Welcome back! We had a fantastic first week back to school and the K-kids were excited to see their friends and teachers.  We jumped right back into our routine and started the units, Flat Stanley and Around the World!

This week Flat Stanley was busy traveling the world! We received postcards, letters and pictures from India, Pakistan, Iceland, Philadelphia, and Canada. The kiddos were excited to receive mail and helped me find these locations on the map.  This started our discussions on different cultures around the world. You can see the map on the outside bulletin and stay up to date on his travels.  Also, I wanted to thank you for reaching out to your family and friends because without your participation, this would not have been a success!

Writing

We are finishing up our 5th unit- Informative Writing.  As the children are progressing this year, they have been working on setting one goal each day for Writer’s Workshop.  For example, they will focus on capitalization, adding punctuation, using the word wall to spell words correctly, and focusing ideas.  They are really improving on these skills and it is exciting to see their growth! During this unit, the kids made a list of super topics. A super topic is one broad idea and then five details relating to the main idea.

Language Arts

This week I assessed the children for new reading levels. They will bring home new ‘just right books’ this week. Please continue to sign their reading log each week! We will begin new literacy stations this week.

I read the book, Piggie Pie this week and the children completed a few activities in their journals.   The favorite activity was writing a new ending to the story.  They had fun sharing these with their friends. 

STEM

(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

Each week we will be completing a new STEM project.  This week the K-kids were introduced to the concept of Force and Motion.  They watched a Brain Pop movie about pushes and pulls. Next, the children were given a challenge to complete.   Using only construction paper, unifix cubes, and tape, the kiddos had to build a race car ramp.  The challenge was can you create a ramp that will make the racecar go the farthest distance.  They measured the distance of the car with unifix cubes. After each test drive, they had to add or subtract cubes on the ramp to see if this correlated with the distance of the car.  It was fun to see their thinking in action!

Math

The children continue to solve word problems using manipulatives, pictures and really understanding the different strategies you can apply. In the upcoming weeks, we will continue to solidify number sense with teen numbers, money, and addition and subtraction so these kiddos will be ready for first grade!

Upcoming Events

Auction and Scholarship Dinner: Saturday, April 28th 
Please RSVP to Sara Mcguire

SUMMER CAMPS: Inspiration Factory “IF” (Discovery) and Camp Griffin (Summer Camp)  Register with Melinda Orzoff, spaces are limited!

We have had a blast working on our Dr. Seuss unit this past week. We read some of the lesser known stories of the 48 books that Theodor Geisel wrote, many of which were new stories for most of our friends!

Language Arts

Our Author Study of Dr. Seuss lends itself very well to many language arts skills.  We started new literacy stations this week, focusing on Dr. Seuss throughout our different activities. We discussed blends and continued to work on vowel teams!  Also, we had a few activities about rhyming words. The kiddos love his fun and creative characters!

Writing

We finished our unit- Writing for a Reason.  This week the children wrote movie and book reviews. They had to tell why you should come see their movie!  They loved sharing these with their classmates.

Math

We also started new math workstations this week. I have been so impressed with the progression of math skills and the depth we have been able to go into each subject. The K-Kids have really been strengthening their number sense, mental math, and I have been pushing them to try and use different strategies (other than their fingers) to solve addition and subtraction problems.

Also, we took a closer look at our math facts and showing how to decompose the number in different ways.  The kiddos were all given a different number and had to show numerous ways to make it.  They used cubes and drew pictures to help them solve. It was fun to see how determined they were to figure out these facts on their own! Next, they wrote the equation on a Truffala Tree- these are displayed on the bulletin board outside.  

Happy Birthday, Isra! We had a celebration in the classroom and she brought in delicious treats to share with her friends :)

Reading Buddies

This week the 6^th graders came to visit and began their stories. Together the children brainstormed characters, setting, and plot. The 6^th graders recorded the stories and next week the K-kids will help add the illustrations to make their own books! 

Upcoming Events

This Friday, 3/16 is a half-day. School will be dismissed at 11:30. Please let Mrs. Orzoff know if your child will be staying for EDP.

The PK, JK, and K PALIO performance will be next week Wednesday the 21st.  Let me know if you need a Palio shirt.  I will provide more details about the event this week.

Spring Break- 3/26-4/9  EDP camp is available 3/26-30. There is a link in Mrs. Orzoff’s blog to sign up.

This week we wrapped up our American Symbols unit. Here is a peek at the week!

Language Arts

Literacy Station- This week the children worked independently in their poetry journals finding popcorn words, magic E’s and punctuation.  The listening station was a favorite activity with the story, Chicken Dance. The kiddos had to correct mixed up sentences by adding punctuation and correct spelling.  This was a bit challenging, but they did a great job trying their best.

For Reader’s Workshop we read the story, Abe Lincoln’s Hat.  The children made connections by drawing a picture of something or someone that was important to them.  They stretched their learning by writing a few sentences to describe their picture. The children enjoyed sharing their pictures and did a nice job listening to one another. 

We also disused a new word pattern in our “just right books.”  'If two vowels go walking the first one does the talking' ex, boat, moat, road, etc.   The children were detectives and searched for these 

 words in their books!  This is a great activity to try at home.

Math

Stations- In small groups I invited the children to visit my store where we practiced buying and selling different items. They enjoyed this real life scenario. Also, we focused on our base 10 blocks, a 10 rod and a 1s cube. They practiced using these to pull out a ten and adding ones to build numbers.  

Writing

In this unit we are learning we can write for a variety of reasons and we made a list together. The focus of this week was writing letters!  The kiddos did a fantastic job writing their 

 messages. 

Spanish 

The children discussed the ingredients in ice cream, wrote a recipe and then got to make their own!  What a treat :)

Social Studies

We learned about the Liberty Bell and finished our USA Symbols Book!

 Leader In Me

Habit 6 – Synergize 

We learned that synergy is valuing differences and then working together to create a better solution than anyone could do alone. 

We read a story about a soccer game, The Big Bad Badgers, which highlights the power and importance of working together as a team.

 Next week we will learn about Dr.Seuss!! 

Half Day- March 16th- 11:30AM Dismissal

This week the K-Kids had a blast celebrating the 100^th day of school and we dove in to our new unit- American Symbols.

100s Day Celebration!

The K-Kids dressed the part of a 100-year-old person by wearing bow ties, suspenders, glasses, and even grey hair! It was fun to see their creativity shine. Also, they collected or created a piece with 100 things. This ranged from a birthday cake with 100 candles, a porcupine with 100 quills and 100 ninja stickers. They enjoyed sharing their projects and they are currently displayed in the 100s Day Museum.

Where would we end up 100 steps from the classroom? The children shared and then wrote their predications. Their answers ranged from the gym, the roof, Mrs. Orzoff’s office and many more. In partners they traced each other’s footprints. Next, as a class, we tested our predictions to see where 100 steps would take us!

Fruit loop necklaces

Social Studies – American Symbols

This week we focused on the American Flag, The Statue of Liberty and The Bald Eagle.  We watched a few videos to highlight the importance of these American symbols. Ask your child to share a fun fact about each one!  Each student created a USA book and made an American Flag.  These are displayed in the classroom for you to take a look.

Math

Many of the 100s day projects and centers focused around a variety of math concepts.  We discussed place value, counting by 5s and 10s, and are gaining a better grasp on number sense to 100. 

Language Arts

We began a new rotation of literacy stations this week.  The activities included building sentences, stamping sight words, and a go fish game where the children had to identify blends.  The listening station story was, Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex by Lisa McClatchy, and the children had to independently identify details from the story using picture clues. At the writing center, the children had a choice between labeling their picture, creating a story or writing a letter all using the February vocabulary cards.