Week of January 28-February 1, 2013

Hello Room 4 Families,
Here's what is happening in our classroom:

Important dates:
Friday, February 8: PTO family dance, 6-8 pm
Monday, February 11: No school
Monday, February 18: No school
Friday, February 22-Friday, March 1: Shortened days for parent/teacher conferences. Students will be dismissed at 12:20 pm from the cafeteria.

Language Arts:
We started our unit called "Stick to It", and the kids are having a good time with it. We are reading stories about perseverance. If you have any books at home that go with this theme, feel free to send them in and we will read them during class.
We will be reviewing the sounds of /m/, /a/, and /t/.
There are no new sight words this week.
In writing we will be working on a summary of this week's story, "The Great Big Enormous Turnip".

Math:
We are continuing to work on measurement this week. This week's objectives are to compare height and length to reference objects, to understand how height and length are alike and different, and to compare weight to a reference object.

Science:
We are continuing our unit on animals. This week we will focus on reptiles.

Thank you, parents, for all you do! Room 4 would not be a super place to work and learn without you!
Have a great weekend, and as always, feel free to email if you have any questions or concerns.
carrie-relles@scusd.edu

Week of January 21-25, 2013

Hello Room 4 Families,

Here's what is happening this week in Room 4:

Important dates: 

Monday, January 21: No school, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Friday, January 25: Free dress day

Friday, February 8: PTO family dance, 6-8 pm

Monday, February 11: No school

Monday, February 18: No school

Language Arts:

This week we will finish up Unit 4 about the Wind and begin unit 5, "Stick to It". This unit is all about perseverance. If your kids have any books that go with this theme they are welcome to bring them in to share.

New sight words: not

This week we will work on the sounds of /n/ and /s/. We will work on listening for, reading and writing words with these sounds. 

We will continue to work on identifying verbs.

Our writing for the week will be to summarize "Wind says Goodnight," a story we have been working on.

We will also begin talking about plots that have a problem and a resolution at the end. This type of plot structure is very common, so it would be good practice for you and your kindergartner to talk about the problems in the stories you read and how the characters resolve them.

Math: This week we will begin chapter 7 on measurement.This week's objective's are to compare length to a reference object and to order objects by length from shortest to longest. The vocabulary words are length, longer, shorter, longest, and shortest.

Science: This week we are continuing to study animals, specifically insects and reptiles.

I still need a couple of parent volunteers for our centers time (8:10-8:50) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, if anyone is interested in working in the classroom. This week we will have a centers time on Friday if anyone would like to help then!

100th day of school/Valentine's Day:

We have been counting our days in school and looking forward to the 100th day all year! This year the 100th day happens to fall on February 14. We will celebrate both day 100 and Valentine's day. We would love to have parents help with this! We will be doing a longer centers time on this day--8:10-9:10--and we need 1 more parent volunteer for this. We will celebrate Valentine's day at 12:15 by passing out cards. The kids are welcome to have a valentine for each classmate to pass out that day. I will provide more information as this day gets closer.

Thanks, parents and families, for everything you do! Enjoy your three-day weekend!

Please email me if you have any questions or concerns. carrie-relles@scusd.edu

Week of January 14-18, 2013

Hello Room 4 families,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a relaxing, enjoyable holiday with your families. We are back to work in room 4. The kids really didn't miss a beat this week as they got back into our routines.

Important dates:
Wednesday, January 16: Open enrollment tour for prospective students, 9am. Please let friends who are interested in learning more about Phoebe Hearst know.
Monday, January 21: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; no school
Friday, January 25: free dress day
Friday, February 8: PTO Family Dance, 6-8 pm

Language Arts:
This week we are continuing our unit on the wind. We will be focusing on the sounds of /h/, /t/, and short o. The kids will be listening for, writing, and reading words with these sounds.
New high frequency words: like and too.
We will be writing paragraphs about what we would do if we lived in a snow globe.

Math:
This week we will finish the chapter on numbers 11-20. We will work on counting to, writing, and comparing numbers 11-20.
We continue to review past concepts during Board Math

Science:
We are continuing our unit on animals. We will be comparing and contrasting different animals, talking about animal habitats, and learning about parts of insects.

If you would like to volunteer during our centers time from 8:10-8:50, we still need 3 more volunteers: one for Tuesdays, one for Wednesdays, and one for Thursdays.

Thanks, parents, for everything you do! Please email me at carrie-relles@scusd.edu if you have any questions or concerns.