Math Facts

Hello Families,

Last Friday, we began timed math facts.  The children are given 20 math problems and are timed to see how many they can complete within one minute.  They are also responsible for graphing their results.  The expectation is by the 3rd quarter the children will complete 10 addition facts 0-5 in one minute and 5 subtraction facts 0-5 in one minute.

If you are looking for a fun way to practice math facts, visit Math Magician.
Click on Level One, addition or subtraction.
Click on Mixed Level 1 and have your child type their name in the box.
Click on the fingers to start.

Have fun!!

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

What a week!

Dear Families,

Whatta week!

This past week is the kind of week I really love.  There were so many meaningful moments that were applicable to our learning goals.  Deepest appreciation to Mrs. Gay and Mrs. Packman who helped bring these moments to life for the children.

We have been reading Pancakes, Pancakes and Pancakes for Breakfast in order to align with the following Kindergarten Common Core Standards:

RL.K.1>>>I can ask questions about text I read or someone else reads to me.
RL.K.2>>>I can retell stories I have read in my own words.
RL.K.3>>>I can identify characters, setting, and details in a story I've read or listened to.
RL.K.4>>>I can ask and answer questions about words I do not know when I read.
RL.K.5>>>I can tell the difference between fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
RL.K.6>>>I can tell what an author and an illustrator does.
RL.K.7>>>I can match the illustration with the story.
RL.K.9>>>I can compare story characters and events.
RL.K.10>>>I can participate in group reading activities.


I modeled how to make pancakes and the children had to write an informative paper on how to do it and that is when we incorporated writing standard K.W.8 where the children recalled information from experiences to answer a question.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss was fun!  In conjunction with standard RF.K.2, the children recognized and produced their own rhymes inspired by Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham.

I was inspired by this take on the green "egg" for the kiddos:

This coming week is full of me trying to complete math and reading assessments, some of which are done individually.  This can sometimes be a challenge to delivering meaningful, learning experiences.  But that doesn't mean we will be thwarted!!

Thank you for your faith in me.

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

Living Museum Details

Hello Families,

The famous American posters are fantastic!  I wanted to provide details again for this exciting day.

When:  Friday, March 15, 2013

The Living Museum will be open from 9:30 -10:45 for parents and family members to visit.  From 10:45 -11:30, other classes will stop by the gym to tour the museum.

Where:  Small Gym

Who:  The students will dress up and present reports based on famous Americans.  Families are invited to visit the Living Museum at that time to participate in a self-guided tour.  You must check in at the Front Office and get a visitor pass to attend the Living Museum.


Can't wait to see you!
Warmly,
Mrs. C.

Living Museum

Dear Families,

In conjunction with our Social Studies standards, the children are learning how to use and create a timeline.  They are also listening to stories about people in the past who have shown character ideas such as honesty, courage, and responsibility.  An extension of this learning is the Living Museum project.

Please be sure to turn in who your child has selected to create a time line and represent at the Living Museum.

Warmly,
Mrs. C.



 

Curriculum Connections

This is our focus this week:

• Science:  How do things move?
• Social Studies:  How do I use and create a timeline to tell about important Americans? 
• Reading:  Identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic
• Math:  Addition from 0 -5 

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

Conference Schedule

Hello Families,

The week of February 11th - 15th is Parent Conference Week.  You will receive a form where you can select a day and time for your 15 minute conference. Choices will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.  Confirmation of the date reserved will be sent home at least one week before the conference.  If the dates and times do not work for you, please call me and I will be happy to work with your schedule.

See you soon,
Mrs. C.

Important Dates

 Families,





These are upcoming dates you will want to take note of:

• January 18th:  No school for students
• January 21st:  Martin Luther King's Birthday - No school for students
• January 23rd - 25:  Report cards are issued

Thanks,
Mrs. C.

Happy New Year!

Dear Families,

Welcome back!

My battery is recharged and I am ready to start the year focused on making learning gains and memorable moments with the children.

I told the children yesterday that we got comfortable (guilty as charged) with our holiday celebrations full of sugar, pajama parties, movies and such, but now it is time to reach our learning goals.

This week our curriculum connections are:

• Science:  How are sounds produced?
• Math:  How do I classify objects and count objects in each category?
• Social Studies:  How can I tell the difference between a need and a want?
• Reading:  Describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear

Here's to a great rest of the year!

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

So many wonderful things happening in December!

• Progress reports come home:  December 5th
• Kindergarten Carolers Holiday Sing-a-Long:  December 13th, 9:30 a.m.
• Polar Express Pajama Party:  December 14th
• Santa comes to Rymfire:  December 15th
• Last day of class before Winter Break:  December 18th

Please send me a note in the planner or email me if you have any questions!

Dates to Remember

Dearest Families,

Our monthly PTO meeting takes place today, Wednesday, November 7th from 6:30 -7:30 in our Media Center.
Child care is provided.  Please come if you can to support our school and upcoming school activities.

Please make note, there is no school on Monday, November 12th in observance of Veteran's Day.

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

Feather Your Teacher

Families,
Feather Your Teacher begins Friday, November 9th.
Children purchase a feather for $0.25 at lunch to place on their favorite teacher's turkey.
Gobble, gobble!
Mrs. C.

Curriculum Connections

This week in our class we are learning about:

Math-  Comparing groups of objects and numbers, identifying more and fewer
Science - Recognizing the difference between day and night and how objects appear depending on our distance to them
Reading - Focusing on retelling details of a story
Social Studies - Contrasting the life of families from long ago and today

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

p.s. Thank you to Mrs. Wright for her help in writing this week's curriculum connections ! :-)

Homework Revision

Dearest Families,
I want to thank those of you who have taken the time to complete the homework packets.
I want to be honest, I am not in favor of homework packets, no matter how meaningful I can make them.  I have vacillated back and forth on how to do this and am coming up short.
Having said this, this is what I would like to try instead:

• Practice sight words nightly (if you need a new list, please write me a note in the planner)
• Read 15-20 minutes with your child every night
• I will send home two sheets of math homework to complete every week based on the topic we are currently studying (starting next week)

Nothing will be due and you can complete the work according to your personal family schedule.

If you would like extra practice in Mathematics, I would like to suggest going on:  www.ixl.com or go to our math series website (please let me know if you need the user name and password).

Some parents like the reading sight word books and I can help with access!
Instead of me printing off the books for each child, you can go at your leisure to Think Central and choose predecodable or decodable books for your learner to read.  I am here to help if you need a quick tutorial, please let me know how I can help.

I feel there is a time and place for homework.  Let's see if this works better for most.

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

No Uniform Friday (November 2, 2012)

Families,
On Friday, November 2nd, you can donate $1.00 to benefit the Future Problem Solvers and children will not have to wear their uniform.
On this day, the child can wear anything they wish as long as it is in compliance with the school dress code.
If you choose for your child to participate, all they have to do is bring in $1.00 and give it to me.
It is that easy!
Thanks,
Mrs. C.

Colonial Kids Creative Classroom

Dear Families,
There is so much I want to catch you up on! And I will, I promise!

First, let me tell you about our in-school field trip:

Our class will be participating in an in-school field trip on Monday, November 5th!   We will have guides from St. Augustine Guides joining us in early November to kick off our American History Unit.  We will be learning about colonial kids through hands on experiences.

           

Colonial Kids Creative Classroom was written to give students information on how hard life was in colonial times. The guide, in period clothing, explains each chore that the students will do and why. These chores are all part of colonial life in St. Augustine. Students play a big part in this section as they answer questions orally and play a Colonial riddle game.

           

They will then participate in all of these chores:

1.     Corn shelling and grinding with mortars and pestle

2.     Weaving wool on a simple loom/making wool yarn with a drop spindle

3.     Basic chain weaving with palm leaves which were used for baskets

4.     Stringing shells for jewelry

5.     Writing with a quill pen on parchment/signing a parchment for the teacher

6.     Playing a Colonial riddle game.

7.     Playing with colonial toys

8.     Making a ball & cup toy to keep

Each classroom or school receives a parchment that the students sign with the quill pens.

Each student receives: A ball & cup toy, a palm chain and a shell necklace and a quill pen.

Check out the web site at: www.staugguides.com for more information on the program.

We need parent volunteers for our Field Trip Experience here at school.  Please email me if you can help us Monday November 5^th 12:00 – 1:15pm.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Hello Families,

Parent Teacher conferences will take place next week.  I have sent home notices to the parents who scheduled an appointment during Open House.
I still have slots available and so would like to meet with all of you.
I have openings available from 8:15 - 8:30 and 8:30 - 8:45.
The meetings at this point will be on a first come, first served basis.
Please write me a note in your child's planner indicating what day you would like to schedule with one alternate day and time in the event that slot is no longer available.

Available Days and Times:

Student	Conference: Day/Time *please note- subject to change- I will confirm in your son/daughter’s planner*
	Monday, October 22- 8:15-8:30am
	Monday, October 22- 8:30-8:45am
	Tuesday, October 23 – 8:15-8:30am
	Tuesday, October 23 – 8:30-8:45am
	Wednesday, October 24- 8:15-8:30am
	Wednesday, October 24- 8:30-8:45am
	Thursday, October 25- 8:15-8:30am
	Thursday, October 25- 8:30-8:45am
	Friday, October 26- 8:15-8:30am
	Friday, October 26- 8:30-8:45am
	Monday, October 29- 8:15-8:30am
	Monday, October 29- 8:30-8:45am
	Tuesday, October 30- 8:15-8:30am
	Tuesday, October 30- 8:30-8:45am
	Wednesday, October 31- 8:15-8:30am
	Wednesday, October 31- 8:30-8:45am
	Thursday, November 1- 8:15-8:30am
	Thursday, November 1- 8:30-8:45am
	Friday, November 2- 8:15-8:30am

The time slots are 15 minutes only.  Kindly arrive with questions you would like ask to help move the meeting along.

See you then!
Mrs. C.

The Three Little Pigs and S.T.E.A.M.

Hello Families,

What a blast we had today in Reading class!

One of the goals to be assessed this quarter in Reading is your child can retell stories they have read (RL.K.2) and identify characters, setting and details in a story (RL.K.3).

I chose the Three Little Pigs by Margaret Hillert.  In order to prepare our next generation of world class citizens, we have been tasked with finding ways to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics into our lessons.

The children and I explored engineering and retelling the story as they recreated the three little piggies' houses.

Watch a segment of what happens after the children construct their houses in the sidebar. 
I have privacy settings set for the video, it will not be going viral...It may still be processing--please check back later.

Enjoy!

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

Lending a helping hand

Hello Families,

Sometimes I feel in order to be the teacher I want to be for your learner, I would have to be cloned four times over. 

One person would plan, another would handle administrative duties (like paperwork), another Mayte-me would be an on-site social worker, and lastly the other would be a co-teacher to help me meet the needs of all of my learners.

As cloning can be such a controversial subject and I still have all of my work to do, I have gone another route, I have solicited volunteers. 

My dear sweet, malomee (pancakes....soooooon) left our school. 

One of the gifts she shared before leaving was putting me in contact with her awesome, no task is too big or too small, how do you work with this mess, volunteer, Kathy. 
 
Kathy is a retired teacher with energy, expertise and patience that leaves me in awe.
Kathy has made so many of my dream lesson plans come true by lending a helping hand. 

I am so grateful to her for all she does for me and the children.

I owe Kathy a dinner, at least.
No one can replace her, but, alas, there are only so many hours in the day.

So if you think you want to laminate, prepare bulletin boards, file and organize....let me know!
Many hands lighten the load!!

Becoming a volunteer for my classroom is easy.  Follow the directions here.

Join me in thanking Kathy for what she does and continues to do effortlessly!
Three cheers for Kathy!

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

How sweet it is to be your child's teacher!

In this post, I want to share a little bit of today's joyous learning experiences.  They may seem random.  By this time of night, I am rarely able to string together a cohesive thought.
Accept my apology in advance :-)


Every child learns differently.  I try to engage what are called modalities of learning.  They are visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile.  What does that mean?  Well, I try to deliver lessons and give children the opportunity to learn the material through sense of touch, motion, hearing and seeing.

Izaiah getting better and better at letter formation

Differentiated learning, in my opinion, is making sure that each learner gets what he or she needs.

We gave centers a try today.  I took a deep breath and had faith in my abilities to guide and that the children were ready.  

Oh me, oh my.  Apples were at the table with me.

"Oranges" worked on writing

Nothing could have prepared me for what ensued.

I had yet to see the children so engaged, having meaningful conversations with each other.  All they needed was the opportunity.  My heart soared.

These children are "blueberries".  They worked on letters and sounds.

My "grapes".  Reading and writing what they read about.

And if that wasn't enough, we had our apple tasting today!  We were able to incorporate measurement/data and writing standards to this delicious end of our day.

Gratuitous shot of teacher's kindergarten son helping make the apple cake.

Learners, get your taste buds ready!

YUMMY!  Thank you, Ms. Awilda for your help!

Two of my boys doing the happy dance at the table.

Thank you for the privilege of being your child's teacher.

Warmly,

Mrs. C.

Fall-ing into fun

I like to keep you informed of the exciting academic happenings during our day as best I can.
But, I know what some of you are thinking...."C'mon, lady!  Tell us about what you will do for Halloween!"

I won't let you down on keeping the information flowing.

Get your kiddies costumes ready!

The children will be celebrating Fall by wearing their costumes to school and having a classroom celebration.

Please have your child wear his or her costume to school on Wednesday, October 31st.  We will be having a parade around the school to show off our costumes.  We encourage children to come dressed as storybook characters.  Costumes that depict violence, blood or gore are not permitted.  No face paint, masks or props will be allowed.

I strongly recommend that the children wear clothes underneath their costumes.  This day, after all, is still a day of instruction (I'll let you know how that goes, nyuk, nyuk!).

If you would like to photograph your child, please stop by! 
The best time will be from 8:45 - 9:00 as there will not be another opportunity during the day to do so.

If you would like to send in a store bought snack, be it juice boxes, chips or candy for our celebration, please send it to school by Monday, October 29th.

Special thanks to malomee and Jess for the content and editing of this post! 
Many hands lighten the load :-)

Warmly,
Mrs. C.