Week of January 26-29, 2015

Week of January 26-29, 2015

Theme: Let's Investigate

Focus Question: How do objects move?

Letter of the Week: J

Dear Family,

This week, our class will complete Unit 4 by observing and exploring how things move. We will begin by pretending to float like bubbles in the air. Next, we will learn about vehicles with wheels and use words such as roll, spin, and zigzag. Finally, we will compare vehicles that roll on wheels and other vehicles that fly through the air. 

Learning Together

• Together, roll toy cars down a ramp. Change the height of the ramp, and have your child predict whether the cars will roll faster or slower.
• With your child, look through  magazines for pictures of vehicles with wheels. Cut out the pictures, and take turns sorting the vehicles by color, size, or purpose.
• Take a walk with your child, and make a list of the different kinds of vehicles, such as cars, bikes, wagons, buses, trains, trucks, tractors, and airplanes, that he or she sees. Then discuss how the vehicles on the list are alike and different.

Activities:

• We will be making a Jellyfish for the letter J
• We are going to test a variety of vehicles to determine how fast they go on flat and sloped surfaces. We will make predictions about which ones will go faster or slower on each type of surface. 
• We will also be making toilet paper tube rockets that we will make move with the assistance of a balloon. Please have your child bring in a toilet paper tube to school, if you have additional ones at home we would appreciate those as well.
• We are going to be practicing finding our names, the letters that make our names and writing them. 
• Some of the books we will read include: What Wheels Do All Day? and Move. We will use words to describe different ways our bodies can move.
• In the gym this week we will be practicing moving our bodies by playing follow the leader. We will also describe how our bodies are moving and how they feel when we move them in a variety of ways.

Upcoming dates:

• Report cards will go home on January 29th. Every student will receive a report card. For those students on IEPs you will also receive a data report which reflects each students progress on their individual goals and objectives.
• A conference form will also be going home with information regarding conference dates and scheduling conferences so please look for this in your child's backpack. 
• Show and Share on Thursday, January 29th letter J.
• Please bring in a toilet paper tube to school on Monday.
• Special Snack this week for letter J: Gabe. Please remember to send the snack in on Tuesday so that we can share it on Wednesday with both classes, which is approximately 20 students.
• February 12 will be the Valentine's Day party for the children only. More information will be coming home as the date approaches.
• February 16th-No School-President's Day

Week of January 20-22, 2015

Week of January 20-22, 2015

Theme: Let's Investigate

Making Comparisons

Focus Question: How can I compare things

Letter of the Week: S

Dear Families,

This week, our class will learn how to make comparisons. We will read a book titled Nature Spy. In addition to teaching children about fascinating and beautiful objects in nature, the book introduces the concept of sorting objects by attributes such as size, color, and texture. Children will have opportunities to use their sense of sight and touch to sort items in the classroom. they will also learn to put items in order according to length.

Learning Together

• With your child, become "Nature Spies" in your neighborhood. Closely observe natural objects such as twigs and stones, and compare their sizes, shapes, colors and textures. You could also do this while playing in the snow and making snowballs in a variety of sizes.
• Together, compare characters in stories such as "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" or "The Three Little Pigs." Talk about how the characters in each story are similar to and different from one another.
• Assemble items that can be sorted by color, size or purpose, and have your child arrange the items in groups. Socks, plastic eating utensils, and crayons are good items to use.
• While at the grocery store compare fruits and vegetables describing how they look or feel the same and different.

Activities:

• We will make a Snowman for our S craft.  
• Each child will choose an object in the classroom to measure. They will use conventional (ruler) and unconventional materials (paperclips, links, unifix cubes) to measure their item and record the measurement.
• We will be practicing our names in a variety of multi-sensory ways.
• In the gym we will be doing an obstacle course touching on a variety of skills such as jumping, hopping, balancing and throwing.
• Our story this week is Nature Spy and we will also be reading a Scholastic magazine about Penguins.

Upcoming dates:

• January 22-Show and Share letter S
• Report cards will be coming home on January 29th. If your child was in preschool with us last year you will notice that the reports will look a different. We have rewritten the report card to align with the new State Common Core Standards. There are also different reports cards for children who are 3/4 and children who are 4/5.  Please note the new reporting symbols and their meaning.
• February 16-No School-President's Day

Week of January 12-15, 2015

Week of January 12-15, 2014

Theme: My Detective's Tools

Focus Question: How can I use tools to investigate?

Letter of the Week: G

 Dear Families,

This week, as children continue to think and act like detectives, they will learn about tools that detectives use to gather information. Children will use a balance scale to compare the weights of objects, using the words lighter and heavier. they will use connecting cubes to compare the lengths of items, using the words shorter and longer. And using containers of various sizes will learn to use the words more, less, empty, and full. 

Learning Together:

• Together, explore the capacity of kitchen containers of various shapes and sizes. Fill two container with water or rice, and ask your child to guess which container holds more. Then measure the contents of each one.
• Read to your child "the Three Billy Goats Gruff," "the Gingerbread Man," or a similar story in which the characters solve a problem. Talk about the problem in each story and how it was solved. 
• Cook or bake a food item together, and invite your child to help you measure the ingredients.

Special Activities:

• Due to the snow day last Thursday if your child still has their Show and Share for letter Q in their backpack we will share them on Monday.
• We will read a story called "Making Tamales." Then we are going to plan a meal menu together choosing the foods making sure to make healthy choices and then we will make our meal the following day and eat it together.  We are going to weigh some of the foods and compare the weights of the different food items. 
• Each day we will compare a variety of objects using weight, volume and length.
• We will participate in some listen to reading activities using the classroom netbooks as well as our Tag readers.
• We will practice some of our letters by writing them in sand on trays. 
• We are also going to use our observation skills to write about an object of our choice. We will use a hand lens to look at it closely then we will draw the object. We will dictate or write the words that describe what our object looks like and feels like.

Upcoming dates:

• January 12-Ohio State spirit day, wear your scarlet and gray--O-H-I-O
• January 15-Show and Share letter G
• January 19-No School Martin Luther King Day

Week of January 5-8, 2015

Week of January 5-8, 2015

Theme: Let's Investigate

Focus Question: How can I learn by observing?

Letter of the Week: Q

Dear Families,

I hope everyone had a restful and happy holiday season. 

This week, as we begin a unit titled "Let's Investigate," children will learn to think and act like detectives. This week's lessons will provide children with opportunities to learn about and use their senses. Children will use their senses of sight, hearing, touch and smell to gather information and answer questions. They will also be introduced to tools, such as scales and magnifying lenses, that help detectives gather information. The students will use their investigative skills to explore objects that sink and those that float.

Learning Together

• Place a variety of items, such as a marble, a cotton ball, a lemon, and a crayon, in a paper bag. Have your child use his or sense of touch an smell to identify the items without looking in the bag.
• Together, play games of "I Spy." Say clues such as "I spy something in this room. It is red and soft. What is it?" Take turns giving clues.

Activities

• Exploring rough and smooth objects using the sense of sight and touch. The students will use magnifying glasses to determine if they can tell whether an object is smooth or rough by looking at it and then testing their hypothesis by using their sense of touch.
• Using a variety of objects the students will make predictions about whether each object will sink or float. They will then test their prediction to see if their prediction was accurate. We will graph the results of objects that sink and those that float.
• The letter of the week is Q so we will be making a craft for the letter Q.
• The students will participate in some listen to reading activities using Tag Readers and word work activities using the IPads.
• In the afternoon the students will review the three ways to read a book: read the words, read the pictures and retell the story.  These are components of the Daily Five which is an approach to structuring literacy activities. The students have already learned these three ways and have practiced reading the pictures.  I will demonstrate read the words by reading a funny book called "The Book With No Pictures." 
• The afternoon class will also begin learning about read to self.  We will make some anchor charts that describe what reading to self looks like and doesn't look like.  We will do some demonstrations of both and then the students will begin choosing books for their book bins. Each student will have a book bin to keep in the classroom which contains books they have chosen.  During read to self time the students will be working on increasing their stamina. Most students during read to self time will be reading the pictures or retelling the story although a few will also be working on reading the words. 
• The first week back is also a time for getting reacquainted with the rules and routines of school.

The a.m. class would like to welcome a new friend to school this week, Claire S. 

Important upcoming dates:

• January 8-Show and Share letter Q
• January 19-No School-Martin Luther King Day