Mrs. Wilburn’s Class Newsletter 11-16-12

Reminders

No school

November, 21st, 22nd, and 23

rd

- Thanksgiving Break

No homework next week but unofficially, please practice the skills using some of the

links from the blog or from the links I have listed in this newsletter. Also continue

to read each night and stop during your read a loud and ask questions about what is

happening, what they predict will happen, how the characters are feeling etc.

The fourth and fifth grade classes are collecting items for the homeless. New socks

are greatly needed along with small toiletry items. There is a contest to see which

class can turn in the most items. We need more items to be in the running. I

appreciate all you can do for their drive. They are hoping to make a difference in

someone else’s lives while bettering their own through the joy of giving.

Any gently used books are also still needed for Read to Me Week. We will be

donating those to organizations as well. Read to Me Week was lots of fun and we

really appreciate all your help in filling out the reading logs and taking the time to

read with your child. I also want to thank the guest readers. It meant so much to

your children to have you come into the class to read. If you ever have any time to

read, we always love having parents come in.

Reading

We are working hard in reading groups. They are learning to

blend and segment onset rimes and simple cvc words. Every child

must learn to hear how the small individual sounds within words

work. They must also learn to name the letters and the sounds

they make quickly. This quick recall is crucial to the reading

process. It is the beginning fluency piece of the puzzle. If they

have to think to long about the letter and the sound it makes,

then decoding to read unfamiliar words becomes a great struggle.

Play with the sounds. Stretch them out break them apart and see

if they can do the same. Set a timer and challenge your child to

name the capital and lowercase letters in 1 minute. They must

also be able to write each letter in a second or less. We will be

working soon to start timing quick recall of sight words and cvc

words. Sight words that research shows occur in over 33% of all

material we read even as adults are as follows: the, a, and, to, of,

I, in, was, that, it, he, you, for, had, is, with, her, she, his, as, on,

at, have, but, me. If by the end of kindergarten your child can

read these quickly and efficiently, they will be on track for what

they need by first grade as far as sight words go. These 25 are on

a greater list of 107 that occur in just over 50% of all we read as

adults. The next jump is a group of 900 sight words and it only

goes up to 65%, so if your child can master the 107 sight words,

their reading fluency will improve greatly. Knowing these words

automatically, takes the think time our of reading and they will be

able to comprehend what they are reading at a greater rate. Here

is a link to the list of 107 words.

http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/26402063145620440/lib/264

02063145620440/zeno_word_list_-_numbered.pdf

Do not forget that they may also get on study island from

home throught the JME school website.

Sign in is:

First name last initial@jme

Password is: study

Here are some game practice links to use at home.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/flash/vowels/index

.htm

http://pbskids.org/lions/games/blending.html

http://www.professorgarfield.org/Phonemics/pig_waller/

pig_waller.html

http://www.professorgarfield.org/Phonemics/hay_loft/ha

y_loft.html

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactive

s/construct/

http://www.ictgames.com/machine.html

Math

We are working on ten frames and recognizing that when

all frames are filled it is ten. They also need to see and

understand the number missing in a ten frame. We are

working on recognizing and writing numbers to 20 in

order. Here are some games that will help reinforce that

skill.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=75

http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/kindergarten-mathactivities.

html

http://www.abcya.com/connect_the_dots_20.htm

Mrs. Wilburn’s Class Newsletter 11-16-12

This is a paid site but they may have 20 free practice

problems a day. Here is the membership link. The

cost is $ 9.95 per month or 79 dollars a year.

http://www.ixl.com/membership/

Cultural Fair

Our school will be having a cultural fair on December 18

th

and 19

th. It will be the first time we have done this event

and it will be so exciting. Each classroom is responsible for

researching and presenting information learned about a

country to all the other classrooms in the building. There

will also be an Open House Pot luck event on the evening

of the 18

th in the cafeteria. Our country is Australia. If any

of you have artifacts, pictures, personal connections or

ideas please send them our way. I have a few things lined

up already. We will be turning our room into the land

down under!! Look for specific details to follow as we

learn more about the event.

Winter Party

I did not yet hear back from any parents about volunteering to

be a homeroom parent for the parties. We have a winter party

and a spring party.

Our Winter Party will be the afternoon of December 20

th. I like

to keep parties low key and productive at this age so I usually

design five workshops they can complete in one afternoon and

then we do what we like to do best and eat at the end of the day. I

need a volunteer to be homeroom parent and help me organize

some activities for them to do. I like the make and take approach

which keeps them busy, engaged and lets them have fun as well

without it being as chaotic. I also need some parents who would

be willing to assist and run a workshop. Please let me know.

Just let me know if you would be willing to donate some time to

help with this. In the past, we have collected a dollar a child and

we have also left it open to different parents sending in treats

but I don’t want it to be too much for them. One of the rotation s

could be for them to decorate their own cookie to eat for later. I

am open to cute ideas. I know Pintrest has loads of ideas.

Workshops

Voting and holidays and read to me week

messed up the schedule but along we tread!

11-7 to 11-14-12

1. Literacy- CVC word building- The

children used letter tiles to spell the

cvc words that matched pictures.

Then they wrote the word they spelled

with the tiles. Word cards 1-12.

2. Literacy/Social Studies- The children

wrote a guess who poem about

community helpers.

3. Literacy- Writing workshop-

Literacy/science- The children wrote

about their opinion on which community

helper was the most needed and why.

They based this opinion on books we

read and videos we watched.

4. Math- The children used bats to write

the numbers to from 10 to 21 on and

glue together in order.

5. Ipads/computers- they used the ipads

and computer to practice and

reinforce skills necessary to be

successful in kindergarten.

11-15- to 11-26-

1. Literacy- CVC word building- The

children used letter tiles to spell the

cvc words that matched pictures.

Then they wrote the word they spelled

with the tiles. Word cards 1-12.

2. Literacy- Nouns- Is it a noun? Well, is it

a person, place or thing? The children

sorted through magazines and cut out

pictures. They had to decide if their

picture was a person, place or a thing

and then glue it onto the sorting

board.

3. Literacy- writers workshop- What are

you most thankful for? After reading

books and watching videos about

Thanksgiving, the children wrote an

opinion piece about what they were

thankful for and told why.

4. Math- number writing, counting and

sequencing to 20. The children wrote

numbers to 20 on the tummy of a turkey

and then had to count and color the

same number of feathers. Then they

had to cut them out and sequence them

on paper.

5. Ipads/computers- they used the ipads

and computer to practice and

reinforce skills necessary to be

successful in kindergarten.