Friday!

We love our Fridays together!

Both classes had P.E. and music today with Mrs. Mulder. They played games, used rhythm sticks, and listened to a story. Our am class also had library today. Pm kiddos will have library on Monday (3-14-16). During our class time, we talked a lot about being yourself. We then read a book called Elmer. 

It's all about an elephant who isn't gray like the others, he is patchwork. It's such a wonderful book about being yourself, but also friendship. After discussing the book, the students made their very own Elmer. 

Next week, I will be finishing all my spring assessments with kiddos and giving out their certificates if they met a Magic 5 target!  All the kinders did such a wonderful job!  If your child met a Magic 5 Target it will come home next week!  Just a loving reminder to please continue to practice all the Magic 5 Targets! If the kinders don't keep reviewing their letters, sounds, numbers, counting, and sight words, they forget. If you need any supplies (e.g. flashcards, 100 chart, etc.) please let me know! I want the kiddos to go into first grade feeling SUPER confident in their skills! 

 

Important Information:

1. Homework folders will be coming home on Monday (3-14-16).

2. Take Home books are due on Monday (3-14-16).

3. Grandparents Day is Friday, March 18th from 8:15-9:00am for both AM and PM kinders!

4. With the spring weather, please make sure your child has layers so that we can go outside. We still need coats and hoods, so we can go outside to play. Thanks! 

Have a great weekend!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Wednesday!

Today we started our day with a math fluency activity.  There have been more of these coming home recently.  These fluency activities are to help students figure out strategies to count and find how many more are needed to make a specific number up to 10.  The more they practice these strategies, the more fluent they will become.

After our fluency activity, we transferred our informational Fox writing from our graphic organizer to lined paper.  I was SO impressed with students writing skills today!  I cannot wait to show you at conference time!  After writing, we had recess (indoor in the am, and outdoor in the pm).  After recess, we had reading groups working on reading our leveled readers, sight word practice, the "and" sight word page, and we listened to "Froggy's Worst Playdate."  After reading groups, we finished strong with our math lesson of the day.  We are working on "Part" + "Part" = "Whole/Total."  We are working on writing our number sentence/equation both ways.  Our focus is to keep the total by the = sign and the two "parts" on both sides of the + sign.  The more you can help your child individually at home with this, the more comfortable they will become.

Students know that it doesn't matter which "part" comes first, just that both parts need to be by the plus sign.  The equation can start or end with the total!  Equations can be written both ways:

8=2+6

6+2=8 or
2+6=8  

Reminders:
1) Tomorrow the Take Home Book Exchange is due.  Please be sure your child has a sticky note!  :)
2) If you haven't returned the Kindergarten Conference pamphlet, please do so! :)   I need it returned for every student, if you have other students that attend Prairie View, please notice the kindergarten pamphlet is different from the rest of the school.  Thank you for your help and patience as we pilot this new conference system!
3) Grandparents Day is March 18th from 8:15-9:00am for both AM and PM kinders! 

Have a great night!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Monday!

We had a great day back!

We started our day with introducing our new letter of the week, Bb!  We then welcomed Mrs. Pittz into our classroom for another social skills lesson. The lesson focused on how feelings can be expressed with facial expressions, but also voice, and body posture. Once the lesson was over, we did our calendar and Daily News routine, as well as our picture guess. We guessed different pictures that started with the /b/ sound and read a story called "Bubble Bear". Recess was once again outside, which felt great...even though it was a bit chilly. :) We transitioned to math after recess, where the kiddos again identified/wrote what the two parts were, as well as the whole (e.g. 2 + 6 = 8). Lastly, we started our first independent informational writing task today. 

The students listened to different facts about foxes, looked at pictures, and also got to see a short clip about how foxes use their incredible hearing to catch their prey. I've included the video link below, as it is quite amazing to see. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yUwM5mHBD8#action=share

Important Information:

1. Homework folders came home today (3-7-16).

2. Take Home Books were exchanged/checked in today (3-7-16).

3. Grandparents Day is March 18th from 8:15-9:00am for both AM and PM kinders!

4. If you haven't turned in your child's Conference Form, please do so as soon as you can (or by Friday).  Thank you!  :)  Every kindergartener should have a form filled out, even if they have other siblings, this is a different pamphlet with different times.  Thank you for your patience as we navigate this new conference scheduling process!

Have a great evening!

~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer   

Friday Info!

Today, in your child's backpack, there is a Prairie View Spring Conference Scheduling Pamphlet. 

This spring there will be a new scheduling process. Please read the entire pamphlet, fill it out completely, and return it on or before March 11, 2016.

Important Information:

1. Homework folders will be coming home on Monday (3-7-16).

2. Take Home books are due on Monday (3-7-16).

3. Grandparents Day is March 18th from 8:15-9:00am for both AM and PM kinders!

4. With the spring weather, please make sure your child has layers so that we can go outside. We still need coats and hoods, so we can go outside to play. Thanks! 

Thursday!

We had a wonderful day in Camp Kindergarten!  

We started our day with a Dr. Seuss activity page!  Then we worked on a math fluency activity, making seven!  Students had to add carefully to make seven.  We then did our calendar and Daily News routine.  We attempted to go outside, but the rain started right away, so we had to have an indoor recess. :) After that, we transitioned to reading groups, where the kiddos worked on decoding, identifying where the /e/ sound was in different words, words that rhyme with all and cup, our sight word "do", and listening (The Rain Came Down by David Shannon). The students then gathered at the calendar rug to listen to our anthology story (Frog and Locust). Speaking and listening is an important skill, but also, it's a very large piece of the SBA testing that starts in third grade.  Lastly, we celebrated a couple birthdays today with a Royal Reader in the both the AM and PM classes!  

Reminders:

1. Homework folders are due tomorrow (3-4-16).

2. We have P.E. and music tomorrow.

3. We have fourth grade buddies tomorrow!  Hooray!

4. Jump Rope for Heart money is due tomorrow.

5. Grandparents Day is March 18th from 8:15-9:00am for both AM and PM kinders!

6. With the spring weather, please make sure your child has layers so that we can go outside. We still need coats and hoods, so we can go outside to play. Thanks!

Have a great evening!

~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In honor of Dr. Seuss today, we made our very own Cat in the Hat!  Students did a wonderful job coloring, cutting and gluing their cat together.  We took a class picture out in the hallway with our cats!  We read Dr. Seuss' book "Green Eggs and Ham." We learned that before we say we don't like something or can't do something, we should try it first, because we might like it!  After that we had a nice recess outside!  After recess, we had reading groups focusing on our leveled readers, the /e/ sound in words and where that sound is in the word.  We also had a few Dr. Seuss activity pages, our sight word "This" page and listened to "Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears."

Reminders:

1) We have had some students have a lot of "toys" in their backpack and it has been difficult to get take home books and homework folders in and out of backpacks.  It is a school rule that toys stay at home.  If your child goes to a daycare where they can have toys, please make sure it goes to daycare and not school if possible.  Thank you!

2) Tomorrow is the Take Home Book Exchange!  Please make sure you have a note with your child's book!

3) Grandparents Day is March 18th from 8:15-9:00am for both AM and PM kinders!

4) Elementary BoundaryRecommendation Community Input Forums will be taking place on March 2nd at Mead High School and March 9th at Mt. Spokane High School. 

5) With the spring weather, please make sure your child has layers so that we can go outside.  We still need coats and hoods, so we can go outside to play.  Thanks!  :)   

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday!  We had a great day today!  We started our day with a fine motor activity, writing our name and cutting very carefully in a circular motion.  After we completed this activity, we did our Calendar and Daily News routine.  After that we enjoyed an indoor recess with Mrs. Snider's students.  After that, we had our reading groups focusing on the sound the letter /e/ makes.  We also worked on blending, sounding out decodable words and reading sight words. We also worked on our ABC book (an Easter Egg), writing the letter Ee and listening to a story.  After reading groups we learned what a number sentence is using an = and + sign with our number bonds.  We are now writing number sentences to go with the number bonds, for example: 3 + 2 = 5.

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss' birthday, so we will be celebrating by doing some fun Dr. Seuss activities!

Reminders:

1) We have had some students have a lot of "toys" in their backpack and it has been difficult to get take home books and homework folders in and out of backpacks.  It is a school rule that toys stay at home.  If your child goes to a daycare where they can have toys, please make sure it goes to daycare and not school if possible.  Thank you!

2) Take Home Book Exchange is on Thursday!  Please make sure you have a note with your child's book!

3) Grandparents Day is March 18th from 8:15-9:00am for both AM and PM kinders!

4) Elementary BoundaryRecommendation Community Input Forums will be taking place on March 2nd at Mead High School and March 9th at Mt. Spokane High School. 

5) With the spring weather, please make sure your child has layers so that we can go outside.  We still need coats and hoods, so we can go outside to play.  Thanks!  :)  

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer