New this week...

Worcester County Food Bank Project

If you are able to, please support the Community Service Learning Project organized by Mrs. Joanne MacLaughlin. She is challenging every Kindergarten class at Beal to collect 100 cans of nonperishable food, in celebration of the 100th day of school on Feb. 8th.  We have done an awesome job in our first week.  The Zakar's have collected close to 60 cans so far.  Let's try to beat our goal of 100 cans by the 100th day of school on February 8th. I think we can do it!  The kids seem really excited about being able to help those who are less fortunate.

PE Family Adventure: Yoga Night 

This is for Parents and Children and will be held TONIGHT, Friday evening,  Jan. 25th. Thanks to Beal parent (and founder of FitStudio28 in Westborough) Cindy Evangelous for volunteering to help our PE Teacher Chris D’Aniello with this sure to be fun-filled evening. Families with last names A to M are asked to attend the 6 pm session, and N-Z the 7 pm session. Please bring along a yoga mat or thick beach towel if you can. We often do Yoga in our classroom, so I am sure the children would love to show you all they know!


In math this week, we have been concentrating on Addition and Subtraction number stories.  We have used the strategy of drawing a picture to help us solve the problem.  We have also talked about the difference between addition and subtraction.  We noticed that addition number stories use the language; "How many altogether", and subtraction number stories use the language; "How many are left".  We have made "Room 8's Addition Number Stories" and "Room 8's Subtraction Number Stories".  I will be posting pictures next week to show you their hard work.  Here is a picture of the pages we completed.  
















We also have really enjoyed watching the Harry Kindergarten Song from Youtube.  Here is the video for you to watch with your child. 

During reading groups this week, the children got to use a fun new reading tool.  They each were able to use finger lasers (lights) to help highlight their words as they were reading.  They loved these and it proved to be a great tool for keeping their place while they are reading.  This week we really concentrated on "getting our mouths ready" when we come to a word we do not know.  

We have also started to talk about using questions to help us better understand a story.  The children are working on using and answering questions about a text.  We started to read "Brave Irene", and the children had many questions including, "Why is she so brave?", "I wonder if she will get the dress to the ball?"  We also talked about what some of the vocabulary meant in the book.  When you are reading with your children, be sure to stop and ask questions to help guide their understanding.  Also, let the children know it is great if they have questions about the story.  This is what helps them to better understand the story.

I will end this post with some pictures of the kids doing their very best work during Daily 5 and Morning Meeting.  You will see the kids reading the morning message and participating in yoga.  Finally, I posted some pictures that show you how I organize the RazKids and EDMonline passwords. The kids have become so independent using this structure.

 

Have a wonderful weekend and check my Freebies Page for some great at home math practice.  I will also start to put up some word work practice you could print out.  Take Care!

I P.I.C.K- A song performed by the Zakar's!!

I always like to give credit where credit is due so I will start this post by saying this was not my original idea.  I saw this on the web and decided I had to re-create this.  We have been talking alot about picking books that are just right for us.  Using the acronym IPICK, seems to help them remember how to pick good fit book.  I-- I choose my books, P-- Purpose (Why am I reading?), I-- Interest (Do I like it?), C-- Comprehension (Do I understand?), K-- Know (Do I know most of the words).  Here is the video of the kiddos performing the IPICK song.  I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

What have the Zakar's been up to?.....

It has been a busy couple of weeks here at Beal School.  I cannot believe that it is already mid October.  Let me tell you about a few things we have been up to.  Daily 5 is off and running and the kids are really starting to understand how to choose books that are just right for them.  We have learned the IPICK song (ask your child to sing it to you), which helps us remember how to choose a just right book.  I- I choose my books?, P- Purpose: Why am I reading this book?, I- Interest: Do I enjoy the book I am reading?, C- Comprehend: Do I understand what I am reading?, and K- Know: Do I know most of the words?  The kids really enjoy this song and I will post a video of them singing it soon, so stay tuned!

Last week I decided that it was time to revamp my library.  I wanted all my books out and have them sorted by genre.  I have been teaching for 7 years, so you can imagine the amount of books I have.  This was a big job, so one afternoon, we decided to do the Great Book Sort.  I had all the kids help me sort our books so it would be easier to find books we are interested in.  I also added a brand new shelf to allow more books to be displayed.  Here are some pics of the process and the final product!

 All my literacy assessments are done and I am off and running with the Cafe.  This is what I base my mini-lessons on and how I keep record of my students progress.  My goal is to see 2-3 guided reading groups a day and to have 4-5 one-to-one reading conferences a day.  We will see how that works out.  Here are the strategies that I have already taught.  They are already constantly using these strategies while they are reading!  Soon they will have a tool belt of strategies to help them become better readers. 

Here is my new interactive Daily 5 Check in board.  They just drag their picture to their choice and if all the spaces are taken, they will know they have to make a new choice!  This is working extremely well and we talk a lot about making sure they get to every daily 5 choice by the end of the week!

Doesn't it look fantastic?  I love it and so do the kids.

For fun Friday last week, Miss Goulet read us the story "Fletcher and the Falling Leaves"  We used many strategies during this story.  We made mental images to better understand the story. We stopped in the middle of reading and checked for understanding.  We made predictions and made connections.  After the story we used the mental images we made about the fall trees and the winter trees to make beautiful pictures.  Take a look at some of their wonderful work.

That's all for now. Have a great week!