Graduation Day!

Weekly News!!

Wow, we have one week left! It has been such an amazing year. I wanted to thank all the families that have supported Room 106 this year, we could not have developed into the smarties that we are without your help!
Graduation is coming up soon, please mark your calendars. We are so excited to share our songs and poems with our families!
Also, please keep working hard this summer to encourage your child to read, write, count, practice numbers, and more! First grade will be a big change, the more preparation your child has, the better the transition will be for them.
Once again, thank you for such a great year!
Have a great
summer!

As we finish the year...we become First Graders!!

As we finish up our year in kindergarten, we are celebrating how much we have learned this year! Please review the following skills with your child so they are ready to showcase their growth in the end-of-year assessments.
*Identify letter name and sound for all upper and lower case letters.
*Blend three letter words.
*Write simple sentences.
*Read all sight words we have sent home this year, there are 68, please let me know if you need an extra sheet to practice from.
*Count to 100 by 10s and 1s.
*Count back from 10.
*Identify and write numbers 0-20.
*Write first and last name.
*Solve simple addition and subtraction problems.
*Compare numbers (identify largest and smallest)

Please practice these skills at home and contact me if you have any questions!

Thank you for such a great year, we cannot wait to show off at graduation! Have a wonderful week!!

Weekly News!

This week was filled with fun reading activities! We read with Mrs. Mooremiller’s third grade class, had a celebrity read aloud, got “caught” reading, completed reading challenges, and wore reading T’Shirts! It is really neat to see the kindergarteners reading along with third graders, they have really learned a lot about reading this year!
We had our DIBELS test on Tuesday. It has been a pleasure to see the results, as the classes have really worked push themselves to be outstanding readers. Keep up the great work!
Lastly, we need PM picnic volunteers. Please let me know if you can help out on June 3rd!

Have a great week!

Animals, Space, and Simple Machines!

Weekly News!

This week was packed with excitement. We began the week with a visit from Mr. Keith, a naturalist from Clermont County. He showed us animals and we learned about their habitats.
Tuesday and Wednesday we traveled to the Drake Planetarium and Lego Lab. It was great to learn more about space, see constellations, draw the phases of the moon, and view Earth as astronauts do! Both classes were on their best behavior and we had a blast.
Lastly, our butterflies hatched! We get to set them free and see how they fly off. It has been very interesting to watch them transform!

Reminder that graduation is coming soon! June 2nd will be the day, mark your calendars!
Have a great week!

Star Writers!

At the end of kindergarten, all students should be able to write at least one complete sentence. In first grade, they will work towards complete paragraph writing. Make sure your child is ready for first grade!

How to help your child to become a star writer…
-Remind your child that we always start writing with an uppercase/capital letter. Drawing a box around the first letter helps to refresh their memory.
-Remind your child that we always end our sentences with an ending mark. They can choose a period, exclamation mark, or question mark. Use circle to help them remember to add an ending mark.
-Always have your child reread their sentences out loud to you. This is the revision time to check for any mistakes or forgotten punctuation.

Weekly News!

Don’t forget, Tuesday May 3rd is the Levy Vote.
We are hoping for some sunshine in Room 106. This rain has been keeping us inside for our recess time!
I hope you enjoyed your Spring Break and Easter. We shared our experiences and I heard about Disney trips, beach trips, family gatherings, movie outings, and more. Sounds like we had a great time away from school.
We began a countdown this week, did you know that we only have 27 more days until your kindergartener will be a first grader? Time sure flies right by! It has been a really outstanding year.
This week our caterpillars created their chrysalis, we cannot wait until they hatch out and show us their transformation! Also, we are getting ready for our field trip next week. It will be neat to experience outer space at the planetarium! Don’t forget your child needs to bring a sack lunch that day.
Have a great week!

Baby Chicks are Hatching in Kindergarten!

Grandparent's Day

PJ Day!

Here are some pictures from our Pajama Day celebration!

We Can Study Words!

Here are some examples of how to study words to see similarities when reading, writing, and spelling new words. This is an easy game to practice at home. You can use rhyming words with the same ending, we call these word families. You can mix up the words and then your child can sort them into two groups based on their ending. Have fun!

Weekly News!!

This week we have started to learn about planting seeds, baby chicks, and animal habitats. We are studying these science units with fun hands-on learning. Mrs. Wells has chicken eggs in an incubator, we will observe them as they hatch into babies! Mrs. Smith helped us plant lima bean seeds, we are hoping they grow into tall plants! I am creating animal habitats with the classes. On Friday we will make a desert habitat. Ask your child which plants and animals live in the desert.

We continue to assess the students for the 3rd quarter report cards. Please review all numbers 0-20 with your child and compare those numbers by putting them in order from smallest to largest. This is a tricky skill.

Don't forget about Grandparent's Day next Thursday! It will be a lot of fun, please fill out the invitation so we know you will be attending. We are now making some fun presents to give our special grandparents.

Friday we get to wear our PJs for our special Pajama Day Party! Please send your child in PJs so they can be part of the fun.

The Cincinnati Zoo visited Room 106's P.M. Class!

The Cincinnati Zoo visited Room 106's P.M. Class!

Robert Munsch

In Room 106, we have been learning about the author Robert Munsch. He has written several hilarious children's books and we are enjoying them thoroughly in the classroom. Please check out some of his titles from the library or a book store for your family to enjoy at home. Your child will tell you just how fun they are!! Some titles we have enjoyed are...
*Andrew's Loose Tooth
*The Dark
*Purple, Green, and Yellow
*We Share Everything!
*Get Out of Bed!
*Alligator Baby

Let's Become Great Writers!

If your child is having trouble remembering to add spaces or reading their writing after they wrote it, here are a couple tips you can do to help!

-Have them state the complete sentence before writing it. You can use a colorful pen to draw line spaces for each word in the sentence, making spaces for your child to see. For example the sentence, My cat is big.
_ ___ _ ___.

-Have them identify the number of sounds in a word before writing it. Make sound placeholders with dots or spaces, so they know the correct number of letters or sounds to write.
-Re-read their sentences with them and make sure they are using their finger reading to keep track of where they are in the sentence.
-Have fun with it!

Spring Writing!

Check out what great writers we have in Room 106!

Read Aloud Video

Hello to all my kindergarten families! I have put together a short example of a read aloud for you to enjoy. I thought that this might inspire you to borrow some of my tricks of the trade when reading with your child. I bet most of you do use many of these ideas already.

In class, we are working on building our thinking while we read. I do a lot of thinking out loud when I read and encourage the kiddos to do the same. Asking questions, making predictions about what might happen, making connections to my life and other books we have read in class, and commenting on the book out loud are fun ways to get more involved with books. Check out this video to get some ideas! Remember to have your child choose texts that they enjoy, rhyming books, books about kids their age, animal books, cars and truck books, and books about school usually are appealing to a six year old. Have fun with it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day this week! It was great fun learning about St. Pats Day. We read stories, sang songs, wrote our sight words in green, and went looking for leprechauns. Check out our day in the slide show below!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

This week we learned began celebrating St. Patrick’s Day! My family comes from Ireland and we love to share this holiday with others! We read stories, sang songs, and learned Irish traditions. Please ask your child to share what they know and make sure they wear green on Thursday!
Also, we reviewed all our letters and sounds. The letter Yy is our favorite letter this week. Please ask your child which letters have hanging tails...y’s will be in that group!
In math, we worked on counting forwards and backwards. We used number cards and played the game “have….who has?” This game is fun and you can play it at home with number cards. Ask your child to describe the game and learn together!
Please encourage your child to write a letter to a friend this week. Have them bring it to school and share with us!

This quarter ends in one month. Please practice the skills listed below, so your child can be successful!
-identifying the shapes
(circle, square, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, cube, cone, sphere, and cylinder)
-identifying numbers 0-20 out of order
-reading three letter CVC words (bug, not, sit, rob)
-hearing beginning and ending sounds in words and writing them (ct=cat, rp=rope)
-reading the sight words in the homework
-writing the numbers 0-20
-re-reading small books we read in school and send home to share
-answering questions about books we read in class and sharing their ideas
-predicting what might come next in a book we are reading
-identifying the characters and setting in a book

Room 106 News!

This week we began by learning about some presidents. We wanted to know why we had Monday off of school! We read a story about Abraham Lincoln and brought a book home to complete. Also, we learned about George Washington!
We began practicing our letter Pp this week too. We practiced writing it and hearing its sound in words. Continue this practice at home.
In math, we continue to work on counting and identifying numbers. We practiced comparing numbers 0-20. We identified the larger number and smaller number. This can be a game at home as well.
We are working hard on our writing skills. Please challenge your child to write in complete sentences at home. Don’t forget those ending marks!

Counting to 100 and back down to zero!

Today was the 100th day of school! We practiced counting to 100 a lot, including starting at 100 and counting down to zero. The picture above is a number chart with all the numbers 1-100. Please help your child practice counting up to and back from 100, you can create this chart and use it to help them as they count. We will have a big celebration on the 100th day of 2011, which is on Monday April 11th! We love that number 100!!

Up Coming Events!

Parents!!

We have some fun Valentine's events happening soon. Please make sure your child brings in 25 Valentine's cards with their first and last name on the envelope. We will share these on the 14th! Also, send in a treat to add to their Valentine bags before the 11th! Lastly, we have an all school dance on the 11th to celebrate Valentine's Day, please come and have a ball.

We can read!

I know that your children are excited because they are now working to decode words, blend and segment words, and read those sight words we have been practicing so much! Please encourage your child to read often at home, anything with print is a perfect place to start!

*Cereal boxes
*Newspapers
*Magazines
*Recipes
*Commercials on TV
*Street signs
*Menus
*Computer/internet sites


*A helpful tip…

If your child cannot read the whole word have them get their mouth ready to say the word and say the first sound. Sometimes that is all we need to help us guess the correct word if we have picture clues and other text to help identify the word!

Denise Fleming, an author and artist!

We have been reading and sharing books written and illustrated by Denise Fleming. We have enjoyed In the Tall, Tall Grass and In the Small, Small Pond. Fleming is an author who has won many awards for her children's books and she comes from Ohio! Her web site www.Denisefleming.com has activities, book titles, facts, and more about this amazing children's book author. Stop by a library or book store and check out some of her titles!

Winter DIBELS was a success!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we continue to work very hard in Room 106! I am very proud of the kindergarten classes, they truly have become readers! It is so exciting to see the students use what they know about letters and sounds to segment and blend words while reading and writing. Please keep up the great work and challenge your child to read often at home.

We can count to 100!

We have been working hard to practice our counting skills. Here are a few simple ways to help your child count up to and past 100.

*Play a family counting game in the car or at the table where you each take turn saying one number as you count around the table up to 100.

*Give your child a number 1-50 and have them count-on from that number. For example, you would say "15" and they say "15, 16, 17, and 18." We have played this game in school, so they will be familiar with it.

*Use your fingers as you help your child count to 100. When you say 10, put up one finger, when you say 20 put up two fingers, and so on. Your child should help you count and remember what number comes after 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, and 99.