World Travel Day Is Friday!

AM and PM kids need to be here by 8:15 Friday with a sack lunch. ALL children will be here until the end of the day at 1:30.

Center Schedule for 03/30/09 thru 04/07/09

1. science - magnifying glass exploration

2. math – number shapes

3. phonics – word creation

4. PA - alliteration

5. math – noodle patterns

6. phonics – cap/low matching

7. PA - rhyme

8. listening – city mouse and country mouse

9. math – number sequencing

10. letters

11. art – future job pictures

12. play – community blocks

13. play – community helpers puzzles

because Friday is filled with travel day, this week’s centers will overlap into next week through Tuesday. We will begin again fresh after Spring Break with Monday-Friday weekly rotations of centers.

PM Class Syllabus

Monday	1220-1230	afternoon grounding
	1230-1250	phonemic awareness/phonics
	1250-135	centers (guided reading)
	135-150	math
	150-210	recess
	210-230	spelling
	230-300	library
	300-310	storytime
	310-320	cleanup and go
Tuesday	1220-1230	afternoon grounding
	1230-1250	phonemic awareness/phonics
	1250-135	centers (guided reading)
	135-150	math
	150-210	recess/laps
	210-230	writing
	230-240	storytime
	240-310	Brain Gym
	310-320	cleanup and go
Wednesday	1220-1230	afternoon grounding
	1230-1250	phonemic awareness/phonics
	1250-105	math
	105-120
	120-140	Spanish
	140-210	centers (spelling)
	210-230	recess
	230-240	storytime
	240-310	P.E.
	310-320	cleanup and go
Thursday	1220-1230	afternoon grounding
	1230-1250	phonemic awareness/phonics
	1250-135	centers (guided reading)
	135-150	math
	150-200	storytime
	200-230	reading buddies
	230-250	recess/laps
	250-310	writing
	310-320	cleanup and go
Friday	1105-1115	afternoon grounding
	1115-1135	phonemic awareness/phonics
	1135-1205	centers (spelling)
	1205-1220	math
	1220-1235	storytime
	1240-110	art
	110-120	cleanup and go

AM Class Syllabus

Monday	820-830	morning grounding
	830-850	phonemic awareness/phonics
	850-935	centers (guided reading)
	935-950	math
	950-1010	recess
	1015-1045	Brain Gym
	1045-1105	spelling
	1105-1115	storytime
	1115-1120	cleanup and go
Tuesday	820-830	morning grounding
	830-850	phonemic awareness/phonics
	850-935	centers (guided reading)
	935-950	math
	950-1010	recess/laps
	1010-1030	writing
	1030-1100	library
	1100-1110	storytime
	1110-120	cleanup and go
Wednesday	820-830	morning grounding
	830-900	P.E.
	905-935	Spanish
	935-955	phonemic awareness/phonics
	955-1015	recess
	1015-1030	math
	1030-1100	centers (spelling)
	1100-1110	storytime
	1110-1120	cleanup and go
Thursday	820-830	morning grounding
	830-900	reading buddies
	900-920	phonemic awareness/phonics
	920-1005	centers (guided reading)
	1005-1025	recess/laps
	1025-1040	math
	1040-1100	writing
	1100-1110	storytime
	1110-1120	cleanup and go
Friday	820-830	morning grounding
	835-905	art
	905-925	phonemic awareness/phonics
	925-955	centers (speling)
	955-1010	math
	1010-1020	storytime, weekend journal explanation
	1020-1030	cleanup and go

What we are learning this week - March 23rd

Here are some specifics of what we are covering this week:

Morning Grounding / Afternoon Grounding is the pledge, Channing Hall mission, IB Starters, roll call, hello song, counting (forward and backward), months, days, etc.

Phonics this week: Reviews of cap/lower case and their sounds with word family presentations - Mon: Bb, Dd, Ff Tue: Hh, Kk, Ll, Tt Wed: Gg, Jj, Yy Thu: Pp, Qq, Aa Fri: word families ad, at, ap

Phonemic Awareness this week: Concept of word (long and short identity, sentence word segmentation), Rhyme recognition (sets of rhyme words, couplets fill in the blank, rhyme words sets Y/N), Syllable segmentation (clap out name syllables, word syllables), Phoneme isolation (hearing letter sounds, listing words w/a specific beg. sound, 4 word tongue twisters

Math this week: Mon, Tue - People row patterns, Wed, Thu – Geoboard sequences, Fri - Large numeral cards 1-7

Writing this week: Focus on capitals at the beginning and periods at the end.

Spelling this week: Words their Way, currently running 4 levels.

New class schedule to start next week

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Part of what I love about being at Channing Hall is that we are constantly exposed to and discussing the current research, findings, and teaching materials. The result of this is that we are able to implement research-based methods into our teaching as the experts in our field continue to learn more about how we as humans learn.

Already, we have seen the implementation of Words Their Way as our spelling curricula, as this is a research-based and proven system for giving children the tools needed to become spellers. Our math system as well is based on this research. In reading, we focus on five areas: phonemic awareness (knowledge that words are made up of segments), phonics (connecting sounds with letter symbols), fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

This is much more full and rich than the curriculum I was presented when I was in Kindergarten. This is good for our kids, but of course a balance needs to be kept between academics and natural development of a five-six year old child. We are always looking for ways to better attain this balance, and with the assistance of many volunteers, we have done well this year. Thank you!

That said, there is always room for improvement! With this in mind, we will be starting a slightly revised class schedule next Monday. Instead of having five centers daily, we will have 13 centers weekly, and students will take the week to do them all, at a rate of three a day on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and two a day on Wednesday and Friday. More information will come throughout this week about the details of these centers.

Despite the change in center style, we still need our volunteers, so please keep up the good work. Thanks for all of your support, and as always, feel free to email me with any questions.

Mr. Matt

IB Unit Projects

This week our unit on expressing ourselves through art comes to an end. As a final project, we have asked each student to prepare a work of art (visual or music) that expresses a feeling that the student feels. Any medium is OK! Please have your child bring his/her project on Friday, and we will present them to the class.

Also, we are now ready to begin our next unit on community helpers. We would like to showcase many different jobs, in-home and out of the home. If you are willing to come and speak to the class about your profession, please let me know throughout this week, and we will try to have a speaker DAILY starting next week. Here are the dates we need speakers:

March 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31

April 1, 2, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

This is a great opportunity to visit the class, get volunteer hours, and impress your kids! Please let me know ASAP, slots will be filled first-come, first-serve. Also, we want a large variety of professions represented, so we will limit each profession to 2 speakers. Exception: different types of medicine can be presented as different jobs.

Thanks for your support!

What we are learning this week - March 16th

This week’s centers:

Monday
Math: Shape/color attribute sort
WTW: Cutting and intro
Journal: “Why is expressing yourself important?”
PA: Syllable awareness
Phonics: “Basics, silent e, combinations”

Tuesday
Math: Necklace patterns
Phonics: “Basics, silent e, combinations”
PA: Syllable awareness
reading groups

Wednesday
Math: Large number card tracing 1-5
WTW: Sorting and practice
Journal “”
PA syllables: Find words
Phonics: “Basics, silent e, combinations”

Thursday
Math: Numeral sequence practice 1-5
Phonics: “Basics, silent e, combinations”
PA syllables: Phrases
reading groups

Friday
Math: Large number tracing 1-7
WTW: Spelling test
Journal: “How do you make people sad?”
PA syllables: Create phrases
Phonics: “Basics, silent e, combinations”

Penmanship is a take-home individual thing, as are still unlearned past sight words. Periodic assessment of these will determine what still needs to be worked on.

Misc. Information

Reminder: some students have moved to another section in our Words Their Way spelling. Please check folders to make sure you are aware of your child's spelling words for the week. Questions? Send me an email!

The third term is coming to an end! Work on those sight words!!!

Please remember to read with and to your child for at least 20 minutes daily. Studies have shown and experience has proven that this is the most effective way for your child's reading skills to improve! Thanks for your support.

Cultural Awareness Travel Day

Our cultural awareness Travel Day is coming soon! This is a day when our students "travel" from classroom to classroom experiencing different countries of the world. Each classroom has been assigned a country, and the students work to decorate the room according to their assigned country. This year we have been assigned Austria. For the next couple of weeks, we will be doing art projects and talking in class about things Austrian, so be sure to ask your child what he or she learned about Austria each day!

What we are learning this week - March 2nd

Monday:
Math - Rhythmic clapping
WTW - Cutting and intro.
Journals - What do you do when you are mad?
PA - Rhyme (rewrite teapot)
Phonics - Basics (silent "e" combinations)

Tuesday:
Math - Dot chart patterns
Phonics - Basics (silent "e" combinations)
PA - Write 10 words that ryhme
Reading Groups

Wednesday:
Math - Rhythmic clapping
WTW - Sorting and practice
Journals - How do you make people happy?
PA - Write a poem using rhymes
Phonics - Basics (silent "e" combinations)

Thursday:
Math - Dot chart patterns
Phonics - Basics (silent "e" combinations)
PA - Odd word out rhyming
Reading Groups

Friday:
Math - Rhythmic clapping w/unifix cubes
WTW - Spelling test
Journals - How do you make people sad?
PA - Phonemic changes in words
Phonics - Basics (silent "e" combinations)

Penmanship is a take-home individual thing, as are still unlearned past sight words. Periodic assessment of these will determine what still needs to be worked on.