Newsletter: March 5

Room 4 News

Reminders/Notices:
•Mark your calendars, the Kinder Spring Sing Concert will be on March 30th
•Dental Health Homework: we’ll be discussing Dental Health next week, please help your child to complete their “homework” tooth
•Next week there is early dismissal for Conferences and Report Card prep on Thursday and Friday. Dismissal is the same as Wednesdays: 1:00-1:10  If I have not scheduled a conference with you, and you have concerns, please feel free to email me so we can keep the lines of communication open.

This Week:
•We celebrated Dr. Seuss all week long with a variety of activities ranging from cooking Green Eggs and Ham, dot to dots, making Dr. Seuss hats, creating our own “One Fish Two Fish” books and learning about word families like the _at family. The highlight for the kids was our great turnout of Guest Readers, thank you to all parents who made time to come and read us a story!

•Wednesday March 3rd was Hina Matsuri, Japanese Girls Day – we talked about the doll festival traditions and created an origami artwork to celebrate.
•We introduced teen numbers, these are a difficult concept for Kinders to grasp, even if they are able to identify them.
•We continued our work in pattern books, adding illustrations and a “surprise ending” to our Fruits book. Students also chose another topic to make a list and began creating another pattern book. Once we have created several, students will begin bringing these home to share in their book bags as well.
•Congratulations to Chris, who represented our class this weekend at the Young Author’s Fair, sharing our story “100 Things to Eat”!

Next Week:
We will be discussing Dental Health
In Writer’s Workshop, we will continue working on pattern books – using editing strategies and descriptive language to make them better?
We will continue studying teen numbers, learning about how they are made up (ten and ones)
We will be studying the weather, learning about the saying “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb”
We will continue practicing our concert songs, encourage your child to sing you some of their songs.

February Newsletter

Room 4 News
February 2010
Miss Wagenaar

Reminders/Notices:
•I’d like to start by apologizing for the scarcity of February newsletters – with our week long break, the month has flown by. I will do my best to update you here!
•Next week we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday (March 2nd). I am looking for parents who might be interested and available to read the students a Dr. Seuss story on Monday or Tuesday. Please email me if you are interested and provide me with a window of availability so that I can try to produce a schedule by Monday. The actual reading should only take about 15 minutes, and I welcome any/all parents who are available. This is an easy way to get involved and your child will love having you read to the class – I guarantee it! (You can bring your favorite book or I will have plenty to choose from)
•Please remember that each day the Ziploc book bag comes home, it should be returned the following day, with books inside.


This Month:
Our Citizenship Award winner this month was Alexis Houle.
Lifelong Learning: This month we focused on Effort, Eric Geiger was recognized on Blue Day for trying his best throughout the month.
Reader’s Workshop: We took a step back this week and really solidified our routines during Reader’s Workshop, while continuing to explore our look books, book boxes, and leveled reading books. Having a conversation at home with your child about what is expected of them during this time would really help. The students are expected to sit in their Quiet Reading Spots and read through the books in their box. They are not supposed to chat with others during this time.
Writer’s Workshop: We have been very active. We learned about writing letters, writing letters to our families that you should’ve received in the mail. Thanks for sending in the addressed and stamped envelopes! Have your child write a letter to someone else and mail it!
100th Day of School: We celebrated the 100th day of school with a gallery walk, 100 glasses/headband, writing 100 things we would eat, drawing 100 tally marks, and jumping 100 times!
Chinese New Year: Students learned about traditional Lunar New Year celebrations. Miss Young taught the children how to paint Chinese characters. Miss Casellini helped children create a festive dragon. With me, the children learned about the Zodiac calendar, and created a kite.
Presidents’ Day: We talked again about holidays, that they are special days when we celebrate important people or things.
Math: We spent some time on measurement using non-standard units which culminated with activities in which students compared length of objects and ordered from smallest to largest. On Valentines, we sorted, recorded, and graphed using Candy Hearts. Have your child teach you the “Who Has More?” game with a deck of cards (pull out all of the face cards first!).
Music: We’ve been meeting with our entire Kindergarten grade level to learn and practice songs for our Kinder Spring Sing (March 30th)
Science: We completed our study of penguins, which the students loved! We also discussed the different seasons of trees and shapes of leaves. Have your child tell you some information that they learned about penguins.

When we return from the break:
*We are beginning a unit of study on writing patterned texts, we began with a lesson on creating a list and will now use that to create patterned books.
*We will continue to learn teen numbers by learning some new math games!
*I will continue to assess and meet with reading groups and provide books at each student’s individual level
*I will do my best to upload photos and videos within the weekend to Picasa. 

Newsletter: January 29

Room 4 News

Reminders/Notices:
•100s Day Collections should be placed in a ziplock bag and sent with your student on Monday February 2nd.
•Next week we will be learning how to tie a shoe since this is a skill that many Kinders are still struggling to grasp. As we will be practicing throughout the week, please send in a pair of shoes with your child on MONDAY that has laces. I will bring in several extras for students who forget/do not own shoes with ties. Thank you!
•In the coming weeks we will be celebrating Groundhog Day, the 100th Day of School, Valentines Day, Presidents Day, and Chinese New Year. Please make sure you read all home-school correspondence for more details about special projects and celebrations.
•New Reading Logs have been sent home, please send in complete January reading logs with your child next week.
•If you forgot to return your Picture Day Order Form they will be accepted until Monday.


This Week:
•Akshay was honored at our Blue Day assembly for this month’s lifeskill of perseverance.
•We attended and thoroughly enjoyed the 3rd grade concert, “Character Matters”!
•In Science we learned about and drew trees throughout the seasons. Ask your child the characteristics of trees in each season (Fall: falling and multicolored leaves, Winter: bare, Spring: blossoms, Summer: apples)
•This week students shopped for, and brought home leveled reading books. The level of these books was determined by assessments done in early January. Children will be working in these books and will progress through the levels as they learn new strategies for decoding and comprehension.
•In Writer’s Workshop students focused on adding details to their writing by using one topic to write about for the entire week. Each day we added one more sentence, or thought, to the writing and finally illustrated our stories on Friday.
•Children learned a poem about “5 Little Snowmen” and created puppets to use while reading it. This poem and puppets may remain at home, even though they came home in their book bag.
•We spent the week reading LOTS about penguins. We read fiction and non-fiction stories and discussed the difference between them. We drew scientific, labeled illustrations of a penguin and even waddled like penguins. Ask your child to share something that they learned about penguins this week.


Next Week:
*The students will use what they’ve learned about penguins to begin informational writing in Writer’s Workshop. They will each be creating our own book of penguin facts.
*We will celebrate Groundhog’s Day by discussing the shadow tradition and doing several related activities.
*We will celebrate the 100th day of Kindergarten with crafts, activities, and a walk through the other Kinder classes to enjoy everyone’s 100 collections.
*We will learn and practice tying shoes – wish us luck 

Newsletter: January 22

Room 4 News

Reminders/Notices:
•Book orders must be submitted online by Sunday January 24th.
•This week we read Patricia Polacco’s “Thunder Cake” and I used the recipe in the book for the children to try. The recipe includes tomatoes, so many were hesitant to try. The response was overwhelmingly positive. I will be making the recipe available for those of you interested in trying it at home 
•Thank you to those of you who donated “good stuff” for our snow people, they are displayed in our back window. Feel free to stop in next week and take a peek.
•Wednesday, January 27th is Blue Day.
•With weather as it has been this week, please remember that layering is the best way to send your child to school. They are asked to take off their jacket, gloves, hat, etc. upon entering the classroom. If they want to bring a change of shoes (if they are wearing boots) please make sure they are independent in changing into them.


This Week:
Citizenship Gathering: Chris was honored at our Citizenship Assembly this morning!
Draw Along Assembly: Tuesday, we enjoyed an interactive assembly where students learned to use lines and shapes to draw a fish and a whale. It was great!
Snow Day: Today was a fun-filled day, we wrote about what we wear when it’s cold, bit tortilla snowflakes, raced our skiers in a snow Olympics, and had a snowball toss with Miss Casellini’s class.
Reader’s Workshop: This week students began bringing home their book bags with paper books that they’ve chosen from their book boxes. Thank you for your support with sending back bags, we had 100% participation this week!!!
Writer’s Workshop: Students used “space sticks” (tongue depressors) to leave spaces between words in their writing.
Word of the Week: We learned and used the word “can” this week. We wrote statements of what we could do to help other people (inspired by Martin Luther King Jr). Ask your child what they wrote, “I can ____________.”
Social Studies: We talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and all of the courageous and kind things that he did for our country. Students completed portraits, wrote about how they could help like MLK Jr.
Science: We talked about snow and ice. We discovered that it is frozen water, and even made our own ice in the freezer. (I snuck food coloring into the ice cube trays and students were given the opportunity to paint with the colored ice afterwards)
Healthy Play: We started Healthy Play this week when Miss Jennifer visited our room on Friday. We reviewed rules and procedures for Healthy Play and played Double Simon Says. Ask your child why we play? (to have fun) What is the most important part of every game? (the people)


Next Week:
*The students will begin bringing home leveled readers in their book bags
*We will discuss fiction and non fiction penguins
*The students will think about ending a story with a statement telling how they felt about what happened

Newsletter: January 17

Room 4 News

Reminders/Notices:
•No School on Monday January 18, 2010 – Martin Luther King Jr. observance
•Friday January 22th is Snow Day, we recommend students dress in snow clothes as we enjoy various snow-themed activities
•Book orders will be going home this week and are already available online
•Please send in “good stuff” for our snowman project as soon as possible, remember this “good stuff” can be any household items

This Week:
Reader’s Workshop: This week we practiced “checking out” books and reading them at their Special Reading Spots. Make sure you have returned the “Take Home Book” form so that students may begin bringing home these book bags next week.
Writer’s Workshop: Students continued to write stories across several pages.
Math: We continued measuring using linking cubes and paperclips.
Science: We identified, labeled, and drew the parts of a tree. Ask your child to name the parts of a tree (roots, trunk, branches, leaves)
Social Studies: We discussed Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to history. We read a moving story called “Martin’s Big Words” and we will continue to learn more about him and how we can carry on his legacy in our own lives.
PE: Due to weather restrictions this week, the children learned “Double Simon Says” which we played between Room 3 and 4. When a student gets “out” of one game they simply join the other game.
We acted out the Mitten and completed several pages in a rhyming book we are creating about mittens

Next Week:
*We will be attending a draw along assembly presented school wide on Tuesday.
*We will continue measurement and work on comparing objects by their length
*We will continue to learn about Martin Luther King Jr.
*We will be celebrating “Snow Day” on Friday and discussing ice, snow, and cold weather.
*Students will begin bringing home book bags to share and read at home nightly

Gingerbread Houses

Last week we had a lot of fun!!
We built and decorated Gingerbread Houses. We also had a Holiday Celebration, complete with snacks, Frosty the Snowman, and Holiday Bingo.

Here is a collection of photos from the Gingerbread House decorating (photos by Michelle Hackleman)


Have a wonderful holiday break, School resumes January 4th 2010!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Birthday Alexis!

Today we learned a new math game: Break the Train. We did a ten-minute word write and adding more details to our handprint turkey art. Alexis' family came in this morning to read a story and help us sing Happy Birthday.

Newsletter: Week 12

Friday, November 13, 2009
Miss Wagenaar

Reminders/Notices:
•Class Books: Class books are being sent home, when your child brings home a book, please enjoy it with them, sign it and return it in a timely manner. This will allow the most students to get an opportunity to enjoy the book.
•Thankful Turkey Feathers: Your children have brought home several pieces of construction paper to use for making feathers and writing one thing that they are thankful for. Please help them to complete this assignment; they can be sent in whenever they are completed this week.
•Book Orders: Please take the time to look over the holiday book orders and submit them either online or by sending them back in by Friday November 20th.

This Week:
•We took a break from storytelling in Writers Workshop, and focused on phonetic spelling but stretching out the words and writing down all of the sounds that we hear (especially focusing on the first and last sounds).
•In Reader’s Workshop we talked about making connections to the reading, using the words “This reminds me of…”
•In Math we are working on a variety of different ways of making patterns; with arrows, with our bodies, and creating pattern snakes.
•We discussed the importance of Veterans Day and giving thanks and showing respect to those who have fought to defend our country – we decorated badges that the children could wear to celebrate. I was really impressed with the mature conversation and the students sharing about their grandparents who served our country.
•We used our handprints to create festive turkeys for our back window.
•On Friday, the students enjoyed a wonderful performance of Sword in the Stone.


Next Week:
We will continue working on strategies for phonetic spelling by stretching words, trying to integrate it into our Writers Workshop.
In Readers Workshop, we will be introducing our new star book The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
We will be finishing up our unit on patterns, talking about the pieces that make up our patterns.
We will be discussing the past and how things have changed and are different than now.
We’ll be creating a new class book, it will be based on the book The Potluck. Students will be asked to think of a food that begins with the same letter as their name.

Questions to ask your child
1.Help your child think of a food that starts with the first letter of their name.
2.Ask your child what they like to do or a friend that they like to play with at choice time.

Newsletter: Week 11

Friday, November 6, 2009
Miss Wagenaar

Reminders/Notices:
•It seems as though the Book Fair was a huge success this week. Thank you to all families who visited the book fair, especially those who donated books to our classroom. We have really enjoyed the addition of many new and wonderful books into our classroom collection.
•There is no school on Wednesday, November 11th in honor of Veteran’s Day.
•Next week we will begin sending home Class Books, these are books have been created by our students and should be enjoyed at your home for a day or two then signed and sent back so that it can be enjoyed by all the students in our class.
•As flu season is upon us, please be cautious with your children and their health. If you child comes down with illness, please keep them at home. If they have a fever, they are required to be fever-free for 24 hours before returning. This will help ensure that our class isn't exposed to illness.
•Reminder: Please consider sending in a change of your clothes for your child to keep in their backpack in case of accidents. If your child does not carry a backpack, or you feel that this would be a hindrance for them, please feel free to send a change of clothes in a clearly marked ziploc bag and I will keep it inside the classroom. Also, it is helpful if parents are reinforcing the need to use the bathroom when you feel the need, but trying to take care of those needs during planned break times (recess and lunch).

This Week:
•We have welcomed a new student to our classroom, Bhaswati (who began the year in Room 3) is returning to Laurelwood and we are so excited to have her as a part of our class.
•Pajama Day was a huge success. The kids really enjoyed wearing their p.j.s to school, we learned about day/night, nocturnal animals and enjoyed a Magic School Bus movie titled “Spins a Web”.
•Tony Casellini (Miss Casellini’s brother), an EMT from AMR, brought his ambulance to teach the children about another community helper. He explained to the children that he is like a nocturnal animal, because he sleeps during the day and works at night.
•In Writers Workshop we talked about how turning characters in our pictures can help to add action to our illustrations.
•In Readers Workshop we noticed details in the picture, especially focusing on the facial expressions of the characters in the story.
•In Math we continued to work with patterns, we have discussed a number of patterns and built and recorded them. We also learned about hopscotch patterns this week, and created them both with paper and by drawing them outside with chalk.
•We started work on a class book based on “The Roly Poly Spider”, made spider hats, and sorted fiction and non-fiction spiders.


Next Week:
We will be working on strategies for phonetic spelling by stretching words.
In Readers Workshop, we will focus on finding the beginning, middle, and end of familiar stories.
We will continue working on patterns, and analyzing them to figure out what comes next.
Next Friday I will be attending a Writers Workshop seminar, so the students will be joined by Mrs. Traci Evans.
In the coming weeks (most likely after Thanksgiving) we will begin sending home several different books with students: Library Books will begin to be sent home. Book Bags will begin to be sent home, they will contain books at an appropriate level for your child for them to practice at home. We will go over routines and procedures with these books before they are sent home. I will send more information when we begin.

Questions to ask your child
1.How many legs does a spider have? How many eyes? (8 legs, could have 2,4,6,or 8 eyes)
2.What is special about a nocturnal animal? (they sleep during the day and are awake at night)
3.What is a character? (a person or animal who is in a story)
4.If you are able to provide your child with sidewalk chalk, ask them to draw a hopscotch pattern for you outside.