Our class ran a combined 370 laps!
That adds up to be more than 28 miles!!!
Way to go!
I thought you would enjoy seeing some pictures from the event. (Thank you Miss Metcalf for sharing them with us.)
Friday, August 31, 2012
Run For Funds
Thanks to all who came out last week to cheer us on during the Run For Funds. We had a good time and were completely worn out by the end of the 20 minutes!
Our class ran a combined 370 laps!
That adds up to be more than 28 miles!!!
Way to go!
I thought you would enjoy seeing some pictures from the event. (Thank you Miss Metcalf for sharing them with us.)
Our class ran a combined 370 laps!
That adds up to be more than 28 miles!!!
Way to go!
I thought you would enjoy seeing some pictures from the event. (Thank you Miss Metcalf for sharing them with us.)
Monday, August 27, 2012
Color Days (Part 2)
I am so sorry that I wasn't able to me there today, but I am looking forward to being back with you tomorrow.
Here are the color songs we will be singing this week.
Here are the color songs we will be singing this week.
Green
(To the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")
G-r-e-e-n, g-r-e-e-n,
I know how to spell green,
g-r-e-e-n.
Caterpillars are green
and grasshoppers too,
I know how to spell green,
g-r-e-e-n.
Purple
(To the tune of "Camptown Races")
P-u-r-p-l-e, purple, purple,
P-u-r-p-l-e, purple's what that spells.
Purple grapes on the vine,
Purple kool-aid's fine,
P-u-r-p-l-e, purple's what that spells.
White
(To the tune of "Little Brown Jug")
(To the tune of "Little Brown Jug")
W-h-i-t-e that spells white, sing with me,
Milk is white and so is glue,
Ghosts are white and they say, "boo!"
W-h-i-t-e that spells white, sing with me.
The clouds above the snow below,
Santa's beard, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"
Black
(To the tune of "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain")
B-l-a-c-k spells black.
B-l-a-c-k spells black.
Flying bats are black.
Scary cats are black.
Jellybeans are black.
I like black!
B-l-a-c-k spells black.
B-l-a-c-k spells black.
Sunday shoes are black,
Santa's boots are black
B-l-a-c-k spells black.
Happy singing everyone!!
Love,
Mrs. Newman
Monday, August 20, 2012
Color Songs (part 1)
Our "Brown Bear" colors unit is up and going!
Here are the color songs we will be practicing this week, so you can sing them at home too! (These were written by Frog Street Press, I believe. You can buy the cds online if you are interested.)
Here are the color songs we will be practicing this week, so you can sing them at home too! (These were written by Frog Street Press, I believe. You can buy the cds online if you are interested.)
Brown
(To the tune of "Bingo")
There is a color we all know,
Can you guess what it is?
B-r-o-w-n, b-r-o-w-n, b-r-o-w-n,
That's how you spell brown.
Teddy bears and squirrels are brown,
Autumn leaves are too.
Chocolate candy's always brown.
Chocolate cake is always brown.
Chocolate milk is always brown.
I like brown, don't you??
Yellow
(To the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It")
Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.
Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.
Like the early morning sun,
when the day has just begun,
Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.
Daffodils and baby ducks are yellow.
Lemonade and scrambled eggs are yellow.
I like the smiley face that's yellow,
He is such a happy fellow.
Y-e-l-l-o-w spells yellow.
Red
(To the tune of "Are You Sleeping?")
R-e-d, red, r-e-d, red,
I can spell red.
I can spell red.
Firetrucks are red.
Stop signs are red too.
R-e-d, r-e-d.
Blue
(To the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")
B-l-u-e spells blue. B-l-u-e spells blue.
Hi! Ho! Did you know?
B-l-u-e spells blue.
The big sky is blue.
The ocean is too.
Hi! Ho! Did you know?
B-l-u-e spells blue.
Happy singing!
Love,
Mrs. Newman
P.S. Our first book order will be coming home tomorrow!! Yay for books!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Learning our ABC's
As we have been working on learning our alphabet, I have noticed that a lot of our kiddos recognize upper-case letters, but not the lower-case letters. Some are also having a hard time learning the sounds that the letters make.
Here is a clip from a fabulous video made by Leap Frog called, "The Letter Factory."
These videos are amazing and truly do help learn letters and sounds (plus they are only about 20 minutes long, so you don't have to feel guilty about sticking your kids in front of the tv)!
The videos can be found at Target or Walmart and run about $10 each. We have a few copies that are available to check-out from the school if you are interested and there are some on Netflix as well!
Also, if you haven't been to this page yet, you need to help your child explore this page. I spent an hour with my 4-year-old yesterday exploring each of the different activities and she LOVED it. She was laughing and having a great time as we worked on sounding out words and counting together.
Go check them out and I will be posting our color songs next week for each color day.
Have a great day!
Love,
Mrs. Newman
P.S. Don't forget we start in a new classroom on Monday morning and you need to wear BROWN.
Here is a clip from a fabulous video made by Leap Frog called, "The Letter Factory."
These videos are amazing and truly do help learn letters and sounds (plus they are only about 20 minutes long, so you don't have to feel guilty about sticking your kids in front of the tv)!
The videos can be found at Target or Walmart and run about $10 each. We have a few copies that are available to check-out from the school if you are interested and there are some on Netflix as well!
Also, if you haven't been to this page yet, you need to help your child explore this page. I spent an hour with my 4-year-old yesterday exploring each of the different activities and she LOVED it. She was laughing and having a great time as we worked on sounding out words and counting together.
Go check them out and I will be posting our color songs next week for each color day.
Have a great day!
Love,
Mrs. Newman
P.S. Don't forget we start in a new classroom on Monday morning and you need to wear BROWN.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Our Class Rules
Our classroom rules are as follows:
1. Listen when someone else is talking.
2. No bad touches.
3. No mean words.
4. Try, try your best.
Ask your child to tell you what pictures help them to remember our rules.
1. Listen when someone else is talking.
2. No bad touches.
3. No mean words.
4. Try, try your best.
Ask your child to tell you what pictures help them to remember our rules.
The Big Move
Our class will be moving classrooms at the end of the week! It is going to be an exciting change for all of us.
We will begin a new unit of study as we begin class in our new room. We will be continuing our study of color words while working with the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." It is going to be a lot of fun and will culminate in a Teddy Bear Picnic on September 7th.
Make sure to mark your calendars so you don't forget which colors to wear each day!
We will begin a new unit of study as we begin class in our new room. We will be continuing our study of color words while working with the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." It is going to be a lot of fun and will culminate in a Teddy Bear Picnic on September 7th.
Make sure to mark your calendars so you don't forget which colors to wear each day!
Monday 20th: brown
Tuesday 21st: red
Wednesday 22nd: yellow
Thursday 23rd: blue
Don't forget to work on handwriting and make sure to be reading your letter books each night!
Love,
Mrs. Newman
P.S. Watch for a blog post this week with links to some of the songs we have been learning in class. :)
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
It Works!
Just a quick note to let everyone know that my email is working now. If you need to get in touch with me don't hesitate to send me a quick note. My address is juliann.newman@jordandistrict.org
Also, make sure that when you pick up your little ones, if you need to cross into the parking lot, PLEASE use the crosswalk. It is an important safety rule we are working hard to learn and it will help us a lot if you reinforce the things we are learning at school.
We have been working hard this week learning how to cut, glue, color, write letters along with lots of other rules and procedures.
We will be starting some new things on Monday, so look forward to some fun activities to come.
And just for kicks, here is another fun video for you to watch. :)
Have a great afternoon.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
Also, make sure that when you pick up your little ones, if you need to cross into the parking lot, PLEASE use the crosswalk. It is an important safety rule we are working hard to learn and it will help us a lot if you reinforce the things we are learning at school.
We have been working hard this week learning how to cut, glue, color, write letters along with lots of other rules and procedures.
We will be starting some new things on Monday, so look forward to some fun activities to come.
And just for kicks, here is another fun video for you to watch. :)
Have a great afternoon.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
Monday, August 6, 2012
Color Days!
This week we will be learning about color words. If you would like, you can have your child wear the following colors on the following days:
Tuesday: Red
Wednesday: Orange
Thursday: Yellow
We have also started learning sight words. If you are reading with your child at night, pause and let them read the following words during your time together:
Write them on 3x5 cards and put them up somewhere in your house where they will be seen a lot. Make them "passwords" so each time your child walks past the word, he/she has to tell you what it is. (You could even put one word in one place and another word somewhere else — i.e., the front door, bathroom door, bedroom door, on the tv — and they have to read it before they can watch anything, the possibilities are endless!)
You will be amazed how quickly they will start to pick up reading if you encourage them to point these words out whenever they see them. After all, they are everywhere (in books, on billboards, on the iPad, even on menus at restaurants).
I work with my four-year-old nightly for about 5-10 minutes, letting her focus on 2 words a week until she has them mastered. She already knows about 20 words.
I am looking forward to a great week full of learning.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
Tuesday: Red
Wednesday: Orange
Thursday: Yellow
We have also started learning sight words. If you are reading with your child at night, pause and let them read the following words during your time together:
I
a
see
you
Write them on 3x5 cards and put them up somewhere in your house where they will be seen a lot. Make them "passwords" so each time your child walks past the word, he/she has to tell you what it is. (You could even put one word in one place and another word somewhere else — i.e., the front door, bathroom door, bedroom door, on the tv — and they have to read it before they can watch anything, the possibilities are endless!)
You will be amazed how quickly they will start to pick up reading if you encourage them to point these words out whenever they see them. After all, they are everywhere (in books, on billboards, on the iPad, even on menus at restaurants).
I work with my four-year-old nightly for about 5-10 minutes, letting her focus on 2 words a week until she has them mastered. She already knows about 20 words.
I am looking forward to a great week full of learning.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Howard B. Wigglebottom
The first day of school is always a big one, full of new things.
One big things we learned about today is listening. We read a book about a bunny named Howard B. Wigglebottom. Howard had a hard time listening at school and at home. He learned that when he wasn't listening, bad things can happen.
We learned that it is important for us to use our listening ears, just like Howard did.
If you would like to, you are welcome to check out the book for yourself, right here!! Click on the top arrow on the left of the page that says, "Animated Books" and then pick the story, "Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen." Watch the story together!
Thanks for a wonderful first day! See you tomorrow!
Don't forget, tomorrow is early day and school is done at 10:30.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
One big things we learned about today is listening. We read a book about a bunny named Howard B. Wigglebottom. Howard had a hard time listening at school and at home. He learned that when he wasn't listening, bad things can happen.
We learned that it is important for us to use our listening ears, just like Howard did.
If you would like to, you are welcome to check out the book for yourself, right here!! Click on the top arrow on the left of the page that says, "Animated Books" and then pick the story, "Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen." Watch the story together!
Thanks for a wonderful first day! See you tomorrow!
Don't forget, tomorrow is early day and school is done at 10:30.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Assessment Information
I just wanted to let you know what kinds of things we were looking for on our beginning-of-the-year assessment.
Reading and literacy are some of the most important things that we focus on in Kindergarten. Here is a guideline for where your child should be with regards to their literacy achievements as they come in to Kindergarten.
Below Grade Level:
- knows fewer than half of the letter names
- knows few or no letter sounds
- cannot recognize or write their own name
- does not understand concepts of print (front/back of a book, reading left to right, top to bottom, etc.)
- PALS score: 0-28
On Grade Level:
- knows at least half of the letter names
- knows a few letter sounds
- understands concepts of print
- recognizes own name
- PALS score: 29-75
Above Grade Level:
- knows all letter names
- knows all or almost all letter sounds
- recognizes and writes own name
- knows a few high frequency words
- instructed at a level A or higher (this would be the reading level I work with them on in class)
- PALS score 76-102
If you would like to see the literacy grading levels for the rest of the year, you can find them here. Click on the link that says "Kindergarten Report Card Marking Guide." It is in a medium-shade, blue box, about halfway down in the right column.
We also completed a Math assessment this week. Here are the things I asked your child to do during the assessment:
-I showed a page with 4 shapes on it and asked the kids to tell me what they were. If they struggled to name any of the shapes, I named them and asked them to point to the shape.
-I gave your child 10 purple cubes and asked them to touch the blocks while they counted them.
-I asked your child to count for me. If we passed 20 and were running out of time, I stopped them around 30 or 40 rather than letting them keep counting since 10 is the benchmark for this point in the year.
-I showed your child a paper with three numbers on it (3, 5 & 7) and asked them to tell me what they were.
-I said a number 1 to 10 (out of order) and had your child write the number without looking at a reference page. If they wrote the number backwards it is considered "on level" for the beginning of the year.
-I told each student that our purple cubes we counted earlier were going to pretend to be ducks. I asked them to make the ducks act out or "do" the story I told them. Then I told them a story problem (ie. there were 4 ducks in a pond, 1 had to go home. How many are left?) I was trying to find out if they could count 4 ducks from the group of 10 and then take 1 away. I told an addition-type story and a subtraction-type story.
Of course we did a quick-check for color recognition and writing our names as well.
Remember, if you have any questions, PLEASE don't hesitate to ask.
Reading and literacy are some of the most important things that we focus on in Kindergarten. Here is a guideline for where your child should be with regards to their literacy achievements as they come in to Kindergarten.
Below Grade Level:
- knows fewer than half of the letter names
- knows few or no letter sounds
- cannot recognize or write their own name
- does not understand concepts of print (front/back of a book, reading left to right, top to bottom, etc.)
- PALS score: 0-28
On Grade Level:
- knows at least half of the letter names
- knows a few letter sounds
- understands concepts of print
- recognizes own name
- PALS score: 29-75
Above Grade Level:
- knows all letter names
- knows all or almost all letter sounds
- recognizes and writes own name
- knows a few high frequency words
- instructed at a level A or higher (this would be the reading level I work with them on in class)
- PALS score 76-102
If you would like to see the literacy grading levels for the rest of the year, you can find them here. Click on the link that says "Kindergarten Report Card Marking Guide." It is in a medium-shade, blue box, about halfway down in the right column.
We also completed a Math assessment this week. Here are the things I asked your child to do during the assessment:
-I showed a page with 4 shapes on it and asked the kids to tell me what they were. If they struggled to name any of the shapes, I named them and asked them to point to the shape.
-I gave your child 10 purple cubes and asked them to touch the blocks while they counted them.
-I asked your child to count for me. If we passed 20 and were running out of time, I stopped them around 30 or 40 rather than letting them keep counting since 10 is the benchmark for this point in the year.
-I showed your child a paper with three numbers on it (3, 5 & 7) and asked them to tell me what they were.
-I said a number 1 to 10 (out of order) and had your child write the number without looking at a reference page. If they wrote the number backwards it is considered "on level" for the beginning of the year.
-I told each student that our purple cubes we counted earlier were going to pretend to be ducks. I asked them to make the ducks act out or "do" the story I told them. Then I told them a story problem (ie. there were 4 ducks in a pond, 1 had to go home. How many are left?) I was trying to find out if they could count 4 ducks from the group of 10 and then take 1 away. I told an addition-type story and a subtraction-type story.
Of course we did a quick-check for color recognition and writing our names as well.
Remember, if you have any questions, PLEASE don't hesitate to ask.
The BIG Day!
Guess what, kids?
It's finally here!
Tomorrow is the big day. We start KINDERGARTEN!! Wow!!
Remember class starts at 8:25 and gets out at 11:18. We line up outside of the doors with the giant "K" (for Kindergarten). They are on the front of the building. Our class will always be lining up behind the number 4. I will be out there to make sure you know where to go. :)
I can't wait to see you. We are going to have so much fun tomorrow.
Parents, I will be sending home some papers tomorrow with the results of your child's assessments from our appointments the past week. Please check out the "assessments" page on our class blog as well.
If you have any questions about the results, please don't hesitate to ask me. I know my district e-mail is not working yet (it should be fixed today, they are working on it), but you can call and leave a message on our classroom phone (extension 3628) or you can leave a brief comment here on the blog letting me know you would like to discuss the results.
I am looking forward to working with you all this year.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
It's finally here!
Tomorrow is the big day. We start KINDERGARTEN!! Wow!!
Remember class starts at 8:25 and gets out at 11:18. We line up outside of the doors with the giant "K" (for Kindergarten). They are on the front of the building. Our class will always be lining up behind the number 4. I will be out there to make sure you know where to go. :)
I can't wait to see you. We are going to have so much fun tomorrow.
Parents, I will be sending home some papers tomorrow with the results of your child's assessments from our appointments the past week. Please check out the "assessments" page on our class blog as well.
If you have any questions about the results, please don't hesitate to ask me. I know my district e-mail is not working yet (it should be fixed today, they are working on it), but you can call and leave a message on our classroom phone (extension 3628) or you can leave a brief comment here on the blog letting me know you would like to discuss the results.
I am looking forward to working with you all this year.
Love,
Mrs. Newman
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