Buddy Reading

Once or twice a week, each student reads with a buddy.  They begin with a warm-up by practicing letters and sounds.  This is done together.  Then, each student takes a turns and reads their just right books.  Reading to someone helps to build fluent readers.  Click on the play button to hear some examples!

Math Work Places

We have been implementing a new structure for our math time.  After calendar students are introduced to a new concept or review of a math objective.  This is generally done through a hands on, interactive game or activity.  Students then have a choice of playing that particular game or doing an activity that was introduced the previous day(s).  Students are expected to spend time in each center at least once during the week.  I try to introduce a new work center each day.

Here are a few math work centers that were available today.

Predicting and Measuring the Perimeter of Different Size Gingerbread Men

Rainbow Writing Numbers

Roll, Count, and Draw a Gingerbread Man

Insect Memory Match

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Creating Squares for a Class Quilt

Monster Squeeze

We began Math today by observing the growing gingerbread stair pattern we created and singing, "10 Little Gingerbread Men."

Parents, Grandparents, Friends, Co-Workers...

Feel free to comment on my class blog. I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas!  Click on the comment word on the bottom of each post to share.  Thanks for reading!

Jan Brett

This month, we are focusing on the author, Jan Brett.  We have been reading a different book of hers everyday.  We even noticed that she wrote 2 Gingerbread stories.  Gingerbread Baby has definitely been a favorite.  While in the computer lab this week, we were able to see and hear Jan Brett on the computer.  We watched her sketch a page of the book and also listen as she read, The Gingerbread Baby.  The students are learning that authors and illustrators are real people and this served as a great opportunity for the students to be able to see her in action!  We are learning a little about Jan Brett's life as a writer and illustrator.  We learned and noticed that she loves to write books about animals and most of her books offer information about animals and nature.  We found out that she loves to visit other countries to learn about their cultures, costumes and countryside to add to her stories.  We have been paying close attention to the borders and side panels in each of her stories.  The detailed illustrations often offer us additional details and clues about the story.  If you have any of the following Jan Brett books that you are willing to share with us for the week, please send them in with your child.

The Three Little Dassies

Hedgie Blasts Off

The Mitten

Armadillo Rodeo

Trouble with Trolls

The First Dog

Gingerbread Stories

We have been reading a variety of Gingerbread stories this week.  While reading these stories we have been talking about the different characters in the book.  We also have been comparing and contrasting the different characters that are found in across the stories and noticing that many of the stories have different endings.  Furthermore, we have been discussing the problems and solutions in each book.  We will continue this focus next week.

Choosing a "Just Right" Book

The children learned how to choose a just right book this week for their book boxes.  They now are allowed to have no more than 2 high preference books in their boxes, but can have an endless amount of just right readers.  They learned that choosing a just right book is like riding a bike.  Some books are too easy, some are too hard, and some are just right!  I taught the children that it is important to choose a just right book for their independent reading and taught them strategies to use when evaluating a book.  They learned how to use the 5 finger rule when choosing a book to know whether it is a just right book.  If you stumble on 2-3 words in a book, it is a just right book.   An appropriately leveled book will allow a reader to apply strategies for understanding the text.  A book that is too hard (5 or more difficult words) will only lead to frustration and a book that is too easy (no difficult words) will not support opportunities for growth.  A just right book will have some challenging words that the reader will have to solve and will also cause the reader to at times reread a sentence to better comprehend the meaning.  

NAP Snack

Please email me if you'd like to provide a snack for for the entire class for NAP this Friday, December 17th.

In the style of Picasso...

We LOVE Dave Kellar

Winter Clothes

Please help your child to become independent in dressing themselves in winter clothing.  Each child needs to learn how to put on and take off their own winter boots, zipper their jacket, put gloves and hats on, and be able to keep their belongings organized.  I understand that this will not happen overnight, but the more it is practiced at home, the better chance your child will experience success when getting ready in the classroom.  I am teaching the kids to work through the challenges this task requires and to try try try without getting frustrated and having a meltdown!  Don't forget, there is only 1 of me working at keeping 14 smiling faces with 28 mittens, 14 hats, 14 jackets, and 28 boots!  

Also, please double check winter clothing to make sure everything is labeled.  If you would like to leave a pair of shoes or snowpants at school, please let me know.  If you have old gloves, snowpants, boots, etc that are no longer used in your home, we would love to have a basket of "extras" to keep in our classroom.

Thanks for your help!

Picasso Projects

On Friday we used tissue paper to create a representation of Picasso's piece, The Three Musicians.  The students were not required to use the same colors or patterns that Picasso had, but they were expected to use shapes in creating the people.  I was extremely impressed with their patience and creativity as they carefully cut and arranged the tissue paper.  

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One More Story

The students spent part of the afternoon on Friday in the computer lab.  They listened to stories on the interactive read aloud program, One More Story.  Today, Mr. Jarred, the technology integration teacher, taught them how to log off by pressing command and Q.  Throughout the year, I hope to integrate computer time into our weekly schedule and introduce them to a variety of educational computer programs available.

Math Time with our Buddies

The children really look forward to spending time with their big buddies.  Today, the two classes did Math together.  Each class showed each other different games they were playing.  Our students taught the third graders how to play spin a number, insect memory match, create pattern block designs, sort money, and how to practice making estimates.  The third graders showed the Kindergartners a variety of math card games.

Guest Reader

We had such a busy, zig zag day today!  This morning, Andrew's dad came and read us two books, The Three Snow Bears and Stranger in the Woods.  We look forward to these Friday morning Guest Readers and the kids definitely enjoy and are proud to see their family in the classroom!  Next week, we look forward to having Sigrid with us.  Guest Reading will typically occur at 8:35ish.  There are some Fridays when we will have an all school assembly. If this is scheduled for your day, I will let you know of the time change.  Thanks for being flexible!

Literacy

In literacy this week we have been focusing on the letters l,h,and k and on the sightword, go.  We spent some time working on our handwriting using the sky, plane, grass, and worm lines, using white boards and  sky writing.  During read to self time, we have been making sure we notice familiar words, match what we say to the print, and continue to get our mouth ready when coming to an unknown word.  We also have been focusing on the difference between a letter, word, sound, and sentence.  The students have also been having a bit of practice counting out syllables in words.  During a variety of read-alouds, the students have been making predictions, talking about characters, and determining the problem and solution.  We have also worked together to retell many of the stories that are read aloud to us.

Outer Space Visitor

We had a visitor from outer space this week in our classroom.  "Spaceman" has flown in on his rocket ship to help the kids during writer's workshop.  As you can guess, this little man who is depicted on a traditional clothespin stick, blocks the spaces between their words.  I was amazed at how many kids were able to use spaceman successfully in their writing.  Along with spaceman, we have also focused on adding periods to the end of our sentences.  We also discussed the fact that we can add more to our writing even after we put a period.  The students have been using books to tell many parts of their stories. If you are ever around school, stop by and check out their writing folders.  They are jammed pack with amazing work!

Choice Time

Beginning this week, Mrs. F's class and mine are combining our choice times.  Our doors are both open and the kids are free to move about from room to room.  We hope this will help develop more relationships among the two classrooms and offer a larger variety of activities.  Everybody has been excited about this new change and enjoying the freedom it entails.

Bus

If your child does not normally ride the bus, he/she is not allowed to travel to a playdate with a friend who rides on the bus.  There is limited space available and they cannot have any extra students riding. Please arrange for parent pick up on these days.

Pablo Picasso

Since we got back from Thanksgiving break, our class has launched our second KinderArt study.  This week and next week's focus is on Pablo Picasso and in particular, his piece The Three Musicians.  The students have been looking closely at this piece of art noticing how he uses different geometric shapes to construct the harlequin and two musicians.  They found it surprising to learn how big the actual painting is and that he used oil on canvas even though it looks as though it was pieced together in a collage style.  We have discussed how he was a cubist and wanted to show the most important parts of what he was painting as opposed to just showing one view.  We learned a little bit about his early life as a kid and how his paintings changed over the years depending on what what going on in his life.  We have carefully colored in a replica of The Three Musicians and will be using tissue paper to recreate our own representation of The Three Musicians tomorrow.  Don't forget, these pieces of artwork will be showcased at the Art Show in the spring so they will not be sent home.

Forest Re-creation

Over the course of the week, the children have taken the ingredients they collected in the forest and reconstructed a resemblance of a forest floor. Some of them matched their exact recipe while others just enjoyed the project and focused on their creativity.  The forests and recipes are on display in the hallway if you want to take a closer look!

Scholastic Book Orders

You can now place your Scholastic Book Orders Online. Our class activation code is HN3MY.  Each time you place an order online, our classroom library gets $3. I also created a classroom wishlist if anybody is interested in helping our classroom library grow!  Visit www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.  On the parent page, click the “Register” button in the “First Time Here?” section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

Hubbard Park

The rain from last week turned to snow this week but the frigid temps didn't seem to bother our kids.  We warmed our bodies by walking all the way to Hubbard park today.  The focus this week was on using our sense of hearing.  We put our fox ears on, and listened for the sounds in nature.  This task only lasts about 30  seconds for this age group, but the
more we practice, the better we'll become.  This morning during morning meeting we chose species out of a hat that became our new names.  Ask your child what his/her chosen animal was.  We also did some exploring throughout the forest.  I'd like to instill a community snack for future NAP days so we don't have to lug all the extras from the snack fairies. If you'd be interested in supplying snacks for a day, please let me know! I'm not sure if this is definite, and am interested in your feedback.
              

Art Class

Terry Hodgdon meets with our students once a week for 45 minutes.  Here is some information concerning student's work in the art class.  Here are some of the activities that they have been involved in on Thursdays.

• Drawing about something you Love to do - color in all of the work
• Drawing shapes as a building block for drawing animals -  add color
• Leaf rubbings with crayons and a watercolor wash for a resist 
• A study of Claude Monet and his Water Lilies - Tempera painting with mixing of primary colors and use of brush strokes as the Impressionists do
• A study of fish creating interesting patterns on the body as well as working objects in the background - overlapping   
• Use of key vocabulary words for all of the above

Trouble Seeing Photos?

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Forest Recipe

Guidance

Last week, Mrs. Baker came to our classroom and read us a story called Personal Space Camp.  In this story, Louis, the world's self-proclaimed space expert is invited to Personal Space Camp.  He was so excited to be chosen to attend the camp until he learned that this camp had nothing to do with Saturn's rings or lunar landings. The camp taught him all about personal space. In our classroom we call this our "bubble." We role played different scenarios and practiced keeping our body in our own bubble.

Today, Mrs. Baker brought some friends along with her. Mi-Shell and Shelley, (did you guess they were turtles), acted out some examples of using a too loud voice, a too soft voice, and a just right voice when solving a conflict they had over whether to play on the structure or the swings.  Mrs. Baker taught us how to use the right tone of voice when we are solving our problems.

Partner Reading

The students practiced partner reading today for the first time. They learned how to sit next to their partner (knee to knee and elbow to elbow) and practiced retelling the story of the first thanksgiving. The students had picture cues to help them and also had the help of their partner if they got stuck. I was impressed with the respect each child showed one another and the patience they exhibited in listening to one another.  Ask your child to tell you the story of the first thanksgiving!