First in Math

First in Math at the Smartboard!

Building stamina during Daily Five

We have been working really hard during Daily Five building stamina. The children are up to 17 minutes of reading independently from their book baskets. As soon as we get to twenty minutes consistently I will be able to start working with small groups in guided reading. 

Student Ambassadors

Erin Nagle and Hannah Burke are our two student ambassadors this school year. Student ambassadors are older students who will teach a lesson on the lifeskill of the month and sitting with us at church. This is a great program that the student ambassadors volunteer to participate in. They have to prepare the lessons and then teach to the children. I have to observe them and then critique their lesson noting their strengths and weaknesses. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to use their speaking skills and gives the kindergarten students the opportunity to use their listening skills. Listening skills are something that we are working on everyday at school and we have speaking and listening standards in kindergarten that the children will be graded on this year so any opportunity to practice those skills is important. There is also a Family Connect sheet in this week's Friday folder that you will need to complete with your child. These Family Connect sheets are religion homework and as with all homework there is a due date and will be recorded in my grade book. These Family Connect homework sheets are a great way to start a conversation with your child about the lifeskill of the month. The lifeskill for this month is friendship. I love that this is the first lifeskill because we all want friends but in order to have friends you need to be a friend. We have to teach the children at a young age what that looks like and sounds like with our actions and our words.

First In Math

First in Math is an online program that gets students excited about math. First in math allows the children to progress at their own pace and master math skills. Just as you have to practice in order to succeed at sports or playing an instrument, students need to practice their math skills. First in Math gives the students the opportunity to practice those skills. It is engaging and fun for the children so they like to practice their math skills. I will be checking every morning beginning on Monday, September 30 to see who has earned the most stickers by practicing math skills on First in Math. The child with the most stickers will have their name posted on the door and will get to wear the First in Math badge for the day. The children get very excited about that! You will be hearing more about First in Math. Just like to reading to your child everyday will help them learn how to read, getting on First in Math daily will help your child with their math skills. In this week's Friday folder there is a parent letter and your child's log on and password at the top of the parent letter. DO NOT THROW AWAY THAT INFORMATION SHEET.

Checked papers

When a paper comes home with a check mark that means I have checked it and it has been recorded in  my grade book and it does not need to be returned. PLEASE go over the work sent home with your child. I have had many papers returned with no name on them and not all questions answered and I do not know who to credit for homework returned. We are working on writing our names correctly at school and it is one of our goals on the October goal sheet so they know how to write their name they just need someone to remind them at home.

Awesome

Congrats to Olivia! She tied for third place for selling the most entertainment books and she was acknowledged at church. Trash bag sales are going on now. We are getting closer to our goal so we can redo the playground. Thank you for your participation. 

Smart Board in action!

Book Orders

Book orders are sent out once a month in Friday folders with a due date if filling out the paper version. You can also order on line very easily. The order code for our classroom is on the front of the book order. The kids love it when I give them a book or books that you ordered for them. Points are earned with every book order from a student and then I can order books for the classroom. I use the books for shared reading, guided reading and in the children's books baskets.
Thank you for ordering books.

Brain Gym

Ms. Laura from Irvington Wellness Studio  comes on Wednesday before Mass to do Brain Gym movement activities to help us focus and start our day!

The Story of Creation

In religion we are learning about the Story of Creation. One of our religion standards is that the children understand that God created everything and that everything is a gift from God. The children are currently making a picture book depicting the story of creation. When they are done their books will be in their book basket to use during Daily FIve.

Daily FIve

We learned the third was to read a book- Retell the story. Retelling the story is going thorough a book that was read to them and have them retell the story with great detail. The three ways to read a book are- read the pictures, read the words, retell the story. The children are using these three ways to read a book during Daily FIve using the books in their book baskets and at transition times out of the book baskets on the table. I hope that you will soon be seeing and hearing your child using the three ways to read a book at home as well.

Mr. MoJo

Tuesday we will be attending an anti bullying program at Scecina Memorial HIgh School. I encourage you to attend the parent meeting in the church Tuesday from 7-8 so you can have a conversation with your child about bullying. In kindergarten we are focusing on using manners, kind words and actions with each other. We are working very hard as a staff and school to make sure all students feel safe and included at school.
Mrs. Catton

Daily Five

The first day of Daily Five went great! We are working on building stamina, We learned two ways to read a book- read the pictures and read to words. 

Daily Five

Tomorrow I will be introducing to the children the Daily FIve, which is the framework we use for our literacy block. We will create routines and procedures that will foster literacy behaviors. My goal is to have the children become excited about their reading and writing. The Daily Five consists of Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Listening to Reading, and Word Work. We will begin with Read to Self. Each child has their own book basket they will be reading from. We will begin with the three ways to read a book: read the words, read the pictures, and retell the story. Together we will create charts about behaviors used during Read to Self and will start building stamina. Our goal for tomorrow is that we can get everyone in the class to read appropriately for three minutes. Remember the three ways to read a book and hopefully I will hear the children talking about what they see on the pages of the book or reading any words that they recognize. With practice daily we will be up to twenty minutes before we know it and at that time I will be able to work with small groups in guided reading because the other children have learned how to work independently. You will be hearing a lot more about the Daily Five.

Mass and Library

Tomorrow we will be attending Mass for the first time as kindergartners. It is a PE day as well so the kids should be in their gym uniform. Today we went to church where we learned the Mass procedures and had a chance to practice. I told the kids that Wednesday is my favorite day of the week because I get to take them to church. I hope that you are taking your child to Mass or a church service on the weekend. You are your child's biggest influence. I just talked to the teacher who is teaching Library and the kids are going to get to check out a book from the library tomorrow. The book they check out will need to be returned by the following Wednesday in order to check out a new book. You can use that book on their reading log. This is a great opportunity to have your child work on responsibility. These books are borrowed and they need to be responsible for them.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton