Friday, December 19th, 2008

What a busy day we had! We started off our morning reviewing about the countries that we have learned about so far, and looked for them on the map of the world. We also finished our word study for the week, and glued our sorts into our notebooks.

We traveled to Colombia to learn about Three Kings Day, and learned about some of the traditions that they celebrate, including putting straw into their shoes for the camels that the three kings travel on. We were VERY excited when the Three Kings DID visit us, and left some fun treats for us also! We also learned about the musical traditions and parades that they have in honor of Three Kings Day, which is celebrated on January 6th. We learned about the Santos carvings of the three wise kings, and some of our friends in our room have these small statues in their houses during the holidays! After lunch, we enjoyed some tasty Rosca bread, and learned about the tradition of hiding the little doll inside of the bread, and the child who received the doll inside of their slice became the king or queen for the day. We were very excited to have THREE queens in our class--Mackenzie, Elliana S. and Sarah V, who got to wear their crowns as well. After that, we did our read aloud about Peru, and continue to learn more about the beautiful Andes Mountains, and the highest point, called Macchu Picchu. We finished off our day with Math, where the Red Rhinos played "What Number is Missing?" with the Hundreds board, and the green gators had their assessment for the unit, along with choice time betweeen Collect 12, and Grab and Count: Comparing. What a busy day of learning, even with the storm outside! (We even saw CAMEL prints in the snow outside our rooms!!)

Thursday, December 18th 2008

Today was another busy day. Today, we traveled to Israel, where they celebrate Hanukkah. We found Israel on our world map, and looked at all of the places we have traveled so far. We learned that the menorah and the shammash are special decorations that they use to celebrate this holiday. We also learned how to play the dreidel game, and enjoyed using popsicle sticks to play the game. We also enjoyed trying apple sauce and potato latkes with sour cream. SOme of our friends thought the latkes were very tasty. We also made our own paper dreidels that we will keep in our suitcases until our travels are completed. We also continued our read aloud about Peru, and are excited to learn more about the Art and Culture of Peru tomorrow. We were also busy making a special surprise for our parents that we can't wait to give you next week. Please ask your child what they learned about the countries we have visited so far.

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Today was a busy day! We traveled to Ecuador, and learned about Ano Viejo, and how they celebrate their New Year with fireworks and a parade of their paper machie dolls. We also learned how they write down a list of all of their "bad deeds", and then stuff them inside their dolls, and watch them burn as their bad deeds "disappear" in the smoke. We then made paper puppets and listened to directions from Senorita Wesley in Spanish to make interesting faces on our puppets, depending on the family members that we have in our family (abuelo, abuela, hermano, hermana).

In word study today, the green gators did cut and paste and were looking for words that started with F and H. The Red rhinos did their speed sort and no-peek write.
After lunch, we went to the multi-purpose room to get some of our "extra" energy out, and played relay races. After that, we came back to the room and did handwriting, where the green gators practiced the letter Z, and the red rhinos practiced the letter y. During math, the green gators did a partner activity comparing towers of cubes and determining which group was more, while the red rhinos used the Hundreds Chart, and worked on writing as many numbers as they could up to 100. We are excited to continue our travels around the world learning about the different holidays celebrated around the world, so please ask your child where they traveled today!

Monday, December 15th 2008

Today was a busy day. We started off our day by practicing for our performance tomorrow singing Feliz Navidad. We did a great job, and are looking forward to sharing our song with the Seniors at their luncheon tomorrow.
After our performance, we did our Poem of the week, which in English was More and More Snowflakes. Our Spanish poem was Los pollitos dicen. During Reader's workshop, we practiced read to self and read to someone, and learned our word study sorts for the week. After lunch, we did a read aloud about Peru, and learned about the geography of Peru, including the mountains called the Andes mountains, and the Amazon River, which is in the rain forest.

We also started our trip around the world, and got our plane tickets, suitcases, and passports ready for our visits to Africa, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Israel, and Mexico. After arriving in Africa, we got our passports stamped, and learned about Christmas in Africa when we read our book "Christmas in Africa". We learned that they wear sunglasses to church, and eat fried chicken and chin-chin cookies during this special holiday. We also learned that as part of their celebration, they make Mmo masks, which we enjoyed decorating this afternoon as well. We also enjoyed tasty chin-chin cookies that Brynn's mom was so gracious enough to make for us--they were really yummy!

Tuesday, December 9th

C-7 and C-8 students started their day with a practice for our performance that will take place on December 16th at the Senior Luncheon. The students will be performing the song Feliz Navidad in in English and in Spanish. The students practiced singing, dancing, and using sign langauage. This morning during writing the green gators again practiced recording thier pictures in their stories using quick "sketches." The red rhinos worked on finishing their small moments stories, as we prepare to publish our best pieces. We ended our morning with Reading Workshop. OUr minilesson was on an important concept...schema. Ask your child if they can tell you what schema is. We will be using our schema to help us to better undertsand the books that we read. During handwriting, the red rhinos practiced the letter L, using both lower and uppercase. The green gators practiced writing the letter E. During math today, the green gators compared their names, and used the terms "igual", mas corto, and mas largo, to tell which names were longer, shorter, or equal to their names. The red rhinos played Double Compare and On/Off during math time, and played quick images with dots.

Monday, December 8th

We are so glad we will finally have a full week of school together. This morning our question of the day was "Do you have a computer in your house?" We found out that 39 people in our class have a computer in their house and one person does not have a computer in their house. We also learned that more people in our class have a computer and less people do not have a computer in their house. During writing workshop, the green gators learned that writer's sketch their pictures to get their ideas down on paper and then go back and add detail to their drawings after they write their words. We were amazed at how much writing we were actually able to accomplish when we used this strategy. The red rhinos practiced stretching out our stories and telling part by part. The morning was also busy with our daily 5 routines. Some students read the poem into the mitten and other students read Mi Cara Redondita (My Round Face).

In the afternoon, we read the story "Clifford's Family." The students were excited to see many of the key vocabulary that they have been learning in Social Studies in this story. Ask your child what Spanish terms they remember from this story. We also spent some time practicing our handwriting. After warming-up up our hands and our fingers, the green gators reviewed and practiced making capital D and the red rhinos practiced writing words and sentences using the letters d, s, g, and e. After handwriting we started math. The red rhinos continued their quest to find out how math mathematicians use numbers efficiently. We again looked at one of Greg Tang's drawings and tried to determine how many things were all together by using an efficient strategy. We then practiced using efficient strategies when playing the game double compare. Ask your child to share with you what they learned about add numbers to 10. The green gators counted the number of letters that we have in our names, and made our names using a cube for each letter. We also learned the words for bigger than and smaller than in Spanish. In science, we are preparing to teach the next group of how to balance a shape. We decided we would teach them how to balance a circle. Ask your child how they got their circle to balance. In Social Studies we looked at a Venn Diagram, and practiced comparing ourselves and our families to another students' family. We will be finishing our Venn diagrams tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 2nd 2008

Today we were very busy! Our question of the day was: Are you wearing a blue shirt. We learned that more of our friends did not have on a blue shirt. During our morning meeting, we learned a new song, Los Meses del Ano, which helps us learn the months of the year in Spanish.

In math today, the red rhinos took an assessment to see how much we have learned so far in our Building Number Sense unit. The green gators practiced using drawings to show different numbers like 5, 6, and 8, and talked about different number combinations for these numbers.

We did a read aloud today called the Alphabet Mystery, and also read our story Oso cafe, Oso cafe, que ves ahi?

During reading workshop, we reviewed our rules for listening to reading as well as what the procedures are for using our listening centers appropriately.
During handwriting, the green gators practiced the letter y, and the red rhinos practiced writing words with the letter i, and the letter E, both uppercase and lowercase.

During writing workshop, the green gators practiced using space men to help them with spaces in between their words. The red rhinos practiced taking the most important part of their stories and telling that bit-by-bit.

Monday, December 1st

We had a busy first day back from our Thanksgiving break. We got right to work on our response journals, and most of our friends had a lot to share with Mrs. Helfer and Senorita Wesley about what they did over the break. During Writer's Workshop, the Red Rhinos worked on asking our friends, What is the most important part of my story? We then worked on how we could tell our story focusing on that one important part. The green gators worked on taking a small moment and telling all of the parts of our small moments. During our Reading Workshop time, we read our new poems about Snow Balls and Winter, and drew illustrations in our poetry notebooks to go along with our poems. We are continuing to work on reading to someone and listening to reading, and what that looks like and sounds like during Reader's Workshop. This afternoon, we did a Spanish read aloud Oso cafe Oso cafe, que ves ahi, and practiced the different animals and colors in spanish. We learned two new animals: fish (pez) and sheep (oveja) in Spanish. During math, the green gators practiced using the number 5, and used different amounts of cats and dogs to show the number 5. The red rhinos tried to create number sentences and number combinations up to ten. We also learned that when we use number sentences, one addend was bigger and one addend was smaller. In science, the green apples worked on getting their mobiles to balance, while the red apples drew pictures of things that our families do and wrote a sentence about what our families do together.

Thursday, November 20th

On this snowy day, our question of the day was Do you like winter. We learned that there were 39 children in the class that liked winter and only 1 that did not like winter. We learned that more people in our class liked winter and less people didn't like winter. In writing workshop, the green gators learned that good writers strech out their words and write all of the sounds that they hear so that their readers can read their words. The red rhinos worked on focusing our stories on the most important part, and when conferring with our partners, asking questions about information that was missing. We did a great job asking our partners questions about our stories. In the morning we also did our daily five routines. The students are learning to be much more indpendet at completeing these tasks while their teachers work with small groups of children on guided readign and word study lessons.

In the afternoon, we continued reading the book "Oh, What A Thanksgiving." We added to our Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the first Thanksgiving to our Thanksgiving. We learned that the native americans and the pilgrims ate cornbread, dried plums, deer meat, and goose on the First Thanksgiving. We learned that the first Thanksgiving was very different from our Thanksgiving, but that we celebrate for the same reasons...because we are thankful for our friends, family and homes. We are excited to try some of these foods at our tasting party on Tuesday, November 25th. In mathematics, the Red Rhinos looked at some art work. The saw a picture of some ice cream scoops. They had to use an efficient strategy to figure out how many scoops all togther. Ask your child to share the stategy that they learned. We also were faced with a challenege. The students were asked to figure out how many cats and dogs they could have if they had 12 pets in all. The green gators worked on quick images, practicing to count the number of dots that we saw on the cards. We are working on counting a set number of objects quickly.

Wednesday, November 19th 2008

Today was a busy day! In the morning, our question of the day was "Do you like to eat turkey or chicken more? We learned that more of our friends like to eat turkey than chicken, and that the number 34 is bigger than 6. During writing workshop, the green gators worked on stretching out small moments by asking their friends questions about their stories to include those details when they write. The red rhinos practiced telling their stories across their fingers, and using the word wall to help them write words they aren't sure how to spell. During the Daily 5, some of our friends worked with Senorita Wesley and Mrs. Helfer reading stories that are "just right" for them. All of our friends had a chance to rotate through their different daily 5 activities--listening to reading, reading to someone, reading to self, and word study. Our friends are realy becoming more and more independent during this time! After lunch, we did a read aloud, and compared the First Thanksgiving to how we celebrate Thanksgiving today. We learned that the food that we have for Thanksgiving dinner we can buy from the grocery store, but on the First Thanksgiving, they had to hunt and gather the food they ate. We are going to continue to learn more about this, as we prepare for our Thanksgiving Tasting on Tuesday, November 25th. We appreciate all of the donations that parents have volunteered!

Monday, November 17th 2008

Today was a busy day! We started off our day cutting out our words for word study. Our question of the day was, Do you like Winter? We learned the Spanish word for winter is "invierno", and that all of our friends like winter. In the morning we did our daily five routines while our teachers met with word study groups to introduce students to their new words. We also read a new poem. Some students read a poem called Squirrel, Squirrel, Shake Your Bushy Tail, and some friends read Tengo, Tengo, Tengo. Ask your child which poem they read and what the poem was about. We also read our non-fiction book about Peru and learned that they have a Festival of the Sun, that lasts a week. During Math, the green gators practiced counting quickly and had choice time to practice counting dots, playing the game compare dots, or working on their counting books. The red rhinos has a number talk around a story problem and then they practiced counting dots quickly and efficiently by playing quick images. Ask your child to share with you some of the strategies they have learned to work with numbers efficiently. In social studies, students talked about how many family members they had and learned how to name members of their
family in Spanish. In science students were given the challenge to balance their pencil on the edge of a Popsicle stick. This is an experiment that we will continue working on tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 12th

After a day off we got "right back into swing of things." In the morning the green gators and the red rhinos read their new books just as we do every day. The green gators read the story "Spring". They are getting so good at using the pictures and the beginning letters of unknown words to help them with decoding. They were also hunting for the word THE as we read. The red rhinos read the book "How Many." They hunted for the word HOW. The rest of the morning was spent working on our new Reading Workshop routines. This was the first day that the students were able to choose the order in which they completed their Daily 5 jobs. The must complete all of the choices, but they get to choose the order. Their choices are Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listening to Reading, and Word Study. They are getting more and more independent at these tasks as the days go on. Ask your child what their favorite part of the daily 5 is.

After lunch and a quick recess, we sat down to hear a story. We have started to learn about a new Spanish speaking country...Peru. Ask your child what they learned about Peru from our reading. The children that worked with had a number talk around a subtraction story problem and then had choice time. The students were able to choose compare dots, counting pattern blocks, and copying cubes. They continue to try to develop efficient strategies when working with numbers. The students that worked with Mrs. Wesley during mathematics had a number talk on a subtraction story problem as well. They then played courting pattern blocks.

Friday, November 7th

Today we had a special visit our in our classroom. Brandon Williams mother came in and read our class a book in Spanish. She read the book My Brother. Ask your child what spanish words they learned from this story. This morning we also got a new book for our bag of books. The red rhinos got a book about words that start with the letter F. They learned that the words fruita and flor start with the letter "F." Ask your child if they can name other spanish words that start with the letter "F." This morning we also practiced our routines for reading workshop. The students are getting ready to do all of these routines indpendently next week.

In the afternoon the red rhinos and green gators practcied our handwriting. The green gators learned how to make the letter "K." Ask your child to show you how to make the letter "K." The red rhinos practiced how to write the letter G. In mathematics, we played compare dots and copy cubes

Thursday, November 6th 2008

In the morning, we reviewed our question of the day, which was: Do you like to dance? We practiced counting by 2 in spanish, and learned that most of our friends like to dance. In fact, we figured out that with 40 people in our class, if only two friends didn't like to dance, then 38 did like to dance.

We practiced the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish, and read our story "Perros Perros", and learned some opposites, like big/little, smooth/curly, dirty/clean, fast/slow, wet/dry, and black/white.

In writer's workshop, the red rhinos practiced using their checklists to help them remember what to do during writer's workshop. The green gators talked about small moments and brainstormed a list of small moments that they could write about. They all did a great job working on developing their writing.

We practiced choosing good spots to read when reading with a partner. We also learned how to use the listening center, and practiced the right way to work at the listening center. We are really working hard on becoming independent in our different literacy activities, and doing a great job too!

Parents: Since we have such a large number of students, and a limited number of listening center headphones, we have sent a letter home, asking that any parents who have an extra walkman at home (that uses casette tapes), or are willing to purchase one for their child's personal use, we would greatly appreciate these in our classroom. While we certainly are not requiring this, it would allow us to have more students use the listening centers more frequently. If you are able, please send them in, and we will put these in your child's cubby, with their name on it, so they can use it during that time.
Thank you so much for your continued support!

Wednesday, November 5th

Our question of the day was "Who won the presidential election last night?" We learned that most of our friends knew that Barack Obama won the election. We practiced looking for odd numbers in our hundreds board,

Today we practiced read to self, and we read for almost 30 minutes. We also learned how we ask a friend to be our reading partner, and what the correct answer is when someone asks us to read with them--yes! We are continuing to practice the different ways that we read to our partners--I read, you read, and check for understanding. In handwriting, the green gators practiced the letter H, while the red rhinos were practicing writing words with the letters d and o. In word study, some of our friends practiced cut and paste, looking for pictures that start with that letter. The red rhinos practiced putting their words in the different groups, and doing their no-peek write. In math, we spent our time talking about word problems and how we can solve them using quick math strategies.

EV visits Spain

Monday, November 3rd

In the morning the green gators practiced our city sounds. Mrs. Helfer cannot believe how many letters and letter sounds the students are able to identify. After reviewing our letters and letter sounds, the green gators read a book called "On." We hiunted for the word of the day "on" in the book. We also practiced using strategies such as using the word patterns in the book and using the pisture to help us identify unkown words. This morning we also learned about the celebration "Dia de los muertos" or "Day of the dead." This is a celebration that takes place on the first day of November in some spanish speaking countries. It is a day to remember loved ones who have dies. We learned that families set up alters and leave "offerings" for their loved ones who have died. They put special pictures and items that those who have died would like. We also learned that many people also dress up in skeleton costumes and dance to celebrate. In our classroom we made skeleton masks to celebrate the "The Day Of The Dead." Ask your child what they put on their masks to make them beautifu! In mathematicas, we learned how to play Compare Dots. The children who work with Mrs. Helfer during math are learning how mathematicians solve problems efficiently. Students used efficitent strategies such as counting by twos and using doubles. Remember, stduents have no school tomorrow!

Kelly's Apple Farm

Wednesday, October 29th

Today the green gators went on a field trip to Kelly's Apple Farm. It was a cold trip, but we had a lot of fin too. The students learned how cider is made, and enjoyed a donut and a glass of cider. Ask your child to tell you about the machine that the farm uses to peel apples for their pies. After we were nice and toasty inside, we headed outside to the apple orchard. Each student got to pick a bunch of apples. Then we hiked over to the pumpkin patch. The students trudged through the mud and picked their very own pumpkin. Check their bookbags for their bag of apples and their special pumpkin. Be on the lookout for pictures from our trip to be posted to our blog very soon!



The red rhinos had a quiet but busy morning. We practiced reading our story El zoologico, and learned the spanish words for lion, tiger, zebra, bear, wolf, and monkey. We looked for the word el, which means "the" in spanish. After that, we practiced reading to self, and read for 20 whole minutes. Next, we read the book "A Color of His Own", and did our very first reading response, writing down what happened in the story, what was our favorite part, and what we liked and didn't like in the story. After that, we did our Wednesday word study activity, which is speed sort and re-write our words.




In the afternoon, the green gators spent some time writing about thier favorite part of their trip. Everyone (green gators and red rhinos) ended their day by listning to the book Salsa. Ask your child to tell you what they learned about the dance "Salsa." We are very excited about our celebration of Spain that will take place tomorrow afternoon!

Monday, October 27th, 2008

We had a good day today! In the morning, we practiced shared writing, and wrote a letters to Mrs. Zodarecky, Mrs. Pallas, Mrs. Aponte, and Mrs. O'Toole, inviting them to our classroom celebration of Spain on Thursday afternoon.


Our question of the day was: Do you have earrings? We practiced counting by 2's in Spanish, and learned that 12 of our friends do have earrings while 26 of our friends do not. The Red Rhinos read our story in Spanish about the letter A, and practiced words that start with A like tree (arbol), bird (ave), car (auto), and wing (ala). During our word hunt, we circled all of the letter a's, and the word arbol, which means tree.

In word study, the Red Rhinos practiced sorting our words into the three groups: -eg, -et, and -en. We did our monday activity, which is cut and sort our words.

During personal readers, we tried three different kinds of apples: red delicious, golden, and granny smith. We wrote stories about our apple tasting, and wrote down how the different apples tasted. Our question of the day tomorrow will be: What kind of apple do you like best? We will be making a graph to show our results.

During the afternoon, we did a read aloud in spanish with the story A dog and a Cat, and talked about why they weren't friends, and how they became friends. We also practiced handwriting, working on writing our letters in our neatest handwriting and starting in the right spots on our paper.

Thursday, October 23rd

What beautiful smiles we all had in our school pictures today. You are all going to just love them!!! This morning the green gators, reviewed the sound the "ch" makes. Ian shared the collection of things that he found at home that starts with the "ch" sound. He found Cheetos and change. Today's sound was "sh." Tolulope was chosen to be our expert. We are looking forward to her collection of items that start with the "sh" sound tomorrow. The red rhinos read a book that focused on the spanish letter "cd." We practiced words that start with the letter "c" like casa (house), cama (bed), cabra (goat). After that we worked with our persoanl readers. The green gators practiced reading their stories to their partners. The red rhino practiced reading their stories fluently. After our trip to get our pictures taken, we practiced "Read to Self." We were able to indpendently read for 16 minutes today!!! Wow!!! Ask your child what books they read during this time. We also practiced a new routine that we will be doing during our Reading Workshop time. This is called Read to Someone. The students are learning to check for understanding and echo read. Ask your child to explain how they do each of these new routines.



In the afternoon, we enjoyed hearing a story. The green gators listened to the story Snowy Day. We will be using this story to help us as writers tomorrow. In handwriitng the green gators practiced writing the letter B. We learned that to make the letter B, you have to drw a big line down, frog jump to the top, make a little curve to the middle, and then make a little curve to the bottom. HJave your child practice making the letter B at home. In mathematics, the red rhinos had a number talk about money again. They learned how the symbol for greater than and less than. Ask them to show you these signs at home. You may also ask them to tell you about the coins that we have been learning about in class. The green gators identified quanties of objects in Spanish and started working on their math number books. They also are learning to count in Spanish. Ask them to show you how!

wednesday, October 22nd

Another busy day for the red rhinos and the green gators. A sad day as well, as this was Mr. F's last day with us! This morning the green gators reviewed the "chant" for "th" and read a book called things that start with "th." Brynn did a fantastic job of collecting things from home that start with "TH." She brought in thread, thumb tacks, the number three, and a thimble. Today we learned the sound the "CH" makes. Ian was chosen to be our "CH" expert. We can't wait to see what he is able to find at home that starts with the letters "CH." The red rhinos read a book all about the Spanish words that start with the letter b. Ask your child if they are able to identify some of these words. This morning we also celebrated all of the hard work we have put into our stories and had a publishing party during writing workshop. We had the opportunity to share our stories with our friends and got some very deserving compliments. Then, we ended our celebration with a toast (of juice) and a couple of cookies. After our celebration, we practiced reading to self. We are up to successfully reading independently for 11 minutes. Some of us are spending this time reading the pictures or retelling the story. Other friends are spending this time reading the words in their books. We will try for 12 minutes tomorrow.

After lunch (and a quick game of duck, duck, goose in the multipurpose room), we started our word study routine for the day. The green gators searched for words within magazines that started with the letter z or the letter k. Ask them what pictures they were able to find. The red rhinos did no peek sort. After word study, the green gators and red rhinos worked on their personal readers. It seems that every Wednesday the story we have written gets cut up and needs to be put back together. The students are doing a great job putting the sentences back together. During math the red rhinos had a number talk about coins. They were shown a picture of a penny and two dimes. Mrs. Helfer was amazed at their thinking. They were able to identify the coins as 2 nickels and a penny, tell the value of each coin, and they were even able to come up with a number sentence to represent how much there was all together. The green gators worked on a number talked which focused on the concepts of more and less.

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

We had another great day today! Our question of the day was, Do you have laces? We learned that almost the same number of our friends had laces on their shoes than those who did not. The green gators letter of the day was Th, and the letter expert is Brynn. We are looking forward to seeing what Brynn brings in that starts with the "th" sound. The red rhinos today practiced the letter "D" with our letter D book in Spanish, and learned some words that start with the letter d--words that in English mean thimble, tooth, finger, and candy. We also learned that the Spanish word "es" means is in English, and practiced reading our books in Spanish.

During word study, the green gators worked with the letters K and Z. They practiced their word study activity of drawing and labeling, filling all of the boxes with words that start with that letter. The red rhinos practiced our words that end with -ot, -og, and -op, and did our Tuesday activity, which is sorting and re-writing our words.

In writing workshop, both classes worked on editing and "fancying up" our writing, as the students prepare for their writing celebration tomorrow. Many of the students practiced sounding out words we have been practicing, and writing the letters that they hear.

During our personal readers lesson, the green gators read their story, and circled three words that they knew: and, the, and of. The red rhinos practiced reading our story fluently, and taking turns reading with our partners. We also reviewed our read to self, and practiced reading on our own for 8 and a half minutes. During our reflection time, some of our friends felt that they could have done better during this time. We are going to try for 10 minutes tomorrow.
In math, the green gators worked with Senorita Wesley, and had their first math lesson in Spanish. They did a fabulous job! We worked on counting our colored tiles in Spanish, by playing the game "Grab and Count". We predicted how many tiles we thought we had in our hands, then counted them and drew the same number of tiles on our papers.

¡Tuvimos un día maravillosa hoy! Nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Tienes cordones de zapatos? Aprendimos que casi el mismo número de estudiantes tienen cordones de zapatos que no tienen cordones. La letra del día para los aligatores verdes fue: Th, y el experto de la letra es Brynn. No podemos esperar a ver lo que ella traerá mañana que empieza con el sonido “th”. Los rinocerontes rojos practicaron con la letra D en español, y aprendimos algunas palabras que empiezan con letra d—como dulce, diente, dedo, y dedal. También, aprendimos que la palabra “es” en español significa “is” en ingles, y practicamos leer esos libros en español.

Durante el estudio de palabras, los aligatores verdes trabajaron con las letras Z y K. Practicaron su actividad de ortografía dibujando y etiquetando, rellenaron sus cajas con palabras que empiezan con la letra que corresponde. Los rinocerontes rojos practicaron su actividad con palabras con finales de –op, -ot, y –og, y con la actividad de martes: clasifican y vuelven a escribir sus palabras.

Durante el taller de escritura, ambos clases trabajaron a corregir y elaborar sus cuentos para nuestra fiesta de escritura mañana por la mañana. Muchos de los estudiantes trabajaban a escuchar a los sonidos y escribieron las letras que representaron las sonidos que han oído en sus cuentas.

Durante el lección de libros personales, los aligatores verdes leyeron su cuenta, y trazaron un circulo alrededor de las palabras que ya conocieron: y, el/la, y de. Los rinocerontes rojos practicaron a leer su cuenta con fluidez, y tomaron turnos leyendo son sus compañeros. También, revisamos leer en silencio, y practicamos a leer para ocho y un medio minutos. Durante nuestro tiempo de reflexión, algunos de nuestros amigos se sienten que podrían hacer mejor durante esta actividad. Trataremos a leer para 10 minutos mañana.

Durante matemáticas, los aligatores verdes trabajaron son Señorita Wesley, y tuvieron su primera clase de matemáticas en español. ¡Tuvieron un buen trabajo!
Trabajamos a contar los azulejados coloreados en español, y jugamos el juego “agarrar y contar”. Predijimos cuantos azulejados pensemos tener en nuestros manos, y entonces contémoslos y dibujamos el mismo numero de azulejados en nuestros papelitos.

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Today, we were very busy. We started off our morning with a visit from the local newspaper, the Democrat and Chronicle, who came to take pictures of us in our dual language classroom. We enjoyed showing the photographer the great things we are learning in Spanish and the routines that we are so good at now! There will be an article in the newspaper section "Our Towns" around the 29th of October.


Our question of the day was: What leaf color is your favorite? We will discuss our answers to this question tomorrow. The red rhinos practiced reading our story Fall, and looked for the word fall in our word hunt. We were able to do our word hunt all by ourselves today, and are excited to start reading books ourselves in spanish tomorrow!


In our personal readers lesson, we learned how to press leaves, by putting them in between two pieces of wax paper, and using a hot iron to seal them inside. The leaves looked really cool when we were finished! We then wrote a story about our observations of the leaves. During reading workshop, we continued to practice read to self, and read for 9 minutes again today. We are going to increase our time to 10 minutes tomorrow.


In word study today, the Red Rhinos practiced sorting our words into the three different groups: --ot, -op, and --og. We are practicing using the pictures as well as the words to help us practice the word spelling patterns.


During math today, the red rhinos completed our last math assessment using word problems in both addition and subtraction, again using words and pictures to show our thinking. We will be switching our math groups starting tomorrow, so the green gators will have Senorita Wesley teaching them math in spanish, and the red rhinos will have Senora Helfer and Mr. F. teaching them in English.

Friday, October 17th

What a great Friday we had! In No More Letter of the Week, we went over the letter Y. Our expert for the letter was Michael K. We can't wait to see what things Michael brings in! Our question of the day was: Did you come to Open House yesterday? We learned that more of our friends came to Open House than those who did not.

During word study we sorted and pasted our words into our notebooks, and our first grade friends took their word study assessment. In our personal reader lesson, the green gators worked on reading and writing a story about their corn experiment. The red rhinos practiced reading their story about the gourds and reading it in a variety of ways.

During reading workshop we reviewed the three different ways we read a book, and we read to ourselves for 9 whole minutes! We are really working on building our stamina to be able to read for longer and longer periods of time.

In our read aloud book about Spain we learned that they have picnics in places like parks, and enjoy spending time with their families, like we do. We are excited to culminate our study of Spain with a cultural celebration coming up where we will learn to make a craft, play a game, and try foods from that country.

In math, both the green gators and the red rhinos had our assessments for our first unit on mathematical thinking, where we used words, pictures, and mathematical problems to show our thinking.

¡Que bueno estaba nuestro viernes! Durante no mas letra de la semana, estudiamos la letra y. Nuestro experto de la letra fue Michael K. No podemos esperar a ver las cosas que Michael traerá el lunes. Nuestro pregunta del día fue: ¿Viniste a la Casa Abierta anoche? Aprendimos que mayores de nuestros amigos vinieron a la Casa Abierta que aquellos que no vinieron. Durante ortografía, clasificamos y pegamos nuestras palabras en nuestros cuadernos, y nuestros amigos de primer grado tuvieron la prueba de ortografía.

Durante nuestro lección de lectura, los aligatores verdes trabajaron en leyendo y escribiendo cuentas sobre el experimento del maíz. Los rinocerontes rojos practicaron a leer su cuenta de las calabazas, y leyeron la cuenta en voces diferentes.

Durante taller de lectura, repasamos las tres maneras diferentes que leímos libros, y ¡leímos a nosotros mismo para nueve minutos! Estábamos tratando aumentar nuestra resistencia para que pudiéramos leer para tiempos mas largas.

En nuestro libro que leímos en voz alta sobre España, aprendimos que tienen picnics en el aire libre, como en parques, y se gustaban gastar tiempo con sus familias, como nosotros. Estamos emocionados a culminamos nuestro estudio de España con un celebración cultural que viene, donde crearemos una artesanía, jugaremos un juego, y probaremos comidas de eso país.

Durante matemáticas, ambos los aligatores verdes y los rinocerontes rojos tuverion sus pruebas para el primero modulo de racional de matemáticas, donde usamos palabras, dibujos, y problemas matemáticas para mostrar nuestra racional.

Wednesday October 15, 2008

Today was another fun filled day. In no more letter of the week today, our expert Anabel shared all about the letter J. Our new letter of the day is W and Justis will be our expert. Our first graders were given the opportunity to read the book "Who,Who, Who" and the word that they looked for was the word who.

In writing workshop, the kindergarteners were given another chance to work on reading their story out loud while pointing on the page before they write their story. We learned from Brynn's story that she went pumpkin picking and from Dominic's story that he played baseball with his friend.

In reading workshop, we work more on reading a book the proper way all to yourself. The students bumped up their independent reading time to five whole minutes today!

During personal readers, the kindergarteners worked on re-reading our story as well as finding words that we can recognize. We also looked for sounds in our story that we recognized from our letter wall.

In word study, the kindergarteners worked on putting their pictures in the right letter groups as well as drawing and labeling them. The first graders practiced our activity of sorting our words and then re-writing them.

After lunch, we all got together and read more from our Spain book and learned a lot of fun new things. We learned that students in Spain go to school for the same time of the year as us, but not the same hours of the day. Children in Spain go to school in from 9:00 to 12:30 and then they take a break till 3:00. They return to school at 3:00, and continue instruction until 5:00 p.m.

¡Hoy tuvimos un día lleno con cosas divertidas! Durante no más letras de la semana, nuestro experto Anabel compartió todo sobre la letra J. La letra del día nuevo estuvo W, y Justus estará el experto de la letra. Los niños de primer grado tuvieron la oportunidad a leer su libro, “Quien, Quien, Quien”, y la palabra que buscaron estuvo la palabra quien.

Durante el taller de escritura, los niños del jardín tuvieron la oportunidad a trabajar en sus cuentos en voz alta, mientras están tocando las páginas antes que escribieron sus cuentas. Aprendimos de la cuenta de Brynn que ella eligió su calabaza, y aprendimos que Dominic juego béisbol con su amigo.

Durante el taller de lectura, trabajamos mas sobre leer en silencio, y en las tres maneras que estábamos practicando. Los estudiantes añadieron dos minutos más a su tiempo de leer independiente, y ahora el tiempo es cinco minutos.

Durante la lección de libros personales, los niños del jardín aprendieron de volver a leer su cuenta, y también, buscaran para palabras que ya conocieron. También, buscaron a los sonidos que oyeron en nuestro cuenta en la pared de letras.

Durante el estudio de palabras, los niños del jardín practicaron a poner sus palabras en los grupos de letras, y también dibujaron estas palabras y etiquetároslas.

Después de al almuerzo, trabajamos juntos a leer nuestro libro de España, y aprendimos muchas cosas nuevas e interesantes. Aprendimos que los estudiantes que viven en España asisten la escuela en los mismos tiempos del año, pero las horas que estaban en la escuela son bastante diferentes. Los niños en España llegaran a la escuela a las 9 por la mañana hasta 12:30, y entonces tuvieran una siesta hasta a las 3 por la tarde. Entonces, regresen a la escuela a las 3, y continuaran instrucción hasta a las cinco por la noche.

Tuesday, October 14th

Today was a very eventful day. In no more letter of the week, Daniela was our expert of the letter F. She shared all types of fun thing that started with the letter F. Our new letter of the day is J. Anabel will be sharing all about the letter J tomorrow. In writer’s workshop, the kindergarteners learned how to use their magic fingers to tell the story on the page out loud before they wrote it on the paper. Our buddy Ian shared his really cool story about what he did this weekend when he went to Wendy's. In personal readers, both classes were giving the opportunity to look at different types of gourds. We smelled, observed and touch three different types. We also started an experiment which involves putting a piece of Indian corn into water. We’re going to watch and see what happens. Both classes wrote a story all about gourds. As a shared reading today, the kindergarteners read the book "In a Dark Dark Wood". We found several different punctuation marks as well as words that started with a capital letter. We learned that a comma means that you pause just like you would if you paused a movie to go to the bathroom. The Red Rhinos read our story "The Kissing Hand" in Spanish, and acted out parts of the story, and answered questions about our story in Spanish too. The Green Apples had the opportunity to do science today and the Red Apples did Social studies. In science, we moved on with learning about balance. The students should be able to tell you what a counterweight is as well as what it means to be stable. In Social Studies, we talked about things that are the same and different, and are exploring how we are similar and different from our friends. In math the kindergarteners read the book Rooster's Off to See the World. We looked for different mathematical concepts and then made predictions about what will happen next in our story. The first graders learned the words for grapes and orange in Spanish, and practiced using words, mathematical problems, and pictures to come up with different ways to make the number 14. Our friends worked very hard and came up with some great examples.

Hoy tuvimos un día lleno con incidentes. Durante la lección de no más letras de la semana, Daniela fue nuestro experto de la letra F. Ella compartió muchas cosas que empiecen con letra F. Nuestro letra nueva del día esta letra J, y el experto de la letra fue Anabel. Ella compartirá sobre la letra J mañana.

Durante el taller de escritura, los niños del jardín aprendimos como pudieron usar sus dedos mágicos para decir la cuenta en voz alta antes que escriben la cuenta en el papel. Nuestro compañero Ian ha compartido su cuenta muy interesante cuando fue al restaurante llamado “Wendy’s” el fin de semana pasada.
En nuestra lección de lectura, ambos clases les dan la oportunidad a ver tres tipos de calabazas diferentes. Olimos, observamos, y tocamos las calabazas diferentes. También, empezamos un experimento que supone poner un parte de maíz indio en agua. Vamos a ver lo que ocurrirá. Las dos clases escribieron una cuenta sobre las calabazas.

Como una lectura compartida, los niños del jardín leyeron la cuenta “En Un Bosque Muy Muy Oscuro.” Encontramos muchas palabras signos de puntuación, y también palabras que contienen letras mayúsculas. Aprendimos que el coma significa que necesite toma una pausa, como si tuviera que hacer una pausa en una película, para usar el baño. Los rinocerontes rojos leyeron el libro “Un Beso En Mi Mano” en español, y representaron los partes diferentes de la cuenta, y contestaron preguntas españolas sobre la cuenta.

Las manzanas verdes tuvieron la oportunidad a hacer ciencia, y las manzanas rojos tuvieron estudios sociales. Durante ciencias, aprendimos más sobre nuestra unidad de balanza. Los niños y las niñas podrían decirles que son contrapesos, y que significa para estar estable. Durante estudios sociales, hablamos sobre cosas que son parecidos y diferentes, y estamos explorando como somos parecidos y diferentes de nuestros amigos.

Durante matemáticas, los niños del jardín leyeron el libro “El Gallo Va a Ver El Mundo.” Buscamos para conceptos de matemáticas en el libro, y entonces hicimos predicciones sobre que va a ocurrir en la cuenta. Los niños de primer grado aprendieron las palabras para algunas frutas en español: uvas y naranjas, y practicaron usar las palabras, los ilustraciones, o problemas matemáticos para mostrar maneras diferentes para tener un total del numero catorce (14). ¡Nuestros amigos trabajaron muy fuerte, y produjeron ejemplos excelentes!

Friday, October 10th 2008

Today was another exciting day! For our No more letter of the week for our kindergarteners, Sarah W. brought in an undershirt and the letter U, because she is our letter U expert. Our new letter for next Tuesday will be the letter F. Daniela is our letter F expert.

In writing workshop both classes practiced writing in booklets. We learned that when we use booklets, we can add more pictures and details to the story that we are trying to tell. The students looked just like real authors. We practiced read to self today, and learned where we sit around the room during our read to self time. Many of our friends used our three different methods of reading which include reading the words, reading the pictures, and using the pictures and past knowledge to retell the story.

In Math today, the red rhinos had choice time: the games we played were: Collect 15, What Comes Next? and Double Compare. The green gators had choice time as well. The games that they played were Collect 10, What comes next? and Compare. They all worked hard and did a great job!

The red Rhinos also read the story The Kissing Hand, and will read it in Spanish on Tuesday. The kindergarteners had a chance to write a letter to Mrs. Zodarecky, the school principal, wishing her a pleasant and happy birthday durng personal readers today. Together we explained to her that we want to make her either an apple pie or a pumpkin pie because that is what we learned how to do this week and because we are all experts now.

To end our day, the kindergarteners got a chance to work on their handwriting with the letter F. They should all now be able to tell you when you write a letter, that you start at the top left corner or where Mr. Happy is! Enjoy your beautiful and long weekend!

¡Tuvimos un día muy emocionante hoy! Para nuestra programa de “No mas letras de la semana” para nuestros niños de jardín, Sarah W. trajo una camiseta y la letra U, porque ella esta nuestro experto de la letra U. Nuestra letra nueva para el martes que viene estará letra F. Daniela esta nuestra experto de la letra F.

Durante el taller de escritura, ambos clases practicaron escribir en libritos. Aprendimos que cuando usamos los libritos, podríamos añadir más detalles e ilustraciones a los cuentos que tratamos a decir. Los estudiantes se parecen como autores auténticos.

Practicamos leer en silencio, y aprendimos donde nos sentamos en el salón durante el tiempo de leer en silencio. Muchos de nuestros amigos usaron los tres métodos de leyendo, que incluir: leyendo las palabras, leyendo las ilustraciones, y usando las ilustraciones y lo que ya supimos para volver a decir la cuenta.

Durante matemáticas, los rinocerontes rojos tuvieron tiempo para elegir un juego. Los juegos que jugamos estuvieron: Reunir 15, Cual Sigue? y Comparación Doble. Los aligatores verdes tuvieron tiempo para elegir juegos también. Los juegos que jugaron: Reunir 10, Cual Sigue, y Comparación. ¡Todos de los niños y niñas trabajaban mucho, e hicieron un buen trabajo!

Los rinocerontes rojos también leyeron la cuenta “Un Beso en mi Mano”, y leerán la cuenta en español el martes. Los niños del jardín tuvieron tiempo para escribir una carta a la Señora Zodarecky, la directora de la escuela, para desearle un cumpleaños fantástico durante la lección de lectura. Juntos, explicamos a ella que quisiéramos hacer un pastel de manzana o pastel de calabaza para ella, porque aprendimos como hacer pasteles diferentes esta semana, y somos expertos ahora.

Al final de nuestro día, los niños del jardín tuvieron tiempo para trajabar en su letra, con la letra F. Todos de los niños deberían decirles que cuando estamos escribiendo letras, siempre empiecen a la esquina a la izquierda, o dondequiera Señor Feliz esta.

Wednesday, October 9th, 2008

Today was a very eventful day! This morning our question of the day was: Were you nervous about our performance yesterday? Our new letter of the day was G, and our letter expert is Owen. We can't wait to see what interesting things Owen brings in that start with the letter G. The Red Rhinos today practiced reading our story "This Little Piggy", which had many of our sight words in it. During our word hunt, we found the words: little, the, and, all, and practiced our new word: had. In our reading workshop lesson today, we learned yet another way that we can read our stories: by re-telling the story in our own words. We can practice this by using what we remember from the story, and the pictures to help us. We will continue to practice the three ways that we can read a story: by reading the pictures, by reading the words, and by re-telling the story in our own words during our independent reading time. Parents, you can help reinforce this at home by asking your child to choose one of these ways when doing their nightly reading.

During our personal readers lesson today, we practiced putting words together in order to re-create the sentences we made for our story about the pies we made. In spelling, the Red Rhinos practiced our speed sort and our "no peek write" activities, while the Green Gators practiced finding pictures that started with their letters. During math, the red rhinos created their own patterns using paper pattern blocks, and identified the type of pattern that it was. We also are practicing the words for the different pattern blocks: rhombus, trapezoid, hexagon, triangle, and square. Ask your child what the names of these shapes are in Spanish!

We also had a special treat of donuts and cider because we worked so hard yesterday at our performance. Thank you to all of the family members who were able to attend and support our young performers!

¡Hoy tuvimos un día lleno de incidentes! Este mañana, nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Estaba nerviosa para nuestra representación ayer? Nuestra letra del día fue letra G, y nuestra experto de la letra esta Owen. No podemos esperar a ver las cosas interesantes que Owen traerá que empiezan con letra G. Los rinocerontes rojos practicamos leyendo nuestro libro, “Este Cerdito Pequeño”, lo que tuve muchas de nuestras palabras de frecuencia. Durante nuestro búsqueda de palabras, encontramos las palabras: pequeño, el/la, y, todo, y practicamos nuestra palabra nueva: tuvo. En nuestra lección de taller de lectura, aprendimos una manera diferente para leer libros: decir de nuevo la cuenta en nuestros propios palabras. Podemos practicar esta estrategia cuando usamos lo que nos acordábamos de la cuenta, y los dibujos para ayudarnos. Continuaremos a practicar las tres maneras que podemos leer una cuenta: leyendo los ilustraciones, leyendo las palabras y decir de nuevo la cuenta en nuestros propios palabras durante el tiempo que leemos independiente. Padres, podrían reforzar esta estrategia en la casa por preguntara a su hijo/hija a elegir uno de las tres maneras cuando están leyendo todas las noches.

Durante nuestra lección de libros personales, practicamos poner las palabras en orden para crear de nuevo las oraciones que escribimos para nuestra cuenta de las pasteles hicimos el lunes. Durante estudio de palabras, los rinocerontes rojos practicamos nuestras actividades de: clasifica rápidamente y escriba las palabras sin verlas, mientras los aligatores verdes practicaron buscar para dibujos que empiezan con sus letras. Durante la clase de matemáticas, los rinocerontes rojos hicieron patrones usando papeles de las formas geométricos, e identificaron cuales tipos de patrones. También, estamos practicando las palabras españoles para estas formas: rombo, trapecio, hexágono, triangulo, y cuadrado. Preguntara a su hijo/hija lo que los nombres de estas formas son en español.

También, tuvimos un gusto de dónuts y jugo de manzana porque los niños y niñas trabajaban mucho preparar para nuestra representación ayer. Muchas gracias a todos de los miembros de las familias que pudieron asistir nuestra representación para apoyar nuestros artistas jóvenes.

Monday, October 6th 2008

Today we had a busy morning! After our morning message, we went down to the cafeteria to practice our performance--we are getting used to being on the stage and being excellent listeners while our announcers are reading their information. Our question of the day was: Is someone from your family coming to watch our performance tomorrow? We learned that most of our friends will have someone from their family coming to watch us in our performance. The green gators learned their new letter for the day, which was letter B. Our letter expert for the letter B is Dominic. We know he will practice his story and bring in interesting things that start with the letter B. The Red Rhinos read our story "Open and Close", and practiced finding the word "you" during our word hunt. We are continuing to practice reading aloud our stories in our best reading voices.

We had a very exciting personal readers lesson today, as we were bakers! The Green Gators baked apple pie, while the Red Rhinos made a pumpkin pie. We practiced following directions when cooking, and took turns adding ingredients. After lunch, we were able to taste both kinds of pie, and shared our thoughts on how it tasted. We also practiced cutting and sorting our words during word study, and using the sounds to help us figure out what letter makes that sound. During math, the red rhinos learned the Spanish words for square, triangle, rhombus, trapezoid, and hexagon, and practiced making patterns using our pattern blocks. The green gators made different patterns with macaroni, and wrote down what kind of pattern it was.

We hope that you can all attend our performances tomorrow and look forward to showing you what your children can do!

¡Tuvimos una mañana muy ocupada hoy! Después de nuestra mensaje por la mañana, fuimos a la cafetería practicar para nuestra representación—estamos acostumbrada estar en el escenario, y estamos son buenos oyentes mientras nuestros locutores están leyendo su información. Nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Hay algunas personas de su familia vendrán a nuestra representación mañana?
Aprendimos que mas estudiantes en nuestra clase tendrán un miembro de su familia vendrá a mirar nuestra representación. Los aligatores verdes tuvieron una letra nueva, letra B. Nuestro experto de la letra B esta Dominic. Sabemos que el practicará su cuenta, y traerá cosas diferentes que empiecen con la letra B. Los rinocerontes rojos leyeron su libro “Abierto y Cerrado”, practicamos encontrar la palabra “tu” durante nuestra búsqueda de palabras. Continuamos a practicar leer en voces altas, y también en nuestros voces mejores para leer.

Tuvimos una lección de libros personal hoy, porque estábamos panaderos. Los aligatores verdes hicieron un pastel de manzanas, mientras los rinocerontes rojos hicieron un pastel de calabaza. Practicamos seguir direcciones mientras cocinaban, y tomaban turnos añadieron ingredientes. Después de almuerzo, comemos ambos tipos de pasteles, y compartimos nuestros pensamientos del sabor. También, practicamos cortando y clasificando nuestras palabras durante estudio de palabras, y usando los sonidos para ayudarnos saber cuales letras hacen estos sonidos. Durante matemáticas, los rinocerontes rojos aprendimos las palabras españolas para las figuras geométricas como: cuadrado, triangulo, rombo azul, rombo blanco, trapecio, y hexágono, y practicamos hacer patrones usando los bloques de patrones. Los aligatores verdes hicieron patrones diferentes con macarrones, y escribieron el tipo de patrón.

¡Esperemos que todos de ustedes vengan a nuestra representación mañana por la tarde, y esperamos a mostrarles que sus hijos e hijas pueden hacer!

Friday, October 3rd

Today we spent a lot of time preparing for our performance at the Hispanic Heritage Celebration that will take place at EV on Tuesday, October 7th. We ran through the entire performance. The students worked so hard! The announcers sounded GREAT and all the students sang beautifully. We hope that all families are able to attend one of the performances. This morning the green gators reviewed the letter A and learned a new letter.... Letter H. Brandon was chosen as the H expert. We are looking forwards to seeing what things he is able to find at home that start with the letter H. The red rhinos read our book "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", and practiced reading our story in whisper voices, in robot voices, and then in our best read aloud voices. We also went on a word hunt to find the word "came". We have gotten really good at recognizing our sight words within our stories. In our reading lesson today, we worked together to write down the steps for making our delicious flan. We practiced sounding out words to put the letters on paper. In writing workshop we were hard at work writing our stories, and the red rhinos practiced conferencing with their writing partners. The green gators worked hard in math drawing some of the patterns that have made this week. Thank you to all of our students who have brought in something for our pattern wall--it is full with wonderful items! Some of our students remembered to bring in their reading logs today. Please help us by reminding your child on Thursdays that homework needs to be returned on Friday. We will be creating a homework chart to reward our students who bring in their homework each week.

Hoy, tuvimos mucho tiempo preparando para nuestra representación de la Historia de Herencia Hispana, que estará en la escuela English Village el martes, 7 de octubre. Practicamos la representación completa. ¡Los niños y niñas trabajaron mucho! ¡Los locutores sonaron fantásticos, y todos de los estudiantes cantaron maravillosamente! Esperemos que todas de las familias vengan alguna de las asambleas. Este mañana, los aligatores verdes repasaron la letra A, y aprendieron una letra nueva…letra H. Brandon fue elegido como el experto de la letra, y no podemos esperar a ver lo que el traerá el lunes que empiezan con letra H. Los rinocerontes rojos leyeron su libro “La Arana Pequeñita”, y practicaron a leer la cuenta en voces como robotes, en voces más bajas, y en sus voces mejores a leer. También, tuvimos una búsqueda de palabras, para encontrar la palabra “vino”. Estamos buenos a reconocimos nuestros palabras de alta frecuencia en las cuentas. Durante nuestra lección de lectura, trabajamos juntos para escribir las direcciones paso a paso para hacer el flan delicioso. Practicamos sonar las palabras sonido por sonido, para poner las letras en el papel. Durante el taller de escritura, trabajamos muy fuerte en nuestros cuentos, y los rinocerontes rojos practicaron a compartir con sus compañeros de escritura. Los aligatores verdes trabajaron muy fuerte en matemáticas dibujando algunos de los patrones que hicieron esta semana. Muchas gracias a los estudiantes que han traído algunas cosas que tienen patrones para nuestra pared de patrones— ¡esta lleno con cosas buenas! Algunos de nuestros estudiantes han recordado a traer sus diarios de lectura este viernes. Por favor, ayúdanos por recordarle a sus hijos/hijas cada jueves tendrían que regresar su tarea cada viernes. Crearemos un grafico de tarea para recompensar nuestros estudiantes que regresen su tarea cada semana.

Thursday, October 2nd

Another busy day in C-7 and C-8! For morning work we created cards for Mrs. Zodarecky on her birthday. Many of us tried to write "Happy Birthday" in Spanish. This morning the green gators learned a new letter. Letter A! Sarah Vaisey was chosen to be the letter A expert. We look forward to hearing Sarah read the letter A book and can't wait to see what interesting objects she is able to find at home that start with the letter A. The red rhinos read our story Humpty Dumpty, and practiced reading the word "his". This morning we also learned that writers often go back to work on writing pieces that they have worked on in the past and add to those pieces. The red rhinos also learned who their writing partners were, and practiced sharing our stories with a partner. We learned that one of our friend's dad makes the best clams at carnivals and that another friend's mom had a baby recently named Gina. These stories are so exciting to read! Both the kindergarteners and the first graders worked on their handwriting today. We learned all about the word horizontal and vertical lines as well as what a big line is and a little line is.

During personal readers we worked on reading our stories in our funniest voices. They first read the story in their best Mickey Mouse voices, then their deepest voice and finally they read it in their quietest voice. They all sounded great! We are also practicing our song "De Colores" and went down to the multi-purpose room to practice. We are very excited for our performance on Tuesday. Please remember to send in your child's English Village t-shirt in a plastic bag, which we will wear for our performance.

¡Un día muy ocupado en los salones de C-7 y C-8! Para nuestro trabajo por la mañana, creamos tarjetas de felicitaciones para Señora Zodarecky, para su cumpleaños. Muchas de nosotros tratamos a escribir Feliz Cumpleaños en español. Por la mañana, los aligatores verdes aprendimos una letra nueva, letra A. Sarah Vaisey esta nuestro experto de la letra, y no podemos esperar a escuchar al libro que Sarah leerá. También, estamos deseando que llegue a ver las cosas que empiece con la letra A. Los rinocerontes rojos leímos nuestro libro del día, “Humpty Dumpty”, y practicamos ubicar la palabra “suyo”. Por la mañana, también aprendimos que escritores buenos muchas veces miran a los trabajos que han cumplido, y trabajar más en estas cuentas, y añadir mas detalles a estas cuentas. Los rinocerontes rojos aprendimos quienes son nuestros compañeros de escritura, y practicamos compartiendo nuestros cuentos con estos compañeros. Aprendimos que el papa de uno de nuestros amigos hace los almejas mejores en carnavales, y la mama de otro amigo tuvo un bebe se llama Gina. ¡Estos cuentos están muy emocionantes a leer! Ambos los niños del jardín y de primer grado trabajan en letra también. Aprendimos todo sobre las líneas verticales y horizontales, y como hacemos una línea grande y una línea pequeña.
Durante los libros personales, practicamos a leer nuestros libros en voces graciosos. La primera vez, leyeron en voces como el ratón “Mickey”, entonces en voces más altas, y entonces en voces más bajos. ¡Todo el mundo sonó fantástico! También, estamos practicando nuestra canción De Colores para nuestra asamblea el martes, y fuimos al “salón de muchos propósitos”, para practicar. Estamos muy emocionadas para nuestra representación el martes. Por favor, recuerden a mandar las camisetas de la escuela “English Village” en una bolsa de plástico, porque lleváramos durante la asamblea.

Wednesday, October 1st

This morning our question of the day was Do you know what you are going to be for Halloween. We learned that most people in our class do know what they are going to be for Halloween. The Green Gators learned a new letter today...Z. Joshua Price was chosen as the letter Z expert. We can't wait to see what Joshua can find at home that starts with the letter Z. This morning we also learned an important skill that we will use from now on as readers. We learned how to make good book choices. We used the acronym I PICK to help us. Ask your child if the remember what each letter stands for. If not here is some help...I stands for I pick a book, P stands for purpose (why do I want to read this/for fun/to learn), I stands for Interest (what kinds of books do I like), C stands for comprehension (do I understand what I am reading), and K stands for Know (do I know the words in the book). This is a very difficult skill for students to learn and we will continue to work on it all school year. You can help your child use this strategy at home when they are picking books. This morning we were also busy with our personal readers. Today the Green Gators had to put their "jumbled up" stories back in order. The gators also learned the word study routine for Wednesday which is cut and paste. The students had to look through magazines to find pictures and words that begin with the letter M and S. Ask your child what pictures they were able to find.

This afternoon, we spent sometime writing stories. The green gators are working hard to s-t-r-e-ch their words while they write. They are trying to listen for the sounds that they hear in words and record the letters that match on their papers. When working with your child on writing at home, encourage them to attempt to write the sounds that they hear. In mathematics, we are still working on making and building patterns. The Green Gators played the game What Comes next with pattern blocks. Please encourage your child to look for patterns around the house or while you are driving in the car.

Este mañana, nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Sabes que querría estar para Halloween? Aprendimos que mas personas en nuestra clase saben que querrian estar para Halloween. La letra del día para los aligatores verdes fue letra Z, y nuestro experto de la letra es Joshua P. No podemos esperar a ver lo que Joshua traerá de la casa que empiece con la letra Z. También por la mañana aprendimos una estrategia muy importante para ser buenos lectores, y eso es como buenos lectores eligen libros adecuados para leer. Usamos el acrónimo “I PICK” para ayudarnos. Preguntara a su hijo/hija si podría decirle que significa las letras diferentes en este acrónimo. Si el/ella no recuerde, aquí son algunas claves importantes: El “I” representa Yo elijo un libro; el “P” representa propósito (¿Por que yo quiero leer este libro—para aprender algo, o solamente para divertirse?), I representa interés, (¿Cuales tipos de libros me gusta leer?), C representa comprensión (¿Yo entendí lo que estoy leyendo?), y K representa sabe (¿Sabe las palabras en la cuenta?). Este es una destreza difícil para los estudiantes aprender, y por eso, trabajaremos en este proceso durante todo el año. Podría ayudar su hijo/hija a practicar esta destreza en la casa cuando elige libros diferentes. Este mañana, estábamos muy ocupados con nuestros libros personales. Hoy, los rinocerontes rojos y aligatores verdes tuvieron que poner las palabras de nuestras cuentas en orden. También, los estudiantes practicaron las rutinas para ortografía de miércoles—para los rinocerontes rojos, tuvieron que clasificar sus palabras rápidamente, y después, escriben sus palabras. Para los aligatores verdes, tuvieron que cortar y pegar sus palabras. Los estudiantes buscaban en revistas para cosas que empiece con las letras M y S. Preguntara a su hijo/hija cuales dibujos podría encontrar.

Este tarde, pasamos tiempo escribiendo cuentas. Los aligatores verdes están trabajaban a extender las palabras mientras están escribiendo. Están tratando a escuchar a los sonidos que oigan en palabras, y escriben las letras que corresponden en sus papeles. Cuando esta trabajando con su hijo/hija, animara su hijo/hija a tratar a escribir los sonidos que ha oído. En matemáticas, estamos practicando hacer y construir patrones con instrumentos diferentes. Los aligatores verdes trabajaron con bloques geométricos para construir patrones. Por favor, animara su hijo/hija a buscar para patrones diferentes mientras están en la casa, en el carro, o en las tiendas.

Tuesday, September 30th

Today in school we learned about how people in Spain live. We learned that people in Spain let their daughters go to the store to get the groceries and that they get to take a siesta, also known as an afternoon nap. We also learned about how to balance a crayfish on our finger while using clothespins. They were able to see that when you put equal amounts of weight on each side of your finger, it will balance. In math today, we played the game "What comes next?'' which included making patterns and working with partners. The students also learned how to make the patterns using different hand patters. For instance, when doing an AB AB AB pattern, the students did clap, knees, clap, knees, clap, knees. They should all be experts now so you can ask them to show you all the different patterns they can do. Our question of the day was "Do you like flan?" because we all got to try flan yesterday in our personal readers lesson. We found out that more people did like flan than those who did not like flan. While doing personal readers, we were given the opportunity re-read the story we made together the day before and then identified all of the words that we knew in the story. The kindergartners’ letter of the day today was D. They learned that the letter D makes the duh sound and they can show you this by hitting the palm of your hand against your head while saying duh duh duh. The first graders read the book "Little Miss Muffet." and they focused on the word "her". During writer’s workshop, the kindergarten children were all able to put together words with their pictures and worked on stretching out their sounds. They were very excited to show their thoughts with words. On a final note, both classes earned four stars in all the categories in lunch today!


Durante el día escolar, aprendimos que vive la gente de España. Aprendimos que las personas en España dejan sus hijos ir al mercado para comprar los comestibles, y por la tarde, tienen una siesta. También, aprendimos como balancear un cangrejo del rió de cartulina en las puntas de nuestros dedos, usando una pinza. Pudieron ver que cuando pone pesos iguales en ambos lados de su dedo, balanceara. Durante la clase de matemáticas, jugamos el juego, “¿Cual sigue?”, lo que incluido haciendo patrones y trabajando con un compañero. Los estudiantes aprendieron como hacer los patrones diferentes usando sus manos y sus cuerpos a dar una palmada. Por ejemplo, cuando hicimos un patrón A-B, A-B, los niños dan una palmada, tocan sus rodillas, dan una palmada, tocan sus rodillas, etc. Todo el mundo están expertos ahora, y puede preguntara a su hijo/hija cuantos patrones diferentes podrían hacer.

Nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Te gusta el flan?, porque ayer, todo el mundo ha tratado el flan que hicimos durante nuestro lección en los libros personales. Aprendimos que más estudiantes en nuestra clase les gustan el flan que no les gustan el flan. Mientras que leímos nuestros libros personales, tuvimos la oportunidad a volver a leer la cuenta que creamos ayer, y entonces identificamos las palabras que ya conocemos en la cuenta.

Para los niños del jardín, la letra del día fue letra D. Aprendimos que la letra D hace el sonido “duh”, y pueden mostrarle como hacer este sonido cuando pegue su cabeza con su mano, mientras esta diciendo, “duh, duh, duh”. Los niños de primer grado leyeron nuestro libro, “Little Miss Muffet”, y practicamos identificar la palabra “ella”. Durante el taller de escritura, los niños del jardín podrían formar palabras con sus ilustraciones y trabajaban a extender sus sonidos. Estaban muy emocionados a compartir sus sentidos y pensamientos con palabras. ¡En un punto final, los dos clases recibieron cuatro “4’s” durante almuerzo en todos de las categorías!

Monday, September 29th

This morning the question of the day was...Have you ever eaten flan before? We learned that twenty-seven friends in our class had never eaten flan before and twelve friends in our class had eaten Flan before. We learned that more friends in our class had eaten Flan before. This was an important question because we made flan today. Ask your child how we made the Flan and if they liked the way that it tasted. After our shared experience in making and eating the Flan, we created a story about our experience. This story will become part of our personal reader tomorrow. This morning the Green Gators also reviewed the letter of the day from Friday (Ii). Thank you to Danielito who brought in several pictures of ice sculptures. We were amazed to see that they were able to make Cinderella's carriage out of Ice. Our letter of the day today was letter d. We are looking forward to seeing what our D expert...Tolulope will find at home that starts with the letter D. This morning we also got new pictures to sort. This week we will be learning a new routine for each day in word study. This week the green gators are focusing on words that begin with the letter M and the letter S. The red rhinos are working with words that start with the letters G, T, and P. Ask your child if they can identify some words that start with these letters. In writing workshop, we learned that good writers add pictures and words to their writing. We were excited to see how many students were able to attempt to add words to their written work today.


In the afternoon, the green gators read a story called Breakfast in Bed. Ask your child what happened in this story. In math, we learned a new game called What Comes Next. Students were asked to look at some patterns and determine what color should come next in the pattern. The red rhinos finished their book "The boy and the girl, the dress and the hat", and continued making predictions. In Math, we had time to practice the three activities we have been working on--Double Compare, Staircases, and How Many? using peas and carrots. Ask your child what different number sentences they were able to come up with. We wrapped up our afternoon a bit early to attend a school wide assembly about kindness. Students learned the things that good citizens do to demonstrate kindness.

Este mañana, la pregunta del día fue: ¿Has comido flan? Aprendimos que 27 de nuestros amigos han comido flan, mientras 12 de nuestros amigos no han comido flan. Aprendimos que más estudiantes han comido flan que no han comido flan. Estaba una pregunta importante, porque hoy, hicimos flan. Preguntara a su hijo/hija como hicimos el flan, y si te gusta el flan. Después de nuestra experiencia haciendo y comiendo el flan, creamos una cuenta de nuestra experiencia. Esta cuenta estará un parte de nuestros libros personales mañana. Este mañana, los aligatores verdes revisamos la letra del día de viernes, Ii. Gracias a Danielito, el experto de la letra, porque el trajo muchas fotos de esculturas de hielo. Estamos asombrados aprender que podrían hacer el carruaje de Cinderella de hielo. Nuestro letra del día para hoy fue letra d. experto de la letra fue Tolulope, y estamos emocionadas a ver lo que ella traerá mañana por la mañana. Este mañana, recibimos dibujos nuevos para clasificar. Esta semana, vamos a practicar rutinas nuevas para cada día en ortografía. Los aligatores verdes están trabajando con las palabras que empiezan con letras M y B, mientras los rinocerontes rojos están trabajando con las palabras que empiezan con letras G, P, y T. Preguntara a su hijo/hija si podría identificar algunas palabras que empiezan con estas letras. Durante taller de escritura, aprendimos que buenos escritores añaden ilustraciones y palabras a sus cuentas. Estábamos emocionadas a ver tantos estudiantes que pudieron añadir palabras a sus cuentas.

Por la tarde, los aligatores verdes leyeron una cuenta llamada “El Desayuno Dentro la Cama”. Preguntara a su hijo/hija lo que ocurrió en esta cuenta. En matemáticas, aprendimos un juego nuevo, llamado ¿Cual sigue? Los niños se preguntaron a mirar algunos patrones y entonces decir cual color es el próximo en el patrón. Los rinocerontes rojos cumplieron su libro “El niño y la niña, el sombrero y el vestido”, y continuaron a hacer predicciones. Durante matemáticas, tuvimos tiempo para practicar los tres actividades que estamos aprendiendo—Comparación doble, Las Escaleras, y “¿Cuantos Hay?”, usando zanahorias y guisantes. Preguntara a su hijo/hija cuantos problemas matematicos diferentes ha hecho. Cumplimos nuestra dia un poco temprano, porque tuvimos que asistir una asamblea de amabilidad. Los niños aprendieron sobre amabilidad y las cosas que buenos ciudadanos hacen para mostrar amabilidad.

Friday, September 26th

Today we were sad to learn that one of our friends will be starting in a new school on Monday and will no longer be part of the dual language program. We will miss Kaitlyn and wish her luck in our new school. Today's question of the day was Which Special Do You like Best? We learned that most of our friends enjoy Art most of all. Today's letter of the day was letter I. Danielito was chosen to be the I expert. We look forward to hearing Danielito read the book to the class and share some special items that he has found at home that start with the letter I. The red rhinos read the book Jack and Jill and they were able to locate the words and, the, little. We also talked about the difficult words within the story such as crown, tumbling, and fetch. The green gators added a new word to the word wall today...the. Ask your child to locate these words within text that they read. This morning the green gators also surveyed the class to find out if anyone in our class will ever eat a plantain again. We found out that there were people in our class that would like to eat a plantain again. Then, we wrote a sentence about what we learned. Students used white boards to write some familiar letters. We ended the morning with writing workshop. In writing workshop we learned that good writers add details to the drawings and tell their whole story in the illustrations.


This afternoon, we again played choice time in math. The students are getting good at the game compare. They are excited to play it with you at home this week as part of their homework! To end the day in science, students attempted to balance a paper crayfish on the tip of their finger. Ask your child if he or she was able to do so, and how they went about it!


Hoy, estábamos triste porque aprendimos que una de nuestros amigos empezara en una escuela nueva el lunes, y por eso, no estará con nosotros en nuestro programa de dos idiomas. ¡Nosotros extrañaremos Kaitlyn y deseamos mucha suerte en su escuela nueva! La pregunta del día de hoy fue: ¿Cuál clase especial te gusta mas: arte, música, educación física, o biblioteca? Aprendimos que más estudiantes le gustan el arte más que las otras clases especiales. Hoy la letra del día fue letra I. Danielito ha elegido como nuestro experto de la letra, y estamos deseando que llegue a traer sus cosas de casa que empieza con la letra I. Los rinocerontes rojos practicaron a leer el libro “Jack y Jill”, y pudieron localizar las palabras y, el/la, y pequeño. También, hablamos sobre las palabras difíciles en nuestra cuenta, como la corona (de su cabeza), cayendo, y traer. Los aligatores verdes también preguntaron la clase para saber si hay alguien quería comer un plátano de nuevo. Aprendimos que mas personas querían comer un plátano otra vez. Entonces, escribimos una oración de lo que aprendimos. También, los estudiantes usaron los tableros blanco para practicando escribir las letras familiares. Al fin de la mañana, tuvimos taller de escritura. Durante taller de escritura, aprendimos que buenos escritores añaden detalles a sus ilustraciones y dicen su cuenta completa en las ilustraciones.

Este tarde, también tuvimos tiempo de elecciones en la clase de matemáticas. Los estudiantes están mejorando en el juego llamado “Comparación”. Son emocionados a jugar este juego con ustedes en la casa para su tarea esta semana que viene. Al fin del día en ciencias, los estudiantes practicaron a balancear un cangrejo de rio hecho de papel en las puntas de sus dedos. Preguntara a su hijo/hija si pudiera hacerlo, y como.

Thursday, September 25th

We started our morning today with our Morning message in Spanish--we are doing really well saying and remembering days of the week and the weather terms. We also learned some actions to represent the weather terms to help us. We also practiced our song De Colores, which we will keep working on every day. We also practiced reciting our poem in Spanish, Hojas de Otoño. Our question of the day was: Do you have a sister? We learned that 26 of our friends have sisters, while 13 of our friends do not. Our letter of the day was P, and we enjoyed hearing Francesca read our story for letter P, which was, Seven Pigs. She brought in a bowl with Piglet on it. The Red Rhinos practiced reading the story Little Boy Blue, and looked for the words "little" and "the" in the story.

In Science, we are thinking about how we could balance our cardboard crayfish on our fingers. In Social Studies, we finished answering our questions, and are preparing to share information about our classmates using Spanish words and phrases we have learned so far.

Empezamos nuestra mañana con el mensaje por la mañana en español—estamos trabajando bien diciendo y recordando los días de la semana y las palabras del tiempo. También, aprendimos algunas acciones a representar las palabras del tiempo para ayudarnos. También, practicamos nuestra canción, De Colores, lo que trabajaremos todos los días. Practicamos a recitar el poema Hojas de Otoño. Nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Tienes una hermana? Aprendimos que 26 de nuestros amigos tienen hermanas, mientras 13 de nuestros amigos no tienen una hermana. Nuestra letra del día fue P, y nos gustaba escuchar a Francesca leyó la cuenta para la letra, Siete Cerdos. Ella trajo un tazón con un dibujo de “Cerdito”. Los rinocerontes rojos practicaron leer la cuenta “El Niño Pequeño Azul”, y buscaran para las palabras “pequeño” y “el/la” en la cuenta.

En ciencias, estamos pensando como podríamos balancear nuestros cangrejos de ríos de cartulina en nuestros dedos. In estudios sociales, terminamos responder a nuestras preguntas, y prepararemos a compartir esta información de nuestros compañeros de clase usando las palabras españolas y oraciones en español que ya hemos aprendido.

Wednesday, September 24th

What a busy day! This morning our question of the day was have you ever received a letter in the mail? We learned that more people in our class have received a letter that haven't gotten a letter in the mail. We practiced our song De Colores again, and will keep practicing saying tough words, like rainbow, spring, and little birds in Spanish. The green gators learned the letter P today, and Francesca is our letter expert for that word. The Green Gators today re-read their story about the plantains, and practiced finding the word we in their personal readers. The Red Rhinos read their story, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and practiced finding the words "the" and "little" in the story. We also had a visit from Fireman Dean, who helped us practice how to call 9-1-1 in an emergency, and what to say to the operator if we have to call. We learned that some of our friends need help at home practicing our address, so please ask your child to tell you their home address.


In the afternoon, we learned how to make staircases in math using cubes to represent the numbers 1-11 (Green Gators) and 1-20 (Red Rhinos). We did a great job counting and making our staircases. In Social Studies, we started sharing information about ourselves in Spanish, and talking about how we are similar and different from some of our friends. In Science, we started our unit on balance, and will be doing some fun experiments with different objects.

¡Tuvimos un día muy ocupado! Este mañana, nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Has recibido una carta por correo? Aprendimos que mas personas en nuestra clase han recibido una carta que personas que no han recibido correo. Practicamos de nuevo nuestra canción, De Colores, y practicaremos algunas palabras difíciles, como arco iris, primavera, y pajaritos en español. Los aligatores verdes volver a leer su cuenta de plátanos, y practicaron encontrar la palabra nosotros en su libros personales. Los rinocerontes rojos leyeron su cuenta, “Baa Baa Oveja Negra”, y practicamos encontrar las palabras el, la, y pequeño en la cuenta. También, tuvimos un visitante especial, llamada “Bombero Dean” que ayúdanos a practicar a llamar 9-1-1- en una emergencia, y que podríamos decir al operador si tuviéramos hacer una llamada. Aprendimos que algunos de nuestros amigos necesitan ayuda practicando su propia dirección, y por eso, preguntara a su hijo/hija a decirte su dirección de casa.

Por la tarde, aprendimos en matemáticas a construir escaleras usando los cubos entrelazados, para representar los números 1-11 (para los aligatores verdes), y 1-20 (para los rinocerontes rojos). Tuvimos un trabajo excelente contando y haciendo nuestras escaleras. Durante estudios sociales, empezamos a compartir información sobre nuestros mismos en español, y hablamos como somos parecidos y diferentes de algunos de nuestros amigos. En Ciencias, empezamos nuestro tema de equilibrio, y estaremos haciendo algunos experimentos divertidos con objetos diferentes.

Tuesday, September 23rd

This morning we spent some time preparing for our school-wide Hispanic Heritage month celebration (that will take place on October 7th). The dual language students will be singing our good morning song, reciting a poem (in Spanish and English, singing De Colores (a traditional Spanish song), and closing the assembly with their good bye song. This morning we learned the words to the song De Colores and learned the words to the poem Fall Leaves in Spanish. Ask your child if they remember any of the words to the song De Colores (we will keep practicing)! Our question of the day was do you have a brother. We learned that there are more friends in our class that DO have a brother than friends that DO NOT have a brother. Our letter of the day was letter O. The O experts that were chosen this morning were Elizabeth C and Derek. We are looking forward to hearing them read their story and seeing what treasures they are able to find at home that start with the letter O. We also got our very own copy of the story that our class wrote about plantains. We worked on hunting for words and letters within our story. Many friends can read the story all by themselves!


This afternoon we began studying the country Spain. We are reading a non-fiction story about this country. We learned that most of the year, it is hot and dry in Spain and that they grow a lot of fruit there. Ask your child if he or she can remember any other information that they learned about Spain from our reading today. In mathematics, we again practiced comparing numbers by playing the game Compare. We are working hard to automatically recognize which numbers are more and less. Be looking for this game to come home for homework next week. Your child should be able to teach you how to play!


Este mañana, nos preparamos para nuestra celebración de todo de la escuela (que estará el 7 de octubre) para celebrar el Mes de Herencia Hispano. Los estudiantes en el programa de dos idiomas cantaran nuestra canción por la mañana (Buenos Días), recitaran un poema (en español y en ingles), cantaran De Colores, una canción tradicional de español, y al fin de asamblea, con nuestra canción, Adiós Amigos. Este mana, aprendimos las palabras al poema “Hojas del Otoño” en español. ¡Preguntará a su hijo/hija si recordó algunos de las palabras en la canción De Colores (continuaremos a practicar!) Nuestra pregunta del día fue: Tienes un hermano/ Aprendimos que más personas en nuestra clase tienen hermanos que no tienen hermanos. Nuestra letra del día fue letra O. Los expertos de la letra O están Elizabeth C. y Derek. Estamos deseando que oír sus cuentas, y ver los tesoros ellos traerán que empezar con letra O. También, recibimos nuestros propias copias de la historia la clase escribió sobre plátanos. Trabajamos a buscar para palabras y letras dentro de la historia. ¡Muchos amigos pueden leer la historia solo!

Este tarde, empezamos a estudiar el país España. Estamos leyendo un texto informativo sobre este país. Aprendimos que por mucho del ano, hace calor y seco en España, y crecen muchas frutas allí. Preguntara a su hijo/hija si podría recordar algo más información que aprendió sobre España de nuestra lección de lectura. Durante matemáticas, practicamos el juego “Comparar”, y para los niños en primer grado, “Comparar Doble”. Estamos tratando a reconocer inmediatamente los números que son más grandes y los que son más pequeños. Buscara para estos juegos para tarea la próxima semana. Su hijo/hija podría explicar a usted como jugamos estos juegos.

Monday, September 22nd

What a great Monday we had today. Today's letter of the day was t and we added the word we to the word wall. Ask your child to locate this letter and word in texts as you read together. Our question of the day was...Have you ever eaten a plantain. We were surprised to learn that although more friends in our class had never tried this special fruit, there were many that had it before. There are 28 friends that had eaten plantains before and 12 that had not. Now we can all say that we have eaten a plantain before because today we are sampled raw plantains, fried plantains, and plantain chips. Ask your child which was their favorite. We then wrote a story about our experience. This story will become part of our personal reader tomorrow. We also learned that today is the first day of autumn. We read a poem called Fall Leaves and added it to our new poetry notebook. The students were asked to illustrate this poem. Ask your child about the picture that he/she drew in their notebook. Finally, we ended our morning by practicing our sort one last time. We glued it into our word study notebooks. Your child should be able to tell you how they sorted their pictures today.


In the afternoon, we enjoyed the story Mrs. Wishy-Washy again. We just love acting out the parts in the story. We also had fun hunting for punctuation marks such as the period, exclamation point, and quotation marks. When you read with your child, ask them to locate these marks within the text. Also ask them to identify their meaning. In mathematics we learned a new game called compare. The game is similar to the card game WAR. Students had to determine if their card was greater than or less than their partners. We ended our day with Social Studies and Science. In science the green apples learned how to stay safe when working with science materials and created a list of science rules. In social studies, the red apples learned how to answer questions in Spanish like...my name is, things I like to do, I am a boy or a girl, and I am ______ years old.

¡Hoy, tuvimos un lunes fantástico! La letra del día fue letra t, y añadimos la palabra nosotros a la pared de palabras. Preguntara a su hijo/hija a ubicar esta letra y palabra en textos mientras están leyendo juntos. Nuestra pregunta del día fue: ¿Has comido un plátano? Estábamos sorprendidos a aprender que aunque mas amigos en nuestra clase no han probado este fruta especial, estuvo muchas que han comido un plátano. Hay 28 amigos que han comido plátanos antes, y 12 que no lo han comido. Ahora, todo el mundo puede decir que hemos comido un plátano, porque comemos plátanos crudos, y plátanos fritos. Preguntara a su hijo/hija cual estaba su favorita. Entonces, escribimos una cuenta sobre esta experiencia. Esta cuenta estará un parte de nuestros libros personales mañana. También, aprendimos que hoy es el primer día de otoño. Leímos un poema llamada “Hojas de Otoño”, y añadimos ese poema a nuestros nuevos cuadernos de poesía. Los estudiantes han preguntando a ilustrar esta poema. Preguntara a su hijo/hija sobre la ilustración que el/ella dibujo en su cuaderno. Al fin de la mañana, practicamos nuestra orden por la última vez. Pegamos los dibujos en nuestros cuadernos de ortografía. Su hijo/hija podría decirle como ha ordenaba sus dibujos hoy.

Por la tarde, nos divertíamos la cuenta llamada “Señora Wishy-Washy”. Nos encantábamos a actuar algunos partes de este libro. También, nos divertíamos a buscar para signos de puntuación como el punto, la coma, signo de admiración, y comillas. Cuando estas leyendo con su hijo, preguntara a el/ella a ubicar estos dentro del texto, y el sentido de estos marcas. En matemáticas, aprendimos como jugar el juego llamada “Comparar”. Este juego esta pareciendo al juego llamada “la Guerra”. Los estudiantes tuvieron decidir si su tarjeta estaba más grande o más pequeña que su compañero. Al fin del día, tuvimos los estudios sociales y ciencias. Durante ciencias, las manzanas verdes aprenden como mantener a salvo cuando estamos trabajando con instrumentos de ciencias, y crían una lista de reglas para la clase de ciencias. Durante estudios sociales, las manzanas rojas practicaban a responder a preguntas en español como: Me llamo_________________, Las cosas que me gusta hacer, Yo soy un (niño/niña), y Tengo _________anos.