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Do your best and help the rest.
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Congratulations, 1st Graders!
Your 1st grade teachers are so lucky! Thank you for being part of my life this year, and for your flexibility while we learned from home during the Covid-19 Quarantine of the 2019-2020 school year. You are amazingly resiliant, inventive, and determined. You've...
June 22-23 (End of the Year!)
Dear Families, Thank you so much for this year! At the start of the year, we were partners, teaching at home and at school. These last few months, you’ve been the glue that held teaching and learning together. It has been an honor and a privilege to have your...
Essential New Learning June 15-19
Hello! I can’t believe the school year is winding down! What a first year your children had! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to teach your kiddos, and even more importantly, thank you for being there to teach at home when our school year changed...
Essential New Learning June 8 – 12
Happy June! The Seesaw class has been doing so much thinking and so much creating! I’m impressed every day with the work they’re turning in. All that great focus, math, and writing wouldn’t be possible without all of your hard work every day. On top of scholars,...
Essential New Learning June 1st- 5th
Happy Sunday, Everyone created a complete opinion book and a song this week! What a fun way to share what we think and feel. Thank you so much for all your hard work supporting the creation of these opinion pieces. It took a lot of work for both you and your child! We...
Essential New Learning 5/25-5/29
I hope you’re enjoying your long weekend! It seems like only yesterday and forever ago that we were able to meet up in person! Thank you all for being so supportive of your child’s learning while we’re staying home for everyone’s safety. From what you children turn in...
Essential New Learning 5/18-5/22
Dear Families, Can you believe we are already heading into our 5th week of essential new learning? These last few weeks will go by quickly! I am extremely thankful for your commitment and support! Thanks to you, the children in our class know the value of their...
Essential New Learning May 11- May 15
Dear Families, I hope you’ve gotten out into this amazing weekend weather! With the parks opening again, take a moment to enjoy the days (socially distanced of course)! I want to take a moment to appreciate your work during this distance learning kindergarten year:...
Essential Learning 4/27-5/1
What an amazing week! Thank you so much for your support, flexibility, and perseverance! Thanks to your dedication to your children’s education, our first week of Essential New Learning was a success! Thank you to everyone who navigated the apps to practice math and...
Essential New Learning 4/20-4/24
Happy Friday families, Spring break has been so nice, with the sunshine and relaxed pace! I’m counting the days until we “meet” back up online! In each weekly email you’ll find this week’s Essential New Learnings that our district’s hardworking Instructional coaches...
Current Classwork
Writing: Opinion writing
Eureka Module 4
Reading fiction to compare and contrast
Science: Our Planet: Plants (check out BrainPop Jr. and Actively Learn)
Social Studies & Civics: Communities and habitats.
This week’s emotional skills: Calming strong feelings
Our specialists update this week!
Here are some chores Kindergarteners can do at home that support brain-development.
Log into Clever and explore BrainPop Jr. to learn more about Science, Civics, and Social Studies. Use the Handwriting without Tears App through Clever to practice forming letters. If you have siblings in your house, it’s often easy to use an “incognito” or “private” browser to be sure that each child logs out of every site to let the next into their own account.
Typical Days:
Have a morning meeting, then readers’ workshop, writers’ workshop then snack and recess, then math, followed by lunch and recess. After lunch we have a read aloud, math centers, social studies or science, health or scocial-emotional learning followed by specialists (PE/Music/Library), Learning Center, reflection and dismissal.
Equal Opportunity Notice
The Issaquah School District complies with all applicable federal and state rules and regulations and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities, or employment related matters, and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employees are designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination: Executive Director of Compliance and Legal Affairs, District Title IX Coordinator, Section 504/ADA Coordinator or Compliance Coordinator for 28A.540 and 28A.642 RCW, in writing at or by telephone at 425.837.7060. The Issaquah School District will also take steps to assure that national origin persons who lack English language skills can participate in all educational programs, services and activities. For information regarding translation services or transitional bilingual education programs, contact the Director of Student Interventions in writing at 565 NW Holly St., Issaquah, WA 98027 or by telephone at 425.837.7000.
Most teachers ask 10-30 minutes of reading a night as homework of students. This reading practice builds stamina and should be enjoyable. Reading with your child, or asking your child to read aloud to you, will help share the joy and build family time into each night. Take a moment to view this video from the Cult of Pedagogy on parent supported reading practices that will help your student get the most out of your time reading in the evenings.
Reading is one of the quiet pleasures our children experience, and we can help support our young readers. Research shows that reading increases later school success. Help your student find a book for themselves to read with the 5 Finger Rule. Each time a child comes across an unknown word, they hold up a finger.
- 0-1 words (counted on fingers) that are challenging/not understood on a page means this book might be an easy read for your child.
- 2 challenging words: this book is a good choice for fun reading.
- 3 challenging words: this book will be good for reading and will probably teach new vocabulary. It’s a thinking book.
- 4 words that are challenging on a page means this might be a hard book to read. Work together to read this one.
- 5 challenging words on a page tells us that this book may be a struggle and if left to read it alone, a child might feel uncomfortable with their reading ability or bad about their reading experience. This might be a book to read to your child. Take a moment to talk about the challenging words that are important to the story.
Visit the Book Love page for ideas to find the right book for your child or family reading.
How reading is assessed.
Hard working teachers keep track of every student’s reading and comprehension on a daily basis, but three times a year an in-class formal Fountas and Pinnell evaluation helps teachers determine if children are progressing in their reading. The evaluation includes the child reading one or more short selection and then talking with the teacher about that text with specific questions provided by the evaluation’s manufacturer while the child has the reading selection in hand. For any questions about this evaluation, contact your teacher or visit the Fountas and Pinnell parent message board. As these evaluations are only to track reading progress, the school library recommends choosing books based on children’s interests, and when appropriate, the “5 finger” method.
The second reading evaluation in our district is part of the Smarter Balanced tests. Students read a short article and answer questions with the text available to refer to while responding. For more information about this end-of-year assessment, talk to your teacher. The Smarter Balance assessment group has created a web page with information for parents here.
Looking for more research resources for a class project? Check under Home Work Help.
Fact Monster
For young student reserach, try Fact Monster, a kid-friendly information site. It’s curated and ALA approved, so you can trust information on this site.
King County Libraries
Along with research and reading support, King County Library System is one of the best sources to find parent support, language and citizenship classes. Get a library card online or in person by providing your King County or address. Ecards are immediately available for online and database access.
Community Resources
Looking for a day trip or a helping hand? Check out this list of community resources.
Find a Book
Many links to lists and ideas for looking for a book for your child. Check out our Book Love page.
Science Abounds!
Science work with children can be rewarding and part of every day life. Asking for observations and helping see the connection between every day occurrences and their underlying scientific priciples is my philosophy.
Community
When a classroom is a community we feel empowered to learn and express ourselves better. Children who feel loved and comforted will take risks and learn more.
Differentiation
Making all lessons assessable to every student is one of my primary goals. We all have ideas to add to the conversation, and differentiation will help each child realize their abilities.
Reading
Reading is one of the foundations of future learning and it builds empathy. By helping young children read and supporting them as they read for fun, we boost future achievement.
School Libraries Help Children Grow.
Many school library impact studies show the imporantce of having a well-funded, professionally staffed school library. School librarians motivate early learners to read and directly impact graduation rates (Coker, 2015; Getes 2013, p. 12).
School libraries increase student achievement both on standardized tests and in reading fluency (Getes, 2013, p. 15). By cooperating with teachers, the school librarian increases access to curriculum- related materials and gives students fun alternative routes to learn. Librarians provide resources and inservice training to teachers that directly affects students.
The New Jersey Association of School Librarians created this video to talk about the importance of school libraries for our children’s futures.
The American Library Association of School Librarians maintain standards that are upheld in my classes. Children should be empowered to explore, create, think, and share in the school library, and part of that is recieving instruction and guided experiences with the library materials and technology. Learning to research and to find quality sources as well as how to find and different ways to think about reading are all part of the curiculum. To learn more about the American Library Association’s standards and what that means for your child, visit their Parents Page.
