September 25-29

It's Kaukauna's homecoming week! Here is the information you need:

Upcoming Events: 

September 27: Homecoming Parade at 4:30 (4:00 line-up)
October 8: Ride to Read bike event  10:00-1:00 More info for this awesome event here! 

Here's what's happening in Kindergarten this week:

Reading: This week in Reader’s Workshop, the students are working on retelling and saying more and more of the story. We will also learn to use connecting words, such as then, after, and, & later, to tell the story. Students will focus on words and lines that are repeated by characters in so that we can use the exact same words when we retell the books. Towards the end of the week, we will focus on pointing to words in the book that we can read already. This will set students up for the more conventional reading that is coming soon!

It was so much fun to unwrap the gift of "Old Favorite Storybooks" this week. 

Writing: Our writing shifts from writing informational stories to writing true life stories this week. We will continue to practice planning books and telling stories across the pages. Writers will also work on tapping out words and writing the sounds they hear. This video shows what tapping out words looks like. These young writers are just starting to hear sounds, think of the letter, and put it on the page. That is hard work! Remember to praise your child for their attempts at adding letter sounds to their writing!

Math: Be on the lookout for math games coming home in your child's folder. These games will be focused on structuring. Structuring refers to being able to seeing groups in numbers (i.e. 8 is 5 and 3) and being able to take numbers apart and put them back together. Let me know if you have any questions or need more copies of games!

The minilessons will focus on adding/subtracting, writing numbers 1-5, and comparing numbers 1-10, and shapes. We will explore circles, squares, and rectangles. Mathematicians will use comparing mats to see which number has more/less. The comparing mats look like this:

Social Studies:  We have been digging into what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to follow the rules in our classroom. Your kiddos have been doing a wonderful job taking care of themselves, being kind, and keeping our room clean and safe. Students will learn that even though we try hard to follow rules, sometimes we will break them. I will introduce our "Take a Break" spot. This area is a place where students can go to get their bodies and minds ready to come back to learning. We like to think of the break spot as a place to reboot and come back to learning.

September 18-21

What a beautiful weekend! Hope you had a chance to relax and enjoy the warm weather while it's still here.

Reminders:

• Feel free to send a bag/box of snacks to keep in your child's locker so that you don't need to send one every day! 
• Directory forms are due Tuesday. 

Upcoming Events: 
September 19, 5:30: Family Night, Hot Dogs and How to Help

September 20: School Picture Day
September 22: No School for Students
September 22: Fox Cities Marathon Kids Fun Run, Click Here to Register (be sure to specify New Directions in the drop-down when you register)
September 27: Homecoming Parade at 4:30 (4:00 line-up)
October 8: Ride to Read bike event  10:00-1:00 (more information to come)

Here's what's happening in Kindergarten this week:

Reading: This week we will be starting a new bend in our reading unit, meaning the focus shifts a bit. We have been reading learn-about-the-world books (informational texts) to practice rereading and thinking about how pages go together. This week, we will begin to focus on reading old favorite storybooks. We have been reading books such as Mrs. Wishy-Washy, The Carrot Seed, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff throughout the last couple of weeks. Now, we can “read” by retelling the story using the character’s voice and saying more and more of the story. Have your child practice reading a familiar book at home! They are great storytellers!

Writing: In writing, we have started to create books! Students are using packets of three or more pages to write about things they know about. First, they plan what they are going to write about by pointing to the page and talking through their book. Then, they draw and write! Later this week, we will be working with writing buddies that will ask questions about our writing; this will help students to look over their writing and start to think about revising. Finally, we will continue to stretch out words to label our work.

Math: Mathematicians will learn about adding and subtracting this week. We will also discuss the partners of a number. Partners are any numbers that work together to make another number (i.e. 3+1 and 2+2 are partners of 4). We will build numbers using many different materials including our purple, blue, and red tiles
   Here are what they look like!



Social Studies: Now that our classroom rules are posted and ready to help us reach our hopes and dreams, we will spend some time practicing! Students will learn what it should look like, sound like, and feel like to follow the rules in our school. By creating rules together and reflecting on what each of them means,  we will create a safe and friendly place where we can learn!

Sept 11-15

We are off and running this school year and we are doing a fabulous job getting to know the routines at school! I am having a great time getting to know each and every one of your special kiddos. Please remember to send your child’s writing folder to school if you have not already done so.

Here is a list of our specials teachers so that you know who your child sees throughout the week: 

Phy Ed: Mr. Halloran 

Music: Mrs. Krueger

Art: Mrs. Seigel

Guidance: Ms. Duda

Library: Mrs. Wolf

STEAM: Mrs. Nimmer

Upcoming events:

9/15: Dot Day-Wear polka dots

9/19: Family Night, Hot Dogs and How to Help

9/20: Governance Council Meeting

9/22: No School for Students

9/22: Fox Cities Kids Fun Run

9/18-9/21: Safety Week-more information to come!

10/8: Ride to Read

Postcards for Seniors:
Our first service project this school year is Postcards for Seniors. Starting in early October students will have the opportunity to decorate postcards that will be delivered monthly to Meals on Wheels participants in Kaukauna.  We are in need of some supplies for this project.  If you have any of the  items listed below at home and would like to donate please send them to school and drop off in the Postcards box in the office.
-New boxes of markers
-Light colored card stock
-Fun stickers
Questions can be directed to Kristin McEneany at  kristin.mceneany@gmail.com

A peek at our week! 

Reading: In reading, the students have been practicing the routine for getting ready for Reader’s Workshop. We are focusing on looking at the cover and thinking about how the pages in the book go together. We talked about using our fingers to search for all different things on the page. This week, we will talk about the importance of rereading. Readers reread by putting all the pages together, thinking more about the book and learning from the words in the book.

Writing: We are currently working on writing about topics we know about. Students are learning how to think of, visualize, and then put what they know about a topic on paper. We are working on adding more details and words to a page when we think we might be done. We will learn that writers might run into problems, like finishing a page or pens running out of ink, but strong writers are problem solvers and decide what they can do to keep on writing! We will be focusing on labeling pictures and stretching out the sounds in words to write them on the page.  When your child brings home their writing, you might ask what his/her book is about or ask him/her to show you where they tried to add labels to their pieces.

Math: We have been learning about many different tools that can be used for math including our eyes, fingers, red/blue counting tiles, and purple number tiles. These math tools can help us think about building numbers, showing numbers and quantities in different ways, and finding different ways to count objects. We have been reading Anno’s Counting Book, which encourages students to count, classify, and compare objects. I encourage students to be counting things all day every day. Help them notice things to count; setting the table is a great way to get kids counting!

Social Studies: We have been learning all about what we need to do to make our room a safe and happy place to learn. We will be creating our hopes and dreams wall this week. Each student will pick one thing that they hope to accomplish this year, then we will be generating rules that will help us reach these dreams. These will serve as our classroom rules. I look forward to sharing a picture of our hopes and dream wall with you later this week!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail.

First week of Kindergarten!

Wow! I cannot believe how quickly our first week of Kindergarten flew by! The students did an AMAZING job!

This week we...

• Spent time getting to know our friends’ names 
• Explored the different areas and tools in our classroom
• Began our Reader’s Workshop. We have been reading privately and with a partner!
• Started our Writer’s Workshop. Ask your kiddo what strong writers do!
• Practiced counting and ordering numbers 1-10. We learned that we can use our eyes and hands as math tools too. 
• Learned how to use the different free choice options in our classroom 

Notes:

• I will be posting our weekly blog starting next Monday.
• Remember to keep sending a snack with your child every day
• The water bottles are working well! Please make sure your child's name is on the bottle.
• Remember to send a quick note or email if your child is taking breakfast.
• Send your child's writing folder back once it is decorated.

Here is a quick peek at what happened in our room this week!