Thank you all soooooo much for coming to today's performance. I know it meant the world to your child. I am as proud of them as you are. They did a wonderful job. Thank you for sticking around to have refreshments. I enjoyed spending time with you. Please have a safe and happy holiday. With love...

Tomorrow's the big day! I know the students are excited about performing for you all. I just finished decorating 4 dozen cookies. Our show will be short, but don't skip the treats afterward! See you tomorrow at 1:45!

I know how important it is to be consistent and to keep a regular schedule. I'm not sure who gets most upset when things change--the students or me! I think the students did a good job of adjusting to a lot of changes to their schedule this week. We have 2 more fairly chaotic days coming up, then things get back to normal in January.

Thanks to all of you terrific parents who are so willing to help out! Those of you who come in during center time may not feel like you are doing much, but you cannot imagine how much your presence frees me to meet with small groups. Without you, minor interruptions by students can take up 75% of my time, making reading and math groups nearly impossible. If anyone is willing to come in from 10-10:30 Monday or Tuesday, we have a lot of fabric wreaths that need to be completed. (They got sick of tying very quickly.) Because of performances, we will not have afternoon centers next week. Speaking of performances, is anyone willing to bake a batch of cookies to bring to our kindergarten performance on Tuesday at 1:45? I will bring a punch bowl and ingredients for punch if I can get some help with cookies.

Next week is Ian's VIP week. Have a great weekend!

We had a super duper fun day! We began by practicing our sign language songs with Mrs. Hanson's class, then Mrs. Summers combined the 2 kindergarten classes with the 2 first grade classes to watch the movie Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. After recess, we started working on the gingerbread houses. Students used royal icing to stick graham crackers to the outside of an empty milk carton. We let the icing dry during lunch, then put the finishing touches on after lunch. They turned out really cute! We squeezed in a writing assignment, but the kids had a hard time focusing. We enjoyed Nick's birthday treats at the end of the day!

Tomorrow at 3:45 the sign club is performing Christmas songs in sign language for the residents of St. John's nursing home. Even if your child is not in sign club, they know most of the songs and are welcome to join us. They need their own transportation. I don't think we'll be there for more than 20 or 30 minutes. St. John's is located at the corner of Rimrock and Shiloh. Go into the main entrance, under the red awning. We will perform in the main lobby. I know that someone from the media will be there to cover the event. If you have questions, please call or email me.

It was so nice to see so many of you at the music program today. I know it meant a lot to your children to know you were there in the audience. I thought they did a really good job as did Mrs. Summers, the music teacher.

Today we learned about cause and effect. I stated the lesson by blowing up a balloon and holding up a tack. I asked what would happen when I touched the tack to the balloon. They all knew and were cringing in anticipation. We talked about causes and effects, giving examples. Next, we read If You Give a Pig a Pancake. It is a circular story, which ends the same way it began.

Students watched a video before their afternoon performance to help calm them. After the show, they continued work on their fabric wreaths. For math, we read the book Counting Cats and did a worksheet in which students drew lines from groups of objects to the coordinating numeral.

I apologize for being a little late today. We watched the entire Christmas music program, and then had only a few minutes to tidy the room. Tomorrow is our public performance. Please send a pair of street shoes for your child. They have to sit cross legged on the stage and snow boots make that awfully difficult.

I hope you had a chance to read the weekly newsletter (at the bottom on the web site). In today's Monday envelope, there is a permission slip for your child to go to Alberta Bair Theatre on January 28th. The $5 ticket fee is due by Dec. 22nd, our last day before Christmas break.

I changed a few of the centers today and the students seem pleased with the changes. One of the new centers is "housekeeping." At this center, students may use a Swiffer duster or a carpet sweeper to tidy the room. They are also in charge of sharpening the dull pencils.

We played what I was afraid might be a difficult game. In this new version of BANG!, students pulled a stick with a letter written on it. They had to think of a word that started with that letter but also had our letter of the week (n) in the word. For example, if they pulled a stick with the letter H, they might say the word hand or Hunter. They did incredibly well at this!! I told them they are little genuises.

In science, we interactively wrote words for the way things taste, such as bitter, sweet, sour, salty. Next, students drew a picture of a tongue, tasted a variety of foods, and drew where on the tongue they felt those tastes. You should have seen them run for the water fountain after tasting the unsweetened baker's chocolate!

Thankfully, students were able to go outdoors for lunch recess. In math, we learned about estimation and comparing the sizes of containers to determine which ones would hold the most. Students estimated how many plastic counting bears would fit into three different sizes of containers. On one try, I made it interesting offering a sucker to the person whose guess was closest to the actual number. I had them write their estimation in ink so they couldn't change it. Then, I filled the container one bear at a time as students counted. Hunter and Ian had the EXACT number! (I had to find another sucker!) Way to go, guys!

Information will be coming home on Monday about our field trip to Alberta Bair theater. We don't go until January 28th, but we need money turned in before Christmas break (Dec. 22) in order to hold our reservation. The cost per student is $5 (cash). We will be watching Stellaluna.

Don't forget to bring something to taste tomorrow! Your child needs 17 bite-sized pieces of something sweet, salty, sour, bitter, etc. to share with the class for science. Thanks to the elves who cut fabric last night! There were a few students who finished their wreaths today and took them home. They were so proud of their work.

During music, Mrs. Summers took all the kindergarteners to the stage to show them how they will line up for their performance next Tuesday. Performances are at 9am and 1pm. Attend the one that best fits your schedule. During reading block, we read a story about a bear who discovers that winter is on the way. She tells her friends to hurry and get under ground. We talked about dreams and what the animals in the story might dream about while they are hibernating. They had some funny ideas. They drew a picture of the animal and a "dream bubble" which contained a picture of what the animal was dreaming. I encouraged them to label their pictures and was very pleased at how many of them were able to do so without my help.

In math, students counted 14 small straws and used the straws and balls of clay to build a structure. Then, during writer's workshop, they wrote a describing sentence about it. I have been very pleased with everyone's progress during reading groups. The students are doing a nice job of pointing to the words as they read, and they are pros at finding familiar words in text.

Some of your lovely children voluteered you to cut strips of fabric for our wreaths tonight. If you are one of the "volunteers," you will find a Ziplock baggy with the fabric and a sample strip so you can see how long to make it. If you don't have time, don't stress out about it--we'll probably have enough. We started the project today. It is great fine motor practice and through this activity, they are learning to tie!

For math, we reviewed teen numbers and showed the number 13 on a 10-frame. Students went to their tables, traced and cut out 13 triangles, and glued them to a sheet of paper to make them look like Christmas trees. Those who wanted to decorated their trees with sequins. The paper that came home with magazine pictures glued to it was a project in which students searched through magazines for things that had the /n/ sound in them. If the word started with n, students were to write an uppercase letter under the picture. If the n was in the middle or end of the word, they were to write a lowercase letter under the picture.

I told students that they could bring a board game to school tomorrow for indoor recess. I also said they had to have your permission in order to bring it. IF your child is responsible enough to keep track of all the game pieces, knows how to play the game, and would be able to teach the game to a peer, they are welcome to bring a game that's appropriate for 2-4 players.

Friday is Mrs. Swan's last day with us. If your child wants to make her a going away card, please do so and bring it to school by Friday.

I thought I should mention that there IS sign club today, even though I will not be there. Book It Pizza certificates went home on Monday. Check your child's backpack. If you haven't submitted your child's hours of reading (or being read to), you still have a chance. The Book It program goes through March. Your child must have 300 minutes of reading per month in order to get the certificate. You simply fill out and turn in the bottom portion of the newsletter to me each Tuesday, when you return the Monday envelope.

Wow! What a cold day! Needless to say, we stayed inside for recess today. Students had free-choice centers and at lunch recess, our class joined Mrs. Hanson's class to watch a Magic School Bus video. The kids were so quiet during morning recess that they earned a popcorn point!

We read the book Time to Sleep and learned about hibernation and how the heart rate of the hibernating animal slows to 4 beats per minute. We counted our own and found that our hearts beat much faster.

We practiced counting to 30 by tens and learned that it would take 3 people in order to hold up 30 fingers. We reviewed teen numbers and noticed that they all have a one in front of them.

We played a listening game in which the first student said a word or phrase, the second person repeated what the first person said and then added their own word or phrase, etc. The last person had a lot of information to remember, so I divided the class into two groups for this activity.

Tomorrow I'll be gone. I have a dentist appointment. Mr. Wheeler will be their guest teacher. I left the package of fabric on my desk if anyone wants to take some home to cut into strips and send back on Wednesday for our wreath craft. See you on Wednesday!

Mrs. Waples, our school librarian, shared this site with me. You can listen to cheldren's books being read in other languages. Give it a try.
http://www.professorgarfield.org/toon_book_reader/index.html

Your child is probably driving you crazy by singing Christmas songs. We sang/signed this morning, then they sang some more during music class. I brought birthday treats and the kids were amazed that I made them all by myself ?! Students really used their listening ears today to re-tell a story and tell the beginning, middle, and end of a story without pictures.

Thankfully, the weather allowed us to have outdoor recess today. During journal time, I gave students free choice to write about the topic of their choice. Having so much freedom was difficult for many of them. I'm really pushing them to sound out words without my help because they are so capable-just need a little more confidence.

In math, we reviewed ordinal numbers, missing numbers, and growing patterns. Tomorrow Mrs. Swan has a fun 5 senses lesson. Don't forget to send your child with a hidden "smell" object for tomorrow.

We bagan the day by practicing handwriting and spelling. Our social studies lesson was about families. We talked about how families are different--different numbers of people, different interests, different living situations. Students drew pictures of their families.

Since the wind chill was below zero, we stayed inside for recess. Afterward, we reviewed "verbs" and students were tape recorded saying a complete sentence that included an action word. Some examples of their sentences are, "I like to swim." and "I like to build with Legos." They enjoyed listening to their voices on tape.

Lunch recess was indoors, too, so students worked together on a mural. We started an author study of Jan Brett by reading The Hat. We talked again about ideas in writing. Another way to generate ideas is to make lists. Today, students made a list of 4 items they want for Christmas. I promised to send the lists home tomorrow so you all can mail them to the North Pole. :)

Students took a math test today, to see what they remembered about growing patterns. I stood folders between students to act as privacy barriers. After the test, students paired up to play the card game Top It (formerly known as War).

For afternoon recess, our birthday boy, Christian, chose a video for us to watch. We followed the video with a speed reading test, then students drew a growing pattern in their math journals. We ended the day by learning the signs to the song Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas in Hawaiian). For more videos on how to sign Christmas songs, see the sign club blog (link is on the right).

Mrs. Hanson, the other kindergarten teacher, and I have decided to combine our classes to put of a very short (15 minute) performance of Christmas songs in sign language. The show will be held in the gym at 1:45 pm on Tuesday, December 22nd. It would be nice to have some cookies and punch after the show so we can chat afterward. I may be calling some of you and asking if you can bring something on that day. Since the show will not take us to the end of the regular school day, you will be able to take your child home as soon after the program as you wish.

Today we used our fingers to practice writing our letter of the week, F, onto a partner's back. We used mini whiteboards to write our new word "for," as well as other words from the word wall. We fed sound muncher all sorts of crazy things, including a firecracker and fire--he exploded!

We reviewed what the setting of a story is and then students worked in pairs to look at pictures in unfamiliar books to determine the story's setting. Instead of writing today, we talked about ideas and how an author conveys the idea behind the story by using words or pictures. Students worked in pairs again to elaborate on a given topic.

In math, we reviewed the less than and greater than signs and the number line. Students got out their number cards and laid them on their tables from zero to eleven. In their journals, students wrote the numbers zero to ten in order.

Parents, I forgot to put a reading minutes table at the bottom of the newsletter. I have since added it and you can go back to the class web site and access the corrected newsletter. You are also perfectly welcome to simply handwrite your child's reading minutes on a piece of scrap paper. Please remember to write your child's name on the paper. ;)

*Book orders and library books are due tomorrow.

Wow--we accomplished a lot in half of a day! We began the day by practicing sign language with Mrs. Hanson's class. We are working on Christmas songs, color songs, the Pledge of Allegiance, and basic finger spelling. Students went to the library as usual. During centers, Mrs. Ross helped students put paint hand prints onto a drawing of a tree. Our "thankful tree" is hanging in the hall for you all to see when we come back to school on Monday.

After centers, we reviewed the plus and minus signs, used cubes to add and subtract, and checked our answers on the interactive whiteboard. Next, we played musical chairs. I hope you enjoy the Thanksgiving place mats that went home today. I know that I treasure those items that my own children made when they were young. It's fun to bring them out each year and marvel at how much their writing and drawing changes from year to year.

I'm finally posting a video of Courtney reading the B book that I had trouble posting earlier. I hope all of you have a relaxing holiday! See you on Monday!

Sorry to get to the blog so late. Happy birthday Ellen! We enjoyed your cupcakes! Don't forget that we get out at noon tomorrow and that there will be no sign club. Book order forms went home in Monday envelopes today. If you wish to place an order, please return the completed form by next Tuesday, December 1.

We started the day by talking about the meaning of Thanksgiving and the things each of us is thankful for. Students interactively wrote some of the things they are thankful for and we added them to a large tree in our room. Tomorrow, students will add hand prints to look like the leaves on the tree.

Guided reading today was the same for each group. They read the small book Thanksgiving Dinner that went home today. As your child reads the book to you, please remind them to point to the words as they read and if they can't remember a word, remind them to sound it out.

Tomorrow is library day. Please send your child's library book to school if you haven't already done so. Have a good evening!

I've ignored this site for the day because Mrs. Wheeler and I have been working on a blog for the sign language club. Check it out http://roseparksignclub.blogspot.com/. There's also a link to it on Rose Park's web page.

We started a new project today! From now on, every Tuesday and Thursday mornings Mrs. Hanson's class will join us to learn sign language. Today, we taught them the Pledge of Allegiance, the red and blue songs, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was fun to have all of the kindergarteners together for a group lesson.

Mrs. Hoy came back to continue her writing lesson. Students divided a sheet of paper into fourths, drew four foods they like, and wrote the names of each food under the picture. Tomorrow, students will choose one of those foods to use in a sentence.

Our math work today was to trace and cut out a corn cob and to cover it with tiny squares of paper. Each column of squares had to be an AB pattern. This was the third day of having reading groups during center time. One of the groups I worked with identified the word "see." Another group learned the word "said" and learned about quotation marks.

Mrs. Swan taught an interesting lesson on Cree traditions. Students brainstormed what types of traditions they have, such as carving pumpkins for Halloween or eating pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. We saw a picture of the Cree written language and discussed how different it is from English. After lunch, we looked at a book of Chinese symbols and learned that a single symbol can represent an entire word--very different from English!

Mrs. Hoy, a district reading coach, taught a reading/writing lesson. Students read a poem about foods and interactively wrote the names of some foods. Tomorrow, Mrs. Hoy will be back to help the students compose their own list of favorite foods, which we will compile into a class book.

In math, we made a human number line, reviewed greater than and less than, and counted by 2s, 5s, and 10s. I interviewed our soon-to-be birthday girl, Ellen...

Here's Nick talking about his favorite computer game...

I must begin by apologizing to Nick. I recorded him talking about his favorite computer game, and then didn't bring home the file. I'll post it in the morning. We had a good day. We did a lot of work on sounds--identifying where they are within a word, stretching words, and blending sounds. I gave students a simple dot-to-dot, with numbers 0 to 10, to complete for their morning work. I was surprised by how few of them knew how to do it. I'll be sure to do more dot-to-dots.

In math, we learned the greater than and less than symbols and compared numbers. Students worked in pairs to put plastic chips onto a 10-frame. They learned that if they had more chips than spaces on the 10-frame, their number was greater than 10. During centers, I pulled reading groups to the back table. We're working on pointing to words as we read them. It is very important that students learn one-to-one matching before we get too far in reading. The books we use in the beginning are very simple and repeat a lot, and I need to know that they recognize the individual words and are not just memorizing the pattern or repeating what the person beside them is saying.

We are reviewing the letter A this week, focusing on the short a sound. Today, students practiced identifying where in a word they heard the short a sound--beginning, middle, or end. They practiced writing the upper and lowercase A.

In math, we did a worksheet which required students to count and to follow directions.
After recess, we played musical chairs. It was good practice for naming the number that is one less.

I told students about the Leonid meteor shower that will be visible early tomorrow morning, weather permitting. I hope to get outside and see it for myself! Have a good evening! Don't forget that we have library tomorrow. Our basket looks like many students have already returned their books.

We had a very artsy morning! Students made paper plate turkeys. They had to trace and cut out 6 feathers. Those who finished early also had the opportunity to make paper bag owls. Both projects turned out really cute and I'm sorry I didn't have my camera with me, but I'll try to remember to post photos on Monday.

We read a really cute counting book after lunch called Christopher Counting. For math, I gave each student a mini white board and dry erase marker. On the easel, I wrote 10 Xs and asked students to write the number 10. Next, I erased an x and asked students to write the number of remaining Xs. We kept going until there were none, so students got some practice counting and writing numbers 0 to 10.

We read the book Ten Black Dots to reinforce our letter of the week and the counting practice we've been doing. In this counting book, we are given examples of how black dots can be used. One black dot can be the moon, two black dots can be the eyes of a fox, three can be the face of a snowman, etc. I gave each student 10 black dots to turn into something.

I am teaching my class the same songs we're working on in sign language club. They are having fun learning the signs for Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We will have a program just for our families right before the Christmas break so you can see how adorable they are as they sign in unison.

The light rain/snow inspired students to stay inside during afternoon recess to work on a group art project. I put a huge (6 ft x 2 ft) sheet of paper on the floor and told them they would have to work together to determine who would color the sky and who would color the ground, houses, etc. They did a pretty good job of getting along and sharing the space around the paper.

We started a new social studies unit on how to be a "handy helper." Students brainstormed ways they could be helpful in the classroom, on the playground, in the lunchroom, etc. I have given certificates to all staff members and informed them that if they see a kindergartener doing something nice for someone else or being helpful in any way to give the student a handy helper certificate. Students were told that they could not ask for a certificate by announcing their good deed, but must be "caught" being good.

We practiced counting to and writing the numbers 7 and 8 and introduced the numbers 9 and 10. Any opportunity you have to count things with your child, please do so. We're working on counting from left to right, just like we read, so that students can keep up with which things they have counted and which ones they have not counted. We need to help them learn to organize data.

This morning we watched Mrs. Paulson's class put on a play. The kindergarteners were a great audience and earned a popcorn point toward their next party. Students used mini whiteboards to practice handwriting. It seems that we have lots of students forming their letters incorrectly. I am adding a link to a D'Nealian handwriting website so that you can see the method taught at school. http://www.henry.k12.ga.us/pges/ingram/Information/dnealian.gif

In math, students used plastic counters to practice adding and taking away numbers. We learned the "take away" or "minus" sign. Students were shown how to use a calculator and each student got to use a calculator to practice adding and subtracting numbers.

Before I forget, I must remind you all that tomorrow night is the PTA meeting. It will be at 7pm in the library. Also tomorrow are picture re-takes. Thank you all so very much for purchasing every last book at the book fair that was on my wish list. You all are so generous!! We read Splat the Cat today, since the words in the title ended with our letter of the week -- T.

This morning we had our popcorn party to celebrate good behavior. We watched a Magic School Bus video on energy while we gobbled up our popcorn. Tomorrow morning we will go into Mrs. Paulson's room to watch the 1st graders perform a play. It should be a fun day.

The November 9th class newsletter has been posted to the class web site. Scroll to the bottom of the site to find it.

Today in science we talked about the light we see during the day and at night. We learned that the moon does not generate it's own light, but reflects light from the sun. We learned that the hotter something is, the brighter it is. Students read their B books to three peers, assembled and read, "Bears, Bears, Bears," and completed a letter B worksheet. We read, The Three Little Pigs, then did a sound matching game in which we listened for beginning sounds, ending sounds, and rhymes. Below are more videos of your sweet children.

Thank you all for coming to conferences Wednesday and Thursday. It was so nice to be able to share your child's accomplishments with you and to learn a little about your family. If you haven't noticed it, I put a link to Ian's family's Christian rock band on this blog, on the left side. Check them out--the name of the group is Servant28!

As promised, here are the videos of students sharing their picture stories yesterday. I had trouble loading them last night, so I hope it works this morning.

Your child brought home two new word carts to add to their bag of practice words: but and I. I decided to write the words this time because the cards they made last time were difficult to read.

Today we talked about how pictures tell a story. We looked at some wordless books and decided that we could still determine the basic story. I gave students a sheet of paper with a magazine picture on one side and on the blank side of the paper asked them to draw what might come next. Students shared their picture stories on the rug--only if they wanted to! Some wanted to share theirs on video, which I will share tomorrow.

Even though it was a short day, we accomplished a lot. We reviewed nouns today, and then I gave students magazines and asked them to cut out a person, place, or thing. We came back to the rug to tape the pictures under the appropriate heading on a chart. We ended up with lots of people, a few things, and no places, so we went through a magazine together until we found at least 2 places. One "place" picture that we found was a bathroom. Since the picture had people in it, we wanted to make sure we noticed the place, so we interactively wrote the word "bathroom" under the picture. We played one round of Ticket Tasket before Social Studies.

In Social Studies, students created pictures of their faces using paper plates and miscellaneous art materials (pasta, yarn, paper scraps, wiggly eyes). While we let the glue dry, I gave students white construction paper cut into the shape of a speech bubble and asked them to write what makes them smile. The most common response was, "My family" (spelled phonetically as "mi"). They are on display in the hall, so make sure you take a look when you come for your conference. They're really cute!

We went onto the ASLPro website today and learned some signs for zoo animals. First, you click on a picture, then a person demonstrates the sign. After learning all the animal signs, we clicked a button and the person did a sign and students had to point to which animal it was. Not everyone got a chance to come to the board today, so we'll learn some more signs in the same manner tomorrow.

Have a great evening. Early out (at noon) again tomorrow and Friday.

Sorry to disappoint you--no videos today. I will try to get a couple on here tomorrow. I'm busily getting ready for conferences. Don't forget that we get out at noon tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday so that I can meet with each of you.

I think the students are really beginning to put things together now. Today was the first day I saw more than one student independently sound out a word they wanted to spell. I gushed to them about how extremely proud this makes me. I am also proud that today they earned enough points to have another popcorn party! Those points are earned when another teacher or staff member notices their good behavior and comments on it--how quietly they go down the halls, how polite they are, etc. It's a big deal!

In sign language club, this class really stands out. They already know so many signs and can read finger spelling extremely well. I ended the day with a big smile on my face, thinking about how much they have learned in only 47 days. I bet you parents are beaming, too! Your kids are brilliant little stars.

We have some videos that will tell you what we did today...

Whoa! It was a little crazy today. Nurse Connie came in this morning for a lesson on proper hand washing. We had a fire drill when we were at recess. We couldn't hear an alarm, but noticed any classes coming out and had to quickly get into our line. At morning center time, we went to Mrs. Eliason's room to watch their pumpkin play.

Our story after lunch was a Skippyjon Jones book, which the kids loved!! They clapped and laughed so loudly that they really didn't hear the entire book. For math, we learned about ordinal numbers. We learned that the way we turned the chairs determined which was first and which was last. Instead of writing today, students read their letter S books to 3 friends and got their autographs.

At the end of the day, I gave students some light-up bracelets, which they can wear while they are trick-or-treating. Have a happy Halloween and I'll see you next week!

I shouldn't wait until the evening to post what we did in class today--I can't remember!!! We welcomed Angelena and showed her the ropes. We read some familiar stories, including Bad Dog Marley and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and identified the characters.

The building lost power for about 40 minutes after lunch. We remained calm, opened the blinds and kept working. The students handled it very well. In math, students cut apart some number cards (0-11). I asked them to line up the numbers 0-5 in proper order and then I gave them cubes and asked them to count out the correct number of cubes and stack them above each number. After a quick demonstration of what I wanted, everyone was able to do this. Students were able to identify the stair step effect of adding one cube to each stack.

We started the day by re-reading Eric Carle's book The Very Busy Spider. Students enjoyed making the animal noises as I read. We completed a worksheet in which students had to tell whether or not the animal sound matched the animal. Students also showed me how much they comprehended from the story by illustrating what the spider did.

We made Halloween silhouettes, which are currently hanging in the hallway, but will be sent home on Friday. We started by painting a spooky sunset, and then traced, cut out, and glued a character or two. Students could choose a ghost, bat, or spooky cat. They turned out really cute!

At story time, I picked out some one's library book, Dinosaur Hunt. We talked about why people hunt and that "hunt" can also mean something other than killing for food, such as rock hunting, which just means finding rocks. The book mentioned that the story was set in Texas, 115 million years ago, which led to getting out the globe to find Texas, which led to finding all kinds of other places, etc. We had quite the discussion!

Today we re-read and practiced the signs for "Five Little Pumpkins." Your child should have brought home a book of their own so that they can continue to read it to themselves. Students came to the easel to put highlighter tape on the letter S in a poem, then we used the interactive whiteboard to circle pictures that begin with S.

Students received a special journal today, with several journal topics on the cover. Today, they wrote, "I know it is Fall because..." I loved the response, "because the trees are naked." In math, students were given an index card with a number 1-30 on it. We tried to line up the numbers in proper order on the floor, then we read them all. We need lots of work on number recognition for the teens.

Students are getting much better at working independently at their centers, which gave me time to test several students. I must have all the testing done by Friday so I can prepare their report cards and get ready for conferences. Next week, when all the testing is complete, I will start a reading group for those who are ready.

We will be getting a new student tomorrow morning. Her name is Angelena and she is coming to us from Crow Agency. I can't wait to meet her!

We had a fun day learning how to finger knit. We sent home what the students finished in class today. They were just starting to get the hang of it after an hour, but we had to go out for recess. Brownie gave each student a ball of yarn to keep, so they can continue practicing at home. The link for the how-to video is on the Oct. 26 newsletter (see the class web site). Thanks so much to Brownie Green and Mindy Bach for helping!!

The number poem sheet I sent home is for your reference, parents. I thought it would be helpful for you to know the way number formation is taught in class. Book order forms went out. Online ordering has been set up or you may turn in the paper form and cash by Nov. 3.

If your child won't eat dinner tonight, it's probably my fault. At the end of the day, we had apple cider, apple pie, and our "applesauce" (I put that in quotes because I didn't have a masher--it was just chunks of apple). We began the day by peeling apples. As the rest of the class read My Rr Book to 3 classmates, 2 students went to the reading table to peel an apple. We took turns until everyone had a chance to peel at least one apple.

After lunch. students made food prints. Each table was set up with paints and a different food (apples, broccoli, potatoes, celery/carrots). Students rotated from table to table to make prints of each food. We watched the DVD Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type (Mrs. Swan used this book for a lesson on Wednesday). It is rather timely as I have recently added a typewriter center, so the students are learning how to use a manual typewriter.

Monday is the first day of Red Ribbon week. In your Monday envelope, you'll receive a list of what to wear each day, but I thought I'd let you know that Monday is wear a lei day, to remember to lay off drugs. Tuesday is the first day of sign language club. The younger group will meet in my classroom. The students who get out later, the older group, will meet in the gym. Have a great weekend!

What a busy day---but a good one! Again, no one pulled a card! After a fun music class, we tasted red, green and yellow apples. Later in the day, we graphed our preferences. It turned out that no one prefers yellow apples. Green are the class favorite, with red close behind.

We read Ten Apples Up On Top and students took turns trying to balance apples on their heads. We didn't have any luck with that, but we used the idea to create a class book. Each page has a photo of a student with apples stacked on their head (students drew numbers to determine how many they would put above their picture).

This afternoon Mrs. McSweyn, the school counselor, was here for the personal safety presentation. Students learned the touching rule. A handout went home for your review. Tomorrow we will have centers early so that students can take turns peeling apples for our applesauce. Yum!

Thanks for your quick response to my plea for snacks. The students appreciate it!

You would not believe how clean our room is! Your children are the best cleaners ever. I get so many comments from other teachers about how clean my room is at the end of the day, and it is the students doing all of the work. NO ONE PULLED A CARD TODAY!!!!

Anna brought some awesome birthday treats to share with the class for her VIP week. We read the book, My Red Bike. Students circled the word "red" on each page and then colored their book. Some were even able to read the book to me! We added a label to the plastic skeleton on the wall. Now we know where his head and shoulders are. (I think I know where they're going with this--head, shoulders, knees and toes!)

We read two more Eric Carle books and continued to work on our Eric Carle-inspired art project. Rather than painting a whole lot of papers, we used printed scrap booking paper to cut out animal shapes. We'll use the scraps to fill in other details.

Did anyone order from our last book order and not get your books? I talked to the mother of a student who said she did not place an order, yet her child came home with 3 books. I think what happened is that someone handed me their order form during the morning rush. The form probably had no name on top and they probably handed me cash, so as I was trying to remember who handed me items, I wrote this child's name on the form. Please contact me if you are missing some books.

Yesterday, I met with a community member who is part of a knitting ministry. She has agreed to come into out classroom on Monday afternoon, along with Madeline's mom, to teach the students to knit. I practiced finger knitting last night and made a long, thin scarf in less than an hour. I wore it to school today to see what the kids thought of the whole idea. They were excited about learning to knit. I'm hoping that they will love it so much that it will become a free time activity.

After learning about nouns this morning, students scattered around the room to find "things." They brought the items back to the rug and used a complete sentence to tell what they found. Next. students went to different "places" around the room and used complete sentences to tell where they were ("at the green table").

We read two more Eric Carle books today, The Lonely Firefly and 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo. We compared and contrasted the characters and setting. We looked carefully at the illustrations and watched a short video about Eric Carle's creations process, and began a similar process. We painted tissue paper in solid colors. Tomorrow we will add another color, and then we will cut and paste the painted tissue papers to create our own characters. I can't wait to see the finished product! The students had the idea to each create an animal, then combine the pages to make their own book. I love their idea!

We missed Gabriel and Mary today, who were absent. I'm still missing a few conference slips--the blue paper that tells me what time you would like to have your conference. Please return them tomorrow so I can begin to make a schedule. Please also let me know whether or not I can show your child's picture on this blog. I will not post your child's photo without your permission.

Anna shared her VIP poster with us this morning and we learned that she has a big family. We've studied each letter of the alphabet, in order, and now we're going back through the alphabet again, only this time we'll spend an entire week on each letter. We're starting with the most frequently used letters. Our letter of the week is R. We fed sound muncher and read "My Rr Book," which students will receive a copy of at the end of the week. We read Mary Wore Her Red Dress and highlighted the word "red."

Our story after lunch was the non-fiction book Living Color. It showed us animals and their colors, discussing the reasons why they are a certain color. For example, did you know that adult dragonflies are red? I had no idea! We learned that red animals are usually poisonous. We won't forget the name of one of the dangerous sea creatures because it shares a classmate's name--the Stonefish!

We began an author study of Eric Carle by reading his book Rooster's Off to See the World. The book is fun because Rooster sets off on an adventure and picks up his animal friends along the way. We noticed lots of patterns in the numbers. For math journals, students wrote the numbers 1, 2, 3 and drew the corresponding number of flowers beside the number.

Studies have shown that knowing how children hear what is said and feel about it is as important as what we actually say. Therefore, in order to help me teach your child, will you please take this personality test, answering the questions about your child or having them help you with the answers? You can email me their personality type or comment on this blog. The adult test is a little different, but I discovered that I am a ISFP, with feeling as my primary way of dealing with others. http://www.personalitypage.com/cgi-local/build_pqk.cgi

I won't log on to my computer tomorrow, so I'm sending birthday wishes to Anna a day early. Have a great day, sweetie!

It sure is nice to be loved. I was welcomed back today with open arms! I'm happy to be feeling well enough to be back at school again. Your child should have come home today with a paper sack containing sight words to practice nightly. The bag should contain the following word cards: am, blue, can, end, go, hi, like, me, no, on, red, the.

Please don't forget that there's no school tomorrow or Friday. I'll see you again on Monday. Have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend.

I am sick with fever and a cough and was not at school today, therefore I have nothing to report. Perhaps some of you will post comments, updating me on what you heard from your child. If my fever goes away, I'll be back tomorrow.

This morning we had vision screening in the library. Students were very well behaved and did a great job. Mrs. Swan taught a science lesson on Fall leaves and taught students to classify leaves by color, type of leaf, and by size. Students colored their own leaves and tree and independently classified leaves.

We read The Colors of My World at story time. The story was told in English and in Spanish. I did my best to recall 2 years of high school Spanish (many years ago) to read the Spanish portion. Students learned to say colors in Spanish and at the end of the day, I called students to get their backpacks by saying their table color in Spanish. They are tri-lingual, at least with colors--English, Spanish, and American Sign Language!

We had 6th grade visitors this afternoon. They read the book Diary of a Worm and then shared with us stories they had written based on the book. Their stories were imaginative, but many of the jokes were over our heads.

Today we re-read Cat's Colors about a cat whose favorite color is orange because that's the color of his mother. We reviewed punctuation, especially the question mark and how to read a sentence that ends with one. We also read a non-fiction book about real objects and what color they are. When we saw the picture of the blackberries, it was fun to hear from the students who had personal experiences picking berries and being scratched by the bushes.

Yesterday, the class earned enough compliments for a popcorn party, but we waited to have it today so Anna could join us. We watched a Magic School Bus outerspace movie while we ate popcorn. Just as the movie ended, the bus driver arrived for our bus safety presentation and ride. We learned the safety rules for riding and then we went for a ride to Rose Park. There, we pretended to have a bus emergency and evacuated out the back of the bus. We rode back to school and had recess. Your child should have brought home a bus safety coloring book.

With all the special events, we missed afternoon centers. The change in routine mildly upset them. They will miss afternoon centers again tomorrow as we have a 6th grade class coming to share with us some stories they have written.

Tomorrow is the last day to purchase caramel apples from the 6th graders. There is a table set up just outside the lunchroom from 8 to 8:15am and just after school. I think they are selling them after our dismissal time (2:20) and at intermediate dismissal (3:10). The cost is $3 per apple. They will be delivered during school on Friday Oct. 30.

Tomorrow morning is a vision screening. Your child should have brought home a note informing you that we get out at noon next Wednesday and that there is no school next Thursday or Friday due to teacher convention.

Despite the wet weather, we had a great time on our field trip to the fire station. A special thanks to Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Dwyer, and Mrs. Swan for accompanying us. When we arrived at the station, the truck was not there--they had gotten a call earlier. However, after being there for about 10 minutes, the truck returned. We watched a fireman put on his turnout gear, including his air mask. We got to climb inside the truck and look around. Students were encouraged to talk to their families about designating a special meeting place in case of a house fire, such as the swingset or the mailbox.

We came back to school and continued with business as usual. At center time, some students had the opportunity to use the interactive whiteboard to practice writing their name. Don't worry--everyone will get a turn! We're working on writing like big kids now--not in all uppercase letters anymore.

Mrs. Swan worked with students on creating and extending patterns and on identifying which part of the pattern repeats. The more they practiced, the better they got. The students are getting really good at sounding out words on their own. It's so fun for me and so rewarding for them when they begin to put their own thoughts onto paper.

Sorry for such a late post tonight. Tomorrow, as you know, is our field trip to the fire station. Please dress your child warmly as we will be walking, no matter what the weather is. The book order was placed. Thanks for your orders! That's all for tonight. I'm going to bed now...

Thanks for dressing your child for the weather! We went out for morning and lunch recess, but the kids were so wet that we stayed in for afternoon recess and watched the movie "The Snowy Day."

In your Monday envelope there was a scarecrow picture. Please decorate it with items found around the house and return it to school so we can hang them in the hall as a decoration. For example, if you have a few spare buttons, you could glue them on for the eyes. Yarn could become hair. Use your imagination and have fun with it. It's great fun to see all the different ideas.

I updated the calendar on the class web site to include some of the upcoming events that were in the school newsletter. We worked on rhyming today, so for writer's workshop, students drew pictures of two things that rhyme and they sounded out the spelling of those two things. I will save this as a form of assessment that I will show you at conference time. Another informal assessment I did today was to have students draw a repeating pattern in their math journals and circle the part that repeats. Most were successful.

Tomorrow is library day. Please return library books tomorrow. There have been painters in the library for several days, so students may or may not be able to check out books. I know Mrs. Waples will do what she can to accommodate our class. If you have a book order, please return it tomorrow, also. Have a great evening!

Happy birthday, Mary!

Happy Friday! Mrs. Swan was here this morning and she read My Amazing Body to the students. We learned how our bodies are amazing machines and that all the different parts work together. We learned the characteristics of non-fiction books (has an index, can read it in any order, is about real things) and we remember that term by calling it "not fake."

Check your child's backpack for an amazing writing project they did today. They copied the sentence starter "I scared away the" off the board, then had to sound out the last word. They imagined that they were scarecrows and that they scared away one thing that they previously feared. For example, one student wrote, "I scared away the monster." Keep in mind that spelling isn't the main goal--listening for letter sounds is much more important at this point. I gushed about how smart they are and what wonderful writers they are.

In math, we reviewed repeating patterns and made AB pattern necklaces (or bracelets). I thought they were very patient about stringing their beads and dealt well with the frustration of the yarn coming apart.

Monday is gym day so don't forget to send your child to school in sneakers. Have a great weekend!

Students did a writing project today in which they colored a scarecrow and then labeled it by writing the color of each piece of it's clothing. Ex. "red shirt." It's so helpful that they know their letter sounds now so that they can successfully sound out words. This is a very important step!

Last night I wrote a Q2 One Class at a Time grant to get a microscope and some slides to use at centers, so wish me luck! Tonight I'm in class, thus the reason for such a short blog. Back on track tomorrow.

We met Jamie Swan, or Mrs. Swan today. She was very nice and the students really liked her. Thank you, Mrs. Morledge-Hampton, for coming in today to help with centers. What a cold day! We were lucky enough to enjoy morning recess, but we stayed inside for afternoon recess. Since it was too wet to go out, students had "free choice" centers, including Legos, puzzles, and any of the regular literacy and math centers.

We have been reading The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything. Students read all of the actions from the story. "Two shoes go CLOMP, CLOPM, one pair of pants go WIGGLE, WIGGLE, one shirt goes SHAKE, SHAKE, two gloves go CLAP, CLAP, one hat goes NOD, NOD, and one giant, scary pumpkin head goes, BOO, BOO" (to scare the crows away). Students wrote some of the action words by sounding them out. We'll do this often, as this is how students learn to write and writing leads to reading. At home, you can ask your child to sound out words, one sound at a time. Start with words whose letters make the expected sound. For example, don't start with giraffe, since the g is making a j sound and not the g sound. If they use they leave out silent letters, there's no need to correct them. PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE. Relax...the spelling will come later. If they spell rainbow as ranbo, that's fantastic because look at how many sounds they heard!!!

We're working on patterns in math. We've mostly studied visual patterns, but at home, point out patterns that you can think of, including sounds in music, days of the week, etc. We look at what changes. For example, a pattern of all red buttons in different shapes is a "shape pattern" because the shape is the only thing that changed.

Wow! I made two huge mistakes that I must apologize for. First, the date on the field trip form was incorrect. We are actually going on Wednesday, October 7th not on the 6th. Second, I forgot to add the reading log to the bottom of the newsletter. Please simply send a slip of paper with the total number of minutes your child read to you (or you read to them) and return it inside of the Monday envelope next Tuesday. Sorry for the confusion!!!

Welcome back, Gabriel! We had a great day. I, especially, had a great day, with some wonderful teaching moments. We read the book The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything. Students were able to make a text to text connection, relating the character in this book to characters in two other books. Wow! One of the books they found to be similar was We're Going on a Bear Hunt. (You've probably listened to several verses of this tonight. :)

Reading about a character who is not afraid of things led into our writing project for the week. Today, students created a writing prompt sheet by folding a paper into fourths. In each section, they drew something that they are afraid of. Since we're focusing on scarecrows, we want to put the focus on crows or other animals being scared -- not us! We're not afraid of anything! Our story will be about how brave we are.

Hopefully, your child showed you the turtle they made for letter T day. I can tell that some of you really focus on letter recognition at home as the kids are quick to tell me that they have seen this letter in someones name. I'm glad they are noticing such things!

Please remind your child to cough or sneeze into the bend of their elbow and NOT on their hands. We don't want germs spread to everything we touch. Wash or sanitize frequently!

Picture day went very smoothly, but I was sad that two students were absent. Thankfully, the photographers and their helpers came to get us right at 8:30, while we were still clean! In science today, we studied how things move on an incline. I had a piece of dry wall board and some Hot Wheels cars and Thomas the Tank Engine trains. Students made predictions about which would get to the bottom first and explained their reasoning. We tested our theories and discussed what happened. We talked about the weather changes that Fall will bring (I wish it would hurry and happen) and made our calendar reflect the current season.

Today was American Indian Heritage Day. I planned a lesson that required going onto the Montana Office of Public Instruction web site to view a portion of a video titled Long Ago in Montana. It addressed how Native Americans got the things they needed before money was invented. However, the school district server was down most of the day, so we only had a book to read about a chicken who wanted a scarecrow's hat for her nest. The scarecrow wanted a walking stick. The chicken made a number of exchanges to eventually get the walking stick for scarecrow and was able to exchange for the hat. It was a cute story that had several wonderful vocabulary words, including "delighted." Each student was supposed to come home and tell you something that delighted them. I'm curious to see who remembered.

Starting next Wednesday, a college student who studying to become a teacher will be in our room each Wednesday and Friday for the next six weeks. Her name is Jamie Swan. She will most likely spend the first day or two observing, but she and I will be planning some lessons that she will be teaching. I look forward to meeting her.

Thanks for being so prompt today in picking up your child from school! Things went very smoothly on our first early out. Thank you, too, for your response to my request for helpers on our field trip. Three parents have volunteered their time to accompany us, which should be enough to keep everyone safe.

Hopefully you have had a chance to look through your child's backpack tonight. Book orders arrived and if you ordered books they were sent home today. Thank you for your orders--they help me earn points for more classroom books.

Today students painted rainbows for letter R day. They also wrote lowercase Rs and colored pictures of some objects that begin with R. We have been choral reading a letter book each day. I read the line by myself the first time, and the students read it the second time. During both readings, I point to the words as we say them. This helps to teach directionality (reading from left to right), recognition of sight words (at least one sight word is repeated on each page). Here's an example of today's book: "Here is the ring." "Here is the rainbow." "Here is the raccoon." In this example, students would be seeing/saying three words over and over again: here, is, and the. You'll be amazed at how quickly they learn to recognize those words when they see them in other places. Try pointing out "the end" in your child's bedtime story tonight and see if they can read it to you. Chances are they can! Give tons of praise for how incredibly smart they are!

Welcome back, Aspen!! Thanks to Anna and Gail Bergstedt for presenting information about China and adoption to our class this morning. Suddenly, everyone wants to visit China! I haven't received any picture order forms yet. I am aware that there is now an option to order and pay for your pictures online. In the past, teachers kept track of everyone's money until the actual time of our photo session, then we'd put the check into each child's hand to give to the photographer. I'm not sure how the change will affect picture day.

We read a fun book today called Q is for Duck. Students had to use their brains to determine why each letter was associated with something seemingly obscure. For example, B is for dog because dogs bark and X is for dinosaur because they are extinct. Students worked on their Who Am I? books by coloring their hair and eyes and writing the appropriate color word on the page. The word "blonde" was not well understood and it caused even more confusion when there was not a Crayon to match.

In math, students drew a picture of the way they get to school (walk, bicycle, scooter, car). We put the pictures onto a graph. I can't remember for sure, but I think walk had the most, scooter had the least, and car and bike were tied. For literacy, students listened for how many times the word "the" was used per page of one of our books. Next, they used highlighter tape to highlight the word. "The" and "end" are new words on our word wall, so we will practice spelling them and finding them in books. For writer's workshop, students designed their own quilt and wrote the (very short) sentence, "The quilt."

I learned today that I will need to get permission slips signed in order to take students on our walking field trip to the fire station, so I will send that in next Monday's envelope. If you would please sign it and return it the next day, I'd appreciate it.

Early out at noon tomorrow. Please try to be on time because the teachers have to leave fairly quickly to get to our training. Thanks!

We made pretty peacocks for our letter P day. We also played a game in which students popped up like popcorn when they heard a letter in their name. Students underlined Ps in a poem called Popcorn. For writer's workshop, students drew pictures of at least 3 things that begin with P and copied the words off the board.

Students checked out library books today. At story time, I read The Day the Teacher Went Bananas about a mix-up in which a substitute teacher is sent to the zoo and a gorilla is sent to a school. In math, students made a real graph by standing in columns. Today, we had more boys than girls. We also compared sets of objects. Students drew lines from each object in one set to an object in another set to see which had more objects.

I went to a training tonight to learn about a piece of equipment that turns an ordinary whiteboard into a Smart board. I am excited about trying it at school soon.

Thanks to those of you who returned the coupon books and/or money today. I'm still missing a few, but I'm sure everything will be taken care of in the next day or two. Three new things happened today. First, half of the students had jobs today. Jobs include lunch basket carrier, messenger, chair stacker, library basket carrier, snack helper, and calendar helper. Students who don't have a job this week will have one next week. I rotate them so that everyone will have an opportunity to try out all of the jobs. Second, students checked in this morning by putting their name and picture into a pocket chart. Third, students who have had their hand stamped 10 times got a prize from the prize jar. I have been keeping track on my clipboard, but I think I'll hang up a poster so that students can track their progress and see how many days until they can get a prize.

For our letter O day, students listened to words to determine if they had the short or long O sound in them. We have talked about vowels and have learned a song that introduces the 2 sounds made by vowels, but it may be a while before they understand this concept. During snack, we watched a short National Geographic video about an octopus attacking a shark. Who knew they were so powerful?!

In math, we made movement patterns (clap, stomp, clap, stomp, clap, stomp=an AB pattern). We also looked at the various kinds of graphs and students drew pictures of themselves to create a picture graph of boys versus girls. We discovered that there are more girls than boys. During writer's workshop, students were asked to turn letter Os into something else. Some students got really creative and drew pizzas, cookies, steering wheels, lollipops, faces, etc. Students also colored an octopus and glued a poem onto the back. If your child didn't have time in class, tonight you could have them underline the Os in the poem.

Tomorrow is library day. Please return books in the morning. Also, please return the bottom portion of last week's newsletter with the hours of reading you or your child have done over the past week. Have a great evening!

Oops. After dismissing students, I saw a note that was supposed to be sent home today. It was a reminder that either the money for the Preferred Coupon Books or the unsold books need to be returned to school on Monday. I still show that RH, MB, SB, MK, CS, IF, and ES have not returned money or books. If you child has the money or coupon books in their backpack, please email me and I will dig through it while they are at recess on Monday. My apologies.

We had a noisy N day. (I'm not just saying that because of the letter N--it was way too loud today!) We played musical chairs, we fed sound muncher (who ate a nose, by the way), and we learned some new signs (soup, popcorn, potato, orange juice, cake, waffle, ice cream, chicken, and meat). Instead of journals, today we used mini whiteboards to practice writing the uppercase and lowercase letters A-N. For science, students were first asked to predict which objects would sink and which would float and then we experimented. They were very good at predicting! Students are able to recognize an AB pattern in math (2 alternating colors), but I asked them to trace shapes to create an AB pattern and few were able to do this. It just shows me what I need to spend more time teaching.

There was a green sheet of paper that went home last week asking if your child needs a sack lunch on our early out day. Most of you will not need to return that form. If your child will be going to daycare on the early out day, and the daycare kids have already eaten, you might want to order a sack lunch that your child can take with them to daycare. If you will be picking up your child on that day, chances are you will simply feed your child lunch when you get home. I just thought I should clarify this.

Have a great weekend. Please feel free to email me anytime you have a question, or comment on the post and I will respond to you. I'm quite the computer geek and am on it frequently.

Check your child's backpack. Picture order forms went home today as well as fundraiser packets. Exciting news! Our class will walk to the fire station at 17th and Parkhill on Wednesday, October 7th for a tour. Our tour begins at 9am and will take 30-45 minutes. If any of you are available to come along as a chaperon, please email me.

Letter M day was mega-fun. It was music day, so students learned lots of fun songs. For morning literacy, we listened to groups of 3 words, 2 that started with m and 1 that didn't, to detect the sound that didn't belong. We read If You Give a Moose a Muffin and Sir Maggie the Mighty. At story time, we finished our first chapter book, Junie B. Jones and Meanie Jim's Birthday.

For math, students took turns "hiding" our two classroom mascots, Tattle Turtle and Red Panda. Students could not point to where the animals were hiding, but instead had to use math words such as behind, under, next to, etc.

After the one-minute speed reading activity, students drew "Mom and Me" at journal time. Some of you moms have really long legs! We roasted at recess, so many of us chose to sit in the shade and rest. It was a great day!!

As you might have imagined, discussing the constitution with 5- and 6-year-olds was difficult, but perhaps they got something out of it. For our letter L craft, we made heart-shaped (love) ladybugs. Their legs are pipe cleaners bent into Ls. I was so impressed that most of the students remembered the parts of an insect (6 legs, 2 antennae, 2 body parts)!

On day two of our speed reading, most students were able to beat their previous number of letters read in one minute. In math journals today, students were to draw a vertical line (I showed them what that meant) and draw a ball to the left of the line. This showed me who knows the difference between left and right. We will continue to work on it...

I've been gradually changing the activities at the learning centers. As students become better at letter recognition, they will have more literacy-based activities. Centers are a time to practice what they've learned in a more relaxed atmosphere with a peer.

The book order has been placed. Thank you for your orders. It will take about a week for the books to arrive. They will be delivered to the school and I will distribute them to students.

For letter K day, we traced and cut out triangles to make kites. The glue was still wet by the end of the day, so they will come home tomorrow. We played an alphabet bingo game to reinforce letter recognition and students put letters together to build three-sound words. We studied punctuation marks: the period means stop, the question mark asks a question, and the exclamation mark means say it with feeling. Students have been choral reading simple sight word books each day. This "pretend" reading really builds their skills!

We started two new things today: speed reading and math journals. For one minute, students read the alphabet letters they have already learned, to give them repeated practice in letter recognition. They underlined the letter on which they stopped. They will try to beat their time each day. They seemed to enjoy it! I was so impressed with the math journals. Students were asked to draw a box with a ball inside, and everyone did it correctly!

Thursday is Constitution Day, but we will celebrate it tomorrow. We will read a book called We the Kids, which defines the constitution in kid-friendly language. We will also draft our own classroom constitution to reinforce the concept.

Today we started an important pre-reading activity. I gave each student a sheet of paper with three boxes on it. I called out three sound words and asked them to put a block in the box where they heard the sound. For example, "Where do you hear the /a/ in cat?" (in the middle box). A couple of the students insisted that they could not do this because they don't know how to read yet, and I explained that if they would participate with an open mind, they would learn and would eventually become readers--one of the big goals of kindergarten. I try to remain positive, but I insist that every student TRY!

Hearing screenings took up our math time, so we did not get to start math journals today, but we will tomorrow. Each day, your child will have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the day's math concept by drawing/writing in their math journal. For example, one day the journal activity might be for students to draw a square and draw a circle inside the square. I will be able to see, at a glance, if they understand shapes and the concept of "inside." Math journals will be one of the main ways I grade students for report cards.

Tomorrow is library. Don't forget to send your library book back to school so your child can choose a different book.

Letter I day brought about a discussion on short and long vowel sounds. We have students named Ian and Izaak, which make different I sounds, but I was glad to know that they already noticed the beginning letter of their friend's names. Students made name inchworms by tracing and cutting circles and then writing one letter of their name per circle. They turned out cute and will be decorating our room for a few days.

In math, we practiced the concepts over, under, and through by first reading the book Going on a Bear Hunt, and then acting it out. It was lively and fun. We practiced singing our color songs: blue and red. I posted a link to the lyrics to the color songs on the class web site under "Links for Parents." The red and blue songs are exactly the same as the ones we sing in class. Some of the other color songs have different words.

There will be hearing screenings on Monday. Have a great weekend!

It was a great day in Room 1! The students know what is expected of them and they are making their dear teacher happy! As a reward for their efforts, they had a fun painting project. I had written their names with white crayon onto white construction paper so they couldn't see it, but as they painted the paper, their name suddenly appeared. They thought that was cool! The paintings are displayed in the hall for now, but will come home in about a week.

After school today, the coupon books arrived. If you returned a form saying that you would sell a coupon book, it will be coming home to you tomorrow so please check your child's backpack. You can turn in the money to me as you get it. Don't forget that book orders and money are due next Tuesday the 15th.

I apologize for not posting last night. It was a long day because I stayed at school and worked until the Open House and didn't get home until 8pm. Needless to say, I was exhausted. Thanks to those of you who were able to attend. I hope you had a good time.

In Social Studies, we talked about how each of us is unique and what makes us special. We also talked about ways in which we are all alike. Students drew self-portraits. Next week, we'll begin work on a "Who Am I?" book, in which students draw their hair color, eye color, name things they like, and tell how they feel.

We made glitter bottles for our letter G art activity. Thank you for sending your empty bottles to school for this craft. In addition to our usual letter of the day activities, we also learned 2 new songs that will teach students to spell the color words "red" and "blue." Journal time today consisted of searching through magazines for pictures of things that go (cars, airplanes, roller coasters, etc.).

In math, we reviewed the concepts of top, middle, bottom and directions left and right. As you would imagine, left and right need a lot of work. I taught them to hold up the sign language L and showed them that it only looks like the letter L when you use your left hand.

During our end of day class meeting, we've been thinking of events that have made it a great day. I am happy to hear things like, "I played with my friend at recess." and "We made a neat craft." It is so fun to have such happy and enthusiastic students!

This isn't school related, but I thought it might be helpful to some. Between Sept. 27 and Oct. 3, you can download a free will and trust kit. Go to www.suzeorman.com and enter gift code 898989.

We had a fun Friday in kindergarten today. We learned the letter E and fed sound muncher an elephant, an escalator, an elevator, and an eggplant, to name a few. We read about an ant named Effie who befriended an elephant. In Science, we talked about what makes an insect an insect (3 body parts, 6 legs, and 2 antennae). We made insects out of clay and drew our own creations. For writer's workshop, students drew pictures and attempted to label them by writing the beginning letter sound of the word. We practiced writing letters with shaving cream. At the end of the day, we sang "The Ants Go Marching."

Have a great 3 day weekend. See you Tuesday at 5:30 for Open House!

Get a class calendar

I have created a class calendar, with listings of birthdays and VIP weeks. If you would like the ability to view it online, please email me so I can add you to my list of viewers. Thanks!

Thursday, Sept. 3

It was a dog day in kindergarten -- because we studied the letter D, of course! We fed the sound muncher, made a dog craft, then sang BINGO, barking as we left off a letter instead of clapping. We read a dinosaur story and sang Dig A, Dig A, Dig A Dinosaur. On our mini whiteboards, we practiced writing all the letters we've learned thus far: A, B, C, D (upper and lower case). Rose Park uses D'Nealian-style letters. For an example of upper case letters, see http://www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/files/worksheet20064224131904.html. For lower case letters, see http://www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/files/worksheet20064224421232.html

Many of the students wanted to take a nap after lunch, so I told them they could stretch out of the floor as long as they weren't kicking anyone else. As tired as they were, very few were able to keep still. Many of them were more comfortable sitting up to listen to the story, after all! No of them has fallen asleep in class yet!

We did the first lesson in our math curriculum-- one-to-one matching. Students need to be able to point once for each object they count. This skill carries over to reading, as students need to know how to point to one word at a time as they read. We have several students who are on the verge of reading, already!!

Wednesday, Sept. 2

This morning, I handed each student a letter of the alphabet. Once everyone had one, students arranged themselves in alphabetical order. They were able to do this very quickly--I was impressed! Next, we had Social Studies. I chose to read some books by Kevin Henkes because he has some good ones that deal with feelings. We read Wemberly Worried, about a mouse who worried about everything, especially starting school. We also read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, about a mouse who has her treasured toys taken away from her by her teacher for playing with them at an inappropriate time. If you want to learn more about Kevin Henkes's books, his website is http://www.kevinhenkes.com/young.asp.

We learned the letter C today. Students practiced writing it with "rainbow writing" (tracing over it several times in different colors). We read another Kevin Henkes book, Chrysanthemum, about a mouse with an unusual and very long name. Yesterday, we graphed the number of letters in our names, so we had a frame of reference and some background knowledge. We also fed the sound muncher some interesting things: a computer, a carrot, a cake, and a car!!

Thanks to Kelly Hogan for helping out during afternoon centers! Tomorrow is music--fun, fun, fun!

Tomorrow we have music class

Tuesday Sept. 1

Today we learned the letter B. I introduced the students to my sound muncher (a monster made from a small garbage can with a swinging lid). Sound muncher can only eat things that begin with the letter sound of the day. It was difficult for them to brainstorm things for him to eat, but they were able to give me a thumbs up or thumbs down when I provided some possibilities. Students formed the letter with clay, wrote it, and practiced making the /b/ sound while feeling what their mouths do (it's not a puff of air, like the /p/ sound).

Students went to the library today. They were given a tour and shown the procedure for checking out books. Next week, they will actually get to check out a book. The librarian, Mrs. Waples, has some information she'll send home to you, informing you of due dates and what happens if your child loses a book.

Thanks to Mrs. Ross for coming in to help during morning centers. I have paired up the students so they know who they will be with during centers for the next few weeks. I will gradually mix things up so that they can become comfortable working with a variety of people.

I showed some short videos that give information about preventing the spread of disease (especially during flu season). There are some entertaining ones at this link http://www.youtube.com/USGOVHHS. Please remind your child to cough or sneeze into a tissue when possible, and when not possible, into the bend of their elbow and to wash their hands often.

Monday, Monday

We had a great day in kindergarten, despite starting off with a fire drill. Thankfully, Mrs. Bakken gave us advance notice, so I was able to take the class out for a practice drill first. The students did extremely well--no tears & no fears!!

We studied the letter Aa today. We started out by comparing the uppercase A to a triangle and the lowercase to the letter C with a line on the side. Students brainstormed words that begin with the /a/ sound. They said alligator, atmosphere (way to go Ian!), apple, and airplane. We made an alligator for our craft.

We played a different version of the name game today. It was called "name web." We passed a ball of yarn around as we said our names, but we each held onto the yarn, creating a giant web. It was very cool! We had great participation during all of the activities. The kids are really getting adjusted to the routines and expectations. I am sooooo proud of them!

Thanks to Mrs. Dwyer for handling all of the mail that went out today in your Monday envelope. Please return the envelope tomorrow morning. If you need to send me a note, the Monday envelope is a great way to do it. I hope that you will look through the book order flyers. If you have any questions about placing an order, please don't hesitate to call or email. See you tomorrow!

End of First Week

Happy Friday! We had a busy day, as usual. We learned The Pledge of Allegiance in sign language, or at least introduced it. The students seemed really worn out today. I think the long school days have caught up and that they will really enjoy some down time this weekend. They were so tired after lunch that I let them lie down on the rug to listen to a story, but the wiggles and talking were making it impossible for anyone to hear. Plan B (a short video) saved the day!

Students make a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree and wanted so badly to take it home, but I asked if I could display them in the hall for a week before it goes home. We've been working for 30 minutes each day on writing, which is mostly drawing thus far. Today, students drew their favorite foods. I learned that several students really love potatoes, pizza, and many of them like fruit. I'm keeping their writing in a folder that I will share with you during conferences (or anytime you request to see it, for that matter).

Thanks to Mrs. Eliason for coming to help during afternoon centers. Everyone wants to work on the computers, but because we only have 2 student computers, some of the students haven't been able to use them yet. It amazes me that students who have never used a computer can get right on and work without any issues.

Thank you for sending me letters about your families. I have enjoyed reading them! I am looking forward to some quiet time this weekend. I hope all of you have a great weekend and I will see you on Monday!

Day 2

Today we added another element that will become part of our regular routine--calendar and Pledge. We learned the days of the week and months of the year (with the macarena dance). I also introduced the sign language alphabet. I like to use a lot of sign language to reinforce concepts, such as over, under, and through and I am especially fond of fingerspelling, as it really helps students remember how to spell words.

The students had music today with Mrs. Summers. It sounded like they were having lots of fun. Mrs. Campbell, the Speech Therapist, pulled students out of the room, one at a time, to administer a brief speech screening. I will share the results with you as they become available.

Lunch went much more smoothly today. The students looked more confident about entering the lunch room and seemed to know where to go. They received a compliment from the lunch helpers for lining up so well.

We used mini whiteboards with dry erase markers to learn to form letters A-F and numbers 1-3. Students earned extra drawing time on the boards because they did so well. We're working really hard to learn the rules and to establish routines, and procedures. I want to try to start "letter a day" next week. I will go through the alphabet, in order, until we know all of the letters, then we will switch to "letter of the week."

I would appreciate it if you would send any notes back to school tucked inside the Monday envelope, or if it can't wait until then, please hand it to me when you drop your child off in the morning. I don't want to miss anything and it's awfully difficult to go through everyone's backpack every day. Thanks! See you in the morning.

First Day

We had a very busy day! We started the day by reading Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten. The students noticed a lot of similarities between our classroom and Miss Bindergarten's room. They had fun naming the animals shown on each page and we talked about how funny it would be if their teacher were a dog instead of a human.

We made "pencils" out of cheesesticks for snack (bologna "eraser" and a Bugle for the tip. We learned the dos and don't of the playground (the boundaries, how to slide feet first, what to do when they hear me blow my whistle). Lunch was a little confusing because the students don't know school terminology yet (hot vs. cold lunch) and there was a mix-up with lunchboxes at the end of the day that my daughter, who helped out today, was able to straighten out (I think!).

After lunch, we had some quiet time by watching a 10 minute video of the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (which we later read, as well). Students found the beginning letter of their name on our Chicka Chicka tree and decorated the letter with markers.

I thought the students did really well with lining up, walking quietly in the hallway, and using the bathroom properly. Each day gets better in kindergarten, and the first day is always the most difficult. I'm looking forward to a great day tomorrow.

This afternoon was the mini open house, or orientation. It was so great to meet the students and their families. Thanks so much for bringing your supplies today. It will make things much less chaotic on Wednesday, plus your child won't have to lug so much stuff with them. I had a parent ask about escorting their child into the building on Wednesday morning. It is up to you, but I think it is much easier to separate from your child when I walk them inside. This gives you a chance to say goodbye and then escape. I have found that the parents who come inside with us on the first morning of school have a much harder time getting away.

Thanks to those of you who signed up to volunteer. If you didn't see the sign up sheets, I am still looking for helpers during center time. You don't have to come in every week--it's your free time and I don't want to monopolize all of it. Email me if you're interested.

I am looking forward to a great year and it looks like I have a great group of students and parents to work with. Hurry and get here, Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!