May News

Finally beautiful weather!  Happy spring!  The year is really flying by!  The boys and girls have become so independent in so many areas it is amazing to watch!

Hopefully they have shared with you that we have caterpillars!  They will change into Painted Lady butterflies!  They are in the process of forming their chrysalises and it is very exciting to watch.  There has been constant movement in their cup!  ALL the kids are fascinated watching them!  Once they have transformed we will let them free!  Who knows where they will travel??

We continue to hone our math skills!  It is so fun to work with a partner when we count, add, subtract, use rods and cubes or even the ipads!

 We even made "fact family" flowers for spring to tie in our knowledge of numbers when we add and subtract!

The kids seem to be enjoying their RAH RAH books and continue to return them.  They have been working hard in their reading groups!  Many have even been using Raz Kids during free time to help with their reading also!

We also had a fantastic science day on May 12th, on Light and Color!  The helpers did a great job!  Many thanks to Mrs. Oliveto, Mrs. Morello, Mrs. Vazquez, Mrs. Duggan, Mrs. Romagnolo, and Mrs. McAndrews!

                                                               

Our field trip to the zoo is on the 28th.  Chaperone information will be sent home shortly.

Lots of fun with David Biedrzycki!

We had a wonderful time with author, David Biedrzycki!  He showed us lots of his books, how he drew the characters, how he came up with the ideas, his journal that he writes his ideas in, and one of his books that isn't even in stores yet!  He made the kids laugh and told them about how a book is made and a few "secrets" to look for in some books.....like in Bear Alert there is a hidden bear paw on each page!

How cool is it that he lives in Medfield!  I have many of his books in our class, but think I may go to Park Street Books to get a few more!

April news

We have been super busy!  Our math skills are growing by the day!  We kept track of our "lion and lamb" days....unfortunately we had WAY too many lion days!

We've been working on our addition skills and playing a lot of partner games to help us.

We've been talking about attributes and played "Attribute Dominoes" with a partner!

We've also been graphing spring pictures and practicing our number writing and counting on!

And of course we always love using the iPad!  "Sushi Monster" helps us with addition in a fun way!

We've also been working hard on our reading skills!  The RAH RAH books keep coming back and the kids really seem to enjoy borrowing them.  You may notice the kids are doing more writing and are getting very good at it!

Please remember to send your child's report card envelopes back so I can recycle them for June!

April 7th local Medfield author and illustrator David Biedrzycki will be visiting us, we are looking forward to his visit!

Science day success!

Many thanks to Mrs. Vazquez, Mrs. Morello, Mrs. Powers, Mrs. Allan, Mrs. Resch, Mrs. Oliveto and Mrs. Duggan for making our 1st science day about weather a success!  The kids really enjoyed it and loved the activities!  We look forward to our next one in May about light and color.

Report cards will go home on March 27th, it was great meeting with all of you during conference time.   

Reminder no school April 3rd.

March news

Silly Sock Day was a big hit with everyone in room 7!  There were socks on hands and socks around necks!  Lots of sock fun!  Don't forget your red and white for the Cat in the Hat tomorrow!

I've enjoyed meeting with you for your child's conference.  Remember that March 10th is  another half day for parent conferences.  March 17th is also a half day for Teacher Professional Development.  We will be having our 1st science day on March 18th about weather.

February news

Many thanks again to Mrs. Morello, Mrs. Vogt, Mrs. Sokolowski, and Mrs. Oliveto for a great Valentine's Day party!  The kids had a lot of fun!

I hope all the kids enjoyed their week off!  It looks like the cold weather isn't going away, please make sure your child has his/her warm outdoor clothing for recess.

We now have all our sight words on our word wall.  They are...a, am, and, at, can, dad, go, I, in, is, it, like, look, me, mom, my, on, see, the, to, we, and you.  The "trick words" for the Fundations unit we are in are...by, he, she, for, of, with, said, and are.  (you should've received those before vacation)

Hopefully your child got a chance to read his/her "RAH" (Reading At Home) books.  These books are at his/her independent level and should not be challenging for your child.  These are meant to increase their confidence and the kids should not need too much support with them.  Please refer to the papers that were included in the bag for answers to most questions.  When your child brings the books back then they are able to borrow new books.  It is always exciting to take home new books!

I think the 26th will still be our 100th day!  The kids received a paper explaining that they may bring in a collection of 100 objects.  They can be glued onto a poster, a t-shirt, or put in a baggy...whatever works for you!  It is always fun to see what 100 really looks like!  Make sure it is something your child can easily transport to school.

You should have received an email with sign up information for the March conferences.  If you did not receive it, please let me know.

February News

It looks like Punxsutawney Phil was right....6 more weeks of winter!  The children have been outside for recess even with all this snow!  Please make sure to label all of your child's belongings, after recess there are mittens, gloves, hats and even random boots floating around in the hall!  They have been doing a pretty good job with dressing and undressing themselves (some tricky snowpants straps and a few hard to get on mittens, but otherwise they are independently getting ready!)

We will be having a special presentation on February 12th called "Star Lab", the kids will be able to see what all the constellations look like at night and find out cool facts and information about stars.

Our  Valentine's Day party will be held on the 13th, you will be receiving a class list tomorrow to help your child with cards.  Please make sure each child in the class receives a card.  I know our room moms are hard at work preparing for another wonderful party for our class!  Many thanks to Mrs. Morello and Mrs. Vogt in advance!  I appreciate all the goodies and supplies sent in as well.  Thank you to all who help make the parties a success!

It looks as though our 100th day of school will be after vacation.  Possibly the 25th of February?  (if we do not have any more snow days!).  Before vacation you will receive some information about putting together a group of 100.  This is an optional project you can do with your child and send in to be shared.

We continue our work on CVC words, they are getting very good at "tapping out" and "blending" the sounds.  Ask your child to tap out some simple 3 letter words for you!  The middle sounds (vowels) can be very hard for many.  You should have received the Unit 3 packet for Fundations, you will find some flash cards to cut out and practice.  They are referred to as "trick words" in this program (similar to our sight words or word wall words).

We have been writing in Writer's Workshop!  The boys and girls love being referred to as "writers."  They are writing about "what they know."  A good writer writes about what he or she knows and can teach someone else.  We have learned that "when you are done, you have just begun".  This means you can always add some detail, drawing, color or more words to your piece.

We have been learning about 3D shapes (they are responsible for knowing cube, cone, cylinder, and sphere).  We've made shapes with playdough, looked at some real life objects in our class (such as our globe, paper towel holder, party hat and tissue box) read some books about 3D shapes, and worked on a 3D book (even counting the "faces" of shapes).

Stay warm....