Weekly update 10/25

 11/11: Veteran's Day - No School

11/12: Music Concert --Higley Center for the Performing Arts (4132 E Pecos Road Gilbert, AZ 85295)

• K-2 Concert will be 5:30-6:30 p.m. with students arriving at 5:10 p.m.
• 3-5 Concert will be 7:00-8:00 p.m. with students arriving at 6:45 pm

11/20: Kindergarten Thanksgiving Celebration - Email is coming with information

11/22: Spirit Wear Day, Treat Friday, Birthday Book Club

11/27-11/29: Thanksgiving Break- No School

12/16-18: Early Release days

12/18: Kindergarten Gingerbread Hunt

12/19-1/3: Winter Break -No School

1/6-1/8: Early release Days Parent-Teacher Conferences

1/11: Grandparents BINGO night

Check out what we learned this week:

Spalding:

This week in Spalding we continued working through new phonograms and have learned and practiced 1-37. We learned our first set of phonograms with a cue of "not used" which is because they have an i and "English words don't end with i".  We also added new spelling words go, at, on. Keep practicing your phonogram flash cards and your weekly sight words.

Literature:

We enjoyed continuing our reading of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle where she helped a mom with a "won't pick-up-the-toys-cure". She found some creative ways to help him learn to clean up his things. We also read another Tall Tale about a man named John Luther Jones, or Casey Jones. He was real person who was a train engineer who showed how to be a hero and show many virtues. We learned more about exaggeration as well. Finally, in Grammar, our full-day students continued talking about when to capitalize a letter. 1. When it is the first word in a sentence. 2. When it is a special naming word, proper noun. 3. When you use the word I.  

Math:

This week, we continued comparing numbers using many different vocabulary words. While pointing out which group has more or less, the students were comfortable giving their answers. However, when framing the sentence with "greater than" or "less than" it proved to be a lot trickier for our scholars. The students have used matching one-to-one and counting to check their work. Looking at the number alone seems too abstract for most scholars, so we will continue to develop that skill moving forward.

History:

The children have enjoyed learning about different Native Americans this week. We learned about the traditions of the Wampanoag and heard the story of the Bear, Gull, and Crow. The children learned how vital corn is to many different native groups. We also learned about the Hopi and Pueblos of the Southwest. The children were interested in learning about where people lived and how the Kachina represented things important to the Hopi people. 

Science:

This week, we continued our plants and animals unit by discussing where plants will grow. We remembered carrot plants are the root part of the plant. We began experimenting with the carrot by placing it in a container of water and food coloring. We will see next week what has happened to the carrots. We also discussed how all vegetables come from plant parts, such as leaves, stems, and roots, but fruits grow as supplemental parts. We applied our knowledge to understand which things we eat would be vegetables and which would be fruits. It was fun to learn that many things we thought were vegetables are actually the fruits of a plant. Finally, we predicted what would happen to four plants grown in different conditions. These conditions include a variety of exposure to sunlight, water, and air. We will record our observations as we notice any changes in our plants.

Weekly Update 10/18

  Important Dates:

10/23: Kindergarten Pumpkin Day - please see the sign-up email to help with supplies or volunteering

10/25: Dress like your favorite book character, Treat Friday, Birthday Book Club

11/11: Veteran's Day - No School

11/12:   Music Concert 

11/20: Kindergarten Thanksgiving Celebration - Email is coming with information

11/22: Spirit Wear Day, Treat Friday, Birthday Book Club

11/27-11/29: Thanksgiving Break- No School

Thank you for joining us during conferences. We enjoyed sitting down and sharing with you how your child is doing. We are grateful for your partnership as we move forward in our learning.

***NEW HOMEWORK NEXT WEEK ***

   Reading Bags: We will begin sending 3 books in their reading bags next week. Allow them to read using their knowledge of sounding out and recognizing phonograms. Remind them to follow the words with a finger and step in if they are confused. If you struggle with this, contact your child's teachers for guidance. Remember, it is about practice. For some, this is 5 min, and we build to more time as they gain confidence. You take turns reading a page to demonstrate how to sound out words. The goal is to help them become independent readers, which can take time. Please be patient, as it is a fluid process.

https://safeshare.tv/x/fEb4UYOtd3s   (Flashcard review- move the cards from back to front so you see the back of the phonogram first and can help if needed. This will also ensure there is only one card facing your child at a time)

https://safeshare.tv/x/K6WAMMv3qeo  (Written phonograms - you say the phonogram sound only, they will repeat the sound and write the phonogram. This is an integral part of learning Spalding, please do not just copy letters or use the letter names during this practice)

Check out what we learned this week:

Spalding:                                           

This week was short, but we continued our journey with phonogram sounds. This week, we reviewed phonograms 1-34. Please encourage your child to notice the phonograms we have learned in the books you are reading and in the world around them. We will begin spelling words next week, learning to read independently, and recognizing Sight words. This is the beginning of a very exciting time of the year!

Literature:

We enjoyed beginning our first chapter book this week. We have read 1 Chapter in the book Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. By reading a chapter book this quarter, we are taking things slow and practicing hearing good language in a story that is read over a longer period. We hope they will learn to retain what we read previously and build their ability to remember and recall events in a story. She is a silly and helpful lady. Ask your scholar what they remember about her. 

Reading about Johnny Appleseed this week, we also explored our first Tall Tale. We discussed what it means to exaggerate and practiced identifying what was exaggerated in the story. In Grammar, our full-day students have begun to learn about describing words-adjectives, such as the blue house, hairy dog, large house, etc. We used sentences from our stories to talk about what words were nouns and what words described them.

Math:

We continued our studies of shapes by using them to make patterns. The scholars used many attributes like color, shape, size, and shape while making patterns. It was good practice repeating the shapes' names while saying the patterns. The students also made their own pattern and had partners fill in what comes next or is missing. We also spent a day discussing positional words such as in-front-of, behind, above, below, next-to, etc., to practice showing or telling where something is located. Using these phrases at home is a great way to practice math and language skills. 

Science:

We began a new unit this week, learning about plants and animals. We used our five senses to explore a seashell and also used our language of science, asking: What do you notice? What do you wonder?, and What does this remind you of? as we looked at images of various animals and a seashell. We also read a book about living and nonliving to help us understand the difference. We learned all living things need energy and air, will grow and change, and reproduce or replicate themselves. We took a nature walk to see what living and non-living things we could find around our school. 

Weekly Update 10/4

 

Enjoy Fall Break -See you at conferences

Important Dates:

10/7-11: Fall Break - no school  

10/14-10/15: Mandatory Q1 conferences 

10/23: Kindergarten Pumpkin Day - please see the sign-up email to help with supplies or volunteering

10/25: Dress like your favorite book character, Treat Friday, Birthday Book Club

11/12:   Music Concert 

11/11: Veteran's Day - No School

11/20: Kindergarten Thanksgiving Celebration - Email is coming with information

11/22: Spirit Wear Day, Treat Friday, Birthday Book Club

11/27-11/29: Thanksgiving Break- No School

Check out what we learned this week:

Spalding:

Throughout the week, we reviewed all single 26 single-letter phonograms. We also introduced our 1st set of 2 letter phonograms: sh, ee, th, ow, ou, oo, ch, and ar. We focused on where our tongue is when we say the sounds for th. One is unvoiced with air, and one is voiced with sound, but our tongue is between our teeth for both. This skill takes a while for some children, so please keep practicing at home. Example: practice saying Thursday, three, the, or this and have them observe where their tongue is in the mirror. Then, have them practice watching where their tongue should be. We also continued to work on finding the syllables and sounds for simple words. We will soon begin weekly Spelling words. 

Literature:

This week, we read Arrow of the Sun, a Pueblo Native American tale. We talked about virtuous characteristics, such as courage and perseverance. We continued our week reading Jumping Mouse and learned about friendship, perseverance, and wisdom. Then we read another Native American Legend called The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. The class talked about how Native Americans used plants to make colors and dyes for things. For poetry, we listened to the poem One, Two Buckle my Shoe. We acted it out and talked about rhymes and numbers. While studying grammar, we spoke about capitalizing the 1st word in a sentence. We also continued to review retelling a story or part of a longer story. 

Math:

This week in math we finished our study of shapes and used those shapes to talk about patterns. We have learned all about cones, cubes, cylinders, spheres, circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, and hexagons. We discussed all of the different attributes to the shapes and defined a lot of new vocabulary like faces, sides, and corners. The scholars successfully sorted shapes by many different attributes and had a lot of fun trying to find obscure ways to sort our shapes. Once we were finished sorting our shapes, it was time to make patterns with them. Since we had practiced sorting in many ways the students were thrilled to see how many ways they could make patterns.

History:

The children traveled to Italy and Greece this week for the history lesson! We learned about the culture and food. The children decorated a map of Italy using pasta one of the common foods in Italy and learned there are about 600 different shapes of pasta. In Greece, the children learned about some of the ancient Greek ideas that we still use today. They also decorated a vase to take home, and enjoyed using stamps and paint to create their designs. 

Science:

We finished our quarter by reviewing our five senses and discussing how to stay healthy. The students enjoyed using a popcorn popper to use all their senses to observe what they were hearing, smelling, touching, seeing, and finally tasting it. We learned that popcorn on its own does not have much flavor but all the goodness comes from the butter and salt. Next quarter, we will begin a new unit for science and learn about plants and animals.