school night. Please do not bring them to open house. This is different from other grade levels. I just cannot get things organized and put away between open house and back to school night if everyone brings supplies. After sifting through the construction dust and sitting through beginning of the year meetings, I am so ready to meet your child and start the year! There are so many wonderful adventures to come... 4/3/2019 0 Comments Spring Conferences and TopicsThis week and next week, we will be exploring South America and the Amazon Rainforest! We study this continent for two weeks as we introduce our science theme of "Taking Care of our Earth." After we learn about the amazing birds, mammals, insects, and other creatures that live there, we will talk about how humans can sometimes put those animals at risk.
Did you see the homework in the folders? This assignment does take some time, so please do not leave it until the last minute. Also, please try to keep zealous children from completing assignment too quickly. It is meant to be done neatly and accurately over several days, so it is not due until April 15th. Friendships are an important part of school. In writing, we are going to begin creating a book about good friends in kindergarten. When the books come home, plan some play dates and adventures with their buddies! Hopefully, you can use some of these names for summer play dates as well! In math, we are looking for clues in word problems that tell us whether to add or subtract. We are using visualizing to picture the problem to decide which operation makes sense as well. Developing fluency in addition and subtraction is important, but the conceptual understanding will have a bigger impact in future grades. PTO is a great way to get involved and give back to the Zach community. Plus, I hear they have lots of fun! They are looking to fill a few positions. Let me know if you are interested. Conferences: Spring conferences are not mandatory but are available if you are interested in meeting with me. If you are interested in having a conference scheduled, please email me and we will figure out the best time for both of us to meet. Please know that these conferences are for the purpose of discussing your child's academics or questions you may have for me about your child. These conferences are not for discussing class placement for next year. “When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.” - Ellen DeGeneres 3/11/2019 0 Comments Trimester 2 Round-upIn like a lion and out like a lamb… that saying has certainly been true this March! Check out the art that the students made to celebrate this crazy weather. Report cards are coming home this week. It is important to remember that kindergarten report cards are different than all other grade levels. Our report cards are standards based. The score indicates how your child is progressing toward the end of the year benchmark. Earning a 4 is advanced, so please do not expect 4’s in all areas because that is not always possible. For example, there are only 26 letters, so it is impossible to earn a 4. You cannot learn more than 26 letters; you can only earn a 3. A score of a 3 means that your child has reached the kindergarten, end of year benchmark. Reason to celebrate!!!
Spring conferences are in April, but if you would like to meet with me sooner, please send me an email. Remember that conferences are to discuss your child's progress, not class placement. If you would like to give me input on class placement, please fill out the form from the office by March 14. Enjoy your spring break. Spend lots of family time. Play outside. Cuddle up and do some reading. The year comes quickly. Be sure to treasure these moments with your kiddo. They are growing up before our eyes! 2/24/2019 0 Comments Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Saturday is Read Across America Day, but I just can't limit the fun to one day. We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss and our growing readers all week! I was only gone three days, but when I came back, I was amazed at the progress our students are making. Ms. Munio told me about the work that the kids were doing while I was away. I am so proud! We also retested all the student’s reading levels; many students moved up. Like I said, we need to celebrate all week! Dr. Seuss was truly a master of literacy for young readers. Have you noticed all the rhymes in his books? While they are tongue twisters for us, rhymes help children to hear sounds and identify phonemic relationships. His short phrases and repetitive patterns help young readers decode and master fluency. Looking for a challenge? Try to sound out one of his nonsense words! Now that is true phonemic awareness! Watch for your kids exploring these skills as they develop as readers for the rest of the year. In math, we have been working on subtraction. While many students have been exposed to this skill, the challenge is to explain thinking, use multiple strategies, and identify clue words. This will be required in our math curriculum throughout their mathematical careers at Zach. In writing, the students are nearing the completion of our non-fiction stories. This is referred to as "small moment" stories in upper grades. It is a challenge to stretch our stories to include a beginning, middle and end. The kids are also trying to include spaces, punctuation, and vowels in every word. Writing is really a very complex task for young minds. Have fun this week learning and reading with your children. How lucky we are to open the world to them through books! “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.” ~Dr. Seuss 2/15/2019 0 Comments President's Day!I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and had fun times with family and friends. Remember, there is no school Monday, February 18. I will be attending a conference in Arizona on Professional Learning Communities Tuesday-Thursday. I am excited to learn and grow as an educator, but it is always hard to be out of the classroom. We have a great substitute and Ms. Munio to run the class. Please call the room or send a note with schedule changes. Do not email.
Thank you for working with your child on memorizing sight words. They are progressing quickly, but remember, quality is better than quantity. It is ok to slow down and make sure that your child has truly mastered the word by memorizing, not sounding out, the words. If you see the list coming home after you think that they can pass, it is probably because he or she is still sounding the words out. In math, we are rocking and rolling with addition and subtraction! The students are learning to justify thinking and show understanding using manipulatives. These skills will help build a solid foundation for mathematic careers. Wow, that's exciting news! You can reinforce all of this at home by making math a part of everyday life. Verbalize how you use math at the grocery store, cooking, at work, driving or telling time. We have reduced the amount of homework that we send home this year. PLEASE remember that instead of worksheets, students need to be working on Reading Eggs and Math-Seeds. These are fantastic programs. Students who have consistently used the programs make tremendous growth! Thank you for supporting your child at home. If you feel like the level is too low, please let me know and I can reset the placement test. 2/6/2019 0 Comments What's Happening in February?Thank you all who helped prepare for and celebrate the 100th day of Kindergarten. We had a blast, and many kids are still recovering from the change in schedule and over stimulation. With all this snow on top of that, we are just out of whack! Bedtimes, extra love, and routines will help kids readjust.
Be sure to start working little by little on your Valentine cards. Your child should be doing his or her neatest writing. If you wait until the last minute, there may be a melt down! You can begin sending them to school any time. However, please send in book buddy Valentines as soon as possible. We will create bags at school to collect the Valentine cards, so there is no need to make anything at home besides the cards. Are you working on Schools on the Move? We are encouraging healthy snacks at school, especially fruits and vegetables. They count towards the 5! Today was workout Wednesday. We got in our 60 minutes today during brain breaks and indoor recesses! After having fun with Groundhogs day, 100’s day, 101 day, and Valentine’s day, we will settled back into our Core Knowledge curriculum and learn about Presidents including Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and many more. Math has kept us busy learning addition strategies. We will move on to subtraction next week. Our “How to” books are almost done, so we will begin our true story writing next week as well. Want to join in on the fun? Head to the “Links” page and sign-up for workstations, Friday Folders, and copy crew. We would love to have you! 1/22/2019 0 Comments Australia and How-to WritingThis week we are going “down under” as we learn about Australia. If you have any souvenirs or artifacts that are not fragile, we would love for your child to share them in class. Send them in!
In writing this week we are starting out unit on “How To” books. If you have had a second grader, you know that this is a genre in writing that the students will revisit. In kindergarten, we do not do the big presentation that second grade does. However, your child has the assignment of thinking, just brainstorming, of a simple task that they can teach a peer how to do. We talked about “How to Build a House” is too complicated. However, "How to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich" is perfect. Most students want to write “How to Draw an Emoji.” Please try to encourage something different, but at the end of the day, they can write anything they would like. We have had an illness (or two) going around the classroom since Christmas. Please remember to keep your child home for 24 hours when they have a fever, contagious infection, throw-up or diarrhea. Here is the district policy: https://zac.psdschools.org/webfm/1204 Lots of great ROAR behavior in our classs! We filled the jewel jar and students voted to celebrate with a fort day. Students may bring a blanket or sheet and stuffed animal to school on Friday to celebrate. 1/14/2019 0 Comments Asia and counting on our fingers!This week we will study the largest continent, Asia!. I invited the students to share our continent units at home, and many students mentioned that they have family members that have traveled to China, Japan, India, and/or Korea. If you have any souvenirs to share from Asia that your child can share safely (nothing expensive or very special) please send it in. Genuine artifacts help our studies come alive! Also, if you would be comfortable coming in to share and explain anything about places you are from or have visited we would love to hear from you! The kids are all doing very well with their new reading levels, but the increased difficulty can sometimes cause frustration. To help your child, please have them do a picture walk before reading. This will help with predictions, decoding, and comprehension. Fluency increases the more practice your child gets. It is OK to read the same book to a few different people. It is fun to read when it gets easier and easier every time! Sometimes, your child has memorized the book. That is ok. However, please be sure your child is pointing to the words he or she is reading! Thank you for your support teaching your child to read! Don’t forget to sign-up to volunteer for workstations. I love when students can read with an adult every day, practice sight words, and get help with writing. Just click the link below. In math, we are working on addition. I encourage the student to use and count on fingers as a powerful strategy. If you have time, watch this whole video on a new way of thinking about math. To see the part on finger counting, skip ahead to 7:24! 1/6/2019 0 Comments Welcome Back!Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope everyone had a fun break filled with family time and laughter. It is always a bit tough to get back in the swing of school. Sticking to routines (bed time, homework, reading time, etc) will help your child readjust this week.
We will be welcoming Ms. Maddie Munio, from CSU, as a student teacher in our class this week. She met the class before winter break and is very excited to be at Zach and in our Kindergarten classroom. This will be a wonderful opportunity for her to learn, but it will also provide an opportunity for more team-teaching and small ratio instruction. That means more instructional attention for the kinders! That is great news because January is an exciting time in Kindergarten. Maybe the students feel energized after the break or maybe they are just developmentally ready, but I see many students really take off this time of year. Let’s capitalize on that!
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Specials ScheduleMonday: Media
Tuesday: Technology Wednesday: PE Thursday: Music Friday: Art Sight Wordsred, the, like, can, orange yellow, a, I, green, blue, purple, black, we, see, pink, white, gray
Important DatesDecember Archives
February 2020
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