Rockin Thursday!

We had a great day today finishing our David pictures (they turned out super cute), working more on the hidden partners (break apart numbers) within a number and how they add up to the whole number (up to 5).  We created our /a/ apple puppets during reading groups and played a game called "Starts With" listening for the sounds in a picture or object I am holding and sorting them according to the sound.  It was great fun!  Today we had a Royal Reader in the PM class for Bo's birthday and we finished up our Happy Camper interviews!

1. Book envelopes due back on Monday!
2. Homework and Homework Folders come home on Monday!

Upcoming events:
October 10th- No School!
October 13th- Mr. Hoglund's Hot Topics at 9:45 in the cafeteria
October 13th- PTO Meeting in Mrs. Drouin's Room at 6:30 PM
October 14th- Cookie Dough Distribution Day from 2-6 PM
October 17th- Spirit Apparel Order Forms Due!
October 21st- Tuesday at Twigs
October 23rd- Donuts with Dad!  8-9 AM

Happy Trails!  Have a great three day weekend with your family!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Wednesday!

Today, we had a great day working during our writers workshop again!  Students have learned that they are writers and that when "You think you're done, you've just begun."  To elaborate they add details to their picture, color to their picture, they add letters or words to help describe what something is, or what they are doing, then we also showed how we start a new piece of writing.  It was great seeing students add details to the writing they started on Monday.

We worked really hard on writing the letter Aa today!  When writing the lowercase a, please start with the magic "c" and then keep going up, bring it back down and give it a little tail, to make the a.

 When making the capital A, start with diagonal stick like / then add another one going the other way, it should like like tent, then give it a zipper going from one stick to the other and make a window, A!  We also wrote our sight words that we have worked on like: We, can, I and the!

We are almost all done with our Happy Camper interviews, next week, our Happy Camper Binder and our class bear will come home one night to the student who is drawn randomly that day.  When you get the binder, please read the binder with your child and return the next day!  Thank you!

Don't Forget:

• Tomorrow Homework and Homework Folders are Due!
• Take Home Books are Due! If you need a new book, write a note!  :)
• No School this Friday, October 10th!

Have a great evening!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Terrific Tuesday!

We had a great day today!  Our main focus today was reading and math!  We read a non-fiction photo essay called "Night Animals" learning what nocturnal animals are, how they are awake when we are asleep, also that a mammal is warm blooded animal that has hair or fur.  Our sight word of the week is "The" and our letter of the week is Aa, so please practice spelling and writing these at home  as much as you can would be great.  In math, we worked on the "hidden numbers" or two numbers that make up the whole.  Essentially working on breaking apart the number 5 into as many ways as we could using number cubes ( 4 + 1 = 5, 3 + 2 = 5, etc).  In reading groups, we worked on learning to blend our two sounds we have learned and how to blend them with other sounds we know /a/ /m/ = am.   Then we read a decodable book and I have to say I am very impressed with how students are working hard at sounding each letter and learning to string them together!  Wowza!

Notes:

1. Turn in Take Home Books in envelopes and the Homework page in the Homework Folder on Thursday!  If your child needs a new book, please do not forget that note.  :)
2. October 10th- No School
3. Monday- New Homework will come home!

If you ordered a Scholastic Book Order it should be here within the next week, it usually takes 1-2 weeks to get here.  I will send them home in your child's backpack and I will also post on here when they come home!  :)

Happy Trails,
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Marvelous Monday!

Today we had a wonderful day!  We were so busy I heard one student comment how they thought today went really fast!  :)  We had a great time working on writing today!  We had a "Writing Workshop."  We each sketched something we did this weekend, then we labeled our picture, sounded out the words we wanted to write/label as best as we could, then we colored the rest of the picture.  I am teaching them that they are All authors and what that looks like, and I loved watching them today as they wrote one thing they did over the weekend.  Our students did a very good job of labeling themselves and whom ever was with them in their picture, what they were doing and what was in the setting.

Our letter of the week is Aa and our sight word of the week is The.  We are still reviewing the sight words I, We and Can.  The more you can work on these words with your child at home (making sure they recognize it, spell and can write it) the more it will help us in class.  We read a fun story about several families going on a picnic and what fun they would have there in "The Picnic at Apple Park."  The students did a great job predicting what would come next in this fictional book!  We read the book "David Gets Into Trouble" and we started making our very own David, which we will finish later this week!    

Happy Trails!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Fun Friday!!

Today was FUNtastic!  We had our Music, PE and Library, in addition we also started our author study of the local author David Shannon, starting with the book No David!  David Shannon is an American author and illustrator of children's books.  He grew up in Spokane and even came to visit Prairie View a few years ago!  He won the Caldecott Honor for the book we read today!  We will be making David soon! :)  Finishing the week we reviewed our sight words I, can, and we!  

Students did a great job turning in their homework today!  I am loving the sentences that I am seeing!  Way to go!  I LOVE how I can tell what sounds the students are hearing when they are sounding out the words they want to write in their sentences!  This is such a great start!  I also LOVE how many students are choosing to do the math challenge on the front page!  The students who are choosing to doing it, are doing a great job!

Happy Trails!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Happy Thursday!

What a beautiful day!  Students showed up today ready to learn and boy we did a lot!  We worked on counting objects and finding the correct number that represents how many!  Students did a fantastic job at this!  We also worked on listening and recognizing when the sound /m/ is at the beginning or end of a word, then we practiced writing m, read a book with our sight words with Ms. Dody and listened to the story "Class Two at the Zoo."  Yesterday, we learned a new days of the week song to the tune of "The Adams Family," see if you can sing it with your child, it is great fun!

Reminders:
1) Tomorrow Homework is due!  Please help your child to get their homework in their folder and into their backpack!  Remember, our kindergarten homework not only helps your child practice a math skill we have been working on, but also practice writing their name, sound out and spell words, and it also teaches them how to be a student.  Your child is doing an amazing job!  Please keep encouraging them because they are doing awesome!      
2) PE is tomorrow, so please make sure your child puts on those tennis shoes! :)
3) No School next Friday on October 10th!

Happy Trails!
Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Wonderful Wednesday!

Today, we had a great day!  In math, we worked on sorting things according to how many are in a group, what belongs in a group and what doesn't belong.  Our letter of the week is Mm, so today in reading groups we worked on phonemic awareness with words that have the /m/ sound, as well as how to write the M.  We also started making our ABC book today and listened to a fun story!   We are also focusing on words that rhyme together! It is so much fun learning about our Happy Campers of the day, who were Stella and Corvin!  So much fun jam packed into our days!

 Important Notes:

1. Tomorrow is our book exchange. If your child needs a new book/level, please send a note in their plastic folder. 

2. No school on October 10, 2014.

3. October 13, 2014 there is a PTO meeting at 6:30pm in the library.

4. The week of October 20, 2014 is cookie dough distribution.

5. Just a heads up: on November 7, 2014 1st-6th grades have a half day; HOWEVER, pm kindergarten class will still be held from 12:45-3:15pm.

6. We have specialist on Friday. Please be sure your child wears appropriate shoes for P.E.   

Happy Trails!

Love, 

~Mrs. Wittwer