Week of Oct 31

Mrs. Barr’s Shining Stars News

October 31, 2011

Mrs. Barr’s Message:

The 1^st quarter of school ends this week! There will be no school for students on Friday as this is a teacher work day to complete report cards. Kindergarten does NOT receive a grade for the first quarter. We will have a conference to discuss your child’s strengths and weaknesses next week. As of right now we are scheduling families with multiple students. Once those are complete I will send home your child’s conference time. Remember- this is the sponsor’s “place of duty” at that time. If your commander/1Sgt will not let you off for your child’s conference please let me know.

Unit 1 tests are complete! Math testing is going on this week. All results will be discussed at your conference time.

Donations needed this week: Egg cartons (10-12ct please).

Thanks for all you do!!!

IMPORTANT DATES:

11/1: Principal’s Coffee- 9am

11/3: End of 1^st Quarter

11/4: No school for students

11/5: Craft Market Fundraiser

11/9-11/10 Parent Teacher Conferences (no school for Elem. students

11/11: No school Veteran’s Day

11/21: School wide Continuous School Improvement mtg

3pm

Monday 10/17 Art

Tuesday 10/18 Host Nation

Wednesday 10/19 PE

Thursday 10/20 Music (in the AM)

Friday 10/21 PE

!!!REMINDER!!!

Library is on Friday

Check out information, resources, kid web sites, and pictures on our classroom blog:www.mrsbarrshiningstars.blogspot.com

Homework is not mandatory but highly recommended!!

Writing:

Sight words: have, is

Review: am, I, little, it, a, the

KE1a.9: Listen to and say consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) sounds and blend the

sounds to make words.

KE1a.14: Match all consonant sounds in simple words (such as mad, red, pin,

Science:

Animal Habitats

KSb.1: Recognize what organisms need to stay alive (including air, water, food, and shelter).

Reading:

Letters:  reviewing all

Families: -at

Reviewing character, setting, sequence, and sorting/classifying.

Life in an Ocean

KE1a.14: Match all consonant sounds in simple words (such as mad, red, pin,

Math:

K.M.2c: identify, reproduce, describe, extend, and create color, rhythmic, shape, number, and letter repeating patterns with simple attributes;

K.M.3a: name, describe, sort, compare, and draw two-dimensional shapes;

Books:

3 Billy Goats Gruff

Math math and more math books!!!!

Plus many more!

THIS WEEK’S POEMThis week we focus on the /a/ in the middle of
wordsIt’s Time to Go Camping

It’s time to grab a handy map,

It’s time to pack a bag too!

The ride is long; we’ll take a nap,

It’s time to go camping!

Dad packs all the pots and pans,

Gram packs Sammy, the cat, too!

Ann lines up at the yellow van,

It’s time to go camping!

COLOR OF THE WEEK:

(don’t forget Show-n-Share on Friday! It

must be the color of the week!)

Orange

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

(Leader)
We're going on a bear hunt!
(Group)
We're going on a bear hunt!

We're gonna catch a big one!
We're gonna catch a big one!
I'm not afraid!
I'm not afraid!
Are you?
Are you?
Not me!
Not me!

Here comes the gate
" " (Group Echos)
Now we're on a bear hunt " "
We're gonna catch a big one " "
I'm not afraid " "
Are you? " " Not me! " "

We're coming to a tall mountain " "
It sure is high " "
It sure is wide " "
Let's climb up it " "
Well, there's nothing over there " "
Nothing over there " "
Nothing back there " "
Hey! Wait! I think I see something
Quick! Everybody run down!

We're going on a bear hunt!
We're going on a bear hunt!
We're gonna catch a big one!
We're gonna catch a big one!
I'm not afraid!
I'm not afraid!
Are you?
Are you?
Not me!
Not me!

We're going thru the tall grass " "
We're going thru the short grass " "
Hey! Look! There's a little tree " "
Well, let's shinny on up it
Whoa! It gets a little skinny up here at the top
See anything over that way? " "
Anything over that way?, Uh, oh!,
Oh, no! Whoa! Agh! let's get down!

We're going on a bear hunt!
We're going on a bear hunt!
We're gonna catch a big one!
We're gonna catch a big one!
I'm not afraid!
I'm not afraid!
Are you?
Are you?
Not me!
Not me!

Oh, no! " "
It's a big puddle of mud " "
Can't go around it " "
Gotta go right thru it " "
Yeuk! " "
Well, let's go.
Squish, Sqwish, Blaaahh.

We're going on a bear hunt!
We're going on a bear hunt!
We're gonna catch a big one!
We're gonna catch a big one!
I'm not afraid!
I'm not afraid!
Are you?
Are you?
Not me!
Not me!

We're coming to a wide river " "
And there's no bridge going over it " "
No tunnel going under it " "
It's just plain old water " "
And we're gonna have to swim " "
All right, dive in!
Start swimming
Do the back stroke
Do the side stroke
Do the doggie paddle
Try the little cat paddle
OK Jump out, shake yourself off

We're going on a bear hunt!
We're going on a bear hunt!
We're gonna catch a big one!
We're gonna catch a big one!
I'm not afraid!
I'm not afraid!
Are you?
Are you?
Not me!
Not me!

Shhh, it's a cave " "
Looks like the kind of cave that B-bears live in " "
I don't know if I want to go in there
You think we oughta go in?
Are you nuts?
There's probably a bear in there
All right I'll go in, You stay here,
And if I find a bear, I'll come out and get you
And we'll all go in and grab him together
Now, quiet, don't make a sound while I'm in that cave,
Cuz if you wake him up, I'll be in trouble
Bears are awful ornery when they first wake up, you know
OK, I'm going on in
Oooo, It's dark in here
It's really dark in here
I can't see a thing
Agh, there's spiders webs
Ooo, what was that???
What's this??.... it's soft, uh oh,it's kind of fuzzy

Ahg!!!!!!!!! Run! Everybody run!!
I saw a bear!!!!
Jump in the water! Swim fast!!
Do the backstroke!
The sidestroke, the doggie paddle
Jump out of the water
Run through the mud!
Forget the tree!!
Go through the tall grass
The short grass
Quick! Go up the mountain
Down the other side
Go thru the gate
Into the house, under the bed
Under the pillow
Hide!!!!!
Uh, it's awful quiet around here
I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid
Are you?
Are you?

 

Calling all computer techies!

I am trying to insert a book preview for you all to see. It is a word document though and I don't know how to link it so you can open it at home. Anyone know how??

Week of Oct 24

Sorry parents, no fancy newsletter this week!

In language arts we will be reviewing EVERYTHING we’ve learned up to this point: letters, sight words, sequence, characters, setting, writing the sounds we hear in words, etc. Instead of reading groups (during our “centers” block) they will be taking their Unit 1 test this week. We will also be giving the new reading assessment at the end of the week to those children who have already begun reading. As I finish testing your child I will send home results for you to review.

In math we will be reviewing all that we have learned up to this point plus learning shapes. I know most of the children know their basic shapes but we are learning ALL 2-D shapes- trapezoids, hexagons, pentagons, etc! We will take a shape walk through the school to draw the shapes we see and make shape collages.

This week we will also have fun Fall/Halloween activities for the children to do- if they choose to! If they don’t want to do something Halloween related we will have things for Fall- and ALL are fun! I figured with writing/publishing a book and all the “testing” they need to have a little fun!

The children have ALMOST earned a “popcorn/movie” party by filling our classroom bucket (ask your child about this!) so encourage best behavior and I bet we can fill that bucket by Halloween!

Donations needed: candy corn, dried leaves, ribbon in “fall/Halloween” colors

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Week of Oct. 17

Mrs. Barr’s Shining Stars News
October 17, 2011

Mrs. Barr’s Message:
This quarter is flying by! Only 3 weeks left. This week we will finish our first unit of our reading curriculum. We will be taking a unit test at the end of the week. When reading each night, talk with your child about the characters, setting, and sequence of the story. Please review the letter names and sounds. For game ideas please see the class website.
We will create our class book “I am thankful for…” this week as part of journal and reading group time. Talk with your child about what being thankful means and what they are thankful for. Have them draw pictures of what they are thankful for. Have them say the word slowly and write down the letter sounds they hear. Correct spelling is NOT important at this stage in writing!!! Always praise your child for any attempts at writing letters/words. We have practiced this in our journals and they are doing great! Be on the lookout for the order form for your hard back copy of the class book. Thanks for participlating!
Thanks for all you do!!!

IMPORTANT DATES:

10/20: Bingo/Pizza fundraiser in the MPS @ 1800

11/3: End of 1st Quarter

11/4: No school for students

11/5: Craft Market Fundraiser

11/9-11/10 Parent Teacher Conferences (no school for Elem. students

11/10: Principal’s Coffee- 9am

11/11: No school Veteran’s Day

Monday 10/17
Art
Tuesday 10/18
Host Nation
Wednesday 10/19
PE
Thursday 10/20
Music (in the AM)
Friday 10/21
PE

!!!REMINDER!!!

You may keep a spare change of clothes in your child’s backpack. We can store them in the room if you don’t want them to carry them back and forth. Accidents (and mud puddles) happen!

Library is on Friday

Check out information, resources, kid web sites, and pictures on our classroom blog:
www.mrsbarrshiningstars.blogspot.com

Homework is not mandatory but highly recommended!!


Writing:
Sight words: to, a
Review: am, I, little, it, is, the

Please review these sight words for our unit test!!!
KE2a.1: Discuss ideas to include in a story.
KE2a.3: Write using pictures, letters, and words.


Reading:

Letters: X, Y, Z, vowels
Review: A-W

Reviewing character, setting, sequence, and sorting/classifying.

Dig, Dig, Dig

KE1c.3: Identify characters, settings, and important events in a story.
KE1a.14: Match all consonant sounds in simple words (such as mad, red, pin, top,
sun) to appropriate letters.


Math:
We are making number quilts!
K.M.1a: identify, write, and name numbers up to 20
K.M.1b: using one-to-one correspondence, count the number of objects in sets up to 20;


Books:
1, 2, 3
Where’s my teddy
Horris and Morace but mostly Delores
Ten, nine, eight
Today I feel silly
Boys and Girls of the world
Today is Monday
Mama, how much do you love me?
Just so thankful
Thanks a million

Plus many more!


Children need to hear and say the words that one day they will read and write. Have fun with the following songs and rhymes… word play leads to word power!
KE3b.2: Recite short poems, rhymes, and songs.


COLOR OF THE WEEK:

(don’t forget Show-n-Share on Friday! It
must be the color of the week!)


Gray


Look at them go
(tune: wheels on the bus)
The diggers dig with a scoop, scoop, scooping
Scoop, scoop, scooping,
Scoop, scoop, scooping
The diggers dig with a scoop, scoop, scooping
Look at them go

V2: The fire hose sprays with a swoosh, swoosh, swooshing
V3: The tractors plow with a squelch, squelch, squelching
V4: Garbage trucks are good at gobble, gobble, gobbling
V5: The cranes carry pipes that are spin, spin, spinning
V6: The dump trucks dump with a rumble, rumble, rumbling

Letter Games/Ideas!

Write your letters in/use:
Sand
Salt
Shaving cream
With glue (and then cover with glitter!)
Pasta
Dried beans
Playdough
Coins
Parents: call out the letter SOUND and let your child make the letter he/she thinks it is. If it is incorrect try saying, “Hmm if I were to make an ‘h’ I’d make it like this” then demonstrate for your child. They’ll want to fix the mistake without you even asking! You can also demonstrate by writing on a magnadoodle or dry erase board.

Make letter writing fun. Try using every color in your crayon or marker collection. See how many colors you can write “a” in and so on.

Make your own letter bingo game by writing random letters on a 5x5 grid. Make several different boards so your child can play many times. Make corresponding letters on cut out squares that you use to draw from. You draw a card with a letter and call out the letter name or sound and they cover the letter if it is on their board. Then let them call letters or sounds for you!

Make your own letter puzzles. Using a dark colored marker, write a letter very large on a piece of paper. Cut the paper in a simple way (into 4 squares, into 4 strips, etc). Have your child put the letter puzzle together and tell you the name and sound. They can save the puzzle to play again or glue it to a piece of construction paper. Increase the number of times you cut the puzzle to make it harder. Let your child try making a letter puzzle.

“Alphabet Soup” place some magnet letters or paper letters into a pot. Use a spoon or ladle to scoop out a letter and name it. If you get it right it goes in your bowl. If not it goes back in the pot.

www.starfall.com has letter games, stories, and movies for children.
www.pinterest.com has ideas for parents. Try searching “letter games” “kids games” or “learning letters”

“Alphabet Hunt” can be played any where! Call out a sound or letter name and your child hunts for it. This is great for the commissary. “Bobby I need a vegetable that starts with the /g/ sound” and let him bring you a can of green beans! Make it hard by leaving out the vegetable clue. This is wonderful to play with more than one child- make it a competition!

Make your own tongue twister using a certain letter. Aunt Annie ate an alligator! Busy bees buy bread! Silliest one wins!

Keep a running list of words that start with a letter. You could write the letter in dark marker at the top of a page on a notepad. As your child thinks of or finds words that start with the letter help them write it on the letter page. Start out by having them write the first letter and you finish the word (while sounding it out slowly for them to hear) but then, as they improve, have them start writing all the letters they hear and know.

Turn those lists into a letter book! Fold a piece of paper in half (“hamburger style”) and write one word from the list on each page and let your child illustrate it.

Google: “letter games” for a LOT of fun online games. “kindergarten letter games” gets you letter songs, online games, and activities you can do at home.

If you would like to, purchase letter stamps, letter beads, or letter games on Amazon.com The possibilities with stamps and beads are endless!!!

Photos

Working hard!

Fire Safety Week:

Week of Oct. 11

Mrs. Barr’s Shining Stars News
October 11, 2011

Mrs. Barr’s Message:

Our IT man, Mr. Voce, would like me to remind you that GradeSpeed is only available for students in grades 4-8. Please do not request an account for a child in any other grades. Thanks!

We will not have a Halloween party. We will do Halloween and fall crafts that week as well as enjoy some popcorn and candy while watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” to go along with our fall and nocturnal animals unit.

Kindergarten does not receive formal progress reports. I will send home checklists and work that shows you where your child is and what they need to work on. Report cards come out the week of Nov. 7.



Thanks for all you do!!!

IMPORTANT DATES:

10/11-14: Fire Prevention Week

10/13: Flu vaccines for K

10/13: Principal’s Coffee 9-10am

11/3: End of 1st Quarter

11/4: No school for students

11/9-11/10 Parent Teacher Conferences (no school for Elem. students

11/10: Principal’s Coffee- 9am

11/11: No school Veteran’s Day


Monday 10/10
NO SCHOOL
Tuesday 10/11
Host Nation
Wednesday 10/12
PE
Thursday 10/13
Music (in the AM)
Friday 10/14
PE


!!!REMINDER!!!

Check out information, resources, kid web sites, and pictures on our classroom blog:
www.mrsbarrshiningstars.blogspot.com

Homework is not mandatory but highly recommended!!


Writing:

Sight words: to, a
Review is, it at home!

www.handwritingforkids.com is a great place to get homework sheets!


Reading:

Letters: T, U, V, W
Review A-S

Reviewing character, setting, sequence, and sorting/classifying.

Julius

KE1c.3: Identify characters, settings, and important events in a story.
KE1a.14: Match all consonant sounds in simple words (such as mad, red, pin, top,
sun) to appropriate letters.


Social Studies:

KSS5.b: Describe different kinds of jobs that people do at work and home.
KSS4.c: Explore the role of students in the school community


Math: identify, sort, and classify a set of objects by color, shape, size, number, and other attributes;
identify, reproduce, describe, extend, and create color, rhythmic, shape, number, and letter repeating patterns with simple attributes,


Books:
Leo the Late Bloomer
Words are not for hurting
Flower Fairy Alphabet
Bully Bear
Cliffords Pals
I’m Gonna Like Me
A children’s Zoo
Friends at School

Plus MANY more!


COLOR OF THE WEEK:

(don’t forget Show-n-Share on Friday! It must
be the color of the week!)


Yellow