Monday, June 27, 2016

Summer Homework

This homework is for students entering first grade in September 2016.  Please use the link below to download/print copies.

K to 1 Summer Homework

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Word Study April/May


For the months of April and May, we will be introducing "bonus letters" and "glued sounds" into our word study instruction.  Students will continue to tap-to-read and tap-to-write CVC and CVCC words as well.  

Bonus Letter Rule- At the end of a one-syllable word, if the word has one vowel, followed immediately by an f, l, or s (and sometimes z) at the end, double the consonant.  (The extra f, l, or s is considered a bonus letter because it is extra.  
*Mark up a bonus letter word by putting a star above the bonus letter.
*The Bonus letter does not make an additional sound.

i.e., the word miss has 4 letters but makes 3 sounds m/i/s/
therefore it will take 3 taps to "tap out" the word miss
m-i-s -----> miss




Glued sounds are letters that, when blended together, make a special sound.  Some glued sounds that we will be introducing are -all, -am, and -an.  When we tap a word that has a glued sound, we use the middle and ring finger to make one tap. For example, the word ball would be tapped out as b-all----->ball.  To mark a word that has a glued sound, students should make a box around that sound.  

Current Unit Words:

shell cuff  fuss  miss  kiss   off

fill    puff  toss  doll   hill   fell

chill  Russ  Bess  well  mess Nell

mass bell   pill   will   huff  wall


fall   hall   call   ball   tall   mall

man   fan  pan  tan  ham  Sam  van



May Reader's Workshop


Unit 9: Character

The purpose of this unit is to focus on comprehension.  It is important for the children to understand that reading is more than just word solving. Reading is also about enjoying books, rereading favorite stories, thinking about the characters in them and reacting to things that characters do or say.

The goals for this unit are:

  • Children will identify who the characters are in their stories
  •    Children will begin to make inferences about their characters by using the pictures.  
  • Students will make predictions about their characters and 
  • Students will make connections from the book they are reading to their own lives and to other books.

What you can do at home to help your kindergarten reader:

·   After your child finishes a book, you can ask them who is the main character? 
·   Ask your reader where they noticed the character having a strong feeling (sad, excited, angry) and talk about why the character felt that way.
·   Ask your child how the characters in the books are the same or different from other characters in other books.

·   When they are reading, have them try to sound like and act like the characters in their books.

May Writing Workshop

                       Writing a How-To...


The purpose of this unit is to encourage our children to see writing as a way to teach others . 

Some of the goals for the children are: 

  • They will create a text that will teach others how to do something.
  • Students will learn how to elaborate on each "step" by adding tiny action, specific vocabulary and transitional words like first, next, and last.  
  • Students will use their letter sound knowledge to write words that have beginning, middle and ending sounds.
  • Students will continue to improve their use of spacing in order to make their story more readable.

May Read-Alouds


kind/caring
naive/gullible
tricky/sneaky
jealous

clever
wicked/evil

greedy
honest/dishonest/patient
Rude/foolish/patient/clever

April Read Alouds


Reduce/Reuse/Recycle

Waste/Wasteful
Landfill/Dump

Arrogant/Boastful/Full of Yourself
Sneaky/Tricky/Trickster
Evil/Wicked/Horrid
Considerate/Caring


May Math Workshop

May Math Workshop

In the month of May, Kindergarten teachers and students will start Module 5 of the Engage NY Math Curriculum. Students have worked intensively within 10 and have often counted to 30. This sets the stage for Module 5, where students clarify the meaning of the 10 ones and some ones within a teen number and extend that understanding to count to 100. They see two distinct sets which are then counted the Say Ten way: ten 1, ten 2, ten 3, ten 4, ten 5, ten 6, ten 7, ten 8, ten 9, 2 tens. Students hear the separation of the 10 ones and some ones as they count, solidifying their understanding as they also return to regular counting: eleven, twelve, thirteen, …, etc. Then, , through the use of the Hide Zero cards (pictured below) and number bonds,  students represent the whole number numerically while continuing to separate the count of 10 ones from the count of the remaining ones with drawings and materials.

Here are some terms, phrases, and strategies used in the Module:

  • Count 10 objects within counts of 10 to 20 objects, and describe as 10 ones and ___ ones
  • Count straws the Say Ten way to 20; make a pile for each ten
  • Model with objects and represent numbers 10 to 20 with place value or Hide Zero cards
  • Model and write numbers 10 to 20 as number bonds
  • Draw teen numbers from abstract to pictorial
Here are some new vocabulary words that will be introduced during this unit:
  • 10 and __
  • 10 ones and some ones
  • Hide Zero cards 
  • Regular counting by ones from 11 to 20 (eleven, twelve, thirteen, etc.)
  • Regular counting by tens to 100 (e.g., ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred)
  • Teen number 
                   

Ten and ____ 

 








How you can help at home:
  • Practice counting on from a number (e.g. counting from 3-10, 7-20, 21-30, etc)
  • Ask students to identify a set of 10 and how many extra there are (e.g. Show a group of 12 toys, and see if they are able to separate 10 and identify that there are 2 extra)
  • Continue making up number stories within 10 for addition and subtraction problems! It is equally important for students to be able to identify what each part of the story means! (e.g. I have 9 cookies -3 are chocolate chip and 6 are vanilla. What does the 3 in my story mean? [that you have 3 chocolate chip cookies] What does the 6 in my story mean? [that you have 6 vanilla cookies] What does the 9 in my story mean? [that you have 9 cookies all together]). 

Thursday, April 7, 2016

April Math Workshop

April Math Workshop     


In the month of April, Kindergarten teachers and students will continue and complete Module 4 of the Engage NY Math Curriculum. Having composed and decomposed numbers within 8 to learn addition, students will now use similar methods to decompose numbers within 10 to learn subtraction! The lessons focus on students acting out the problem, crossing out objects in a set, and breaking and hiding parts, to construct number bonds and number sentences. It is essential that students build deep understanding and skill with identifying the number pairs of 6 through 10 because this is foundational to Grade 1’s fluency with sums and differences within 10.

Here are some terms, phrases, and strategies used in this Module:
  • Use objects and drawings to find how many are left
  • Represent subtraction story problems using objects, drawings, expressions, and equations
  • Decompose numbers 6-8 using 5-group drawings and crossing off a part, and record each decomposition with a drawing and subtraction equation
  • Model decompositions of 6-10 using a story situation, objects, and number bonds
Here are some new vocabulary words that will be introduced during this unit:
  • Make 10 (combine two numbers from 1 to 9 that add up to 10)
  • Minus (-)
  • Subtraction (specifically using take from with result unknown)
  • Take away (subtract)
How you can help at home:
  • Have students draw their own story situations and share them with you! (i.e. The cat had 6 mice (student draws 6 mice), 3 went away (crosses out 3). How many mice are left?)
  • Practice addition during household chores! (i.e. While setting the table: We have 2 plates on the table, we need 1 more. How many plates do we have all together?)
  • Work on counting to 100 by 1s (i.e. 1, 2, ,3...), 5s (i.e. 5, 10, 15...) and 10s (i.e. 10, 20, 30...)

March Read - Alouds

March Read Alouds


"Butterflies in stomach"

helpful/supportive

helpful/supportive/comforted
"Down in the dumps"














How To's






Easter










March Math Workshop


March Math Workshop     

In the month of March, Kindergarten teachers and students will begin Module 4 of the Engage NY Math Curriculum. Module 4 marks the next exciting step in math for kindergarteners – addition! Students will use their knowledge of numbers to decompose (taking apart a number to make 2 parts: 5 is the same as 3 and 2) and compose (putting together 2 parts to make a whole: 2 and 3 makes 5) numbers to 8.


Here are some terms, phrases, and strategies used in this Module:

Represent addition with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, and acting out situations.

Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way by using objects or drawings (e.g. 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1)

For any number from 1 to 5, find the number that makes 5 when added to that given number by using objects or drawings (e.g. 3 needs 2 more to make 5, 1 needs 4 more to make 5)

Here are some new vocabulary words that will be introduced in this Module:

Put together (add)
Take apart (decompose)
Whole (total) 

 

How you can help at home:

Use household items to make up your own story using numbers 3 to 8 (e.g. 2 bears went walking, 2 more bears came, now there are 4 bears)

Count by 10s to 100, count by 1s to 50!

March Reader's Workshop

March Kindergarten Reader’s Workshop

Reading and Thinking in Levels D-G

Our goal in this reading unit is to determine importance and retell independently.  The skills we will be teaching include the following:

·    Naming the main character’s problem by stating: “__________ wants/doesn’t want _____________” or “____________ is upset about _____________.”
·    Name how the character feels about the problem.

·    Track ways the main character solves the problem (asks for help, looks for something).

·    Naming the solutions by stating what happened at the end and how the character feels at the end.  Tell why they feel that way.