January 11

Winter Party
Here are a few pictures of the party activities!

New Year
All classes at Kalona Elementary spent time reviewing procedures for the classroom, hallways, lunchroom and playground this first week back to school in 2016.  We want to make sure that our students are respectful, responsible and safe:)

Reading/Jolly Phonics
There was lots of review of letters, sounds and tricky words this week!  I will be doing individual assessments this coming week since report cards will go home on January 21.

We finished the readers theater story, Baby Animals.  Children worked on remembering to "pause" when they see a comma in print.  We started work on recognizing story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution) and why it is important for a good reader to be aware of these while reading a story (helps comprehension).

We have covered the tricky words:  there, they, go, no, so, my.  Please look for the new word cards in your child's book bag on Monday.  Thank you for taking the time to help your child practice these words!

Math
Children used the 100 chart or number line to help them answer story problems and to name the number that was "one more than" or "one less than" a certain number.  We also worked on number order to 20 by working as a group to put together a number train floor puzzle.

We discussed the terms:  certain, likely and impossible.   We used these terms to state the probability that various things could happen.  Example:  Can pigs fly?  Will the sun come up tomorrow?  Will it snow today?

I will be doing individual assessments of number identification, counting and patterning this coming week for report cards.  Please help your child practice if you have some time.  Thanks so much!

Science/Social Studies
We started, My Big Book of Work in social studies.  We discussed different jobs that adults can have
and the fact that students have their own jobs, too at home and at school!

We have begun the science unit, Animals:  Two by Two.  We now have two pets in the classroom to help us with our investigations. Children voted on the names, Sparkles and Shadow for our goldfish friends!



Student Moving
One of our kindergarten students and her family is moving back to Colorado. Her last day in our class was Friday. Children made "goodbye" cards for her and we had a special popcorn and M&M snack.  We will miss her very much!