Welcome to Nabnasset Kindergarten and Room 10
Welcome to Room 10 Kindergarten!
We are glad you are here!
Please check back regularly to see updates!
We are glad you are here!
Please check back regularly to see updates!
This is the first of many posts throughout the year! I will update you on classroom activities and the learning that is taking place. This will give you a great opportunity to check in with your children and ask them about what we are learning. Please, also check our Classroom Photo page. This page will share photos and sometimes a brief description of classroom activities. I know students will love to see themselves and friends in action!
March 2024
Classroom Happenings
There is a lot happening this month - be sure you check the schedule!
The read-a-thon is Monday, March 4 - Friday, March 15.
Here is the information packet that was sent home.
This year we are logging students' participation in reading. Read-a-thon participation includes: reading before or after school, reading during class only for “read to self” time, reading assigned homework.
Please log your child's participation by 8 pm on Sunday evening via a Google form: https://tinyurl.com/NabReadingLog24. Every student who logs participation for the previous week will receive a participation prize (during library class) and will be entered in a book raffle - there will be one raffle winner per grade per week. The grand prize for the class in each grade with the highest participation will be a mystery reader!
Donations for the Read-a-thon can be made with cash, check or online via Zeffy.
The Nab PTO appreciates your support!
- We have four more early release days - 3/18, 3/19/ 3/27 and 3/29 - be sure to let me know if you have a change in your dismissal.
- We also have a special Enrichment Program - TOP SECRET SCIENCE - that is coming on Friday, 3/15 for Kindergarten. Pictures will follow!
- There is also 1 week left of the Nab Read-a-thon:
The read-a-thon is Monday, March 4 - Friday, March 15.
Here is the information packet that was sent home.
This year we are logging students' participation in reading. Read-a-thon participation includes: reading before or after school, reading during class only for “read to self” time, reading assigned homework.
Please log your child's participation by 8 pm on Sunday evening via a Google form: https://tinyurl.com/NabReadingLog24. Every student who logs participation for the previous week will receive a participation prize (during library class) and will be entered in a book raffle - there will be one raffle winner per grade per week. The grand prize for the class in each grade with the highest participation will be a mystery reader!
Donations for the Read-a-thon can be made with cash, check or online via Zeffy.
- Checks should be made payable to WEPTO Nabnasset PTO
- To donate online visit - http://tinyurl.com/ReadDonation24.
- Please indicate the child’s name and “Read-A-Thon” in the memo line of your donation.
The Nab PTO appreciates your support!
Special Projects
The 2nd grade classes are collecting items to make Mother's Day gift bags for The Wish Project. If you would like to donate, please bring items to school by April 27th! All donations are appreciated.
Math in the Classroom
Using a Numberline
Addition and subtraction have both been introduced in our math block. We know addition is combining numbers to create a larger quantity and subtraction is taking some away for a smaller amount. We have worked primarily with numbers through 10, but love a challenge with numbers through 20!
In learning both operations, we have been using tools to help solve equations. We have done addition and subtraction on a numberline, a ten/twenty frame, a number path, and have learned how to draw a simple picture to illustrate the equation. All of these strategies have helped us when we were introduced to Number Stories/Word Problems. Students need to use all of these strategies to show that they can solve a problem. What great practice! It is important that we know when we add on a numberline, we count to the right as numbers grow larger, and to the left as numbers grow smaller. On a ten frame or in a picture, we always draw the given number and then cross out to show subtraction. We need to know how many we started with before crossing them off! This allows our picture to match our equation.
Addition and subtraction have both been introduced in our math block. We know addition is combining numbers to create a larger quantity and subtraction is taking some away for a smaller amount. We have worked primarily with numbers through 10, but love a challenge with numbers through 20!
In learning both operations, we have been using tools to help solve equations. We have done addition and subtraction on a numberline, a ten/twenty frame, a number path, and have learned how to draw a simple picture to illustrate the equation. All of these strategies have helped us when we were introduced to Number Stories/Word Problems. Students need to use all of these strategies to show that they can solve a problem. What great practice! It is important that we know when we add on a numberline, we count to the right as numbers grow larger, and to the left as numbers grow smaller. On a ten frame or in a picture, we always draw the given number and then cross out to show subtraction. We need to know how many we started with before crossing them off! This allows our picture to match our equation.
Geometry
We have also been working on differentiating 2D and 3D shapes. Can you name them all? We have done a scavenger hunt looking for 3D shapes and did an amazing job. We have even been practicing drawing them which helps us to remember the attributes of edges and vertices of each shape.
We have also been working on differentiating 2D and 3D shapes. Can you name them all? We have done a scavenger hunt looking for 3D shapes and did an amazing job. We have even been practicing drawing them which helps us to remember the attributes of edges and vertices of each shape.
Morning Tubs
Time to create use your imagination!
February 2024
Reading in Room 10
Where do I start? We are all reading! Our UFLI program seems to be very successful with the students in our class as we have come so far in under 100 days. We have introduced all letters/sounds of the alphabet using short vowels. We can blend and segment CVC (3 letter consonant-vowel-consonant), and longer CVCC, CCVC and our bonus CCCVCCC words! We have learned 21 Heart Words that we can both read and spell. I recently sent home the second batch of thirteen decodable books that cover the skills we have learned. The students are all able to read these books and would benefit from continued practice reading them. After a quick review of blends using short vowels, we are on to digraphs, long vowels, and more!
Our literacy centers work to review the phonemic awareness and phonics skills that have been introduced. Students use Boom Cards on the iPads to reinforce skills; listen to a book of their choice on an iPad; practice spelling and use magnetic letters to quickly substitute letters in words to make new words (fast to past to pat to vat to flat, etc...) with Mrs. Brady, and practice reading and writing with Mrs. Maguire. This week students practiced fluency while reading a script of a short decodable play with a partner. These quick scripts allow students to practice reading aloud, which improves fluency - which is the ability to read with accuracy, speed, and expression. By performing a script, students gain a deeper understanding of the text, characters, and plot. Upon completing our reading, students are given a number of words from the story that they now will use in writing two sentences of their own. Some students use one word from the list in their sentence, but some have used up to three! Completing these sentences practices proper sentence structure (uppercase letter to start, spaces, punctuation), spelling, and fosters creativity.
Our literacy centers work to review the phonemic awareness and phonics skills that have been introduced. Students use Boom Cards on the iPads to reinforce skills; listen to a book of their choice on an iPad; practice spelling and use magnetic letters to quickly substitute letters in words to make new words (fast to past to pat to vat to flat, etc...) with Mrs. Brady, and practice reading and writing with Mrs. Maguire. This week students practiced fluency while reading a script of a short decodable play with a partner. These quick scripts allow students to practice reading aloud, which improves fluency - which is the ability to read with accuracy, speed, and expression. By performing a script, students gain a deeper understanding of the text, characters, and plot. Upon completing our reading, students are given a number of words from the story that they now will use in writing two sentences of their own. Some students use one word from the list in their sentence, but some have used up to three! Completing these sentences practices proper sentence structure (uppercase letter to start, spaces, punctuation), spelling, and fosters creativity.
Math in the Classroom
This month we will continue to work on addition by reviewing our addition strategies (+0, +1, +2 or more), learning to add on a number line with numbers to 20, using number bonds to add and decompose numbers to 10 and complete number stories (word problems) with a drawing and an equation. Next up - subtraction!
We will also learn about 3D shapes while comparing them to 2D shapes.
100th day of School
The 100th Day of School came with a lot of excitement as we shared our bottle collections and worked in 100s Day Centers. We discovered that Nash's marbles were the heaviest, quickly followed by William's gummy bears! Our lightest collections belonged to Riley and Chris. Riley's goggly eyes weighed the same as Chris' sunflower seeds! The prize for volume would go to Mrs. Maguire who had cotton balls all the way to the top of the bottle, while Zach's split peas took up the least amount of space.
Enjoy pictures of our centers!
Enjoy pictures of our centers!
Have you heard?
The students of Room 10 have worked hard and shown a lot of TEAMWORK as they have earned 11 SPIRIT Stars from Nab Staff members. It is always a wonderful sight when one student earns a Star from a teacher, but when nineteen kids work together - it is a proud moment for all of us!
Morning Tubs
New morning tubs have proven to encourage creativity and perseverance! I love to see the excitement of the students when they move to a new station!
Choice Time Fun
January 2024
December was a very busy and exciting month as we moved from Thanksgiving to Parent Conferences to celebrating winter holidays. Take a peek at what we have been doing!
Language Arts in the Classroom
Language Arts lessons take up a big part of our day. Phonemic Awareness lessons are part of our daily routine through our Heggarty program. Students practice a number of routines including blending and segmenting words, isolating beginning, middle and ending sounds, adding and changing first sounds to make new words, along with rhyming and syllable practice. See our work in action below!
|
|
Our daily UFLI lessons have proven to be very successful as all Room 10 students are reading and writing and are very excited to show what they know! The program is a good balance between whole group lessons/response and individual practice both on white boards and with magnetic tiles making words, changing letters to make new words, and reading. Please have students practice the many, many decodable readers that were sent home in November. We have already added 3 more books to our pouches. More will be sent home in February or March. See the students in action below!
Rhythm Kids
We were so excited to have our enrichment program, Rhythm Kids, back this year! We love when Tom and Dan Foote come to share their drumming as we travel to Africa with them. The students really had fun following their rhythms and being able to play and dance with them. We have enjoyed their visits for over 20 years! Enjoy some pictures of our experience.
|
|
Morning Tubs
We are finishing up our third round of Morning Tubs which have been a big hit this month! Students can't wait to take a picture of their creativity and successful structures!
November 2023
Language Arts
Our adventure with our UFLI program continues with great success. We have just completed lesson 12 and have learned the sounds and handwriting for upper and lowercase letters: a m s t p f i n o, along with High Frequency words a, I, the, and, is, as, in, it, if, am, an, on. All students are blending and segmenting words to be able to read and write both words and complete sentences. After 44 days of school, we have five decodable readers that go along with the program that they are all able to read. We take a lot of time to practice all of the skills and strategies that we are learning through whole group, small group, partner and independent activities. Students are playing games and completing worksheets, dictation, and using manipulatives on a daily basis. Ask your children to read the decodable stories I have posted below! (click on each story to make it larger to read).
Morning Tubs
Last week we began our second round of Morning Tubs. The tubs are used first thing in the morning, three days a week. This allows children the opportunity for creative and imaginative play with classmates. See your kids in action!
Math
Our math blocks have been very busy lately as we have been working on sorting and classifying objects, ordinal numbers and positional words (above, below, next to, etc....), measurement with unconventional tools, subitizing, addition number stories, combinations of ten, comparing numbers using symbols, and working with pattern blocks. We have also been practicing all skills on iPads on both Boom Card and iReady-My Path programs.
October 2023
Language Arts
Heggarty
After morning meeting, we start each day with our Heggarty program. This program works on the Phonemic Awareness aspect of our curriculum. This program only lasts about 10 minutes each morning, but it packs a powerful punch as the students have already learned so much! We have practiced listening and recognizing words that rhyme and don't rhyme, isolating sounds to segment words, blend sounds together to make a word, segmenting and blending compound words, segmenting and blending 2 syllable words, listening for and identifying beginning and ending sounds in words, deleting and adding parts to make new words. In addition, we are able to listen and count the number of words in a sentence. When Heggerty is done, ask your kids what we do next! The answer is DANCE! We always get a dance break (see the video - sorry you can't hear the music!)
UFLI
This year we are using a new phonics program from the University of Florida LIteracy Institute (UFLI). It is an explicit and systematic program that teaches students the foundational skills necessary for proficient reading. It follows a carefully developed scope and sequence designed to ensure that students systematically acquire each skill needed and learn to apply each skill with automaticity and confidence. We started the year learning how sounds are made with our mouth (a tongue biting sound, a lip biting sound, or small air puffing sound, etc...) and the proper handwriting of each uppercase letter. Now, we have moved on to lowercase letters and their sounds as well as heart words (words we should know by heart). We have learned how to read and write these lowercase letters independently, and as part of a word. With just a few lessons, we are reading and writing sentences! We have learned the sounds and writing for the letters: a, m, s, t, p which means we can put those letters together and read and write words such as mat, map, sat, sap, tap. We have also learned the heart/sight words: the, i, and. Putting all of these sounds and words together, we have been able to read and write sentences such as: i tap the mat. Pat and I tap and tap.
Students working on their UFLI skills during Literacy Centers.
Story Elements
Each time we read a story in class we review Story Elements. We have learned that an author writes a story and an illustrator creates the pictures. We also talk about the characters and setting of a story as well as the problem and solution. These are all important elements needed when trying to retell a story. When you read a story together at home, ask some basic questions:
- Who are the important characters?
- Where and when does the story take place?
- What is the problem in the story?
- Did the problem get solved? If yes, by whom?
- What happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story?
- If you could, would you change the ending of the story?
Math
SUBITIZING
Your children may not know what the word means - but they are getting better at it every day! Subitizing is the ability to ‘see’ a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting. Subitizing is what tells you what number you roll on a six-sided dice – most adults no longer have to count the pips after playing board games.Subitizing is a fundamental skill in the development of students’ understanding of numbers. Students use patterns recognized to discover properties and skills such as conservation, compensation, unitizing, counting on, composing and decomposing numbers, as well as understanding of arithmetic and place value.
The ability to subitize can be developed, and uses a student’s pattern recognition skills. Part- whole understanding is usually used to subitize numbers over four or five. This means a student looking at this pattern doesn’t usually see 7, but instead 1 and 6, or maybe 2 and 5.
In class, we play whole group, small group and partner games to practice subtilizing. Students can look at dice, dominoes, hands, ten frames and objects and correctly guess the number after seeing it for just a few seconds. If you head over to the Extra Practice page on this website, there are subtilizing videos which students can practice.
WHAT ELSE???
In addition, we have been exploring different ways to represent numbers. We have been practicing counting and writing our numbers and now know that we can use a ten frame, dice, dominoes, fingers, words, numerals and tally marks to represent numbers! We have also been introduced to pattern blocks - making larger shapes from smaller shapes, counting sides and corners of different shapes, making growing and repeating patterns as well as making fun designs. We have learned that graphs help us represent and read data quickly. We graph the weather every morning and know that September had only 1 more sunny day than cloudy day! We have graphed our birthdays by month (with October being the most popular), and our ages. We have visited 2D shapes and learned that a diamond is called a rhombus! Next up, ordinal numbers, number stories, and sorting!
SPIRIT
Have your kids come home with a star? Did they tell you why they earned it? The Nab School Code of Conduct is SPIRIT - Safety, Perseverance, Inclusion, Respect, Integrity and Teamwork. When your child is caught being a true Nab Star by following the Code of Conduct, they are rewarded with a star! See how many we have recievied as a class1 |
September 2023
Important Events
- Monday, September 11th - PICTURE DAY!
- Tuesday, September 19th, 5:30-6:00 PM ** BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT **Please note the change in time.
- Monday, September 25th - NO SCHOOL, Yom Kippur
- Thursday, September 28th - 9:30 am - VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION
- Friday, September 29th, 6:30-7:30 PM - Pre-K & Kindergarten SING-ALONG
Please RSVP via the link below no later than Wednesday, September 27th. https://tinyurl.com/nabprekandksingalong92923
Morning Tubs
Morning Tubs are available three mornings a week as students arrive to school. Students work in the same tub for the week before rotating. This week our centers concentrated on fine motor and patterning with beads, using Geoboards and elastics to make shapes and pictures, using tweezers and pompoms for fine motor practice to help practice how to hold a pencil, using GeoStix to create and design, and small puzzle pieces to practice fine motor and creativity.
iPads in the Classroom
We have begun using iPads in the classroom! The students were very excited as I introduced them to BOOM CARDS. Boom Cards has a variety of activities covering all subject areas. We started with an introduction and how to use some of the program functions. Next up.....MY PATH - a math program to introduce and practice grade level skills.
Handwriting through UFLI
As part of our LIteracy block, we have been concentrating on writing uppercase letters. Here is just a glimpse.
Patterns, patterns, everywhere!
As part of our math class, we explored pattern blocks discussing the different shapes, edges and verticies and how many smaller blocks make up a larger block (how may triangles it takes to make a hexagon). We also worked with patterns - repeating and growing patterns.
How we began....
We had a great first few days of school - although extremely hot! A big thank you to Riley's family for donating a fan to the classroom, and Avery's family for keeping us cool with a portable AC unit. It would have been much more difficult without these great additions to our room.
Enjoy some pictures from our first few days!
Enjoy some pictures from our first few days!
Arrival and unpacking
Lunch Time
Recess
Learning to Draw People
After reviewing some simple shapes, and practicing to draw them, we put them all together to draw people!
Math in the Classroom
One of our first math activities also helped us to meet a new friend! Students were asked to take a strip of paper and find a classmate who had a strip that was the same size. We talked about the best way to compare the strips to be able to tell if one was longer, shorter or equal in length. Once students found their match, they had to introduce themselves to their partner and then introduce their partner to the class. Later, students played a Pop-It game with a partner by rolling a dice and counting how many to push down.
Morning Meeting
Each day we start our class with Morning Meeting. It's a great way to build community, set a positive tone, increase excitement about learning, and improve academic and social skills.
At the beginning of each class, we begin with our Pledge of Allegiance and by greeting each other. Every day, your child hears his or her name spoken by a classmate in a friendly and cheerful manner. We may give a fist bump, a wave or an elbow bump as we say, "Good Morning!" to each other.
We follow our Greeting with the Morning Message from me. My message will help students get ready for the day ahead. I will tell the day, remind them of the Special we have that day and usually ask a question which will get the kids thinking, raising their hand, and sharing their thoughts. We also complete the Calendar; review number order with Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow; count the days of school; graph the Question of the Day; graph the weather; learn fun facts; review skills; and end with a movement break.
Morning Meeting allows children to know every day that school is a safe place where everyone's feelings and ideas are important.
At the beginning of each class, we begin with our Pledge of Allegiance and by greeting each other. Every day, your child hears his or her name spoken by a classmate in a friendly and cheerful manner. We may give a fist bump, a wave or an elbow bump as we say, "Good Morning!" to each other.
We follow our Greeting with the Morning Message from me. My message will help students get ready for the day ahead. I will tell the day, remind them of the Special we have that day and usually ask a question which will get the kids thinking, raising their hand, and sharing their thoughts. We also complete the Calendar; review number order with Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow; count the days of school; graph the Question of the Day; graph the weather; learn fun facts; review skills; and end with a movement break.
Morning Meeting allows children to know every day that school is a safe place where everyone's feelings and ideas are important.