Our Favorite Activities

Learning is so much fun.  We just wanted to share our favorite activities as Summer School is coming to a close.

              

Aloha Parents,

Well, here it is! This is the last week of Summer School. Wow, it was a GREAT! I am writing you one last time to thank you for sharing your keiki with me these past 6 weeks. It seems just like yesterday you were dropping them off for the first day in K-1. I have enjoyed working with such a great group of amazing students and supportive parents!

I hope that along the way the students have gained more knowledge, tips on organizing themselves,
enhanced their collaborative skills, and learned to be more flexible. They also made a few new friends too. 

Over the next few weeks of summer before school resumes, I strongly encourage you to have your keiki read, write short stories, and practice skip counting. Doing one or two of these activities each day will help to keep your child's skills sharp. Please remember that your keiki also have access to myON and IXL until July 24th.

Malama pono,
Mrs. Lee

Our Dream Hats

Jennie's Hat by Ezra Jack Keats, was a funny story about a girl named Jennie, who thought she would be receiving a beautiful and wonderful hat with big colorful flowers from her aunt. But when she opened the box, the hat inside was plain and white. Jennie was so disappointed,but received a surprise from some special friends who helped her decorate her hat with flowers, pictures, and ribbons.  We had the chance to create our own dream hats this week.  

Free picture collage customized with Smilebox Aloha Parents, This week the focus was on a famous American author, Ezra Jack Keats. This author wrote and illustrated about 25 children's books. Because he experienced poverty and anti-Semitism as  a child, he felt sympathetic to city children from different races and backgrounds.  So Ezra Jack Keats wrote simple stories about concerns children had: the joys and sorrows of a snowy day, inviting friends to a party, the problems created by a new sibling, expecting a perfect birthday gift and realizing it wasn't very nice, etc. The students enjoyed the stories. They compared the problems the characters had with situations in their lives. Each story was followed up with  crafts which are part of our classroom's wallpaper. You are invited to visit and see their fabulous and delightful work! Math concepts this week included: Telling Time, Subtraction, Fact Families, and Shapes (Solid and Plane). Your home is full of great opportunities to explore these Math topics and more with your child throughout the summer. It would also, at the same time, build his or her self-confidence and understanding of mathematical ideas.  Please have your child bring in a recyclable bag by Wednesday, July 15th.  They will be using it to carry all their Summer School treasures home on Friday, July 17th. I know they'd love to share their classwork with their family and friends.  Dates to Remember: Wednesday, July 15th - myON reading assignment due (minimum of 10 books) Wednesday, July 15th - Recyclable bag due Friday, July 17th - Summer School ends Friday, July 24th - Last day for free access to MyON and IXL A hui hou, Mrs. Lee

Clumsy Crab

Nipper, a loveable crab has huge, clumsy claws. He loves to play games with his friends but his claws always get in the way. While playing hide and seek, Nipper has to find Turtle and Jellyfish, but there is no sign of Octopus.  Poor Octopus is tangled tight in seaweed.  Nipper rescues Octopus with his big claws. What a great friend Nipper is!
Listen as we share our thoughts about crabs and how they could use their claws.



Aloha Parents,

The students are enjoying the hot summer days in the air conditioned classroom!  Within the 4 walls of K-1 they are learning about nouns, adjectives, compound words, consonant blends, digraphs, etc.  Our last activity of the Camping Unit was about enjoying a traditional campfire treat, S'Mores! They loved every bit of this perfect combo of graham crackers, marshmallow, and chocolate.

Basic Math Concepts of Time and Money were practiced and enriched through instruction, partner activities, and manipulatives.  Hands-on activities and lots of practice at home can also reinforce and help so your child will feel comfortable telling time and counting coins.

Dates to Remember:

• Monday, July 6th through Friday, July 10th - Scholastic Book Fair in the Library
• Wednesday, July 15th - myON reading assignment due (minimum of 10 books)

Have a cool weekend,

Mrs. Lee

We're Not Alone at Camp

Learning about owls, frogs, and bears were the highlight this week. We might have a slim chance seeing a Barn Owl around sugar cane fields, but we could see frogs in ponds.


Forest Animals on PhotoPeach


Aloha Parents,

The keiki have been  learning some interesting facts about wild animals and other things associated with camping.

• They listened to books about bears, including Bear Snores On, which is about a bear who suddenly wakes up  to discover a host of different animals and birds in his cave. The students created a fun little bear craft and wrote how they feel when they wake up.
• Non-fiction books about owls served as reference information when the keiki cut and glued cute owls and wrote facts underneath the little 'chest fluff' on their bellies.
• They connected this activity to a math craftivity.  After drawing a camping scene, they used paint on their fingers to place owls in their picture. The keiki then wrote two fractions about the owls that were in the different parts of their scene.  A paper bag owl was also added to their 'Owltraction' craft.
• Frog and Toad are Friends, a story about friendship,  was shared. After creating a bright green hand-print toad, a text to self connection was made about how they can be a friend to someone else. Text to self connections occur when a book that you are reading reminds you of something from your own life. Their thoughts were written on the toad's stomach.
• Fractions using jumbo and mini marshmallows and graphing of favorite camping food were also incorporated in this week's activities.

Positive feedback regarding MyON  has been shared by the students.  Continue to encourage your child to read as it is so important! Reading is also necessary for them, as well as for everyone, because it:

• develops the mind
• helps them to discover new things
• develops the imagination
• improves spelling
• helps to expand their vocabulary
• are the building blocks of life

The next MyON reading assignment  is to read a minimum of 10 books by Wednesday, July 15th.

Dates to remember:

• Monday, June 29th - Progress Reports will be emailed to you
• Wednesday, July15th -  myON reading assignment due ( minimum of 10 books)

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee

Skunks or Porcupines

Which animal would make a better pet? Do you think the skunk would make a better pet animal than the porcupine? Or would the porcupine make a better pet animal than the skunk? We thought a lot about our two choices and decided which would be a better pet animal.

Aloha Parents,

Since the keiki have been learning about skunks and porcupines, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for them to reflect and share which animal they would like as a pet. They worked in small groups, then as a class to share their ideas before these short videos were taken.

In Language Arts, concepts reinforced, practiced, and/or enriched included: silent e words, digraphs: sh, ch, th, and wh, synonyms, compound words, etc.  Students were also involved in interactive writing, oral reading, and writing which correlated to the craftivity.

Some of the Math concepts practiced and extended were: addition word problems, more and less than, place value with numbers larger than 100, and fact families.

Dates to remember:

• Wednesday, June 24th - 2 pieces (about 12"x8") of everyday gift wrap with a pattern (no holiday of birthday wrap, please) due
• Friday, June 26th - myON reading assignment due (minimum of 5 books)
• Monday, June 29th - Interim Progress Reports emailed to you

Have a nice weekend,

Mrs. Lee

Summer Time Fun

Watch us as we had a funtastic week in Summer School!



Aloha Parents,

Wow! I can't believe the first week of Summer School has come and gone! Our mornings are fast paced and fun. All the keiki are excited and motivated to learn.

Our camping unit began with the students answering the question, "Have you ever been camping?" Everyone has been listening to stories, writing campfire tales, learning to alphabetize using words related to camping, etc. in Language Arts.  Math skills are also related to camping.  They have been using a camping visual for graphing, tallying, and creating a bar or picture graph.

Weekly Assignment sheets will be distributed on Mondays. Please leave the Assignment sheet in their folder. All the students have been completing their homework assignments in class. I know you review it in the evening, which shows your support for their learning.

Summer reading is the perfect way for your child to pursue his/her individual interests and at the same time maintain and strengthen important reading skills such as vocabulary and comprehension. Reading is crucial to a child's success in all school subjects and in the world outside of school.

I am certain you encourage your child to read as often as possible.  You won't need to visit the public library or purchase books because HMS students have access to myON, the on-line digital library. It is a great site for students as they are able to select from over 8000 books anytime and anyplace.

Besides their daily homework, each child will be required to read a minimum of 5 books using myON, by Friday, June 26th. All usernames and passwords will remain the same. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Dates to remember:

• Friday, June 26th - myON assignment due

A hui hou,
Mrs. Lee

My Hope for Next Year

We are so excited that summer will be starting, but also think about what we want to learn next year.                                                                                                                                                                    

Aloha Parents,

Everyone is excited about Thursday! Hope to see you at:

• 9:50 - 10:15 - 'Our Last Day in K-1' Presentation in our classroom
• 10:30-11:30 - Stories at Sunrise skits in the Dojo 

Smiles,

Mrs. Lee