Week of January 21


Cologne Academy’s Extraordinary Expo

Note from Senora Marshall:
Hola!
Can you believe that the 2013 Cologne Academy’s Extraordinary Expo is almost here!!!  This year’s expo will be on 
January 31, 2013  5:30- 7pm.
The kindergarten through 4th grade Spanish performances will be in the music room. This is not a sit down/view all event like concerts. Families can cycle in and out of the music room for viewing of selected performances. Students are asked to report to the art room 5 min prior to performance times and the 5th through 8th grade Spanish projects will also be displayed in the science room. 
Families are asked to enjoy this event together.
Spanish Performance times:
Kindergarten- 5:30
1st Grade- 5:50
2nd Grade- 6:10
3rd grade- 6:30
4th Grade 6:50
Costume for the program is:
Kindergarten- nice outfit.  We  will make a mask for the song they will sing.

LANGUAGE ARTS
Theme: My Shadow
Letter Sounds: /j/ and /f/ 
High Frequency Words: did, girl
Decodable: Glad Pam*
*Please have your child read and re-read the pre-decodable and the decodable books that are sent home. Depending upon your child's reading abilities these books will range from very easy to challenging. However, it is still good practice to have your child read and discuss these books with you at home.

MATH
This week our mini-lessons will focus on numbers to 20. In workstations students will bundle straws into tens and ones, count and write  missing numbers, identify and extend patterns, represent and record numbers to 20, and sort 3-dimensional shapes. In the upcoming weeks we will be working on the following concepts:
  • Number Facts: composing and decomposing numbers, combining sets, counting on
  • Length and Height: comparing length and height using nonstandard units
  • Classifying and Sorting based on attributes
  • Weight & Capacity
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays students will be in math workstations. Our math work stations are planned to reinforce our daily objectives, build a strong foundation in number sense, and discover number relationships.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays students work in their Math Journals. Our Math Journal work begins with an open ended question that provides an opportunity for students to use multiple strategies for problem solving. Students are then asked to record their work and discuss how they solved the problem. Finally, a few students each week share their problem solving strategies with the class.

WRITING
This weeks mini-lessons:

  • Spelling the Best We Can and Moving On
  • Using Writing Tools: The Alphabet Chart
  • Writing-in-Progress/Long Term Projects
  • Introducing Booklets

Our goal is to convey  our ideas through drawing and writing including a lot of details, colors, labels and sentences. The conventions of writing are practiced every day by our little kindergarten authors!

CORE KNOWLEDGE UNIT
Native Americans with MRS. MAKELA
Students will go to Mrs. Makela's room from 2:00-2:30 everyday. 

SHOW AND SHARE
Friday - show and share

HOMEWORK
  • Read 20 Minutes every night
  • Practice writing numbers and letters
  • Count forward and backward
  • Play LEXIA or IXL