Upcoming Dates
* Thursday, April 1st: March Monthly Homework Due
I will send home the April monthly homework next week in our homework envelopes.
* Sunday, April 4th: April Scholastic Book Orders Due (attached to this newsletter)
Please try to order your books online. Our class earns free books with online purchases. Thank you!
1. Go to: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
2. Class User Name: Beebear
3. Password: MrsYu (no spaces or periods)
4. Browse books and place order using your credit card (no need to send money to school)
5. About 2 weeks after I receive all the orders, your books will be delivered to school!
If you prefer not to order online, you can return the order form directly to me with ONE check payable to Scholastic Book Clubs. Please hand it to me by Friday, April 2nd.
* Monday, April 12th to Friday, April 16th: No School – Spring Recess
Enjoy your week of vacation!
-----
Dear Families,
We had a new student join our class today. Her name is Resithi and she moved here from India about a month ago. She is joining our afternoon class. Please say hello to her family and welcome them to our school! Also, this week you should have received our class photo that some of you purchased. Please let me know if you didn’t get your order.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Last week’s Star was Woojin and this week’s is: Matthew N.
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: O
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: Old Mister Rabbit
• Language Arts: Starting last week, our listening center worksheet changed to include not only the character and setting, but also summarizing the beginning, middle, and ending of a story. Most students are doing a great job writing a sentence about the different parts of a book. However, it is more difficult for students to really summarize the story versus pick out a specific incident in the story. We are working now on really getting the main idea out of a story, and focusing on the middle of a story being the conflict or problem, and the ending is the solution, or how that problem gets solved. Our journals this week was to write about something that reminds them of Spring.
• Sharing: Everyone is doing a great job with their sharing, and students are definitely more comfortable in front of the class. In the next few weeks, I plan on modifying our sharing evaluation sheet in several areas. One area is fluency and pace. I would like students to work on speaking at a consistent pace throughout their sharing, for example, not stopping too often or speaking too quickly. Another area is participation. I will be evaluating students’ listening skills while others share, as well as whether or not they are raising their hands to ask questions. These are some additional areas to work on to improve everybody’s sharing.
• Math: We finished our chapter on Time and Calendar. We reviewed how to tell a minute hand from the hour hand, and what the difference is between a minute and an hour. They are doing a great job reading the time by the hour. In the calendar, we are continuing to practice answering questions such as, “What will tomorrow be?” or “What day of the week is April 5th?” Sometimes students get confused between the months and days. Now we are starting the next chapter on numbers from 21-30. Keep practicing accurate counting!
• Computer Lab: We worked on another type of poem this week, called an acrostic poem. Our names were stamped out vertically in Kidpix, and we had to search all the stamps to find different pictures that begin with letters in our name. You can see these pictures in the “Classwork” section of our website! These are called our Name Poems.
• Science: The topic for this week was all about Spring. We’ve read different books about spring and on Monday, we brainstormed what spring is and what it looks like. We wrote down things we see, hear, and feel in spring, and then wrote a short Spring poem on a flower template. Also, we talked about how trees are changing in Spring. I asked students to carefully observe the different trees they see as they go home everyday, and notice whether trees may be evergreen or deciduous trees. We learned how some trees blossom and have flowers in this time of year, and we are making an art project about blossoms. Another topic we are starting is the life cycle of a caterpillar. We read the story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and we are making our own versions of the story. We learned that caterpillars hatch from an egg, eat a lot, make a cocoon, and turn into butterflies!
• Assembly: We had a special presentation by the 3rd graders in Mrs. Webber’s classroom. They performed a play for our classroom called, “The April Fool’s Joke That Went Too Far.” It was nice to see other kids be able to prepare something and perform for us!
• Art: Some of the projects we made today in centers has to do with spring animals and babies being born! We made a handprint of a brown bunny with Ms. Shama for our April quilt square. We also made a baby chick hatching out of an egg using paper with our parent helpers.
I hope you have a nice weekend! See you on Monday!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
March 19, 2010
Upcoming Dates
* Thursday, April 1st: March Monthly Homework Due
I will send home the April monthly homework next week in our homework envelopes.
* Monday, April 12th to Friday, April 16th: No School – Spring Recess
Enjoy your week of vacation!
-----
Dear Families,
What a beautiful week! The sun is out, the weather is warm, and spring is finally here! We had a short week this week, but we were still very busy!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: We picked our Star during overlap today (Friday) so I will announce the Star next week!
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: I
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: What is the Sun?
• Language Arts: In our journals this week, we talked about different objects that are always green, such as grass, leaves, or bushes. Students had to write a sentence about something that is green and illustrate a picture to match their sentence. Also, we read the story, Rosie’s Walk, on Tuesday to learn about different positional words such as over, under, through, across, past, and around. We brainstormed different examples of objects that we could walk over versus what we can’t walk over, or things we walk around, versus through or across. This was a preparation for our buddy activity.
• Buddies: Our buddies came over on Tuesday during overlap, and we made a mini-book called Looking for Gold together. This book was about a leprechaun looking for gold, and buddies had to think of different places the leprechaun would look. We used the positional words from Rosie’s Walk to help us with this activity. Students worked on the book with their buddies, and brought it home on Tuesday.
• Math: This week’s focus has been on time. We learned how to read a digital and analog clock by the hour, and we practiced identifying the hour hand versus the minute hand. We talked about how long a minute is (60 seconds, amount of time to wash your hands) versus an hour (60 minutes, amount of time to do 2 centers in our class). We also talked about the difference between time and time of day, such as morning, afternoon, and evening. Finally, we practiced finding out the duration of an activity (i.e. the soccer game was from 3pm to 5pm, or 2 hours long). This concept was difficult for some students to understand. Please work with your child on finding the duration by using real-life examples (i.e. We go to school at 9am and leave at 12pm. How long are we at school? 3 hours).
• Computer Lab: To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday, we learned a short song and illustrated it in Kidpix. We made a rainbow and a pot of gold. Then we added shamrocks to decorate our pictures. You can see these pictures in the “Classwork” section of our website!
• Science: We have continued to talk about weather this week, focusing more on rainbows. We learned that rainbows form after it rains, and we reviewed the colors in a rainbow. We read some stories about rainbow. We also continued to talk about other weather such as foggy or cloudy weather. In a different science theme, since the letter of the week was I, we also learned facts about insects and how they are different from spiders. Ask your child what the difference is between a spider and an insect!
• Social Studies: This week was all about St. Patrick’s Day. We read many stories about leprechauns, Ireland, and other St. Patrick’s Day traditions. One activity we did today was a graphing activity with the Lucky Charms cereal. Thank you to Colleen’s family who donated 2 boxes for our classroom to do this activity. We sorted out the marshmallows in the cereal and made a bar graph of the different pieces. Then we answered some questions about our bar graph. Also in Friday centers, we made a leprechaun box for us to put things inside.
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney on Thursday. We sang some songs from last time such as Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone? and played the hot and cold game to search for our doggy. We also danced our partner dance called Bow Wow Wow. Afterwards we did some rhythm clapping, and learned a new song called Ten Little Rabbits. We acted like rabbits and had to hop around or wiggle our ears and nose!
Thank you for those of you who filled out the Eaton Survey. We reached about 80% participation, so great job! Also, thank you for those of you who have donated to the Their Future in Now campaign. It is pretty amazing how the community has stepped up to support all the teacher jobs that have been affected through the budget cuts. If you want more information, the website for the campaign is: http://www.savecupertinoschools.org/
Today the report cards are coming home. Remember that our goal is to try and get a 4 in all areas of the report card. If your child is not reaching a 4 in some area or if there is an extra area he/she needs to work on, I try to directly address it in the comment section. Please read the comments carefully for specific areas you can work on with your child. I am proud of all my students and I think they are all doing a great job in Kindergarten. Keep praising and encouraging your child to work hard and try their best in everything they do! Most importantly, Kindergarten is a time for children to learn how to control their bodies, how to follow rules, how to share with others, how to communicate clearly, and how to be respectful to peers or adults. Please continue to work with me to teach them these important life skills such as responsibility and work ethic. It has been a great year so far, and I am very proud of each one of them.
Have a wonderful sunny weekend everyone!
* Thursday, April 1st: March Monthly Homework Due
I will send home the April monthly homework next week in our homework envelopes.
* Monday, April 12th to Friday, April 16th: No School – Spring Recess
Enjoy your week of vacation!
-----
Dear Families,
What a beautiful week! The sun is out, the weather is warm, and spring is finally here! We had a short week this week, but we were still very busy!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: We picked our Star during overlap today (Friday) so I will announce the Star next week!
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: I
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: What is the Sun?
• Language Arts: In our journals this week, we talked about different objects that are always green, such as grass, leaves, or bushes. Students had to write a sentence about something that is green and illustrate a picture to match their sentence. Also, we read the story, Rosie’s Walk, on Tuesday to learn about different positional words such as over, under, through, across, past, and around. We brainstormed different examples of objects that we could walk over versus what we can’t walk over, or things we walk around, versus through or across. This was a preparation for our buddy activity.
• Buddies: Our buddies came over on Tuesday during overlap, and we made a mini-book called Looking for Gold together. This book was about a leprechaun looking for gold, and buddies had to think of different places the leprechaun would look. We used the positional words from Rosie’s Walk to help us with this activity. Students worked on the book with their buddies, and brought it home on Tuesday.
• Math: This week’s focus has been on time. We learned how to read a digital and analog clock by the hour, and we practiced identifying the hour hand versus the minute hand. We talked about how long a minute is (60 seconds, amount of time to wash your hands) versus an hour (60 minutes, amount of time to do 2 centers in our class). We also talked about the difference between time and time of day, such as morning, afternoon, and evening. Finally, we practiced finding out the duration of an activity (i.e. the soccer game was from 3pm to 5pm, or 2 hours long). This concept was difficult for some students to understand. Please work with your child on finding the duration by using real-life examples (i.e. We go to school at 9am and leave at 12pm. How long are we at school? 3 hours).
• Computer Lab: To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday, we learned a short song and illustrated it in Kidpix. We made a rainbow and a pot of gold. Then we added shamrocks to decorate our pictures. You can see these pictures in the “Classwork” section of our website!
• Science: We have continued to talk about weather this week, focusing more on rainbows. We learned that rainbows form after it rains, and we reviewed the colors in a rainbow. We read some stories about rainbow. We also continued to talk about other weather such as foggy or cloudy weather. In a different science theme, since the letter of the week was I, we also learned facts about insects and how they are different from spiders. Ask your child what the difference is between a spider and an insect!
• Social Studies: This week was all about St. Patrick’s Day. We read many stories about leprechauns, Ireland, and other St. Patrick’s Day traditions. One activity we did today was a graphing activity with the Lucky Charms cereal. Thank you to Colleen’s family who donated 2 boxes for our classroom to do this activity. We sorted out the marshmallows in the cereal and made a bar graph of the different pieces. Then we answered some questions about our bar graph. Also in Friday centers, we made a leprechaun box for us to put things inside.
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney on Thursday. We sang some songs from last time such as Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone? and played the hot and cold game to search for our doggy. We also danced our partner dance called Bow Wow Wow. Afterwards we did some rhythm clapping, and learned a new song called Ten Little Rabbits. We acted like rabbits and had to hop around or wiggle our ears and nose!
Thank you for those of you who filled out the Eaton Survey. We reached about 80% participation, so great job! Also, thank you for those of you who have donated to the Their Future in Now campaign. It is pretty amazing how the community has stepped up to support all the teacher jobs that have been affected through the budget cuts. If you want more information, the website for the campaign is: http://www.savecupertinoschools.org/
Today the report cards are coming home. Remember that our goal is to try and get a 4 in all areas of the report card. If your child is not reaching a 4 in some area or if there is an extra area he/she needs to work on, I try to directly address it in the comment section. Please read the comments carefully for specific areas you can work on with your child. I am proud of all my students and I think they are all doing a great job in Kindergarten. Keep praising and encouraging your child to work hard and try their best in everything they do! Most importantly, Kindergarten is a time for children to learn how to control their bodies, how to follow rules, how to share with others, how to communicate clearly, and how to be respectful to peers or adults. Please continue to work with me to teach them these important life skills such as responsibility and work ethic. It has been a great year so far, and I am very proud of each one of them.
Have a wonderful sunny weekend everyone!
Friday, March 12, 2010
March 12, 2010
Upcoming Dates
* Sunday, March 14th: Daylight Savings
Turn your clocks forward one hour!
* Monday, March 15th: NO SCHOOL – Staff Learning Day
The teachers will come to school on this day to share classroom management ideas with each other. We will also be working on the district writing assessment.
* Tuesday, March 16th to Friday, March 19th: No Homework Envelope
Since we do not have school on Monday, we will not be going to the library next week to check out a new book. Therefore, I will be sending home the homework packet on Tuesday in your child’s daily folder, however, they will not be bringing home the large manila envelope. Please return the homework on Friday as usual.
* Friday, March 19th: Second Trimester Report Cards Go Home
You will be receiving your child’s report card for the second trimester. Please keep the report card at home, but please return the manila envelope to school.
-----
Dear Families,
Thank you for all of the cute cards, flowers, and gifts to help me celebrate my birthday this past Wednesday. It really made me feel special, and it was really unexpected. I am so fortunate to have such caring students and families! Thank you so much!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Last week’s star was Caroline, and this week’s is Sara
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: Z – we had to learn a few new words in our dictionaries since Z is so uncommon. We learned about a zebrafish, a zebra swallowtail butterfly, zinnias, zither, zeppelins, and many more unfamiliar words!
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: I Like the Rain
• Language Arts: This week we reviewed what a concrete poem is again. We remembered making a Valentine’s concrete poem in the shape of a heart. This week our theme has been rain, so we wrote a poem in the shape of rain. We started by reading several rain poems and short stories. Afterwards, we brainstormed our favorite words or phrases that reminded us of rain. We wrote these words down in our own rain poems and illustrated them.
• Math: Everyday since the beginning of the year, we have been doing calendar. Students have learned songs about the months of the year, days of the week, yesterday/today/tomorrow, and morning/afternoon. This next chapter is a review of these calendar concepts. Students have to be able to answer different questions about the calendar, and also give examples of what would happen in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening.
• Computer Lab: Our March poem of the month is called, “Rainy Day.” Students have memorized the words to this poem and had to recite it back to me independently. During our computer lab, we used Kidpix to illustrate this poem by learning how to draw an umbrella. We learned a little bit about fractions when we drew our umbrellas. Afterwards, we added a person and decorated the background with appropriate pictures for a rainy day. These pictures turned out great! You can see them in the “Classwork” section of our website.
• Science: This whole week has been all about weather, in particular, rain. We read a non-fiction book called “Weather” and learned about all the types of cloud cover or precipitation. Cloud cover includes sunny, cloudy, foggy, and partly cloudy skies. Precipitation includes rain, snow, or hail. We also talked about stormy or windy weather too. Then we discussed what activities people can do in different types of weather. Students chose their favorite weather and activity to write about in their journals and illustrated them.
• Social Studies: We started learning about St. Patrick’s Day by reading some books about wearing green and finding leprechauns. We talked about how leprechauns are tricky and try to find gold. We took a picture of ourselves with a “tricky” face, and then made ourselves into a silly leprechaun. These projects turned out really cute because everyone has an orange beard =) During Friday centers, we also learned how to make shamrocks by cutting hearts!
• Art: Ms. Abada came to our classroom again this past Tuesday and helped us with our second half of our projects from last time. We made a wallpaper background last time of a setting of our choice. This week, Ms. Abada gave us Magic Clay to shape and sculpt into a person. We learned how to make all the body parts on our people, and she also gave us some tools to use to add decorations such as lines or dots on our people. These clay people were placed on the wallpaper backgrounds from last time, and needed to airdry for a few days. Be extra gentle with them!
• Assembly: Today we had Mobile Ed Productions come to our school to do a presentation for us called “Magic of Science.” They demonstrated different science experiments using concepts such as chemisty, light, magnetism, optical illustions, physics, and mathematics to show the students amazing magic tricks!
Remember to fill out the Eaton Survey! PTO is trying to get 100% participation at Eaton and that is why they are giving out pencils as an incentive for students to encourage their parents to complete the survey. Also, we have raised over $1000 for Haiti so far. Student Council decided to continue the fundraiser to raise more money, so you may send pennies or coins to school if you would like to donate more.
Also, congratulations to Matthew N., who was shown on television during a Sharks Pre-game Show. They highlighted Matthew for almost a minute and showed clips of him scoring during some of his hockey games! Great job Matthew! If you’d like to see it, I have a video I can pass around!
I have uploaded the photos of our March classroom decorations on the “Photos” section of our website. You can see examples of our Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hats, our Rain Poems, our March Handprint Quilt, and also our Leprechauns! Have a great 3-day weekend and I will see you on Tuesday!
* Sunday, March 14th: Daylight Savings
Turn your clocks forward one hour!
* Monday, March 15th: NO SCHOOL – Staff Learning Day
The teachers will come to school on this day to share classroom management ideas with each other. We will also be working on the district writing assessment.
* Tuesday, March 16th to Friday, March 19th: No Homework Envelope
Since we do not have school on Monday, we will not be going to the library next week to check out a new book. Therefore, I will be sending home the homework packet on Tuesday in your child’s daily folder, however, they will not be bringing home the large manila envelope. Please return the homework on Friday as usual.
* Friday, March 19th: Second Trimester Report Cards Go Home
You will be receiving your child’s report card for the second trimester. Please keep the report card at home, but please return the manila envelope to school.
-----
Dear Families,
Thank you for all of the cute cards, flowers, and gifts to help me celebrate my birthday this past Wednesday. It really made me feel special, and it was really unexpected. I am so fortunate to have such caring students and families! Thank you so much!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Last week’s star was Caroline, and this week’s is Sara
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: Z – we had to learn a few new words in our dictionaries since Z is so uncommon. We learned about a zebrafish, a zebra swallowtail butterfly, zinnias, zither, zeppelins, and many more unfamiliar words!
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: I Like the Rain
• Language Arts: This week we reviewed what a concrete poem is again. We remembered making a Valentine’s concrete poem in the shape of a heart. This week our theme has been rain, so we wrote a poem in the shape of rain. We started by reading several rain poems and short stories. Afterwards, we brainstormed our favorite words or phrases that reminded us of rain. We wrote these words down in our own rain poems and illustrated them.
• Math: Everyday since the beginning of the year, we have been doing calendar. Students have learned songs about the months of the year, days of the week, yesterday/today/tomorrow, and morning/afternoon. This next chapter is a review of these calendar concepts. Students have to be able to answer different questions about the calendar, and also give examples of what would happen in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening.
• Computer Lab: Our March poem of the month is called, “Rainy Day.” Students have memorized the words to this poem and had to recite it back to me independently. During our computer lab, we used Kidpix to illustrate this poem by learning how to draw an umbrella. We learned a little bit about fractions when we drew our umbrellas. Afterwards, we added a person and decorated the background with appropriate pictures for a rainy day. These pictures turned out great! You can see them in the “Classwork” section of our website.
• Science: This whole week has been all about weather, in particular, rain. We read a non-fiction book called “Weather” and learned about all the types of cloud cover or precipitation. Cloud cover includes sunny, cloudy, foggy, and partly cloudy skies. Precipitation includes rain, snow, or hail. We also talked about stormy or windy weather too. Then we discussed what activities people can do in different types of weather. Students chose their favorite weather and activity to write about in their journals and illustrated them.
• Social Studies: We started learning about St. Patrick’s Day by reading some books about wearing green and finding leprechauns. We talked about how leprechauns are tricky and try to find gold. We took a picture of ourselves with a “tricky” face, and then made ourselves into a silly leprechaun. These projects turned out really cute because everyone has an orange beard =) During Friday centers, we also learned how to make shamrocks by cutting hearts!
• Art: Ms. Abada came to our classroom again this past Tuesday and helped us with our second half of our projects from last time. We made a wallpaper background last time of a setting of our choice. This week, Ms. Abada gave us Magic Clay to shape and sculpt into a person. We learned how to make all the body parts on our people, and she also gave us some tools to use to add decorations such as lines or dots on our people. These clay people were placed on the wallpaper backgrounds from last time, and needed to airdry for a few days. Be extra gentle with them!
• Assembly: Today we had Mobile Ed Productions come to our school to do a presentation for us called “Magic of Science.” They demonstrated different science experiments using concepts such as chemisty, light, magnetism, optical illustions, physics, and mathematics to show the students amazing magic tricks!
Remember to fill out the Eaton Survey! PTO is trying to get 100% participation at Eaton and that is why they are giving out pencils as an incentive for students to encourage their parents to complete the survey. Also, we have raised over $1000 for Haiti so far. Student Council decided to continue the fundraiser to raise more money, so you may send pennies or coins to school if you would like to donate more.
Also, congratulations to Matthew N., who was shown on television during a Sharks Pre-game Show. They highlighted Matthew for almost a minute and showed clips of him scoring during some of his hockey games! Great job Matthew! If you’d like to see it, I have a video I can pass around!
I have uploaded the photos of our March classroom decorations on the “Photos” section of our website. You can see examples of our Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hats, our Rain Poems, our March Handprint Quilt, and also our Leprechauns! Have a great 3-day weekend and I will see you on Tuesday!
Friday, March 05, 2010
March 5, 2010
Upcoming Dates
* Sunday, March 7th: March Scholastic Book Orders Due (attached to last week’s newsletter)
Please try to order your books online. Our class earns free books with online purchases. Thank you!
1. Go to: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
2. Class User Name: Beebear
3. Password: MrsYu (no spaces or periods)
4. Browse books and place order using your credit card (no need to send money to school)
5. About 2 weeks after I receive all the orders, your books will be delivered to school!
If you prefer not to order online, you can return the order form directly to me with ONE check payable to Scholastic Book Clubs. Please hand it to me by Friday, March 5th.
* Sunday, March 14th: Daylight Savings
Turn your clocks forward one hour!
* Monday, March 15th: NO SCHOOL – Staff Learning Day
The teachers will come to school on this day to share classroom management ideas with each other.
* Friday, March 19th: Second Trimester Report Cards Go Home
You will be receiving your child’s report card for the second trimester. Please keep the report card at home, but please return the manila envelope to school.
-----
Dear Families,
We had a new PM student join us on Monday! Her name is Catherine Di and she moved here from DeVargas Elementary School in Cupertino. Please welcome her and her family to our class! Also, thank you to Connor’s family who celebrated his birthday with a gift card to Target for our classroom! Happy Birthday!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: We picked our Star on Friday during overlap this week (and I finish this newsletter Friday mornings to print out…), so I will share the students’ name next week!
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: D
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: Green Eggs and Ham
• Language Arts: We have been learning about Dr. Seuss this week. We read many of his books and practiced our rhyming words. On Monday, we read Dr. Seuss’ ABC. On every page, Dr. Seuss makes up a silly story using one letter of the alphabet. In our journals, we wrote our own silly sentences using one letter of our choice. Students learned that this is called alliteration. We illustrated our silly sentences. Another activity we completed was after we read The Cat in the Hat. We made a portrait of the Cat in the Hat, and then wrote different –at rhyming words on the stripes of our cat. Students should be able to master rhyming words at this point of the year. We also made our own striped hats today during Friday Centers and took a silly picture! Finally, we learned some facts about Dr. Seuss including his real name, his birthday, and why he wrote some of his most famous stories!
• Math: This week’s math was a continuation of the numbers from 11-20. We made different math sentences and practiced counting on from a number, such as “9” (10, 11, 12…). Students had to count, draw, and master numbers from 0-20. We also practiced being able to identify whether a number is more than, less than, or equal to another group.
• Computer Lab: In following with our theme of Dr. Seuss, we did a rhyming project using a Kidspiration template. Students had to match up two pictures that rhymed by using a drag-and-drop method. When students finished, we printed out their work. You can see one example of the final finished project in our “Classwork” section of the website.
• Science: We took an assessment this week to review prior learning that we have done about weather and seasons. Students were asked to identify the four seasons, and to describe three items they would wear if it were wintertime. This assessment demonstrates whether or not students are retaining prior information and also if they are able to express their ideas orally and in complete sentences.
• Social Studies: On Tuesday, we had a special visitor from the Cupertino Rotary Club. Mr. Jackson came to our classroom because it was Dr. Seuss’ birthday. He read us one of Dr. Seuss’ books and donated that book to our classroom. We appreciated his visit! Another activity we completed in Friday Centers was related to Dr. Seuss’ book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Our Friday parent helpers, Kumiko and Daniel’s mom, helped to teach students how to make origami fish to match this book. Some students were not able to finish the four fish, however, I sent home the directions so students can finish them at home.
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney on Thursday. We started by singing a fun song about a missing dog. We practiced singing in quiet voices and loud voices. Ms. Disney had us hide the dog in different places around the room, and we would use our voices to help a student find the dog (louder voice if they were close, softer voice if they were far away). Afterwards, we practiced rhythm beats using walking and running feet. We also learned a new partner dance!
Morning class, sorry about forgetting to send home the homework envelopes on Monday! That was my fault. Thank you for understanding!
Afternoon class, please remember that on rainy days, you can come directly to Room 8 to drop off your child at 10:55am (M, W, TH, F) and 10:35am (Tuesdays). Please do not drop off your child in the classroom before the start time unless I am in the classroom. Thank you!
I hope your family has a wonderful weekend and I will see you on Monday!
* Sunday, March 7th: March Scholastic Book Orders Due (attached to last week’s newsletter)
Please try to order your books online. Our class earns free books with online purchases. Thank you!
1. Go to: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
2. Class User Name: Beebear
3. Password: MrsYu (no spaces or periods)
4. Browse books and place order using your credit card (no need to send money to school)
5. About 2 weeks after I receive all the orders, your books will be delivered to school!
If you prefer not to order online, you can return the order form directly to me with ONE check payable to Scholastic Book Clubs. Please hand it to me by Friday, March 5th.
* Sunday, March 14th: Daylight Savings
Turn your clocks forward one hour!
* Monday, March 15th: NO SCHOOL – Staff Learning Day
The teachers will come to school on this day to share classroom management ideas with each other.
* Friday, March 19th: Second Trimester Report Cards Go Home
You will be receiving your child’s report card for the second trimester. Please keep the report card at home, but please return the manila envelope to school.
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Dear Families,
We had a new PM student join us on Monday! Her name is Catherine Di and she moved here from DeVargas Elementary School in Cupertino. Please welcome her and her family to our class! Also, thank you to Connor’s family who celebrated his birthday with a gift card to Target for our classroom! Happy Birthday!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: We picked our Star on Friday during overlap this week (and I finish this newsletter Friday mornings to print out…), so I will share the students’ name next week!
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: D
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: Green Eggs and Ham
• Language Arts: We have been learning about Dr. Seuss this week. We read many of his books and practiced our rhyming words. On Monday, we read Dr. Seuss’ ABC. On every page, Dr. Seuss makes up a silly story using one letter of the alphabet. In our journals, we wrote our own silly sentences using one letter of our choice. Students learned that this is called alliteration. We illustrated our silly sentences. Another activity we completed was after we read The Cat in the Hat. We made a portrait of the Cat in the Hat, and then wrote different –at rhyming words on the stripes of our cat. Students should be able to master rhyming words at this point of the year. We also made our own striped hats today during Friday Centers and took a silly picture! Finally, we learned some facts about Dr. Seuss including his real name, his birthday, and why he wrote some of his most famous stories!
• Math: This week’s math was a continuation of the numbers from 11-20. We made different math sentences and practiced counting on from a number, such as “9” (10, 11, 12…). Students had to count, draw, and master numbers from 0-20. We also practiced being able to identify whether a number is more than, less than, or equal to another group.
• Computer Lab: In following with our theme of Dr. Seuss, we did a rhyming project using a Kidspiration template. Students had to match up two pictures that rhymed by using a drag-and-drop method. When students finished, we printed out their work. You can see one example of the final finished project in our “Classwork” section of the website.
• Science: We took an assessment this week to review prior learning that we have done about weather and seasons. Students were asked to identify the four seasons, and to describe three items they would wear if it were wintertime. This assessment demonstrates whether or not students are retaining prior information and also if they are able to express their ideas orally and in complete sentences.
• Social Studies: On Tuesday, we had a special visitor from the Cupertino Rotary Club. Mr. Jackson came to our classroom because it was Dr. Seuss’ birthday. He read us one of Dr. Seuss’ books and donated that book to our classroom. We appreciated his visit! Another activity we completed in Friday Centers was related to Dr. Seuss’ book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Our Friday parent helpers, Kumiko and Daniel’s mom, helped to teach students how to make origami fish to match this book. Some students were not able to finish the four fish, however, I sent home the directions so students can finish them at home.
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney on Thursday. We started by singing a fun song about a missing dog. We practiced singing in quiet voices and loud voices. Ms. Disney had us hide the dog in different places around the room, and we would use our voices to help a student find the dog (louder voice if they were close, softer voice if they were far away). Afterwards, we practiced rhythm beats using walking and running feet. We also learned a new partner dance!
Morning class, sorry about forgetting to send home the homework envelopes on Monday! That was my fault. Thank you for understanding!
Afternoon class, please remember that on rainy days, you can come directly to Room 8 to drop off your child at 10:55am (M, W, TH, F) and 10:35am (Tuesdays). Please do not drop off your child in the classroom before the start time unless I am in the classroom. Thank you!
I hope your family has a wonderful weekend and I will see you on Monday!
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