April Homework Calendar

Dear Kindergarten Families and Kids,

I am thinking of you all each day and missing you! I hope you are staying healthy and having fun.  Please continue to send me pictures and videos of the kiddos doing fun things and learning.  Seeing their little faces brightens my day! Below is a copy of the April Homework Calendar that we send each month.  Children are welcome to choose activities off this menu to complete at home.  As a Kindergarten team, we are really trying to find a balance between screen time and hands-on learning activities.  We feel the benefits of hands-on activities and paper/pencil activities are huge for this developmental age.  Please let me know if you have any questions or need help in any way.  Your feedback is so important to me.  I am available through email each day. Look out for a new Padlet towards the end of this week.  Isn't it fun to see all of your classmates? 

Here is our April Homework Calendar!

Just Checking In to Let You Know I am Thinking of You!

Hi Kindergarten Families,    

               

I just wanted to make sure you all got the new links that were added to the Tri-Town School Union K-2 Resources! Please click on the links below to look at all of the wonderful resources! I kept the original choice board that was offered on March 23rd, as well as the Optional TTU Resources for Families, which I posted last week.  I have added a link to the New Resources that were posted this morning, along with a link to the K-5 Resources from WGBH.

I am thrilled to see so many children posting on our two class Padlets! I love the photos and hearing about what the children are doing while they are at home! It's so nice to see their smiling faces! I miss them so much! If your child hasn't had a chance to post on our Padlets, it's not too late! Children can post several times if they would like!!!

I am so happy to see so many children logging on to Raz-Kids and reading while they are at home! I can also see that some children have gone into IXL and completed some sections! Just a reminder, if your child goes into IXL, please look at the top right-hand corner of the screen and make sure it is on Kindergarten.  If it is not in the Kindergarten section, you can click and scroll to Kindergarten. 

Exciting News:  

IXL has now given us access to ELA, Social Studies, and Science!
When students log into their Tri-Town IXL they will see all these options are available!

Also, ABC Mouse has been activated for our school!  
Please see the attached flyer.

 ParentLetter_AofL_SCHOOL4374.pdf

Reminder:  There are several hands-on items that I have provided in the last couple of weeks for you to print at home (if you have a printer).  I am trying to provide a balance between the amazing screen time activities that have been offered, while also offering some additional hands-on activities for children to use at home.  I usually buy cardstock to print games for the children, as that works best, but copy paper will do if you don't have cardstock at home.  I noticed Staples is still open! That's where I usually buy the cardstock for all of my games and activities, or you can order some on Amazon if you want the games to last! The following hands-on activities have been posted recently.  You just need to scroll down to previous blog postings and you will find them:

*  New sight words (fish-theme)

*  Slides and Ladders Sight Word Games

* New video from Mrs. Gouzie with a story 
* New Padlet activity




Grades PreK-2-week of March 23rd

New Primary Learning Resources-week of March 30th

K-5 Resources from WGBH https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/ilcoll-k5/


Optional TTU Resources for Families
https://sites.google.com/tritownschoolunion.com/ttustudentfamilyresources/ttu-parentguardian-resources

These resources have been collected, created, and submitted by Tri-Town educators and are designed to provide parents and guardians with ideas and resources for keeping children engaged during the school closure.  These optional activities may require parent/guardian support to help navigate websites or monitor activities. Some resources may require online registration. Please select activities that you feel will be most appropriate for your family.

Please note: Per mandatory state guidelines, any resources provided are optional, and there is no expectation of completion during this extended school closure time.

I hope this email finds you and your family well! You are all in my thoughts at this time!

Take Care,   
Kathleen Gouzie

                               

                   

Snakes and Ladders Sight Word Games

Dear Kindergarten Families,

Are you looking for some fun hands-on learning games? 

How about trying some Snakes and Ladders Sight Word Games?

Simply copy, click on the game board to enlarge, and print and you will be all set! 

I would like to try to provide you with some additional hands-on learning activities 

in addition to the amazing digital resources that we have already provided, 

as it is important for our Kindergarten children to have a balance 

between screen time and hands-on learning activities.

*Please let me know if you find these kinds of activities helpful, by posting a comment at the bottom of this blog post.  Your feedback is important to me as it will guide me in trying to provide materials that you can use at home during this 

transition to remote learning at home!

Please note: Per mandatory state guidelines, any resources provided are optional,

and there is no expectation of completion during this extended school closure time.

 

Sheila Rae, The Brave Story Online and padlet Enrichment Activity

Click on the link below to view Mrs. Gouzie's Story online!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-1bE4JfRUBDdKBL2kmEVSbecHa5RsHx9

Hi everyone!

I hope you enjoyed storytime with Mrs. Gouzie today! 

I thought it might be fun to make a new padlet to go with this story.

Children can write their answers to the following question and parents can type it onto our padlet, or kids can type directly on our padlet.  

What part did you like best in this story? Tell me why you liked that part.  
If you would like, you could also draw a picture to go with your writing and add it on to our padlet!

Just click on the link below, then click on the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and you can add your picture and/or comments!

https://padlet.com/kgouzie/j98rhg2x2v2e

Please note: Per mandatory state guidelines, any resources provided are optional, and there is no expectation of completion during this extended school closure time.

*Also, if you haven't had a chance to add to our first padlet, it's not too late.  Just scroll down our blog until you find the post.  I love seeing your pictures and reading about what you have been doing at home!

Mrs. Gouzie's Class Padlet - Just click on the link below to enter your pictures and comments!

                     
                      
Hi everyone,
    
I made this fun padlet where we can all share pictures and write about what we are doing while we are at home! Just click on the link below, then click on the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and you can add your pictures and comments! I miss you all! I would love to hear from you!  Mrs. Gouzie

   https://padlet.com/kgouzie/qihtmltyyf85   

Keep those pictures coming! It will give everyone some new ideas!
It is great to see pictures of all of you!

Love you all! 

Mrs. Gouzie

Updated Optional K-2 Home Resources for Tri-Town School Union

Hi Families,

I just wanted to make sure you all got the link to the Tri-Town School Union K-2 Resources! I couldn't fit all of the information on this blog page, so please click on the link below to look at all of the wonderful resources!

Optional TTU Resources for Students During Extended School Closure

Grades PreK-2

Optional TTU Resources for Families During Extended School Closure
These resources have been collected, created, and submitted by Tri-Town educators and are designed to provide parents and guardians with ideas and resources for keeping children engaged during the school closure.  These optional activities may require parent/guardian support to help navigate websites or monitor activities. Some resources may require online registration. Please select activities that you feel will be most appropriate for your family.

Please note: Per mandatory state guidelines, any resources provided are optional, and there is no expectation of completion during this extended school closure time.

English Language Arts	Math	Science/STEM	Social Studies
Innovation/ Design Thinking	Physical Education/ Activity	Music	Art
Social-Emotional Learning	English Language Learners	Behavioral Support	Talking to Children about Coronavirus

          Take Care,
          Kathleen Gouzie

Comments!

Hi Friends,

I thought it might be easier if I made a new blog post to share all of our comments this week! We might even be able to share pictures!

SamanthaMarch 17, 2020 at 7:33 AM                     

Samantha wanted you to know she has been working on the materials (worksheets and reading booklets) you have sent home this year, as well as practicing her writing. And we’ve had gym and art classes too!

Mrs. GouzieMarch 17, 2020 at 7:50 AM

That's great Samantha! This is a perfect day for reading! Art projects are so much fun. You can make so many things with paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls, tape, paper, and glue! This would be a great day to take out some crayons, markers, or even paint if you have it! I love that you are also getting exercise!

Just Checking In!

. 

Hi Kindergarten Friends,

I miss you all very much, but I know we are doing the right thing by staying away from each other right now to keep everyone healthy! Today is such a nice sunny day! It's a great day to go out in your backyard if you can and get some fresh air and exercise, maybe look around to see if you can find some signs of Spring!

There will be something sent out by the superintendent with some ideas of things you can do at home.  Some people have emailed me asking for passwords to IXL, which is a page that you can access through our blog. Usernames are your first initial and your last name, for example, kgouzie.  Your password is the same password as your Raz-Kids password.  If you forget your password, you can email me and I will give it to you! Also, there is a link on our blog page to the portal, which has great websites! 

I would love to hear from all of you! If you’d like to write a little message to our class, all you have to do is make a comment on this blog post and I will post it for all of our classmates to see! It will not be posted immediately, but once you submit your comment I will get a notification that allows the comment to be shown.  I will do my best to post them as quickly as I can! You can post as many comments as you would like! It is one way we can stay connected right now! I will also be staying in touch through this blog page!

Take care and I will be in touch soon!
Mrs. Gouzie

A Note from Mrs. Gouzie

Hi all,

I know this is an uneasy time for all of us as we practice social distancing in order to help slow down the spread of this new virus.  The unknown can be scary, but it can also be an opportunity to reflect on what is truly important to us, support each other, reach out via phone and email to neighbors and friends, and bond with family.  I wanted to let you know that all of you are in my heart and on my mind, and I will do my best to stay connected with you throughout the coming weeks via this blog page.  We can also use this blog to stay connected with each other by posting comments about things we are doing at home by ourselves or with our families! Children can type their own comments or dictate to parents.  Comments will not be posted immediately, but I will do my best to post them as soon as possible.  I would love to hear from all of you!

Take Care and I will be in touch!

Kathleen Gouzie

Swimming into Spring with Some New Sight Words!

I thought you might like to replace the snowmen sight words 

that I sent home a few months ago with some cute fish!

In Kindergarten we focus on the first 50 words, 

but I added additional words for kids who are ready for a challenge!  

Simply copy and print on card stock and you will be ready to swim

 into spring with some new words!

New March Sight Word Sensory bins and CVC games!

This week we continued working on reading and spelling 
CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words during our Reader's Workshop times.

  New, engaging games and activities were made for the children to practice and reinforce these skills.  We have also been learning about short vowel word families and practicing reading our word family posters that have been displayed around the room.  New March sight word sensory bins have been added to help learn new sight words in a fun way! The children are having so much fun searching for shamrocks and digging for gold while working on increasing their sight word recognition! In addition, I have been very busy administering Developmental Reading Assessments and updating independent reading levels on Raz-Kids.  I am thrilled with the progress that the children are making as they increase their sight word vocabularies, 
phonics skills and use of reading strategies!