Zoo

"Won't you please come to the zoo?"

Thank you to Mrs. Cecil, Mrs. Daniels, Mr. Watts, Mrs. Anson, Mrs. Chavez, Mrs. Quarles, and Mrs. Roberts for joining our super excited class on our zoo adventure. We had so much fun!!

Learning about the animals at the zoo!

The Snake group

The Zebra group

The Giraffe group

The Elephant group

The Monkey group

Looking at the animals with excitement!!

Fish kisses

Petting the animals in the educational center

Teacher Appreciation

Wow! Ya'll are amazing!! This was such a special teacher appreciation week. What a great surprise! I was so spoiled. I am so blessed I was given the opportunity to teach each and every one of your little ones. I am going to miss them so much! They have "bloomed" into such amazing little kindergarteners and are definitely ready for first grade. Please keep in touch! :)

Our little chefs

We had so much fun making our Mother's Day cookbooks for you! Enjoy your new recipes! Is anyone brave enough to make my crawfish etouffee recipe? It's so yummy, ya'll!

 I just had to share these super cute pictures we took for our cookbooks. :)

Happy Mother's Day

Photo booth :)

The guitar sunglasses were a big hit!

Smile!

I love that smile!

Rolling out the red carpet for our moms...

Photo booth table

I'm POPPING with excitement that you're my mom!

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful moms for stopping by our classroom today! We loved celebrating you. We hope you felt like a movie star as you walked down the red carpet. Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Sneaky e

Sneaky e is on the loose and we are trying to find him in our class. Our class has learned that if a CVC word (not) has an e on the end (note), the e makes the vowel say it's name.

Help your child say these words:
kite    rose       made    make     rope     mane    vine     slime   shine    slide

tube   Chase    home     tape      wave    name    note     bite     hope    globe


Listen to these great songs:
Super E
Silent E

Eric Carle Author Study

We started our Eric Carle author study and my kids love it! Every day we go in our "book clubs" to discuss our books. We have three book clubs with 6 students in each of them. They each have a different book to discuss. Book clubs are such a great way for students to use accountable talk. I love to hear what they discuss about their book. After they talk with their book club partners they come in front of the class and share one new thing they learned about Eric Carle books.

If you watch the clip, you can hear one partner telling his friend what a fin is. How cute!!

Functional Writing-How to

Functional writing in kindergarten is my absolute favorite...although it may be a little pricey at times. Last week, we learned how to blow a bubble using gum, make lemonade, and catch a star. My favorite thing to do is to show my students the materials first and ask them what they think we are going to be doing. I asked my class how to blow a bubble using gum and the first thing they said was to put it in my mouth. I put the gum still in the wrapper in my mouth. It is really great for them to see misconceptions to help them really think about all of the steps. This week we are going to learn how to make alligator pie, fly a kite, blow a bubble using bubbles, and plant seeds. Below you will find a few ideas I've used in our classroom. Enjoy!

 How to Catch a Star

Such a great story to read for functional writing! Make sure to check it out from your local Public Library. 

Our bulletin board...come check it out!

How cute is this? First I would get a parent and some wings. Next I would fly up to the sky. Last I would catch the star. 

Oh, how I love their imaginations! First I would get 100 balloons. Next I would float to the sky. Last I would catch the star. 

How to Blow a Bubble

How to Fly a Kite

4th nine weeks expectations

Merrill Road Elementary School

Fourth Quarter Expectations for Kindergarten

Based upon the Common Core State Standards

2012-2013

Communications

Reading

• Names capital letters
• Names lowercase letters
• Makes sounds for capital letters
• Makes sounds for lowercase letters
• Identifies initial sounds in words
• Identifies medial (middle) sounds in words
• Identifies ending sounds in words
• Add and substitute individual sounds in words to make new words
• Associates the long and short sounds with common spellings for vowels
• Blend and segment one syllable words
• Reads sight words without hesitation:                                                                                                                                   I, see, a, the, can, we, you, my, like, to, and, it, is, play, on, in, me, yes, no, go, at, am, an, she, he, for, have, here, said, are, come
• Reads short vowel CVC words
• Produces rhyming words
• Actively engages in group reading activities with purpose and understanding
• Uses reading strategies effectively

Writing

(General)

• Participates in shared writing projects
• Writes capital and lowercase letters with correct size and form
• Uses phonetic spelling
• Writing shows evidence of spacing

Functional Writing

• Generates own functional topic
• Writes sequential steps for a “How to” piece
• Includes a detailed picture that supports the topic

Response to Literature Writing

• Generates a response to a student-selected book
• Writes a response which is focused on the book
• Retells story OR gives an opinion on the book with backup reasoning
• Includes a detailed picture that supports the response

Speaking and Listening

• Confirms understanding of a text read aloud by answering questions about key details
• Describes familiar people, places, things, and events
• Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories

Mathematics

• Counts orally up to 100
• Names numerals 0-20
• Counts by tens up to 100
• Counts forward from a given number
• Matches numerals with groups of objects, 0-20
• Given a number, 0-20, count out that many objects
• Composes and decomposes numbers, 11-19, into ten ones and some more ones
• Writes numerals 0-20 with correct size and form
• Represent addition and subtraction, using multiple strategies, with equations up to 10
• Solve addition and subtraction word problems by using objects or drawings to represent the problem
• Decompose numbers up to 10 into two groups, in multiple ways
• Find the missing addend in equations with sums up to 10
• Fluently add and subtract within 5

Social Growth & Development

• Follows class rules
• Respects the rights of others
• Uses acceptable work habits
• Takes care of personal and school property
• Works well in cooperative group activities
• Listens to and follows directions

Field Trip

Our field trip was canceled due to rain. The new date will be May 14th. 

Spring Break

I hope you all had a wonderful spring break!! I can't wait to hear all about it. My husband and I went to Dubai to visit my family. It was absolutely beautiful and such an amazing experience. Enjoy the pictures!