Hat Day :)

Hat Day is always super cute. :) We love getting to watch the students wear their hats inside and outside the classroom. The hats always show their personalities!!

Enjoy the cute pictures!!

(If you child is not pictured, we are sorry but, they didn't want to participate in the picture taking.)

Kindergarten PTA Program

We wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone that came out last Thursday and supported our Kindergartners by watching "The ABC's of Kindergarten!!"

We'd been practicing a little every chance we got and then this past week we were able to practice on the stage risers. :) The kids were adorable!! Not all of the performers made it out, but here are the stars that did!!

To ease any jitters they may have had, we set up our camera and took some photos~ smiley faced ones, silly ones, even angry face ones. haha The kids were hilarious!!!

Here are Haleigh, Jayven, Caleb, Addyson, Harper, Noah, Zoe & Jabar!!!

Completed Canned Food Drive

Well the items were all collected and counted and... our amount of food items WON FOR KINDERGARTEN!!! We had a combined 188 items.

The students loved hearing "Ms.Finocchiaro and Mrs.Croft's Class" over the intercom. They cheered so loud as we were trying to exit the class Friday for dismissal. haha

Here are two pictures: our contribution and then the whole school's offering to families supported by The Church at Argyle. 

Canned Food Drive!

This week our school is holding a CAN FOOD DRIVE COMPETITION!! We are collecting cans for families in need. Please help support our class and send in boxed or canned items. 

** Thanks Astrea and Patrick for already sending in items. :) **

         

Week of November 13

So we had hoped to have our regularly scheduled lessons... however Kindergarten Play Practice, Flag Raising Ceremony, Early Release Day and numerous Resources have taken over!!

We will be reviewing all the items we are assessing this quarter and making up any testing that needs to be done. 

We're also in Conference Mode!! Please make sure to write a note or email us if you would like a Conference to discuss your child's grades. Progress Reports are expected to go home after Thanksgiving Break. :) 

Saxon Coding!!

Saxon has now taught us 3 different ways of coding words so that we can read the words. I coded two different papers for you to see. One we will be completing together in class. The other your child will be completing at home. Please remember the word lists need to be coded and then your child needs to read the words to you. (If you child has trouble reading the words, instruct them to take out "their pretend cutting board and pretend knife." They can chop up the words and then put the sounds together and read the word.) 

You'll notice we are still coding "A vowel followed by a consonant with a breve." So that the vowel will make the short sound. We colored over the blend /st/. We're learning that a blend is "two letters that come together to make one sound!" (They jump out of your mouth together instead of being alone. They you'll see double consonant, "If there's a double consonant, the second one gets a slash."

Then after we have done all the coding, it is time to READ THE WORDS!! Reading the words is the most important step. :) 

You'll notice that we have coded the words on the paper and now you are able to do the most important step... READ THE WORDS!! Don't forget after your child has read the word correctly, to put a check mark in the box. :) 

*If you ever have any questions about coding, PLEASE reach out by email to both of us and we will help you. We take grades on coding and word reading. We do not want your child to fall behind!!

Week of November 5

First thing we need to do is remind everyone that there is NO SCHOOL on Friday Nov.9 and Mon.Nov12. 

Now... we have a busy week planned for the next 4 days. Plus we are assessing on the Second Quarter Expectations and practicing singing for the Kindergarten Performance. Along with that we also have three resources and a birthday. Happy Birthday Anadelilah!!

MATH

This week we start our new unit on comparing numbers 1-10 with the vocabulary terms: more, less, same, or equal. Students will be able to explain which number or set of objects is more or less and by how many. To help illustrate the concept of one more we will read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and compare the different items. We will continue to practice using our counting strategies (one to one/point and count, draw a line and count, etc.) to count objects.
We will begin assessing for the Second Quarter Expectations this week so make sure you are practicing at home. Please make sure your child is practicing their rote counting at home starting at 1. The expectation this quarter is 50... that is without stopping for a long time, and skipping a number. Many student last quarter stopped at 39 which met the first quarter expectation but 39 is a tricky number for most to get past. 

WRITING

We are on a roll writing simple sentences!! The students are working hard at remembering their uppercase letters at the beginning of the sentence and using their "finger spaces" in between the words. We use our Word Wall to write our sight words correctly and then we chop up unknown words. It's amazing how far they have come in such a short amount of time!!

For those of you wondering what we mean by simple sentences. Here are a few examples: We ride on a bus.   I make dinner with Mommy.   I play outside. The sentences are only a few words and are fairly simple so that the students don't need to much guidance when writing them. 

SAXON/ READING SKILLS

This week Saxon has us focused on letter Ss. We will listen for the beginning sound of s, chop up CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words and you'll even notice in our coding we code a few s blends~ st, sl, sp. It's the best!!

Our sight words this week are because, he, she & at. (scroll down a little more for the slideshow. )

We are also kicking it up a notch by working daily on rhyming, counting syllables with our "fancy hand" and writing our fist & last names!! When rhyming the students react to the rhyming pairs with a jump if the pair rhymes or a thumb down and a tongue out if they do not.  When counting syllables we use our "fancy hand." We gently lay a hand under our chin and we count the amount of taps the chin makes on the hand to tell us how many syllables are in the word. Currently all of the practice is done by saying student and teacher names. haha Try Finocchiaro~ it's a hoot with 4 syllables. 

 

READING

Our story this week is Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. It's an adorable story that allows the students to see how the character evolves from being scared of EVERYTHING!!! at the beginning of the story, to being okay at the end. 

Our story vocabulary is advantage, disadvantage, risk, regret & glide. We will discuss these words in class, but make sure to review them with your child. It'll help their understanding of the story.  

We will review a few reading concepts with this story: Compare (Scaredy Squirrel at the beginning of the story versus the end), Infer (Why did he play dead for so long? What in the story supports your answer?) and Retell (Explain Scaredy Squirrel's daily schedule at the beginning of the story. The daily schedule at the end of the story. Tell all the events of the story from the beginning- to the middle- through the end.)