character, setting, and important events

During our Readers' Workshop we have been talking about character, setting, and important events in a story. These important story elements lend themselves to greater comprehension of text. Students are doing a phenomenal job at grasping these concepts. This morning I read aloud Chester and the Big Bad Bully and we completed a story map together. This afternoon I read aloud Harry and the Lady Next Door and students completed a story map individually by drawing pictures with just a little support. I then conferenced with students so they could tell me about their pictures. Tomorrow I will be reading a different book aloud for students to complete a story map on their own. This will give me an idea of what to teach next and who needs more time with these skills. When reading with your child, be sure to stop and ask who is in the story, where does the story take place, and what are some important things that happen in the story. Students are becoming familiar with the language of character, setting, and important events. You may be amazed by their skill level!

Chicken Soup With Rice

One of our favorite shared activities is reading the Chicken Soup With Rice poems by Maurice Sendak. This collection of poems has a new poem each month. Students start by listening to me read the poem as I point to the words. Next, I read a line or two and then they echo read the same lines. Lastly, as they get to know the poem well, we read through it a few times together. Students can hear the rhyme and pick out a few familiar words as they read. We are excited to see the new poem each month. Look for some of these monthly poems to come home soon.

with our buddies

On Friday we decorated cookies with our buddies. Thank you to Mrs. Garol and her 5th graders for making it such a fun time for us. I hope the cookies were yummy! Next week we will play outside with our buddies. We are fortunate to have such a responsible, caring older group to spend time with each week.

counting

Thank you to everyone who has donated food for our Kindergarten Food Drive. It truly feels like the giving season with your generosity. There is still time to send in a donation if you want. Today we continued our Ways to Count strategy list. Students added many ideas to our poster. I chose making a line and counting one at time for us to count how many food items we have so far. Students worked together to form a food line and we counted each item to reach 50! We will choose a different strategy tomorrow to count.

Saying Good-bye

Today we said good-bye to a classmate who is moving out of state. She got to be the leader for the day and we made a book for her to remember us by. Her family sent in a special snack that we shared in the afternoon. While saying good-bye is sometimes hard, it was good that we had the chance to provide some closure for everyone. We will definitely miss her, but wish her the best of luck in her new home and school. We are hoping we can be pen pals with her and maybe her new class. We'll let you know if this happens...

Math in December

This month in math we are continuing to work with numbers to 10 as well as rote counting to 50. We are continuing our work with 2 and 3-dimensional shapes as well as beginning to talk about describing position words, such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to. Our calendar pieces are of a bear and where it is in relation to a box. The picture below shows what our finished calendar will look (on the correct days of course!). We also played a partner game where students had to find someone who had the same position card as they did. Partners projected their findings on the Smart board using the Elmo.

Happy December!

It is hard to believe December has arrived and we have been in school for 64 days. This means we have completed more than a third of the school year already! As most of you probably know by now, I was away Monday and Tuesday at a Kindergarten Conference in New Hampshire. I went with Mrs. Chase and Mrs. VDC. We had a great time and learned a few new teaching ideas. I can't wait to use what I learned! I missed the children a lot, but knew they would do well in my absence. We were super-excited to see each other today :)

Our Buddies

On Friday we read a part of a book titled "Thanksgiving" by Ann Heinrichs. We learned that the cornucopia is a Thanksgiving symbol to remind us of all we have to be thankful for. It is a food basket that is shaped like an animal's horn. It overflows with fruits and vegetables. We made our own cornucopias with our buddies. Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks on Day 60

Yesterday was the 60th day of school. Zero the Hero came by before changing his costume and becoming our Thanksgiving Turkey at our feast. He led us in the Turkey Tango. I cannot tell you how much fun we had and how nice it was to be together as a Kindergarten community. I was not in school yesterday morning, but was there in time for the feast. In the morning students listened to the book Feeling Thankful and had a discussion about what each of them is thankful for. They also completed a writing activity. I wish your family much peace over the Thanksgiving break.

super-awesome day

We had a super-awesome day. We started off our day with a trip to the library to make a wish list for the book fair. Then we went to an anti-bullying interactive presentation that was phenomenal. The performers were engaging and the students learned some strategies to help them stand up to bullies. Lunch was a Thanksgiving dinner and the rest of the day was spent getting ready for our Kindergarten Feast which happens tomorrow. In preparation for the feast we learned the Turkey Tango dance and made hats and collars similar to what Pilgrims may have worn. Our contribution to the feast is popcorn. Be sure to ask your child about our celebration. It is bound to be super-awesome just like they are :)

Windblown...

Where did all these pieces of paper come from? Who do they belong to? The chicken is sure that they belong to him, as does the fish, and the bird, and the snail, and the frog… Yesterday we read Windblown by Edouard Manceau. Using the same small scraps of paper over and over again, a new animal is blown onto each page by the wind. When the book was finished students created their own windblown object. They are hanging in our hallway. Be sure to check them out if you are in school. They are quite magnificent.

holiday cards, guidance class, browsing boxes

We were busy this week in Kindergarten. On Wednesday, Mrs. King came to our class to help us make holiday cards. The children really enjoyed helping to make the cards although some of the steps were tricky. Cards are on sale through Friday, November 22... Miss Patty Ransom came to our class on Thursday for a safety lesson. Please review the packet sent home... We finally broke out our browsing boxes! Browsing boxes hold books that students are interested in looking at and reading. Students went book shopping on Friday and chose 5 books they were interested in and 2 small readers. They were very careful in their selections, taking time to find a book they liked or wanted to "read" more about. The small readers are sight word books we've been practicing in class over the last several weeks. Students are excited for Readers' Workshop on Monday and while they are reading from their browsing boxes, I will be able to read and conference with individual students. I am excited for Readers' Workshop too... Have a happy weekend!

3-D Shapes Song

Mrs. Chase shared the following link with us. Our students LOVE this song and will know 3-D shapes names in no time at all. I told them I would share it with you so that maybe they could access it from home. You will need to copy and paste it in your browser. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9L9l86N-xM

Healthy Snack

Last week we started having a healthy snack delivered to our class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays as part of a fresh foods grant. Students are able to try fruits and vegetables of different varieties. So far we have had apples, oranges, grapes, salsa & chips, pineapple, and carrots. Many students are trying foods even if they think they might not like it. I am collecting data as to how many students try the foods and if they like it or not. The day we had salsa was especially fun as we tried to guess the different foods it took to make it. I think my favorite was the pineapple. Have a happy weekend. A newsletter will go home on Monday.

Pics of 50

The pictures are loading sideways, but here they are...

Day 50!

Zero the Hero came by today to help us celebrate our 50th day in Kindergarten. It is hard to believe how time is flying by. Zero led us in counting to 50 by ones and tens. He then left us ten frames and Fruit Loops as our snack. We worked together as a class to show 50 on 5 ten frames. Students are beginning to think about how 50 can be 5 groups of ten. Students then were able to count out 50 Fruit Loops using individual ten frames. Ms. Ringer, Mrs. Phillips, and I were able to divide and conquer to hear each student count to 50 (some with support, some independent) by both ones and tens. I am continually impressed by your children and how much they have learned in a short period of time. I look forward to the next 50 days!

Hungry Caterpillar Game

At one of our math stations this week is a shapes game called Hungry Caterpillar. Students play with a partner to see who can fill three hexagons on their caterpillar first. Shapes used are triangles, rhombuses, and trapezoids. Rhombuses look like "diamonds", but can't be called that in math. Other math stations for the week are pattern block pictures, a cut and glue paper with numbers to 6 (i.e. I see 2 pies.), and a number sequencing game with clothespins... Letters this week are h, v, c, a; Sight word is "like". Review letters to date - s, m, r, t, b, n, h, v, c, a. We are working hard on letter formation. I am beginning to see an improvement in handwriting! Sight words to date - am, can, I, is, like, love, my, see, the, we. We are reading little books with these words.

Last Week

We had such busy days last week. The time sure is flying in Kindergarten. On Wednesday Mr. Nolan-Watkins came into class and read The Pumpkin Blanket. On Thursday we took the seeds out of our pumpkin, roasted them, and then counted the seeds before eating them. Most students tried the seeds and a few liked them :) Mrs. Patty Ransom also came to our class for Guidance on Thursday. Students participated in an activity about Friendship. I will post pictures from that lesson when the activity is complete. One way to support your child this week is in talking about the names of the 3-Dimensional shapes we are learning about - cone, cube, cyliner, and sphere. 3-D shapes are a harder concept to grasp and learning the shape names is helpful. Picture re-takes are on Tuesday. Please be sure to return the original pictures if your child is having a re-take.

Our Thinking - 3-D Shapes

We are continuing to talk about 3-Dimensional shapes and their attributes. We asked students what they thought they knew (chart), and sorted objects from home. Today we will make shapes out of playdough. Next week we will continue with 2 and 3 dimensional shapes as well review numbers 1-5 and beyond. Happy November!

Continuing on...

We have been continuing on in all of our learning areas - reading, writing, letter work, math, etc. Students have been working hard! A couple of highlights include our morning password (which leads to reading small books), letter names, sounds, and handwriting practice (which leads to more independence during Writers' Workshop), and our beginning discussion about 3-D shapes. Today I gave the students four shapes (cube, cone, cylinder, sphere) to pass around the circle during our math time. Students made observations of these shapes and Ms. Ringer, our special educator, recorded their observations. They were spectacular. I will post a picture of what they said tomorrow night (I forgot to take a picture before I left school). We haven't yet told the students the names of these shapes, but will tomorrow. Over the next week, we will discuss these observations to see if they fit as attributes and/or descriptions of the shapes we are learning. Please send in 3-D objects tomorrow for a shape sort if you can... Password words so far - am, see, can, we, my... Letters we have re-visited so far - s, m, r, t, b, n

Odds and Ends

I hope your weekend was awesome. Mine was great, but too short! Here are a few updates. I will send home a paper copy on Monday... Picture retakes - will be Tuesday, November 5th. Please be sure to return the original pictures if you would like retakes. 3-Dimensional Shapes - we will begin a quick study of 3-D shapes on Wednesday. Students can bring in items to represent these shapes - cube, cone, sphere, cylinder. We will keep these items at school for about a week or so. Please be sure to label these items with your child's name so they can be returned when we are finished with them. Also, please be sure that none of the items are breakable or valuable. Halloween - We will not be having a party, but will have a special snack and watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" in the afternoon. Kindergarten students will not be wearing costumes... It's hard to believe that November begins on Friday. Have a happy week.

Triangle Trees and Circle Spiders

We are continuing our discussion of shapes. Wednesday we talked about triangles and made triangle trees and today we talked about circles and made spiders with a circular body. Students observed that triangles need to have three sides and three angles and circles have no angles, no sides, and must be round. We will be keeping the spiders at school for a while. We love that no two projects are the same :)

Spookley The Square Pumpkin

Our calendar markers this month are 2-dimensional shapes in a pattern - triangle, square, circle, rectangle. Today we began our shapes unit by looking at and discussing what makes a square a square. Students had great thinking during our discussion around this concept and we decided that a square must have the following or it is not a square: four sides, four corners or angles, and the sides must all be the same (have the same length). We decided that squares can be any size or color, but they must have the attributes we identified. We watched a short video clip on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo2BAoqxbdM) and made square pumpkins. They were too cute to keep at school. Enjoy!

Password

Beginning last week we started something new to aid in teaching sight words. Hanging outside our door is a “password” with a sight word written inside. Once students read the word, they have to go to their seats and write it on a white board. We look at the words, say the word, spell it, and say it again. Last week’s word was am, this week’s are see and can. Beginning this week, students will be bringing home small books with the sight words in them. Please read them together often.

Busy Thursday

We had a very busy Thursday. It almost seemed like we packed two days into one. We met with our 5th grade buddies in their classroom for the first time, had Guidance class with Ms. Patty, and spent some time in Mrs. Lombard's class watching The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories on the smart board. We also learned two new songs with her class, Driving In My Car and I Think You're Wonderful (which has sign language parts). Ms. Patty led a discussion on ways to handle anger where students brainstormed ways and contributed to a class poster. There is also a short video you can copy and paste into your browser - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dyflxTtYMmc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdyflxTtYMmc

Pictures

Here are some pictures I've been meaning to post for a while now - our apple taste test chart and graph, Rainbow Bear, and our completed alphabet cards.

And then there were 26!

We did it! Yesterday I introduced letter Zz during our letter work time. We are so excited to have finished our quick start to the alphabet. Many children are recognizing letters, sounds, and how to use what they know about the alphabet in their writing. We will continue to work with letters and sounds throughout the school year with a focus on letter names, letter sounds, how to write each letter, and how to use them in our reading and writing.

Playing board games

This week I introduced a board game during our math time - HiHo! Cherry-O- my favorite. While this is a game for four people, we are having students work in pairs. Playing board games serve many purposes for Kindergarteners including: turn taking, following set rules, learning to win and lose graciously, fine motor practice (the fruit pieces are tiny), practicing math skills (matching numeral to object), and most important - having fun! We will continue with playing this board game for the next few weeks and then introduce another one.

Indoor recess, conferences, day off

Today we had indoor recess. Indoor recess is kind of a bummer for Kindergarten. We wait all day to go outside and then... it rains. Well actually, it rained all day, but we were hoping the weather would improve before our 2:00 recess time. It didn't. Today the students played with playdoh during the indoor recess time. It is a treat as we haven't brought it out to use very many times yet. While it was fun, we are all thankful tomorrow will be sunny... Parent/Teacher Conferences are this week. Please contact me if you need your appointment time. It was super-awesome to meet with some families today and I look forward to seeing each of you... As a reminder, we are not in school this Friday, October 18.

Fire Safety & Prevention

Members from the Milton Fire Department came to school today for a fire safety and prevention assembly. Students were attentive as they learned about how to get out of their home in case of fire, what to do if their clothes catch on fire, and what kitchen tools and appliances they should not touch without grown-up help. A highlight was Sparky the Fire Dog and watching the firefighters race to get dressed in their gear. The students counted to 30 until there was a winner. The fire chief challenged students to get into their winter gear that quickly this winter. I will be sure to remember this challenge once the cold winter is upon us! Students were given a goody bag with a color book, stickers, and other items. I read the color book to the students and we talked about 911 and its importance. Have a great weekend!

Pumpkins, progress reports, and conferences

Our trip to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday was perfect! The weather was gorgeous and students enjoyed the tractor ride, picking out pumpkins, having a special snack, and of course, playing on the playground. Thank you to all the chaperones who joined us. It is always nice to see you... Progress reports are being sent home today. We can discuss them next week at parent/teacher conferences. Please note that I highlighted working on letters and sounds for everyone as it is an on-going skill we are learning... Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held next week. Your appointment time is on the bottom of the progress report.

Readers' Workshop

We started our Readers' Workshop this week. There are four components to each workshop session - mini-lesson (I teach), modeling of a skill (students and I share this), independent practice (by students), and share (by students). Students are so ready for this! Our lessons so far have been about how to choose books and "read" them by looking at each page. Students practiced both yesterday and today, reading independently for five minutes. They were quiet and focused! Five students were able to share today something about one of the books they "read". Students are sharing book baskets at this time as they get to know the classroom library. In the next few weeks students will be getting their own browsing boxes filled with books they want to have as well as some little readers that have some familiar words and predictable text. I will also be sharing with them that Kindergarteners read in 3 ways - by the pictures, by the words, and from memory. I will be conferencing (meeting) with individual students to start some beginners reading instruction in the next few weeks during the independent reading portion. More to come on this when we get started.

The Morning Message

Almost every day I write a morning message that we read during our morning meeting. I change the format of this message after every student has the chance to be the leader of the day with that particular message. We have just started our 2nd round of leaders this week. The morning message serves many purposes: we come together as a group to read something about our day, students are echo reading each sentence, we are touching every word to model beginning reading skills, there are predictable words that will appear in at least 17 messages before changing, we can focus on one skill in the response portion of the message, and one student gets to bring the message home to read with his/her family. The words we are seeing this time around include: my, the, is, we, had, I, see, love (I forgot to write it on this message). While we are not formally introducing these words yet, students are starting to learn them in the context of daily exposure. The focus of this message was on writing, then reading names. I am continuing to work with students on writing their names in the correct format. There has been much improvement. Happy Weekend!

Pictures

Rainbow Bear

In Art, students have a chance to earn up to 5 points per class for following the art rules (posted on the red bear). Once they reach 20 points they earn a Rainbow Bear. Yesterday, our class earned more than enough points to get the Rainbow Bear. They actually earned 9 points yesterday for being extra awesome. Ms. Cobler, the art teacher, will be bringing us our Rainbow Bear. We are very proud! I will post pictures from home as I'm having technical difficulties figuring out how to do it on my school computer :)

Rock Stars

Your children are rock stars! I was out of school this morning so there was a substitute teacher. When I met with her while the children were at lunch, she told me how much she enjoyed the morning and how wonderful the students are. I was very proud of them and told them they should be proud of themselves as well. It's not always easy doing something new, but they made it look that way. Not bad for being only the 25th day of school :)

Applesauce and Open House

We had a great time on Monday making applesauce. The students worked diligently to cut the apples and waited patiently for their turns. I think all students who attended open house tried the applesauce and many like it! My goal is to try and cook monthly with students. I may call upon parents/guardians for help with this! I think our next cooking adventure with be pumpkin seeds after our trip to the pumpkin patch... Thank you to all the families that were able to attend Open House. It was very nice to see all of you again. Your children were so excited to have you in the classroom and to show you things have been working on.

Open House - Monday 9/30

Open House will be held at all three schools Monday night from 6:00-7:30. Parking will be limited. Please consider walking if you live close to the school or carpooling if you can. There will be shuttles from the high school to the elementary/middle school every ten minutes. I look forward to seeing you!

Hopes and Dreams

Today students wrote about what they want to learn in Kindergarten. We brainstormed a list last week of things they wanted to do in Kindergarten and then narrowed it down to mostly academic goals. Today students said what they wanted to learn from that narrowed list and drew the pictures to go along with their ideas. We will be finishing them on Monday to share with you at Open House. I believe that each student will reach their goal this year... Please be sure to check out the newsletter that went home today and be sure to join us if you can for Open House on Monday. It is 6:00-7:30. Happy Weekend!

Guidance class

Today our school guidance counselor, Patty Ransom, came to our classroom to introduce herself to the students and to start getting to know them. We played a game of "Hot Potato" and said something that makes us happy. Miss Patty will be coming each Thursday for 30 minutes. Below is a link that she shared with the students to tell them a little about what school counselors do. You will need to copy and paste it into your browser. http://storybird.com/books/what-is-a-school-counselor/

Zero the Hero

He came back yesterday! Students were so excited all day. Some are beginning to understand that every 10 school days, Zero the Hero will appear. Zero read Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 and to celebrate the 20th day, students made bracelets or counting rods with 20 beads. I have asked students to practice counting to 20 using their beaded product.

P.S. Another Kindergarten birthday... Happy Birthday to Ava! Students are getting very good at making birthday books for their classmates.

Writers' Workshop

Yesterday we started our Writers' Workshop. Each Writers' Workshop begins with a focused lesson. Students then think (come up with something to write about),talk (share what they are going to write about with a partner), write (spend 10-15 writing)and share(tell others their story). All students draw a picture to represent their story. Some students add letters or words if they can. The whole process takes about 50 minutes start to finish. It is incredible to have Kindgarten students engaged in writing for this length of time. Be sure to check out your child's writing folder next Monday at Open House.

Apple taste test and more...

On Friday I was unable to post as I had a family dinner to attend, but if I had, the title would have been, "Best Day Ever". I cannot tell you enough how fortunate I feel to teach your children daily. They surely make my job a most pleasant experience each day! Today we continued our study of apples and Change Over Time by reading the informational text, How Do Apples Grow? After reading, students were able to taste macintosh, yellow delicious, and granny smith apples to determine which kind they preferred. They each colored in an apple to represent their choice. Tomorrow we will make a graph with the colored apples, analyze the data, and complete a predictable text. I will post pictures of the results.

P.S. A very happy birthday to Cooper who turned 6 on Saturday!

Apples!

We had a great time at the apple orchard. Thank you to all the parent chaperones who attended. It was very nice to see you! At the orchard we were able to see how apples were washed and sorted, we each were able to pick two apples, and we took a wagon ride down into the orchard to see the different kinds of trees and apples. Of course a highlight was playing on the awesome playground. Pictures to follow soon.

Number of the Day

We are beginning to look at individual numbers in detail. Today's number was "2". We showed what it looks like as a numeral, a word, on a die, in a 10-frame, as a part of a tally group, what numeral comes before and after... We also talked about what comes in pairs. Although my drawing ability is limited, check out what the students came up with -

eyes, shoes, cleats, twins, arms, legs, hands, feet, ears, mittens, socks, wheels on a motorcyle. We even wrote a number sentence 1+1=2... We are excited for our field trip to the apple orchard tomorrow.

Happy Birthday! and other fun events

Happy Birthday to Haleigh! The question on our morning message this morning was, "Are you 5 or 6?" We now have 2 six-year olds and 15 five-years olds in our midst. We will be tracking this important question throughout the year as we have birthday celebrations. Ask your child about tally marks and how we use them to record the answers to questions. Reminder: Wednesday is picture day and Thursday is our field trip.

Happy Monday!

It was a chilly start to our second full week of school. Students are really into our routine and know what to expect in most situations. I am super-impressed with their abilities! A highlight to our day was having every student sign in. Signing in is a great way to record who is in school as well as to practice handwriting of names. We have been talking a lot about how names begin with an uppercase letter, followed by all lowercase letters. I will be helping students to make this transition if they are using uppercase letters in their names. Students who have mastered writing their first name independently and in the correct manner will be starting to learn their last names as well. Be on the lookout for this all-important skill! P.S. The newsletter did not make it home today. It will be sent on Tuesday this week.

Busy Friday!

Today we had our first fire drill. Students did a great job lining up and staying together. Our goal for next fire drill is to stay super-quiet as well. Also today, we had our first meeting with our 5th grade reading buddies from Mrs. Garol's class. We taught the 5th graders two songs - Let's Go Fishing and Tooty Ta. Students then paired up to read a few picture books together. We are looking forward to our weekly meetings with this awesome group of students. I feel truly blessed to teach your children. Happy Weekend!

Listen, Think, Learn

We attended our first assembly today. Kindergarten students were fabulously attentive and polite. We have been practicing our three school rules (see below) and put them into effect during the assembly. To remember these, we have shortened them for Kindergarteners to Listen, Think, Learn. Ask your child if he/she remembers what they are...

Zero the Hero!

We beat the heat today with a special guest and activity. Zero the Hero came by today for our 10th day of school. He read a story and handed out a special "0" snack. Students were excited to have a "real" superhero in our classroom. We look forward to seeing Zero on the 20th day of school... Also today, we watched two books on the Smartboard - Rainbow Fish and Harry the Dirty Dog. Be sure to check out storylineonline.net for many great children's stories. The only story you may want to skip is Dad, Are You the Tooth Family. Enjoy!

One dot, many dots

Today we started an observation chart during Number Corner. Students had to tell how many dots there were total on a calendar marker, how many of the dots were red, how many were blue, and then make an observation of what they noticed. I am continually amazed by how much the children know and can share with others. We are very much anticipating what the other calendar markers will look like.

Listening Larry

Today we read a book called Whole Body Listening. The main character, Larry, helps students use their whole body for listening - eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, body, brain, and heart. We have a poster of Larry hanging in the classroom and will refer back to it during listening times. Check it out below:

Happy Friday!

We had a great week in Kindergarten! We started our letter work, math stations, and Explore centers. We went to the library, art, and P.E. A highlight of our week was having our principal, Mr. Nolan-Watkins, be a guest reader at the end of the day on Friday. Ask your child about the book, Wilson Sat Alone. Happy Weekend!

Welcome!

Welcome to our Kindergarten Blog! I am hoping this blog will keep you informed of the daily and important happenings in our classroom. Please be patient as I work out any kinks. Happy Blogging!