April 29-May 3

Hello Smart Pre-Second Graders and Super Pre-Second Grade Parents!


Wow!  Can you believe that it will be May 1^st this week?  This year has flown by and the pre-second graders have made so much progress?

PRE - SECOND GRADE SPELLING CHALLENGE!!!
It's almost time for second grade!  Are you ready??  Are you spelling like a second grader???  I am challenging the class to all get 100% on their spelling tests this Friday.  If EVERYONE gets an A+ or A++, I will provide surprise for the class.  Are you up for the challenge???  YOU CAN DO IT!!!
This week in social studies and guided reading we are continuing our Eric Carle author study and having career week.  We will read "Rooster's Off To See The World" to get ready for second grade and make predictions about next year.  We will have several visitors in our class for career week.  The kids love having visitors in our class! 

 This week in writing we are working on a variety of exciting things!  The kids are working on essays about Eric Carle.  The kids will write thank you letters to each of our class guests.  The kids are letter writing experts now! They are such wonderful and enthusiastic writers.  I really enjoy reading their writing.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow.  This week in making words we are working on question words with patterns (words that begin with the "wh" chunk) and we are also reviewing "are" and "is" contractions and adding "not" contractions.  The kids have really tackled our contraction study and it is such a treat to see correctly used contractions in their writing.  Way to go, pre-second graders!
The kids enjoyed their career week centers today!  The centers include:
1.  Listening - The kids watched a short video of Eric Carle reading a story, talking about his life and career and demonstrating his illustrations.  This is a very neat and interesting video!  They made a page to our class book about what it would be like to be an author and illustrator.
2.  Social Studies - The kids took a mini-field trip to the Harelson office.  They interviewed the wonderful people in our office (Ms. Ann, Ms. Janice, Ms. Jill, Ms. Sharon) to find out more about their jobs.
3.  Writing - The kids looked at different books about careers.  They wrote a letter to themselves about their hopes for the future.
4.  Math - The kids practiced addition and subtraction on a space ship paper to get ready for our upcoming space unit.
5.  Reading - The kids played sight word flash card races.
This week in math we are working on strategies for quickly and efficiently solving different types of addition and subtraction problems.  The kids are good at addition and subtraction, but speed is still an issue.  These additional strategies will help increase speed.  We are also working on adding two two-digit numbers together.
We were unable to go to computers this week due to MAP testing in the older grades. J
Have an A+ week!
Ms. Klein

Weekly update April 22-26

Hello Awesome Pre-Second Graders and Amazing Pre-Second Grade Families!


We have an exciting week in first grade this week with Funfest on Friday!  The kids are SO excited for Funfest!  Volunteers are still needed to help at Funfest. 
 Upcoming Dates
* Book Fair: April 22 - 26.  The library is all set up and ready for the book fair!  It is open all day each day for shopping. Happy reading!
* Funfest: Friday, April 26. 
* Career Week: April 29 – May 3.  All interested parents are invited to come in and share your career experience with the kids.  They love having visitors in class!  We still need several parents, so please let me know if you would like to come in.
This week in social studies, guided reading and writing we are doing an author study on Eric Carle.  Each day we will read to learn about Eric Carle and then we will read a different book.  However, today we learned about earth day. Tomorrow we will learn about visualization and I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to the kids without showing the pictures so they had to visualize the story in their heads.  This helped them learn the importance of word choice.  Wednesday we will read "The Very Clumsy Click Beetle" to learn how different elements (in addition to simply words and illustrations) can strengthen a story.  On Thursday we will read "The Mixed Up Chameleon" to practice making text to self connections.  Next week we will read "The Grouchy Ladybug" to practice making text to text connections with the characters from "The Grouchy Ladybug” and we will read "Do You Want To Be My Friend?" to learn the power of images in stories.
This week in writing we are working on writing a research paper!  The kids are writing about Eric Carle and each day they will add a paragraph to the paper.  This will give the kids great practice in note taking, paragraph writing and editing.  This is challenging, but I know that my pre-second graders are up to the challenge!  Kids - be sure to tell your parents about the steps for writing a research paper!
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow.  This week in making words we are reviewing words with the "ight" chunk.  We are also adding to our contraction study by reviewing "are" contractions and learning about "is" contractions (it's, that's, what's).  We will also work on using environmental resources to correctly spell words.
The kids enjoyed their Eric Carle centers today!  The centers for the week include:
1.  Listening - The kids watched a video of Eric Carle making his art.  They wrote three facts and their favorite part of the video.  They drew an Eric Carle - style picture on the back.
2.  Art - The kids used tissue paper and paint to practice making pictures the way that Eric Carle does.  They loved this!!!
3.  Writing - The kids wrote a friendly letter to Eric Carle.
4.  Math - The kids practiced place value and writing 3 and 4 digit numbers using number clues and riddles.
5.  Reading - The kids read a variety of Eric Carle's books.  They were surprised to know there are so many books!  They shared their favorites with their reading group.
The kids are really doing a nice job learning place value and writing large numbers.  We will continue to work on this during the week.  Making combinations of three numbers that add to six was very challenging for the kids; we will spend more time with this during the week.  We will also continue to work on automaticity in addition and subtraction math facts.

Have an A+ week!
Ms. Klein

Weekly Update April 15-19

Hello Super Pre-Second Graders and Stupendous Pre-Second Grade Parents!

Upcoming Dates and Important Information

* First grade is creating a Tons of Fun basket for the funfest. If you would like to donate an item please send it in by this Friday, April 19.

* The Funfest is Friday, April 26. I hope everyone can attend; it will be a lot of FUN!

* We will study careers for an upcoming social studies unit (April 29 – May 3). I would like to invite all parents who would like to teach students about their careers to come visit our classroom. The best time to visit would be in the morning, between 8:30 - 10:00. If you would like to participate in career week, please let me know. The kids absolutely love having visitors in our class!

This week in science, guided reading and writing we are learning all about plants and seeds. Today we learned super seed facts (parts and functions). Tomorrow we will learn about the life cycle of a peanut seed. On Wednesday we will read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and we will also learn about plants by observing stems. On Thursday we will learn about types of bulbs. On Friday we will learn what the expression “Green Thumb” means and we will also learn how to care for plants.

The kids continue to be wonderful writers! We finished a district writing assessment. We will also write a fiction story on what it would be like to be a seed. The kids will get some practice in scientific non-fiction writing by describing the life cycle of a peanut seed.

The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are reviewing problematic sight words (they, was), reviewing the "ou" chunk and introducing the "they're" contraction. I am so impressed with how the kids have tackled the contractions we learned thus far (it's, can't, don't, you're, we're) and I LOVE seeing them in their writing. Way to go, kids!


The kids enjoyed their plant and centers today! The centers for the week include:

1. Listening - The kids listened to "I'm A Seed" and they made a pop-up baby plant and labeled its parts.

2. Science - The kids predicted where seeds would be and what they would look like in eight different fruits and vegetables. The fruits were cut open for the kids to study. They counted the seeds in each fruit and compared them.

3. Writing - The kids wrote about what it would be like to be a farmer.

4. Math - The kids sorted a cup of seeds by type. They graphed the seeds and answered questions about the different seeds.

5. Reading - The kids read plant books and shared different facts with their reading groups.

We are also learning to compare and compose shapes, both flat and solid. We are partitioning shapes and have a fun edible math lesson to help us.

Have an A+ week!

Miss Klein

Weekly Update April 8-13

Hello Awesome First Grade Families!
This week in science, guided reading and writing we are learning about the desert and Native American desert folklore. It is also time for the district writing assessment. Students will be writing about their favorite animals. We did a graphic organizer today to help us get our thoughts and facts together. oughout the week and practice writing our own folklore.

In writing, we are working on folk tales, thinking beyond the text and using text to text connections in writing. After we read a desert folk tale each day, the kids will re-write the folk tale to their own specifications. This should be a fun exercise for the kids!

The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are working on using environmental print independently. We will continue to examine the tricky, or silent "r" and we are learning more about contractions.

In reading we are working to understand folklore and legends. We are comparing these types of stories to fiction and non-fiction.

The kids enjoyed the desert centers this week! The centers for the week include:

1. Listening - The kids listened to a neat cd, Sounds of the Desert, and then they completed a desert crossword puzzle.

2. Social Studies - The kids played "Monsoon Mischief," a desert dice game. Each child took a turn rolling the dice with desert pictures. They had to share 3 facts with the group about the picture they rolled.

3. Writing - The kids practiced their folk tale writing by writing a story about how the coyote got its tail. They wrote their story on special coyote paper.

4. Math - The kids practiced their math facts automaticity with addition and subtraction pages.

5. Reading - The kids chose books to read from the bee quiet corner.


We will work this week on shapes and then go into partitioning shapes by next week. The students will be able to understand different types of fractions and partition shapes into three different fractions. We are also working very hard on our facts facts to 10, addition and subtraction.

We have a fun activity planned for computers this week.

Have an A+ week!

Miss Klein

Weekly Update April 1-5

Hello Super First Graders and Stupendous First Grade Families!


This week in science, guided reading and writing, we are learning about desert animals to follow up our field trip. Today we learned about the characteristics of coyotes. On Tuesday we will learn about the characteristics of bobcats and how they got their name. On Wednesday we will learn about gila monsters and why they are unique. On Thursday we will learn about javelinas and how to differentiate between a javelina and a pig. On Friday we will review the animals and see a short National Geographic video about the desert.

In writing we are working on a variety of different things, including poetry, stories and brainstorming. Each day the kids will do their writing and then color a picture of the animal we learned about. They will have their own book of desert animals at the end of the week! Today the kids wrote "How To Be A Coyote" poems. They have made so much progress with their poetry and these were so fun to read! Tomorrow the kids will write a story about running into a bobcat. On Wednesday the kids will learn how to do a brainstorm burst and they will do one about a gila monster. On Thursday the kids will write a "What Am I?" poem about either a coyote, bobcat, gila monster or javelina. On Friday the kids will use a picture of the desert to guide them in writing a story about the desert at night.

The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are learning about words with the sk/sm chunks. We will also look at tricky/silent letters, such as the "j" in javelina. We will continue to review "not" contractions.

The kids enjoyed our desert centers. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to "The Tortoise and the Hare." They made a paper plate desert tortoise.
2. Science - The kids made a day and night wheel. The wheel shows what desert animals are nocturnal and what desert animals are diurnal.
3. Writing - The kids pretended to be reporters writing for "The Desert Reporter."
4. Math - The kids made their own gila monsterwith beans!
5. Reading - The kids played hangman with spelling words!

In math we are working on finishing our time unit. We also are working on techniques for problem solving!

Have an A+ week!
Miss Klein