End of the first 6 weeks

We've made it to the end of our first 6 weeks! It's crazy how fast it went by! Looking forward to Open House on Monday October 3rd, and for you to see our class and some of the things we've been doing!

But anyways, this week in Reading we focused on beginning letter sounds and how many words are in a sentence. We read a book called "Our Pets" and "Please, Puppy, Please." We continued to talk about nouns and especially focused on nouns for things, specifically, animals. The students learned about some different types of pets and then also discussed how they care for their own pets. We have gotten all the way through the letter Y/y this week with our handwriting and played a few letter matching games. The students are also doing a great job on bringing home their books twice a week and reading them at home. I think we had every student bring them back signed this week!

In phonics this week we focused on the letter P/p. We are continuing with our phonics worksheets and I will start entering the grades for these worksheets starting next week. We also added a poster by our calendar with the letter P, and students were able to add their own drawings that started with P to it. We are working on blending sounds and being able to separate compound words into the two separate words. Next week I will start doing our TPRI testing with the students individually to see how well they know their letters, rhyming words, beginning word sounds, and how well they can comprehend a story. In phonics we also got to paint pumpkins, color the letter P/p pink and purple, then glue popcorn onto it, and we made a painted pig. 

In math, since it is the end of the 6 weeks, students should know how to count to 30, the days of the week, and the months of the year. This week we continued to focus on patterns and being able to recognize and make patterns. The students learned a chant "Boom Chicka Boom," where they were able to hear repetitions in the words, they also practiced making ABB patterns and ABC patterns. We also did a pattern walk, where we walked around outside and looked for patterns.

We learned a song about the color pink this week and so now our word wall has the words green, red, yellow, pink, the, like, and I on it. 

Making an ABC pattern with color tiles

 Glueing popcorn onto the letter P/p

Painting pumpkins

Don't forget about Open House on Monday the 3rd from 5:00-6:30!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Ray

stephanie.ray@saladoisd.org

254-598-8101

Week 5 of School

This week in Phonics we focused on the letter T/t. So as of right now, the students should be able to recognize, write, and know the sounds of the letters L/l, O/o, G/g, H/h, and T/t. This week we also started to get grades on our phonics work. The grades are E, S+, S, S-, and U. They won't be going into the gradebook until the start of the 2nd six weeks though. For the art project on Friday, they colored a tiger and practiced cutting, then glued the letter T/t onto the tiger's tummy.

In Reading, we are continuing with our first unit and talked about friends at school, how we get to school, and what we do at school. We focused on nouns that name places this week. The students are getting really good at recognizing a noun and being able to come up with one on thier own! We read the story "How Dinosaurs Get to School," and talked about what a character is and the feelings that the characters in the story had. The students are continuing on their alphabet handwriting pages and we are all the way through letter S/s. We also worked on rhymimg words and also recognizing words that have the same beginning sounds. The sight word we added for the week is Like.

In Math, we focused on patterns. We looked at several different patterns and then practiced making our own with blocks, counters, and bears. We also made patterns with noises. We would clap, then tap, clap, then tap, etc. The students loved getting to come up in front of the class and show them a new pattern that we could all do together! We also practiced counting forwards and backwards from 5 and writing numbers up to 5. We are still working hard on learning the days of the week, the months of the year, and how to count to 30. There are many students who can already do all of these on their own!

On Friday, we colored a yellow book and sang a song about things that are yellow. Students should be able to recognize the words red, green, and yellow from what we've been working on in class.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Mrs. Ray

Freedom Week

This week in Phonics our letter was H/h. We continued to practice recognizing and writing the letter H/h. Starting next week, the students will start to get a grade on their phonics worksheet. For out craft on Friday, the students made a house out of the letter H. We also started our first Reading Unit and read stories about families and how all families are special. We are also studying nouns and what kinds of nouns we can give to different people. The students worked on drawing pictures and then adding a label to their picture. We started on our sight words this week too. The students should be able to recognize the word I and be able to know what it means.

We learned a song about the color red this week. So they should know how to spell the color green and also now red! We finished up our Ready for School journal too, and it will be put out for Open House in October!

In math we introduced some new stations: number writing, staircase towers, connecting cube trains, and two-sided counter spill. These stations helped the students with writing their numbers, one-to-one correspondence, and counting. We are still working on being able to know our days of the week and understand how a calendar works (ie. where the month is, where the days are, etc...), learning the months of the year, and also being able to count to 30 on our own.

We started computers this week! The students really enjoyed going onto starfall.com and getting to learn more about the letters and the sounds that they make. We will get to go to computers every Wednesday afternoon. We are still going to the library on Fridays and the students get a chance to check out a new book. Please remember to send the book back by Thursday, so that your child can get a new book on Friday.

We also celebrated Freedom Week. The students learned what it means to be free and talked about how the soldiers are fighting for our freedom. We made a flag using all of the kindergartners handprints and the students got to decorate freedom bags that were stuffed and will be given to our soldiers.

 Doing one of our new math activities.

Computer Time!

Freedom Bags

They loved getting to decorate them for the soldiers!

 Working on their H house

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Stephanie Ray

Letter G and Days of the Week

This week in Phonics we focused on the letter G/g. The students did several worksheets that focused on the letter G and on Friday we made "The Green Grouch in a Garbage Can" craft and learned a song about the color green and got to color a book green and bring it home. In reading we are continuing with our letter writing pages and also focusing on rhyming words. They played a few rhyming picture matching games and also an "Alphabet Race Game" where they had teams and had to race to find a certain letter. Students are also learning about syllables and are working on breaking apart words.

In writing, they are continuing on their "Ready for School" book and have added 3 more pages to it. They will be ready to send home this Friday. We have also introduced a few nursery rhymes and students are working on sequencing the events and also on being able to re-tell a story. They really enjoyed the sequencing activity that we did with our nursery rhymes!

In math, we are still working on learning our days of the week and being able to count to 30. Students are also working on writing numbers 0-5 and counting forwards and backwards to 5. We have also done a few activities that work on one-to-one correspondence.

 Making the Grouch in the Garbage Can craft.

 Air-writing numbers and having their partners guess what number they were writing.

 They really enjoyed this activity!

 Sequencing nursery rhymes. 

 Matching up rhyming words. 

Finding more rhyming matches.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend! See you in the morning!

Stephanie Ray

First Two Weeks of School!

We have had a great first two weeks of school! Everyone is getting into the routine, making new friends, and already starting to learn some new things!

Last week we started with our Phonics and learned about the letter L/l. We also had a pirate theme last week going on. The students did several different worksheets that were about pirates that helped them learn how to use the markers, the glue, and the scissors correctly. We all about the classroom routines and procedures. On Friday, we got to go on a treasure hunt around the school to find different rooms (ex. The office, the library, computer lab, counselor’s office, etc..) And then at the end of the treasure hunt our map led us back to our room where we got a treat and got to hear a story about pirates.

This week our Phonics lessons focused on the letter O/o. The students had lots of practice writing it, saying the sound, and creating words that start with O. On Friday, the students got to make an octopus craft. We also started our reading curriculum and begun reviewing more letters of the alphabet. Everyday they did a different letter page where they practiced writing the letter. We read several rhymes and books this week.

In writing the students began a journal called Ready for School. Each page is something different about school: their teacher, their favorite thing to do, what they eat in the cafeteria, etc…We will be finishing them up next week. We have also talked about how we start writing. The first step is we think, then we tell someone our ideas, then we draw a picture, and lastly we write the words. The students have all begun going through these steps and have worked on sounding out some words for their pictures as well.

In math, they have been introduced to the linking cubes, the color tiles, and the pattern blocks. We got to play with them and discussed rules for using them. We are also focusing on days of the week and counting to 30 for the next couples weeks.

This upcoming week we will be working on the letter G and continuing with our reading and math curriculum. Hope you all enjoy the long weekend!

Stephanie Ray

Stephanie.ray@saladoisd.org

254-598-8101