February 26-March 2

Hi K families! I hope you enjoyed the long weekend. I am excited to jump back into learning this week.

Upcoming Events: 
February 27: Family Night
March 2: Dress like your favorite book character
March 16: Wear green
March 19: Badger sports wear


Reading: One thing that sets non-fiction books apart from fiction books is that they contain more specialized vocabulary.  This week readers will keep track of topic words they find while reading non-fiction books.  They will use the pictures and words in the book to understand what the words mean and will teach them to their reading partner.  Each reader will create an expert word  list with sketches to show word meanings.


Writing: This week we will focus on elaboration: ways to add more to our writing.   We will be using text features like diagrams, bold words and definitions, comparisons and examples like we have seen authors try in the books we have read.  We will also begin to make sure we not only give information on each page, but say WHY that information is important.


Math: This week we will be introduced to a new way to organize partners of numbers.

It is called a math mountain.  

We will use these to show partners of numbers we know well, as well as partners of larger numbers.  Mathematicians will also be introduced to the 3D shapes: cone, cube cylinder and sphere.

Science/Social Studies: This week we will take some time for the students to learn more about the SeeSaw app and how they can use it to share their learning.  Up until this point I have been doing all of the posting, but I think the kids are ready to share the responsibility!  They will learn how to log in and post things to their profile and will practice taking pictures and videos for SeeSaw with the Ipads.

Hello NDLC Families, 

Enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year is underway and we have a few spots available in Kindergarten! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school. 

If you have friends or family with upcoming Kindergarten-aged students, please share what you love about our school! As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours. 

February 19-21

It was a fun and exciting week in Kindergarten!  Check out the last post for some photos from teh 100th day. Thanks to our parent volunteers for helping 100 day run smoothly!

Upcoming Events: 
February 12: 100th Day of School Celebration
February 14: Valentine's Day-wear red and pink
Feb 16th: Funky Friday
February 22 and 23: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night


Also, our upcoming family night is in need of a few volunteers to sell and make cookies. Please sign up below if you are interested! 
http://signup.com/go/veanQpC

http://signup.com/go/Trnywei

Here's a sneak peek at what's happening this week! 

Reading: The nonfiction books have been a huge hit in our room! It's so fun to listen to the students ask questions and share knowledge about the topics they are reading about. This week, we will take that work a step further by asking students to share the information by retelling, acting like a reporter, and having conversations about their books with partners. We will use the following conversation starters to help students carry on with their partner.

• I wonder....
• Maybe...
• I agree/disagree because...

We remind students that a having a conversation is like riding a seesaw; you take turns going back and forth!

Writing: There will be a strong connection between reading and writing this week! As nonfiction readers, students learned that they can ask questions while reading and even try to answer them! Since we are writing nonfiction books, we can use this chart to add more to our writing as well.

 First, writers will read through their books, asking themselves if they answered questions readers might have on each page. Then students will sit with their reading partners, read the books they wrote, and allow their partners to stop and ask questions--just like we did in reading! The partners will work together to try to answer the questions to add more to their piece of writing.

Math: Mathematicians will be working on inspecting equations this week. We will discuss how the equal sign can come at the beginning of an equation (16=10+6) or at the end of the equation (10+6=16). The goal is for students to start to understand that equations are made of part-part-whole. We will also start to build fluency with subtraction. Mathematicians will discover that they can use the same strategies for subtracting as they did for adding. These strategies include:

• Using their fingers
• Drawing a picture
• Building it with tools
• Telling a math story
• Visualizing a math story

These are all great ways to start when working toward fluency! 

Social Studies:  We will use this week to continue working on social skills with an emphasis on being kind. Students will take a self evaluation and think about how they can be a better friend, work hard to follow the rules, etc. The assessment looks like this: 

Hello NDLC Families, 

Enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year is underway and we have a few spots available in Kindergarten! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school. 

If you have friends or family with upcoming Kindergarten-aged students, please share what you love about our school! As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours. 

100th day of school!

February 12-16

Monday is the 100th day of school:  We will celebrate with 100 day activities in the afternoon! One of the students thought it would be funny to dress up like we are 100 years old on Monday and the rest of the class loved the idea! I know it's short notice, but your child is welcome to dress like a 100-year-old on Monday if you would like to:)

Wednesday is Valentine's Day:  We will exchange valentine cards with the class! Here is a list of student names for filling out valentines.

Upcoming Events: 
February 12: 100th Day of School Celebration
February 14: Valentine's Day-wear red and pink
Feb 16th: Funky Friday
February 22 and 23: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night


Also, our upcoming family night is in need of a few volunteers to sell and make cookies. Please sign up below if you are interested! 
http://signup.com/go/veanQpC

http://signup.com/go/Trnywei

Here's a sneak peek at what's happening this week! 

Reading: Our next reading unit focuses on nonfiction books. We will get our library ready by sorting the books into fiction and nonfiction bins. Students will also find topic bins that hold books on animals, places, etc.  As you read any of these with your child, encourage him/her to  look closely at the pages, point to pictures to find even more, ask questions, and talk about books to become experts on their topics. These are high interest books for the kids--I am so excited to see how they work with them!

Writing: This week we are starting to write All About books. The goal is for students to write an entire book that teaches about one topic. Students will begin by brainstorming ideas; they will put each idea on a book cover so that it is ready to go when they are ready to start a new piece. We will discuss thinking about and planning out how we can teach our readers the important facts about our topics. Writers will learn that they can plan out books using their fingers to keep track of their ideas. Help your writer think of different things he/she could teach others about! What is your child an expert on?

Math: As we begin unit 4, mathematicians will be introduced to finding partners and solving equations with numbers 6-10. While we will continue to work on becoming fluent within 5, we will ask students if they will be able to do this work with larger numbers. Students will solve equations and find partners of larger numbers using math tools and drawings; they are not expected to know the partners of 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 fluently (or without use of strategies and tools). For example, mathematicians could draw a picture or use cubes to solve: There were 8 bananas on the shelf. If Molly bought 4, how many would be left. At home, I would encourage you to continue playing games within 5. Students need consistent practice to solidify their understanding of adding and subtracting within 5. 

Science: Be sure to check Seesaw to see your child present on the animal/plant topic that they have been researching! The videos will most likely be posted on Tuesday and Wednesday. Before we start our next content unit, we will take a few days to read about being kind friends and raising our hands before answering questions. It is so important for these young students to learn about and practice these social skills as well! 

Hello NDLC Families, 

Enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year is underway and we have a few spots available in Kindergarten! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school. 

If you have friends or family with upcoming Kindergarten-aged students, please share what you love about our school! As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours. 

February 5-9

As you may have read on the note sent home Friday(see below), we will be inviting families with Kindergarten-aged students to visit our room on Thursday. I am so proud of these Kindergartners and can't wait for others to see how they shine!

Hello NDLC Families, 
Enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year is underway and we have a few spots available in Kindergarten! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school. 
If you have friends or family with upcoming Kindergarten-aged students, please share what you love about our school! We will be having an open house to see Kindergarten in action on Thursday, February 8th from 8:15-9:00 or 2:15-3:00. Feel free to invite any families that have expressed interest in our school.  
As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours. 


Upcoming Events: 
February 12: 100th Day of School Celebration
February 14: Valentine's Day-wear red and pink
Feb 16th: Funky Friday
February 22nd  and 23rd: NO SCHOOL

What’s happening in Kindergarten this week?

Reading: Readers learn to be problem solvers! Even when they get to unknown words in their books, they can use lots of strategies to figure out a word. Here are some of the ways we solve words:

Writing: Writers will pick one piece of writing to publish this week. They will use the following charts to help them revise and edit their books.

On Friday, we are inviting our 4th grade buddies in to listen to our how to books and test out the directions! The kindergartners will create props for their buddies to to use while following the directions of their how to books. It will be quite the celebration!

Math:
So I realize that in almost every blog I mention the students being fluent within 5 for addition and subtraction. This is a huge and important skill for Kindergarten that requires LOTS of repeated practice.  To be truly fluent with math facts research says students need to be shown an equation and solve it within 3 seconds without the use of counting, fingers or tools.  This is hard work!

 Each day we do things during math time to build our fluency.  The image below shows math skills in an "iceberg model" to show different skills students need to use and master before they reach the "tip" of the iceberg, which is seeing an equation and solving it fluently.



The games we play and activities we do focus heavily on the informal and pre-formal section of the iceberg because we want students to relate the visual representations they create with tools and see on game pieces directly to an equation so they can solve them quickly.

Fundations: We will also discuss long and short vowels. Typically, we focus on the short vowel sound, but as students are reading more and more, they will come across the long vowel sounds as well. The chart is a helpful visual!

Science: As we wrap up our plants and animals unit, students will be comparing and contrasting plants and animals. Then, each student will pick a topic to research. They will use books, iPads, and the plants and animals in our room to research. Each child will get to decide how they want to share their information; it could be a poster, a book, a diorama, or whatever else they come up with. We will present to the class about our learning on Friday!