I will have a sub on both Thursday and Friday. The sub will be Kristin Henderson again. I will be at a training to become a mentor to other teachers. Art is Friday so please help if you can!
Here are our topics for the week:
Language Arts:
The letter of the week is 't' pronounced "te." Students will practice
writing the letter as well as learn many vocabulary words that begin
with 't.' The sight word is "el/the."
Math:
Students will learn about circles. They will continue to practice and
hopefully master counting and writing the numbers 0-5 before we move
onto larger numbers.
Color: The color of the week isbrown/café or marrón.
SLD/Science:
Los Cinco Sentidos/The Five Senses. Students will participate in some
fun activities in which they will use their five senses to describe
objects. They will learn adjectives such as ácido/sour, suave/soft,
duro/hard, dulce/sweet, áspero/bumpy. They will make a book with
something they will glue on each page the represents each sense. They
will review some of their body parts as well as we go through which
parts we use to experience each of the senses.
NGSS Science Pilot: The kids will use lamps as models to represent the sun. They will observe how the light/heat affects the temperatures of various surfaces. They will need to know what a modelo/model is.
1) Please sign up for the Carnival. We are in need of volunteers and donations for the basket.
2) If you are interested in scholastic books, click the link on my blog--ordering is really easy online. Plus, we get class bonus points and shipping is free.
3)
Picture Day is Thursday, Sept. 26. You should have received information about it
on Friday. Kindergarten usually goes first thing in the morning.
4) Friday is an early release day. Students are out at 12:15pm. They will still have lunch as usual.
5th Grade Buddies
Students
were paired up with their 5th grade buddies two weeks ago. Sra. Mello's class, who are bilingual students from the Spanish Immersion Program,
will work with the kindergarteners once a week. They will come every
Wednesday after recess. They will keep these same buddies until the end
of the Trimester and we will change buddies once each trimester.
These are the projects they will work on with the kindergarteners throughout the year:
1) Technology projects: Book Creator, iMovie's, PicCollage, Google Slides, Google Classroom
2) Digital Citizenship Lessons about using the internet and technology properly
3) English practice: reading books in English, Quizlet, etc.
4) NGSS science lessons-planning and carrying out investigations
It's
nice from them to have a buddy who can help them work on things
one-on-one. They can help with reading, writing, and art. Plus, they can
do everything in both English and Spanish.
Here are the topics for the week:
Language Arts:
The letter of the week is /p/ pronounced "pe" We will be learning
about words that begin with /p/ and begin reading the syllables pa, pe,
pi, po, pu. The focus sight words are "veo" and "tengo." They will also
learn about family and we will talk about things we do with family.
Math: We will be writing and counting numbers 1-5 and learn about triangles. We will cut out triangles from magazines.
Color: The color of the week is green/verde.
SLD:
Students will be learning about lots of different body parts that are
categorized into three groups: parts of the head (face, hair, etc.),
exterior parts (limbs, torso, etc.), and interior parts (organs, bones,
etc.). At the end of the week, they will label a human body with the
parts they learned.
Science NGSS Pilot: We will begin our pilot curriculum called Amplify. The kids will discuss how scientists study weather and what they already know about weather. Without telling them what to think and guiding them too much, please review the vocabulary so they have a better understanding of the lesson considering the language barrier may pose a challenge.
* We make a lot of books and
flip-books in class. These are great resources to improve reading and
vocabulary development. Please store them in a book bag and give your
child some time every night to practice them. It is okay if they don't
know every word.
Please support our PTA by participation in
our fundraiser. I will be handing out monkey keychains to kids that
turn in the little tickets. Our class goal is 280 items sold. We can do
it!!
Also, our class has a basket for the Fall
Carnival. You should have received a letter from the room parent, Bonnie Baum. She asked for donations. I am currently accepting them. Thanks!
Picture Day is Thursday, September 26th. We go first thing in the morning.
Work Stations: How you can help
Some kids have
gotten some practice with the computers and we have started exploring
the iPads. We are going to begin “work stations.” If you have access to
Quizlet at home, it is helpful to practice with your child how to use a
mouse, get in and out of websites, and how to navigate a website such
as scrolling up and down. We will explore sites and apps such as the ones on the Symbaloo webmix, Quizlet, Onlinefreespanish.com.
My plan
is to have work
stations every Thursday and Friday and offer the students time to work
on some of these activities as a "may-do" once they finish their work on
a daily basis. During this time, it is important that students can
work independently at their station and stay on task while I work with
small groups on guided reading and phonics practice. Please talk to
your child about these expectations and that if they need something that
no other child can assist them with, they need to stand on the taped X
by the U-table until I address them. This helps minimize
interruptions during small group time.
Yo puedo/I can:
We will go over the “I can” or “Yo puedo” options for each
station. They have a choice of a few different activities that share
the same objective. For example, there are a few different ways to
practice handwriting in that station, as demonstrated on the
cards. There are also signs around the room with pictures demonstrating
their options. In addition, certain areas around the room have hanging
signs that designate where they can do that station. Some stations will
require them to grab the materials from the library area and move them
to the station table.
Our Stations: Handwriting, Alphabet/Words, Library, Pocket Chart, iPads, Puzzles, Computers (Symbaloo Edu), Big Books, With the Teacher
How it works:
They
will rotate twice each day on Thursday and Friday. For each station
period (about 12-15 minutes) they will be working on that station
only. They will do the station in the blue section first and then the
green section (refer to the chart above). When they rotate, they will
work on the next station. They may not do every station every week, but
they will meet with me in small reading groups at least one day a
week. It is okay if they don’t get to do a particular station one week,
because they may get the chance to do it the following week or week
after. There is a chart in the room with their pictures next to their
partner, and the station cards to the right. They will always move to
different stations in pairs (with their partner). Blue is the first
station and green is the second station.
Why am I giving you so much information about this?
I
have found that when parents talk to their kids in English and explain
procedures and expectations, it makes receiving the same instructions in
Spanish so much more understandable. This helps the transitions run
much more smoothly. Thanks for your participation in the process.
These are the plans for the week:
Language Arts:
The letter of the week is /m/, pronounced 'eme.' Now that the students
have learned the five vowel sounds, we will be blending /m/ to make the
syllables ma, me, mi, mo, mo. Students will learn words that begin
with /m/ and do various activities to practice writing and reading words
with this letter.
Math: We will learn to count and write numbers 3-5 as well as describe shapes, decompose numbers in groups, etc.
Color: The color of the week is blue/azul.
SLD:
Students will be learning about different actions/verbs. They will
describe which things they like to do at home, at school, and at the
playground. They will use the sentence frame: Yo puedo _______. / I can ______. Ex.
Yo puedo dibujar./ I can draw.
Now that the kids are familiar with many of the
routines, I will be assigning them a weekly job. Please give your child
a heads up about having a job. The kids LOVE having a responsibility.
Every child will have a job and the jobs will change weekly. If they
don't get the job they want, just remind them that all jobs are
important and that they will get their turn in future weeks to do ALL
jobs. The jobs will be on the blue pocket chart near the door.
Jobs include:
sharpen pencils, pass out papers, pass out materials, messenger, first
in line, line ender, pass out wipes, trash collector, cleaner, organize
toys, put lunches in a line, clip chart manager, librarians, mail
stuffers, teacher's assistant, etc.
Color Wednesday: Here is the schedule for wearing the color of the week on Wednesdays. Color Schedule
Books, books, books!!
You
can order scholastic books! If you click on the link to the right, you
can check out my recommended books and class wishlist. Ordering online
is preferred as the shipping is free, it's much easier to process, and
we get class points.
Many of the
books are in both English and Spanish, so you can still read the books
to them and then when they start reading in Spanish, they can read the
same books to YOU. I HIGHLY recommend buying a set of "Cuentos
Foneticos 1-36." It is a bit pricey ($65), but parents have agreed that
it was a great investment as it helped their kids become readers. If
you don't wish to purchase them, that's okay. I have a few copies of
each book in my class and when I feel your child is ready, I will start
lending them out. This usually happens between October and January,
depending on your child's readiness level.
Click the link on the side bar to
order books from our class book club. Online orders earn us class
points that I use to buy more books for the classroom library.
These are the topics for week 3:
Language Arts: The letters of the week are /i/, /e/, and
/u/. The students will be learning the songs for these letters, will
practice tracing them, and will be learning vocabulary words that begin
with the letters. The songs in the dropbox are called "Ignacio e Iván,"
"Edgar Elefante," and "Ulises Unicornio."
Math:
They will be counting and tracing numbers 1 through 3. In addition,
they will learn about graphs using their birthdays and some of their
favorite things. They will compare different columns to describe which
have more or less (más or menos).
Color: The color of the week is yellow/amarillo. Don't forget to wear yellow on Wednesday.
SLD:
Students will be learning about different objects they see at school.
These will be separated into three categories: furniture/los muebles,
school supplies/los utiles escolares, and technology/la tecnología. They
will be using the sentence frame: Yo veo _____./I see _______.
We had such a successful first week and a half of school! Keep up all your wonderful support at home. :)
As
I promised, I will be posting information about the weekly topics on
each last day before the new learning week. I do this for two reasons:
1) so that you know what type of work to expect and what to talk about
with your child and 2) so that whatever they learn in Spanish, you can
supplement their learning by talking about it in English. For example,
if we are learning about things that start with 'o' in Spanish, you can
help your child point out things that begin with 'o' in English.
Quizlet
Quizlet
saves you paper and reads the card to the students in the chosen
language. Flashcards are a good idea for practicing automatic skills
such as reading high frequency words "fast as a snap." What I really
like about Quizlet is that if the student needs assistance reading the
word or letter, the program reads it to them. If they feel confident
enough, they can turn off the audio assistance. There are also games to
practice what they know.
Check it out at www.quizlet.com. It is one of the icons on symbaloo. There is also an app that works on any phone or tablet.
I
have a class set up with lots of flashcard sets. You can sign up which
allows you to make your own sets. The ones I created have BOTH English
and Spanish words, letters, syllables, and even sentences. Go ahead
and use the following login information, but please don't create your
own sets on this account.
How they are organized:
I have created folders to make the sets organized: Spanish Reading, Spanish Math, English Reading, English Math.
Letter
vocabulary for homework: Sra. James and I will be creating a set of
vocabulary words for each weekly letter. These will include an image as
well as the English translation. We recommend reviewing the words as
part of weekly homework.
The login information is:
salonk3 password: oso12345. You can always make your own account if
you would like to do so, but you would have to ask to join my class to
get access to the sets.
Thanks!!
Here are the topics for the week:
Language Arts:
They will be introduced to the five vowels. They will focus on the
two vowels: /o/ and /a/ and will continue with the rest next week.
They will practice forming these letters as well as learn words that
begin with them. There will be vocabulary words on Quizlet that begin
with "O." and "A."
Math: Our curriculum
spirals between different topics so some concepts they will learn about
are comparing length, numbers, counting, and an introduction to shapes
and pattern blocks.
Color: The color of
the week is red/rojo. Students will learn about different things that
are red and will learn to spell the word "rojo." Don't forget to wear
red on Wednesday! There is also a Quizlet set on things that are red in
the Spanish Reading Folder.
Spanish Language Development:
They will learn about foods they eat and drink for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner. They will use the language structures: Yo como______./I eat
_______. and Yo bebo_______./I drink _____. along with the many new
vocabulary words they learned for the foods they eat and drinks they
drink. This will be the first time they will see the vocabulary icon
(lips) to indicate new important words they are learning. I use these
in my fill in the blanks that I call "widiwidi."
We had a great first two days. We are headed toward a much longer week so we will be building stamina for being in school every day. I have already sent a few emails to the whole class, so if you didn't get them, let me know. Sometimes my emails go into people's junk mail. That is another good reason to keep up with the blog so that you stay informed.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
1) Wednesday will be the first short day. We will get out at 12:30. For Wednesdays only, kids only need one snack and lunch. Kindergarten goes to lunch last, so we will be walking back from lunch and almost immediately it will be time for them to go home or ESS.
**Please turn in paperwork as well as the Roadrunner folders ASAP. These folders will be used every Wednesday in the future to send home homework packets, flyers, etc. Please send the emptied folder back to school by Monday or Tuesday at the latest so that my volunteer can prepare the folders for going home on Wednesdays.
2) Lunch numbers should go home on Wednesday. The first homework assignment is for them to memorize their lunch number. I will be asking kids if they are buying from the cafeteria. The word is very similar in Spanish and I will be making a C with my hand so they know. They will raise their hand if they are buying so that I can put it in with attendance.
Topics for the week:
1) Language Arts: We will be introducing the whole alphabet through songs, Chica Chica Bum Bum activities, the "sonidos iniciales" chart (which is on the cover of their work folders), and a read-aloud big book called "Por la calle abecedario." This is simply an intro. They will have a letter a week for most of the year where they will learn about each letter in great depth. They will also practice the words "Yo" and "soy" = "I am" and writing their names.
2) Math: They will be tracing and counting the numbers 1-5 with a Coco book. We are also practicing the routines of our daily calendar lesson. In this routine, we count how many days of school, track the weather, and practice the days and months in Spanish.
3) Social Studies: Rules and procedures! One thing they will be practicing a lot is cleaning up and transitioning to the next activity such as going the rug or lining up quickly and quietly. They will also practice sharing during afternoon free play time (blocks, legos, slides, puzzles, etc.).
I created this blog to have a
digital space where I can freely communicate and share with you what is
happening in your child's Spanish Immersion class. This is where I will
keep you updated about current events happening in our class or school.
I usually post every Sunday evening about the topics and happenings
for the following school week. I also posted information about our
classroom (routines, behavior management, rules) so that you can
reference later. For future reference, if you are not sure about what is
going on in class, please refer to the blog first and then email me if
there is still uncertainty or questions. I am usually good about
posting consistently and thoroughly. I occasionally send update and
reminder emails, but you will stay more informed by checking the blog
weekly.
Homework: We have minimal homework in
K-3. This will give you the opportunity to focus on reading to and with
your child and you can reinforce and teach English concepts to your
child to supplement the Spanish homework that I will provide. I will
provide challenge work at times in case your child wants to do more
homework.
You will find all of the homework under the
"Homework" tab. Because we customize some of the homework, especially
writing, we are asking that if you have a printer, to please help us
save paper by printing it out yourself. You can easily download the
weekly homework as a Google doc, print it, and have your child return it
to class. As the students become more independent writers, there will
be less to print because they will be able to write on any lined paper.
Feel
free to email me at any time with questions or concerns. Thank you and
I look forward to getting to know you throughout the year.
Getting Ready for the First Day of School
If you missed out on orientation or would like to review the slides again, here is the Orientation Presentation. Please watch the movie with your child and discuss the procedures over the next few days to get ready for the first day.
Here you will find very detailed information about how thingsABC's of Kindergarten.
The flip book from Orientation is all the most important concise
information in just a few pages. It is a thorough reference guide for
everything you need to know about the school year. It will stay in the
"Getting to Know our Classroom" tab for future reference or you can
download it as well. Please also explore the blog, and please complete
the Parent Survey by Monday evening, but the sooner, the better: Ready for Kindergarten - Parent Survey.
work, so you can always reference this later:
What to Bring:
**All necessary school supplies will be provided
by the teacher, including pencils, crayons, glue, etc. Individual
supplies should be left at home for homework. If you would like to
donate supplies to share with the class, they are always appreciated,
but not required. Here is a list of things to bring so that your child
has a successful first day of school.
1) Backpack (labeled)
2) Lunchbox (labeled)
- we recommend bringing a lunch the first week of school until your
child gets used to lunch procedures and learns his/her lunch number.
These will go in the large lunch bin.
3) Two healthy snacks (labeled-one
for morning and one for afternoon). These will go in the smaller snack
bin. We recommend using reusable snack bags so the kids can easily
recognize their own. It also helps them remember to take their bags home
at the end of the day. Leftover snack food is often left in the basket
at the end of the day.
4) Small pillow, towel, or blanket (labeled) for our short rest time after lunch. These will be stored inside the students' desks.
5) Water bottle (recommended)
- I allow water bottles on students' desks as long as they don't become
a distraction. Reusable water bottles with a spill-proof lid are most
recommended. Please label them.
6) Extra change of clothing in a ziplock bag in case there is a bathroom accident. These will be left in their backpacks at all times. Accidents even happen at the END of the year!
7) Shoes -
Please consider buying shoes without shoe laces. Students usually do
not know how to tie shoes and they often get untied, creating a big
distraction for them and others around them. With so many students to
attend to and keep an eye on, I will not be able to tie shoes.
The Kissing Hand for the first day of school
Here is a video of someone reading the book The Kissing Hand. If
you'd like, you can show it to your child to get her or him ready for
the first day. When they see your hand that you made during
orientation, it may bring them some comfort to know that you are
thinking of them.
