week of March 12, 2012

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones Nifty Newsletter (Week of March 12)

In Phonics, our letter is Xx like at the end of Fox. We will be having a Treasure Hunt at the end of the week to find the “Xx that marks the spot.” We have also been working on a new Phonics rule for long vowels. The rule is “When a vowel is not followed by a consonant, the vowel is long and we code it with a macron.” We also talked about the sound that long vowels make. They say their own name. Examples of the words we have been coding and reading are: me, he, so, no, hi. We are also naming words that begin with long vowels (acorn, equal, icicle, overalls and universe.

In Math, we will be working on identifying and writing numbers to30, reviewing penny, nickel, and dime. We will also be introducing quarters. A favorite lesson of ours is the tangram lesson and we will be working more with them as well.

To get ready for St. Patrick’s Day, we will be graphing and comparing Lucky Charms. We also had a Kid Writing about what we would do with a pot of gold that we found.

In Reading, our story is Mayday! Mayday! A Coast Guard Rescue. It is a nonfiction story and we will be learning about the ins and outs of a rescue. We will also be talking about different kinds of transportation that can be used in an emergency. Our skill is linking the cause to the effect and talking about the features of a nonfiction text.

Library is Day 2, Tuesday, please remember your books. Gym is Day 4, Thursday, please wear your sneakers.

Information about Kindergarten Graduation went home on Friday. These pictures will be on March 30th. The children will be wearing caps and gowns for the pictures. Your child will need to wear a white collared shirt so that the collar will be visible. If you need an extra picture form it is located on our blog to print.

We would just like to give a big shout out to all of our hard workers! We have started some report card testing and will continue to do so over the next week. Everyone is trying their best and working so hard. We are also working on word families, spelling words, and writing sentences. Great job everyone!

graduation picture form

Week of March 5

Mrs. Borden & Mrs. Jones Nifty Newsletter (Week of March 5)

We had so much fun this week celebrating the great Dr. Seuss and Read Across America! We read many of his books and worked on extensions to go along with each book. We tried green eggs, made Oobleck, Daisy Head Hats, played Dr. Seuss Jepordy, writing activities and a special reading of Green Eggs and Ham and Cat in the Hat from Tim Tebow and Justin Bieber via the Smartboard! Thank you to the Bloomsburg University students for visiting on Friday to read Oh the Thinks You Can Think and coming up with a great follow-up lesson. We would also like to thank our other guest readers, Gary Glessner, Aileen McCabe, Christine Ratkiewicz, KayAnn Shearn, Nick Brayford, Jaclyn Mogish, Morgan Koutch and Sarah Wagner.

Our new Phonics letter is J as in jar and Jones. We will work on identifying the medial sound in words, identifying the accent on a syllable within a word, and separate words in compound words.

Word list 15 will come home on Monday. All sight words are now included in the sleeve of your folder. Please continue to practice.

In Math we will graph, explore slides, turns and flips with tangrams, identify the relationships between larger and smaller numbers, will count forward and backward on a number line and match number cards to sets of objects.

Our new Reading story is Max Takes the Train. We will talk about forms of transportation. We will focus on fiction and nonfiction.

Monday will be Day 1. We will have Art. Don’t forget your library book for Tuesday and sneakers for Gym on Thursday!

week of February 27, 2012

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter
(week of February 27)


Next week in Reading we will finish Unit 4 Let’s Explore. We will be reading the story Abuela. We will discuss adventures in a city. Students will review the vowel Ee and the story element, setting. In Phonics we will be learning about the consonant “Vv” as in vest, vegetable, and volcano. A big thank you to all the parents that completed the dinosaur projects with their child. They were all DINOmite!!! Word List 14 will be tested Friday, March 2nd.In Math, we will continue to practice using nickels and counting by 5’s.

On Friday, March 2nd NSE will celebrate “Read Across America.” In the morning we will have students from Bloomsburg University visit our classroom to teach a lesson using a Dr. Seuss book. In the afternoon, a retired North Schuylkill Elementary teacher, will visit our classroom for another special Dr. Seuss lesson. We will be doing lots of Dr. Seuss activities all week and we might even have a few surprise guest readers!



Specials schedule for next week is:
Tuesday: Gym, please don’t forget to wear sneakers!

Week of February 20

Mrs. Borden & Mrs. Jones Nifty Newsletter (Week of February 20)
Homework
Tuesday – Thursday Reader
Monday – Thursday 1/2 sheet

There will be no school Friday February, 17 and Monday February 20.

Our new Phonics letter is D as in dog. We will alphabetize, identify the initial, medial, and final sounds in words and practice identifying letters out of order.

Dinosaur Report
To help us learn about different dinosaurs we will be doing reports. We are looking for your child to know the name of their dinosaur, 2 or 3 facts about it, and a picture. Students will present their report to the class.

In Math we will make ABBC patterns using pattern blocks, divide by sharing, compare numbers through 10, identify right and left, and explore tangrams.

Our new Reading story is called If You Could Go to the Antarctic? We will talk about what it would be like to take an adventure to the Antarctic. We will classify and categorize animals that live in the water, land and on both. We have some really fun centers planned to go along with this story.

We are so proud of the progress that our students are making in their Kid Writing. We write in our journals daily. Sometimes students are given prompts and other times they write about whatever they want. The stories and illustrations are filled with details and interesting thoughts. Great Job!

We are having so much fun with our new Science Unit called Wood and Paper. We have been observing wood samples and conducting experiments. We are keeping track of our findings in our Science Journal.

week of February 13, 2012

In Phonics, our letter is Yy like in Yarn. Please continue to review all letters and sounds and sight words/high frequency words that are located on the back of the Phonics practice page daily. Word List 12 will be sent home and tested at the end of the week.
In Math, we will be working with numbers 0-20 and comparing sets of objects. We will be dividing things by sharing them and identifying hot and cold. Also, we will continue our work with nickels, but please don’t forget to review penny and dime.
In Reading, our new story is Goldilocks and The Three Bears. We will be discussing what kind of adventures a little girl can have and sequence the events in the story.
Our Valentine Party will be on Tuesday, February 14. Please don’t forget your Valentines!
Our Gym day is Day 4, Tuesday. Please wear sneakers.
Papers that come home that are extra are from the writing center. The students may pick papers to keep in their desks are work on during transition times. They do not have to be completed for homework.
There will be no school on Friday, February 17 or Monday, February 20 due to Teacher In-Service. School will resume Tuesday, February 21.
Thank you so much, but we are no longer collecting coupons for the Troops. Thank you to everyone who participated. Please see the pink paper for further details.

Week of February 6

Mrs. Borden & Mrs. Jones Nifty Newsletter(Week of February 6)

Homework

Monday-Thursday 1/2 sheet and decodable reader

Our new Phonics letter will be E as in elephant. We will unblend sounds in words, review letters sounds and put letters in alphabetical order.
In Math we will identify nickels, trade five pennies for a nickel, compare events according to duration of time, count by fives, identify a cylinder and identify, create and extend ABC patterns.
Our new Reading story is One Little Mouse. We will talk about adventures that an animal can have. We will also be focusing on the sequence of the story.
**If you do not have a painting shirt in your cubby, please send one in for Thursday, Day 4. Students will be painting in Art class.**
Next week is Bully Awareness Week. See the yellow paper filled with the week’s activities and dress up days for the week.
Valentine lists were sent home a few weeks ago. If you need a new list please let me know. Our Valentine party will be on February 14.
February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Please encourage your child to brush his/her teeth at least twice a day and to practice good dental health habits.
Anyone who has not yet sent in his/her $4.00 for the Valentine and Easter party is asked to do so as soon as possible. Thank you!
Monday is Day 3. We will have music. Don’t forget sneakers for Tuesday’s Gym class.
Have a super weekend!