May 20-24

HAVE FUN summer dress up day count down:
Tuesday, May 28- Hat day or crazy hair day
Wednesday, May 29- dress like an Animal or bring in your favorite stuffed animal
Thursday, May 30- dress like you’re going on a Vacation
Friday, May 31- Enjoy yourself--dress in something you love
Monday, June 3- dress like a character from a Fairy tale
Tuesday, June 4- dress actively for field day (there will be many Unique activities!)
Wednesday, June 5- NDLC wear or Neon day!

5/21: Family Night
5/24 & 5/27: NO SCHOOL
6/5: 1/2 day LAST day :(  11:30 Dismissal

Reading: Kindergartners will be starting book clubs this week! These book clubs help us to learn more about characters and what is happening in the story. Kindergartners explore characters and stories by acting out. Here are the most important parts to remember when acting out books:

Make your reading sound smooth (not. choppy. like. a. robot.)

Check how your character is feeling!

Make your voice match the character's voice

Make your face and body match the character's

"Pop out" important parts of the book

Writing: This week, writers will learn about different ways to elaborate when writing true stories.  We will be studying a mentor author, Mo Willems, to find ways to make our stories the best they can be.  One way to elaborate is to make their characters talk back and forth in speech bubbles. Writers also show and tell the way the character felt in the story, especially at the end. We will use a checklist to make sure our writing has a beginning, ending, speech bubbles, feelings, and setting and we will also make sure our writing is continuing to be easy for others to read.

Math: This week, the mathematicians will practice composing and decomposing 2D shapes, comparing numbers using greater than and less than, and creating teen numbers by circling a group of ten and then counting the extras. We will also discuss measurement; specifically, length, width, height, weight and capacity.

Science: Now that we've had a chance to really explore and understand inclined planes, we will be challenging ourselves to use our knowledge of gravity and force to change direction of  things headed down an inclined plane.  We will also have a chance to create our own simple machine inventions to make a job we have a bit easier.

May 13-17

It is crazy to think this is our last full week of school!!!  It has gone SO fast! 
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  We hope you felt extra loved this weekend!  You deserve it!

HAVE FUN summer dress up day count down:
Tuesday, May 28- Hat day or crazy hair day
Wednesday, May 29- dress like an Animal or bring in your favorite stuffed animal
Thursday, May 30- dress like you’re going on a Vacation
Friday, May 31- Enjoy yourself--dress in something you love
Monday, June 3- dress like a character from a Fairy tale
Tuesday, June 4- dress actively for field day (there will be many Unique activities!)
Wednesday, June 5- NDLC wear or Neon day!

5/21: Family Night
5/24 & 5/27: NO SCHOOL
6/5: 1/2 day LAST day :(  11:30 Dismissal

Reading:We will start a new unit on characters this week! We will start to learn the ways you can ‘meet’ the characters in our books. Some ways to do this are to pay attention to the title, cover, and setting. We will also take picture walks and think about the feelings our characters have. By the end of the week, we will be focusing on the changes in character feelings and being able retell the stories we read!

Writing: This week we will learn that writers can ask themselves the same questions readers do!  We will focus on rereading our writing to ask ourselves: Does it make sense? (words and pictures match), Does it sound right (the way we hear others talk) and Does it look right (have snap words spelled correctly and letters facing the same way).  We will also have a mini celebration where we will gift a one of our books to someone else in our class!!

Math:This week in math our focus will switch back to comparing quantities and noticing similarities and differences in how groups of objects are arranged to show a number.  This helps us to be flexible as we look to find partners of numbers 6,7,8,9, 10.  We will also work on making two unequal groups equal and to really focus on what needs to be added to make them equal.

Science: After visiting the Building for Kids and thinking about how force can make simple machines work, we will dive in to a study on incline planes. We will watch videos to build our knowledge and then rotate through the following centers:

• We will watch videos and look at pictures of balls and ramps. Then we will draw blue prints for when we make ramps. 
• We will use paper tubes, wood, and bouncy balls to observe and explore.
• Scientists will be given Marble Works materials to build, observe, and take notes on what we notice.

May 6-10

Our field trip is Friday!  Remember that students and chaperones need a bag lunch and drink (no lunch boxes) unless you preordered a bag lunch from school!

Upcoming Events
5/10: Building for Kids Field Trip

HAVE FUN summer dress up day count down:
Tuesday, May 28- Hat day or crazy hair day
Wednesday, May 29- dress like an Animal or bring in your favorite stuffed animal
Thursday, May 30- dress like you’re going on a Vacation
Friday, May 31- Enjoy yourself--dress in something you love
Monday, June 3- dress like a character from a Fairy tale
Tuesday, June 4- dress actively for field day (there will be many Unique activities!)
Wednesday, June 5- NDLC wear or Neon day!

5/21: Family Night

Reading: Readers reread for many reasons! We will use the following tool to learn about how/why we reread and make plans for rereading with a partner.

Your reader will be creating a video to show you how they use rereading in their books! Check out the videos on Seesaw on Thursday!

Writing: After creating some AMAZING all about books, the writers are ready to tackle true stories! During read alouds in the classroom, we have used the following chart to keep track of story elements in our books.

This week, we will use the chart to help us plan our true stories. Writers need to make sure that their pictures and words show who, where, and what happened on every page. Students will also learn that they need to make sure their story has a beginning, middle, and end. We can't wait to get started on this new genre of writing. 

Math: This week in math we will continue to study the ways numbers to work together (part, part, whole) to form numbers 6-10.  We will practice this by playing the missing partner game and a game called Pigs in a Pen.
To play Pigs in a Pen, students put 10 objects in 2 rows of 5.  One student closes his/her eyes and another student removes part of the group.  The other student then has to use how many they see to determine how many have been removed.

As students play they say this rhyme....

"Oink, Oink 3 pigs in the pen, tell me what is the partner of 10."

The students then say both quantities together "3 and 7 are partners of 10."

This game helps with both subitizing work and counting on from a number which is an important addition strategy. This would be a great to work with math at home!

Science:  This week, we will start to learn about simple machines and how they can help to do work. The scientists will become inventors and will be asked to think about how a machine could help with a chore—or better yet, do the chore for them. Students will draw a machine that could help them and then use materials in the room to build it! We are so excited to finish up the week at the Building for Kids to further explore simple machines! 

April 29-May 3

Please remember to send back the permission slip for our field trip to the Building for Kids if you have not done so yet. Thank you!

Upcoming Events
5/10: Building for Kids Field Trip
5/21: Family Night

Reading: As the readers dig in to more challenging books, they will encounter words that are tricky to solve! This week, students will learn that when they get stuck on an unknown word, there are a few things they can do. Readers can...

• Try all of the strategies they know, don't try just one! 
• Set a goal of strategies to try
• Go back to the beginning of the page and reread to try to solve it
• If you've tried everything and still can't solve the word, mark it to solve it with your partner and move on! 
• Get help from your partner, be like a coach! 

Writing: It is our last week of writing all about books. The students will learn to add introductions and conclusions to their books. We will make their books the best they can be by adding using all of the charts and checklists we have created throughout the unit. The writers will be sure to add more details and fix up all conventions such as uppercase at the beginning of each sentence and including punctuation. We are excited to share our all about books with our 4th grade buddies!

Math: Here are a few highlights of what students will be doing in math this week:

• Telling, retelling, and writing equations for addition and subtraction stories
• building partners of 10 in many different ways to build fluency
• Practicing showing partners for 7-9
• Building numbers 1-20 with different tools and looking for patterns within the model

Science: This week, students will learn a key idea about forces: how pushes can change the direction and speed of an object’s movement. We will learn how some mountain towns in danger of landslides can build structures to protect themselves from falling rocks. Students will design and test their own solutions to re-direct falling boulders away from their town and toward a waiting dump truck.

April 15- 26

Hopefully it will start to feel more like spring soon.  In the meantime, we want to thank you for helping your child to come to school dressed for the weather so they are comfortable at recess times.  

As the year comes to a close, there are a few supplies we could replenish in our classroom.  If you would like to donate, please send items to school with your child:

• black dry erase markers
• rolls of scotch tape 

Also, PSC is looking for some items as well.  Here is the link.

On Monday NDLC students will participate in an egg crack off!  Each student should bring one hard boiled egg to school on Monday.  The eggs need to to be plain (no stickers, color or film).  All Kindergarten students should also wear orange on this day.

Important Dates and Reminders:
4/15: Egg Crack Off- Wear Orange and bring a hard boiled egg!
4/15: Family Night 5:30 pm
4/17: 1/2 Day 11:30 Dismissal
5/10: Building for Kids Field Trip

Reading:We are continuing to work on being resourceful readers and to use all we know to tackle tricky parts in our books.   This week and next readers will learn to be especially flexible as they try one strategy, then another and so on, until their reading makes sense, sounds right and looks right.  One way we readers can make this become more automatic is to make plan prior to reading for the strategies they will use by rereading charts they have in their book bin or see around the classroom.   We will also learn about the importance and reasons for rereading.  The big reasons we want students to reread is to make sure they are understanding what is read and to make sure their reading sounds smooth and fluent (not like a robot :)).

Writing: This week we will focus on elaboration: ways to add more to our writing.   We will be using text features like diagrams, captions and definitions, comparisons and examples like we have seen authors try in the books we have read.  We will also begin to make sure we not only give information on each page, but say WHY that information is important.

Math:Mathematicians will practice their non-pattern facts this week. The non-pattern equations are 3+2, 2+3, 2+2, 5-4, 5-3, 5-2, 4-3, 4-2, and 3-2.

We will practice using a variety of strategies including:

A game called subtraction smash that looks like this:


Drawings and math mountains



Using tools such as bead racks, math manipulatives or number lines





Using cut out hands to show the equations


These are great ways to practice any equations that your child may be working on!

Science: This week we will continue our science unit about forces. Our key idea is that by playing with and thinking about forces, people can accomplish surprisingly big things. For example, this week we will solve the mystery, “How can you knock down a wall made of concrete?”  Your child will do an activity where they investigate what happened to a “wall” made of cups when they changed the strength and direction of a paper wrecking ball.

April 8-12

Here is the link for the April school newsletter.


Upcoming Events: 
April 15: Family Night- please return forms by Monday
April 17: 1/2 day 11:30 dimissal
April 18-22: NO SCHOOL
May 10: Building for Kids Field Trip- more info to come

Check out what's happening in the super room this week!

Reading: Readers will begin to ask themselves these questions:

• What strategies have I tried to solve these unknown words?
• Did it work?
• What else could I try? 

By reflecting on what they have tried, the readers will begin to discover when different strategies work best and become more efficient when choosing strategies. Here is a chart of some of the main strategies readers rely on:


Writing: There will be a strong connection between reading from last week and writing this week! As nonfiction readers, students learned that they can ask questions while reading and even try to answer them! Since we are writing nonfiction books, we can use this to add more to our books.  This chart shows the questions we can ask:

 First, writers will read through their books, asking themselves if they answered questions readers might have on each page. Then students will sit with their reading partners, read the books they wrote, and allow their partners to stop and ask questions--just like we did in reading! The partners will work together to try to answer the questions to add more to their piece of writing.

Math:  We are just beginning our LAST math unit of the year...holy cow!!  This unit is called Consolidation of Concepts and will focus on all of the important skills students need to attain in Kindergarten in order to have a solid grasp of mathematical concepts to build on in 1st grade.  All of these topics are repetitive and you might find me to a be a broken record when keeping you in the loop!  Please know that this is by design...our curriculum Math Expressions, is a spiral curriculum, meaning concepts are taught over and over across the year in various ways, taking students' development into consideration and giving them ample opportunity to master and deeply understand concepts!


Science: We will began our science unit about forces:  the pushes, pulls, and other actions that we do whenever we do work. Scientists will learn that before we had machines, we had to do lots of work by hand. We will talk about how machines are not magical; rather they just seem that way because there are often moving parts hidden inside. Encourage your child’s curiosity by asking them to go on a “machine walk” around the house: invite your child to identify machines around your home.(examples include things like a washing machine or dryer, a dishwasher, a hair dryer, an electric toothbrush, a car).

April 1-5

Here is the link to the April lunch menu.

KAT DRESS UP DAYS April 1-Alien Day or wear green
April 2-Dress like a "star" (movie star OR star in the sky)
April 3-Dress Unique
April 4-We are out of this world with SMARTS-Dress like a KAT question or cat
April 5-Galaxy Day-each grade can dress like a color from the sky
             K: blue

April 5: KAT celebration dance

Check out what's happening in the super room this week!

Reading: As nonfiction readers, we have learned how to identify the main topic of our books and retell key details by pointing to text evidence in the book! This week, we will transfer that learning by teaching others about our topics and writing about them. Students will also compare and contrast books about the same topics.  books and read aloud (just like a teacher!) to share their books and learn with peers. We will celebrate our nonfiction unit on Friday by creating posters about our favorite main topics.

Writing: This week we are starting to write All About books. The goal is for students to write an entire book that teaches about one topic. Students will begin by brainstorming ideas; they will put each idea on a book cover so that it is ready to go when they are ready to start a new piece. We will discuss thinking about and planning out how we can teach our readers the important facts about our topics. Writers will learn that they can plan out books using their fingers to keep track of their ideas. Help your writer think of different things he/she could teach others about! What is your child an expert on?

Math:  We are nearing the end of our math unit!  This week we will review the concepts of 3D shapes and practice identifying cones, spheres, cylinders and cubes. We will also start to build fluency with subtraction. Mathematicians will discover that they can use the same strategies for subtracting as they did for adding. These strategies include:

• Using their fingers
• Drawing a picture
• Building it with tools
• Telling a math story
• Visualizing a math story
• Using a bead rack

These are all great ways to start when working toward fluency!  We will also continue to review and practice the subtraction patterns we have learned: -1, -0 and take away all (3-3).

Social Studies: It was so much fun learning about how each one of us is unique! As a culminating activity for our self study, students will be asked to post a video on seesaw about what makes them special. Be sure to watch for those videos at the end of the week! 

March 25-29

It was so nice to meet with you during conferences last week! We are so proud of our Kindergartners and how much they have grown this year!


Important Dates and Reminders:
April 1-5: KAT Week (see below for dress up days)
April 1-Alien Day or wear green
April 2-Dress like a "star" (movie star OR star in the sky)
April 3-Dress Unique
April 4-We are out of this world with SMARTS-Dress like a KAT question or cat
April 5-Galaxy Day-each grade can dress like a color from the sky
             Kindergarten will wear blue!
April 5- KAT Celebration Dance (more info to come)

Check out what's happening in the super room this week!

Reading: One thing that sets non-fiction books apart from fiction books is that they contain more specialized vocabulary.  This week readers will keep track of topic words they find while reading non-fiction books.  They will use the pictures and words in the book to understand what the words mean and will teach them to their reading partner.  Each reader will create an expert word  list with sketches to show word meanings.

Writing: Our persuasive writing is coming to a close this week and these writers have become so convincing! They have been working on writing their opinions about problems they see in the world. To celebrate the end of our unit, students will be creating posters that show lots of writing about a problem. It could be littering, cutting down trees, wasting electricity, etc. We will share our opinion posters loud and proud in a microphone on Friday.

Math: Mathematicians are digging deeper into teen numbers. We know that teen numbers are a group of ten and extras; we will discover that mathematicians can see that when they build numbers OR look at equations. Each student will create a book that shows a picture, equation, and correct way to write the digits for each teen number to solidify this understanding. We will look at partners of the numbers 6-10. Although students are not expected to know these partners fluently, they are expected to build with tools or draw to show the partners to 10. We can recognize this in pictures and drawings and then match/write equations to show the part, part, whole.

Social Studies: After starting to think about what makes them so special, students will have a chance to show what makes them unique in the following centers:

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

March 18-22

Happy spring! Maybe?? With the weather changing daily, please send appropriate gear to school! We will help children decide what's necessary to wear at recess time. Depending on the day, they are still allowed to play in the snow so you might want to continue sending boots and snow pants.


Important Dates and Reminders:
March 19 & 21: Conferences- sign up here: https://ptcfast.com/schools/NDLC
March 22: No School
April 1-5: KAT Week (see below for dress up days)
April 1-Alien Day or wear green
April 2-Dress like a "star" (movie star OR star in the sky)
April 3-Dress Unique
April 4-We are out of this world with SMARTS-Dress like a KAT question or cat
April 5-Galaxy Day-each grade can dress like a color from the sky
             Kindergarten will wear blue!
April 5- KAT Celebration Dance (more info to come)


Reading:The nonfiction books have been a huge hit in our room! It's so fun to listen to the students ask questions and share knowledge about the topics they are reading about. This week, we will take that work a step further by asking students to share the information by retelling, acting like a reporter, and having conversations about their books with partners. We will use the following conversation starters to help students carry on with their partner.

• I wonder....
• Maybe...
• I agree/disagree because...

We remind students that a having a conversation is like riding a seesaw; you take turns going back and forth!

Writing: This week writers will work to better their opinion/persuasive writing by using all the strategies they have learned so far.  This is a chart we have been using to draw on elaboration strategies.

Math: Did you know that in order to be fluent adding and subtracting within 5, students need to be able to solve more than 20 equations! An article called "Assessing Basic Fact Fluency" defines fluency as "the efficient, appropriate, and flexible application of single-digit calculation skills and...an essential aspect of mathematical proficiency".  In order to determine if a student is fluent in solving a problem, they must show "flexibility, appropriate strategy use, efficiency, and accuracy". So how do we determine that? Students are given a fact fluency interview where we watch and ask questions about how students are solving equations. It is amazing to see how their brains use the strategies to solve problems!

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

March 11-15

Important Dates and Reminders:
March 15: Wear Green
March 19 & 21: Conferences- sign up here: https://ptcfast.com/schools/NDLC
March 22: No School

LIBRARY CHECKOUT DAYS: 
Thursday March 14
Monday March 25
Tuesday April 2
Wednesday April 10
Tuesday April 23

The PSC is in need of some help during conferences:
Conference Meal 
http://signup.com/go/pfBkphc

Book Fair 
http://signup.com/go/kQrXeuw

KAT Dance Volunteers
http://signup.com/go/nBAoaqP

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

Reading: This week we kick off a new reading unit called Growing Expertise in Little Books.  This unit has a focus on non-fiction reading and really reading to gain understanding and learn from the books we read.  This week we will sort our classroom library to get all of our informational books organized so they are easier for us to shop for.  We will learn that as we read about a topic we become experts on it and learn to share that information with others by telling the main topic of a book and giving key details learned in the book. We will also work on stopping and asking questions while we read.

Writing:I hope your child has shared with your some of the important topics they are writing about to persuade others.  Please know you may receive some books or letters regarding "problems" your child might want to persuade others to fix at home or in your neighborhood.  We are really working on using our words as a way to let people know about a problems see and ways we think it can be fixed.  This week we will work on keeping our writing stamina up by thinking of lots of causes to write about and will work on revision and spelling strategies.

Math: This week we will focus on using the +1 pattern automatically. 
One way we will be working on the +1 pattern is by playing the game speed.  Students play as a pair and hold 5 cards each in their hand, they then flip one card over from the deck and need to lay down the card the comes after that card as quickly as they can.  This is a fun way for them to practice using the +1 strategy and to recognize that addition pattern automatically. We will also work on using strategies for equations that do not have a pattern (2+2, 4-3, 2+3, 3-2...).  We will learn that using fingers and tools can help use to visualize what happens in these equations.  We will also make our own bead racks use as a tool.  Stay tuned to see how we use these on SeeSaw!

Social Studies: As we get ready to start our self study unit, students spent time this past week learning to think about others. Here is a quick video of one of our students explaining some of that learning. 

March 4-8

Wow!  How is it March already?!  Let's hope Mother Nature know that means spring should be here soon!

Here is the march lunch menu.

Important Dates and Reminders:
March 7: Author's Breakfast: CANCELLED
March 8:  1/2 day (11:30 dismissal)
March 19&21: Conferences (sign up to come)
March 22: NO SCHOOL for students


Reading:  This week we will become avid readers of poetry!  We will learn how to make our reading sound smooth and will also work to show emotions in the poems we read.  We will end the week with a Poetry Extravaganza where we will perform, illustrate and even write our own poems using the beat of poems we know well.

Writing: Opinion writing is up and running in Kindergarten!  This week we will learn that we can voice our opinion about problems we see around us and write as a way to try to fix it.  We will use the following chart to help us:

1. See a problem

2. Think

3.  Write

This work will lead us to writing letters, making signs and even creating petitions to make our school a better place.  The big goal for Kindergartners in this unit is to understand how powerful their words can be to persuade others.


Math:This week in math we will continue to solidify our understating of teen numbers and the equations and quantities that represent them.  We will be matching equations to representations of teen numbers and work to understand that the extra ones that join with ten are always the second digit displayed in a teen number.  It is common error for kindergarten students to write 71 for 17.  We will also work with partners of numbers and will play a game called missing partner.  This will help us to visualize how quantities combine to make a larger numbers.  This is something that could be played at home with coins or any small plastic object.  The goal is to display a set of objects and then cover part of that set and for students to be able to say what they see and say what is missing to make the total number of objects.  For example: "I see 4, one is missing, 4 and 1 make 5."  We will also be introduced to and explore 3D shapes and compare them with 2D shapes.


Science: We officially posted videos to our Seesaw accounts! To see your students video, use the paper copy directions that were sent home or follow these directions:

Your child will post to Seesaw to share their learning. Seesaw is private; you'll only see posts created by your child.

Please Sign Up Now

1. Click on this link: https://app.seesaw.me/s/128-868-264
2. Choose your child from the list
3. Create your account
4. Once I approve you, you can see content from your child

After you sign up, download the free Seesaw Family app and sign in. You can also access Seesaw from a computer at https://app.seesaw.me.

Thank you for supporting your child's learning!

February 25-March 1

There are lots of fun dress up days and activities planned this week for Read Across America!
 It will also be great to see everyone at family night!

It's not too late to sign up to help with Family Night:

Serving Cookie for Feb 26 Family Night: http://signup.com/go/bpmTYNJ
Donate Cookies for Feb 26 Family Night: http://signup.com/go/cDtSDdE

February 25-March 1st is Read Across America Week.
Monday, Feb 25th: Dress Like Your Parents
Tuesday, Feb 26th: Dress Like a Game and Family Night 6-7
Wednesday, Feb 27th: Crazy Hair Day
Thursday, Feb 28th: Dress Like A Book Character
Friday, March 1st: Camp Out Day, Dress in Camping Wear

Reading:We have been loving digging into non-fiction books and showing and sharing our thinking with our reading partners and playdate groups.   We are learning that to remember our thoughts This week we will continue with some non-fiction work and will meet in topic clubs to do more talking about and comparing books.

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

Math: This week a major focus in math will be identifying and quickly recalling partners of a number or two numbers that combine to form a larger numbers.  Students will play a game called Missing Partner where they will have a set number of tools (2-5) and a part of the group will be removed and they will need to say the quantity that remains and then figure out the quantity that is missing.  Ex.  I see 2, 3 are missing, 2 and 3 are partners of 5.

Science: For science this week, students will be wrapping up science centers and learning how to use Seesaw to share our learning. This year we're going to use a new tool to share what we're learning in class called Seesaw. Your child will have his or her own learning journal, and you can get notified when your child adds new items. It's completely private -- only you can see your child's journal outside of class. I will be sending out a link to access Seesaw later this week!

February18-22

This week will be short and sweet and will hopefully not involve any snow days!   Check out the fun we had this week!!

 100 cup stacking

 What can we build with 100 legos?

 100 Gumballs!

 Keeping track of how many times we licked our suckers...

Making beautiful necklaces with 100 beads!

Our biggest school fundraiser will be here soon!
Please see the link below to sign up to help out with this fun event!
http://signup.com/go/imLqCBE

Important Dates and Reminders:
February 21: Funset Boulevard
February 26: Family Art Night--includes art auction, art projects, and a cookie sale!
Serving Cookie for Feb 26 Family Night: http://signup.com/go/bpmTYNJ
Donate Cookies for Feb 26 Family Night: http://signup.com/go/cDtSDdE

February 25-March 1st is Read Across America Week.
Monday, Feb 25th: Dress Like Your Parents
Tuesday, Feb 26th: Dress Like a Game
Wednesday, Feb 27th: Crazy Hair Day
Thursday, Feb 28th: Dress Like A Book Character
Friday, March 1st: Camp Out Day, Dress in Camping Wear

Reading: This week as Super Avid Readers we will look more closely at non-fiction or informational texts and how we can really learn from what we read in them.  To pique our interest in looking more closely at non-fiction topics we will watch this video.   The kids do seem to really like this video and learn so much from watching it, but some may find it a tad scary a first.  There will be lots of discussion around it so I wanted it to be available to you as well :).  Some of the ways we will work with non-fiction books this week we will be: to use new vocabulary we have learned about our topics when talking about our books, finding multiple books on a topic that interests us and comparing and contrasting various books we read

Writing: Writers will pick a how to book to revise, edit and make their best this week.  We will use the charts below to help us make sure our writing teaches all it should and is easy for others to read!

Math: This week we will begin Unit 4.  The main concepts of this unit are finding partner numbers for 6-10 and identifying 3 dimensional shapes.  The unit also reinforces teen number composition and decomposition.  Please note that any partner work within 6-10 is expected to be done with math tools and drawings and students are by no means expected to be fluent in knowing their facts or partners to 10.  We will continue to work toward automaticity with addition and subtraction within 5.  Did you know there are 21 addition facts from 0-5 that students need to be automatic with?!

Science: The scientists will spend next week rotating through centers to gather and share information about plants. The centers are:

• Plant photographs--students can sort, label, and discuss the photographs
• Books--students will look through and read plant books
• Ipads--students will research plants on Pebblego 
• Art--scientists will create plants using different art materials 

The scientists will take notes about their learning and will compile all of this information together to share in the form of a poster or presentation.

February 8-15

What a busy and exciting time of year! See below for a list of the upcoming school events and dress up days. Thank you to the families that donated snacks and supplies for our celebrations!

Upcoming Events:

February 11: 100th Day of School--dress like you are 100 years old
February 11: Culver's Night

February 14: Class Valentine Exchange and Red, White and Pink Day
February 21: Funset Boulevard
February 26: Family Art Night--includes art auction, art projects, and a cookie sale!
Serving Cookie for Feb 26 Family Night: http://signup.com/go/bpmTYNJ
Donate Cookies for Feb 26 Family Night: http://signup.com/go/cDtSDdE

February 25-March 1st is Read Across America Week. 

• Monday, Feb 25th: Dress Like Your Parents
• Tuesday, Feb 26th: Dress Like a Game
• Wednesday, Feb 27th: Crazy Hair Day
• Thursday, Feb 28th: Dress Like A Book Character 
• Friday, March 1st: Camp Out Day, Dress in Camping Wear

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

Writing: As we head toward the end of our how to unit, we will work on adding introductions and conclusions to our books. We will also learn to use comparisons in our writing to give more specific directions.  Finally, writers will be reminded to use all the strategies they know to make their how to books easy to read.Writers will continue to work on "writing with flow" to get even more books done. Here are some of the ways we figured out how to write with flow: 

Math: To continue to build our fluency within five,  the mathematicians will explore the +1 and -1 pattern this week. We will study what happens each time you subtract a number; it's just like counting backwards! Students will also find that inversely, each time you add 1 to a number, it's like forward counting.  Here are some poems we will learn to help us remember these patterns automatically.

• When you have a number and you add one more, you count up to the number next door. 
• When you have a number and you take one away, it's like counting backwards, hip, hip, hooray! 

Science:  We have a class pet! Meet Pocahontas. After researching what a fish needs to survive, students were surprised with a fish! It was so much fun!

This week, we will be shifting our focus to plants. We will find out what plants need to survive and plant our own seeds. 

January 28-February 1

We had so much fun celebrating everything we love about NDLC last week! We really do feel lucky to work at such a great place--thanks for being part of our school family!

Our field trip to the PAC is Tuesday, please remember to pack a lunch for your child if you did not preorder a lunch from school. Thanks!

Upcoming Events:
January 29: Field Trip to PAC
February 11: 100th Day of School
February 14: Class Valentine Exchange and Red, White and Pink Day

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

Writing: We will study other How-To books to see how we can make ours even better! Students will learn to use the word ‘You’ when writing a book of directions. We will focus on choosing descriptive words and giving our readers warnings, suggestions, and tips just like in published How-To books.

Math: This week we will continue to study and practice the +0 and -0 patterns we see in math.  We have been saying this rhyme to help us remember how these facts can all be solved in the same way!

It doesn't matter if you are adding

Or subtracting

When there is a zero

The number stays the same!

 We will also be using our very own flashcards to help us practice seeing and using this pattern again and again.  This is the first step to really knowing math facts fluently...it will kind of be like learning snap words!! 

Science:  The scientists continue to study animals this week. We have compared and contrasted different animals to determine what all animals need. Students will explore where animals live and why. We will learn how scientists conduct researching by figuring out what fish needs. We will read books and use Pebblego on the iPads for this research. The Kindergarteners do not know this yet...but their research will have a purpose! Once we find out what a fish needs, we will be getting a fish for our classroom!  Later in the week, the scientists will conduct research on an animal of their choice for another project.

New Directions' Families
As you know, New Directions' does not have an attendance area. This time of year is so important to our school for enrollment purposes.  Enrollment (for NEW families) for the 2019-2020 school year is underway! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school. In your friend and family groups, if anyone has questions about out school please invite them to contact our school or attend an informational session. The informational sessions are below:
January 29th at 6:00
As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours.

January 22-25

This will be a busy and exciting week as we take time to CREATE celebrations throughout our school!   Our class is celebrating working SO hard to do what is expected while we work and play!  If you are here for a family night, check out our classroom door to see ways we are doing this EVERY day!

Since it is tricky for younger students to coordinate outfits for twin day,  please feel free to have them wear black pants and a white shirt and the whole class can be 'twinning.'

Upcoming Events:
January 18: Half Day
January 21: No School
January 22 & 24: Family Nights
January 29: Field Trip to PAC

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

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

Math:  One way that mathematicians become more fluent in solving addition and subtraction equations is to study patterns. Students will explore +0 and -0 equations and discover that it doesn't matter if you're adding or subtracting, when their is a 0, the number stays the same. Students will practice solving 0 equations quickly on a page with many addition and subtraction equations and by using flashcards. We will continue to look for patterns to strengthen our fluency!

Science: This week we continued our unit about animals and their survival needs. One lesson was called, “How can you find animals in the woods?” We learned how every animal has the need to seek safety. When we see animals in the wild, very often they are seeking safety. We will also read aloud mystery with a book called, Who Lives in that Hole. In the book, Desiree notices all the holes in the trees around her house—and sets out to discover how they got there, and why they matter. Ask your child what happens in the book!


New Directions' Families
As you know, New Directions' does not have an attendance area. This time of year is so important to our school for enrollment purposes.  Enrollment (for NEW families) for the 2019-2020 school year is underway! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school. In your friend and family groups, if anyone has questions about out school please invite them to contact our school or attend an informational session. The informational sessions are below:
January 24th  at 5:00
January 29th at 6:00
We also have an Open House on January 18 from 8:00-1:00 for families to stop in and visit our school during the school day.
As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours.

January 14-18

New Directions' Families
As you know, New Directions' does not have an attendance area. This time of year is so important to our school for enrollment purposes.  Enrollment (for NEW families) for the 2019-2020 school year is underway! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school. In your friend and family groups, if anyone has questions about out school please invite them to contact our school or attend an informational session. The informational sessions are below:
January 24th  at 5:00
January 29th at 6:00
We also have an Open House on January 18 from 8:00-1:00 for families to stop in and visit our school during the school day.
As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours.

Thank you!

Upcoming Events:
January 18: Half Day
January 21: No School
January 22 & 24: Family Nights-More info to come!
January 29: Field Trip to PAC

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

Writing: We will be learning to write How To books during this unit. We will write a class book as a model in the beginning of the week. Students will begin writing their own books too! To help your child generate ideas to write about, talk through the steps of things your child does at home. For example, a bed time routine, cooking dinner, getting ready for school, etc.

Math:  One of the big ideas of math this week will be teen numbers. We want the mathematicians to start to understand place value by seeing teen numbers as ten and extras. To, students will use dice to race to be the first to make a teen number. They are encouraged to add numbers and group math tools in ten and five groups to see the numbers quickly. Secondly, mathematicians will dump of cup full of chips to find out what teen number is in the cup. Then, they will draw a picture of that teen number and fill in the blanks to tell how many 10s and 1s make up the teen number.

Social Studies/Science: Last week, instead of starting our new science unit, we spent a little more time digging into our social curriculum to learn about what's expected and unexpected. We learned that when unexpected things happen, it's weird and it can change how people feel. We also learned that unexpected things do happen, and we need to think about how we can react to those in an appropriate way. We created this chart to document our thinking:

January 7-11

It was a great first 3 days back with the students!  It is always so amazing to witness that growth that occurs this time of the year.  It seems they all came back to Kindergarten as expert learners who are ready for anything!

Upcoming Events:
January 18: Half Day
January 21: No School
January 22 & 24: Family Nights-More info to come!
January 29: Field Trip to PAC--more info to come!

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

Writing: Writers will publish a true story this week. They will bring all of their writing home on Thursday! Ask your child to read their stories to you by pointing under their words and checking the pictures to remember what their story was about. You might see who was in the story, where they were and what was happening. Writers also added what the people in the story were thinking, saying, and doing. Way to go true story writers!

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


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

Science: Kindergartners will dig into a new unit exploring animals and their survival needs. Our first lesson was called, “Why does a woodpecker peck wood?” We will learn how every animal has the need to find food. When we see animals in the wild, very often they are looking for food. We will practice being different animals and learn about how they search for food.

January 2-4

Happy New Year! We are excited to see the students after a long break and get back into the swing of things!

Here is the link to our January newsletter.

Upcoming Events:
January 18: Half Day
January 21: No School
January 22 & 24: Family Nights-More info to come!
January 29: Field Trip to PAC--more info to come!

Here's a sneak peek at what's happening in Kindergarten! 

Reading: As I have been meeting with readers this past week, I am amazed at how they are able to figure out their patterns and solve unknown words--they really are turning into readers! As their books become less patterned, they will need to amp up some of their strategies! Readers will learn to go back to fix up their reading if it doesn't make sense. They can search the entire picture to figure out tricky words and rely on snap words--even when they have endings! We call these snap words in disguise! Search through the books your child brings home for snap words in disguise. For example, seeing, looked,.

Writing: This week will be a chart review in Kindergarten! The writers will look at our how to write a true story chart to be reminded that every story tells who was there, where it happened, what happened, and how the people were feeling. Then, we will review the following chart to make sure our sentences have everything they need.

Finally, students will set goals for what they need to do in their writing to make it the best it can be!

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

Word Study: I would encourage students to keep practicing their snap words so that they can read and write them automatically. Dry erase markers, with a spoon in the snow, or with paint and a Q-tip are fun ways to practice writing these words!

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