January 27, 2014

WEEK OF JANUARY 27-31

Dear Parents,
This week we are going to be working with the letter Ff. The vocabulary that we are going to be focusing on is the following: fan, fish, flute, flower, frog, friend, fruit, french fries, fox, fireflies, flashlight, fire, fist, football, and family.
If you have any items at home that begin with this letter, send them over with your child and we will be discussing them in class, we will display them on a table and we will return them back on Friday. The kids get excited to bring things from home.
Some of the stories that we will be reading this week are:


Fifi's flute has fallen in the river. Will it float away forever?




One day, a fox saw a crow with a piece of meat in his beak. The fox was very hungry and thought, “How can I get the piece of cheese?”
He thought for a while. Soon, an idea struck him. Ask your child what happened!!!


While the other field mice work to gather grain and nuts for winter, Frederick sits on a sunny rock by himself. “I gather sun rays for the cold dark winter days,” he tells them. Another day he gathers “colors,” and then “words.” And when the food runs out, it is Frederick, the dreamer and poet, whose endless store of supplies warms the hearts of his fellow mice, and feeds their spirits during the darkest winter days.

Two best friends, a minnow and a tadpole, are practically inseparable until the tadpole grows legs and decides to explore the world beyond the pond. When the tadpole, now a frog, returns to tell his friend of the extraordinary things he’s seen, the minnow, now a fish, tries to follow in his footsteps, but quickly finds that land is not what he expected.



In Math, we are going to begin a unit on Measurement. The children will have fun measuring things around the room using different kinds of items. We will use the 100 things they bring to school in the bag we asked last week.  We will also use items from the class such as unifix cubes, links, blocks, etc. You may want to do some measurement activities with your child at home. At this time, they will use non-standard units of measurement and not the rulers that we normally use to measure things.
We will also continue practicing addition and subtraction word problems to and from 10. They are all doing great! Please practice the following IXL skills with your child at home.
Measurement
Q.1     Long and short
Q.2    Tall and short


We will continue working with the sight words that were introduced last week: she, do, how, like if.


The children are having an extremely great time learning about all different kinds of animals. This week our main focus will be learning about FISH!!! We will be discussing their characteristics and the way they breathe under the water. We are also going to talk about animals that live under the ocean that are NOT fish. If you have a fish at home as a pet, we would love to have it at school for one or two days as our special visitor.
The children in charge of donating the materials for Kindergarten Kafe are: Maria Fernanda Almeyda and Luciana Nuñez. Thank you in advance!!!
MAP TESTING – We will continue with our second MAP testing session. We appreciate our parents making an effort so their child does not miss school that day. KA will be having their test on Monday, January 27th and Tuesday January, 28th at 10:10 a.m. KB will be having their test on Monday, January 27th and Tuesday January, 28th at 11:40 a.m.


As you all know, we are celebrating the 100th Day of School on Wednesday, January 29th. Your child should come to school wearing 100 things. Be creative and have your child help you out. Remember this is half day at school. Children are dismissed at 11:45 a.m. on this day!!!

SCHOLASTIC BOOKS! - This month your child(ren) will have the opportunity to purchase books through the International Scholastic Book Clubs.  This is an optional activity offered by the school, in case you want to motivate your child to read at home and to increase their own library.  With your purchase, our library will accumulate points to redeem for more books for the benefit of your children in our school. Order forms and catalogs were sent home last Friday. The due date to purchase the books online is February 10. The books will arrive to the school in one single delivery, and we will distribute them to the students according to their orders, approximately three weeks after the purchase due date. Please email Ms. Marilis (mzambrana@discoveryschool.edu.hn ) if you have any questions.


FROM THE DPTO – PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS – The DPTO has been working very hard to organize the traditional Movie Event for Discovery School families. This year, it will take place at NOVACENTRO on Sunday, February 9 at 11:00 a.m. for the presentation of THE LEGO MOVIE!!!



to our marvelous KINDER ZOO on February 28th.
The children will be assigned to an animal this week. Your child should create a 3D model about this animal and have it ready to display it in our room. They should also present facts about this animal and explain what they have learned about it. We will have a big event on this day in which children from other grades, teachers, and administrators will be invited. Your child can come dressed as a scientist, zoo keeper, or even the animal represented!!! Please be creative, help your child come up with the ideas. This is a fun family project and we would love to wrap up our unit on animals with this fun activity!!! MARK YOUR CALENDARS so you can join the fun!!!



January 20, 2014

WEEK OF JANUARY 21-24


Dear Parents,

This week we are going to be working with the letter Dd. The vocabulary that we are going to be focusing on is the following: dessert, dictionary, dominoes, dig, dance, daisy, dolphin, donkey, dice, doctor, drum, deer, doll, desk, and dinosaur.

 

If you have any items at home that begin with this letter, send them over with your child and we will be discussing them in class, we will display them on a table and we will return them back on Friday. The kids get excited to bring things from home.

 

Some of the stories that we will be reading this week are:

 

 


Dozens of doughnuts have disappeared from Dave's Diner and Detective Dog is on the trail!

 

 

 

 

In a few simple lines of verse on each spread, fathers and mothers are ready to put their youngsters to bed. But in this book, the youngsters are a wide variety of dinosaurs. And how do dinosaurs say good night?

 

 

 

This delightful story shows not so much how a dinosaur goes to school, but what it does when it gets there. Does it fidget in class? Roar out of turn? Disrupt the class? No! It raises its hand, helps its classmates and tidies up its desk!

 

 

 

Just like kids, dinosaurs have a difficult time learning to behave at the table. However, with a little help from Mom and Dad, these young dinosaurs eat all before them with smiles and goodwill.

This is one of those rhythmic, rhyming, funny books with emphasis on adjectives, this time describing the characteristics of brightly-colored, extremely funny dinosaurs.

 

 

In Math, we are going to be reviewing both addition and subtraction problems to and from 10. We are going to be discussing several word problems. The children will get the chance to create their own. They are all making a really good job with numbers. Please practice the following IXL skills with your child at home. They might need some help reading the word problems. However, this is a great opportunity to have your child read to you.

 

Addition

I.4     Ways to make a number - sums up to 5

I.5     Addition word problems - sums up to 5

I.6     Addition with pictures - sums up to 10

 

Subtraction

J.4     Subtraction word problems - numbers up to 5

J.5     Subtract with pictures - numbers up to 10

J.6     Subtraction - numbers up to 9

 

 

 

The sight words that we are going to be introducing this week are: she, do, how, like if.

 

 

 


 Last Friday, some of the children took their Report Cards in their folders. Please sign the envelope on the Q II line and return it to us as soon as possible.  The report cards stay with you at home.

 

The children are having an extremely great time learning about all different kinds of animals. This week our main focus will be learning about REPTILES!!! We are going to be discussing their characteristics, how they are born, and which animal belong to this group. We are going to talk about DINOSAURS!!

 

 

The children in charge of donating the materials for Kindergarten Kafe are: Lia Ochoa and Isabella McCaul. Thank you in advance!!!

 

MAP TESTING – Our second MAP testing session will take place from Tuesday, January 21 to Friday, February 10.  We appreciate our parents making an effort so their child does not miss school that day. KA will be having their test on Tuesday, January 21st at 8:30 a.m. KB will be having their test on Tuesday, January 21st at 10:10 a.m.

 


We are celebrating the 100th Day of School on Wednesday, January 29th. We will be completing all sorts of fun math and literacy activities on that day. We are asking that in addition of dressing up with 100 items, you help your child to prepare a 100 day collection. Please send a paper bag with your child´s name and fill this bag with 100 items and bring their collection to share with our class. This bag should be in school next Monday, January 27th. Examples: coins, beads, crayons, erasers, stickers, paper clips… the possibilities are endless. Avoid edible items. Thanks for your support!!!

 

FROM THE DPTO – PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS – The DPTO has been working very hard to organize the traditional Movie Event for Discovery School families. This year, it will take place at NOVACENTRO on Sunday, February 9 at 11:00 a.m. for the presentation of THE LEGO MOVIE

 

January 13, 2014

WEEK OF JANUARY 13-17

Dear Parents,

This week we are going to be working with the letter Gg. The vocabulary that we are going to be focusing on is the following: glitter, garden, gum, garage, glasses, garbage, grandparents, goose, gorilla, globe, gift, guitar, goggles, gate, and guard.
If you have any items at home that begin with this letter, send them over with your child and we will be discussing them in class, we will display them on a table and we will return them back on Friday. The kids get excited to bring things from home.







Some of the stories that we will be reading this week are:

Will Gorilla learn to be a good houseguest? As kids giggle at Gorilla’s goofy antics, they’ll learn about the letter G.

















The three Billy Goats Gruff want to go to a lush green meadow.  In order to get there, they have to cross a bridge inhabited by a horrible Troll.  When the tinniest Billy Goat Gruff crosses the bridge he convinces the Troll that he, the tinniest Billy Goat, is much too small to eat.  The middle Billy Goat Gruff also convinces the Troll not to eat him because he is also too small.  When the Troll tries to eat the biggest Billy Goat Gruff, the oldest brother decides to rid his family of the Troll forever.  Once all three Billy Goats Gruff arrive in the meadow, they eat and eat until they become too fat to go home.
It is about a rabbit's routine before he goes to bed. Before his bedtime, the rabbit goes around the room and notices items within eye sight and says goodnight to all of them. Everything from the pictures on the wall to the mice to the clock is mentioned and said goodnight too. As the story continues, the rabbit gets more and more tired before finally saying "Goodnight noises everywhere," just as he falls asleep.

This story is about a mischievous monkey who got out of his cage and follows around the zookeeper. As the zookeeper is saying goodnight to all of the animals, his first stop is the gorilla. As he is saying goodnight to the Gorilla, he steals his keys. The monkey then follows him silently and starts letting out all of the animals the zookeeper is saying goodnight to. As the monkey is letting out all of the animals, they are all following the zookeeper to each one of the cages.





Green Eggs and Ham is a short work of fiction by legendary kids book author Dr. Seuss, in which a very persistent Sam-I-Am repeatedly asks his unnamed friend, in a multiplicity of ways, whether his friend would like ham accompanied by, of all things, green eggs.




We will introduce the concept of subtraction. We will be subtracting from 5. We will also discuss the concept of after.The students are all very excited to start solving problems that involve adding or subtracting.
Please practice the following skills with your child at home:
Subtraction
J.1     Subtract with pictures - numbers up to 5
J.2     Subtraction - numbers up to 5
J.3     Subtraction sentences - numbers up to 5


This week we are starting with a new theme. We will be talking about ANIMALS. We will focus on brainstorming different kinds of animals the kids know, we will talk about their favorite animal and we will be discussing the basic needs of them. If you happen to have any books, posters, toys about animals, we would appreciate it if you would let us borrow them.


SECOND QUARTER REPORT CARDS AND CONFERENCES – Report Cards for the second quarter will be issued on Friday, January 17. Conferences for this quarter are on a need basis, and notices will be sent home on Monday, January 13. If a parent does not receive a notice from a teacher but would like to meet for a conference, please contact the teacher to set up a time for the afternoon of Friday, January 17. Students will be dismissed at 11:45 a.m, and conferences will be held from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

HOLIDAY – There will be no school on Monday, January 20 in recognition of the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

MAP TESTING – Our second MAP testing session will take place from Tuesday, January 21 to Friday, February 10. 









January 6, 2014

WEEK OF JANUARY 7-10


Dear Kindergarten Parents,

Welcome back!!! We hope you all had a fantastic Winter Break. We are with the batteries recharged to continue having fun and learning every day in our Kindergarten World. We wish you the best of the best in this New Year!




This week we are going to be working with the letter Ii. The vocabulary that we are going to be focusing on is the following: Indian, inside, invitation, instruments, itch, igloo, iguana, insects, and internet. If you happen to have any item at home that begins with this letter, have your child bring it to school so it can be displayed on a special table. Thanks in advance!


Some of the stories that we will be reading this week are:





Iggy Iguana thinks ice is nice! We will find out how he uses his imagination to beat the heat!! 








This is the story of one very smart little inchworm. As the story begins, he is about to be an addition to a robin's meal as the robin is hungry and the little inch was quite available. But unfortunately for the robin, this was one fast thinking little worm and he convinces the robin that he is a very useful creature. He offers to measure the robin's tail. Of course the robin is quite impressed (he found that his tail was five inches long, which pleased him greatly) so he takes the little worm to the other birds.


What’s a fraction? A puzzled inchworm finds out when she enlists the aid of H-inch, N-inch, and G-inch worms in her quest to measure all the vegetables in their garden. New lengths bring new fractions to conquer, but the clever worms prove equal to every challenge, triumphantly munching their way through this tasty tale of math and measuring.






In Math we are going to be introducing the concept of BEFORE. We are going to work with addition problems to 10 and reading a bar graph. Please practice the following skills at home:




Addition

I.1      Addition with pictures - sums up to 5

I.2     Add two numbers - sums up to 5

I.3     Addition sentences - sums up to 5


In Phonemic Awareness we are going to be working with oral blending of phoneme by phoneme. c-a-t = cat 

Sight words:
see, go, so, am, my





We are going to be wrapping our unit of Weather. We will be writing about the importance of weather and how to dress up for every kind of it.


The children in charge of donating the materials for Kindergarten Kafe this week are Katina Alvarado and Valentin Mejía. Thank you in advance!!


SECOND QUARTER REPORT CARDS AND CONFERENCES – Report Cards for the second quarter will be issued on Friday, January 17. Conferences for this quarter are on a need basis, and notices will be sent home on Monday, January 13. If a parent does not receive a notice from a teacher but would like to meet for a conference, please contact the teacher to set up a time for the afternoon of Friday, January 17. Students will be dismissed at 11:45 a.m, and conferences will be held from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.


HOLIDAY – There will be no school on Monday, January 20 in recognition of the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


MAP TESTING – Our second MAP testing session will take place from Tuesday, January 21 to Friday, February 10.