Mrs. Powers' Kindergators

Wow, did our kindergartners come in ready to learn and grow this week! It was so exciting to see how much they had retained even with the break. This really is a fun time of year, when they students begin to take off in their learning and maturity. We hope you are seeing signs of that at home too! Here are some of the fun things we did in class this week: Reading: We reviewed the different kinds of reading texts we use. That means noticing the differences between fiction and non-fiction. We did puppet show retellings for The Ugly Duckling. We began using clues in the text we read to figure out a character’s traits. That means we are already transitioning from learning to read to reading to learn for many of our students. Math: We continued learning about addition / subtraction strategies using the number line strategy and number bond strategy. We like to show the process in many different forms to cement the meaning of each and the rationale behind how and why we add or s...

Happy Winter Break! We hope the weather is wonderful and the kids gets lots of time to play and relax. In between our playing and relaxing, here are some things we worked on this week in class: Reading: We used self-guiding rubrics to help us improve our story retellings. Partners worked together to score each other’s retellings and provide constructive feedback. We were so impressed when we heard things like, “You should use the words from the story to help you remember the setting.” (Thank you Ava) or “You can’t start with the word they because they can be any they.” (Thank you Reese) or “You forgot part of the conflict in the middle.” (Thank you Grant). We also compared and contrasted versions of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Math: We wrapped up our subtraction unit this week. When we get back from break we will be working on transitioning back and forth betweek + and – in models, equations and word problems. As of this week, we have 100% of our class who has passed their a...

Progress reports came home in your child’s blue binder today. Please take a moment to review them, sign the bottom portion and send it back to school. As always, if you have any questions, please let us know.

Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted early spring, but no one could have predicted the amazing weather we have had for recess this week. Dilan and I were having so much fun laying Frisbee, we forgot to go inside at our scheduled time and had to be reminded that we couldn’t stay out forever. The funniest part was that it was some of our classmates that reminded us, not the other adults! Here are some things we did inside the classroom this week. Reading: We compared and contrasted versions of the Three Pigs. So far the favorite is The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. If you have never read it, look it up on Youtube. It is a wonderful piece of work. We did lots of work with the 3 sounds of Y and building our reading stamina. We did want to pass on a little reading tip. We have noticed the kiddos turning their heads to look at us lots when reading aloud. This usually means they are getting a bit too much help as we move our lips and fill in sounds for them, or that they are...

Don't forget..... Spring picture day is this Thursday 2.7.19. We will be taking our class picture that day and you have the option of buying individual pictures of your child as well. Forms were sent home last week should you wish to order either of these. 

          Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching.  Our class will exchange valentines on Thursday the 14 th .  If your child wishes to give valentines  to his/her classmates, please read the following guidelines:   1.      Please send your child to school that day with a decorated box or bag to bring home their valentines in. 2.       We will be exchanging valentines first thing in the morning (before 8:00am) so please ensure your child is on time to school on the 14 th . 3.     Be sure that your child writes his/her name on every valentine he/she is giving away.   Otherwise, the other students won’t know who gave it to them.   4.     Please use the class list attached to this letter to locate the names of your child’s classmates. Please encourage your child to use capital letters to begin each name.   We ask that yo...