The week of Feb. 27-Mar. 3.

Did I just write March in the date above?  That is so hard to believe!  Our half days just fly by with my busy bees!  Today they did a journal using a noun.  They came up with awesome sentences about the noun in their pictures!  I love this time of year when they aren't afraid of writing sentences without my help!

Spelling test:  our first test is Friday!  I hope the practice has gone well.  Please make sure to look for all lowercase letters when your child is writing the words.  Thank you!

This week in Reading! 
Theme 12  The Mighty Sun
Theme story:  My Favorite Star
vocab:  glowing, heat, source
inference:  making 
letter of the week:  Ww, r-controlled vowels (ir, er, ur)
Our last two of the 50 sight words:  if, their
         We will continue with new sight words each week until school is out, but they are not part of Frye's sight words that will be on the spelling tests.  The more you read, the better reader you will become!  
We will also read a "moon" book and "planet" book this week to elaborate on our theme.

Read Across America! is tied in with Dr. Seuss Week this week!  We will be doing journals geared toward "Cat in the Hat".  Thursday is Dr. Seuss' 113th birthday!  We will do special Seuss activities on Friday, along with a special snack!  We will read two of the favorites:  The Cat in the Hat,  and Green Eggs and Ham.   Dr. Seuss has several pen names that he also used in place of his real name, including Dr. Seuss!  I'll let your kids tell you about them after I teach them!

I sent home the dress up days in honor of some of Dr. Seuss' books!  Check your child's folder for them!
Tuesday:  Hat day,The Cat in the Hat
Wednesday:  Wacky sock day, Fox in Socks
Thursday:  dress up like a Seuss character for his autobiography,  Dr. Seuss, We Love You
Friday:  Wear green for Green Eggs and Ham

Math this week:
We just took our Subtraction Math test today.  Some are still trying to understand how to write the subtraction problem when given a subtraction story.  However, we all have to remember that it is the first time they have done this.  It is just introduced in Kindergarten.  We are looking for them to be able to use manipulatives to solve a problem.  It is my suggestion to try to have your child memorize the facts to 5 before first grade to be ahead of where they expect them coming in!  It is not a KDG still to master! 

Topic 9  More addition!  We will be adding up to 10 with pictures first.  Then we will be "decomposing", which is when the answer is given first instead of last.  This is a bit confusing at first, but it's letting them know that know matter where the sum is, the problem is the same.

Coming up!
Feb. 27-Mar. 3  Read Across America
Thur. Mar. 2      Dr. Seuss' 113th birthday!
Fri. Mar.  10      Last day of 3rd quarter!
Mar. 13-17         Spring Break!
Mar. 20              No School!  Inservice/workday
Thurs. Mar. 30  Farm Day Planning Meeting at 4:15 

The week of Feb. 21-24.

Are we sure it isn't spring?  This weather is absolutely fantastic!  It seems like we never have very many San Diego spring days before it is hot!  I hope you all were able to get out and enjoy it!

Thank you to the parents that helped make our Valentines' Day Party awesome!  The kids had a blast!  See pictures below!

Once again, I want to tell all of you THANK YOU for coming to your child's conferences!  I really enjoy sharing how much I enjoy your child and watching their progress throughout the year!  If you ever have any concerns please don't hesitate to let me know.

Spelling tests!  Yes, we are going to begin taking spelling tests over our sight words next week. It will consist of five sight words and a bonus, color word. I will send out the schedule for the tests and an informative letter explaining them tomorrow.  I apologize for not having this ready at conferences! The letter also gives ten ideas to practice spelling the sight words.  I will talk to the kids about it tomorrow!
I am also going to send home a handwriting practice sheet that you can make copies of to take practice tests at home.  It will be just like the sheet your child will take the test on at school.  I will say the spelling word, then put it in a sentence, and say it again.  I will mix up the words for the test, so make sure to practice them randomly.  Thank you for studying with your child each day so they feel ready and successful!  I do feel bad for a child if they have a blank face and struggle.  I know this is a first for your child and some words will be a challenge for them.  However, learning how to spell the words will help with learning them!  They feel so good when they can spell the words when writing them!

ELA:  English Language Arts--you will be hearing this term as your child gets older.  We have been working on capitalization and punctuation all year.  Your child knows when a sentence makes sense, but they do not know that they are making sure there is a noun and verb in their sentence to make it complete.  

This week I am introducing what a noun is.  We will look for nouns (person, place, or thing) in our Scholastic magazine tomorrow, find nouns in a sentence slide Thursday, write sentences with nouns Thursday and put them in a paragraph Friday!  It will be a busy week learning about nouns!  Ask your child what a noun is each day to review!  Look for nouns around the house!

Sight words:  do, how
Letter of the week:  long u, review the short u

Math:  
Topic 8 Subtraction
We will continue to work on subtraction this week using the minus sign, learning how the "difference" is the answer to the subtraction problem, and practicing subtracting from 5.  

I will pass out subtraction flash cards on Friday.  If your child knows all of their addition facts through 5, then please begin working on the subtraction facts from 5.

It would really be helpful if your child also learned their doubles to 10. (1 + 1, 2 + 2, etc.)  This will help them in first grade when adding one and two more to a number.

Coming up!
Thurs. Feb. 23  KDG Round-up at 6 pm for incoming KDG.
Feb. 27-Mar. 3  Read Across America
Thur. Mar. 2      Dr. Seuss' birthday
Fri. Mar.  10      Last day of 3rd quarter!
Mar. 13-17         Spring Break!
Mar. 20              No School!  Inservice/workday
Thurs. Mar. 30  Farm Day Planning Meeting at 4:15 

100's Day!  Making our trail mix with our 1,400 snack pieces!  (3 kids were absent)

Valentines' Day Party!

Feb. 6-10.

Wow!  100's day is already here!  We are so excited about celebrating it tomorrow!  Please make sure to send in your child's 100 snack and 100 collection in baggies tomorrow with their name on them!

Pajama Day!!!!  The class filled up the class bucket last week, so I thought it would be great timing to have a pajama day tomorrow (Tuesday) as well!  It'll be a super-hyped day anyway, so we might as well add more hype!  LOL!  I totally ran out of time to tell the kids what I decided, so it will be a surprise to them!

Parent-Teacher conferences--All of you should have received the conference time reminder in your child's Friday Folder.  I'm assuming your times are still ok for you, if I haven't heard from you.  :)

Days off--Parent Conferences are on Wednesday all day for 1/2 day KDG.  They are after school and evening for full day KDG and 1-5.  Thursday is only full day KDG and 1-5.  I have all of my conferences on Wednesday only, due to being employed half-time.  We are also off Friday and Monday for Presidents' Day.  I'll see the kids back on Tuesday, Feb. 21!

Valentine's Day Party--  We will have our Valentine's Day Party on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14!  It is the last school day that week.  I will have sacks for the kids to decorate in our classroom, so no boxes have to be decorated at home.  Have fun with that in future grades!  We have 16 kids in our class, but only 15 valentines need to be brought since your child doesn't need to bring one for themselves.  Please have your child just write  "their name" on it.  It is much easier for them to deliver to sacks if they don't put their classmates' names on the valentine.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Reading this week!  
We are enjoying more learning about Presidents this week!  George Washington and Abe Lincoln are our main focus.  
Last week, we read about President Lincoln's hat and how it he put notes in it to refer to. Then, we each got a top hat to cut out and make in to something.  The topic was:  It looked like Abraham Lincoln's hat, but it was...  Look for these in the hall when you come to conferences!  They had cute ideas!

sight words:  an, each  (Please keep reviewing 1st-3rd quarter words.  Some are missing words that they already passed 2nd quarter.)
Letter of the week:  Kk

Math this week!  
Topic 8  Understanding Subtraction
We are learning how to take away and then will incorporate the minus sign and make the problem a subtraction sentence.  Try to throw in subtraction problems with your child using objects around you at home or in the car!

Subtraction flashcards will come home soon!  Please review the addition flashcards before beginning the subtraction flashcards.  They definitely need to understand addition before subtraction.

Coming up!  
Tues. Feb. 7        100's day celebration!  
Wed  Feb. 15      Parent/ Teacher Conferences (same times as the fall conferences)
Feb. 16-20           No school for Conference break and President's Day.

Sunflower Quilt

We read a sunflower book, wrote details we learned, and then chose a sentence to write under our sunflower.