MARCH 7-11

Good Morning Huard Huddle Families! 

Readers Workshop: This week and next we will be exploring classic Fairy Tales. We stated off by discussing what a fairy tale is and most of the children had some prior knowledge of this! We created an anchor chart similar to the one below so we can share our knowledge. We are enjoying different versions of the fairy tale The Three Little Pigs. We will discuss characters, setting, problem and solution during our unit. If you have versions of these stories at home that you would like to share please send them in! We will also be reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

 

Writers Workshop: We are working on writing our own reports. All of the writers in the Huard Huddle chose an animal that they were experts on and they are writing a report about their chosen animal. I look forward to sharing these with you at our Enrichment Evening! Their writing pieces are done INDEPENDENTLY! They verbally share their ideas but work independently to get their thoughts on paper! Hopefully we see capital letters to start a sentence, sounding out tricky words and writing sounds they hear, illustrating their writing and ending their sentences with punctuation. 

Math: Continuing with our unit assessment of numbers 11-20. We will be moving into addition and subtraction! It is a kindergarten standard to be able to fluently add and subtract within 5. I will be sending home flash cards to practice!

  

Sight Words: some, have, one

Sight Word Reader: Some Have

Science: I pick up our DUCK EGGS this coming weekend! I am looking forward to this EGG-CITING time with my kinders! Learning about this life cycle is so much fun! Feel free to come in and check out the eggs once we put them in the incubator next Wednesday! 

                                    

ADRIANNA IS OUR STAR STUDENT THIS WEEK!

 

Welcome Back!

Good Morning Huard Huddle Families!

I hope you have enjoyed your Winter Break! I know my family and I did! I am anxious to return and see my Huard Huddle friends! We have an exciting week ahead of us with READ ACROSS AMERICA WEEK!

Monday: WEAR RED AND WHITE!  We will kick off Read Across America Week with the classic Dr. Seuss book The Cat and the Hat!

Tuesday: BRING YOUR FAVORITE STUFFED ANIMAL TO SCHOOL! We will read Put Me In the Zoo! We will write about and share our favorite stuffed friend!

Wednesday: WACKY WEDNESDAY! Come dressed in your wackiest, zaniest outfit and hair! The classic story Wacky Wednesday will be enjoyed.

Thursday: There's A Wocket In My Pocket! Come to school in clothes that have lots of pockets with little treasures tucked inside! WE have fun with this one.

Friday:Wear your favorite SOCKS! We will read Fox In Socks!

If you have any box tops at home please send them in!


We are in need of page protectors. We use them at our centers and we recently ran out. If anyone has page protectors they wouldn't mind donating it would be greatly appreciated.



Math: We are continuing our unit TRICKY TEENS! We will be breaking numbers down into tens and ones! Our unit assessment will be coming up soon! The beginning of the month I also assess counting skills. Our goal is to count to 100! MANY are already there! Please practice and make sure your child is making progress! We have many friends with amazing NUMBER SENSE!

We have been learning about the penny and this week we will introduce the dime! Practice counting pennies and dimes at home! 

Sight words: do, play, yes
Sight Word Reader: Do You Play?

Word Work: AT family words and DIGRAPH work (th, sh, ch, wh)

I will be sending home flash cards with all 50 kindergarten sight words. Please be sure to practice them with your child. We have learned 30 out of the 50 so far but feel free to practice all of them! Please remember...they are SIGHT words. Children should be quick and automatic with them not sounding them out.

Writing: This week we will be creating a school web. Words that all relate to our experiences at school. Once our web is created the students will be taking these words and putting them into sentences. We are looking for

• starting a sentence with an uppercase letter
• finger spaces between words
• using our web and word wall to spell familiar words correctly
• putting punctuation at the end of our sentences

Science: OH BOY! It's that time of year! Spring is coming and Mrs. Huard is anxiously awaiting the arrival of our DUCK EGGS! I spoke with the farm over break and I will be picking up the eggs the weekend of MARCH 13! I love this unit and I know my students will as well! 

A Peek At Our Week 2/1/16

Good morning Huard Huddle Families!

I can't believe January has come and gone and FEBRUARY is here!

 

Lots of exciting things happening in February!

 

Monday we will discuss Groundhog Day! We will be making our predictions if there will be an early Spring or 6 more weeks of winter!

Please sign and return the Progress Reports! 

Box Tops: if you have any please send them in! 

 

Friday, February 12 we will celebrate our friendships! We will have a little Valentines Day celebration in the afternoon. We will pass out valentines and have some delicious treats. 

If you wish to send some treat in please let me know!

For our valentines please send in enough for 18 students. We don't need to put names on them. Just have your child sign their name so we know who it's from. 

Monday, February 15 will be our 100th day of school! We will celebrate this magnificent day by doing many 100 day activities! We will also be dressing like a 100 year old man or woman! Here is a picture of my own son when he celebrated his 100th day in kindergarten 4 years ago!

 

Readers/Writers Workshop: This week we are continuing our NON FICTION study! We will be reading INFORMATIONAL and FICTION books about groundhogs.Students are working on different non fiction pieces. Some are continuing with their bear books while others are working on informational books about groundhogs!

We will also be reading great stories about upcoming holidays; Valentines Day and Presidents Day. February is a short month but we will be busy!

We are learning all about the features of NON-FICTION, INFORMATIONAL books. 

*photographs vs. drawings

*headings

*table of contents

*bold print

*italics

*highlighted text

*pictures with captions

*tables/charts

*index

*glossary

 

Math: We are continuing our unit on numbers 11-20. We have been enjoying this song each morning:

 

 

We have been looking at one teen number each day. Last week we worked on 11-15. This week will be 16-20.  We are learning how to write the numbers, make tally marks, and show each number on a ten frame and with tens and ones blocks! It is very important for my kinders to know that 11 is made with 1 full group of 10 and 1 extra! 

Science: We are amazed with our Amaryllis! It has grown so much! Last week it grew 2 cubes in just one night! It is now 28 cubes tall and 4 blossoms are opening up! I know we are anxious to see it's progress Monday morning! I love the sparkle in their eye each morning when they come in to check on it! Science is such a wonderful thing!

Word Work:  I did not introduce new words last week. We needed a little more time the four words from the previous week. We have introduced all of the lowercase letters of the alphabet. We will be focusing on syllables, beginning sounds and clapping out CVC words.

Sight Words: me, him

Sight Word Reader: Look At Me

 

Week of January 19

Good morning Huard Huddle Families,

It was great being back with my Huard Huddle!  I'm pleased to say we have JUMPED right into 2016 with tons of energy and enthusiasm! The children are ready to tackle all the challenges the curriculum has to offer throughout the next 90 + days of school. We took our time easing back into our kindergarten routine after vacation. We spend time reviewing classroom expectations and school rules! 


I apologize for not posting recently! I hope to be back in full swing! We are so busy with three boys playing travel basketball that I can't seem to catch my breath! I know how busy you all are as well!


If you have any box tops please send them in~ Thank you for your recent box tops we are doing well!


Readers Workshop/ Writers Workshop: We have been working on studying features of NON FICTION books. Some things we have noticed about them are...






Our class enjoyed visiting our Weston Library last week because Miss V showed us where the NON FICTION books are and most of us chose to take one out! Happy reading!

Now that we know what features are in a non fiction book we are looking closely at BEARS! We have been working with partners to create a list of ideas for what BEARS   can do, what they have and what they are! We will then turn this list into sentences and eventually into a NON FICTION book about BEARS that we have written and illustrated ourselves! PHEW!!!!! We are HARD AT WORK!

Sight Words: his, her, will, come
Sight Word Reader: She Will Come
Letters; our last two letters will be introduced this week; y and x! We are also learning about the H BROTHERS!

Math: We have been wrapping up our unit on 2D and 3D shapes. Our assessment was on Friday and we will continue with it into next week. Kindergarten expectations are:

Unit 3- Shapes

MAS.M.G.K.1
 - Locate and describe objects in the environment using names of shapes and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

MAS.M.G.K.3 - 
Identify shapes as two-dimensional (lying in a plane, “flat”) or three-dimensional (“solid”).

MAS.M.G.K.4
 - Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/“corners”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).

MAS.M.G.K.5 - 
Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components (e.g., sticks and clay balls) and drawing shapes.

MAS.M.G.K.6 - 
Compose simple shapes to form larger shapes. For example, ‘Can you join these two squares to make a rectangle.

Our next unit will be NUMBER SENSE (numbers 11-20). We call these the TRICKY TEENS!  


Science: 2 weeks ago we planted an AMARYLLIS bulb! We have enjoyed watching it grow. We made predictions about how tall we thought it might get. We will be doing some "scientific journaling" about this wonderful learning opportuinty. We have discussed what all living things need to survive so we are being responsible about taking good care of this LIVING THING!

A Peek at Dec 14-18

Good morning Huard Huddle families!


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We are down to 7 1/2 days of school before our break. I am not sure where the time has gone but it seems to be going by faster and faster each year! 

Reminders;

Tree Decorating: This is not necessarily a Christmas tree. We are decorating Evergreen trees because we will be studying them this week. Please send in 1 container of white frosting and 1 small individual bag of M & M's. THANK YOU!

Dec 23: Early Release! Children will be dismissed at 11:15
 
Box tops: if you have any please send them in!

Report Cards: they go home this week. Please sign and return the envelope only. You can keep the report card for your records. Any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

SPIRIT WEEK: next week is Weston's SPIRIT week. We have some fun themes planned: 
Monday: Crazy Hat or Hair day
Tuesday: Weston BLUE day
Wednesday: PJ Day!

  Last week and this week we have be working on many different standards through the different Gingerbread Man stories. We have read and will continue to read;

 

Gingerbread Baby

Gingerbread Boy

Gingerbread Man

Gingerbread Girl

Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers

Gingerbread Friends

Gingerbread Cowboy

Gingerbread Pirates!

Gingerbread Man Loose in School

 

                              

 

We are focusing on sequencing stories, identifying characters, setting, problem and solution. We will look at how the stories we read and the stories we write all have a beginning, middle and end.  We will respond to books we've heard in our Reading Response Logs.  After hearing many different versions of the Gingerbread stories we will use a VENN diagram to compare and contrast different stories! 

 

Friday we baked our own Gingerbread Man but he has since escaped and is Loose in Weston School! We have been given many clues but can't seem to catch him! 

 

Fundations: Letters P, pan, /p/ and J, jug /j/

Sight Word Reader: Go In

Sight Words: review week 

 

Math: Last week we introduced our new unit of 2D and 3D shapes! We focused on 2D shapes; 

 

 

 

The children have learned about sides and vertices (corners)! They can compare the shapes and find shapes in their environment! Great job! We continue to practice counting to 100 by 1's and 10's daily. Please check in with your child and practice at home!

 

 

Our student of the week last week was SOFIE! Your friends in the Huard Huddle are proud of you!

 

 

 

A Look at Nov 30- Dec 4

Hello Huard Huddle Families!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I enjoyed the long weekend with my family! I am looking forward to seeing all my little, smiling, kinders though!  I can't believe we will be moving into DECEMBER already!!!

What a magical time of the year- especially when you are surrounded by children!!

 If you have a special holiday that your family celebrates this season, please let me know,
we'd LOVE for you to come in and teach us about it. Thank YOU!

 

Our Turkey Trot was a huge success! Thank you to all the families who donated items! I tried loading pictures last week but I was unsuccessful. Let's see if it works this time...

A big thank you to Corinne's mom, Nicholas's mom and Chance's mom for walking with us!

Readers Workshop:
This week we will continue reading personal narratives and other stories that help us understand illustrations more.

BOOKS WE WILL READ AND SKILLS TO DISCUSS:

Knuffle Bunny: We will use this story to help us see movement in illustrations, facial expression, character and setting, beginning, middle and end of stories)
Knuffle Bunny Too: boxed off pictures, examples of how the pictures give us more information than the words)
Knuffle Bunny Free
The Paperboy: boxed off pictures, passage of time, clothing, character, setting

These are great stories and the Knuffle Bunny is available in our monthly book orders!
                       


Letters this week:  E, Ed, /e/ and U, up, /u/
Sight Words: you, all, of
Sight Word Reader: Can You See?



Writing:
Lesson 1: Personal Narrative
Lesson 2: Telling stories in illustrations (we will apply the skills we learned during readers workshop into our own personal narratives)
Lesson 3: Drawing even hard to make ideas
Lesson 4: Carrying on as Independent Writers

MATH: This week we will focus on comparing numbers with Rekenreks and hands on games as well as review number writing. We will continue with our estimation and weekly graphing question.

Rekenreks
Monster squeeze
Top It!

 
The rekenrek, or arithmetic rack, was designed by Adrian Treffers, a mathematics curriculum researcher at the Freudenthal Institute in Holland, to support the natural development of number sense in children.
Smaller versions consist of two rows of 10 beads. Larger versions with ten rows of ten beads are also available. Each row is made of five red beads and five white beads. This allows students to make mental images of numbers. Using 5 and 10 as anchors for counting, adding and subtracting is obviously more efficient than one-by-one counting. This tool provides learners with the visual models they need to discover number relationships and develop a variety of addition and subtraction strategies, including doubles plus or minus one, making tens, and compensation, thereby leading to automaticity of basic facts.

We loved our play our few weeks ago! Here are some pictures from that wonderful field trip!

A BIG thank you to all the families who donated items for our FIFTIES party! The boys and girls had such a fun time celebrating this special day! These fun activities wouldn't be possible with your support. So the kids and I thank you!

 Do you like root beer floats?? Thumbs up if you do! Thumbs down if not!

 

Nicholas is our star student this week. Your friends in the Huard Huddle are proud of you!