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!