Q and U Live Happily Ever After...

We were lucky to have a videographer for the marriage of Q & U! Check out the video of the nuptials!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my8OvAWoGG0

We Made It To the 100th Day!

Snow storms pushed back the 100th Day of School but, we finally made it!! We made our 100's into different objects. Check out our video to see our work!

What a Winter!

We've had a busy January! We spent the majority of the month doing quarterly assessments. We reassessed: letter sounds, letter identification, sight words, rhyming, beginning sounds, spelling three letter words, and Concept of Word. In Chesterfield we use the PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) that was developed at UVA. You can find out more information here! Be on the lookout this week for your child's updated scores. I was VERY pleased with the progress everyone is making!

In science and language arts we've been reading books about snowmen and winter! This weekend will be a great time to enjoy some snow! We've also been exploring properties of water. We used plastic tubing to see which direction water flows. We've observed water changing stages from a solid to a liquid and then to a gas!

In Social Studies we've been learning about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Small group math and reading time has been fantastic! Thank you for listening to your child read their take home books! They're becoming awesome readers!! Continue to practice using their beginning reading strategies when they're stuck on a word!

1. Get your mouth ready (say the beginning sound)

2. Look at the picture

3. Think about what makes sense

4. Look for the parts of the word you know (birthday, Saturday, etc.)

5. Re-read the sentence.


Again, thank you for all of your help at home!!

Run, run as fast as you can!

Time has flown by! October and November have come and gone in the blink of an eye! We've enjoyed many activities! From the Pumpkin Patch to the Thanksgiving Feast...we've been busy! Here's a link to my online photos from September-November. (Click Here!) I hope you enjoy looking at them with your child! Ask them about the activities you see pictured!

We just finished our unit on the Gingerbread Man. In addition to reading the traditional story we read: "The Gingerbread Boy", "The Gingerbread Baby", "The Gingerbread Girl", and "The Gingerbread Cowboy"! We compared the characters, settings, problems, and solutions of all books. We enjoyed many activities that centered around gingerbread. Our favorite was tasting gingerbread!

We've been reassessing sounds, letter recognition, and sight words. We've been setting sight word goals and many students are very close to learning all 31 kindergarten sight words! Thank you for all the work you do at home! Remember when your child brings their reading folder/words home to help them figure tricky words out by: reminding them to get their mouth ready (say the beginning sound), look at the picture, think about what makes sense, and look for parts of the word they know (going...they know go and ing...blend it together!)

When writing make sure they're clapping syllables (but-ter-fly) and stretching the syllables slowly to hear each sound. At this point they should just be writing the sounds that they hear. It doesn't have to be perfect! When writing their first and last names only the first letter should be uppercase!

We're enjoying many math games! Continue counting by 1's to 20, by 10's to 100, and by 5's to100. Use fun holiday objects to make growing and repeating patterns (red bow, green bow, green bow, red bow, green bow, green bow).

Our field trip to the Science Museum is tomorrow! I'll be sure to take a lot of photos and videos while at the museum. We will be enjoying a holiday treat and crafts on Friday afternoon.

I hope your families have a wonderful winter break!

Success!

Thank you so much for coming to Parent/Teacher conference day! It was great to see all of you again and share the progress your child is making!

If you were unable to attend I'd love to set up another date and time to meet with you. Contact me @ school (743-3665) or send a note with your child to school. I am available most days from 8-9am and after school.

Thanks again!

Parent/Teacher Conference Day!

Next Tuesday, November 3rd is Parent/Teacher Conference day! I would love to sit down with each of you to discuss your child’s progress. We've completed PALS testing (see http://pals.virginia.edu/ for more info!) and I'm anxious to share how your children are adjusting to kindergarten! Look for a conference time request sheet that went home today. The sooner you get it in, the better your chance is for your first choice in times! I look forward to meeting with you!