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.

Happy Birthday Harman!

We celebrated Harman's birthday today.. with granola bars, Hot Wheels and our untraditional birthday song.

Ambulance Visit

Today Tony Casellini (Miss Casellini's brother), a paramedic, brought his ambulance for the children to learn about.

Halloween Celebration

Our eventful Halloween day: Halloween Parade, Ghost Tag, Halloween Celebration and costumes!

Congratulations Lennox

Lennox received our Lifelong Learning award today at our Blue Day Assembly. He was recognized for his outstanding teamwork.

We're so proud!

Newsletter: Week 9

Friday, October 23, 2009
Miss Wagenaar

Reminders/Notices:
• Laurelwood Literacy Night: Tuesday November 3rd 6:30-7:45pm – Check out this amazing event for FREE activities for all ages, story time, and a book exchange!
• Dining for Dollars at Armadillo Willy’s: Wednesday October 28th from 5-9pm – 20% of purchases help our school (take out is included)
• Halloween Parade: Children are invited to wear their Halloween costumes to school for our parade, which begins on the upper grade playground at 8:30. We will change out of our costumes directly following, so if your child is not independent with removing their costume, please plan on staying to assist them. (Parents are welcome to join and take pictures of this fun activity)
• Halloween Celebration: Room 4 will be celebrating after lunch time, with games, crafts and snacks. If you have not had a chance to sign up on Jooners, please do so or fill out the form sent home in Thursday folders. Thank you!
• Pajama Day: Monday November 2nd – students are invited to wear their PJs to school as we enjoy a day of resting, writing about Halloween, and learning about day and night

This Week:
• We learned about pumpkins: we labeled the parts of a pumpkin, cut it open, carved the pumpkin, and roasted the pumpkin seeds. We also began talking about the stages of pumpkin growth (seed, vine, flower, etc)
• We learned the sight word “the” and practiced the letter Tt.
• In Readers Workshop we learned that good readers connect the pages of the story by saying “and then” as they turn the page. We also discussed characters and identified them within our Look Books.
• In Writers Workshop we worked on labeling our pictures and rereading our stories and sharing our work with a partner.
• We did an introduction to patterns, and students explored linking cubes to create their own patterns.
• We baked Pumpkin Cranberry muffins and they were delicious.


Next Week:
 We will be discussing fire safety all week long and Laurelwood will be visited by a Fire Engine and firefighters who can answer questions and share more information.
 We will continue our study of patterns, and work on creating our own unique patterns.
 We will discuss spiders, from a scientific standpoint as well as determining the difference between fiction and non-fiction by comparing a variety of books on the topic of spiders.
Students will make puppets and use them to recite the short rhyme “Five Little Pumpk ins.”

Questions to ask your child
1.Make a pattern using household objects (ex. fork spoon fork spoon)
2.Ask your child if they liked the Pumpkin Cranberry muffins that we baked and tasted.
3.Give your child the opportunity to create a drawing at home and add labels to their illustration to help tell the story.

WatchDOG: Mr. Hackleman

Today Mr. Hackleman, Jesse's dad, participated in Laurelwood's WatchD.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program. Along with visiting a handful of other classes, he spent over an hour in our room, reading with kids and joining them for an afternoon of choice. What a delight!!


(Any interested father can email the WatchDOGS coordinator - Dion LoRusso - dionolivia@comcast.net for more information)

Red Ribbon Week: Cap/Hat Day

Today, to celebrate Red Ribbon Week kids wore hats. "Put a Cap on Drugs"

Don't forget tomorrow is Inside Out Day.

Cooperative Musical Chairs

Today, with the rain, we decided not to do P.E.. So to get our bodies moving and get a little exercise we learned a new Healthy Play game: Cooperative Musical Chairs. This is very similar to the regular musical chairs, the difference is that if there is no chair to sit in, students may find a lap. By the end of the game, we were down to 6 chairs and 16 kids.. This image couldn't go without being captured.

Worms, heaven sakes!

Today we completed our final assessment for our Sorting Unit. Studnets were very successful, we will be moving onto numbers 1-5 and beginning patterns. In Writer's Workshop we learned how writers say words slowly, hearing the sounds and putting letters on the page. Finally, we met and observed our new science animal - Red Worms!

Happy Birthday Arnav!

We celebrated Christopher Columbus day by talking about explorers and the Earth. We looked at a map and the globe and talked about how water is represented by the color blue and the land is either brown or green. We made a craft project that the kids are very anxious to bring home. Arnav's mom came in to share The Jungle Book with our class.

Newsletter: Week 7

Friday, October 9, 2009
Miss Wagenaar
Reminders/Notices:
•Thank you to all parents who attended Goal Setting Conferences. I look forward to working with you and your students this year to reach the goals we have set. (copies of your conference forms will be sent home next week)
•Scholastic Book Orders are due by Friday, October 16, 2009.

This Week:
In Reader’s Workshop time, we looked at the cover of the book and used it to guess what the story may be about.
In Writer’s Workshop continued using our Sourcebook folder. Students worked on the routine of beginning a new writing when they feel they have completed one. We also wrote a story about a time we were sad, and shared those stories with a partner.
 We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom several times. We read a related pocket chart, added it to our Readers Notebook, watched the Scholastic DVD interpretation, and created an art project.
Students drew and labeled a snail and it’s part (foot, shell, eyes, antennae)
In Math, we practiced using logical thinking to solve questions related to sorting and which doesn’t belong.
In Penmanship, we focused on the letter Bb. The students rainbow traced the letter several times, practiced making the sound, and highlighted the letter Bb in their Bb Book.
In Computer Lab, students learned another game in Jumpstart Kindergarten and continue to practice the games that we’ve been previously introduced to.
Students checked out Library books for their very first time, these books will remain at school in their cubbies for several weeks before we begin bringing them home in Library Book Bags.

Next Week:
We will begin talking about pumpkins, focusing on their parts (in comparison to those that an apple contains).
In Reader’s Workshop, students will learn what good readers notice in a story, beginning with characters and setting.
In Writer’s Workshop, students will continue to focus on oral language and story telling. I will be asking students to tell a story about a time that they were mad.
In Math, we will be moving onto number sense activities, focusing on the numbers 1-5.
In Social Studies, we will talk about characters in stories and talking about the lessons that we can learn from them. One example we will be discussing is Goldilocks as we have been reading several versions of The Three Bears.

Questions to ask your child
1.Tell me about your field trip to full circle farm.
2.Ask you child to tell a story about a time that they were mad.
3.Ask your child to make the Bb sound for you (ask them to place their hand in front of their mouth, the should feel a puff of air)

Full Circle Farms Field Trip

Today we went on our first field trip to Full Circle Farms. What a day! Students saw beehives, a greenhouse, and walked through a large garden. They planted beet seeds and tasted tomatoes, beets, dinosaur kale and broccoli. Many students chose to feed and pet the chickens and learn about their eggs.


Thank you to all the parents who joined us on our field trip!! To read more about Full Circle Farm, visit their website http://www.fullcirclesunnyvale.org/

Happy Birthday Miyu!

Today we celebrated Miyu's birthday. She brought in delicious fruit cups for snack and brought in the book Amelia Bedelia that we read together.

Newsletter: Week 6

Friday, October 2, 2009
Miss Wagenaar
Reminders/Notices:
•Reminder: This upcoming week is Goal Setting Conferences. Please note that each day is early dismissal (1:20). Also, please be punctual for your conference time as most conferences are booked back-to-back and I want to respect everyone’s assigned time.
•Friday will be our first classroom field trip, a walking trip to Full Circle Farms. We need four parent chaperones to join us, and thus far I have only heard from two. I will send a follow-up email this week to ensure we have sufficient help. Also, please remember that the cost for the field trip is $7 per student.
•Picture day is on Tuesday. Please send your photo order envelope (which will be sent home on Monday) with your child on Tuesday if you chose to order a picture package.

This Week:
Our Blue Day award winner was Annette Kim. She has demonstrated our Lifeskill of “Respect” this month. During the assembly, we were recognized for being the Kindergarten class who walked the most laps at the Walk-A-Thon.
In Reader’s Workshop time, we continued practicing taking turns and holding the book with our partner.
In Writer’s Workshop we began using our Sourcebook folder, including our cover and two pockets (one for “All Done” work and another for work with which you are “Still Working”)
We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Several times and completed an ordering activity as well as a page for our class book “Room 4, Room 4, What Do You See?”
We sorted, tasted, graphed, and labeled the parts of an apple. We also baked and tasted Apple Muffins – they were delicious.
We were introduced to our newest FOSS science animal, snails. Students had an opportunity to handle the snails and then we held a couple of snail races that the children drew afterwards.
In Math, we are concluded our unit focusing on sorting by sorting the same objects in different ways. Students have learned to sort by color, shape, size, and other noticeable attributes.

Next Week:
We will be having Hearing Screening on Tuesday, this routine screening happens in Kindergarten, 2nd and 5th grade
We will be talking about emotions and writing a story about a time that we were sad, in sunsequent weeks we will write about happy and scared stories as well.
We will conclude our unit of study about Snails, by comparing our land snails with aquatic snails.
We will be reading and completing literacy and art activities surrounding Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.


Questions to ask your child
1.Tell me the parts of an apple (stem, leaf, meat, skin, seeds)
2.Ask you child to tell a story about a time that they were sad.
3.Ask your child to sort household items.
4.What are the characters/animals in Brown Bear? (brown bear, red bird, yellow duck, blue horse, green frog, purple cat, black sheep, white dog)

Happy Birthday Megan!

BLUE DAY!!


Today Mr. Fung read a story in honor of Megan's Birthday


We also had our first Blue Day Assembly, Annette was recognized for demonstarting this month's lifeskill: RESPECT. Also, our class was recognized for walking the most laps of all Kindergarten classes! CONGRATULATIONS to those who participated.

Newsletter: Week 5

Friday, September 25, 2009
Miss Wagenaar
Reminders/Notices:
•I will not be at school on Monday, September 28th. Mrs. Fitzgerald will be here with the students and I will return on Tuesday.
•Thank you to the families who have returned their Goal Setting Conference scheduling forms. I look forward to having an opportunity to meet with each of you to discuss your children and answer questions about an overview of our school year.
•Water bottles that the students received for the Walk-A-Thon are a gift from Laurelwood’s “Go Green” team. Students are encouraged to use these water bottles and home and school. Students who choose to bring these bottles to school can store them inside the classroom throughout the day but are asked to take them home at the conclusion of each day to wash/refill.
•Reading Logs for August/September should be returned as the month draws to a close. New reading logs, to be used for October will be sent home in Thursday folders.
•The PTA is holding a fundraiser on Wednesday, September 30th at Sweet Tomatoes. See flyer in Thursday folders for more information.
•Next Wednesday is our first “Blue Day”. It is tradition that all students wear Blue spirit wear on that day to show school unity. This year, walk-a-thon t-shirts were printed on blue to give more students an opportunity to participate.

This Week:
In Writer’s Workshop this week we told our Falling Down stories orally to a partner, then put those stories into writing using pictures and words. We also drew and labeled pictures of our families, it was great to get to know the members of your family.
In Reader’s Workshop time, we learned home to read with a Partner. Students practiced holding the book between them and taking turns turning pages and ‘reading’ the stories.
We dove into more sorting activities using Attribute Blocks from our new math adoption. The children have discovered that the blocks can be sorted in different ways: by shape, color, and size.
Our animal family grew this week as we introduced two new guppies, to use in comparing out goldfish to. We have one male and one female (named Coraline and Sam). Students made observations and learned how to tell the two guppies apart.
Using our hands and fingers for stamping, we created an apple tree to lead into our unit on Apples which will continue next week.
We read Dr. Seuss’s Ten Apples Up on Top and created our own classroom version where each child created a drawing of themselves with apples on their head.
We began introducing some vocal music in the classroom, learning the “Hello Song”. This song allows the students to practice saying hello in a variety of languages. Some of the favorites are Spanish (hola), French (bonjour), Korean (ahn nyeong), Chinese (ni hoa), Japanese (konnichi wa), Hindi (namaste), Hawaiian (aloha), German (guten tag), and Pirate (ahoy).
We watched a presentation about Bus Safety featuring a large remote controlled bus named Buster. After students watched a video and listened to a presentation about rules on a bus they practice evacuating a bus out a side exit.
This week we worked for several days on our banner for the Walk-A-Thon. Kindergarten classes were assigned pigs to portray. We did a directed drawing where each student drew and colored a pig. We then finger-painted a large mud puddle as a class and glued on our pigs.
We walked a lap at the Walk-A-Thon with our buddies from Mr. Wichmann’s class.

Next Week:
We will continue studying apples. Johnny Appleseed’s birthday is on September 26th, so we will be talking about him as an example of people in history who were good citizens. We will be using the theme of apples over the next two weeks across many of our curriculum areas.
We will be concluding our study of goldfish and guppies and begin comparing another set of animals: land snails and sea snails.
We will be using the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See to jump into more math and literacy activities.
After sorting, tasting, and graphing the apples that you have brought in, we will use them to make apple muffins.

Questions to ask your child
1.How can you tell which guppy is a girl/boy? (girl: larger belly, boy: large, colorful tail)
2.What did you write about for your Falling Down story?
3.How did you sort your attribute blocks? (either by color, shape or size)
4.How many times can you ride the trikes around the track before you need to give someone else a turn? 3
5.Ask you child to sing you the “Hello Song”; If they don’t remember the tune ask them what other ways they know how to say hello.

A few items needed
I have received several donations for sorting containers, I am still looking for the following items, please send any that you can spare, even if it’s just a couple: Bread tags, Old keys and Buttons. ESPECIALLY BUTTONS!!

Walk-A-Thon

Today we had our Bus Evacuation presentation and practice. We also wrote our Falling Down stories in Writers Workshop. This afternoon we did an opening lap together with our buddies for the Walk-A-Thon. I hope you all had an opportunity to go check out this great event!!


(I am currently sitting in SFO, waiting to board my flight to Chicago. I plan on writing the newsletter in flight and I will send/post it as soon as I have internet in Chicago! - Thanks for the understanding)

Steven and Shannon Visit!

Today we told a partner our Falling Down story. We also used our new math curriculum to explore things that are the same and different. We also applied this when we met the guppies in our classroom. We names them Coraline and Sam, we have one male and one female. This afternoon a couple of my high school friends (Shannon and Steven) were visiting the bay area and helped us do art in our classroom! We used our hands and fingers to make apple trees.

Book Orders are here!

Book orders are in! They are sorted and will be sent home tomorrow with Thursday folders. Thanks to the great response, we were able to get the following books for our classroom:


In class, we've been working on procedures for Readers and Writers Workshop and today drew (and labeled) our families. We also drew, colored, and painted to prepare our poster for Friday's Walk-A-Thon. We will finish this project tomorrow.

Color Weeks

We've wrapped up our color weeks. The children (and staff) had so much fun dressing up in our daily colors. Please enjoy these colorful photos

Newsletter: Week 4

Friday, September 18, 2009
Miss Wagenaar
Reminders/Notices:
•Please send an apple of any shape, size, or color to school with your child by Thursday, September 24th. We will be studying apples next week, we will use those apples to sort, graph, and taste.
•There is no school for students on Monday September 21st.
•Next Friday is our Annual Walk-A-Thon and Silent Auction. Please ensure that your child’s permission slip has been turned in if they will be participating after school. The Silent Auction is our PTA’s main fundraiser, helping to provide money for school-wide field trips. Miss Casellini and myself offer a pizza/movie date for the two top bidders. Please check it out, and bid if you are interested!
•I have sent out notifications with date and time of your Goal Setting Conferences. Please return the bottom half (or email) indicating your availability during your scheduled time. I look forward to having an opportunity to meet with each of you to discuss your children and answer questions about an overview of our school year.
•Parent Volunteers will be invited into our classroom beginning this week. If you are a regular, weekly scheduled volunteer please make sure that you check in through the office and put on your badge before entering campus. I look forward to having parents join our classroom community and thank you for your willingness to help. We still do not have a volunteer for Computer Lab, so please let me know if anyone is available for Tuesday from 12:50-1:20.
•I have sent home our classroom Roster. Please check it over and inform me of any errors or changes so that I can update everyone else.

This Week:
Citizenship Award Winner: Lindsay Padden (congratulations Lindsay!!)
In Writer’s Workshop this week we generated a list of “What Writers Write About”, decorated covers for our sourcebooks and began preparing our alphabet charts that will be used as we begin to spell things phonetically.
We continued to focus on routines and procedures in Reader’s Workshop this week. We practiced Private Reading and practiced reading the pictures (which I encourage for our class of emerging readers)
Students have begun sorting for Math, using our sorting bags – which contain a variety of objects from batteries to shells and beads.
We jumped into our Foss Science unit about animals by two. I introduced our four goldfish and we named them: Roxie, Rosie, Goldie and Sharkie.
In Social Studies we continued to talk about Rules, focusing especially on sharing and taking turns.
This week’s pocket chart was “I Am a Pirate” a book that coordinates color with items of clothing that a pirate is wearing. After practicing all week, the children got their own “I Am a Pirate” to color correspondingly.
We met our 3rd grade reading buddies from Mr. Wichmann’s class. Together the students completed a questionnaire to learn about each other.
We celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day by eating Pirates Booty, making pirate hats, and learning phrases like “Ahoy”, “Walk the Plank” and “Shiver Me Timbers”!

Next Week:
We will be studying apples. Johnny Appleseed’s birthday is on September 26th, so we will be talking about him as an example of people in history who were good citizens. We will be using the theme of apples over the next two weeks across many of our curriculum areas.
We will continue our study of animals, introducing guppies to compare with our goldfish.
We will be doing Reader’s and Writer’s Workshops next week. In Reader’s workshop we will introduce procedures for Partner Reading. In Writer’s Workshop students will be prompted to write a story about a time that they fell down or got injured (I choose this as a first topic since everyone – myself included – has a memorable story about sustaining an injury).

Questions to ask your child
1.What parts do a fish have? (fins, gills, eyes, mouth, tail)
2.Brainstorm a “falling down” story with your child. Ask them to tell the story to you, including details. This will prepare them to share their story in class, both orally and in picture/words.
3.Can you show me the front cover, back cover, and spine of the book?
4.Can you sort these items for me?

A few items needed
I am looking to grow our sorting bags in my classroom. If you have any of the following items laying around your house that you would donate to our classroom, please send in with your child. I would greatly appreciate any donations.

Bread tags
Shells
Old keys
Container lids
Tile pieces
Beads
Buttons
Corks
Shaped erasers
Metal washers from screws

Black Day

This morning at our citizenship gathering, Lindsay was recognized for excellent citizenship. We celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We started with completing our "I Am a Pirate" Book that we've been reading all week in the pocket chart. After eating Pirate's Booty for snack, we made our pirate hats and wrote our Pirate names on them. During Friday Funday this week, Ms. Stryker's class joined us.
Star of the Day: Alexis

Brown Day

This morning we colored our own personal Alphabet Charts to use as a tool for Writers Workshop. We reviewed procedures for Private Reading, including putting our Backs to the Box and using the voice in our head. We graphed our favorite colors and made observations about our graph (The most children liked Blue, and no children chose Black or White as their favorite). We wrote a letter to Mr. Wichmann's class, thanking them for a wonderful day and expressing our excitement to see them again.
Star of the Day: Jesse

You've Got a Friend in Me

Meeting our 3rd Grade Buddies from Mr. Wichmann's class :)

Pink Day

Today we decorated the cover of our Sourcebook with icons that will prompt ideas for future writing (using our list of What Writers Write About to inspire). We read A Fish Out of Water and talked about caring for goldfish. We fed our goldfish and observed their behavior. In P.E. we learned a tag game called Stuck in the Mud. In this game, students who are tagged can be un-frozen by having a classmate tag between their spread legs. We also met our 3rd grade buddies from Mr. Wichmann's class and filled out a interest sheet with them.
Star of the Day: Annette

Purple Day

We created a chart "What Writers Write About" to give us some ideas as we jump into daily Writer's Workshop. We completed a leaflet in Social Studies titled "Why do we follow rules?". In Reader's Workshop we practiced reading the pictures, since many children are not yet able to read the words. We flipped through the book and told the story by making observations about the pictures.
Star of the Day: Paul

Blue Day

Today we met some friends that we will keep in our classroom to use as part of our Science Unit. We now will learn about and care for four goldfish, which we named: Rosie, Sharkie, Goldie, and Roxie. Please feel free to come into the classroom before or after school and let your children introduce you.
Star of the Day: Lindsay

Newsletter: Week 3

Friday, September 11, 2009
Miss Wagenaar
Reminders/Notices:
• Morning Greeters: If you are interested, there are two orange vests available in the morning for parents to put on and help patrol our Kindergarten Gates. If you arrive and still see vests on the fence, grab a vest and help us in the yard.
•Next week we will be continuing Color Week, the order is as follows Monday-Blue, Tuesday-Purple, Wednesday-Pink, Thursday-Brown, and Friday-Black (International Talk Like A Pirate Day).
• Please submit Roster Information (red form from Thursday folder or submit electronically) as soon as possible. I am aiming to send out a roster next week.
•Parent Volunteer schedule has been sent out. If there are any changes that need to be made, please notify me. We will start inviting parents into our class the week of September 21st. I will also send out an updated final schedule next week.

This Week:
This week we read several of Marcus Pfister’s books, including The Rainbow Fish and Rainbow Fish to the Rescue. We did a directed draw of a fish, and students used watercolors to paint them in a variety of colors. They look amazing! We also worked together as a class to retell the story, including the most important plot details. Our pocket chart that we practiced this week was “Orange is a Carrot”. We worked on a color book each morning as we came into the classroom by gluing the color words onto construction paper of the same color. We began Readers and Writers Workshop. We talked about procedures for Readers Workshop and how to gather our mind and eyes to get ourselves ready to read. In social studies, we talked about rules and why we have and follow them. We created a list of guidelines for ways to stay happy in room 4. In Math we practiced sorting objects, including linking cubes, kids, and rainbow goldfish. We focused on the letter Ss, writing it and practicing the sound that it makes.

Next Week:
We will continue working on our procedures for Readers and Writers Workshop. We will continue talking about rules and citizenship in Social Studies. We are going to be starting our Foss Unit: Animals by Two, introducing goldfish and guppies. We will continue sorting, focusing on using different features to sort (color, size, shape, etc). On Friday we will be celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day, we will be focusing on incorporating colors that we’ve learned about throughout the color weeks into a book called “I Am a Pirate”. Next week we will have our first Citizenship Assembly, recognizing a member of our class who is demonstrating exceptional citizenship.

Questions to ask your child:
1.Ask your child to tell you the story of Rainbow Fish.
2.Have your child show you what their mouth looks like when they make the sound of the letter s. (teeth together, sounds like a hissing snake.)
3.Ask your child the name of at least one friend in their class or another.

Green Day

Today we read the book Fireboat which led to a conversation about the events of September 11th. The focus of the conversation was more about the heros who stepped up to be of service, and not so much on the loss of lives. We practiced choosing books and procedures for reading during Readers Workshop. For math, we sorted and recorded the colored goldfish.
Star of the Day: Darpan

Yellow Day

We practiced Readers and Writers Workshop procedures for gathering our eyes and minds to prepare for minilessons. We started social studies, watching a DVD about Rules and coming up with our own list of "Ways to Stay Happy in Room 4".
Star of the Day: Miyu

Orange Day

Today we reread The Rainbow Fish then the students retold the story in their own words. We painted the fish that were drawn yesterday with watercolors. In P.E. we did a warm-up with big steps, small steps, skipping, running, and jumping. Then the students used those locomotive skills in a game of Duck Duck Goose.
Star of the Day: Lennox

Red Day

Today we read "Llama Llama Red Pajama" and "Red is Best" to celebrate the start of color week. We also reread "Rainbow Fish" and did a directed draw of our own fish. Our new pocket chart this week is "Orange is a Carrot". We tried to watch a piece of President Obama's speech, but internet traffic didn't allow for live streaming.
Star of the Day: Arul

Run Run as Fast as You Can

Photos from cooking, chasing, decorating, and eating our Gingerbread!

Newsletter: Week 2

Room 4 News
Friday, September 4, 2009
Miss Wagenaar

Reminders/Notices:
•Beginning this week, we will be having P.E. on Wednesdays with Miss Casellini’s class. Please send your child to school with tennis shoes or sneakers, appropriate for physical activity. Thank you!
•We are also looking for Morning Greeters for our Kindergarten Gate, this would require you to be at the Kinder Gate from 7:55-8:15 helping to facilitate drop off. If you are interested please let me know and I can talk to you more about specific scheduling.
•Reminder, there is no school on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday. Enjoy your day!
•Next week begins Color Week, the order is as follows Tuesday-Red, Wednesday-Orange, Thursday-Yellow, and Friday-Green.
•I am still working on completing a volunteer schedule. I will send out a tentative schedule later this weekend, however we will not be inviting volunteers to join us in the classroom for a couple of weeks (until we have a little more practice with our routines and procedures-we’ll play it by ear)

This Week:
We also spent this week focusing on our routines and procedures. We read the book “No, No Bono” and reviewed classroom rules, using a misbehaving monkey as a model. We learned how to say hello in Japanese (konnichi wa), Hindi (Namaste), Hawaiian (aloha), Korean (ahn nyeong) and Pirate (ahoy). We read several versions of the gingerbread man story this week, including but not limited to: The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires, Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett, The Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt, The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth, The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone, The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst. We made Gingerbread dough, rolled, cut, and baked the cookies. We went on a Gingerbread Hunt with stops at the office, staff room, computer lab, and library. Then we decorated and ate our Gingerbread people. We focused on the letter Mm, writing it, practicing the sound that it makes, and finding it in our own Mm book.

Next Week:
We will be adding more routines into our day. We will be learning routines for our Readers Workshop. We are going to be celebrating Color Week – using literacy activities to reinforce color words. We will be focusing on Rules and citizenship in Social Studies and will start sorting in Math.

Questions to ask your child:
1.Ask your child what animal ate the Gingerbread Boy in our stories. (fox)
2.Have your child show you what their mouth looks like when they make the sound of the letter m. (their lips should be closed.)
3.Ask your child what their favorite thing to do is during Choice Time.

Welcome Kindergarteners!

Star of the Day: Megan
Today we had a Welcome Assembly in tha Cafeteria with Mrs. Paolinetti. She talked about school rules, recess procedures, and assembly behavior. We did a wipe-off name tracing activity. We read and the children began to color their own copy of "No No Bono" about a monkey who is learning how to behave at school. We inserted our own names into the rhyme "Run Run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm ________." We ended our day learning to write our letter of the week: m.

Happy Birthday Lennox!

Star of the Day: Chris
Today we read a couple versions of The Gingerbread Man and practiced reciting the pocket chart "Run Run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!" We also celebrated Lennox's birthday. His mom came in to read The Rainbow Fish and we sang him a special happy birthday song.

Meet the Students of Room 4

I had a request for pictures (with names) as students and parents are trying to learn students.. What a great idea! Here you go (click to enlarge):

The Kissing Hand

This morning, during attendance we said hello in Chinese. Nai Ho! We filled in our birthday chart, and sorted which kids were 4 or 5. We also reread The Kissing Hand and made necklaces by tracing our own hands, and decorating with a heart and beads on our strings. Students learned how to say "I Love You" in sign language.

Newsletter: Week 1

Room 4 News
Friday, August 28, 2009
Miss Wagenaar

Reminders/Notices:
•Thank you to everyone who attended Back to School Night! It was great to meet all of you. If you still have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to ask me! If you missed Back to School Night, please feel free to email or call me with any questions you may have.
•Thank you for all the Let’s Find Out and Cooking donations I have received so far!
•Please return all forms that have been given to you by me and the school as soon as possible. These include: permission slip, technology usage agreement, parent survey, etc.
•We will begin our regular schedule next week; please remember that your child will be eating lunch at school, so they will need to either have a lunch or lunch money (or money in their account) starting on Monday. Dismissal times are as follows: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 2:00; Wednesday 1:10.

This Week:
We focused a LOT on our routines and procedures. We practiced walking in a line, sitting quietly on the carpet, “taking a knee” when the recess bell rings, and being kind to others. This week, we have been working on building our classroom community and feeling comfortable in the classroom. We learned how to say hello in Spanish (hola) and Chinese (nei ho). We have read stories such as: Owen by Kevin Henkes, Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate, and The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. We made Kissing Hand Necklaces and learned how to say “I love you” in sign language.Ask your child what their favorite story we read was this week and why!

Next Week:
We will begin using what will become our daily routine. The students will come in in the morning and have a seat on the carpet. They will also begin using their attendance cards and we will choose a “Star of the Day”. I will explain these in detail in the next newsletter. We will also have our first assembly!

Questions to ask your child:
1.What do you do when the recess bell rings? (Freeze and take a knee)
2.What was your favorite activity last week?

Name Art

Today we continued to practice procedures and routines. We read Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? and then I shared your art from Back to School Night with your children. They had a good time looking around the classroom to locate the items you had drawn. Our literacy/art activity was creating name art, using white glue and small construction paper squares. Here they are, displayed in our classroom :)

Wish List

I forgot to mention at Back To School Night our classroom Wishlist. It is posted inside our door, and can be visited and filled at any time. Here's a peek at what is currently on the list

Thank you again for attending Back To School Night this evening!

Room 4 Gets Ready for Kindergarten

Today we read Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten and completed our own pages for a class book. (These are now displayed in our classroom)

We also introduced a few new choice activities: Tools, Puzzles, and Dress Up

Flop Flop Flop...

We used crayons, scissors, and glue sticks to make Froggy Puppets after reading Froggy Goes to School

Third Time's a Charm

Our 2009-2010 looks like it's off to a good start!