More Penguins!

Today we continued our penguin theme by reading 'Three Cheers for Tacky' and then writing our opinion on what was the best part of the story. After that, we discussed the different body parts of a penguin and even made some of our own little black and white cuties. One student chose to read a nonfiction book about penguins when she was finished.

My favorite part was when he cheered. 

My favorite part is when he messed it up. 

My favorite part was when Tacky fell. 

Safety on the Internet

This week, our class learned about some ways to stay safe when we are on the computer. We compared some of the rules to the safety rules we follow when we are in public places like the park. 

1. You should not spend too much time on the computer.
2. Never talk to strangers. Ignore what they say and close the message. Also, do not open email messages from people you do not know.
3. Do not share private information like your name, address, or email address. Don’t share information about anyone other person, like mom or dad, either.
4. Do not allow strangers to send ANYTHING to you.
5. If something makes you nervous or uncomfortable, or you see something inappropriate, close the page and tell your parents or an adult that you trust.
6. Never use the computer alone. Always have a parent or responsible adult close to you when you use the computer. 

Penguins visit Kindergarten!!!

Mr. Eddie, from the Cincinnati Zoo, brought two African penguins to visit our class today. Charlie is 13 years old and Bubba is two years old. We learned many interesting facts about these penguins and really enjoyed watching them as they were fed, as they walked around, as they groomed themselves, and even as they went to the bathroom on our floor! Be sure to ask your child about his/her favorite part and what he/she liked learning about the most! 

Charlie

Bubba

We learned that having a black back and white tummy helps keep the penguins safe as they swim through the sea. 

The AM classes listening to Mr. Eddie, from the Cincinnati Zoo, teach us about penguins. 

Feeding Time! 

Jacob getting a closer look at our penguin friend, Bubba. 

Jessica feeling Charlie's soft, molted feathers. 

Justin getting his feather souvenir. 

Skylar choosing her feather. 

 

Mrs. Schmidt even stopped by to check out the penguins! 

I see a penguin. 

We see Bubba. 

Valentine's Day Photos

We had a lovely time at our Valentine's day party! We played sight word Tic-Tac-Bingo, decorated our Valentine bags, passed out our Valentine's to our friends, and enjoyed a treat of Oreos, fruit snacks, and juice. 

Newsletter 2/25

Mrs. Nicodemus’ Kindergarten Newsletter

February 23, 2015   

Welcome back! I hope everyone was able to enjoy some of the extra time at home with your little ones. Our four day weekend turned into ten days off for our students, and for kindergartners, that is a very long time to be out of the classroom and away from our daily routines. Please help me make this transition back to school a smooth one for your child. It is important that students are getting plenty of sleep and a good meal before coming to school. We will be revisiting our classroom procedures and appropriate classroom behaviors throughout the week. I am anxious to see all of the kiddos and excited for a fun week!

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, February 24 – Optional- corsage money due for father/daughter dance $5

Friday, February 27 – Father/Daughter dance 7-9pm $10/family

Homework

Unfortunately I was not able to get the literacy packet sent home before our extended break, but it will be coming home tonight. Please have your child return the packet next Monday. Students should not be doing the whole packet in one night.  One to two pages each night is appropriate. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Reading: If You Could Go to Antarctica

This week’s story is one of my favorites and is quite fitting for the week we just had! This story tells about the continent Antarctica. Antarctica is located at the South Pole. It is always very cold there and the winds are very strong. If you went there you could see big, floating icebergs, penguins, seals, and whales. The animals that live there have special ways of staying warm. The ice and snow almost never melt, but in the few places it does, you might see moss and short grass. You might also see the scientists who live in Antarctica to study the special animals and plants. This story will help us understand that visiting a new place is an exciting adventure and a chance to learn about new wildlife.

Target Skill: Classify and Categorize – to put things, such as words, pictures, or objects into groups that are alike in some way. As children classify and categorize key details in a text, they are analyzing how the details are alike. Answering classify-and-categorize questions about a text helps children learn to use evidence from the text and illustrations to support the conclusions they draw.

Amazing Words: Antarctica, continent, icebergs, seals, penguins, whales

This week, ask your child to come up with a sentence using one of these words. We will use the language “I can…use new vocabulary”. 

  

Phonemic Awareness (hearing sounds) / Phonics (matching sounds and letters): Initial/Medial Ee

Ex: escalator, egg, net, bed. This week, ask your child to say words that have /e/ at the beginning. You could also ask him/her to say words that have /e/ in the middle. If they struggle with this, give them two choices and then choose which one says /e/. To challenge students, ask them to write the words they come up with. Please also continue to practice reading Nonsense words. You can write 4-5 words that have a middle “e” and ask your child to read those words to you. Remember to have them blend the sounds in their head and then just say the word out loud.

Writing: (repeated in case you missed it!) I am beginning to increase my writing expectations for the students. There are several things that I am looking for in their writing at this point - capital letters at the beginning of sentences and lowercase letters for the rest, spaces between words, punctuation marks at the end, and sentences that make sense. In addition to these things, I am expecting the students to spell words independently. When they come to me asking how to spell a word, I tell them to segment the word and write the sounds they hear. Students have previously learned the letters and sounds for Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, and Tt, so you can challenge your child to spell words using any combination of these letters. If your child does not know all of his/her letter sounds, please have him/her continue to practice these sounds at home. Students that do know all of their letter sounds can be challenged by asking them to “identify the letter that says (fill in the blank with a letter sound)” or to identify and write the combination of letters heard in longer words or consonant blend words (clip).

Sight Words: here, go, from (past words: I, am, the, little, to, a, have, is, we, my, like, for, he, me, with, she, look, see, of, they, you, are, do, that, one, two, three, four, five) Please practice these words at home! Students can write, search for, or use flash cards to read the words. We will use the language “I can…read words”. 

Math

We have begun our chapter on the teen numbers. We will learn about the numbers 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 this week. Students will learn that teen numbers mean ten and some more. When we write a teen number, we write a 1 first to show the ten and the next number tells how many more (14=10 and 4 more).  You can ask your child to show you the amount of a teen number using objects around your house or they can draw it. To challenge him/her, ask your child to write a number sentence showing how to make that amount (10+4=14). Please also continue to work on addition and subtraction fact fluency to 5.

Feel free to contact me with any questions @ 943-6924 or nicodemus_a@westcler.org.

December photos

Books Alive Performance of Little Creek

Newsletter 1/5

Mrs. Nicodemus’ Kindergarten Newsletter

January 5, 2014

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful break and was able to relax and spend some time with friends and family. I admit that I definitely enjoyed the time at home, but I have missed the kiddos and am anxious to continue our learning! I am looking forward to picking up where we left off and cruising ahead!

Reading: Farfallina and Marcel is a fiction story about a caterpillar and gosling that become friends. They both go through life cycle changes and don’t recognize each other after they’ve changed. Eventually they find each other again and become friends again. We will discuss what happens when animals change and children will understand that some animals change as they grow and can do new things as they grow.

Target Skill: Plot

Plot refers to the events that happen at the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Identifying the plot of a story helps children comprehend and summarize the story. This week, read a story with your child and ask them questions about what happened in the beginning, middle, and end. To challenge your child, ask them to identify what things changed from the beginning to the end. We will use the language: “I can…tell about the plot”.

Amazing Words: goose, caterpillar, reflection, gosling, butterfly, cocoon

This week, ask your child to come up with a sentence using one of these words. We will use the language “I can…use new vocabulary”.  

Phonemic Awareness (hearing sounds): Initial and medial /o/ – Ex: octopus, otter, rock, hot. This week, have your child try to find items around the house or outside that have the /o/ sound. You can also tell your child 2 words and ask him to identify which word has the /o/ sound. We will use the language “I can…hear beginning/middle sounds”.

Phonics (matching sounds and letters): Students will learn to say the /o/ sound when they read the letter Oo and will learn to write the letter Oo when they hear that sound. This week, we will continue to practice spelling consonant, vowel, consonant (CVC) words. Students have previously learned the letters and sounds for Ff, Rr, Dd, Kk, Bb, Nn, Cc, Pp, Ss, Mm, Tt, Ii and Aa so you can continue to practice these sounds. Challenge your child to spell words using any combination of these letters. Remind them to use lower case letters unless it is a proper noun (name). We will use the language “I can…spell words”.

Sight Words: they, you, of (past words: I, am, the, little, to, a, have, is, we, my, like, for, he, me, with, she, see, look)   Please practice these words at home! Students can write, search for, or use flash cards to read the words. We will use the language “I can…read sight words”.  

Math: Before the break, we finished the chapter on addition. We will continue to review these concepts and students are expected to be able to add fluently to 5, so I encourage you to continue practicing at home. This week we will be starting the chapter on subtraction, and students will be introduced to the terms “take away” and “minus”. Throughout the chapter, we will not only try to solve problems where we find how many are left after taking some away (5-2= ?), but also problems where we have to find how many were taken away (5-?=3) or how many we started with (?-2=3) Students will be using the language “I can… subtract by taking away”.

Feel free to contact me with any questions @ 943-6924 ornicodemus_a@westcler.org.