Weekly News: November 3-8

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween together. Check out our pictures on ParentSquare. 

There is no school on Monday, November 11th due to Veteran's Day and no school for students on Monday, November 18th due to parent conferences. 

The APEX Fun Run is Thursday! Whether you have received pledges or not, every child will participate in the run. Your child will be getting a special APEX t-shirt to wear over their clothes on this day. Please send your child to school in appropriate clothing and running shoes on this day.  Thank you!! You are more than welcome to come and cheer on our runners. More info coming your way via ParentSquare this week. 

Our kindergarten classes will be having a combined Thanksgiving Feast on Friday, November 22nd. We are looking forward to a great, big Thanksgiving celebration together!  We will be making many items for our feast in the classroom together! If you are able to donate items for our feast, we would really appreciate it - be on the look out for the ParentSquare sign up coming soon!  If you would like to come help set up and make this a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast for our kids, you are welcome to join us next Friday at 11:45 for set up.  The feast will begin at 12:15. We need need LOTS of help for set up and tear down! Thank you in advance!

Mark your calendars now!  We will be having our very own special kindergarten play, "The Tale of the Gingerbread Man" on the evening of Thursday, December 19th. MUCH MORE information to come, but I know December is a busy month and you do not want to miss this, so mark your calendars now! 

This week, I am sending home our holiday Scholastic Book Order. Scholastic books make great gifts for the holidays and they are super inexpensive. I want to give you a few weeks to shop but I also want to make sure you receive your books before Christmas, so orders will be due the Friday before Thanksgiving break, November 22nd. Have fun shopping! 

What Are We Learning This Week:

Sight Words: This week we are reviewing our tricky W words - WENT, WHEN, WHAT, WAS, WANT. Please continue to practice all sight words that we have learned in the first trimester, especially those your child has misread on their Friday Sight Word Tests.

Letter Team: GE/GI (the soft sound of G which sounds like J, like in GENTLE and GIANT).

Reading: We are starting our leveled reading groups this week. In these groups, students will be working with me on various reading strategies as we read A-Z leveled books. These books will be coming home in our book bags every day. We will also be reading a fun fluency page - this week, this is a short story titled Tom the Turkey. We will practice reading this all week to work on fluency and find text evidence to answer text related questions in the story. In class, we will also read many books turkeys and pilgrims and Indians, as we prepare for Thanksgiving. 

Writing: We have been working on using a Flow Map to put our narrative story in order.  A flow map is a series of boxes connected by arrows to represent the events in order.  We are learning to use the flow map to organize our ideas. For example:

From this flow map I might write the following narrative story:

Today I went to school.  I counted in math.  I played with my friends.  I read a story..

Some students are working on extending their sentences and their story may look like the following: This morning I was excited to go to my school Inland Leaders.  I worked on my math counting goal by counting to 100.  At recess I ate my apple snack and then played tag with Cathy and Sue.  At the end of the day I read my  fluency story in reading groups.

Math: We will work on fun Thanksgiving story problems and games this week. We will also have fun exploring 2D and 3D shapes. 

Leadership: For the month of November, our whole school will be focusing on the A of ROAR: Act Safely. We will talk about what that means and how we can act safely in the classroom, while walking, and at recess. 

Homework: November 4-8

Flashcards: Study flashcards for our review sight words (WENT, WHEN, WHAT, WAS, WANT,) Make Flashcards for the new letter teams (GE and GI).   Study flashcards every day. 

Phonemic Awareness: Keep working with your child on skills such as blending, segmenting, rhyming, syllables, and sound switch.  

Reading: In your book bag this week, you will find A-Z Leveled Books that we are starting to read in our reading groups. You may also find a fluency page - this is a short story titled Tom the Turkey. We will practice reading this all week to work on fluency and find text evidence to answer text related questions in the story.  You may also find a sight word fluency practice page. Please practice reading every item each evening for reading homework and please make sure everything comes back to school each day in your child’s book bag. Continue to read TO your child every night, having conversations about the stories you are reading. Continue to log onto Smarty Ants for 10-15 at least a few times a week. 

You can find the link for Smarty Ants on the right side tab of our website. Our class username is: JCBESS@INLANDLEADERS.COM and our password is: READ.

Writing: Practice writing CVC words. Practice writing sight words. Practice writing narrative stories, making sure you are using finger spaces, an uppercase only at the beginning, proper penmanship, and a period at the end.

Math: I hope you have had fun playing the Counting game that was sent home last week.  This a great game to practice important math skills. Continue to play Dreambox for 10-15 minutes each night. Continue to count to 30 (or 50 or 100!) every day, practice number flashcards out of order, practice writing your numbers to 20 or higher, practice identifying shapes and drawing shapes. Remember to also go over our "Daily Math" practice pages that we do every morning in class - take a moment to go over these practice pages to see if there is anything specific your child needs to work on. 

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Our school code for Dreambox is X2we/inlandlcs

QR Codes: Download and print those QR Codes each week from ParentSquare and have your child work on those at home!

Weekly News: October 28-November 1

We have been having fun learning all about pumpkins and on Thursday, we will celebrate Halloween with some fun pumpkin centers, crafts, games, and investigations. Part of these centers will include investigating pumpkins by measuring, scooping, and counting seeds. This can get REALLY MESSY - we know Halloween is PAJAMA DAY, but it would also be a good idea to send an old button up shirt, a "daddy shirt", or an apron for your child to wear over their pajamas on this day! We are excited for this fun activity!  

There is no school on Monday, November 11th due to Veteran's Day and no school for students on Monday, November 18th due to parent conferences. If you have not signed up for a parent conference yet, please check the ParentSquare sign up post to choose a time that is best for you. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you to discuss your child's growth in the classroom. Because we only have so much time per conference, I'd like to politely ask that you arrive on time so we can make the most of our time together. If possible, please make other arrangements for your children, as parent conferences are for parents and teachers only. Thank you!

What Are We Learning This Week:

Sight Words: IN, ON, SO, GO, DO. 

Letter Team: This week we are learning about Mr. ER's two crazy cousins....UR and IR (like in FUR, CURL and STIR, GIRL).

Word Family:  This week we will be making words with the word families -EN (HEN, MEN, TEN).  Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with the word families.

Reading: We will read many fun books about Halloween and continue to read non-fiction books as we learn about pumpkins. We will continue to read our paper books and books from our class library. Students will continue to work on flashcards, sounds, sight words, and books in their book bags - please remember to bring these every day! 

Writing: We have been learning how to write personal narrative stories - which is a story from our life. We are practicing using an uppercase at the beginning of a sentence, finger spaces after each word, and a period at the end.

Math: I will continue to assess each student on counting, numbers, and shapes. We will also play fun addition games. 

Leadership: For the month of October, our whole school will be focusing on the O of ROAR: Own Your Actions. We will talk about what that means and how we can own our actions at school. Our goal is to have students take ownership of their own behavior as we all strive to be leaders in our classroom and school.

Homework: October 28-November 1

lashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (IN, ON, SO, GO, DO), letter teams (UR and IR), and word family (EN - hen, men, ten, etc). Study these flashcards (and those from previous weeks) every day. WE WILL TEST ON ALL OF OUR SIGHT WORDS LEARNED SO FAR THIS WEEK! 

Phonemic Awareness: Keep working with your child on skills such as blending, segmenting, rhyming, syllables, and sound switch. This is our last week of the trimester and I have been assessing students on how much they've grown in each of these skills.  

Reading: Read books and review the sounds from your book bag! Book bags will come home every day and need to be returned every day. Inside of your child's book bag will be a book we are working on in class. This may be a paper book or it may be a book chosen from our classroom library. There may also be a page with letters and sounds that your child is still working on. Please have your child read these books (and pages) to you every day.  Continue to read the little paper books that come home to live in your book box at home. Continue to read TO your child every night, having conversations about the stories you are reading. Continue to log onto Smarty Ants for 10-15 at least a few times a week. 

You can find the link for Smarty Ants on the right side tab of our website. Our class username is: JCBESS@INLANDLEADERS.COM and our password is: READ.

Writing: Practice writing CVC words. Practice writing sight words. Have your child tell you one (or more) sentence(s) about their day and help them to write that in a complete sentence with finger spaces, an uppercase only at the beginning, proper penmanship, and a period at the end.

Math: Continue to play Dreambox for 10-15 minutes each night. Continue to count to 30 (or 50 or 100!) every day, practice number flashcards out of order, practice writing your numbers to 20 or higher, practice identifying shapes and drawing shapes. Remember to also go over our "Daily Math" practice pages that we do every morning in class - take a moment to go over these practice pages to see if there is anything specific your child needs to work on. 

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Our school code for Dreambox is X2we/inlandlcs

QR Codes: Download and print those QR Codes each week from ParentSquare and have your child work on those at home!

Weekly News: October 21-28

This week we will read and learn all about pumpkins. We will learn the life cycle of a pumpkin along with many other pumpkin facts. Next week, we will celebrate Halloween with some fun pumpkin centers, crafts, games, and investigations. Part of these centers will include investigating pumpkins by measuring, scooping, and counting seeds. This can get REALLY MESSY - we know Halloween is PAJAMA DAY, but it would also be a good idea to send an old button up shirt, a "daddy shirt", or an apron for your child to wear over their pajamas on this day! We are excited for this fun activity!  

Our first trimester Parent Conferences are quickly approaching (November 18-20). Please check the ParentSquare sign up post to choose a time that is best for you. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you to discuss your child's growth in the classroom. Because we only have so much time per conference, I'd like to politely ask that you arrive on time so we can make the most of our time together. If possible, please make other arrangements for your children, as parent conferences are for parents and teachers only. Thank you!

What Are We Learning This Week:

Sight Words: BOY, GIRL, HAS, NICE, WANT. 

Letter Team:  OY/OI (like in BOY, TOY/COIN).

Word Family:  This week we will be making words with the word families -OP (HOP, COP, SHOP) AND -OY (BOY, TOY, JOY).  Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with the word families.

Reading: We will read many books about pumpkins and fun stories about Halloween. We will practice all of our reading strategies learned so far. We will continue to read our paper books and books from our class library. Students will continue to work on flashcards, sounds, sight words, and books in their book bags - please remember to bring these every day! 

Writing: This week, we will write facts that we are learning about pumpkins. We will also continue to write personal narrative stories - we are learning to write stories from our lives in three sentences, adding details. 

Math: This week, I will assess each student on counting, numbers, number sense, and shapes. We will also play fun counting and addition games.  Students will continue to work hard on their math goals. 

Leadership: For the month of October, our whole school will be focusing on the O of ROAR: Own Your Actions. We will talk about what that means and how we can own our actions at school. Our goal is to have students take ownership of their own behavior as we all strive to be leaders in our classroom and school.  

Homework: October 21-25

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (BOY, GIRL, HAS, NICE, WANT), letter teams (OY and OI), and word family (OP - hop, cop, top, etc). Study these flashcards (and those from previous weeks) every day. WE WILL TEST ON ALL OF OUR SIGHT WORDS LEARNED SO FAR NEXT WEEK! 

Phonemic Awareness: Keep working with your child on skills such as blending, segmenting, rhyming, syllables, and sound switch. There are only two more weeks of our first trimester and I will be assessing students on how much they've grown in each of these skills.  

Reading: Read books and review the sounds from your book bag! Book bags will come home every day and need to be returned every day. Inside of your child's book bag will be a book we are working on in class. This may be a paper book or it may be a book chosen from our classroom library. There may also be a page with letters and sounds that your child is still working on. Please have your child read these books (and pages) to you every day.  Continue to read the little paper books that come home to live in your book box at home. Continue to read TO your child every night, having conversations about the stories you are reading. Continue to log onto Smarty Ants for 10-15 at least a few times a week. 

You can find the link for Smarty Ants on the right side tab of our website. Our class username is: JCBESS@INLANDLEADERS.COM and our password is: READ.

Writing: Practice writing CVC words - give your child a word like MAD, DOG, PET, MUD, DIP, etc. and have them sound out the words, writing each sound. We are practicing this in class and it will be an assessment next week. Practice writing sight words with correct letter formation. Have your child tell you one (or more) sentence(s) about their day and help them to write that in a complete sentence with finger spaces, an uppercase only at the beginning, proper penmanship, and a period at the end.

Math: Continue to play Dreambox for 10-15 minutes each night. Continue to count to 30 (or 50 or 100!) every day, practice number flashcards out of order, practice writing your numbers to 20 or higher, practice identifying shapes and drawing shapes. Remember to also go over our "Daily Math" practice pages that we do every morning in class - take a moment to go over these practice pages to see if there is anything specific your child needs to work on. 

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Our school code for Dreambox is X2we/inlandlcs and our class code is 83093.

QR Codes: Download and print those QR Codes each week from ParentSquare and have your child work on those at home!

Weekly News: October 14-18

This week we will read and learn all about spiders. We will explore non-fiction text and explore fact and opinion as we write facts we are learning about spiders. 

It is spirit week this week! Show your school spirit by dressing up fun each day! 

Monday: Movie Monday - dress as your favorite movie character! 

Tuesday: Career Day - dress as what you want to be when you grow up! 

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday - dress as crazy and wacky mis-matched as you can!

Thursday: Back to the Future - dress as the past or the future!

Friday: Pajama Day - wear your PJs to school! 

We are looking forward to celebrating fall and Halloween together with some fun activities coming up. On Thursday, October 31, we will be having some fun activities and centers AND we will be investigating pumpkins! Be on the look out for a ParentSquare post coming soon if you are able to volunteer or donate towards this fun day. Instead of Halloween costumes, we invite all students to wear their PJs on this day again! 

If you are at the store and think of us, we'd love: 

Baby Wipes 
Expo Markers 
Halloween stickers, trinkets, and prizes 
Treasure Box Prizes 

What Are We Learning This Week:

Sight Words: ARE, BIG, LITTLE, FOR, WAS.

Letter Team:  IGH (like in HIGH, BRIGHT, LIGHT, RIGHT) and AR (like in CAR, FAR, JAR).

Word Family:  -IG. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with  the word family -IG (for example: BIG, PIG, WIG, DIG). I am sending home a fun worksheet/activity that you can do at home this week!

Reading: We will read many fiction and non-fiction books about spiders and discuss facts and key details from the text. We will continue to read our paper books and books from our class library. Please remember to bring your book bag to school every day! Students keep flashcards, sounds, sight words, and books in their book bags to practice. Unfortunately, students who do not bring their book bag back to school cannot take a book home that day. Thank you for your help in reinforcing this responsibility. 

Writing: This week, we will write non-fiction stories about what we are learning about spiders. We will each work on our individual writing goals. 

Math: We will continue to subitize and write numbers. We will also explore number sentences. You can help at home by playing dice games - roll two dice and having your child tell you (and write!) the number sentence to match the dice (4+5=9). Students will continue to work hard on their number counting, writing, and ID goals. 

Leadership: For the month of October, our whole school will be focusing on the O of ROAR: Own Your Actions. We will talk about what that means and how we can own our actions at school. Our goal is to have students take ownership of their own behavior as we all strive to be leaders in our classroom and school.  

Homework: October 14-18

Flashcards:  Make flashcards for our new sight words (ARE, BIG, LITTLE, FOR, WAS), letter teams (AR and IGH), and word family (IG - big, pig, twig, etc.). Study flashcards every day.

Phonemic Awareness: Keep working with your child on skills such as blending, segmenting, rhyming, syllables, and sound switch.

Reading: Read books and review the sounds from your book bag! Book bags will come home every day and need to be returned every day. Inside of your child's book bag will be a book we are working on in class. This may be a paper book or it may be a book chosen from our classroom library. There may also be a page with letters and sounds that your child is still working on. Please have your child read these books (and pages) to you every day.  Continue to read the little paper books that come home to live in your book box at home. Continue to read TO your child every night, having conversations about the stories you are reading. Continue to log onto Smarty Ants for 10-15 at least a few times a week. 

You can find the link for Smarty Ants on the right side tab of our website. Our class username is: JCBESS@INLANDLEADERS.COM and our password is: READ.

Writing: Write every day in your at-home journal. One good idea is to pick a focus each day (Monday - write your sight words, Tuesday - write your ABCs, Wednesday - write a sentence or two or three!, Thursday - practice for your spelling test). All students should be at the point where we are attempting to write at least one sentence each day with a picture to match. 

Math: Continue to play Dreambox for 10-15 minutes each night. Continue to count to 30 (or 50 or 100!) every day, practice number flashcards out of order, practice writing your numbers to 20 or higher, practice identifying shapes and drawing shapes. Remember to also go over our "Daily Math" practice pages that we do every morning in class - take a moment to go over these practice pages to see if there is anything specific your child needs to work on. 

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Our school code for Dreambox is X2we/inlandlcs and our class code is 83093.

QR Codes: Download and print those QR Codes each week from ParentSquare and have your child work on those at home!

October 7-11

This week we will read and learn all about bats. We will explore non-fiction text and write facts that we are learning about bats. 

If you are interested in volunteering in the classroom, we are still looking for a few volunteers! We'd love a helper on Thursday morning from 8:15-9:45 and every other Thursday from 11:30-12:30. Please email me or see me if you would like to volunteer. 

What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: WHEN, HAVE, BE, AM, WHAT.

Letter Team:  AW/AU (like in JAW/SAUCE). We will also review the letter team OO, remembering that it makes two sounds (like in LOOK and BOO!)

Word Family: -OT. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with the word family -OT (for example: COT, JOT, POT, SPOT). 

Reading: We will read many non-fiction books about bats. We will also work on sounding out CVC words. Students will continue to take home book bags for nightly reading practice. Since book bags are considered daily homework, it is crucial that they are brought back to school every day. 

Writing: This week, we will write non-fiction stories about what we are learning about bats. We are trying to write three sentences on one topic, adding details and adjectives to our writing.  

Math: We will keep working hard on counting goals, number writing goals, number ID goals, and shapes. This week we are working on subitizing - this is recognizing how many without counting. We are learning to subitize dice and tens frames. You can help at home by playing dice games and asking your child what the number is without counting. 

Leadership: For the month of September, our whole school will be focusing on the O of ROAR: Own Your Actions. We will talk about what that means and how we can own our actions at school. Our goal is to have students take ownership of their own behavior as we all strive to be leaders in our classroom and school.