Good morning everyone!
I understand that some people have had some sound issues with GoogleMeets! If this happens to you and you are unable to hear me, tap on the three small dots in the bottom corner, go into "settings" and make sure the sound OUTPUT is set as "default". Next, pop into the iPad settings, open Safari, and make sure the iPad is allowing all video chat options. If that doesn't work, it seems like logging out, closing out of safari, and reopening the video call has worked! I also know that some people are having a hard time getting INTO the calls--this seems to affect different people on different days. It doesn't seem that there is anything any of us can do differently; other teachers are suspecting that Google might just be overloaded! If this happens day after day, let me know and we can try and meet one-on-one at a later time and see if that works. Here is the agenda for the day! Whole Group 9:00 GoogleMeet: After the meet, your child will sort animals that migrate and animals that hibernate on SeeSaw. Brown leaves--10:00 GoogleMeet They will need pages 81-84 in their math workbook and a pencil They will complete the number writing worksheet on their own after the live lesson. They will complete one IXL activity that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. They can work on IXL at any time today. Yellow leaves--10:30 GoogleMeet They will need pages 81-84 in their math workbook and a pencil They will complete the number writing worksheet on their own after the live lesson. They will complete one IXL activity that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. They can work on IXL at any time today. Cardinals--12:30 GoogleMeet They will need their white board and marker! Blue Jays--1:00 GoogleMeet They will need their phonics box of tiles! They will also need their white board, marker, and something to erase with! Geese and Swans No GoogleMeet today, but look for a SeeSaw letter/word work assignment posted at 8:00 to be completed at any time today. Please also spend 15 minutes reading or listening to reading on EpicBooks! Also, if your child raised $300 for the marathon and earned a pizza, this will get picked up when we return to school--no need to worry about the Thursday pick up. Look for an email with details for Friday's schedule changes. Happy Monday!
Here's what we have going on today: Whole Group 9:00 GoogleMeet: I will post a link to a video under "Activities" on SeeSaw at 8:00. If possible, please have your child watch this video BEFORE the whole-group meeting at 9:00! We will talk about migration this morning! We will do an activity together. No science assignment! Religion: I will post a pre-recorded religion lesson at 8:00 this morning about the Holy Trinity. There will be a short video to watch on the SeeSaw Activity. They will then label and decorate the candy corn template on the activity and submit. Brown leaves--10:00 GoogleMeet They will need their math workbook (Unit 2 Lesson 4) and a pencil. They will need their white board, marker, and something to erase with. Brown Leaves will complete one IXL activity that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. They can work on this at any time. Yellow leaves--10:30 GoogleMeet They will need their white board, marker, and something to erase with. Yellow Leaves will complete one IXL activity that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. If possible, please have your child WAIT to complete these until after their math lesson--I have not formally taught them the skill they need yet! Swans--12:30 GoogleMeet They will need their white board, expo marker, and something to erase with. Geese--1:00 GoogleMeet They will need their white board and an expo marker, and something to erase with. They will also need their phonics box of letter tiles! Blue Jays and Cardinals No GoogleMeet today, but look for a SeeSaw letter/word work assignment posted at 8:00 to be completed at any time today. Please also spend 15 minutes reading or listening to reading on EpicBooks! We will have an altered schedule on Friday so we can take part in all-school BINGO at 10:00. We will not to hold regular small groups on this day. Instead, we will do some whole-class Halloween activities Keep an eye on your email and SeeSaw for more info later today! Please let me know if you need anything else from me! Good morning!
Whole Group 9:00 GoogleMeet: We will talk about the weekend's Gospel during our whole-group lesson this morning! I will ask the kids to draw a picture of one way they can show love to their neighbor and post it on SeeSaw. Brown leaves--10:00 GoogleMeet They will need a pencil, their math workbook (Unit 2 Lesson 3), and 5 of something small to practice adding with. This could be coins, beans, blocks, erasers, small toys etc. Brown Leaves will complete two IXL activities that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. If possible, please have your child WAIT to complete these until after their math lesson! Yellow leaves--10:30 GoogleMeet They will need a pencil, their math workbook (Unit 2 Lesson 3), and 10 of something small to practice adding with. This could be coins, beans, blocks, erasers, small toys etc. Yellow Leaves will complete two IXL activities that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. If possible, please have your child WAIT to complete these until after their math lesson! Cardinals--12:30 GoogleMeet They won't need anything of their own! We will also read a story together, but they will see my screen. Once we are done, they will open SeeSaw and see the same story in their activities to read to an adult! They will FINISH the story with an adult and then use the microphone button to tell me about the vocabulary words they read and what they mean! Blue Jays--1:00 GoogleMeet They will need their photo case of letter tiles! We will aso read a story together, but they will see my screen. Once we are done, they will open SeeSaw and see the same story in their activities to read to an adult! They should read it once to an adult or older sibling at home. Geese and Swans No GoogleMeet today, but look for a SeeSaw phonics assignment posted at 8:00! Please also spend 15 minutes reading or listening to reading on EpicBooks! Let me know if you need anything else from me! I'll outline everything for the Thursday here, sans links.
All links will also be posted in SeeSaw announcements and journals 15 minutes prior. I will put all assignments in bold below. I know it looks like a lot but you only have to worry about the groups and meetings your child is in! Whole Group 9:00 GoogleMeet We will talk about hibernation during our whole-group lesson this morning! They will then have a hibernate/does not hibernate sort to complete on SeeSaw. This will post after our meeting! Brown leaves--10:00 GoogleMeet They will need their math workbook (Unit 2 Lesson 2) and a pencil. Brown Leaves will complete two IXL activities that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. They can be completed before or after the lesson! Yellow leaves--10:30 GoogleMeet They will need their math workbook (Unit 2 Lesson 2) and a pencil. Yellow Leaves will complete two IXL activities that will be assigned to their app before 9:00. If possible, please have your child WAIT to complete these until after their math lesson! Swans--12:30 GoogleMeet They will need their phonics box of letter tiles! We will also read a story together, but they will see my screen. Once we are done, they will open SeeSaw and see the same story in their activities to read to an adult! They should read it once to an adult or older sibling at home. Geese--1:00 GoogleMeet They will need their white board and an expo marker, as well as something to erase with! We will also read a story together, but they will see my screen. Once we are done, they will open SeeSaw and see the same story in their activities to read to an adult! They should read it once to an adult or older sibling at home. Blue Jays and Cardinals No GoogleMeet today, but they should spend 15 minutes reading or listening to reading on EpicBooks! We're going to get just a taste of some distance learning with a little bit of everything today!
This summary will always be posted on my website the night before WITHOUT the Zoom link, in case you want a peek at what the next day will look like! I will email you every day at 8:00am with the plan for the day. We will have a whole-class Zoom call at 9:00 for all kids that can join! I understand that not everyone has been able to pick up things at school yet, but if your child is able to get on this call on another device, that would be amazing! They do not need the zoom app or account, just a web browser. I will post the link to the Zoom call on SeeSaw when we get closer so they can either use that, or you can follow this link. Please help them find a quiet place, free from distractions if possible! The kids and I will talk about what our distant days will look like, go over expectations for zoom and iPad use, submitting assignments, do calendar, and pray together! I'd also like the kids to test out IXL and SeeSaw from home today! I will assign them two math activities to complete on IXL and one word work activity on SeeSaw. Please let me know if there are any roadblocks with this so we can figure out how to get these to work as smoothly as possible! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Good afternoon everyone!
Book orders are on their way--they should be in in about a week. Books make great gifts--if you ever need book order books to be a surprise, please let me know so we can figure out a sneaky way to get them home! MEA break is this Thursday and Friday! I will send home some optional fluency sheets tomorrow for the kids to work on over MEA. They will need an adult or older sibling's help with these! The goal is to read as quickly and accurately through one page at a time--sometimes covering up the lines the kiddo isn't working on helps to not overwhelm them! You can start with one line at a time, half the page, and slowly work up to the whole page. If they master it forwards, try it from the bottom up! I tucked the at-home Seesaw STUDENT log-in and IXL usernames and passwords into the back of your child's folder today. You do NOT need to do anything with these now! Please leave them in their folders. I will add to this as we learn new apps and programs! That's all for now! I'm so happy we've made it to MEA break--the time from the start of the year to MEA is one of the longest stretches without a break, and the kids have been superstars. THANK YOU for all of your support from home! Lisa Hello everyone!
Just a few quick notes as we wrap up the week! The marathon donation window has come to close. Thank you SO MUCH with helping your child fundraise. The pizza take-home date will be announced in the weeks to come. The Puffies were a HUGE hit with the kindergarteners--I'm so glad they were so motivated to collect pledges. As the puffie season has now ended, please help your child remember to keep their puffies, as well as any other toys from home, at home. We have so many free choice options that change each day, so they don't need to bring any toys from home to play with. Thank you!! We are diving into another "Saintly Study" this month with St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. While the main message we learn from Mother Teresa is to be "assertively friendly", we are also having many discussions as a group to be patient and wait your turn when you want to talk to someone. Many kids come from a smaller PreK or daycare setting where they have more attention from adults and friends, and waiting for my attention can often be a challenge. I am encouraging the kids to "ask three and then me" when I am occupied with other students, as well as using resources around the room to help them! I'm excited to head into our short MEA week next week! We will be using the three days as a review time for phonics, math, and reading to spiral back and revisit all the skills we've learned. It's amazing to see all the growth that is already happening! Over the long weekend, I would like to send home some letter, sight word, and number fluency pages home with the kids to work on. It won't be anything too time-consuming. Just five minutes a day with numbers and letters/words can make a HUGE difference! I will send those home next week. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and weekend! Blessings, Lisa Happy Monday!
I can't believe MEA is just around the corner. This is one of my favorite times of the year, because the kindergarteners in my classroom now are VERY different kindergarteners than they were in September. It's unbelievable how much emotional, social, and behavioral growth happens in a month. Now comes the academic growth! Of course, so much has happened already, but now we'll really start soaring as we thrive in small groups. The kids are LOVING their iPads! As we get more comfortable with different apps, I'll make them accessible to you at home. Some will be used only at school for the time being, but programs like EpicBooks are great to use at home too. If you visit getepic.com/students and enter our class code vra2594, they can access their stories at home! They love exploring and listening to different books during guided reading. Soon, I will be assigning them books to listen to and read as a reading center! You can use the website on a computer or the EpicBooks app on an iPad--it's free! We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate in October! As a reminder, if the kids want to bring a birthday treat, it should either be non-edible OR prepackaged, still in the original box or bag, for me to pass out to the kids. Weather-permitting, we will go outside, socially distance, and sing "Happy Birthday". Please let me know if you need anything from me! We're in for a fun week! Lisa Happy October!
We are SO CLOSE to being able to say we're a month into school! Despite all going on and how school looks, it has flown by! We celebrated the 20th day today with a visit from Zero the Hero! The kids used their iPads to take pictures and send them to you--I try to find them and read them your responses if you send them and you should see them BEAM with pride! So incredible!! If you plan on ordering from the Scholastic Book Orders in October, please submit your order online by October 9. The class code is RJBZZ. We are working hard to be independent in reading and math groups! iPads are helping with this quite a bit, as they have fun tasks to do, but we are working on solving problems and asking others for help when we get stuck with centers and worksheets! Fostering independence in all aspects is major kindergarten goal, and we need your help too! Please help your child remember to empty their folder, pack their snack, zip their coat, put on gloves (now that it's getting chilly!) and make sure they have their water bottle. Prompting them to do these tasks but letting them do it themselves is great practice! I love watching them take ownership over their own things in the classroom too! As the weather gets chilly, the heat is kicking on! I encourage kids to bring layers to school, as it often gets warm in our basement room when the boilers turn on in the morning. As a reminder, red or navy sweatshirts must have a SWS logo on them to be worn in the classroom. Other uniform info can be found here on the SWS website. Thank you for your understanding! That's all for now! I'm looking forward to another fun month together! Lisa Happy Tuesday!
We are going to Mass tomorrow morning! It is very especially important that your child is on time (at school at or before 7:40) on Mass days! I will have them check in, go to the bathroom, and work on their "busy bag" until 7:40, when we will pick up our things and get ready to leave for church. Mass will look different for students this year, but I am still looking forward to it! We take school pictures on THURSDAY! The kids can be out of uniform dressed their best. In the past, kindergarten has taken pictures almost right away in the morning, so they don't have much time to make too much of a mess! If you are ordering a photo package, please return the form with payment. Even if you are not ordering a photo package, please fill out your child's name on the form and return it to school. They need the form with their name in order to have their picture taken, and every child needs their picture taken for the yearbook! We are doing so many different things each day to foster independence in the kindergarteners! They are beginning to work in reading and math centers, are working together to solve kid-sized problems, and are responsible for their materials. Ms. Doyle has asked that kindergarten parents please let their child walk into the school and down to the kindergarten area by themselves! We just finished day 13 and I have complete confidence in all of them! Many kids have been walking down together from the PAC, which is amazing! If you are dropping off at the front door, feel free to walk them to the door and let Mrs. Gorr let them inside. Thank you!! Please let me know if you need anything from me! Lisa |