Week 35- Ladybugs

This week is our last theme- Ladybugs! Our read aloud texts will be the nonfiction text It's a Good Thing There Are Ladybugs and Eric Carle's The Very Grouchy Ladybug. 

In writing, we polish up our Eric Carle styled books and practice presenting. 

Our presentation at the library is this Thursday at 4:30. Thank you so much for filling out the Google Form to help us plan. The response for bringing refreshments was remarkable- so much so that I really do not think we need everyone who expressed the willingness to bring items to actually bring items in. We would be overrun by cookies and juice pouches- not a horrible problem to be sure :) Seriously, you people are fantastic. I have created a Sign Up Genius that you may officially sign up for cookies, juice pouches, paper plates, or napkins. If you expressed an interest in bringing items, please take a moment to grab a slot so we can make sure we don't unintentionally go from a plethora of goodies to no goodies.  If there are no more slots and you really wanted to bring something, we won't turn your goodies away :) Thank you for your support and generosity!

SignUp Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b49aaae29a0f58-refreshments

In math, we review addition and subtraction skills.
 
Lemonade sales continue this week. Please keep Kindergarten bladders in mind when sending in money.

Our school year is quickly coming to a close. This will be our final week of somewhat "regularly scheduled programing". This is the last week we will have our morning reading block so it is the last week our AMAZING volunteers will need to come in for their center rotations. Wednesday is our turn for MAPS testing. This week will also be the last week testing is done for sight words (and spelling words for students who reached those lists). This week is also the last week for tutor groups. We will have groups Tuesday and Wednesday, but not on Thursday as Mrs. Vaughn and I have Kindergarten Screening and our final presentations at the library to set up.

This will also be the last week that I will post usual homework.  Next week would be the perfect time to set up a home study area for your child.  If you get some special pencils and paper and make an "office" they will really enjoy using it.  Next, choose a time of day that will fit well with your summer schedule and try to really stick to it.  It will only take a small portion of the day but if it is scheduled it is so much easier to make it happen. Additionally, some parents like to purchase "summer bridge" activity books for their child to work in to keep their skills sharp.  One caution would be to look through the book to be sure it is an appropriate level of work for your child.  They can vary widely and you want to be sure you child isn't bored by too easy, or frustrated by too hard, material. Please try to include a daily reading time. A nightly bedtime reading time or keeping a small bin of books in the backseat of the car could do the trick. More than keeping reading skills sharp- now is a wonderful time in your child's life to instill a lifelong love of reading (and learning in general). 

 

Next week will be a bit crazy with extra activities planned on each day.  One of the most important for you to keep in mind is field day on the last day.  It takes MANY volunteers to make field day work!  Information about how you can help will come from whole school email.  It is fun and fast and fantastic so come out and enjoy this time if you can.

 

HOMEWORK
Reading:
Please continue your nightly reading time activities.
 
* Your child will be bringing home a personalized login card for Raz Kids. This is a computer program your child can use over the summer. It uses the same books as our printed out paper books that we used in reading groups, but as e-readers. You simply login at www.kidsa-z.com and your child should be able to start reading away! Once your child logs in they can head to the Level Up station to systematically work through appropriate books. I recommend having them read a book themselves before they use the option of having it read to them so they can practice keeping their word solving skills sharp. They can even take little quizzes on each book. There is also a Reading Room area that has additional books like we use in class. The section Leveled Books (it is the very first option) has the levels recommended for your child highlighted, with the letter level they should try out first showing up the largest. They can move down a bit for fluency work or up a bit if they seem like they need a bit of a challenge. Your child is also free to explore other areas as well. There is an incentive system embedded in the program where your child can earn stars for reading tasks and then spend them to build a robot or rocket.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night.

Your child may work on any addition or subtraction skill objective. These are IXL sections I, J, K, and L.

You are welcome, and in fact encouraged, to continue having your child 

practice their addition skills by using real world objects- especially if they 

complete the IXL tasks quickly. Yay for math fact fluency! They may also 

visit any of the I section addition skills.

Week 34- Butterflies

The students really enjoyed making their Eric Carle inspired webs and spiders last week! Special thanks to the families that sent in materials. 

Along with a nonfiction text about the changes from a caterpillar to a butterfly, we have another of Eric's books for a read aloud this week- a classic- The Very Hungry Caterpillar. (Fun fact- Eric was inspired by a hole puncher to write this story.) 

We will be putting a lot of work into writing projects this week. We hope you are able to join us at our upcoming presentations. Please take a moment to fill out this Google Sheet, if you have not already.
https://goo.gl/forms/qWpcqq4rmeGN2KA62 

In math we continue working on subtraction while strengthening our fact fluency.

As we near the end of the year, we will also be working on some assessments. 

Next week, some of the middle school students are opening up their lemonade stands. This is an Oasis tradition. It is a competitive exercise of commerce and the middle schoolers come up with some very enticing ways to get customers to visit their stands. The price is usually 25 cents per cup. Students tend to spend as much as they are given at one time. This can lead to a lot of liquid in tiny bladders at a time when a lot of young ones are experiencing the same situation which can lead to bathroom accidents. Please keep this in mind when deciding how much money to send with your child. It is also helpful if you remind them that if they drink lemonade at lunch recess, they should also make a bathroom trip during that same break. If you know that your child has a more delicate bladder, it may not be a bad idea to send a change of clothes in their backpacks until the end of the year.

HOMEWORK

Reading:

10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in

the binder, and practicing sight words.

Your child should ideally be spending time with familiar texts (such as the

printed books they bring home), as they help reinforce sight words in context

and using word solving strategies. However, these books are not real meaty

when it comes to comprehension, so they should also be spending time with

trade books (high quality children’s literature- like from the local library or

bookstore). These books lend themselves better to conversations. When you

read to them, you are also providing important modeling of a fluent reader

and a pleasant reading experience.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night.

Your child may work on any addition or subtraction skill objective. These are IXL sections I, J, K, and L.

You are welcome, and in fact encouraged, to continue having your child 

practice their addition skills by using real world objects- especially if they 

complete the IXL tasks quickly. Yay for math fact fluency! They may also 

visit any of the I section addition skills.

Week 33- Spiders

This week, we not only take a closer look at spiders, but also one of our focus authors- Eric Carle. His book The Very Busy Spider and a great nonfiction text are in our reading line up. We will be continuing to strengthen our comprehension and discussion skills by sharing interesting facts, comparing and contrasting, discussing the author’s point, and retelling the story.
 

We could use some glitter glue for a raised texture activity- Eric Carle often includes engaging elements in his books that include cutouts, flaps, and raised texture. This is a great way for students to incorporate professional moves into their own work. We will also be doing some painting with different textures so if you have items that you think could lead to interesting textures (things we could use to paint with or drag through paint such as bubble wrap, q tips, toothpicks, cooking implements, pine cones, ribbon...) that you do NOT want returned, we would love to use them. This painting adventure will be taking place Wednesday afternoon and I would greatly appreciate additional helping hands.

Our class’s closer look into Eric Carle's books has laid the groundwork for them to start writing their own Eric Carle Inspired books this week. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

In math, we continue our work with subtraction. We meet Linus the Minus this week!

HOMEWORK

Reading:

10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in

the binder, and practicing sight words.

Your child should ideally be spending time with familiar texts (such as the

printed books they bring home), as they help reinforce sight words in context

and using word solving strategies. However, these books are not real meaty

when it comes to comprehension, so they should also be spending time with

trade books (high quality children’s literature- like from the local library or

bookstore). These books lend themselves better to conversations. When you

read to them, you are also providing important modeling of a fluent reader

and a pleasant reading experience.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night.

Monday: I.5 Complete the addition sentence - sums up to 5

Tuesday: K.1 Subtract with pictures - numbers up to 5

Wednesday: K.2 Subtraction sentences - numbers up to 5

Thursday:  K.3 Subtract - numbers up to 5

You are welcome, and in fact encouraged, to continue having your child 

practice their addition skills by using real world objects- especially if they 

complete the IXL tasks quickly. Yay for math fact fluency! They may also 

visit any of the I section addition skills.

Week 32- Jaguars

This week's topic is jaguars! We learned a bit about jaguars during our rainforest weeks and the students were keen to find out more so here we go! We have a couple of traditional nonfiction texts along with the true tale of a jaguar cub that has become an animal diplomat for raising awareness about the conservation program that helped save him.

In writing, we are delving deeper into our author study of Eric Carle as this work becomes foundationally tied to where our book study project has led. 


In math, we more formally bring in the plus sign with our helpful friend, Gus the Plus.

(Next week, we meet his brother...)

After a couple more days with addition as our focus, subtraction moves into center stage. As we make this shift, it is important that we help the children see it as a kind of continuation. When we are subtracting, we are still working with a part, part, whole relationship among numbers. Instead of putting two parts together to make the whole, we are now taking the whole apart into the two smaller parts.

HOMEWORK

Reading:

10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in 
the binder, and practicing sight words.

Your child should ideally be spending time with familiar texts (such as the 
printed books they bring home), as they help reinforce sight words in context 
and using word solving strategies. However, these books are not real meaty 
when it comes to comprehension, so they should also be spending time with 
trade books (high quality children’s literature- like from the local library or 
bookstore). These books lend themselves better to conversations. When you 
read to them, you are also providing important modeling of a fluent reader 
and a pleasant reading experience.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night.

Monday:  I.1 Add with pictures - sums up to 5 
Tuesday:  I.2 Addition sentences - sums up to 5 
Wednesday:  I.3 Add two numbers - sums up to 5 
Thursday:  I.4 Make a number using addition - sums up to 5 


You are welcome, and in fact encouraged, to continue having your child practice their addition skills by using real world objects- especially if they complete the IXL tasks quickly. Yay for math fact fluency!