Last Day of Sept...

Our first FULL month of school is behind us! WHAT??? Where did it go?

REMINDERS
6.00 CASH/ person going to the Pumpkin Patch! Due tomorrow.
District Permission Slip EVEN if you already sent in your money!


This morning we started a lesson on predicting? What is predicting. Using "clues" to help you make a GUESS about something.  When we predict we should say, "I think", "I bet" or even "I predict".
So today we looked at some parts of pictures and had to PREDICT what we thought it was and justify our answer!  The littles did an amazing job...I put 1/2 of them into small groups today. They were the groups that got to share and  help write out predictions.  The rest of us were predicting and justifying in our head. Here is our lesson in a nutshell.

One group said they thought it was a cat because of the ear.
One group said a cat because they saw the head.
Once group said a cat because of the whiskers and fur.

First group thought it was a bird because it was a wing.
The next group thought it was and Eagle. We talked about what kind of animal an eagle was and they agreed it was a bird.  I loved that their schema was a bit more detailed.
The last group thought it was an owl because of the wing and the eye.

Group one, "We think it is a squirrel because of the big cheeks."
Group two, "We think it is a squirrel because of the cheeks and teeth."
Group three, "We think it is a squirrel because of the face and the acorn." I hadn't even noticed that the tail did look a bit like the top of an acorn! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

After looking at the portion of the picture we did some shared writing. One person from one of the groups came up and as we stretched out the word they recorded the sounds they heard!  I am SO SO SO proud of my littles.  We do this to show that this is how they can start to write sounds they hear in words.  Are they spelled correctly? NOPE! Can THEY read them! YEP!!! And being able to read your writing is VERY important!

I was here but I KNOW I could figure these words out pretty easily! WAY TO GO LITTLE BUCKAROOS!

Were our predictions 100% correct? NOPE but did we justify them correctly YEP!

Buckaroo of the Week

I love that this little was just going along telling us about all of her pictures and all of a sudden she looked at me and said, "Hey, I see like!"  You know how everyone says they see that light bulb...well this was one of those times! She was connecting and "reading"! I never get tired of those moments!

Math
We introduced a new anchor chart.  We will be exploring numbers 1-20 throughout the year. This is one way we can see what the number IS...

 Cale showed the number two on a tens frame.

 Addie wrote her numbers.

C.J. showed us what two looked like in tallies.

And Janiya was able to identify and circle the number two!

We acted out a couple of problems today as well. Bella found 5 markers in her toybox.  She noticed that 3 of them had dried out and needed to be thrown away. How many did she have left?
Julius went to the library and checked out two books and one magazine. How many things did Julius check out?
These problems allow us to add and subtract within 5.  We enjoy getting to ACT the problems out. Tomorrow we will figure them out using a different strategy.

Science
We started talking about properties today.  We had a feely bag. Everyone got 5 seconds to feel inside. Then we drew our predictions...

 I predict it is a hippo.

 I predict it is a pumpkin.

I predict it is a sculpture.
These were based SOLELY on our sense of feel and our schema.  Some thought it was an apple...I didn't get a picture of those.
When I reveled the object (a small orange hard and bumpy pumpkin) the kids drew that in the circle.  Then we took turns describing the pumpkin using our sense of sight AND what we felt!

LOVE LOVE LOVE my LITTLES! Great day...

It's Friday!

October is upon us!  State Fair, Pumpkin Patch and hopefully FALL weather...

Field Trip:
The Big Orange Pumpkin Patch is NOW on for Monday, Oct. 21st, 2013!  Money will still be due this Monday! ALL CASH 6.00 for students and 6.00 for any parent (that has done a background check)! Looking forward to lots of FUN.

Today:
WOWZERS what a day!

This is what we found waiting for us this morning! We used our schema to think about what we might be doing today!

This is what we came up with!

EVERYONE got a chance to put SOMETHING into our pot!!! This is what it looked like before turning it on!

This is what we found later in the day...Time for some changes in our predictions!

Here's what we came up with!

THEN after Specials....

MMMMMMM....

I promised I would add our "special" story for the day!
The Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside

Before you can tell your story though, you’ll need:

• a large red apple (the larger the apple, the bigger the star)
• a cutting knife
• some way to conceal both items until you’re ready for the surprise ending (i.e. under a towel)

ENJOY this European Folktale . . . Then download the free printable for easy retelling at the end of the story!

Once upon a time there was a young boy who played all day long. One day, he got so bored with his own toys and games, that he asked his mother, “What can I do?” His mother, who was full of wonderful ideas, told him, “I know about a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside. Why don’t you try to find it?”

The boy’s eyes grew wide with wonder. “Which way shall I go?” he asked. “How can I find the little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside?”

“Go down the lane, past the farmer’s house, and over the hill,” said his mother. “Come back as soon as you can and tell me all about your journey.”

So the young boy started down the lane. He hadn’t walked very far, when he came to a girl who was dancing and singing in the sunshine. “Do you know where I can find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside?” asked the boy.

The little girl laughed and said, “No.  I don’t know. But why don’t you ask my father. He’s a farmer and he might know.”

So the young boy walked on until he came to a big, red barn. The farmer himself was standing in the doorway looking out over his green pastures. “Do you know where I can find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside?” asked the boy.

The farmer laughed and said, “I’ve lived a long time and I have never seen one. But ask Granny who lives at the foot of the hill. She knows how to make molasses taffy, popcorn balls, and red mittens. Perhaps she can help you.”

So the young boy walked on until he saw Granny sitting in her pretty garden of herbs and flowers. “Please dear Granny,” said the little boy,  “Do you know where I can find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside?”

Granny was knitting a red mitten, and when she heard the boy’s question she laughed. “I would like to find that little house myself,” she said. Perhaps you should ask the wind, because the wind goes everywhere and I’m sure it can help you.”

The young boy waved good-by to Granny and began walking up the hill. He was beginning to wonder if maybe his mother had made a mistake about the ‘Little Red House’.  Suddenly, the young boy felt the gentle wind at his back and he called out, “Wind!  Do you know where I can find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside?”

The wind replied, “WHOOOOOO!  WHOOOOOOOO!   WHOOOOOOOOOO!” which sounded like, “Come follow me!” to the young boy. So he chased after the wind through a grassy field and into an apple orchard. Here the wind blew at the top of an apple tree and gently shook a large, rosy red apple to the ground. The boy picked up the shiny apple. It was so big that it took both of his hands to hold it. Then he knew! He ran all the way home, grasping his apple tightly in his hands.

“Mother! Mother!” he called as he entered his house. “I found it! I found the little red house with no doors and no windows!  But Mother, I don’t know if there is a star inside.”

Mother took the apple (reveal your apple) and very carefully sliced it in half (cut the apple horizontally). “Oh, now I see the star!” exclaimed the happy little boy. I asked the farmer, I asked the little girl, I asked the granny, but only the wind could help me solve the riddle of  the little red house with no doors and no windows.”

The Green Song

Living/Non Living

We are sorting things that are alive and not alive...
One little said, "It has a FACE! It's alive!"  Then we came to a cactus!!! It didn't have a face...BUT we decided it needed some water and it grows...it is ALIVE.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

9-26-13

As Jakson said...4 more days until a new month! YIKES...where has the time gone.

ATTENTION:

Due to district transportation issues, we are unable to go to the Pumpkin Patch on October 18^th. We are still planning to go; however, we will be rescheduling.  As soon as we know our date, we will be letting you all know. We just wanted to make you aware as soon as possible.

Please continue to send in your child’s $6.00 for their field trip.  If you have already sent in your adult payment and you are unable to attend, we will gladly refund your $6.00. We apologize for this inconvenience. We are still looking forward to having a blast at the pumpkin patch! J  

Thursday Folder stuff

Pumpkin Patch letter and money CASH due Monday.
State Fair of Texas Ticket

Reading
Today we started using our schema to PREDICT what happened in No, David.  We did not really use the word predict YET...(That will come next week...we have some fun things planned)!

H.E.R.O
We hung out in Ms. K's class. She is tons of fun!

Writing:
We are review the following letters and the sounds they make F, E, D, P, B, R, N, and M.  (PLEASE be sure to emphasize beginning letter sounds when chatting with your little. Ask them "What SOUND does (dog) start with?"
This will help them start to write a beginning sound for words in their "story".

This friend is labeling his picture!  Dad, dig

Here we have some sight words.  "I am laughing with my mom and dad."

My little friend is working on putting spaces between her words as she writes them.
"Rainbows are flying in the sky."

With a little help stretching out the word! "I am playing with my brother."
And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the date on his paper!

This friend has labeled his picture as well as using the word wall for our sight words and using sounds he knows to spell his words.

Math
Our number talks continue to be amazing! We are looking at ways we see 4.  We might see our dots or beads in a different way but they all come out to 4!

Behavior
WOWZIE  we are having and all green, purple, pink and blue kinda day!  I LOVE IT!!!

The Big Orange Pumpkin Patch

If you haven't been click here ! So much fun!

TOMORROW I will send home a note regarding our upcoming field trip to the pumpkin patch. On the note, you will see a place to mark if you are planning to volunteer. The cost will be $6.00 for your child. You may pay with CASH only. In addition, any one volunteering will need to pay that fee as well. We ask that no siblings join us on this trip. This is a special time for you and your kindergartner to enjoy. J  

If you could please fill out the bottom portion of the note, attach your child’s money, and return it by Monday, September 30^th, I would greatly appreciate it. J

Lastly, as soon as I receive the district permission slips, I will be sending one home with your child.  

Day 21

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, being here with my littles!

Our mornings always seem to FLY by! Mr. I had coffee with the Principal during our regularly scheduled library time...so we had to rush and get there by 8:00! We watched a video about the upcoming BOOK FAIR and all the COOL books they will have.  There were some EXCITED kinders today!

(This is not from today BUT it is in the library! haha I do much better with pictures)

Reader's Workshop:

We went over our Green poem: (row row row your boat)

Today we highlighted our sight words: and, I, to!
Then we talked some more about schema.  (information we already have stored in our brain.)
We talked about our brain being a BIG filing cabinet full of information.  I then showed them a picture:

I asked the littles to go into their filing cabinet (aka brain) and find the cupcake file, open it up and tell me what you know...

I asked if everyone had all the same information...NOPE...Then we talked about how we knew it was "yummy"...because we tasted it.  How did we know their were sprinkles on them...because we have seen them...

Then it was time for literacy workstations:

This is how we know where to go for the day!

Writer's Workshop

We reviewed needing characters, setting and events in our pictures and writing! Then we practiced together writing our story! 

We did add in the the garden after this.  We have all stages of writing in our classroom and everyone is making progress! Way to go buckaroos!

HERO Time

Today we went to Mrs. Shelby's classroom and she said we did a GREAT job and that our class was SWEET! I love to hear that!

Math

Comparing Sets

1 is less than 3. 3 is more than 1.

BIRTHDAYS

And yes...that is plural!!

Happy Birthday Boys!!!

Yellow day/Bright Future Day