Mrs.

Swales Love-Bug Weekly Learnings

September 29th, 2013

Up-Coming Events
Fun Run: Wednesday, October 2nd. We are at 42% of our classroom
donation goal!

Conferences: Please be sure to visit Volunteer Spot to sign up for a

conference with me for this October. I can't wait to meet with you! The conference schedule will be posted on Tuesday afternoon for sign up.

Fenner Nature Center: We will be visiting Fenner Nature Center for

their Nature a Bounds program about 5 senses and habitats. The date is Tuesday October 29 from 10:30-12:00. A permission form and parent volunteer sheet will be coming home this Friday along with donation amount. This will be a great trip that ties in well with what we are learning about in science!

Math
This week we worked with our classroom graph, graphing how many boys vs. girls in our class, are you the oldest in your family? Together we look at which is more, practiced counting and number writing. We explored number concept with the counting jar. Each day I put a different number of items in the counting jar. We pass the jar around and see how many different ways we can count. I was impressed with their creativity and critical thinking. We also explored different ways to represent numbers 7-9. Next week will spend more time on number sense as well through a variety of games and independent practice.

Zoo Phonics ABCs

So far we have met Ally Alligator (Aa), Francy Fish (Ff), Iggy Inchworm (Ii), Timothy Tiger (Tt), Sammy Snake (Ss), Missy Mouse (Mm), and Izzy Inchworm, (Cc) Catina Cat, (Dd) DeeDee Deer, (Ee) Ellie Elephant, (Gg) Gordo Gorilla, (Hh) Honey Horse, (Kk) Kayo Kangaroo, (Ll) Lizzy Lizard, (Nn) Nigel Night Owl, (Oo) Ollie Octopus, See if your child is able to share with you the motion and sound for each of these letters. Ask your child about our Zoo Friends and see if they can remember the letter name, motion, and sound that each letter makes!

Shared Reading
This week we used the song, The Eensy Weensy Spider, as our shared reading. I have the song, written in a book format. We used this familiar song to teach children the difference between a word and a letter. We counted words and letters on the page. We talked about how some people were reading it as, the Itsy Bitsy Spider but that as good readers, we look at the words. We see that the first sound of Eensy/ Itsy are different and that helps us with beginning to read and attending to the print. We have to see if what we are saying matches what is on the page. We played with language talking about rhymes as well. On Friday we made a cute class book titled the Silly Willy Spider. For each page of the book each child had to write their name kindergarten style starting with an upper case and all other letters lower case. We used our name tags to help us, this is something we will be working on. Each child will have a turn to share this class book at home over the next few weeks.

Classroom Newsletter

Love Bug Learnings

September 29th, 2013

Take Home Literacy Games

I hope you are enjoying the take home games with your child. The skills in each game are not one size fits all they may be review for your child or they may be a bit tricky where you may need to provide support or adapt the game to make it work for your child. They are meant to be a fun way for you to see some of the skills we are working on in the classroom! You may keep the bag for a few days. Check your child's name off the list when you are done and return for a new game! Thank you for helping to practice these skills at home!

This week we concluded our focus of our rules and expectations in our classroom family. Our focus was on how good friends don't fuss at or say hurtful things, rather we give a kind, and gentle reminder so we can help others learn, that is what classroom families and home families do. So, instead of tattling or pointing out negative, the children are practicing reminding in a kind way to help others. We also talked about what to do in a playground emergency. There are many teachers on the playground for serious situations which we discussed. We also talked about how running away might not give the message that we don't want to play, we need to use our words, and kindly, if the game is something we are not interested in playingl

Social Studies: Our Classroom Family

Writers Workshop
We learned that there are three parts of good writing: coming up with an idea, drawing a picture, and writing the words. We write after lunch and the children really enjoy this quiet time. I ask that everyone work very quietly so others can think. After about ten minutes of quiet writing, children start to finish. As this happens, they share their writing with me for quick publishing. I write their story the way it would be seen in a book under their writing (which for many is just the first sounds of words). After the child points to the words and reads their story to me, they read it to four other people and then put it in their browsing box for reading on another day. Beginning readers really enjoy rereading their own stories and this is great practice as well as a feeling of pride in their work.

Literacy Centers
Writing Center: Stories that have pictures and words, card making, list making, and labeling. Pocket Chart: Children matched upper and lower case letters with ABC zoo friends. Handwriting Center: Children built numbers using large wooden curves and lines. This helps children have a concrete feel for constructing the numbers. Fine Motor: Children created letters using mini light brights and playdough. Word Work: Children played a rhyming game. Big Books: Children read familiar books we have read together as a class. ABC Center: Children practiced matching words that begin with the same sound. Library Center: Enjoying good books

Warmly, Melissa Swales Swales_mr@elps.us