Dec. 15-20

Reading
We will be listening, reading and watching The Polar Express this week. We will be focusing on the skill of visualizing and progressing through the book by listening to it and making a movie in our heads. Looking at the pictures in the book and making movies in our head. Watching and discussing the movie over 3 days.

Phonics
We will be learning/reviewing vowels and their sounds this week. Please make sure your child knows the short vowel sounds for all the vowels. Have them practice sounding out CVC words like cat, pig, pot, bed and hug.

Math
We will review new positional vocabulary we learned last week such as beside, next to, between, in front of, behind, under, inside and outside. We will also start chapter 6 which is numbers to 20.

Writing
Students will be writing about an animal they know. This will be a great wrap up to our animal homes mini-unit. Students should be writing at least one complete sentence when they write a story. Sentences should include a capital letter at the beginning, spaces between words, an ending mark and it should make sense.

Have a great week!

Mr. E

Adjectives for Francesca

December 9-13

Reading
Our story of the week is A Bed for Winter. It is about a dormouse preparing to hibernate. We will also be reading other books about hibernation and migration. I will be introducing sequence of a story (first, next, last), adjectives and comparing two ideas from a story/ies. Our letters this week are Ww and Xx.

Writing
Students will be writing about their friends. We will also be learning about sentences and how we write them correctly. (Capital, ending mark, spaces, makes sense) Students will be introduced to adjectives and encouraged to use them in their writings to make their stories more interesting.

Math
Big and small things (adjectives)
"Does it Fit"- a fun game teaching sizes of objects and capacity of space to fit them (play at home)
Positions- lots of new vocabulary such as under, above, next to, etc.

Science
Hibernation and migration. We will be focusing on gray whale and monarch butterfly migrations as well as many hibernating animals. We will "attempt" to have a debate on Friday where students try to prove why either hibernation/migration is better. Should be interesting.

Sight word game
"Sight word search"
Give you child a book and have them find and write all the sight words they can. Then they can count and see which word was the most in the book. (I will be introducing graphing this week so they could even try to graph the results. Might be too much though.)

Have a great week.

Mr. E

Animal home comparison

Learning about Hanukka

December 2-6

Yesterday (sorry for the delay in writing this) marked the start of our second of four units this year. Our first unit was all about connecting with ourselves. This unit is about connecting with the community. In this unit we wil explore questions like: What is a culture?, What is hibernation?, What is shelter? and What are houses made of? During this unit, which will go until mid-February, we will be reading about animals and their homes as well as human homes around the world. We will conclude this unit by building homes out of boxes and different materials. Please save and/or send in any boxes/cardboard material (paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, etc.). We will also be going on our second field trip to Kohl's children's museum (Northbrook) in February.

Reading
We are reading a non-fiction book called Animal Homes this week. We will be comparing different animals and their homes. We will also read Goldilocks and the three bears and compare a real bear home to a fictional bear home.

Phonics
We are reviewing/learning the letter Gg and Jj this week.

Writing
Students are writing about a favorite food this week. They will also be introduced to spacing when they write. Students are being encouraged to add more detail using words (write more sentences).

Math
We are learning the concept of more and less. Students are learning how to find "how many more" and "how many fewer". This is a difficult concept so please be practicing at home. (i.e. Show them five pennies and six dimes and ask which one is more. How many more? They should use one-to-one correspondence to see how many are left. That will tell them how many more. ) Another skill is to ask them how many more to get #. (i.e. Show them three pennies and ask them how many more to make 5. They should say, "I have three, I need 2 more to make 5." Or you can have them roll a dice and identify how many more to make six. "I have 2, I need 4 more to make 6."

Social studies
We are reviewing rules and working on keeping our room cleaner.

Sight word game
"Spell it"
Tell your child a sight word and have them spell it. This is a good review of words they already know. It will help with their writing if they can memorize how to spell them.

Wish List
We need paper towels. (this is a need not a want)
Cardboard boxes and items (see above)
Check out my wish list google document.

We did it!

Food donation!

The kindergarten food drive ends today. The kids raised above and beyond the 150 item goal. 300+ items!!! They will be rewarded with a pizza party today. Thanks again and have a great Thanksgiving.

November 18-22

Reading
We are reviewing skills we learned in unit 1 during the next seven school days. We will begin unit 2 after Thanksgiving break. We will be learning how to find key details (character, setting, problem, solution, main idea) in a story.

Writing
We are finishing our writings about things we are interested in and then we will be doing some partner writing about different topics. Students will be introduced to writing more as many of them are at the point where they can write more than one sentence about a topic.

Math
We are composing and decomposing numbers up to five as well as counting and ordering up to ten. These would be skills like "3 and 2 make 5." or "I can make 5 with 1 and 4." These are early addition and subtraction skills that will help the student later in the year. Students will also be learning the vocabulary "one more" and be asked to identify a number that is one more than another (up to 10).

Social studies
We are still collecting food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The students have until next Tuesday to get 150 items. I think they are at about 100 right now! Keep it up! We will be learning about needs and wants this week and doing activities and reading books about it.

Sight word game of the week
"Hot or Cold"
Hide a word in a room. Tell your child what word they need to find and then give them directions using the vocabulary hot, warm, warmer, cool, colder, cold (this is a great chance to reinforce/introduce new vocabulary and what it means). When they find it have them read it and spell it with eyes open then closed. A way to make it more difficult is to not tell them the word but still give them directions on how to find it. Then they must read it when they find it. We will play this game in school so your child should be familiar with it. Encourage them to play with siblings or other family members and they can take turns being the hider/clue giver. Have fun learning those sight words!

Mr. E

Giant puzzle center

November 4-8

Reading
We will be reading Abuela this week. It is a story about an adventure a girl goes on with her grandmother in New York City. We will be learning the term character as well as continuing to talk about setting. I will be introducing the students to the phrase "active reading" and teaching them that reading isn't just hearing the words or saying the words but thinking about the story as we read/hear it.

Writing
Students will be writing about what they love about themselves as well as write letters to classmates about what they like about them. Students should be writing sentences now using the sight words they know and sound out words (turtle talking). For example, this week they will be expected to write a sentence like this: I love my hair. We will also we brainstorming new writing ideas.

Math
Chapter three is all about size and measurement. Students will learn vocabulary such as: bigger, medium sized, smaller, taller than, shorter than and longer.

Social Studies
We will start making our kindergarten project that will be ongoing throughout the year. Students will learn about their world as we progress bigger and bigger. This week they will start with 'Me' and 'My family'.
You will also be getting more information later this week about a food drive we will be doing working up until Thanksgiving break.

My room parents will be sending out a google document where you can sign up for conferences next Tuesday, November 12th. Looking forward to seeing/talking to all of you.

Mr. E

Niza's block creation

What good writers do

October 28-October 31

Can you believe that we have reached the end of the first quarter!?!?! It seems like just yesterday your children were walking through the doorway on the first day of school. Well, they have come a long way since then. Since this week is full of fun activities and a short week (no school Friday), this week will be used as a review week. We will be reviewing reading skills that we have learned like: 3 ways to read a book (pictures, words, retell), parts of a book, author, illustrator and setting. We will review writing skills such as: labeling our illustrations, using resources to help us write, brainstorming writing ideas and "turtle talking" (saying a word slow to hear the individual sounds). We will review math skills like: numbers 0-9, same/different, spotting differences, patterns, colors and shapes. We will be reading some fun Halloween books as well as preparing for our field trip to the farm on Wednesday.

Reminders:

• Send homework notebook to school this week to be checked. I will send it back home when I have checked it over.
• Farm chaperones please arrive at school at 8:30 AM on Wednesday. The bus leaves at 9 AM and we will do a quick debrief and bathroom break prior to leaving. If it is easier you may come in the classroom at the start of school and volunteer during writing until it is time to go. Let me know if you will be doing this. You will have to check-in at the front desk with security (you can't come in the back doors).
• Please pack a small snack that can be eaten on the bus to the farm. Students will eat their snack on the bus and then they will eat lunch at the farm before we leave for school. Please pack a SIMPLE snack that is not messy.
• Children may wear costumes to school Thursday and bring a treat to share (not mandatory). Students MAY NOT WEAR MASKS to school. 
• Halloween party volunteers please contact the room parents with any questions.

Comments

• All the students did a great job on their community worker family projects. We had a great variety. All videos should be up on my youtube channel: Blees2
• Thank you for all the donations off the wish list. It is greatly appreciated by me and (without them knowing it) by your children too!
• If anyone would like to come in and share about Dia de los muertos or Veteran's Day let me know.

Signing out,
Mr. E

Ben's shape creation

October 21-25

Reading
We are reading If you could go to Antarctica. It is a non-fiction book about the continent of Antarctica. We will be exploring Antarctica with all our senses. We are beginning to learn about key details of a story and this week we will be focusing on SETTING and MAIN IDEA. Please use this vocabulary with your child a lot so they get used to hearing/using it. Have them identify these details in books they read or hear at home.

Science (Five Senses Week!!!)
We are reviewing our five senses and doing fun activities using our senses. We will focus on one sense each day of the week.

Social studies
This week we are sharing our family projects for community workers/helpers. Your child has been assigned a day and will have approximately 5 minutes to share. Can't wait to see the students present. I will try to video tape them and email them to you.

Math
Pairing items that go together and one-to-one corresponding. We will have our unit assessment on Friday for chapters 1 and 2 which covered numbers 1-9, same and different and other skills.

Writing
Students will be writing about things that are different shapes. We are still learning how to label our pictures to tell more and the students are beginning to use different resources (word wall, word book, writing center, the room, etc.) to help them write. Please encourage them to use resources at home to spell words and if all else fails, sound it out (turtle talk). I will be teaching them to turtle talk which means saying the word slowly to hear the different sounds in the word. This is fun to do and you can model it for them!

Remember to keep using Raz-kids and IXL and keep your students excited about learning.

Mr. E

Police visit

October 15-18

Reading
We are reading On the Move this week and discussing transportation and how people around the world use different modes of transportation. We will be reviewing parts of a book and organization of a book one last week. I will start meeting with small groups during reading time this week. This happens during our Daily 5 time. We do this every morning Mon-Thurs. from 10:10-11:10. How it works is I meet with a group of four students while the other students choose an activity between word work, work on writing, listen to reading, read to someone, read to self or computers. The kids have been training to do this for 30 some days now and have done a great job. This week will be the first week that I am not available to them because I am working with a small group. My room parents are working on getting volunteers for this time to help Daily 5 run smooth. If you are available and willing to help you would simply just be another adult in the room and help where necessary. Please think about volunteering!

Phonics
Letters R and D (and lots of fun call and responses during our "blue book" time)

Math
Numbers to 9. PATTERNS! We are doing a fun end of the week project. Keeping it a secret though. We need volunteers Friday though.

Writing
Labeling, labeling, labeling. Your student should start labeling their illustrations at home. If they draw a picture of them at the park then they should label (by sounding out or just with the first letter) them, their friends, the monkey bars, etc. They are also learning to use resources to help them write. Instead of asking how to spell "the", they should find the word somewhere (word wall). If they are writing at home and want to spell the dog's name, they should look at his collar. Students should be starting to spell a few sight words correctly as well as trying to sound out non-sight words (table=tbl)<--- this is age appropriate.

Science
Using primary colors to make secondary colors.

Thank you to everyone who purchased something off the wish list. I/my kiddos are grateful for it.

Mr. E

Community worker visit

Fire station visit

Community worker visit

Read to someone

Listen to reading

Read to someone

October 7-11

Reading
Messenger, Messenger is a book about a messenger that bikes around New York City delivering messages.Since the messenger rides a bike, we will also be reading Ride Right, which is a book about a young boy learning the rules and laws for riding a bike safely. We will be learning about the organization and basic features of print. (spacing, where to start reading, illustration) We will also be reviewing parts of a book (cover page, title page, author, illustrator) and introducing new parts. (characters, setting)
This will be the last week the students will be training/learning how to do Daily 5 choices. (read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, word work, work on writing) Next week the students will be put in their groups and we will have regular Daily 5 time daily from 10-11. (volunteers wanted)

Writing
We are learning to label this week. This is a great lesson and you should see your child start to label their illustrations. (using initial letters or sounding out the word) Students are also learning hot to use the word wall when they are writing. Our word wall is full of sight words that can't be sounded out. The words are velcroed to the wall and the students can take a word to their seat to spell it. (a fun home activity might be to make a word wall at your home)

Math
We are continuing to learn/review numbers to ten. We will be learning numbers 7 and 8 this week. Please make sure your child is writing their numbers correctly. Many students are writing their numbers wrong or backwards. They should always be writing their numbers and letters starting from the top. Please make sure they are working in their handwriting notebook weekly to improve handwriting. I will also be discussing patterns and hopefully doing a fun pattern project with them. Please continue to use vocabulary same and different with your child in everyday.

Social Studies/Science
We are focusing on community and community helpers this week. Thursday we are going on a neighborhood field trip to a firehouse and bakery. We are also having community worker interviews.
For science we will be learning and exploring our five senses!

Thursday looks like nicer weather but please check the weather in the morning because we will be walking to our destinations at 10 AM.

Mr. E

Here is what is going on this week (Sept. 30-Oct. 4)

Reading
We are reading Plaidypus Lost. (the reason it is spelled wrong is because the platypus in the story is a plaid stuffed animal. We will learn more about communities in the book. I will also be assessing students on their knowledge of the parts of a book. Here is what they will look like:

Identifies:

          Cover page____

          Back of book____ 

Title page____

          Where to start____

          Left/right____

          End of the line____

Explains:

          What does the author of a story do____

          What does the illustrator of a story do____

So practice this at home.

Math

Starting chapter 2 which is numbers to 10. We will focus on 6 and 7 this week. Patterns and calendar.

Phonics

The letter I. Blending 3 letter words. 

Science

Playpuses

Social Studies

Community places and workers.

Mr. E

We made it through the land of Read to Self

The kids built up their reading stamina and can now read for 15 minutes by themselves! I am very proud of them. Way to go kids.

September 23-27

Reading
We are reading Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip With Kindergarten this week. This week will mark the start of our community helpers mini-unit and will introduce people and places in our communities. The comprehension skill we are learning is: identifying illustrations and how they support the text. We have already been learning how to "read the pictures" during daily 5 time.

Writing
During writing this week, students will learn to share writing ideas with a partner. Also, we will be making a book about what we like to do with our families. At the end of the week we will continue to learn how we can tell more through our illustrations.

Phonics
Are letters of the week are S and C. (I will also be sending home the A phonics packet for your child to do at home because we didn't get to it on Friday) We are also learning rhyming, syllables, beginning sounds and ending sounds through our daily call and response phonological awareness time. (this is ongoing over the entire year)

Math
Numbers to five and spotting small differences. (different-new vocabulary word)

Social Studies/Science
Community/community helpers and our five senses.

Mr. E

Our city and vehicle creation

September 16-20

Reading
We are reading a great book this week called This is the way we go to school. It is about how different kids around the world get to school. We are still focusing on the parts of a book with a special focus on the author and illustrator. We get to discuss and explore geography and different climates/habitats that people around the world live in. We will be creating something on Thursday and Friday pertaining to the book. Check out last Friday's creation in the video bar to the right. It was a lot of fun!

Phonics
Letters A and P

Math
Reviewing/learning numbers to five. Same vs. not the same. Playing "match me". (play it at home)

Social Studies/Science
Understanding feelings. Geography. Land forms.

Have a great week.
Mr. E

September 9-13

Reading
We are reading The Little School Bus this week. It is a fun rhyming book that the students will love. We are learning about the features of a book. (title page, cover page, binding, author illustrator, back) Students will also continue to build their reading stamina as we up our "read to self" time to 5 minutes.

Writing
We start our "Being a Writer" curriculum this week as students will hear books that will give them writing ideas. They will begin to share their writing with others too.

Math
We will start our math curriculum by learning/reviewing numbers 1 and 2 as well as matching, sorting and learning colors and shapes.

Phonics
Letters M and T and rhyming, as well as starting our fun oral phonological awareness time.

Mr. Edwards

Classroom updates

9/8/13

Dear parents/guardians,

Here are a few updates from room 100.

Updated schedule

Our specials schedule changed a bit from back to school night. Here is the updated schedule:

Mon.-Library, Tues.-Art, Wed.-Computers, Thur.-P.E., Fri.-Lib

Room Parent(s)

Please email me if you would be interested in volunteering as a room parent for my classroom.

Mail for Mr. E

Please designate a system to get papers back and forth from you to myself. I ask the children every morning to check for mail for me but it is something they need to get used to doing. Feel free to use the folder given to you at the beginning of the year or another filing system that works. If you would like another folder made for your child with “home” and “return” labeled in it just email me and I can get one in their backpack. Hopefully in a week or so the students will learn the procedure of checking their backpack for papers.

Sight words

Sight words are extremely important to your child’s reading development. Please know/remember that the words on the “sight word” lists should be memorized by sight, not sounded out. The reason they are called sight words is because most are phonetically spelt and they are also words that your child will see the most when learning to read. We learn phonics in kindergarten to help reading and writing but sight words should be memorized. Thank you.

Homework

Homework from the homework calendar should be done in your child’s homework notebook. This notebook can stay at home or with the child and only needs to be sent to school/turned in upon request from me. (twice a quarter) Please don’t have your child hand in their homework daily.

September family project

I will not be supplying a “All about me” poster for your child. They are free to be creative with the project using whatever they would like to display their information. (poster, video, orally, etc.)

Emails

This is your last chance to get on the class email list. (which is how I will be giving information like this from now on) If you have not received any emails from me this year than you are probably not on the email list. If that is you, please email me (with all emails wanted on the list) at lredwards2@cps.edu stating please add me to the list.

Thursday dinner

LaSalle II PTO is having a fund raiser at Enoteca Roma (2146 W. Division) on Thursday. Please consider coming for a delicious meal. I will be attending with my wife and we would love to see you there.

That is all for now.

Mr. Edwards

Big puzzle center

First day of journal writing

Constructing with Legos

Reading together in the library

First day in the art center

3 ways to read a book

Creating together at the block center

Week of September 3rd

Well we survived the first week of kindergarten with a small amount of tears and a large amount of smiles. Students learned all about LaSalle II, room 110 and each other last week. This week we will continue to learn routines and procedures (some old some new) as well as learn and practice how to use items in the room. 

Some new things to look out for this week are:

-Bucket filling (the system I use in my room to promote a respectful caring environment)

-Students will get their first journal and we will write in it everyday

-We will begin our fun daily Phonological awareness time (a 10-15 minute time where I use call and response to help students develop phonics skills)

-The "Magic number game" (ask your child about this Wednesday after school)

This is the last week before we start our writing, reading and math curriculum. We will however continue to ingrain routines and procedures throughout the year. 

Please continue to be aware of what is sent home and papers that need to be sent back. Thanks.

Mr. E  

The First Week!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for your little ones and my new little ones. I am excited to get to know all of them and all of you. Just so you are aware, the first couple weeks are always a little bumpy with the children transitioning, the parents transitioning and with me having a lot to do at the beginning of the year. That said, it will settle down into a nice groove by early September and hopefully all routines and procedures will be understood.
The first week in room 110 is a lot of exploring a new environment. The students will learn some of the routines and procedures (a couple a day) that help the class function and eventually they will be doing it without thinking about it. We will go over things like classroom rules, walking in the hallways, washroom, sink, getting their attention, caring for materials and how to do a few easy games/tasks. We start our unit one curriculum the third week of school because these first two weeks are necessary to get these procedures down. Please be patient with email return at the beginning of the year as there is much to do. I will hopefully be able to return emails daily.
I will see your children tomorrow and some of you too. Good night and let's go have a great year!

Mr. E

The last full week!

Thank you all for the generous end of the year gift. It was WAY too kind but appreciated. This year could not have been such a success without amazing support from the best supporting cast at LaSalle II. I am sad to see your little ones go but look forward to seeing them continue to learn, discover and mature in first grade and beyond.

This week in the classroom I will be assessing (Monday-Wednesday) along with teaching regular, but fun, lessons. We will also be breaking down and cleaning the room for summer break. Friday will be my last day with the kids because of a wedding in California but they will have a sub on Monday and should have a blast with field day.

Thanks again. Have a great summer!

Mr. Edwards

June 10-14

This week we will be doing a lot of prep on our zoo. Our room is being transformed and will look much different on Friday. Remember, you are invited to an end of the year teacher appreciation event (including our classroom zoo, refreshments and a small presentation). You are welcome to come in to the room anytime after 1:30 this Friday. You can stay until dismissal if you would like.

This week is also our last formal week of structure and lessons. We will be reading Little Quack and reviewing all comprehension strategies. The students will learn how to write a friendly letter and continue making their own stories/books. We will be doing addition and subtraction word problems for math, as well as reviewing time and money.

It should be a great week in room 110. I am excited to see you all Friday afternoon.

Mr. E

June 3-7

This week is LaSalle II Healthy Week! We will be doing some fun healthy things in the room as well as learning about being healthy. A letter will come home tomorrow explaining it.

Reading
Armadillo's Orange is our book this week. We are focusing on synthesis as our comprehension skill for the rest of the year. Synthesis is pretty much taking all the comprehension skills learned this year and putting them all together. It is not just reading a text and knowing the story details but understanding why characters feel a certain way or knowing what a character will do next, by connecting to personal experiences from the book.

Writing
We continue to explore being authors. We will be writing a how-to-essay for our kindergarten writing book.

Math
We will visit height and connect it with length (which we learned last week). We will briefly review sorting and classifying before getting into addition stories at the end of the week. We are still exploring time/clocks and throughout our days.

Social Studies
Working on the next page of our kindergarten book which is "My country". Learning a bit about the U.S.A.

Science
We will begin the process of transforming our classroom into a zoo. Students are putting together a culminating project this year that you will be invited to come and visit June the 14th. Students will pick a animal (or zoo job) and research it and become it. More info to follow via email.

Mr. E

Memorial Day week

Go Blackhawks!

We will be studying habitats and animals from now until the end of the year. As well as learning to infer while we are reading. We are headed to the zoo on Thursday! We will be leading about measurement in math this week. We will be writing a non-fiction piece for our kindergarten writing book.

Mr. E

May 20-24

Reading
We are reading Little Panda this week as we continue our study of animals. (the kids had a blast learning about chameleons last week) For the rest of the year we will be making inferences while we read as well as using all the other strategies we learned this year. Making inferences is like being a reading detective. Using clues from the text to figure things out.

Writing
We will continue to review different types of writing that we learned this year as we put together our kindergarten writing book. I am also using fun texts/books as models to give students ideas of how to make their stories/books more interesting.

Math
We are composing and decomposing numbers to 20. The kids did great last week with numbers to 10 so they should catch on to this quick. We will be using ten frames this week. Students should be able to use vocabulary like 10 and 4 is 14, or 14 is 10 and 4. We will also be subtracting and adding with a number line. Students should be able to say the 14 is 2 more than 12 by finding 12 on a number line and jumping two numbers more. We are exploring adding coins a bit as well as telling time to the hour. (just introducing this though)

Social Studies
We will be taking 5-10 minutes each day prior to recess to discuss social issues and talk about appropriate behavior towards one another at recess and always. Please continue this conversation at home.

There are a lot of new videos on my youtube channel from last week. (search lee edwards)

Mr. E

May 13-17

Reading
We are reading Hide Clyde this week. It is a rhyming book about a chameleon. We will begin our study of animals this week that will continue for the moth of May.

Math
We will continue adding, subtracting, time, and coins.

Writing
We will be reviewing types of writing and other writing topics we went over tis year over the next few weeks.

Science
Animals, camouflage and habitats.

Check out the videos to see what we have been up to and see your child's play from last week.

Mr. E

May 6-10

Reading
We are reading Farfallina and Marcel. This is one of my favorite stories we read during kindergarten. It is about two friends, a caterpillar and a gosling. One day the caterpillar is tired and climbs a tree and the gosling waits and waits for her but she never comes back down. He is sad and goes on with his life. When Farfallina emerges as a butterfly her friend is gone and she is sad too. They eventually discover each other again as a goose and a butterfly. We will be discussing the life cycle of a butterfly as well as how things (animals, plants, humans) change.

Writing
This will be our last week doing poetry and we will be learning about some different names/styles of poems (acrostic, shape) and experimenting with them. Your child will bring home all their poetry from our unit in a poetry book.
For writer's workshop we will continue to working on adding detail to our stories by adding detail to our characters (hair/eye color, size, height, personality, etc.) and to our setting (weather, time period, type of place, etc.).

Science
We will continue to keep a science log on our flowers as they grow and change daily. As well as watching the process of stuff decompose.

Math
We will get into subtraction this week and review adding. Students caught on to this quickly last week using little tricks like the adding pokey (on my youtube channel) and the little jingle "I count on 6 from 4 to make 10, WOO!" It makes more sense if your child does it for you. Students will also continue to be exposed to coins and learning their names and values. We have a classroom store to shop at on Fridays that was a big hit last week (Thank you Nettie!). I will also be introducing time to the hour briefly during our calendar times.

Have a wonderful week! I know we will.

Mr. E

Hello

We had a great day gardening in room 110 today! No pics or videos. Sorry.
A reminder that tomorrow we are having our speech extravaganza. All parents are welcome to come at 1:30 and stay until dismissal. Just check in at security.
Also, I have added some things to the blog and connected it with my google+ account. You should be able to see all pics and videos from the google+ account. Enjoy. I would love feedback about changes or ease of viewing too. Thanks for having wonderful kids and making my job the best job imaginable.

Mr. E

April 29-May 3

Reading
Whose Garden is it?
We will be learning about gardens and plants.

Writing
Poetry and being authors.

Math
Counting on and counting back. (the beginnings of adding and subtracting)

Science
Observing our growing plants with our senses.

I have been working on making the blog better the last couple weeks. I added a place for youtube videos but it doesn't always show up. So, to fix that I attached my blog to my google+ account (at least I think I did) so that you can go to that and watch the videos and see the pictures we take in class. I am hoping this will make our school week more interactive so that you can follow along and have questions to ask your child. Let me know what you think or if anything is not working. This is a work in progress.

Mr. E

April 22-26

Reading
We are reading Seeds and starting our LAST unit of the year "Connecting with our environment". We will learn all about different seeds and plants and how they grow. (if possible, have your child collect seeds from home and bring them in for our classroom collection) We will be planting our own plants in the classroom. Also, FOR THE FAMILY PROJECT, DO NOT BRING IN THE PLANT FROM HOME BUT JUST A SUMMARY/PICS/VIDEO OF WHAT HAPPENED.

Writing
Poetry! The kids are loving it! Writer's workshop.

Math
Adding, ordinal numbers (first, second, third...)

Science
Seeds, plants, sequencing a plants life

Also, I have added a spot to check out videos we take in class. It is on the right side on the top. Check out what we have been up to.

Mr. E

April 15-19

Reading
This week we are reading Earth Day books and learning how we can help save our planet. This is the culmination of unit 3 as well as an introduction into our last unit "Connecting with your environment". We will be listening, reading and performing Jack Johnson's song from the "Curious George" movie called "The three Rs". Here is a link to the song that you can watch and talk about with your child. Also, I will be asking the students to bring in a recyclable item at some point this week to do something with. If we have time, I would like to have the students write and perform their own plays this week instead of being assigned one.

Writing
Week two of poetry. The students are loving poetry and this week we will be learning about adjectives that describe how animals move and look. They will write their own poems about animals. They will also be writing a paragraph about how they can help save the earth.

Math
We are finishing up our chapter on comparing numbers. Students were introduced last week to the less than <, greater than > and equal to = signs.

Should be a fun week in room 110!

Mr. E

Reminder: Report card pick-up is on Wednesday. Sarah has emailed out a schedule to sign-up for a time and I think it is on the blog as well. See you all Thursday.

April 8-12

Reading
See how we grow is our book for the week. We will be discussing how we change in our life.

Writing
We are starting poetry this week as well as continuing to make books.

Math
Comparing sets and numbers

Phonics
Blends and word families (am, im, um, ing)

Friday is a half day. Dismissal is at 11:15.

What's new
We will no longer be having guest reader time on Fridays because students are going to be the readers. I choose two or three students to read aloud to the class every Friday afternoon. You will be notified on Monday of the week with a paper explaining everything if your child's was chosen that week.

Also, we are doing reader's theater in the classroom. Students will receive scripts on Monday of each week that they can either keep in school to practice or bring back and forth from school and home. We will perform every Friday and the performances will be put on my youtube channel and then the links to those videos will be on the blog. Please practice with your child. Reader's theater is supposed to help students read more fluently (read like they talk).

Mr. E

Wish list for the rest of the year

Needs
Paper towels (25-30 more rolls should about do it)
Disinfectant wipes (about 5 more packages)

Wants
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C895%2C426&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1364489953577
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C898%2C198&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1364490194434
http://www.learningresources.com/product/word+families+-amp-+rhyming+center+pocket+chart.do?sortby=ourPicks&sortby=&&from=Search

March 18-22

Reading
We are reading Max takes the Train and we are continuing to learn about the main idea of a story.

Phonics
Word families op, up, long e. Consonant blend.

Writing
Writing non-fiction. Making books.

Math
Reviewing numbers to 100.

Social Studies
Flat Stanley


Reminders
Please bring in a cereal box for your child to decorate and turn into a book holder for all the books they will write. We will be decorating them this week. Thanks.

Mr. E

partner interviews for non-fiction stories

Reyna interviewing Sara for her story.          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKrziR8NpAE

Gabi interviewing Oscar (sorry for the sound) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQDWwTysyEg

March 10-15

Reading
We are reading Mayday, Mayday. It is a book about a coast guard rescue at sea. Along with it we will be continuing to learn about non-fiction text as well as "main idea". We are focusing on the "main idea" of non-fiction text right now (that is much easier) but please start using the language at home when reading so that your child becomes familiar with "main idea". You can help your child figure out the main idea of fiction stories too, but that is a little trickier to understand. Think of main idea like a moral or lesson in a fiction book.

Phonics
Our word families this week are ap, ip and long a. We are also continuing to learn beginning consonant blends like gr, gl, etc. We are also exploring syllables. What they are (parts of a word) and identifying them in words (clapping them). I am also teaching the students to break words into individual syllables to spell longer sound out words. elephant is easier to spell if you sound out each individual syllable.

Writing
We are writing more non-fiction and will be interviewing our partners and writing about them. Continuing to explore different types of sentences (. ? !) Continuing to learn what a paragraph is.
In writer' workshop the students are learning and participating in the writing process: brainstorming, first draft, editing, revising and publishing. We still need about 14 more cereal boxes big enough to hold paper for the students to make their book boxes. 

Math
Reviewing numbers to 100 and ordering numbers to 100. This week I am introducing math choices too. Similar to daily five only for math. I will spend this week teaching the students the process.

Updates
So, I have finally figured out the best way to safely get videos of your children to you. I gave up on the schooltube site because of difficulty. I now have a regular youtube channel that I am putting videos on. The videos are all unlisted so you can not find them by searching for them. I will be putting the URLs on the blog with a short description so you can view them that way. Here is the first batch I have from our creating last week. Enjoy. Please respond with any comments/concerns about this. Also, if any computer savvy person has an extra 15 minutes a day or so to manage these videos for me and get them to an accessible place I would be all for that. Email me. 
Also, remember our March Madness contest in room 110. Weekly winners go shopping for the most time/progress made on both IXL and Raz-kids. We had a great first week. Congrats to Zadkiel (IXL) and Garrett (Raz-kids)!!!

Jackson working on a world record! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxjcChQxm-I

Eleanor concentrating on building. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y062GTqifqg

Beno and Jonathan's fire engine. http://youtu.be/RQu1EPQBUwU

Jackson working on his crane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDCt6srzs2E

Oscar and Zadkiel's fire engine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VJphYWVl_s

Samari and Sal's fire engine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kItbHYm980

Kya and Ryan's "thing that knocks things down" (wrecking ball) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjsIRzbUWuM

Addison and Sara's fire engine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsqCH-c0Jwk

Ulises and Gabi's train. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfYfdhk15Y4

Have a wonderful week!
Mr. E

classroom book check-out

3/4/2013

Dear parents/guardians,

        Here is another handout to update you on what is going on in room 110. This is also all on the blog. (mredwardskindergarten.blogspot.com) Today, since the students did not have library (because of ISATs) I thought it would be a good day to start our own book check-out system in room 110. I have a couple big boxes of books that are just taking up space and I thought the students would enjoy a new selection of books to take home. Here is how it will work. Students will have a chance, hopefully daily, to check out a book from my selection in the room. (this is a different selection than our class library) They will simply write down the title on a card and place it in a pocket chart. When they are done with the book, they bring it back and return it. Then, they can write a new title down and take a new book home. It is a pretty simple system that I don’t have a lot of time to manage. The students will be taught how the system works and we will go over it together for a couple days. Then your child will have to be RESPONSIBLE to do the system on their own. I will have a student librarian to help out with the management of it as well. The purpose of this is to get your child reading as much as possible and to love reading. On that note, remind your child of the Raz-kids and IXL weekly challenges this month.

        Another thing, schooltube is not working well so I will continue to just put pictures and videos up on the blog. Please check it out at least weekly as it is updated every Sunday evening. Thanks.

Mr. E 

March 4th-8th

Reading:
We are reading The Night Worker. We are reviewing sequencing/retelling the story. (first, next, then, last or beginning, middle, end) I am also introducing main idea to them. We will be discussing this with reading and writing. This is a more difficult concept for them to grasp.

Writing:
Just so you are aware. We have two different times for writing. First thing in the morning is our "writing" time that we have been doing all year where we work on basic skills and use books to help us understand how to write better. Our "writer's workshop" time happens during language time and that is the time where students are working on their own books and stories.
For "writing" this week we are learning how to write non-fiction. For "writer's workshop we are reviewing our writing ideas and talking about the writing process.

Math:
Numbers 50-100. Counting, making numbers with cubes and sequencing numbers.

Social Studies:
Continuing to learn about machines and the jobs they do. Learning new vocabulary for night jobs.

Needs:
We are going through pencils fast as we begin to write more and more. Could you send some in if you are able. Thanks.

Mr. E

Feb 25th week

Well I am back and completely healthy. Here is what we are up to this week.

Reading
We will continue our book theme of machinery by reading one of my childhood favorites, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. We will continue to study verbs but focus mostly on orally retelling a story. Tuesday, students will be expected to orally tell you what happens in the story this week.

Writing
We are reading When Sophie gets Angry to give us ideas for writing stories of what happens when we get angry. I am also introducing Writer's Workshop to the students this week. It will take place during languages three times a week.

Math
Numbers to 100 and skip counting.

We also have a 1/2 day on Wednesday and a dentist visiting on Thursday. The schooltube channel is still a work in progress but the videos download fairly easy onto this blog, so I will use that in the mean time.

Mr. E

this week

Wednesday we have our class spelling bee from 12:30-1:30. Parents (fans) are welcome to come into the classroom. 

Thursday we are having the 100th day of school. Please contact Sarah Rudich if you can volunteer at some point during the day. 

Friday is the school-wide spelling bee where some of room 110 will compete.

This week we are still focusing on sequencing and retelling stories. We are working on adding more detail/writing more in our stories. Most of our focus this week is on math and counting skills though. We have been ignoring math too much over the last couple weeks while we were wrapping up our homes unit. This week will be all about 100 and counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. 

On Thursday (the 100th day) could you please send in a small snack with 100 in it. (ex. 100 Cheerios, 100 grapes, etc.) These will all be put together to make a 100th day "trail mix" snack for everyone. This is different from the 100th day project. Please bring send those projects in sometime before Thursday LABELED.

Hope to see you all Wednesday afternoon for the class spelling bee. Should be fun.

Mr. E

Last week's activities!

 Ms. Solomon entertaining the kids with a Franklin Valentine story.

 Ms. Laura and Ms. Olga doing a fun Valentine picture frame.

 Ms. Nettie and Ms. Carie helping the kiddos decorate Valentine boxes.

 Ms. Ronda, Ms. Enders, and Natalie's grandmother helping make some really cool sucker flowers.

 Building homes.

Building homes.

Writing about homes.

Pictures from the field trip

 Ulises jamming in the Ravina Music area.

 Still jamming.

 Reyna painted HER OWN face!

 Gabi had a little bit too much fun.

What a field trip!

Lincoln's birthday week

Remember : No School on Tuesday.

Reading
We are still focusing on our Homes around the world book and we will be building and writing about the homes they chose.

Writing
Writing about the homes as well as focusing on writing and illustrating more to our stories.

Math
Counting by 2s, and 5s.

Social Studies
Homes around the world! Abraham Lincoln

We are also having a Valentines celebration on Thursday. Students CAN bring Valentines but ARE NOT REQUIRED TO.

Also, LaSalle II's student council is having PENNY WARS over the next couple of weeks. This is how it works. Each class gets a big jug. We want to get the most points to get a pizza or ice cream party. We get points by putting pennies in our own jar and all other silver coins in other classes jar. (silver coins subtract from the penny count) The kids are extremely into this so help us win a party. Thanks

Mr. E

P.S. Please return your consent form so that I can get pictures/videos put up for you to see what we are doing.

February 4-8

Reading
We are reading Homes around the world again. This is the last week of our homes unit and then next week will be spent building some homes learned about. I will also be introducing the sequence of a story to the students. Sequencing is important for the students to be able to retell a story in the correct order and understand the events in the story like the problem and solution. We will be focusing on this for a while and then the students can transfer it to their writing when they start to write their own stories. Please send in cereal boxes the will fit a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. These are not for building homes but will serve as storage for students books as they will soon start to make their own books. 

Writing
We are working on writing more/adding detail to story and illustrations. We are also continuing our study of adjectives (describing words) to make our writing more interesting. You will be getting your child's mid year writing assessment sent home with notes in it tomorrow. Read the notes and help your child become a better writer at home. Also, compare your child's book to a writing from the beginning of the year to encourage them and so they can see their progress!

Math
Flat shapes and shape patterns.

Phonics
Blending (sp, fl, br, etc.) and the H brothers (sh, ch, th, wh, ph).

Next week the students will be building their homes from around the world out of the boxes you donated. There will be an email coming out soon with times you can come in and help.

Field trip
We have a field trip Friday! We are headed to the Kohls Children's Museum. All parents may come on the field trip for $6.50 unless you received an email from me stating that you are free. The buses will leave school at 9:30 on Friday. Please be at the school by 9 if you plan on coming with us. Email me with any questions.

Mr. E

Last week of quarter 2!

Reading
We are reading The House that Tony Lives in. It is about how a home is built. We are still focusing on homes, specifically how they are made.

Writing
Students will be making a book about their home for an end of the quarter assessment. These books will be sent home the following week.

Math
Solid (3D) shapes and flat (2D) shapes

Phonics
Long and short vowel sounds

Social Studies
How homes are built and why are homes different.

Mr. E

MLK week

Reading
We are featuring two books this week. Both about tools and building to go along with our unit on homes. We are reading a funny rhyming book called Fix-it Duck and a sing-a-long book called Old MacDonald had a Woodshed. We will be comparing the two books and making them come to life more through visualizing and some dramatic play. Students will get a chance to touch some building materials and some tools as well as read in our 'new' library we built on Friday.

Writing
We are writing about our feelings during writing time. I am also introducing the students to describing words this week and we are going to start using more describing words when we write. Please encourage this at home. (i.e. The house is big. or The big, white house on the corner has a pretty, red door.)

Math
Reviewing skills and number writing to 20. Practice writing the teen numbers at home if you see your child is having trouble writing them correctly.

Social Studies
What are homes built with? Feelings. MLK.

Science
How tools work.

The students' are loving the homes unit thus far. Please keep talking about it at home and MAKING CONNECTIONS.

Mr. E

P.S. Encourage other parents in the classroom to read the blog. Tell them they are missing out.

January 14-18

Reading

We are starting a new mini-unit tomorrow. We wrapped up our animal homes unit and we will now be focusing on homes around the world. This week I will intro it with our book of the week Homes Around the World. During this unit we will be learning about homes, shelter, cultures and material used to build. We are continuing to work on comprehension skills like making connections, visualizing and predicting. I will also be teaching students ways to read difficult/new words. 

Phonics

Review of long and short e sounds and intro to long and short u.

Writing

We are writing about animals we know and continuing to work on writing sentences correctly (capital, spaces, ending punctuation, one idea).

Math

Numbers to 20. Ten-frames. Comparing and ordering numbers. Number riddles.

Social Studies

Homes and people around the world. Geography. Martin Luther King.

Other stuff:

I am still collecting boxes for building homes at the end of this unit. 

The first three chaperons that email me can come on the field trip to Kohls Children's Museum on Friday, February 8th for free and all others are welcome at $6.50.

Mr. E

Ten frames

I am sending home laminated ten frames today. These are tools that we use to help count and see the importance of ten. We will be using these over the next month or so with adding and subtracting too. Keep it at home and use it with your child to help them understand the concept of ten. They should not count them individually because they know when it is full there are always ten. If one is empty they know it is one less than nine. If they are all full and there is one more outside then they know it is 11. This is how it is used. Get them used to using it.

Thanks,
Mr. E

January 7-11

We are getting back into the swing of things this week.

Reading
Our book for this week is called Building Beavers. We will be learning about beavers and where they live. We are continuing to focus on the question: What is shelter and why is it important? This is our last week learning about animal homes as we move to human homes next week.

Writing
Tomorrow we are making a book about our classroom resolutions for 2013. These are basically rules/procedures that we/I was getting a little lax on enforcing in December. So now we are all reminding ourselves of things we need to do better in school. Please read over this book with your child. We will also be writing about our friends on Wednesday. You can be in conversation about your child's friends over the week to get them thinking and writing more with more detail!

Math
We are learning numbers to 20. This is an important week because the teens are the toughest numbers for students to memorize and write. We will be starting to use ten frames to help learn the concept of composing and decomposing numbers (the number 12 is made by 10 and 2). I will hopefully be sending home ten frames for your child to practice with at home.

Social Studies
Being friends

Science
Beavers building

Phonics
long e and short e sounds (long e= tree, short e= bed)

We will be having a spelling test on Friday. I will send the list home tomorrow I hope. Spelling tests are nothing to stress out about. Just getting your child used to word families and spelling tests that they will take in first grade. Have fun with them and please don't put pressure on your child when practicing/taking them.

Mr. E