Spring has Sprung!

Note: More Pictures / Videos at the end of the day!

This was a very short week which felt like it was rushed in many ways! Today is Thursday and it is the last day before Spring Break begins. Your child deserves a break. They have been working very hard and with only 46 more days left of kindergarten, let them enjoy the break and have fun! Because Easter occurs on the Sunday before we return, we celebrated Easter this week. "We had so much fun this week," said one student. Below is a brief recap of our week.

In reading, we worked with the -op word family this week. We can now read words with the -op word family. We can also build these words. Some of our more challenging words this week included blends. Your child can now read, decode, and spell the words: slop, chop, stop, crop! We have introduced the next set of five Dolch words. We learned the words: know, let, live, may, of. Your child was assessed on Wednesday and I can't believe almost everyone has mastered that set! When we return, we will review all of the Grade 1 Sight Vocabulary to review. We are almost finished with this list and will continue to more difficult words that students will see next year.

In writing, we read a story titled, "How Spider Saved Easter." It was a cute story about a Spider helping his friend during Easter. We wrote our own story and made it into a class book. Students love making class books! On the last day of school, your child will be able to choose a class book to take home as a keepsake! They work so hard making a book every week. The writing assessment was this week and EVERYONE scored either a P3+, P4, or P5. Everyone is now writing on or above level. However, we must remember to keep encouraging them to do their best. Most are still forgetting punctuation and capital letters. There stories have a beginning, middle, and end which I am so proud of.

In math, we learned how to read a calendar and reviewed money. Students should know the values of all coins and be able to identify them. Students also wrote up to 100 this week. Wow! "Now what, Mr. Gibbs?" said Davis. He continued, "We made it to 100. Do we stop?" My response, "No way! We keep on going!" Students will be learning how to write counting by 10s to 100 next week. We will continue number writing. Students are beginning to correct their reversals in their number writing and that is fantastic! We will begin time when we return!

In science, we continued learning about living things. Students should know the difference between a living vs. nonliving thing. Students should also be able to tell you four things that all living things need in order to survive. Next week, we will begin learning about life cycles. We will learn about the frog first. Then, we will eventually watch as caterpillars turn into butterflies.

Workshops were fun! We made a Easter Bunny from paper towel rolls. We also made a hatching chick, a funny bunny, and made our own Easter baskets.





On Thursday, we had special holiday stations. We made a paper plate bunny, sorted and graphed jelly beans, completed a eggs-of-sound activity, and made a puppet. We also dyed Easter eggs! When we left for lunch, we put our Easter baskets out in hopes that the Easter bunny would come leave us a special treat.... And, boy - did he!

Not only did he leave us special things, we also hid additional eggs on our playground! We had so much fun trying to find them. We learned that the Easter Bunny must be very sneaky! At the end of the day, we practiced the "Jack in the Beanstalk" program with Ms. Elliot! It is adorable! We also celebrated Spring with a small party!

What a great week! From me to you, have a great break!

Mr. Gibbs

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day!

Top of the Morning to Ya!


We had a very busy but fun week in kindergarten. We are getting ready for the Spring season (which begins on Saturday). This week, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day! We even had a little visit from the Leprechaun who really created a diaster in the classroom on Wednesday! Below is a brief video from our week. The video includes the Leprechaun traps that were made, crafts, and clips of the diaster created by the Leprechaun! We had a very fun time celebrating St. Patrick's Day!

In reading, we learned about the -og word family. We read words such as: hog, fog, bog, clog, blog, and smog. Children can read these words in context and spell them accordingly. We also continued on our Dolch words. This week our words were: his, him, just, her, how. Have you seen our word wall? The word wall is already full and we still have a lot more to learn. In kindergarten, children are only required to know 32 basic sight words, our children know well over 125 so far with a lot more to go. The kids in Mr. Gibbs' class rock!

Because of their strong phonics and sight vocabulary skill, there writing has improved greatly. We wrote a story about catching a Leprechaun on Tuesday. They were funny, creative, and simply delightful to read. They are currently on display in the classroom. On Thursday, your child took the district writing assessment. Your child had 30 minutes to write me a story about their friend. I have not had the time to score them but they are simply amazing. EVERYONE had a beginning, middle, and end. EVERYONE wrote at least 5 sentences (many wrote 7-8). EVERYONE is beginning to use end punctuation. Finally, EVERYONE is using the word wall. Wow! We are no longer emergent writers, were developing writers!

In math, we continued with money. This weeek, we learned the value of the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. We also began to learn how to count out coin values. This is a difficult concept for children to master. Continue to practice this at home. Children also wrote numbers to 95 this week. Next week, your child will learn the numbers 96-100 and will have a final number writing assessment. Your child is expected to write numbers to 100 correctly. This will not be a problem because many are already doing so. We will also learn more about reading a calendar next week.

Living things has been the focus this week. This week we learned the difference between living and nonliving. We have learned that living things need food, water, air, and shelter. Living things also grow and change. We learned a song and completed several activities throughout the week. Next week, we will continue this topic. Eventually, we will watch caterpillars turn into butterflies - but that is after break. Workshops are a blast. Children constantly talk about them in school. Do they talk about them at home?

Workshops is a way to end the day by having fun socially (but not playing). I do not believe in free play, we complete fine motor skills instead. This week, we laced a four leaf clover and wrote about being lucky. We also made a rainbow and pot of gold craft with colored loops. We made a dancing Leprechaun. Finally, we made a kite.



On Wednesday, we completed special St. Patrick's Day stations that included graphing lucky charms, making hats, playing St. Patrick's Day sight word game, and making a rainbow out of ripped construction paper.

ERD begins again next week. Thursday is our Spring celebration and Easter egg hunt. Remember to bring in supplies ahead of time. There will be no school on Friday. We will be learning about the -op word family next week and our theme will be Easter!

50 days of school left as of today and your child is beyond ready for the 1st grade!

This is a video of the letter the Leprechaun left us....
This is a video of the reaction....
This is a video of Maylee and Jeremy discussing the event...

ROAR!

ROAR! This week was dinosaur week in our class! We had a fantastic week learning about dinosaurs integrated with reading, writing, and math. We had a blast and so did the kids – especially our dinosaur expert, R.J. Below is a rundown of our week:

In reading, we are learning to read to learn new information. We did this by reading dinosaur books whole group. In small group, children read books about weather (first grade books) and completed a book report listing three important facts they read. You should be so proud, they are becoming independent learners! We also learned the –ot word family and the follow sight words: from, give, going, had, has. Remember to read with your child nightly. Most children are now able to read fluently. We will focus on the –og word family next week and we will continue to our next set of sight words.



In writing, we made two class books! We read a story called, “If Dinosaurs Came to Town.” We then wrote about the same topic and created a book. We also read a story called, “Stormy Weather.” Together, we made a book report listing three important facts. We used that report to write a stormy weather story. Both books are currently on display in our classroom. Way to go amazing writers! Next week is our district writing assessment. Your child will be expected to write five sentences (correctly) with a beginning, middle, and end on one topic. These will be scored and you will know the results as soon as possible. Remember to write, write, write!

In math, the children were introduced to money. This week, we learned how to identify the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. Children should be able to compare them and identify each coin. Next week, we will learn the value of each and begin solving problems relating to money.

Science was fun! We finished our unit on weather. This week we learned about the four seasons and stormy weather. The children now have a solid foundation about different weather patterns and weather associated with each season. We are beginning an intense unit on living things next week which will last to the end of April. We will be studying frogs, butterflies, and the life cycle of other animals.
Workshops were a blast! Dinosaurs was the theme this week. We did several activities this week that would all be integrated on Friday to create a dinosaur kingdom. Our first station was using noodles and sand to make a fossil. The children loved this and got very creative. The next was making a dinosaur. Another station was making a T-Rex. The last station was painting a shoe box to look like a landscape. On Friday, we added grass, trees, etc… to finish our dinosaur kingdom.





There is no ERD next Wednesday. Next Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day and we are looking for volunteers to work afternoon workshops the next two weeks. If you are interested, let us know.

If you have not done so, please send in about 8 – prefilled Easter eggs with your child ASAP.

Also, we are in need of the following items:
1 box of lucky charms (need for St .Patrick’s Day)
2 bags of jelly beans
Easter grass
Bottles of white glue
Lunch bags

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had another fantastic week! We now only have 60 days left of school. Can you believe it? This week, we celebrated Dr. Seuss. To begin our celebration, we joined schools all around America by participating in Read Across America Day. We had a blast! The children loved all the guest readers that came. Thanks for making it a fantastic day for our children.

In reading, we reviewed the short i word families. We reviewed -ig, -ip, and -it. The children are doing a great job. We even read and spelt words such as: ship, split, and twig! We also continued on with our next set of Dolch words. This week we learned: as, by, could, every, fly, and because. Your child is reading books that are way above the kindergarten level because they have a "strong" foundation of both sight vocabulary and phonics skills. Keep up the hard work at home. I am so proud!
We also read several Dr. Seuss books. We focused on real vs. fantasy when reading this week.

In math, we finished our unit on measurement. This week we learned about capacity. We learned that a larger container holds more than a smaller container. It seems that every child has mastered this concept. Next week, we will begin a unit on money. We will begin to learn how to identify the penny, nickel, and dime next week. Children should already have some prior knowledge because we work with money every morning during calendar. We will spend two weeks on money before moving onto time.

Writing was a blast this week! We wrote a letter to Dr. Seuss. We wrote to Dr. Seuss about his books. Some children wrote a thank you letter. Others, wrotei Dr. Seuss explaining their favorite book. Children are writing several sentences. I have students who are writing eight or more on one topic. That is IMPRESSIVE! Keep writing at home! Writing should become more dominant over illustrations. Your child should be writing five or more sentences at this point.

In science, we learned about the patterns of weather. We learned how weather can be rainy, windy, sunny, and snowy. Next week, we will learn about the seasons and finish our unit on weather.

Afternoon workshops were also fun. We did three Dr. Seuss crafts and even played a fun game! We created a Cat in the Hat face mask and wrote what we would do if we were the Cat in the Hat. Another station, we played Green Eggs and Ham Tic-Tac-Toe. We also made a Dr. Seuss puppet and a funny craft from the story The Cat in the Hat. The children had a blast. These are on display in the classroom and will be sent home within the next two weeks.



We will be learning more about weather next week and our theme will be dinosaurs. Thanks for all the boxes and milk jugs. We now have enough! We sent home a wish list earlier this week with items we need for March. Remember, anything is helpful. Also, this week I would like to honor the parents who help prepare our afternoon workshops. You do an OUTSTANDING job and we couldn't do it without you!

No ERD next week.