Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Winter Wonderland

Hi Fish Families!

We visited Winter Wonderland during P.E. today. I have streamed some pictures to our Flickr page for you. We did used a luge, took a rope tow to the top of a mountain and skied down. We also went on sleigh rides, and  threw snowballs at a snowman. The P.E. teachers and O.T. teachers assigned the children vacation homework. Be sure to have your child tell you what they are supposed to do. 

Thank you for all the holiday mission gifts. Your generosity will make someone's Christmas morning magical! 

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for our gingerbread decorating party at 12:30. 

Kristen

Thursday, December 12, 2013

December 12, 2013

Hi Fish Families!

I won't be in school tomorrow, so this blog is arriving a day early. Here is a glimpse of our week in the fish class:

Language Arts: We have been learning about the beginning, end and middle of books. The children illustrated the parts of The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. We sequenced the parts of our Shared Reading book, The Birthday Cake by Joy Cowley. The children learned how to "shop" for interest books during Readers' Workshop. We continue to work on letter sounds at the beginning and end of words during our phonics activities.

Math: The children have been working on +1 this week. We have also been doing other addition activities. A fun game they played was Addition Train where they rolled a dice labeled +1, +2, or +3 and built a "train" of 20. 

Science:  The children explored with a MOTION science activity kit. The used a ramp and various objects to see what happened when they were rolled down the incline. Please ask your child what s/he noticed.

Poem of the Week:  Gingerbread Children

Book of the Week:  The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

Up-coming Events:

  • Handwriting- e & l
  • Phonics- superstar i
  • Word of the Week-it
  • Mission Gifts Due- 12/18
  • Gingerbread Decorating Party- 12:30 on Thursday, 12/19
  • Wear PJs to School (again)- Friday, 12/20
  • School Vacation Week-12/23-1/1

Donation Requests:
  • Old Tennis Balls (for the legs of our chairs)

Friday, December 6, 2013

December 6, 2013

Hi Fish Families!

Here is a glimpse of our week in the fish classroom:

Literacy:  This week we officially launched Readers' Workshop. The children have been busy learning the routines and rules of this literacy time. We have picked our reading spots and are getting really good at following the procedures. I love to hear the children cheer in excitement when it is time to read! We also have begun Writers' Workshop. We are doing our writing during center time. The children are working on learning these procedures as well. During Shared Reading we worked on the book In the Mirror by Joy Cowley. The children reviewed sight words and revisited what a word is.

Math:  We have been working on sorting, adding and representing numbers using 10 frames. We also continue to order tricky teen numbers.

Library:  Mrs. Wigode has read all of the Ladybug award winners to us during our library time. The children voted on their favorite story. Our totals will be added to the SMS school voting totals.

Visual Arts:  Our gingerbread and winter-themed art projects are under way!

Book of the Week:  The Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt

Song of the Week:  The Gingerbread Man (tune of Muffin Man)

Up-coming Events:

  • Handwriting- u & i
  • Phonics- ch & j
  • Word of the Week-am
  • Early Release- Wednesday, 12/11
  • Mission Gifts Due- 12/18
  • Gingerbread Decorating Party- 12:30 on Thursday, 12/19
  • Wear PJs to School (again)- Friday, 12/20
  • School Vacation Week-12/23-1/1


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Guest Reader

Hi!
Today a UNH Hockey player visited our class and read us a story! The children enjoyed the visit and asked some great questions when given the opportunity to chat with him. He talked to them about being a student and athlete.

Friday, November 22, 2013

November 22, 2013

Hi!

Here is a glimpse of our week in the fish room:

Language Arts: The children went upstairs to 5P for buddies this week and they loved it! We did guided reading groups and read from our 'book barns' as well. Our shared reading book, What is a Huggles? by Joy Cowley focused on the sight word is and we practiced 1-1 correspondence where our spoken words matched the words we were pointing under as we read.  We wrote and illustrated about something we are thankful for.

Math: The children have been working on representing numbers using ten frames. Today we used the Promethean board to do it. We worked with cuisenaire rods and continue to work on number formation using the Letterschool app and our handwriting journals. The children also were introduced to the app Monkey Math and love it!

Science: Our apple is finally rotten! It took 60 days. Back in September, we had some super close estimations on how long it would take. The closest guesses were 52 and 59.

Book of the Week: Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows
Song of the Week: Albuquerque Turkey (Tune of Oh My Darlin' Clementine)

Up-coming Events:
  • Tuesday,11/26- Class Breakfast from 8-8:30
  • 11/27-11/29- Thanksgiving Break
  • Book Fair Shopping- 12/2 at 12:30
  • Word of the week- the
  • Handwriting- a,d & g
  • Phonics- sh
  • Early release- Wednesday, 12/11
  • Thursday, 12/19 at 12:30 Gingerbread Decorating Party 
  • Winter vacation- 12/23/13-1/1/14

Friday, November 15, 2013

November 15, 2013

Hi Fish Families!

The SMS Safe program is participating in a coat drive until 11/26. If you have any gently used coats that aren't being used at home, please consider donating them.

Here is a glimpse of our week in the fish classroom:

Language Arts: The children learned about the superstar u this week. We continue to sound out CVC words at morning meeting. Our shared reading book was The Tree House by Joy Cowley. We learned about ending punctuation. The children know that a period is like a stop sign for readers. It is where we take a breath before reading more. The class wrote and illustrated a version of the book.

Math: We have been practicing counting beyond 25 and proper formation of the numbers 0-9.  The children continue to play Monster Squeeze using the app by McGraw-Hill. I have linked the website version to our blog (student resource section).

Social Thinking: This week we practiced using our faces and bodies to express emotion. The children did some role playing and practiced guessing the emotions. We talked about how unexpected behaviors can cause people to have uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.

Visual Arts: We have been busy painting and making turkeys this week.

Up-coming Events:

  • Book Fair Shopping- 12/2 at 12:30
  • Word of the week- is
  • Handwriting- v,w & t
  • Phonics- s & z
  • Thursday, 12/19 at 12:30 Gingerbread Decorating Party (Save the date. More info to come.)
  • Tuesday,11/26- Class Breakfast from 8-8:30
  • 11/27-11/29- Thanksgiving Break
Have a great weekend!
Kristen

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Update

Hi Everyone.
I sent home the SMS holiday book fair packets without filling our shopping time in. SORRY!
The fish class will be shopping on Monday, 12/2 at 12:30. Please join us if you are able, but don't worry if you aren't. We will make a wish list to send home with the children.
Thanks,
Kristen

Friday, November 8, 2013

November 8, 2013

Hi Fish Families!

Here is a glimpse of our week together:

We have completed the review of uppercase letters in handwriting. The children are excited to begin working with lowercase letters next week.

Up-coming Events:

  • Word of the week- and
  • Handwriting- c,o & s
  • Phonics- u
  • Thursday, 12/19 at 12:30 Gingerbread Decorating Party (Save the date. More info to come.)
  • Monday, 11/11-No School for Veteran's Day
  • Wednesday, 11/13- Early Release (12:50) for conferences
  • Tuesday,11/26- Class Breakfast from 8-8:30
  • 11/27-11/29- Thanksgiving Break
Fondly,
Kristen



Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Reminder

Reminder

Tomorrow is an early release day (12:50 dismissal) for parent conferences and there isn't school on Friday or Monday. Enjoy the holiday weekend!

I also uploaded the fire safety photos to our Fickr photostream.

~Kristen

Friday, November 1, 2013

November 1st

Hi Fish Families!

Thanks to everyone who helped make our costume parade and special snack possible. The children loved showing off their costumes to SMS and family members!

Today we learned about fire safety. The children visited 4 stations (plus snack). They saw the tools on a fire truck and got to go in the truck, too. They saw a fire fighter all dressed in his gear and hear the oxygen tank. He taught the children to go towards that sound and never hide if there is a fire. We practiced stop, drop and roll and got to meet SPARKY! Thank you to all of the volunteer fire fighters who made this possible!

This week we had guided reading groups for the first time. The children were excited to be working on reading with their peers. Right now, we are doing this during center time. In math, we have been playing games and I have been doing the end-of-quarter assessing. The children should be proud of their growth!  Our halls are decorated with fall art. This week the children created scarecrows.

Donation Requests:

  • craft feathers
  • small plain white paper plates
  • large plain white paper plates



Up-coming Events:
  • Handwriting- G, T, and J
  • Word of the Week-so
  • Phonics- l and r
  • Thursday, 11/7- Early Release for conferences
  • Friday, 11/8- No School for Teacher Inservice
  • Monday, 11/11-No School for Veteran's Day
  • Wednesday, 11/13- Early Release for conferences
  • Tuesday,11/26- Class Breakfast from 8-8:30
  • 11/27-11/29- Thanksgiving Break


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Picture Retake

Picture retakes are scheduled for November 5th.

F.Y.I. We read a National Geographic book on Halloween today and learned that most parents say they eat candy from their kids' Halloween bags. (So, be careful.  They are onto us!)

Enjoy your trick-or-treating tonight!

Kristen

Friday, October 25, 2013

October 25th

I added some new pictures to Flickr. Be sure to check them out!

Here is a glimpse of our week in the fish classroom:

Language Arts: The children have been busy learning about the 'superstar' letters a & o. We also worked on the writing C,O, and Q in shaving cream and in our journals. Our shared reading book, Huggles Can Juggle featured our word of the week, an. We blended some sounds together to read C,V,C words.

Math: We have been working on counting and matching sets of objects to 10 and the children continue to play dice games. We are working on subitizing, immediately knowing how many items are displayed in a set of objects.

Visual Arts:  Our hall is looking spooky! The children made witches using basic shapes and jack-o-lanterns this week. We also drew and labelled BIG, SCARY, GREEN MONSTERS.

Book of the Week: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
Poem of the Week:  "5 Little Pumpkin"
Apps We Are Using: Counting Beads, Letterschool, G's Kitchen

Upcoming Events:

  • Handwriting- S,A & I
  • Sight Word- I
  • Phonics- m & n
  • Costume Parade-Wednesday, 10/30 at 9:00
  • Book orders due online-10/31
  • Early Release for Conferences- 11/7 & 11/13 
  • No School- 11/8 & 11/11
  • Family Breakfast- 11/26 8-8:30 *More info to follow

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Classroom Behavior Incentive

Hi Fish Families!
I just wanted to let you know that I started a classroom reward system today. If a teacher catches a student doing something "good" we will tell them to put a fish in the jar. When the jar is full, the children will vote on a class celebration. I will let you know when this happens. We are looking forward to celebrating all the wonderful things we are seeing with these "fish"!
Kristen

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Welcome!

Welcome to our classroom blog! I am excited for you to check it out. This site will be used to share news from the fish classroom. Please subscribe by email as soon as possible. This will be our main communication tool.

Follow these steps to subscribe:
1. Enter your desired email address in the subscription box located in the top right hand corner.
2. You will be given a code that you will have to enter to make sure you are not a robot. :-)
3. You will be sent an email that you will have to open. In that email there will be a link that you will have to click on to verify that you want to subscribe (if you don't do this step, you won't be subscribed.)
4. Congratulations! You will now receive all class information via email.

Thank you,
Kristen