Helping Families Celebrate

On Tuesday, we helped a friend's family celebrate the anniversary of their adoption.  We learned about the process of adoption, how and why it happens, and made many connections to our own background knowledge.  Kelly answered many questions about adoption and shared a story written by Todd Parr telling about adoption.  While listening to the story, students enjoyed a special treat.  If your family would like to share a special day with our class, just let me know.  We love having parents visit and helping to build community not only within our class but with families as well.  

E.C.O. Celebration

All Kindergarten classes joined together in Harrison Field today to celebrate the ending of the fall E.C.O.  program.  (Don't worry, we'll start up again in January)  Twice a year, we like to gather all the children together in a fun outdoor day.  Today, we had four stations set up in Harrison Field.  Students enjoyed making snow sculptures, playing field games, throwing snowballs at a target, making tea, listening to stories, and going on a scavenger hunt.  Students engaged in each activity throughout the morning. It was great to see all the children working together to show Cooperation.  Thanks to Katie for donating apples for our morning snack and to Grandpa Charlie for supplying us with some warm water!  

Updates from the week

Despite the lack of blogging, we've had quite a busy week in Kindergarten!  Here is a recap of some of our learning and fun-filled activities that we've done or will continue to work on this week.  

We wrote thank you notes for adults in our school who have helped us throughout the year.  We attached these notes to a gift bag full of gingerbread cookies that we made ourselves.  Students then traveled around the school distributing the bags to our wonderful helpers. 

Students have finished their first handwriting books for the year. We've been working on these slowly and spending time learning about how each letter is formed.  We will continue to practice handwriting upon returning from winter break. We will be using a variety of tools to strenghthen our fine motor muscles. As students become more fluent in their writing, they tend to put aside their great handwriting skills they've learned. We'll continue to reinforce proper letter formation.  ALL students will be expected to write in lower case letters throughout the new year. 

In writing, we're working on building our stamina in writing words.  As students spend more time on their writing and not just their illustrations, they have been thinking about how they can make their stories more interesting.  INQUIRE with your child how they have done this in their stories this week.

During reading, your children are working on putting all their strategies together when reading their just right books. As each of them learn new strategies, they are working on remembering the ones taught prior.  After break, students will be working in small guided reading groups with me.  Students will be grouped by both strategy learning and text level.  More about this in January...

We have all picked a "nature animal name."  This 2nd identity will be used both in the classroom and while at E.C.O.  Although we'll begin to learn about these particular animals this year, the meat of the learning will happen during their first grade year. Don't be surprised to hear your child calling their friend, "great horned owl!"  Each student (and teacher) has their own name. INQUIRE with your child what their nature animal name is.

We will have a Kindergarten sing-along tomorrow in the big gym.  Our new song is about a mole and a few other Vermont animals. Ask your child to sing it to you!

During choice time, students have been engaging in two dramatic play centers.  While some children enjoy reenacting a doctors office or hospital, others are pretending to be the "teacher." It's quite amusing to hear yourself in the voice of a student!   I've been enjoying listening to children read like a teacher, count like a teacher, remind students about C.A.R.E.S. and have a good time! 

Again, sorry about the lack of blogging, but all of a sudden everything is catching up!  I hope you all have a great holiday and enjoy the time with your families! 

A Note From Owen

I am sure most us have spent a great deal of time this weekend thinking about the best way to support our children in the aftermath of the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14^th.

On Monday morning we will meet as a staff to share ideas and support each other. UES will continue to keep our students and staff safe. If students ask staff and faculty about the tragedy we will address those questions and comments individually. We will not address this information in an assembly format.

A small group of UES professional staff met with me on Sunday afternoon to develop a response plan for the upcoming week. We had the good fortune to speak with Dr. Anne Stewart, Professor of Psychology at James Madison University in Virginia. Dr. Stewart is an expert in crisis response and specifically in school crisis response. Dr. Stewart has given us express authority to use her research to support the UES community through this difficult time.   Dr Stewart has written several articles in response to recent school tragedies. www.psyc.jmu.edu/gradpsyc/people/stewart.html.

Please let me know if there is anything that you need. It is important that we work together with tenderness, care and compassion as we move forward during this difficult time.

In this very dark week both on the calendar and in our lives let’s lift light up around us both literally and figuratively.

Here are some resources about talking with children:

http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=672 (American School Counselor’s Association – Helping Kids During Crisis)

http://www.savethechildren.org (How to Help Children Cope with a Crisis)

parenting.blogs.nytimes.com (How Not to Talk With Children About…)

Math This Week

This past week students explored measurement in Math. Today we introduced the balance scale, and learned the meaning of math words: weight and heavier & lighter. During our lesson students chose objects and compared the weights of a variety of classroom objects of dis-similar sizes, shapes and weights and compared the weight of a collection of varying objects to a single object, set weight. Inquire with your child about what heavier and lighter means, and talk about what objects around your home may be heavier and lighter than one another, and discuss the comparisons and their thinking about how they know. 

Students have also been working on sharing their thinking and strategies with one another during number corner (calendar).  When counting or grouping objects, students are expected to think of a variety of ways to solve.  For example, when counting the 14 dots on today's calendar square, students could figure out the amount in a variety of ways.  While some may have counted each dot 1 by 1, others noticed it was one more than yesterday, and others noticed 2 groups of 5 equal 10 and then they saw 4 more.  A variety of strategies are shared and students are always thinking of "other" ways to solve.  When looking at the dots this month on our calendar pieces, students have been provided a basic introduction to number sentences (ie. 10+4=14 and 4 +10=14). 

While we continue to practice counting by 10's, our friends are also practicing counting on from a given object - start at 8 and count on, start at 48 and count on, and learning to count backwards - again from a variety of numbers.  Math during number corner is often differentiated for individual learners and students are challenged to solve problems and questions geared to their "just right" level.  INQUIRE with your child how to play, "Magic Number."  

Earlier in the week, students were introduced to the concept of money (in particular a penny) and subtraction.  After reading Bennies Pennies, a story about how Benny goes out and starts with 5 cents but keeps buying things for other people.  He was soon left with 0 cents.  Students made observations of the penny, learned a money song to help us remember the different coins, and also played, "Count and Compare Pennies."  

Guest Readers are the best!

....and not because I get to drink my coffee uninterrupted for 15 minutes during the read aloud but because your children love having their family visit the classroom and hearing your favorite stories!  Kate and Seamus were our guest readers this morning.  Check out how engaged and enthralled our listeners were!  It's easier than it looks, I promise!  Next week, my sister will be in town and is excited to be our guest reader, but don't worry..there are many more days after break. 14 to be exact! Check out the link to sign up for a day!  Thank you to all those signed up so far - parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles!  We look forward to having you join us in our classroom. If you'd like to do more, please drop me an email.  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508044AADAF2BA46-friday

Gingerbread Celebration

INQUIRE this weekend, what Gingerbread story was your child's favorite.  This morning we voted and used a ballot to mark our favorite story that was read.  Although we've been reading a range of gingerbread stories, five were available to choose from. Students then completed some response to writing prompts about their favorite characters and why they chose the book they did.  In math, students worked on creating a growing chart with gingerbread men.  INQUIRE with your child how many gingerbread men were displayed on it? Can they count backwards from that number?  This afternoon, after rolling out and baking gingerbread cookies, we tallied the votes and determinted, "Gingerbread Girl" was the most popular story in our class...but not by much!  Check out the votes below!  We enjoyed a "baby" gingerbread cookie this afternoon while hearing the story of what happened when Mrs. Webb (kitchen worker) and myself took out the cookies.  INQUIRE with your child what happened!  What a fun day in Kindergarten!

Note from Dr. Ricca

Good Evening Montpelier Public Schools,

I have been trying unsuccessfully to get PowerSchool to send out this message for me.  So I am resorting to our e-mail system.

As we deal with the aftermath of the unspeakable events that took place in Newtown, CT today, please take good care of each other and take good care of all the children in our District Family. 

If they know of the events, talk to them about it, sharing as much information as is developmentally appropriate.  Try to limit their exposure to television and news this weekend.  Listen to them and reassure them that our world is a good place to be, with some people who do bad things.

The Vermont Department of Mental Health has a link to help adults talk with children about events like this: http://mentalhealth.vermont.gov/node/1289.

If you find that your child is overly upset, know that guidance counselors will be available to students next week when they return to school. 

Hug your children a little tighter tonight.

Gratefully,
B. Ricca

Working Together

Students showed Cooperation this afternoon when working together to make Gingerbread Cookies.  Each student contributed to adding ingredients or mixing. Tomorrow, we'll roll them and bake them and perhaps try one for an afternoon snack.  The majority of the cookies, however, will be packaged and delivered as a thank you to various people in our school.  What a great way of saying thanks!

Art Show

You may be wondering why you haven't seen artwork come home or posted on the blog.  So far this year, Kindergartners have studied Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh and have completed their own renditions of "Apples and Oranges" and "Starry Night."  All family members will be able to view these pieces of art work along with a few others at an Art Show in the spring.  Once this date is firmed up (probably not for a few months) we'll let you know so you can save the date.  We're hoping to tie this in with a Kindergarten Concert as well!  Stay tuned....  In the meantime, INQUIRE with your child how they created each piece of artwork.  What medium did they use? What is similar in their art to that of the famous artists?

Responsibility

How do children show responsibility at school?  Students arrive to school on time, wear appropriate INDOOR shoes, come prepared with gym shoes, remember library books, complete their daily jobs, do their best work, keep track of their own belongings and help keep our classroom tidy.  Some friends need help with a few tasks to show responsibiltiy and I am looking for your support at home. Many key components to being responsible involve preparation for the day. Please help your child come prepared for school with the proper outdoor clothing AND indoor clothing.  Review with your child what is missing upon arriving home and remind your child to take responsibility to track it down.  INQUIRE with your child what steps they    
                                                                  take to be responsible at school?

Book Boxes

The children have been learning 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 will be introduced to the analogies that picking out books is like riding a bike or trying on shoes.  Some books are too easy, some are too hard, and some are just right!  Children are learning that it is important to choose a just right book for their independent reading and have been exploring 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.  Our library of just right books is leveled and ensures each child has books to read at their own instructional level.  After break, expect to begin seeing books come home a few times a week.  Helping your child with reading at home is helpful to them as they practice building fluency. 

Fiddlesticks

Your children were a great audience for the performance today (see post below for specific info about Fiddlesticks).  To sit for 45 minutes takes a lot of self-control and your children conquered it today.  Students sat in the auditorium chairs for their first of many performances in our school's auditorium!  They were amazing listeners and learned so much about string instruments.  INQUIRE with your child what they learned today about the violin, viola, cello, and bass!

New Author Focus- Jan Brett

Jan Brett's writing and illustrations are the focus of our author study through the end of this month. Children are learning key literacy comprehension skills, including identifying characters and setting, and retelling a story in sequence - beginning, middle & end - through this study. Understanding what is read is an important skill students learn as emerging and early readers. In the story of The Mitten and The Three Snow Bears, students closely practiced these skills. Children are learning how to Check For Understanding (one of our Daily 5 Literacy Comprehension skills) during shared reading, and when they are reading independently. Much time was spent this week on retelling these stories and making connections to what we already know.  To extend this learning and connect our reading to writing, students have been responding in writing.  These response to texts help focus the student's thinking on checking for understanding.  Through guided practice and turn and talk, children shared their thinking orally before putting their ideas on paper.  Check out your student's written work later in the week.  INQUIRE with them what Jan Brett Story as been their favorite!

Through our study of Jan Brett, we have been noticing how detailed her stories are.  Students have been also learning about key story elements including setting, characters, problem, and solution.  We noticed that in each Jan Brett story, we can identify each of these elements.  The focus on Jan Brett last week continued to weave into this week's focus on gingerbread, as students began noticing that she wrote 2 Gingerbread stories.  Gingerbread Friends has definitely been a favorite, however, they have yet to read the Gingerbread Baby!  Jan Brett's versions of the classic gingerbread stories have definitely been not as captivating to our young readers! Tomorrow, we'll be able to see and hear Jan Brett on the computer.  We will be watching her sketch a page of the book and also listen as she reads, 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. 

Fiddlesticks

On Tuesday, we will be attending the Fiddlesticks performance. Enjoy this blurb about the performance.

The dynamic string trio Fiddlesticks! consists of violinist David Gusakov, violist Hilary Hatch, and cellist Bonnie Klimowski.  Their performances for schoolchildren are designed to introduce students to the most important members of the symphony orchestra and to make some of the key concepts in classical music-making come alive.  Longtime members of the VSO, the performers are funny, friendly, interactive—and superior musicians.  As a former member of Banjo Dan & the Midnite Plowboys, David adds a unique twist to their presentation with his strolling rendition of "Sweet Georgia Brown," and Bonnie demonstrates "Godzilla," the double bass.

Fiddlesticks! has been one of our most popular trios since they played 57 performances as part of our Artists-in-Residence program in 1994.  Stephen Metcalf from Randolph Elementary School wrote us the following:  "Two hundred children were exposed to the world of strings, a world that, unfortunately, many of them have never encountered.  The enthusiasm, professionalism, and personalities of the trio members kept the children on the edge of their seats throughout.  It was an informative and delightful 45 minutes."

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s SymphonyKids education program reached over 23,000 schoolchildren last year at 159 schools in 128 different communities. The VSO’s traveling ensembles visit all corners of the state as part of the VSO’s SymphonyKids outreach program.  These lively performances are met with overwhelming enthusiasm, as the musical ambassadors spread the word that classical music can be fun!

Help with donations

This upcoming week, our class will be reading a variety of gingerbread stories and learning about different story elements - characters, setting, problem, and solution.  More about this later in the week!  To complete our study of these stories, we plan to make gingerbread cookies in class and give them away to various people in our school as a thank you for all they do.  We need your help to make this happen!  We are looking for donations of ingredients and also looking for someone to bring the already rolled out and cut cookies home to bake!  If you can help with donations or are willing to bake the cookies at home, please email me by Wednesday morning!  Thanks!

To celebrate the winter solstice next week, we will be looking closely at day and night and learning a little bit about the sun.  We plan to have "day in the dark" on Friday, December 21st.  We will be working all day in the dark and will be looking for flashlights, lamps, etc that could be used during the day.  More details about this soon but in the meantime, look around for those lights!  If you'd like to make a donation of glow sticks for each member of our class, please let me know.

Thanks for all your continuous help throughout the year.  The children are not the only ones I am noticing going above and beyond - all families are too!  I appreciate all your efforts to send in materials, volunteer, and help out at home!  Thank YoU!

Daily Jobs

Each day, your child has a special job to complete. While some jobs help us get ready for lessons, keep our classroom tidy, others are more focused on academic pieces.  One job in particular is reading the morning message during morning meeting.  While some of the text in the message is the same everyday, there is always a new sentence in which students have to decode to read to the class.  All students read the message to themselves and echo the "message pointer/reader."  Students practice a range of reading strategies and apply their learning during this time.  INQUIRE with your child what is often written in the morning message.  What reading strategies do they practice if they're the reader?  

Above and Beyond...

I wish I could document all the great moments I observe in the classroom of children showing C.A.R.E.S. throughout our day.  As we took care of ourselves getting ready for morning meeting upon arriving at school, students are not only helping themselves but taking initiative to help their friends.  Check out these friends making sure their friend was ready for morning meeting by getting his shoes tied (without being asked)!  I'm amazed each day at how thoughtful all your children are.  

Artists Practice Too!

Here is an interactive animation of starry night that the students have watched after making many observations of Van Gogh's, "Starry Night."  Each day, we are noticing new ways in which Vincent van Gogh created this piece.  We have begun to practice our paint strokes in the style of Van Gogh.  Today, we practiced just the moon, it's reflection, and some of the wind swirls we noticed in his work.  Check out this link for the interactive animation.  http://vimeo.com/36466564

Handwriting

Handwriting is a key component of our daily routines.  While some days we work with a variety of sensory integrated tools and manipulatives, we also spend a few days working on using a pencil.  During this time, we are learning proper pencil grip, posture, and about what our helping hand does to guide neat writing.  Students spend time working in their handwriting books forming each letter according to the specific lines it sits on and extends to. ALL children are working on perfecting their lower case letters and are expected to write with these lower case letters in their own writing.  INQUIRE with your child what these lines are called and where specific letters start.  If you'd like to provide your child additional support in this important fine motor skill, please use the link below.  The Fundations lines provide children a starting point and guide to forming their letters correctly.  This link will bring you to writing paper for you to use as practice with your child http://teachers.natickps.org/webpages/npsmkenny/files/Fundations%20Paper.pdf  and this link will provide you with information on how we teach each letter. If you'd like me to print this for you, please let me know. It is a great resource!  http://www.google.com/url?url=http://khe.darecountyschoolsonline.com/bm~doc/fundations-handwriting.pdf&rct=j&sa=U&ei=QT7BUJKYKZS60AHSiIHwAg&ved=0CCIQFjAC&q=fundations+and+handwriting&usg=AFQjCNG6KlcD6mcN4rU9rXP8O75blDuK2Q

Winter Weather School Expectations

There may be times throughout the winter when it is 0 degrees - this is our cut off for outdoor recess time.  There may be times, however, that I take them outside for a few minutes to release energy and get our bodies moving.  If you'd prefer your child not to go out when it is below 0, please let me know. The time we would be outside would be minimal. 

Jackets, hats, and mittens are to be worn out for temps less than 32 degrees.  When there is snow on the ground or the ground is very wet, snowpants or rainpants  and boots are REQUIRED. 

Students who are not wearing the proper protection will have the natural and safe
consequence of remaining inside in the Excel Classroom. 

Please help to review this with your child and help them be prepared with the proper clothing each day. If there are pieces of clothing you need help with to equip your child, please let me know how I can be of help! 

Art

Here is an update from Mrs. Kane, our art teacher. We have art every Monday!  Thanks for the update, Kristina!


In Kindergarten Art classes, we are starting a new unit called "The Art Around Us!" in which we look for art in our everyday lives.  We began this week by working with fabric.

We read the Caldecott Medal book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.  It tells the story of a man who takes an old, worn-out jacket and, rather than throw it away, turns it into many fun and useful new things.  At the end of the book, when he has lost the last small button and has nothing left from his jacket, Joseph makes a book about all his creations - which just goes to show that you can always make something out of nothing!  Students enjoyed using fabric to create ships, puppets, flowers, masks, blankets, neckties, and even a microphone!  We shared our one-of-a-kind ideas at the end of class.  

In the upcoming lessons of this unit, we will be painting food, building musical sculptures, designing houses, and creating our own toys! 

Thanks to our most recent commenter!  It's nice to see what people think about our day and how they see the learning happening at and connecting to home!  You too can comment on any post you want! 

E.C.O. Mud Day

First of all, I wanted to extend my warmest thanks for handling the "trash bag" brought home today with your child.  As you could see from the look of your child's clothes, our E.C.O. outing was filled with....MUD!  Harrison forest was quite mucky due to the warm December temps!  We will always travel regardless of the weather, so please continue to help your child be best prepared.  TALL boots, change of clothes and rain/snow pants were essential for today's weather! 

While in Harrison Field we extended our classroom science learning and looked at one particular animal that stays active in the winter.  We've been studying how different animals get ready for winter, and this past week looked at how mice get ready. After playing a group game involving predator and prey- scurrying mouse and stealthy fox, students set out to apply their classroom learning in the forest.  Mice stay active throughout the cold winter and often build their own little homes so today, we helped mice out and worked with a friend from Mrs. Dostie's class to cooperatively build a mouse house!  We used natural materials from nature and carefully chose materials, being careful to "take care of the earth."  INQUIRE with your child how they helped build a habitat for a mouse and how the materials they used helped a mouse prepare for winter survival.

Music with Ms. Sales

Here is an update on the learning happening during Tuesday Music with Ms. Sales. 

Kindergartners have been doing a great deal of singing and moving. Our focus for most of the year is how to use our singing voices, alone and with others. We have used our voices to sing shapes, sing a cowboy call and make a yummy sound while hearing a story about ice cream! Kindergarten kids have also learned echo songs and have been singing all together in unison as well as solo. The Kindergarten teachers have invited me to be a part of the Kindergarten Sing which happens once a month. So far we've learned a Tree Song, a song about the life cycle of a butterfly, a song of thanks and a song about what animals do in winter. We have also been learning to move to music, both classical and folk. Right now we are working on circle dances. We're having lots of fun in Kindergarten music!

Writing Tools

You may have heard your child talk about the tools they are using when they write.  No, I am not giving your children hammers, nails, and screwdrivers to help them write - they're using tools that help them become a better writer.  Students use an alphabet and key sound card to help form their LOWER CASE letters correctly and have recently been introduced to "space man."  INQUIRE with your child how space man helps them!  What would happen if they forgot their spaces?  Writing tools help children become successful INDEPENDENT writers.