POPCORN WORDS: as, has

READING: This week during reading, we learned more information from non-fiction books. We learned that readers look closely at their books and ask questions, they point and talk so that they become experts on topics. We also learned that readers use the whole page and their whole brain to learn as much as possible about their books, looking closely at the entire page and point and talk about what they see. We finished the week in reading by being reporters! It was so fun! The class got to use a “microphone” and report all about their non-fiction books! 

WRITING: During writing this week, we began writing all about books! Our topic we studied this week was all about pigs. We started by listing everything we already knew about pigs. We learned a lot of information about pigs by reading a lot of books and then wrote about…

• things pigs can do
• things pigs have
• things pigs are

We finished learning about pigs by putting all of the information we learned about pigs into a book. We wrote complete sentences and drew and labeled pictures to go along with our writing. 

MATH: This week during math, we reviewed for our unit 4 math test and then took our math test. I am so proud of how much the Kinders have learned this year with numbers! We began unit 5 and learning more about teen numbers and partners of 10 – using the stars in the night sky!

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our phonics and literacy time this week, we worked on…

• unscrambling popcorn words
• reading the story of the Three Little Pigs and retelling the story
• coloring popcorn words
• practicing reading words in word families

MYSTERY READERS: We had A GREAT TIME having mystery readers each day this week! It was an exciting part of our day! We can’t wait to see who surprises us next week!

OUR SUPER STARS AND LUCKY…had fun getting to hang out together on their Super Star Day!

JET’S PIZZA PARTY!! On Friday, we had a yummy lunch of Jet’s Pizza, carrots, apple slices and Oreos (thank you Mrs. McCormick)! Thank you Jet’s Pizza for a delicious lunch! 

On a personal note…the kinders have been so sweet about cheering on my son, Zac (a senior), who just finished playing basketball for the Hudsonville Eagles! It has been fun to share basketball stories with our class and watch their excitement. Zac has appreciated all of the cute notes the kids have written him. I even got to show them a few clips of him on the news! Go Eagles! Thanks for letting me be a proud mom and share with you!

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, March 29: Music

Tuesday, March 30: Gym; Return Take Home Book Bags and Library Books today!

Wednesday, March 31: Art

Thursday, April 1: STEAM; Wear your pajamas for comfy reading time today!

April 2 – April 11 is Spring Break!

Enjoy these cute playground pictures from this week…

POPCORN WORDS: could, would, should

READING: This week during our reading time, we became copycat poets! We listened to the poem Are You Sleeping? and then made up poems that sound like that one…they had the same tune. We made up songs about reading, writing, math, playtime and recess. Each kinder got their own poetry book and practiced reading familiar poems in the book. We also used the poetry book to search for popcorn words – using our magnifying glasses of course! 

WRITING: During writing this week, we wrote another persuasive paper. Our topic this week was cleaning up when playtime is finished. We gave reasons why this is a problem and then gave a solution to the problem. We finished the week by making a poster to show that we will clean up when playtime is done!

MATH: This week during math, we practiced finding number partners for numbers 1-10. We also practiced more equations and tried solving many of them on our own. We even solved some St. Patrick’s Day equations! We finished our teen number books – practicing showing the given number using a ten stick and extra ones. We finished the week learning more about cones and cylinders. 

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our literacy and phonics time this week, we practiced many different skills. We focused on listening for the middle sound in CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. We changed the vowel in the word to make new words on whiteboards. We also practiced words in different word families. 

KINDNESS SUPER STARS…These are our Super Stars from the week spreading some kindness to others!

MYSTERY READERS…We had A GREAT TIME having mystery readers each day this week! It was an exciting part of our day! We can’t wait to see who surprises us next week!

ST. PATRICK’S DAY FUN…We had a fun St. Patrick’s Day! While we were at music, a leprechaun visited our room and turned some things upside down! He even left his footprints, some green coins, green jell-o and a green bracelet. Wow…we were surprised! We finished the week finding partners of ten using a “pot ‘o gold and some coins” and made fun leprechaun hats! 

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AWARENESS: This month is not only March is Reading Month in Kindergarten.  It is also March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Today, our class was gifted a book about disabilities from the Fountain Family called Just Ask. One of the kindergarteners at Georgetown, Nora, has a big brother (a first grader here at Georgetown) who was born with Down Syndrome. My son, Corey, feels lucky to get to be a helper with Joshua at school. As we continue to celebrate Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month we thank the Fountain Family for helping us all become more aware and celebrate all of our differences.  

FORT DAY FUN…On Friday we had fun celebrating earning our 5 stars for making good choices and SOARing! We had fun learning in our forts! Enjoy the fun pictures…

UPCOMING DATES:

Monday, March 22: STEAM

Tuesday, March 23: Music; Return Take Home Book Bags and Library books today!

Wednesday, March 24: Gym

Thursday, March 25: Art

Friday, March 26: STEAM; March is Reading Month fun – Wear jeans today! You can even add a belt or boots if you’d like!

Spring Break is: April 2 – April 11

POPCORN WORDS: were, where, there

READING: This week during reading, kindergarten readers practiced looking for similarities and differences in books about the same topic. They worked with the other kinders at their tables to find things alike and different. We had fun using magnifying glasses to look for popcorn words in books! The kinders enjoyed writing them in their journals. We finished the week by listening to and reading some poems. We noticed the rhythm of the poems. We practiced finding the rhythm in the poems by reading some familiar poems.  

WRITING: During writing this week, we wrote another persuasive paper. Our topic this week was lining up when the whistle blows. We gave reasons why this is a problem and then gave a solution to the problem. We finished the week by signing a poster that we will line up when the whistle blows.

MATH: This week during our math time, we practiced addition and subtraction equations. The kinders are getting better and better at doing these problems on their own. We also worked on drawing teen numbers…showing the ten stick and the extra ones. We practiced dot-to-dots as well as looking for number partners. We are sure working hard during math time!

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our literacy and phonics time this week, we practiced reading words that belonged to certain word families. I am so proud of how hard the kinders are working on this skill. We also read a new popcorn word book about shamrocks and searched for our new words – there and were. 

MYSTERY READERS…We had SO MUCH FUN having mystery readers each day this week! It was an exciting part of our day! We can’t wait to see who surprises us next week!

KINDNESS SUPER STARS…These are our Super Stars from the week spreading some kindness to others!

As a school, each classroom decorated their door with the western theme for March is reading month. Look at these cute cowboys and cowgirls posing with a book they like…

THANK YOU so much for meeting with me this week at your child’s conference! It was wonderful to get to talk with all of you about the progress your Kinder is making in kindergarten! I am very thankful for all of your support!

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, March 15: Art

Tuesday, March 16: STEAM; Return Take Home Book Bags and Library books today!

Wednesday, March 17: Music; St. Patrick’s Day…wear something green.

Thursday, March 18: Gym

Friday, March 19: Art; March is Reading Month fun…Wear a shirt with words on it!

POPCORN WORDS: about, home, went

READING: This week in reading we looked closely at non-fiction books. We started this week in reading learning about how Avid Readers talk like an expert – they use fancy words. Using a book called Honey Bees, we found the fancy words pollen and nectar. We looked at non-fiction books and found WOW things and shared them with our reading partners. We had fun reading playdates with our reading partners using non-fiction books. It was fun playing school and playing games with non-fiction books! We finished the week with each table studying a topic of non-fiction books. They had fun learning all about certain topics!

WRITING: During writing this week, we started a new type of writing – Persuasive Writing. We thought of  problems that we have at school and decided to write about walking in the hallway. We gave reasons why this is a problem and then gave a solution to the problem. We finished the week by making a poster to persuade students to walk in the hallway at Georgetown. 

MATH: This week during math, we practiced adding and subtracting equations. We also practiced partners of ten using 5 groups. We worked on some math mountains and drawing the partners “tiny tumblers” that are tumbling down each side of the mountain. We finished the week in math by learning more about cubes and other shapes. We made shape books to practice our shapes! 

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our literacy/phonics time this week, we practiced our popcorn words, word families and h brothers. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS!! We had fun celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday on Tuesday, March 2. We did all things Dr. Seuss…reading, writing, literacy, math and a lot of rhyming! We even made a Cat in the Hat to hang in our classroom. It was a fun-filled day!! 

KINDNESS SUPER STARS…These are our Super Stars from the week spreading some kindness to others!

SADDLE UP AND READ! is the school wide theme to celebrate March is Reading Month.  Each Friday will be various “dress up” days.  Please refer to our kindergarten March calendar that was sent home to see the themes listed.  

Each kinder that brings back their TAKE HOME books on Tuesdays will be entered in the school-wide March reading month giveaways.  Kinders will not be participating in keeping track of reading minutes on a weekly calendar.  

 Lasso a good book and have fun reading at home!

REMINDERS:

• Bring 2 snacks each day to school and a water bottle with a spill proof lid please.
• Return take home books and library books on Tuesday.
• Parent-Teacher conferences are Monday and Wednesday next week.

UPCOMING DATES:

Monday, March 8: Gym; Parent-Teacher virtual conferences

Tuesday, March 9: Art; Return Take Home Book Bags and Library books today!

Wednesday, March 10: STEAM; Parent-Teacher virtual conferences

Thursday, March 11: Music

Friday, March 12: Gym; March is Reading Month Fun…Dress like a cowboy or cowgirl – wear flannel or plaid!