Thank you…

• For washing snow clothes so much this week! Welcome to the season of MUD. 🙂
• For sending in donations to our sponsor student from the Philippians! I have LOVED hearing from your children how they have shown kindness and helped at home. You can send those last donations in next week.
• Thank you for all your prayers and support this year! It has been busy, but I am so thankful for all of you and your partnership in education.
• Thank you for all your extra work parenting in this pandemic. YOU are doing great!!! Your children are loved and they are finding joy in all that you are doing together.

Reminders:

• Please try to send in spoons and forks if they are required for your child’s snack or lunch. I have forks left in our extra supply, but no spoons. Thank you!
• February 26: NO PM Elementary Busing. NO MS Busing
• March 11: Optional (and Virtual) Parent Teacher Conferences details were sent via email to keep the accounts private
• March 12: No School Teacher Professional Development
• May 21: Auction – Virtual format similar to last year, no food, no kids program

What We Have Been Learning:

• In Phonics we continue to cycle through listening for letters sounds. This week we were able to focus on beginning sounds and comparing the sounds we are hearing.
• In Writing Workshop we are continuing our unit on How To writing. This is a big step for our writers. We worked as a whole group to plan our three steps for building a snowman and making a sand which. We are taking the time to plan our sentences using First, Next and Last. They students say the sentences out loud before writing. We are working together to write instructions this week. Next week we will start letting the class write independently for the last step.
• In Bible we wrapped up our unit on miracles, still in awe of God’s power! We read about Jesus walking on water and healing a man born blind. Next week we will begin to focus on the timeline to Easter.
• In Math we worked on categorizing. The class is doing very well using new vocabulary and finding different ways to categorize. We also worked on adding and subtracting.
• In Daily 5 we are taking a little extra time to look through our books and notice if their is a pattern in words, different punctuation or even different texts in the book. When a new words appears, I encourage each child to make the sounds of the letters they read-one at a time. We call this sliding through the sounds. Next the child re reads the sentence to make sure it makes sense. Those book bags are getting pretty full, so I will be emptying them soon!
• Our Word Wall now contains a, at, and, am, come, go, here, I, it, is, in, look, like, me, my, on, see, the, this, to, up, we.
• We are also focusing on social skills this time of year. Now that we are all comfortable in the classroom and growing it is a good time to review. This week we are focusing on listening.

Reminders:

• February 23: ½ Day of School  NO PM Busing
• February 25: NO PM Elementary Busing
• February 26: NO PM Elementary Busing. NO MS Busing
• Keep watching the blue note and emails regarding optional parent teacher conferences
• March 27: 3-on-3 Canceled
• April 16: Auction rescheduled
• May 15: ZCS Zip 5K – Happening!
• May 21: Auction – Virtual format similar to last year, no food, no kids program

What We Have Been Learning:

• Due to the short week I was not able to read with all of the small groups. However, in the daily 5 structure I am seeing that all children are reading and writing every day. They continue to grow in abilities and excitement for learning.
• In Phonics we were breaking down words into syllables to sound them out. We also practiced writing CVC words and really focusing on the vowels in the middle.
• Our word wall now has a, at, and, am, come, go, here, I, is, it, look, like, me, my on, see, the, this, to, up, we
• In writing we began a new unit on How To writing. This will focus on instructions for how to do something. We practiced this week with sequencing puzzles that had three pieces. We used the words the First, Next, and Last. It is important for kids to continue to say what they are writing-forming sentences orally will help them when writing it down.
• In Bible we continued reading the stories of the miracles Jesus did like the blind man seeing and calming the storm.  We used ribbons to make a storm and then changed to calm.
• We were able to spend a little time each day with valentine’s fun. We passed out valentines, decorated a special heart, stacked conversation heart and used them for adding and learning teens. We ended the week with valentine bingo on Friday afternoon.

Reminders

• Tuesday, February 16: Valentine’s Celebration You may send in valentine’s for your child to pass out to friends. You do not need to label the To section, but please have your child sign his/her name on the From section. We have 19 friends in our classroom.
• February 23: ½ Day of School  NO PM Busing
• February 25: NO PM Elementary Busing
• February 26: NO PM Elementary Busing. NO MS Busing
• March 27: 3-on-3 Canceled
• April 16: Auction rescheduled
• May 15: ZCS Zip 5K – Happening!
• May 21: Auction – Virtual format similar to last year, no food, no kids program

What We Have Been Learning:

• In Math Miss Edwards has been teaching the class about shapes. The kids were able to play with shapes and figure out how to combine shapes and make a new one. We continue to practice the vocabulary piece by saying the shape names several times. We used large movements to make shapes. We also continue to work on writing numbers.
• In Writing, we are wrapping up our pattern books. The class is doing so well writing these! Today we tried writing our regular pattern, but then adding a surprise ending. 🙂
• In Daily 5 I continue to work with small groups as the rest of the class is reading or writing independently. I am so proud of the growth they are all making in reading!
• We are adding more words to the word wall! on has joined the group 🙂 We reviewed all of the word wall words by writing them on hearts and hanging them around the room.
• In Phonics we looked at a picture and stretched the word to spell it. We used all CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words.
• In Bible we are beginning to learn about miracles. We talked about God’s power being the greatest. A miracle is not a trick or magic, it is God’s power! We read about Jesus changing water into wine and about the disciples catching a lot of fish! We too can be fishers of men by sharing the good news of Jesus.
• We enjoyed singing along with this song when we are learning about miracles.

Our Super Learners

Kindergarten Chapel

Click on Kindergarten Chapel to view 🙂

Continue clicking the underlined words to view videos.

Reminders:

• Please remember towels in towel bags and bags of snow gear.
• The kids have been doing well bringing in snow gear and keep track of it…for the most part 🙂
• No bussing February 8 and 9.
• *Wednesday, February 10 (edited for snow day Friday): 100th Day!  We will dress “super” and hope to meet Zero the Hero! More details to come. You can think of a SIMPLE super hero shirt or head band, mask or cape for your child to wear.
• Friday, February 12-Monday February 15: Winter Break, No School
• Tuesday, February 16: Valentine’s Celebration You may send in valentine’s for your child to pass out to friends. You do not need to label the To section, but please have your child sign his/her name on the From section. We have 19 friends in our classroom.
• Half Day February 23 11:45 dismissal

What We Have Been Learning:

• In Math we continue to look at teen numbers as 10 + We are working on writing numbers and learning partners that come together to make 10.
• In Phonics we learned about the at family of words. We discovered many words that end with at. Each word had a different beginning sound, but all ended with at.
• In Daily 5 I continue to work with kids in small groups and love listening to their reading. We work through sounding out words and reading until the end of the word and then rereading to check if it makes sense.
• In Bible we read about Zacchaeus. We learned how he changed his ways and tried not to make mistakes. We also try to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them.
• Word Wall Words have grown to add the word to to the board. I sent home a sheet with all of our word wall words on it this week. If you did not see one come home, please ask for another or ask your child to make one using a, at, and, am, come, go, here, I, is, look, like, me, my, see, the, this, to, up, we.
• We were able to read several books to the class. Some were favorites of our Up In Lights friend, Owen. Other books were favorites found right in our classroom. I love to see the excitement the class has for good books. 🙂
• We continue to talk about being a good friend on the playground. This has included brainstorming ideas on what to play, how to be careful with our hands, how to ask someone to play and what to say if the child feels tired or needs some time in a quiet space.