February is Here!

Hard to believe that February is here!  I am so glad that January (our month of assessments) is FINALLY over.  The kids were wonderful and so patient as we worked to complete all of our MClass testing.  Report cards as well as your child’s MClass reading results will go home on Monday, February 3.  Please review that information, and feel free to e-mail me at sbruner@wcpss.net with any questions. 

As I’m sure you heard from your child, I was missing for several days this month.  I took a quick trip to NYC with my sister over the Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend, and I wound up getting stuck in a blizzard.  They had 12 inches of snow!  

The kids were fabulous for Mrs. Camel during my absence.  While I was gone, they read the story Miss Nelson is Missing.  Then, they wrote about where they thought I was during my absence.  Some of their responses were hilarious.  Who knew I was so adventurous with sharks?  And, some proved that they know me a little too well (i.e. my shopping addiction and my love for my dogs).  

We have been busy, busy, busy in reading!  We have been working hard on applying decoding and comprehension strategies.  This week in your child’s green folder, you will receive some handouts to support your child as they read at home.  These handouts are posted on my Web site as well at sarahbruner.weebly.com.  The only way your child is going to grow as a reader is to actually engage them in reading!  They should be discussing text with you and reading books on their level.  I can’t emphasis that point enough!!!  If you do one thing each night with your child, it needs to be READING!!

In math, we have been working on comparing shapes as well as positional words, and we are about to begin learning various strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems.  We have begun our big weather unit in science as well.  So far, we have learned about wind and made wind socks.  Currently, we are learning about thermometers and temperature. 

As always, thank you so much for all you do to support your child’s learning at home.  And, remember – READ, READ, READ!!!

Educationally yours,

Ms. Bruner

P.S. Thought you all might enjoy watching your children learn a new dance during one of our Wiggle Breaks!

New Year & Loads to Do!!!

Wow, can you believe that 2014 has already arrived?  Like many of you, I always start off the New Year by making several resolutions both personal and professional.  One of my professional resolutions is to update this blog at least once a month.  Here’s hoping that this is one resolution that I can keep! 

Before the holiday break, we had such a fun day celebrating!  We read and watched The Polar Express, had pajama day, made shortbread cookies and also created reindeer ornaments.  The kids had an absolute blast!  They were smiling from ear to ear all day long!  Thank you to all the parents who made our celebration possible!  Thank you for volunteering your time, energy and also for donating the supplies.  I have truly been blessed this year with an amazing group of kids and parents!  I am certainly one lucky teacher! 

Two days back, and we are already back to work in our classroom!  In reading, we will continue to work on segmenting and blending CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, asking and answering questions about fancy words; and, also identifying the characters, setting, and major events in a story.  In writing, we will begin working on crafting our own how to pieces.  At this point in the year, your child should be using upper and lowercase letters correctly in their work, making sure to use finger spaces between words, spelling common sight words correctly; and, writing the dominant sounds of words.  In math, we have begun studying both 2D and 3D shapes, and we will begin studying weather in science.  Like always, we are busy, busy, busy!   

Over the next several weeks, your child will be participating in mclass assessments in both reading and math.  And, at the end of the month, you will receive their second quarter report card as well as the results from the mclass assessments.  Also, I urge you to continue to practice your child’s sight words at home each night!  Sight words are so important for your child’s reading development and success.  I truly can’t emphasize that point enough!  Also, I am happy to provide you with more sight words, if you feel your child has already mastered the yearlong list sent home by the kindergarten team.    

Educationally yours,

Ms. Bruner

October is Disappearing!

Class Picture

Silly Class Picture 

Where is October going?  It is crazy to me how quickly time is flying by!  It is going to be 2014 before we know it.  I guess that happens when you are busy, busy, busy working and learning with some fabulous kindergarteners! 

In reading, we have spent the past couple of weeks discussing rhyming.  We read lots of nursery rhymes and poems in order to help identify these special types of words in text.  We even created our own version of Humpty Dumpty. 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty didn’t have a great fall.

Instead, he climbed down and listened to some birds,

As he practice writing rhyming words.

Afterwards, the kids created their own Humpty Dumpty.  They had to come up with two words that rhyme and write those words on Humpty Dumpty’s hands. 

We also read, identified rhyming words and acted out the poem, Five Little Pumpkins.  The kids then illustrated the poem. 

We have also been exploring how illustrations aid in the comprehension of text.  We have learned the importance of conducting picture walks before ever beginning to read and have even created our own story using wordless picture books.  I encourage you to practice taking picture walks with your child at home as well. 

In writing, we have continued to practice going through the writing process: think, picture it, sketch it, write it and add details.  This week, the kids learned a huge secret about writing…writers write what they know.   They write about events in their lives, their feelings and even things they love.  We have continued to practice sounding out words as we write and adding details to our work.  Mrs. Camel and I have been quite impressed with all of their hard work in Writer’s Workshop.  We certainly have a talented group of writers! 

In math, we have been working on creating our own math addition stories and using the number line to act out and solve these problems. 

In science, we have been wrapping up our five senses unit, and we are going out with a bang!  First, we explored various types of pumpkins - different shapes, colors and sizes.  After using our senses to discuss the outside of pumpkins, we cut one open for comparison.  The kids were so cute and surprisingly hesitant to stick their hands inside the pumpkin. 

We also drew self-portraits but with a slight twist.  They had to first draw themselves with their eyes closed and again with their eyes open.  They quickly realized just how valuable our sense of sight is to us. 

Eye's Closed 

Eye's Open

To discuss our sense of smell, the kids painted a rainbow using Jell-o paint.  As they created their rainbow, they discussed with a partner what they thought each color smelled like. 

We also spent some time exploring touch.  We played Footsy Feel.  They took off their shoes and felt various things with their feet.  Needless to say, taking off their shoes in class was quite exciting for them!

Conferences began this week and will continue through the end of next week.  If you haven’t been able to sign up for a time yet, please do so at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090444A5AC28A31-kindergarten.   

As always, thank you all so much for all you do to support your child at home.

Educationally yours,

Ms. Bruner 

What a Great Week!

It was certainly another busy, busy week in our room! 

Letterland is in full swing!  We have almost finished meeting all of our Letterland characters, and I hope your children have been introducing them to you at home and practicing each friend’s secret sound.   

In writer’s workshop, we have been working on labeling our drawings and have begun to write sentences.  One thing I always like to share with parents is that Mrs. Camel and I do not spell words for your children.  We expect our students to segment words and write down the sounds they hear as best as they can.  This is a practice that I encourage you to use at home with your children, as well!     

Just a quick letter that I like to share with parents.  

Der Parints,

Az ur child brings home riting for the ferst tim, do not be serprizd at the speling.  The inglish langwij is confusing for studints.  Prematur insistints that studints uz standar or “correct” speling inhibits their dezir and ability to rit.  We will uz “temporary speling” in r wrk.  It iz a grat assessment to se wut yor child nos.

Az parints u can hlp ur child bi prazing awl their riting.  Let ur child red thair riting to u.  displa thair riting around ur hom.  No that as ur child becomz familyer with riting, he or she wil wake the tranzishun to standar speling. 

Thank u! 

   

In science, we have been studying our five senses.  This week, we spent a lot of time discussing our sense of hearing.  We went on a listening walk around campus.  The kids had to be completely silent as we walked around.  Afterwards, we discussed all we had heard on our walk.  Some heard our feet walking, crickets, birds, cars, and even dogs barking.  We also created our own music box.  The kids decorated a box and were each given two different sized rubber bands.  Before they were allowed to play their music box, they were asked to make a prediction about whether they thought the rubber bands were going to make the same sound or a different sound.  The kids had such fun with this activity. 

We also began exploring our sense of touch.  The kids worked together in groups and were given three mystery bags.  Using their sense of touch, they were asked to describe the contents of the mystery bag.

In math, we have continued to work on counting by ones and tens to 100, drawing scenes of numbers 1-10, and also one-to-one correspondence.  In the coming weeks, we will begin flexible grouping in math.  More information will be shared once this begins.  

Also, the kindergarten team sent home information regarding our very first field trip to the Farmer’s Market last week.  If you have not yet had a chance to return your paperwork and field trip money, please do so in the coming weeks.  Also, please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

Conferences will begin in a couple of weeks.  Please sign up via the following link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090444A5AC28A31-kindergarten.  If none of these times will work with your schedule, please e-mail me at sbruner@wcpss.net, so we can schedule another time.          

As always, thank you all so much for all you do to support your child and our classroom.  I hope you all had a restful weekend.  Mrs. Camel and I look forward to seeing all of our kindergarteners tomorrow!  

Educationally Yours, 

Ms. Bruner