Kindergarten News ~ February 28, 2020
Welcome Back! What a journey the past 6 weeks have been!!! I feel as though we have run a marathon and we are almost there J Thank you to all of you and to your resilient – flexible children for being supportive and weathering this journey with us! Our new building is in a work SPECTACULAR! In many ways it feels like the beginning of the year with new experiences and new routines to learn each day. Our big advantage is that we have already formed a community in our class and we have established many solid routines that we have just transferred to our new school and classroom. I am so proud of the kids and very excited to get settled into our new home! Here are a few highlights from our 1st week:
- We have been exploring our new classroom (Room 141) and the reviews so far are…2 Thumbs Up J Everything is shiny and new and we have some very fancy technology including blue tooth microphones and an interactive white board. We have already started using these.
- On Monday, we did a scavenger hunt through the school! It’s big!! We located the hallway bathrooms, water fountains, Nurse’s Office, Cafeteria, Gym, Art Room, Music Room, and Playground! All of these spaces are amazing!
- We LOVE our new playground and thanks to our good fortune with the weather this week, we have had many opportunities to play there. It is joyful to see the kids on the new playground after not having one for sooo long. We all agree it was well worth the wait. It is just amazing!
- We are taking time to consider our new spaces and think about any new rules we need to have – this process will unfold over the next few weeks. We try to build in time each for the kids to reflect and share their thoughts about how it is going. So far, the kids seem happy and are adjusting well to our new space!
- We have started to get back to our routines for Writing, Reading, and Math. We are finishing up a unit on Narrative Writing over the next 2 weeks.
- In Reading, we are working on new strategies to help us when we get to words we do not know. These include remembering to use our Super Reading Powers (Picture Power, Sound Power, Reread Power, ETC.) and we have also added some reminders about when to Check your reading, These include: Does it Sound Right? Does it Make Sense? Often kids read a word based on the letter it begins with but the word does not make sense. We are exploring text and working on word-solving together.
- In Math this week we are exploring the different ways we can make combinations for a number. We read a story called Bunk Beds about a little girl who has a sleepover with 7 friends. The babysitter, Aunt Kate keeps getting confused because each time she leaves the room to get something for the kids, they switch bunks. She keeps thinking she has “gained” or “lost” a kid even though in truth, they are just playing tricks on her and switching bunks. We used this story to launch a new tool that we can use to help us make number combinations. The kids had fun with this and we’ll continue to explore different numbers over the next week and ways to break up that number to create a variety of
- Amelia was the Important Person this week! She did a wonderful job and we enjoyed having some of her family members visit us!
- We had our first All School Meeting in the new school today! It was great to see everyone J
- I will send information about anything you need to know as I learn more about the school! Please feel free to email me if you have any pressing questions!
Have a Great Weekend! Most sincerely,
Important Reminders:
- If you have not sent in an extra set of clothing for your child’s locker, please do ASAP.
- Please be sure to send a note if your child has any kind of dismissal change. We are really spread out in the new building and it is important I know where your child is going so I send him/her to the right location. If you ever forget to send a note, please call the main office and let them know (781)860-5800.
- Parent -Teacher Conferences will begin in a few weeks. Please be on the lookout for an electronic sign-up sheet over the next few days.
Kindergarten News ~ January 10, 2020
Dear Families,
Welcome Back and Happy New Year!
We are off and running with many exciting activities in room #3.
Here are some highlights from the past week:
Learning Labs:
Science Area – our classroom scientists have been busy observing the potatoes and avocado seeds we are trying to sprout! This week we also looked closely at some Paperwhite bulbs and then we planted them. As the kids observed, they shared the things they noticed and the things they wondered? Based on our observations, some of us think they will grow, and some of us do not! The kids decided we needed a way to keep track of what we observe on a day to day basis, so they created a large calendar for the class. We will record our observations on it and let you know what we find out!
Block Area- Community building has been the big theme in the block area for several weeks now! The kids are incorporating hotels, airports, restaurants, parks, houses, doctor’s offices, a jail, and lots of roadways! The kids discuss their plans and then work together to build the community. The have been adding lots of labels to help us know more about the parts of the community and have also started to incorporate a set of community helpers leant to our class by Zoe!
Painting Easel – We asked the kids what other things they would like to do during choice time and many said paint! We have been exploring watercolors for a while,
This week we opened our painting easel! The kids are excited to work and explore painting in on a larger canvas! We have so many artists J
Writing Center – Our writing center continues to be a busy place with kids creating books, cards, and letters!
Lego Center – In Legos many kids have been busy building boats and then trying to float them. We have been talking about what design features help a boat to float and what might be making them sink! We are learning a lot about design as Writer’s Workshop well as a lot about science concepts related to water and sinking and floating!
Sand Table – Kids are adding water to the sand table to “test” ideas about what happens to the sand when water is added (kids are noticing it changes color – gets darker, and “sticks” together!) They are also exploring ideas about what sand works best for building sand castles – dry sand or wet sand?
Survey Center – The kids LOVE creating surveys to gather information! This is such an amazing way to integrate math, literacy, teamwork and social interactions! This week’s questions have included: Do you like the zoo, Do you like chocolate, and…
Fully Engaged, Curious, and Excited are the words I would use to describe the kids during our Learning Lab -choice time!
In workshops this week….
Writer’s Workshop – We have just completed our 2nd writing unit Show and Tell. This unit ends with the kids creating books with patterns in them. We are publishing the kid’s books and adding them to our classroom library! In this unit the kids worked on drawing detailed pictures, adding labels, writing a full sentence with spaces, writing a pattern across pages, spelling sight words correctly, and reading their books to one another. Today we read our books to our4th grade buddies!
Reading Workshop – Over the next 2 weeks we will finish our Super Reader’s unit. To celebrate we are planning a Super Reader parade during our workshop time. We’ll join the other kindergarten classes to read together and show off our Super Reading Powers! Our new powers include:
Math Workshop – We have started learning about addition and subtraction and our stations this week have activities to practice these concepts. We are also practicing estimation every week as we estimate the items in the estimation jar. Each week a different student is taking the jar home to fill. By the end of the year, every student will have had a turn!
Important Person – Jack was the Important Person this week! We enjoyed learning more about him and having his family visit J
Social Skills – We are focusing on Self-Regulation skills in kindergarten.
Ms. Freeman has been reading us stories that feature kids showing different emotions. In our classroom, we have started learning about The Zones of Regulation. The Zones of Regulation teach us about the different emotions and stages of arousal we go through each day. The zones are associated with 4 different
Important Upcoming Dates:
*** Monday, January 20th – No school / Martin Luther King Day
***Friday, February 7th – 100 Day
Welcome Back and Happy New Year!
We are off and running with many exciting activities in room #3.
Here are some highlights from the past week:
Learning Labs:
Science Area – our classroom scientists have been busy observing the potatoes and avocado seeds we are trying to sprout! This week we also looked closely at some Paperwhite bulbs and then we planted them. As the kids observed, they shared the things they noticed and the things they wondered? Based on our observations, some of us think they will grow, and some of us do not! The kids decided we needed a way to keep track of what we observe on a day to day basis, so they created a large calendar for the class. We will record our observations on it and let you know what we find out!
Block Area- Community building has been the big theme in the block area for several weeks now! The kids are incorporating hotels, airports, restaurants, parks, houses, doctor’s offices, a jail, and lots of roadways! The kids discuss their plans and then work together to build the community. The have been adding lots of labels to help us know more about the parts of the community and have also started to incorporate a set of community helpers leant to our class by Zoe!
Painting Easel – We asked the kids what other things they would like to do during choice time and many said paint! We have been exploring watercolors for a while,
This week we opened our painting easel! The kids are excited to work and explore painting in on a larger canvas! We have so many artists J
Writing Center – Our writing center continues to be a busy place with kids creating books, cards, and letters!
Lego Center – In Legos many kids have been busy building boats and then trying to float them. We have been talking about what design features help a boat to float and what might be making them sink! We are learning a lot about design as Writer’s Workshop well as a lot about science concepts related to water and sinking and floating!
Sand Table – Kids are adding water to the sand table to “test” ideas about what happens to the sand when water is added (kids are noticing it changes color – gets darker, and “sticks” together!) They are also exploring ideas about what sand works best for building sand castles – dry sand or wet sand?
Survey Center – The kids LOVE creating surveys to gather information! This is such an amazing way to integrate math, literacy, teamwork and social interactions! This week’s questions have included: Do you like the zoo, Do you like chocolate, and…
Fully Engaged, Curious, and Excited are the words I would use to describe the kids during our Learning Lab -choice time!
In workshops this week….
Writer’s Workshop – We have just completed our 2nd writing unit Show and Tell. This unit ends with the kids creating books with patterns in them. We are publishing the kid’s books and adding them to our classroom library! In this unit the kids worked on drawing detailed pictures, adding labels, writing a full sentence with spaces, writing a pattern across pages, spelling sight words correctly, and reading their books to one another. Today we read our books to our4th grade buddies!
Reading Workshop – Over the next 2 weeks we will finish our Super Reader’s unit. To celebrate we are planning a Super Reader parade during our workshop time. We’ll join the other kindergarten classes to read together and show off our Super Reading Powers! Our new powers include:
- Pointer Power
- Picture Power
- Reread Power
- Sound Power
- Persistence Power
- Partner Power
- Sight word (snap word) Power
Math Workshop – We have started learning about addition and subtraction and our stations this week have activities to practice these concepts. We are also practicing estimation every week as we estimate the items in the estimation jar. Each week a different student is taking the jar home to fill. By the end of the year, every student will have had a turn!
Important Person – Jack was the Important Person this week! We enjoyed learning more about him and having his family visit J
Social Skills – We are focusing on Self-Regulation skills in kindergarten.
Ms. Freeman has been reading us stories that feature kids showing different emotions. In our classroom, we have started learning about The Zones of Regulation. The Zones of Regulation teach us about the different emotions and stages of arousal we go through each day. The zones are associated with 4 different
Important Upcoming Dates:
*** Monday, January 20th – No school / Martin Luther King Day
***Friday, February 7th – 100 Day
Kindergarten News ~ December 6, 2019
Dear Families,
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break! It has been a busy week even with our 1st snow day! Below are some highlights from our past couple of weeks!
Elephant and Piggie’s, We Are In A Play:
Learning Labs:
The children have been very busy during learning labs!
Literacy:
Reading Super Power strategies! During Reader’s Workshop the
kids are also working in stations. These include – Reading to Self,
Reading with a Partner, Listening to Reading, and Word Work!
Math:
Social Studies:
Important Person:
Social/Emotional Learning
Notes:
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break! It has been a busy week even with our 1st snow day! Below are some highlights from our past couple of weeks!
Elephant and Piggie’s, We Are In A Play:
- We had a great trip to the theatre this week! In preparation for our trip we read many books by Mo Willems. The play/musical was based on a selection of several of his popular books. It was fun to see how they were all put together to create the play. The kids were wonderful and all said they enjoyed the play! We drew pictures and shared our favorite parts of the play when we returned to school. The kids love how silly and fun his stories are. They often explore themes around friendship and feelings too. These books are also great for reading as they have tons of the sight words we are learning and simple text!
- Special thanks to the parents that helped chaperone our trip! We really appreciated your help J
Learning Labs:
The children have been very busy during learning labs!
- In the block area, the airport theme has expanded to building communities that include restaurants, apartment buildings, medical offices, and houses! The kids have also incorporated a globe and have chosen destinations for the airplanes that are taking off! It is fascinating to see them plan and work together to create and explain what they think a community is and what it needs! It’s also amazing to hear them as they incorporate some of their own personal experiences in their play!
- Our survey center continues to be very popular! Kids are working together to write questions and then they are collecting and documenting the answers from their classmates. Finally, they are sharing their results with the class. This is such a powerful way to integrate reading, writing, math, communication skills, and social skills – all in authentic ways!
- The kids are writing up a storm during learning labs. They are making cards, writing books, and creating lists! It’s powerful to see them all growing as writers as they choose the ways to work on writing!
- Our sand and water table also continues to be popular! This is a popular area for sensory play where kids are also exploring concepts of measurement as they scoop and build with various containers!
- In the art area, kids have been using play-doh and various art supplies to add features and clothing to multicultural people. We have been exploring and comparing our skin color and the kids have enjoyed continuing this work as they work on designing these people.
- In the Drama Area, we have a restaurant theme! The kids are taking on various rolls including Cook, Server, and Customer as they play restaurant! *****If anyone has a chef hat or Apron we could borrow (or other restaurant themed items, we’d love to borrow them for a short time!
Literacy:
- We are in the final bend of our Show and Tell writing unit!
- In the final bend, we’ll be creating books with word patterns in them on each page(I like…, I can…, In school I like to…, etc.). This is a great way to practice the sight words we have been learning! It also makes our books very readable – so we can share them with friends!
- We are learning many different strategies for decoding and reading books! We call these our “Reading Super Powers!” So far these include:
- Pointer Power (pointing to each word as we read)
- Reread Power (rereading the words if we are stuck!)
- Partner Power (asking our reading partner for help)
- Picture power (Using the picture to look for clues to help us solve the word)
Reading Super Power strategies! During Reader’s Workshop the
kids are also working in stations. These include – Reading to Self,
Reading with a Partner, Listening to Reading, and Word Work!
Math:
- We have Math Partners! The kids are learning what it means to be a good Math Partner as they rotate through stations together! Our stations over the past couple of weeks have included these math concepts:
- Learning to describe shapes (number of sides and corners)
- Putting shapes together to compose different shapes
- Practicing reading and writing teen numbers
- Counting and adding 1 more
- Adding 2 numbers together
- Copying a design made by another friend on a Geo Board
- Reading number books
- Reading Dice
Social Studies:
- We continue to talk about what makes a family and also what a community is! We are learning that we all belong to many different communities including our classroom community!
Important Person:
- Maya was our first Important Person this week! She did a great job and the class loved learning more about her and visiting with her family! We look forward to welcoming all of you in on your child’s special sharing day J
Social/Emotional Learning
- We are talking about feelings with Ms. Freeman. This week she read us a story about feeling Grumpy called Grumpy Maya. We have been talking about how we all have different feelings all of the time and often move through lots of feelings thorough out the day. We are also talking about what helps us feel better if when we are upset.
Notes:
- Winter Play/Clothing: In order for kids to be allowed in the snow during recess, they must be wearing snow boots and snow pants or a snowsuit. Kids who do not wear these must stay on the hardtop.
- Please send in extra socks. Feet tend to get wet even with boots on.
- Please remember to send sneakers on Wednesdays and Fridays for Gym.
- Pleas have kids practice putting on and taking off their winter clothing at home including snapping and zipping J We get dressed for recess twice a day. It is important to be independent so we can maximize our time outside – Thank you in advance for your help!
Kindergarten News ~ November 15, 2019
Dear Families,
Apologies for not getting a newsletter out to you sooner! The past weeks have been very busy! It’s hard to believe we had our 50th day of school this week! November snuck up quickly and has been filled with lots of learning and activity! Please read on for some highlights of the past few weeks!
Learning Labs
The class has been a buzz with lots of investigations, building projects, restaurant explorations, and artistic expression!
*In the science area kids are comparing and looking closely at a variety of pinecones.
*In the block area, kids continue to explore an airport theme that is ever growing with new ideas and planes taking off for India and other parts of the world!
*In Legos, kids continue to build all kinds of cars and structures!
*In the drama area, many kids have decided they are interested in a restaurant theme! The kids have been busy making menus and considering the different jobs needed in a restaurant.
*In the art area, the kids have been experimenting with water-based tempera paint as they paint.
*In the writing area, kids have been writing cards and making books.
*In the sand table, kids have been mixing a little water into the sand and noticing how it sticks together when it is wet!
*In the Reading area, kids have been reading class books, favorite poems, and storybooks
*This week we opened a new station called “Survey Station”. At this station, the kids come up with their own question, write it down, and then walk around and poll the class as they tally the results! Our first survey takers asked: “Do you like donuts?” We found out 20 people do, and 3 do not!
This is such a great way to incorporate math, literacy, social skills practice, and learning about others-all while having fun J.
Writing
We finished up our Narrative Writing unit last week and celebrated by choosing our best work and then sharing it with our 3rd grade buddies! Our buddies wrote compliments on yellow post-its to celebrate all of our hard work.
-over-
They complimented the kids on their labels, the details in their pictures, their hard work stretching out words, and their stories! This week we began our next unit called
Show and Tell! In this unit, the kids are looking closely at their special things and then they are drawing and writing about them. The focus of this unit is on building our letter-sound knowledge and on “telling more”. The kids also have a writing partner and are learning how to share their work and ask questions about a friend’s writing.
Reading
Last week we finished our 1st unit in reading and celebrated by having a parade up to the school office during Reader’s Workshop! The kids wore crowns and carried their favorite storybook and their favorite non-fiction (Learn About the World book!) They were so proud! This week, we began our new unit called Super Readers.
In this unit we’ll begin to learn many of the strategies readers use to begin to decode and read words! The theme in this unit is superheroes and the kids will meet Reader Man who is a cousin of Batman and Spiderman! He delivers lots of tips to help the kids read and as they learn them, they will become Super Readers! The first strategy we learned about this week was Pointer Power! We learned that you must point once to each word as you read and, you point under the word – not next-to or on top of the word! The kids practiced this by reading words all over our classroom! It was exciting and powerful! In the next couple of week, the kid’s books in their book boxes will be replaced by books at their just right reading level. It will be amazing to see the growth they all make as Super Readers this year!
Math
We have been busy in Math! We did a special lesson last week called Counting Squares. Throughout the year, we will do lessons to “launch” different math topics. In this lesson, the kids each got a bag filled with yellow and red colored plastic square tiles. Their challenge was to find ways to arrange and count the squares. It was very interesting to watch the kids work and notice ALL of the different ways they organized their squares! We took pictures of their work on I-Pads and then came together as a group and looked at the variety of ways kids thought to arrange them for counting. We talked about the different groups kids made and ways they found to sort and count them. We also learned that no matter how they were arranged, there was always the same amount (21). The kids enjoyed this lesson a lot!
Social Studies
We have started a unit on Family. We read a book called Who’s in a Family and then shared our ideas about what makes a family. We’ll continue exploring this idea over the coming weeks with a special emphasis on how our families are alike and different! The kids worked on pictures of their own family to top our November calendars. They were so proud and did an amazing job! We hope you like them J
Motion/Emotion
We have been talking a lot about skin color with MS. Freeman and having powerful conversations about what makes each of us special and beautiful! These conversations are so important and need to begin at early ages! We are learning that all skin color is made up of shades of white and brown with lots of other colors mixed in. This week we mixed some skin tone paint and the kids matched their own colors and then painted each other’s hands. We printed them on white paper plates so we could see all of the different skin colors we have in our class! We have a rainbow of beautiful skin colors! The kids enjoyed this activity and we’ll use it to continue exploring and talking about skin color!
Have a great Weekend!
Important Dates Coming Up:
Apologies for not getting a newsletter out to you sooner! The past weeks have been very busy! It’s hard to believe we had our 50th day of school this week! November snuck up quickly and has been filled with lots of learning and activity! Please read on for some highlights of the past few weeks!
Learning Labs
The class has been a buzz with lots of investigations, building projects, restaurant explorations, and artistic expression!
*In the science area kids are comparing and looking closely at a variety of pinecones.
*In the block area, kids continue to explore an airport theme that is ever growing with new ideas and planes taking off for India and other parts of the world!
*In Legos, kids continue to build all kinds of cars and structures!
*In the drama area, many kids have decided they are interested in a restaurant theme! The kids have been busy making menus and considering the different jobs needed in a restaurant.
*In the art area, the kids have been experimenting with water-based tempera paint as they paint.
*In the writing area, kids have been writing cards and making books.
*In the sand table, kids have been mixing a little water into the sand and noticing how it sticks together when it is wet!
*In the Reading area, kids have been reading class books, favorite poems, and storybooks
*This week we opened a new station called “Survey Station”. At this station, the kids come up with their own question, write it down, and then walk around and poll the class as they tally the results! Our first survey takers asked: “Do you like donuts?” We found out 20 people do, and 3 do not!
This is such a great way to incorporate math, literacy, social skills practice, and learning about others-all while having fun J.
Writing
We finished up our Narrative Writing unit last week and celebrated by choosing our best work and then sharing it with our 3rd grade buddies! Our buddies wrote compliments on yellow post-its to celebrate all of our hard work.
-over-
They complimented the kids on their labels, the details in their pictures, their hard work stretching out words, and their stories! This week we began our next unit called
Show and Tell! In this unit, the kids are looking closely at their special things and then they are drawing and writing about them. The focus of this unit is on building our letter-sound knowledge and on “telling more”. The kids also have a writing partner and are learning how to share their work and ask questions about a friend’s writing.
Reading
Last week we finished our 1st unit in reading and celebrated by having a parade up to the school office during Reader’s Workshop! The kids wore crowns and carried their favorite storybook and their favorite non-fiction (Learn About the World book!) They were so proud! This week, we began our new unit called Super Readers.
In this unit we’ll begin to learn many of the strategies readers use to begin to decode and read words! The theme in this unit is superheroes and the kids will meet Reader Man who is a cousin of Batman and Spiderman! He delivers lots of tips to help the kids read and as they learn them, they will become Super Readers! The first strategy we learned about this week was Pointer Power! We learned that you must point once to each word as you read and, you point under the word – not next-to or on top of the word! The kids practiced this by reading words all over our classroom! It was exciting and powerful! In the next couple of week, the kid’s books in their book boxes will be replaced by books at their just right reading level. It will be amazing to see the growth they all make as Super Readers this year!
Math
We have been busy in Math! We did a special lesson last week called Counting Squares. Throughout the year, we will do lessons to “launch” different math topics. In this lesson, the kids each got a bag filled with yellow and red colored plastic square tiles. Their challenge was to find ways to arrange and count the squares. It was very interesting to watch the kids work and notice ALL of the different ways they organized their squares! We took pictures of their work on I-Pads and then came together as a group and looked at the variety of ways kids thought to arrange them for counting. We talked about the different groups kids made and ways they found to sort and count them. We also learned that no matter how they were arranged, there was always the same amount (21). The kids enjoyed this lesson a lot!
Social Studies
We have started a unit on Family. We read a book called Who’s in a Family and then shared our ideas about what makes a family. We’ll continue exploring this idea over the coming weeks with a special emphasis on how our families are alike and different! The kids worked on pictures of their own family to top our November calendars. They were so proud and did an amazing job! We hope you like them J
Motion/Emotion
We have been talking a lot about skin color with MS. Freeman and having powerful conversations about what makes each of us special and beautiful! These conversations are so important and need to begin at early ages! We are learning that all skin color is made up of shades of white and brown with lots of other colors mixed in. This week we mixed some skin tone paint and the kids matched their own colors and then painted each other’s hands. We printed them on white paper plates so we could see all of the different skin colors we have in our class! We have a rainbow of beautiful skin colors! The kids enjoyed this activity and we’ll use it to continue exploring and talking about skin color!
Have a great Weekend!
Important Dates Coming Up:
- Wednesday, November 20th Multi-cultural Potluck Dinner
- Wednesday, November 27 –Dismissal 12:15 PM –
- Thursday November 28 - No School
- Friday November 29 – No school
- Wednesday, December 4th - Field Trip to Wheelock Family Theatre
- Thank You All Again for meeting over the past few weeks for Parent –Teacher conferences! We deeply value your insights and input. Please know our door is always open if you have any questions at all!
- Please see the attached information and schedule for Important Person Sharing that will begin in December. Questions…please email me J
Kindergarten News ~ October 25, 2019
Dear Families,
We have had a great couple of weeks filled with fun and learning! Here are some highlights:
Smolak Farms: Our field trip was a great success! The children loved everything we did including the bus ride!
We were lucky to have a beautiful day! We began our visit with delicious cider donuts and apple cider. Next, we took a hayride around the farm, picked a pumpkin, had lunch, and finally – a chance to visit animals and play! Special thanks to the parents who chaperoned our trip J
Pumpkin Exploration: We kept our pumpkins at school for a “sleepover” so we could have a chance to study them! We looked closely at them and noticed they were all a little different – some in size, some in shape, and some in color! We made observational drawings of them and measured them. We learned that scientists make predictions about things! We had fun predicting what we thought would happen if we tried to sink or float them! Each child took a turn trying this experiment! We learned that pumpkins float! We even tested our big green pumpkin!
Ladybugs:
Our scientists made a discovery this week! Last week our Ladybug larva went into the Pupa stage! In that stage they stop moving, attach to a leaf (or inside of the container), and shed their outer skin. This week as some of the kids were observing them, they noticed that a couple of Ladybugs have emerged! So exciting!! We will watch closely and hope for a warm day to release them!
Math:
In math stations this week we learned 2 new partner games: Build a Staircase, and Build a City. Both of these games reinforce reading numbers and counting. We also talked about how math games are not about winning! They are about learning! These games are both games of “chance”. Meaning that there is noting you can do (no strategy) to win the game. They involve rolling dice and collecting counters. We talked about the importance of being a good sport and practiced shaking our partners hand and saying “Good Game” when we are done! Other stations this week included a button sorting station, a grab and Count Station (kids reach into a bag and grab a handful of counters and count them), a Number Bingo station, and a Dice Race station!
Writing Workshop:
We are writing up a storm in Room 3! We are learning how to be Rockstar Spellers! Rockstar Spellers s-t-r-e-t-c-h words and listen for sounds and then write down what they hear! We practiced this as we labeled our pictures and added words to tell our stories. Writing is such a huge process! The kids have to first think of an idea, and then make a picture, label important parts, and finally decide what they want to tell about their story! The kids are ALL working so hard and I am very proud of all of their efforts!!
Reading Workshop:
We are having fun reading “Old Storybook” Favorites! An old storybook favorite is a storybook we read so many times that we can retell it by heart! This week we wrapped up some of our old storybook favorites and gave them to the kids as gifts for their book boxes! They all opened them at the same time and it was so exciting to see their excitement as they called out the titles they got! These included: The Carrot seed, The Kissing Hand, Mrs. Wishy-Washy, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff! We are learning strategies that all readers use to help them read books. This includes looking closely at the pictures and thinking about how the pictures go together across the book and what the pictures are telling us. Retelling a story and understanding what the book (the comprehension) is vital to reading! The kids had a chance to “read” their old storybook favorites to a partner! We LOVE books in room 3!
ABC’s and Sight Words:
We are spending time working on letter sounds and have also been introducing sight words. Sight words are words that appear most often and some are words that are difficult to sound out – so you just need to learn them by “sight”. The words we have introduced so far are: a, I, is, the, me, am, mom, dad.
It is great practice to look for and notice these words in print as you read. We are also working on rhyming!
Learning Labs:
This is our favorite part of the day!
Over the past 2 weeks we have been busy with many projects and activities! The kids are making books about Halloween and lots of other things at the writing center, building all kinds of structures in blocks, looking closely at our changing Ladybugs in science center, doing leaf rubbings in the art area, reading favorite big books and class books in our reading center, building great structures in Legos, and working on cooperative play skills as they play board games together! Another small group has been busy planning what we would need to act out the story Mrs. Wishy-Washy! First they worked together to make a list and then we worked together to look up ways to create masks for animals in the story (a cow, a pig, and a duck). The kids painted paper plates and we cut them and made animals masks. This week we started acting out the story! The kids are having so much fun. It is such a great way to bring a story to life and work on retelling, reading, speaking and listening, sequencing, cooperation, collaboration, being creative, and so much more!
Play truly is the most powerful vehicle for learning! It is truly joyful to watch the children engaged in this process!
Parent Teacher Conferences:
I am really enjoying meeting with all of you to share information and learn about your children. Thanks to the parents I met with this week and I am looking forward to meeting with the rest of you next week!
Have a Great Weekend!
Notes:
We have had a great couple of weeks filled with fun and learning! Here are some highlights:
Smolak Farms: Our field trip was a great success! The children loved everything we did including the bus ride!
We were lucky to have a beautiful day! We began our visit with delicious cider donuts and apple cider. Next, we took a hayride around the farm, picked a pumpkin, had lunch, and finally – a chance to visit animals and play! Special thanks to the parents who chaperoned our trip J
Pumpkin Exploration: We kept our pumpkins at school for a “sleepover” so we could have a chance to study them! We looked closely at them and noticed they were all a little different – some in size, some in shape, and some in color! We made observational drawings of them and measured them. We learned that scientists make predictions about things! We had fun predicting what we thought would happen if we tried to sink or float them! Each child took a turn trying this experiment! We learned that pumpkins float! We even tested our big green pumpkin!
Ladybugs:
Our scientists made a discovery this week! Last week our Ladybug larva went into the Pupa stage! In that stage they stop moving, attach to a leaf (or inside of the container), and shed their outer skin. This week as some of the kids were observing them, they noticed that a couple of Ladybugs have emerged! So exciting!! We will watch closely and hope for a warm day to release them!
Math:
In math stations this week we learned 2 new partner games: Build a Staircase, and Build a City. Both of these games reinforce reading numbers and counting. We also talked about how math games are not about winning! They are about learning! These games are both games of “chance”. Meaning that there is noting you can do (no strategy) to win the game. They involve rolling dice and collecting counters. We talked about the importance of being a good sport and practiced shaking our partners hand and saying “Good Game” when we are done! Other stations this week included a button sorting station, a grab and Count Station (kids reach into a bag and grab a handful of counters and count them), a Number Bingo station, and a Dice Race station!
Writing Workshop:
We are writing up a storm in Room 3! We are learning how to be Rockstar Spellers! Rockstar Spellers s-t-r-e-t-c-h words and listen for sounds and then write down what they hear! We practiced this as we labeled our pictures and added words to tell our stories. Writing is such a huge process! The kids have to first think of an idea, and then make a picture, label important parts, and finally decide what they want to tell about their story! The kids are ALL working so hard and I am very proud of all of their efforts!!
Reading Workshop:
We are having fun reading “Old Storybook” Favorites! An old storybook favorite is a storybook we read so many times that we can retell it by heart! This week we wrapped up some of our old storybook favorites and gave them to the kids as gifts for their book boxes! They all opened them at the same time and it was so exciting to see their excitement as they called out the titles they got! These included: The Carrot seed, The Kissing Hand, Mrs. Wishy-Washy, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff! We are learning strategies that all readers use to help them read books. This includes looking closely at the pictures and thinking about how the pictures go together across the book and what the pictures are telling us. Retelling a story and understanding what the book (the comprehension) is vital to reading! The kids had a chance to “read” their old storybook favorites to a partner! We LOVE books in room 3!
ABC’s and Sight Words:
We are spending time working on letter sounds and have also been introducing sight words. Sight words are words that appear most often and some are words that are difficult to sound out – so you just need to learn them by “sight”. The words we have introduced so far are: a, I, is, the, me, am, mom, dad.
It is great practice to look for and notice these words in print as you read. We are also working on rhyming!
Learning Labs:
This is our favorite part of the day!
Over the past 2 weeks we have been busy with many projects and activities! The kids are making books about Halloween and lots of other things at the writing center, building all kinds of structures in blocks, looking closely at our changing Ladybugs in science center, doing leaf rubbings in the art area, reading favorite big books and class books in our reading center, building great structures in Legos, and working on cooperative play skills as they play board games together! Another small group has been busy planning what we would need to act out the story Mrs. Wishy-Washy! First they worked together to make a list and then we worked together to look up ways to create masks for animals in the story (a cow, a pig, and a duck). The kids painted paper plates and we cut them and made animals masks. This week we started acting out the story! The kids are having so much fun. It is such a great way to bring a story to life and work on retelling, reading, speaking and listening, sequencing, cooperation, collaboration, being creative, and so much more!
Play truly is the most powerful vehicle for learning! It is truly joyful to watch the children engaged in this process!
Parent Teacher Conferences:
I am really enjoying meeting with all of you to share information and learn about your children. Thanks to the parents I met with this week and I am looking forward to meeting with the rest of you next week!
Have a Great Weekend!
Notes:
- Next Wednesday, October 30th is another ½ day for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Dismissal is at 12:15 PM
- Our Big Backyard Walk has been rescheduled to Next Wednesday, October 30th. Please dress your child in comfortable clothing and shoes. We’ll walk around outside of Hastings School and look for signs of Fall!
Kindergarten News ~ October 11, 2019
Dear Families,
We have had a great week in Kindergarten Below are a few highlights:
Learning Labs:
This week our science center has been popular as kids look closely at our Ladybug Larva and explore our large green pumpkin! We began our Leaf-Print Tee shirts this week! Special thanks to the parents who came in to help. Thanks also to so many of you who sent in extra Tee shirts! We really appreciate your generosity! A group of kids are interested in acting out a story we are reading called Mrs. Wishy-Washy! We made a list of props and costumes we need and will begin making them!
Writing
We worked together this week to come up with a list of possible writing topics for Writer’s Workshop! We continue to work on Narrative Writing (true writing about ourselves and things we know about). These are the topics the kids came up with: Family / Holidays and Celebrations / Animals and Pets/ Sports / Favorite Places / School / Friends and Play dates / Things I like to do
This list was very helpful as kids considered what they wanted to tell about!
Our names offer a wealth of information as we learn about and begin to use letters to label our pictures and write! The kids are getting good at listening for beginning sounds and noticing when they begin the same way someone’s name does! This is a very helpful tool! We will continue with Narrative Writing for another week and then pause to do a fun writing unit called Show and Tell! Stay Tuned for more information (we’ll be sending home a letter with more information next week!)
Reading
We are building our muscle memory and stamina for reading! The kids all have book boxes now filled with lots of exciting non-fiction and some storybooks too! In kindergarten, there is a wide range in terms of reading skills (and all other skills too!) Right now we are engaging with books through looking at ALL of the parts! We have focused on the importance of looking and reading the cover of the book and then going page by page to “think” about how all of the pages go together! We are also learning that we can reread and learn more by closely studying the pictures to think about characters feelings (fiction) or to learn more (non-fiction). We have built 6 minutes of Reading Stamina. The kids are very proud of their growing reading muscles!
Science
Is it Alive? This is a big question to ponder in kindergarten! Before we introduced our Ladybug Larva and Green Pumpkin, we did an introductory lesson to begin thinking about what makes something living or non-living. We looked at picture and decided if we thought the things shown were living or not living. These included: a cat / a seed / a frog / a fire / grass / a rive / a rock / a tree / and a cloud! After the kids looked at these objects, they shared their thinking. It is fascinating to hear their thoughts at age 5 and 6! Many felt that fire is alive/living because it can move – a river too! Many thought that trees we not living! The following day we went back to these ideas and looked at more pictures together – a lion / crayons / a child / a doll / etc. we also introduced criteria for what makes something living. It includes:
it grows it needs food and water it breathes it can reproduce (make a smaller version of itself) Following this we talked more about the picture and thought more about
our ideas! We also introduced the Ladybug Larva and Pumpkin! Everyone
feels the Ladybug Larva is alive! Many also think the pumpkin is alive
because it is green and therefore still growing! We decided to measure it
and will also add some dirt and water to see if it actually grows! It is
fascinating to watch/listen as the kids develop their ideas and
understanding!
Book Buddies
We saw our 3rd grade Book Buddies today and read Scholastic Magazines with them! We talked about why leaves chance color, pumpkins, and apples! Please enjoy these magazines at home with your child!
Seesaw
Thank you for joining Seesaw! I truly hope this will give you a glimpse into classroom life and your child’s learning! Please share the pictures at home with your child and use it to spark conversation! I will be checking in with you thorough the year about its value. One of my goals this year is to communicate more with families about the learning in our classroom! I welcome ideas if you have any to share J
Have a Great Long Weekend!
Upcoming Important Date Next Weeks:
Monday, October 14 – No School – Indigenous Peoples Day
Wednesday, October 16 – Field Trip to Smolak Farms!
*** Please Send Back Conference Forms Next Week to share any topics you want to be sure we discuss! Thank you in advance for partnering with me!
Kindergarten News ~ October 4, 2019
Dear Families,
It has been a busy and fun filled past 2 weeks! Here are some highlights:
Learning Labs:
A favorite time of day! The kids are following their interests as they continue to visit the science area, writing center, classroom library, block area (where airports still dominate the building going on!), Legos, games and puzzles, sand table, art area, and house corner! The kids are working on speaking and listening to one another, including others in play, sharing ideas and materials, forming relationships, being flexible, asking questions, exercising creativity and problem-solving, as well as so many academic skills! I mentioned at Back to school Night that Play is a most important part of learning for young children. During this time, the kids are learning to take charge of their own learning, set goals, work on building their capacity to sustain attention, collaborate, and build on the things they know about and want to know more about. One of my goals this year will be to document the value and importance of having time set aside each day for self-directed learning (play). I look forward to talking more with you about this at conferences
Science:
Our beautiful butterfly hatched last Thursday! The kids were thrilled! We were very fortunate to have our former elementary science department head, Fran Ludwig come in on Friday and tag our butterfly! She also helped us feed our butterfly before we set it free! All of the kids got to see it drink with its very long tongue! Additionally, we learned that it was a girl! Monarch butterflies that hatch in the fall are super butterflies! They will begin a journey all the way to Mexico where they overwinter. Our butterfly is tagged with a small sticker that has a special number on it! If anyone sees our butterfly along the way, they will be able to look it up online and see that it began its journey in Lexington! We hope our butterfly makes it to Mexico!
To celebrate the close of our butterfly lifecycle study, we made observational drawings of our butterfly, made butterfly headbands, and acted out all of the stages from egg to butterfly as we listened to some beautiful music!
*** Coming today~ Ladybugs! We will start an investigation of the life-cycle of the Ladybug! Our Larve arrived Thursday afternoon!
Writing:
We have started our 1st writing unit! We are learning all about writer’s workshop and writing this week! In our first unit we are writing about things we know about and want to “teach” or share with the class. We are learning that the pictures help the reader understand what you are telling about and details are important. We are also beginning to add letters and words to label ourselves, and some of the things in our pictures. The kids have choices everyday to return to the writing they started the day before or move onto the new writing. We are also learning to close our eyes and make pictures inside of our heads to help us think about what we might add to our pictures! Finally, we are learning how to be “Independent Writer’s” as we get our own writing tools, make decisions about the paper we’ll use, the topics we’ll write about, and ways to solve a problem! It will be amazing to see the growth Room #3 Super Writer’s make through the year!
Reading
We Are All Readers! Reading begins with Looking and Thinking!
This week we have been learning about reading form non-fiction (Learn About the Word) books!
We have been investigating books together – as we look at covers and share our thinking about what the book might be about, and then look at the pages and think about how the book goes together! The children have also had a chance to share their books with partners because we are also learning that it is fun to read alone but also with a friend!
This week we also introduced individual reading boxes. Each child has his/her own box with many books in it. Right now they contain some ABC books, Number books, Non-fiction books, and some books they kids have made. Over the next several weeks, we’ll being to replace these books with familiar storybooks that the kids can retell and then later, books that are at the right level for the kids to begin reading! This is another amazing journey this year and it will be exciting to see the progress all of the kids make.
Letters/ Sounds/Words/Handwriting
We are beginning to work on letter sounds! We have started reviewing a few letters and their sounds each week. So far we have worked on:
Ss, Mm, Rr, Tt, Bb, Nn. We are playing games where we leave the first letter out of a word and then try to figure out which letter would make the words sound right. For example “Good ___orning!” The kids have fun trying out a few of the letters until they figure out the correct one! These are simple fun ways to practice at home too! We are also starting to focus on handwriting. We have talked about the proper way to hold a pencil (ask your child to show you the “Alligator hold” and we often talk about our letter ALWAYS starting at the top!
Math
We are beginning to introduce new stations during math workshop! This week we learned a new dice race game, Bingo game, and counting game!
We also created October calendars with beautiful fall trees on them J
Social Skills/ Social Emotional Learning
We are learning about Rock Brain! Rock Brain is a “brain invader” that makes us get “stuck” on our own ideas! We learned that the way to defeat him is to be “flexible” or do what the group is doing! We use many different programs in kindergarten to explore our feelings and our own thinking! Rock Brain is part of the Superflex Social Thinking Curriculum. We’ll be learning about many more brain invaders over the year including:
Glassman – Glassman makes you have big reactions to little problems
Space Invader – Space Invader makes you invade other people’s personal space
Brain Eater – Brain Eater makes you become distracted by little things around you
As we learn about these brain invaders, we’ll also learn Superflex strategies to defeat them! Stay tuned J
Book Buddies:
We met our Book Buddies for the first time last week! This year our class will be buddies with Maureen McKenna’s 3rd grade class! We’ll meet every other week to read together, play games, do projects, play, and even have snack! Buddies are another way we work to help connect the children to the Hastings community! W played a Buddy Bingo game to help the children find out more about the ways about one another. The kids were very excited and really enjoyed this first visit!
Favorite Books This Week:
The Carrot Seed By Ruth Krauss
Mrs. Wishy-Washy By Joy Cowley
The Beetle Alphabet Book By Jerry Pallotta
Panda Kindergarten By Joanne Ryder
I’m Like You, You’re Like Me By Cindy Gainer
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves By Lucille Colandro
Fresh Fall Leaves By Betsy Franco
We Are All Independent By Room #3 Kindergarten!
Notes:
- It was so nice to see so many of you last week at Back to school Night! I am thrilled to partner with all of you to make this a great year! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns!
- This Sunday is the Hastings Harvest Run – one of my favorite school events. I hope many of you will be there!
- Please let me know if it is OK to share your email address with our room parents and classroom families and if so, what address you prefer we use. This will be used for classroom updates and for all of you so you may contact one another. Please send me a quick email at [email protected].
- Please be sure to send back Library Books on Monday!
- Please check your email for an invitation to join Remind.com for classroom updates and reminders! If you did not get an invitation, please let me know!
- Please send in a White Tee-shirt for Leaf Printing by Monday, October 7th.
- I will send out conference reminders next week! I am looking forward to meeting with all of you very soon :)
- Important Upcoming Dates:
Monday, October 14th – NO School / Columbus Day
Wednesday, October 16th – Field Trip: Smolak Farms
Have a Great Weekend!
Kindergarten News ~ September 20, 2019
Dear Families, We have had a great week in kindergarten! Please read on to learn about some of the highlights!
Monday:
· This morning we talked about the things we hope to learn about this year and drew pictures to show them in a special Bus-shaped book we have been working on. We’ll share these at Back to school Night next week!
· We are learning about the term “Independent”. We read a story called Franklin Rides a Bicycle by Paulette Bourgeois. In this story, Franklin struggles to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. After almost giving up, he decides to keep on trying! In the end, he learns how to do it! We used this book to help introduce the idea of being Independent. As a group, we defined Independent as “something you can do all by yourself”. We talked about the things we each can do independently and how in kindergarten we are all learning to be independent! Tomorrow will make a book telling about some of the things we can do all by ourselves. The message to “keep trying” was also powerful one. We will talk about this a lot this year!
· We made our own book version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! In our version, the very hungry caterpillar visited our classroom looking for food! Each child made a page telling what the caterpillar ate and then used green and red dots to add a hungry caterpillar. As we worked on our pages, we also focused on the beginning letter sounds in the different foods the caterpillar ate. We will bind our pages together to make a class book.
· We are exploring math materials all week and are learning how to move independently from station to station!
· We had library today!
Tuesday:
· We worked on a class book about the things we can do all by ourselves! We will call our book, The Independent Book!
· We continue to talk about our rules and think about how we want to be treated and how we treat others. Today we read a book called How Full is Your Bucket? By Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. This story introduces the idea that we all have “invisible” buckets above our heads that either are drained or filled depending on how we feel, how we are treated, and by how we treat others.
· We shared examples of things that might dump someone else’s’ bucket and ways we can all fill another’s bucket! We’ll continue to explore these ideas and talk about being “bucket fillers” and “bucket dumpers” all through the year!
· We had music today!
Wednesday:
· This morning we thought together about the word flexible. We shared what we thought it might mean and also a common definition – something that can change. Next, we sorted a variety of objects according to its ability to be flexible and change. Some items included: a rubber band, a pencil, a lump of clay, a wooden block, a piece of paper, a metal screw driver, etc. Finally, we looked at a rubber model of a brain and talked about out thinking. We asked, “Can your thinking change?” The kids all agreed that – YES, you can change your thinking about things! We talked about the need to be “flexible” through the day with each other and when things change. We will focus on the idea of being flexible all through the year. We know it is not always easy, but can be a key to helping us all learn and work together. The kids did a cut and paste sort of pictures they are bringing home today. Please ask your child to explain how we can be flexible with our thinking!
· We are very excited that one of our caterpillars transformed into a chrysalis! Today we read about how scientists learn by asking questions, looking closely, using their senses, and by drawing pictures of what they see! Following this, we used a special projector to look closely at our chrysalis! We shared what we noticed and then drew pictures of the chrysalis!
· We are learning about the different kinds of voices we use across the day! We talked about “outside” and “inside” voices and thought about which one we need in our classroom. We have some fun stories that illustrate when to use your different voices.
·We had PE and music today!
Thursday:
· We had art today!
· Our school counselor, Ms. Freeman did a lesson in our classroom about feelings. We talked about the many different feelings we have and how across a day, we may move in and out of these different feelings. We also talked about how everyone can have different feelings at one time. Ms. Freeman will visit our class (and all of the K classes) each week to do lessons that support our social and emotional learning. Part of each lesson always includes a time to move and dance! The kids love this J
Friday:
· We are exploring letter formation and learned a song about letters always starting at the TOP! We are also practicing how to hold a pencil with a 3-finger grasp! We are focusing on our names first and will begin with all of the alphabet letters next week!
· We love books! Today we introduced 2 different kinds of books: “Storybooks” (they tell a story about something that happens to someone) and “Learn About The World” Books (they teach you about something). We have lots of Learn About the World books (non-fiction books) in room 3! We know that reading begins with looking and thinking! We practiced this today as the children picked books to try this out with!
· In preparation to begin Reader’s Workshop, we introduced 3 Ways To Read a Book!
These include:
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story
We practiced all of these ways as we reread favorite stories together.
Note/Important Dates:
· The most IMPORTANT part of each day in kindergarten includes a 45- minute block or PLAY (we call it Learning Labs)! The children choose centers to work in and make decisions about what to do there. These centers include: blocks, writing, drama, library, science, sand/water table, games, Legos, puzzles, and art! As the children work in these centers they are problem-solving, exploring so many concepts related to math and literacy, deepening their capacity to focus and sustain attention, learning to ask questions and be curious, and so much more!! Please ask your child to tell you where he/she likes to “work” during Learning Labs!
· Our class website is under construction! I will be using this at least through the beginning of the year. You can get to it by going to the Hastings Main Page and then clicking on Faculty/Staff and then clicking on the round icon next to Sheerin. You can also get there by searching this web address: https://hastings3.weebly.com/
There is a lot of classroom information there! I will post our newsletters there too!
· Thank you all for sending back everything for our field trip so quickly!
Thursday, September 26th – Back To School Night-Location: Hastings
5:45 - 6:15 pm Specialist teachers and Counselors in the Library ~ meet and
greet
6:15 - 7:00 pm Grades 3-5 grade level/classroom conversations
7:10 - 7:25 pm Everyone meets in the gym / welcome from Mrs. Lipsitz
7:30 - 8:15 pm Grades K-2 grade level/classroom conversations
· Friday, September 27th – School Picture Day
· Monday, September 30th – No School - Columbus Day
· Sunday, October 6 – Hastings 8th Annual 5K Harvest Run/Walk, Hayden
Monday:
· This morning we talked about the things we hope to learn about this year and drew pictures to show them in a special Bus-shaped book we have been working on. We’ll share these at Back to school Night next week!
· We are learning about the term “Independent”. We read a story called Franklin Rides a Bicycle by Paulette Bourgeois. In this story, Franklin struggles to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. After almost giving up, he decides to keep on trying! In the end, he learns how to do it! We used this book to help introduce the idea of being Independent. As a group, we defined Independent as “something you can do all by yourself”. We talked about the things we each can do independently and how in kindergarten we are all learning to be independent! Tomorrow will make a book telling about some of the things we can do all by ourselves. The message to “keep trying” was also powerful one. We will talk about this a lot this year!
· We made our own book version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! In our version, the very hungry caterpillar visited our classroom looking for food! Each child made a page telling what the caterpillar ate and then used green and red dots to add a hungry caterpillar. As we worked on our pages, we also focused on the beginning letter sounds in the different foods the caterpillar ate. We will bind our pages together to make a class book.
· We are exploring math materials all week and are learning how to move independently from station to station!
· We had library today!
Tuesday:
· We worked on a class book about the things we can do all by ourselves! We will call our book, The Independent Book!
· We continue to talk about our rules and think about how we want to be treated and how we treat others. Today we read a book called How Full is Your Bucket? By Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. This story introduces the idea that we all have “invisible” buckets above our heads that either are drained or filled depending on how we feel, how we are treated, and by how we treat others.
· We shared examples of things that might dump someone else’s’ bucket and ways we can all fill another’s bucket! We’ll continue to explore these ideas and talk about being “bucket fillers” and “bucket dumpers” all through the year!
· We had music today!
Wednesday:
· This morning we thought together about the word flexible. We shared what we thought it might mean and also a common definition – something that can change. Next, we sorted a variety of objects according to its ability to be flexible and change. Some items included: a rubber band, a pencil, a lump of clay, a wooden block, a piece of paper, a metal screw driver, etc. Finally, we looked at a rubber model of a brain and talked about out thinking. We asked, “Can your thinking change?” The kids all agreed that – YES, you can change your thinking about things! We talked about the need to be “flexible” through the day with each other and when things change. We will focus on the idea of being flexible all through the year. We know it is not always easy, but can be a key to helping us all learn and work together. The kids did a cut and paste sort of pictures they are bringing home today. Please ask your child to explain how we can be flexible with our thinking!
· We are very excited that one of our caterpillars transformed into a chrysalis! Today we read about how scientists learn by asking questions, looking closely, using their senses, and by drawing pictures of what they see! Following this, we used a special projector to look closely at our chrysalis! We shared what we noticed and then drew pictures of the chrysalis!
· We are learning about the different kinds of voices we use across the day! We talked about “outside” and “inside” voices and thought about which one we need in our classroom. We have some fun stories that illustrate when to use your different voices.
·We had PE and music today!
Thursday:
· We had art today!
· Our school counselor, Ms. Freeman did a lesson in our classroom about feelings. We talked about the many different feelings we have and how across a day, we may move in and out of these different feelings. We also talked about how everyone can have different feelings at one time. Ms. Freeman will visit our class (and all of the K classes) each week to do lessons that support our social and emotional learning. Part of each lesson always includes a time to move and dance! The kids love this J
Friday:
· We are exploring letter formation and learned a song about letters always starting at the TOP! We are also practicing how to hold a pencil with a 3-finger grasp! We are focusing on our names first and will begin with all of the alphabet letters next week!
· We love books! Today we introduced 2 different kinds of books: “Storybooks” (they tell a story about something that happens to someone) and “Learn About The World” Books (they teach you about something). We have lots of Learn About the World books (non-fiction books) in room 3! We know that reading begins with looking and thinking! We practiced this today as the children picked books to try this out with!
· In preparation to begin Reader’s Workshop, we introduced 3 Ways To Read a Book!
These include:
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story
We practiced all of these ways as we reread favorite stories together.
Note/Important Dates:
· The most IMPORTANT part of each day in kindergarten includes a 45- minute block or PLAY (we call it Learning Labs)! The children choose centers to work in and make decisions about what to do there. These centers include: blocks, writing, drama, library, science, sand/water table, games, Legos, puzzles, and art! As the children work in these centers they are problem-solving, exploring so many concepts related to math and literacy, deepening their capacity to focus and sustain attention, learning to ask questions and be curious, and so much more!! Please ask your child to tell you where he/she likes to “work” during Learning Labs!
· Our class website is under construction! I will be using this at least through the beginning of the year. You can get to it by going to the Hastings Main Page and then clicking on Faculty/Staff and then clicking on the round icon next to Sheerin. You can also get there by searching this web address: https://hastings3.weebly.com/
There is a lot of classroom information there! I will post our newsletters there too!
· Thank you all for sending back everything for our field trip so quickly!
Thursday, September 26th – Back To School Night-Location: Hastings
5:45 - 6:15 pm Specialist teachers and Counselors in the Library ~ meet and
greet
6:15 - 7:00 pm Grades 3-5 grade level/classroom conversations
7:10 - 7:25 pm Everyone meets in the gym / welcome from Mrs. Lipsitz
7:30 - 8:15 pm Grades K-2 grade level/classroom conversations
· Friday, September 27th – School Picture Day
· Monday, September 30th – No School - Columbus Day
· Sunday, October 6 – Hastings 8th Annual 5K Harvest Run/Walk, Hayden
Kindergarten News ~ September 13, 2019
Dear Families,
We have truly had a fantastic week! The children are picking up new routines quickly and learning their way around Hastings school! We continue to play name games each day and the kids seem happy and excited to be here! I am sure they are tired after school as our days have been exciting and busy! Here are some highlights from our week:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Notes:
Important Dates:
7:00-7:25 pm All parents meet in the gym
7:30-8:15 pm Grades K-2 classroom presentations
Have a Great Weekend!
We have truly had a fantastic week! The children are picking up new routines quickly and learning their way around Hastings school! We continue to play name games each day and the kids seem happy and excited to be here! I am sure they are tired after school as our days have been exciting and busy! Here are some highlights from our week:
Monday:
- This morning we continued working on classroom rules. We organized everyone’s ideas into categories including: how we treat each other, being safe, and our classroom environment. Tomorrow we will finalize our class rules!
- We introduced the different parts of our body that help us listen! We use the term “Whole-Body” Listening to remind ourselves that all parts of our bodies can help us listen! Please ask your child to tall you about this!
- We are learning about ways we are alike and ways we are different! We read a book called We Are All Alike, We Are All Different by Cheltenham Elementary Kindergartners and Laura Dwight. We are talking about what makes each of us special and how we are like others and different. We are sharing important things about ourselves each day and talking about if we feel it is ok to like different things or look different. We are also reading about how we get our skin color and talking about our own beautiful colors. Ask your child to tell you about this!
- We introduced new materials in Math stations today. As we explore materials, we are also learning how to share, practicing caring for our materials as we clean them up, trying our different ideas, and we are learning how to rotate to a new stations when we finish! This week we will explore Pattern blocks, Unifix cubes, Colored tiles, and Goe-blocks.
- We had library for the first time! The kids were very excited to check out library books! Please be sure to send books back on Monday so your child may check out a new book.
Tuesday:
- We have completed our class rules! After sorting all of the kids ideas, we came up with 6 big ideas! We want our classroom to be a place where everyone feels welcome and everyone can learn! I am attaching a copy of our rules to this newsletter. Please ask your child to tell you about each one and also why it is important! We signed our rules be making our own faces and adding our names. They look great J
- We had music class today!
- We continues exploring Math Stations.
Wednesday:
- An important part of our Kindergarten curriculum focuses on building social skills as well as helping us to think about ourselves as well as others. We also work on developing self-regulation skills and the ability to express our emotions in productive ways. We will work on all of these concepts and more in several ways throughout the year. Today we introduced the idea of “Expected” and “Unexpected” behaviors. We defined “expected” and doing something others would expect and “unexpected” as doing something that makes others wonder?? We also talked about how sometimes we ALL do unexpected things and it does not mean you are bad! We use the terms “Expected” and “Unexpected” to have conversations about behavior without labeling kids as good or bad. Over time, it also helps kids to think more (reflect) on what they are doing in the moment. We encourage you to use these terms at home too.
- We posted our rules today and created Hopes and Dreams for kindergarten this year! The kids drew pictures shared them with the group! My hope is that all kids like coming to kindergarten, make new friends, and feel they are doing important work J
- We had PE and music today.
Thursday:
- We are all Scientists! We are learning that scientists learn by looking closely at things, noticing details, asking questions, and drawing pictures of their observations! This week we have all been observing 2 caterpillars in our science area! We are drawing pictures and sharing what we notice!
- We had Art today.
- We had fun dancing and listening to a story with Ms. Freeman today. She came in and did a lesson about feelings!
- We read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and made our own class version of the book today!
- We are learning about patterns and made Hungry Caterpillars during math time that have a pattern in them.
- We had P.E.
Notes:
- I hope you are hearing a little about our days… the kids truly are off to a great start!
- Thank you all for remembering to send a note when your child’s dismissal plans change!
Important Dates:
- Thursday, September 26th – Back To School Night-Location: Hastings School:
7:00-7:25 pm All parents meet in the gym
7:30-8:15 pm Grades K-2 classroom presentations
- Friday, September 27th – School Picture Day
- Monday, September 30th – No School / Rosh Hashanah
- Sunday, October 6th – Hastings Annual 5K Harvest Run/Walk, Hayden
Have a Great Weekend!
Kindergarten News ~ September 6, 2019
Tuesday: Welcome Back! I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! The kids did a remarkable job today considering we were away from school for 4 days AND, it was our 1st full day! Here are some Tuesday Highlights:
- We had a nice long time to explore and play in the classroom. Children chose between sand table, house corner, play-doh table, Lego table, puzzle table, writing center, and reading area. We are learning how to sign-in and out of different centers and clean up! We are also practicing sharing, taking turns, and using friendly words!
- Today we made our first class book based on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Our Book is called Children, Children, Who Do You See? It features the photographs and names of all the children in our class! Each child colored his/her own page. We’ll bind our book together and use it to help us practice and learn our classmate’s names. We reviewed routines this morning and learned how to unpack our lunches and make a lunch choice.
- We had lunch in the cafeteria for the first time! The kids did so well J.
- We had our first “rest” time and listened to some calm music and looked at books while we relaxed.
- We had Music class with Ms. Iannuzzi for the first time today!
- We talked about the rules we think we want for our classroom.
- We counted and graphed the number of letters in our names!
Wednesday: Our mornings begin with 45 minutes of Learning Labs! Learning Labs are stations in our classroom that the children select to work in. These include writing center, art area, block area, science area, sand table, reading area, etc. The children are working on SO MANY important skills during this time! Right now the children are learning about our classroom, how to work together, how to care for our materials, and how to problem-solve! They are making new friends, learning new names, practicing sharing and taking turns, and they are working on motor skills and academic skills. We LOVE Learning Labs! We will talk a lot more about this important block of learning as the year goes on! Other highlights:
- We practiced cutting skills as we cut out our large bears for our class book
- We welcomed 2 Monarch Caterpillars to our Science Area to Observe!
- We had our first Fire Drill today. The kids did an outstanding job!
- We practiced forming the numbers 1-10 and made September calendars!
- We had our first P.E. class with Mr. Heinze today! We also had music class again with MS. Iannuzzi!
Thursday: We had Pour first art class with Ms. Bettencourt today. We made Self-Portraits! Later in the morning we talked more about the rules we want in our classroom. The kids all drew pictures and then shared their ideas.
Many kids talked about safety rules and about being safe with our bodies and not hurting others. Many kids also shared ideas about “The Golden Rule” and talked about how they feel we should treat others. Kids also share their ideas about why it is important to listen and also about thinking about the feelings of other kids! We are going to sort all of our ideas into groups and try and come up with 4 or 5 rules we can all agree on. I can already tell we have a very caring group! Stay tuned, we will let you know which ones become our class rules by next week!
- We had Learning Labs this morning!
- We read Ms. Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten!
- We practiced doing our Morning Jobs without being reminded!
Friday: This morning we went to our very first All School Meeting! All School Meeting is a time when the entire school comes together in the gym for a meeting. During this time many different kinds of things happen! Sometimes there are classes that share something they are learning about such as a special project, a song, or even a skit! Sometimes individual kids might perform music, share a special talent, or read a poem. This is also a time when school-wide news is shared, school-wide behavior is discussed and modeled, and we learn about what it means to be part of the whole school community!! Generally speaking, All School Meeting takes place every other Friday between 8:55 and 9:25 AM. Check the Hastings calendar on the website for specific dates if you’d like to attend!
At some point during the year, our class will share. I will let you know well in advance so you can join us if you like. I was so proud of our class today! They were wonderful audience members! Here are some other highlights from our day:
- We decorated small pictures of ourselves to use for a g graph showing how many classmates are 5 and how many are 6! Our pictures are movable! Each time we have a birthday, we’ll change our graph. It will be interesting to see how it changes through the year!
- We had P.E. again with Mr. Heinze.
- We made colored our own copies of the story Brown Bear and practiced retelling the story.
- We read and sang The Wheels on the Bus and used shapes to create buses for the tops of our September calendars!
- We looked closely at our caterpillars
Over the next week or two, I hope to have our class website up and running! Until then, I will continue to send a hard copy of the newsletter each week. I hope this helps you know more about your child’s day and what we have been doing. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns!
My school email address is [email protected]
Additional notes and reminders:
- Your child has a copy of his/her lunch pin number. Please practice at home J
- Please continue to remember to check your child’s folder and please remember to send it back to school each day.
- We do something called a “secret message” at the end of each day.
- Please remember to send a note whenever your child has a change in dismissal plans.
- Please help us by packing snack and lunch in 2 different containers/bags. Each morning the children put their snacks in their cubbies and lunches go in the lunch wagon. This helps the children know what to eat for lunch and then later for snack.
- PLEASE send in a picture of you family ASAP if you have not done so. Next week we will continue learning about each other and I would like each child to be able to share a picture of his/her family. If you do not have a recent picture, you can take one and email it to me and I am happy to print it out!
- Last, but certainly not least, if you pick up your child in the car line, it is most helpful to have car seats on the driver’s side. In this manner, the kiddos can get into the car and buckled up quickly! Thank you for considering this request!
Here are some upcoming important dates for you to put on your calendar:
- Thursday, September 26th – Back To School Night – Time: 6:15-8:15 pm
- Friday, September 27th – School Pictures.
- Monday, September 30th – No School Rosh Hashanah
Have a Great Weekend!
Kindergarten News ~ August 28, 2019
Dear Families,
We are off to a great start! The first few days have passed quickly and the children seem happy and excited to be here.
Our work for the next few weeks will focus on building classroom community, learning names, finding our way around the school, and learning new routines!
Here are some highlights from our first short week:
On Tuesday, we read the much-loved story The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. This story focuses on a baby raccoon named Chester who was nervous about starting school. Chester’s mother assured him that no matter where he was, her love would always be right there with him! We used this story to open a discussion about how we were feeling about starting kindergarten. We talked about the range of emotions we can feel – happy, nervous, excited, scared, worried, etc. After our discussion, we drew pictures to show how we were feeling. We also visited the hardtop area and learned for the first time and learned about recess this year! Later in the morning, we had time to explore different centers in our classroom. The children had fun working in Legos, Writing Center, Puzzle Area, Library Area, at the Sand Table, and with Play-doh!
On Wednesday, we practiced how to hold a pencil (ask your child to show you the Alligator grip J and then warmed up our hands by rolling a die that had different kinds of lines for us to try and draw on each side! Later in the morning, we revisited the story The Kissing Hand and made raccoon puppets! The children practiced following a task list to complete their puppets. We had a lot of fun making these and then singing a special song about the Kissing Hand! Later in the morning, we had more time to explore the centers we introduced yesterday. At the end of our day we had fun reading the much loved book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr.
On Thursday, We went on a scavenger hunt through the school to find the animals from the story Brown Bear! We placed the animals in special places with specific adults so we could learn our way around the school and meet some of the adults we will work with this year. We found…
-Red Bird in the art room with Mrs. Bettencourt
-Purple Cat in the music room with our new music teacher Ms. Iaunizzi
-Yellow Duck in the main office with our school secretary Ms. Cardillo
-Blue Horse in the principal’s office with Mrs. Lipsitz
-White Dog in the gym with Mr. Heinze
-Green Frog in the nurse’s office with Mrs. Falco
-Orange Goldfish was in the Assistant Principal’s office with Ms. O’Hare Gibson And Black Sheep in the Library with Mrs. Rich
Important Information:
Mondays: Library
Tuesdays: Music
Wednesdays: P.E and Music
Thursdays: Art
Fridays: PE
Please be sure your child wears sneakers on both Wednesdays and Fridays.
There are multiple selections available on a given day. You may also put money into your child’s lunch account online (please check the Hastings Homepage for more details under “Food Services”). Here is the web address/link for the lunch menu:
https://schools.whitsons.com/ma/lexington-public-schools?page=resources
(Look on the bottom of the left-hand side for an icon that says “my school bucks – visit website” and click on that to create an account).
Part of our morning routine will include making a lunch choice. If your child is bringing a lunch from home, please be sure to pack snack and lunch separately. This is a great help! When packed together, children easily get confused and often eat their lunch at snack time. Please know that I plan to stay with the kids the first few days to help them adjust to the new routines in the cafeteria.
Following lunch and afternoon recess and a workshop time, we will have rest for 20-30 minutes depending on how tired the children are.
Children may bring in a small stuffed animal (must fit in a backpack) or blanket to rest with we will provide rest mats. Please do not send in toys. We have an early lunch time this year at 11:00 AM so we are planning to have an afternoon snack at 1:15 PM. Please pack something that will keep well.
I try to check email when I have time but I may not get to it until the end of the day, depending on what is happening in the classroom.
***Additionally, with all of the construction at Hastings this year, we have many more walkers and this makes end of the day dismissal a little busier!
We need your help! Please come over and pick up your child on the wall outside of Ms. Syed’s Kindergarten classroom. Please discourage your child from running over to you. Please also make sure your child says “good-bye” to Ms. Syed so she knows your child has been picked up! Also, on days where there are lots of walkers, please be patient as Ms. Syed may dismiss walkers by class in order to ensure a safe and orderly pick-up for all kids and care givers. We appreciate your help with this. One more note – because there are so many walkers this year, we strongly encourage you to pick up and head out rather than letting your child run around during dismissal time. We sincerely thank you for your assistance with this J
I know we are asking for a lot of information right now and I promise it will slow down once we are all settled in! Pictures of loved ones are especially important right now, as the children get a lot of reassurance from seeing your loving faces in moments where they are missing you! We will be laminating these pictures and use them for both comfort and as a way to learn more about each other in the coming weeks! Please make a special effort to send a family picture if you have not done so already.
Emma Haviland – Special Educator
Olivia Caravella – Kindergarten Assistant
Coming Soon…
Stay tuned for information about our classroom website! I hope to have it updated and up soon!
I am thrilled to be your child’s kindergarten teacher and look forward to working with you and your children!
Reminder: NO SCHOOL MONDAY: Labor Day
Enjoy the long weekend ~ Most Sincerely,
We are off to a great start! The first few days have passed quickly and the children seem happy and excited to be here.
Our work for the next few weeks will focus on building classroom community, learning names, finding our way around the school, and learning new routines!
Here are some highlights from our first short week:
On Tuesday, we read the much-loved story The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. This story focuses on a baby raccoon named Chester who was nervous about starting school. Chester’s mother assured him that no matter where he was, her love would always be right there with him! We used this story to open a discussion about how we were feeling about starting kindergarten. We talked about the range of emotions we can feel – happy, nervous, excited, scared, worried, etc. After our discussion, we drew pictures to show how we were feeling. We also visited the hardtop area and learned for the first time and learned about recess this year! Later in the morning, we had time to explore different centers in our classroom. The children had fun working in Legos, Writing Center, Puzzle Area, Library Area, at the Sand Table, and with Play-doh!
On Wednesday, we practiced how to hold a pencil (ask your child to show you the Alligator grip J and then warmed up our hands by rolling a die that had different kinds of lines for us to try and draw on each side! Later in the morning, we revisited the story The Kissing Hand and made raccoon puppets! The children practiced following a task list to complete their puppets. We had a lot of fun making these and then singing a special song about the Kissing Hand! Later in the morning, we had more time to explore the centers we introduced yesterday. At the end of our day we had fun reading the much loved book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr.
On Thursday, We went on a scavenger hunt through the school to find the animals from the story Brown Bear! We placed the animals in special places with specific adults so we could learn our way around the school and meet some of the adults we will work with this year. We found…
-Red Bird in the art room with Mrs. Bettencourt
-Purple Cat in the music room with our new music teacher Ms. Iaunizzi
-Yellow Duck in the main office with our school secretary Ms. Cardillo
-Blue Horse in the principal’s office with Mrs. Lipsitz
-White Dog in the gym with Mr. Heinze
-Green Frog in the nurse’s office with Mrs. Falco
-Orange Goldfish was in the Assistant Principal’s office with Ms. O’Hare Gibson And Black Sheep in the Library with Mrs. Rich
- We took pictures of the animals with the new adults we met and will create a classroom picture board so we can work on recognizing faces and learn new names.
- We also made a graph showing our favorite animal from the story.
Important Information:
- Specialist Schedule
Mondays: Library
Tuesdays: Music
Wednesdays: P.E and Music
Thursdays: Art
Fridays: PE
Please be sure your child wears sneakers on both Wednesdays and Fridays.
- Full- Day Schedule
- Lunch and Rest
There are multiple selections available on a given day. You may also put money into your child’s lunch account online (please check the Hastings Homepage for more details under “Food Services”). Here is the web address/link for the lunch menu:
https://schools.whitsons.com/ma/lexington-public-schools?page=resources
(Look on the bottom of the left-hand side for an icon that says “my school bucks – visit website” and click on that to create an account).
Part of our morning routine will include making a lunch choice. If your child is bringing a lunch from home, please be sure to pack snack and lunch separately. This is a great help! When packed together, children easily get confused and often eat their lunch at snack time. Please know that I plan to stay with the kids the first few days to help them adjust to the new routines in the cafeteria.
Following lunch and afternoon recess and a workshop time, we will have rest for 20-30 minutes depending on how tired the children are.
Children may bring in a small stuffed animal (must fit in a backpack) or blanket to rest with we will provide rest mats. Please do not send in toys. We have an early lunch time this year at 11:00 AM so we are planning to have an afternoon snack at 1:15 PM. Please pack something that will keep well.
- Contacting Me
I try to check email when I have time but I may not get to it until the end of the day, depending on what is happening in the classroom.
- Dismissal - Walkers
***Additionally, with all of the construction at Hastings this year, we have many more walkers and this makes end of the day dismissal a little busier!
We need your help! Please come over and pick up your child on the wall outside of Ms. Syed’s Kindergarten classroom. Please discourage your child from running over to you. Please also make sure your child says “good-bye” to Ms. Syed so she knows your child has been picked up! Also, on days where there are lots of walkers, please be patient as Ms. Syed may dismiss walkers by class in order to ensure a safe and orderly pick-up for all kids and care givers. We appreciate your help with this. One more note – because there are so many walkers this year, we strongly encourage you to pick up and head out rather than letting your child run around during dismissal time. We sincerely thank you for your assistance with this J
- Car Riders
- Supplies
I know we are asking for a lot of information right now and I promise it will slow down once we are all settled in! Pictures of loved ones are especially important right now, as the children get a lot of reassurance from seeing your loving faces in moments where they are missing you! We will be laminating these pictures and use them for both comfort and as a way to learn more about each other in the coming weeks! Please make a special effort to send a family picture if you have not done so already.
- Room #3
Emma Haviland – Special Educator
Olivia Caravella – Kindergarten Assistant
Coming Soon…
Stay tuned for information about our classroom website! I hope to have it updated and up soon!
I am thrilled to be your child’s kindergarten teacher and look forward to working with you and your children!
Reminder: NO SCHOOL MONDAY: Labor Day
Enjoy the long weekend ~ Most Sincerely,
Welcome Back! We had a great week in room #3! Read on to learn more…
Literacy:
- Our new Alphafriend this week was Vinny Volcano!
- Weekly Phonics – we are spending time each day focusing on specific skills related to hearing and using letter sounds to identify letters and write words. We are sorting pictures based on the sound they begin with. We are also working to stretch out words (identifying beginning and ending sounds) to label our pictures.
- Our Show and Tell writing unit has been a hit! Our first lessons focused on drawing and writing about the special objects we brought to school. We practiced drawing our objects “part by part” and labeling and writing about them. We are now starting to write about places we kwon well that are special to us! We are creating books that tell about the different “parts” in these places – for example, in our classroom we can think about the different areas (parts) that are important to us (ie. Block area, meeting area, tables, science area, etc.)
- We have started our second reading unit called “Super Powers!”
- Math
- In our math stations we are working on many concepts! Here are the stations this week:
Copy Cat – (shape recognition, special awareness, position and matching) at this station, children are creating designs with 10 Pattern Blocks (hexagons, trapezoids, diamonds, triangles, squares). Once a design is completed, they swap seats and copy a friend’s design – paying attention to the shapes used and the position each block is in. The goal is to “copy-cat” the design!
Shape Puzzles – at this station, children are working fit Pattern Blocks together into a pre-determined shape puzzle. Once complete, they count and record the number of each shape used in the design thinking about the ones used most and least. They rebuild the puzzle a second time to find another way to put shapes together.
Train Race – at this station, kids are playing a partner game. They roll a die and snap unifix cubes together until they reach a pre-determined length (they are measuring against a paper strip that equals 30 Unifix cubes in length!) As they play, they compare trains discussing who has more/less – how many, etc. The must roll the exact roll to “win” the game! Counting and understanding of more and less are the focus of this game.
Shapes By Feel – at this station, kids are learning to describe and “feel” the attributes of these shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and diamond. Each child has a bag with the 5 different shapes in 2 different sizes (example a big and a small circle).
We talk about the shapes (number of sides, corners, size) and then put them into a bag. We then take turns reaching into the bag and trying to find a specific shape by feeling it! The kids love this!
Grab and Add 1 – at this station, kids are reaching into a bag and grabbing a handful of counters. They count them and then add 1 more! Finally they record with total. We are learning to identify 1 more up to 20!
Science
- This week we finished our unit on the life cycle of the Ladybug as we reviewed each stage, made sequence strips. And then let our Ladybugs go. We made many connections to our experience with our Monarch caterpillars and their life cycle. Our study gave us wonderful opportunities to practice observation and ask questions!
Social Skills
- We are learning about the Zones of Regulation during Superflex.
- The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states and intense emotions. A person may be experiencing anger, rage, explosive behavior or terror when in the Red Zone.
- The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
- The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
- The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.
We are learning to identify what zones we are in throughout the day and we are learning what strategies we can use to help ourselves if we find we are in the blue, yellow or red zone. We understand that all of us move in and out of these zones all day long. Knowing about them and identifying them can really help us depending on how we are feeling.
Last week we created a board for the classroom with all of the color zones. We drew small pictures of ourselves to be used throughout the day on our Zones board. We can Velcro our pictures on the board to show what zone we are in. The kids are really getting this!
Learning Labs
- Last week we opened a classroom Survey Center during Learning Labs. At the Survey Center children create their own YES/No survey questions. They write them and then using a class list, walk around and collect the answers from each classmate. Next, they tally up the answers and create a graph to share what they found out! It’s so powerful to see the kids in action as they do this! We have created a Class Survey Board outside in the hallway to share our surveys with the school!
- We have many children interested in created a classroom restaurant in our Drama Area. They are making menus. Next we’ll create a list of jobs and props needed – stay tuned!
- We love games! The children continually pick Candy Land, Connect 4, Zingo, and other games during Learning Labs – it’s such a great way to practice turn taking, cooperation, and sportsmanship!
- Blocks and Legos continue to be popular as we have many builders
SeeSaw
I am very excited to share that I have opened an account with Seesaw and online portfolio sharing system! I have created accounts for each student and sent home instructions for each family to connect to see and share pictures and student work.
My hope is to add weekly to this site in an effort to share more about what we are doing in kindergarten and your child’s learning. As I become more acquainted with the various ways to share, I will update you! Please sign up to view many pictures of your child that I have already shared! This site is 100% protected and only YOU can see your child’s pictures and work. Please let me know if you have any questions J
Kindergarten News~ November 9, 2018
Classroom Highlights This Week:
Writing:
Next week, we will begin our new unit in reading called “Superpowers!” In this unit, we’ll begin to teach strategies for decoding words and reading! We will also shift the books in our book boxes to books that are appropriate for each child’s individual reading level. Stay tuned for updates on our new reading Superpowers!
Social/Emotional Learning
Shades of People by Shelly Rotner and Shelia Kelly
All The Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger
The Best Parts of Me by Wendy Ewald
We have had great discussion in our classroom about our skin color and have done some fun investigations helping us to see just haw many different beautiful shades of color we have! I went to the paint store and got lots and lots of paint chip samples in at least 50 different shades of brown. The kids had so much fun looking for the shade that matched their own skin best! We also had fun making up names for our own color such as peanut butter, chocolate, cocoa, etc.
We have started mixing up our own colors too! We are making handprints and will add photos of ourselves along with descriptions of ourselves and what we feel makes us special. I’m excited to partner with our school counselor Celeste Freeman as we continue this work. Our hope is that we create an environment where all of the kids feel proud and comfortable talking about who they are and learn to appreciate and respect each other!
Math
Have a Great Weekend!
****Reminder:
No school Monday – Veterans Day
Writing:
- We are writing up a storm in Room #3! This week we worked hard to write words to tell about our stories. The kids practiced telling their stories first and then tried their best to write down the sounds they heard in each word! We are excited to share our stories with all of you next Friday, November 16th at our Writer’s Celebration!
- Our new Alphafriend this week was Hh for Hattie Horse!
- We have completed our 1st Unit in Reading!!!
- We learned so many things in this unit including:
- The difference between storybooks (fiction) and Learn About the World Books (non-fiction)!
- The importance of looking closely at the pictures to help us think about what the story is about!
- That all of the pages in a book go together to help tell the story!
- That readers think all the time about what they are reading and make connections about the things they know to the things they are learning about in books!
- How to Re-tell a favorite Storybook using some “Exact Words” that the character uses!
- How to Buddy read! We learned how to sit (Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee), We learned how to “See-Saw” read (take turns).
- 3 Ways to Read: Read the Pictures, Re-tell the story, Read the words!
- How to set up our book boxes and get settled for reading time J
Next week, we will begin our new unit in reading called “Superpowers!” In this unit, we’ll begin to teach strategies for decoding words and reading! We will also shift the books in our book boxes to books that are appropriate for each child’s individual reading level. Stay tuned for updates on our new reading Superpowers!
Social/Emotional Learning
- Over the past 2 weeks we have been reading about and talking about how we get our skin color and ways we are all beautiful and special. We have read some wonderful books including:
Shades of People by Shelly Rotner and Shelia Kelly
All The Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger
The Best Parts of Me by Wendy Ewald
We have had great discussion in our classroom about our skin color and have done some fun investigations helping us to see just haw many different beautiful shades of color we have! I went to the paint store and got lots and lots of paint chip samples in at least 50 different shades of brown. The kids had so much fun looking for the shade that matched their own skin best! We also had fun making up names for our own color such as peanut butter, chocolate, cocoa, etc.
We have started mixing up our own colors too! We are making handprints and will add photos of ourselves along with descriptions of ourselves and what we feel makes us special. I’m excited to partner with our school counselor Celeste Freeman as we continue this work. Our hope is that we create an environment where all of the kids feel proud and comfortable talking about who they are and learn to appreciate and respect each other!
Math
- We made November calendars this week featuring a shape collage (based on the nursery rhyme The Itsy Bitsy spider!
- We have started new math stations! These include: Teen number Station, Counting Jar, Adding Dice together, Shape Puzzles, Comparing larger and smaller groups and telling how many more and how many less!
- Our Ladybug Larva is HUGE! We made pictures of them today. We think they might change over the long weekend! We’ll check back on Tuesday!
- Our favorite time of day! We have been busy writing, reading, playing school, playing house, building in blocks, exploring our ladybug larva, working at the sand table, and building in Legos!
Have a Great Weekend!
****Reminder:
No school Monday – Veterans Day
Kindergarten News ~ November 2, 2018
It has been a BUSY and FUN week J Here are some brief highlights:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Have a Great Weekend!
Notes:
Monday:
- Our new Alphafriend this week is Nyle Noodle!
- We are Storybook Readers! We have many class favorites! Today the kids each added an “Old Storybook favorite” to their book boxes. We will use these to help us practice retelling!
- We are observing our ladybug Larva!
- We are making books about the things we see on Halloween!
- In art today we made pictures using a the diamond shape!
Tuesday:
- In Writer’s Workshop, we are stretching our stories across 3 pages! We are adding labels and starting to think about sentences we can add to tell about our stories!
- We are working on “Sight” words. A “Sight” word is a word that we see again and again as we read and write! These words are often hard to sound out and we learn them by sight! So far we have introduced: I, a, is, am, the, see. Please point these out as you read at home!
- We started “word work” during Reader’s Workshop today! We learned how to use different materials to practice spelling words! The kids are very excited to work in this station!
- We continued working in math stations that focus on building number sense this week!
Wednesday:
- Happy Halloween! The kids looked wonderful today and did a great job parading through the school and sharing fall songs! How Fun! Thanks to all who came and helped change kids following the parade!
- We carved our class pumpkin today! We voted on how to carve it and a “Happy” face won! All of the kids helped to clean out the pumpkin! They described the way it felt as they did! Here are some of the describing words they used:
- We had library and Superflex at the end of the day! In Superflex we are learning to be “Room Readers”. A Room Reader can enter a space and think about the “space” and what is going on, the “time” of day, the “objects” people are using to help them figure out what they should do! We practiced by looking at pictures taken in our own classroom and school during different parts of the day!
Thursday:
- We wore our Hastings Heroes Leaf-Print shirts today and shared our fall poem and song at ASM!
- We are learning about how we get our skin color! We read a book called All The Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger. We learned we get our skin color from out parents and ancestors. Over the next few weeks we will continue to talk about our identities and what we like about ourselves!
Friday:
- We are writing up a storm in Room 3! Over the next week we will be finishing our first writing unit! Please see the attached invitation to our 1st writer’s celebration on Friday, November 16th! The kids are very excited to share their writing with you!
- We are finishing our first unit in Reading! The kids have learned the difference between Fiction (storybooks) and Non-fiction (Learn About the World books)! We have learned so many things in this unit! We can…
Have a Great Weekend!
Notes:
- Thank You all for meeting with me for conferences over the past 2 weeks! It is a pleasure to work with your kids J
- Many parents asked about things they can do at home to help support the learning in the classroom. Yesterday we sent home a November “Task Card”. Each month we’ll send another. These feature highlights of the some different kinds of learning we are working on. I hope they provide you with information about the variety of skills we are working on. If you choose to do the activities with your child, please have him/her color each one off as they complete it. You can send back the Task Card at the end of the month and we will celebrate the work that has been completed! This is optional and meant to inform - please contact me if you have any questions!
- The kids are bringing home their own Alphabet Linking Chart today and a list of words we will be working on. It would be great to hang these in a place where the kids can use them as they write. We are working on identifying letters and their sounds. You can also help your child “read” the alphabet chart! We read it by saying the Letter, the Picture, followed by the initial sound – Example: Aa – Apple – “a” , Bb – Bear – “b”, etc. This is a great tool for kids to practice using as they write.
- No School next Tuesday, November 6th! It is Election Day and a Professional Development Day for teachers!
Kindergarten News ~ October 26, 2018
Dear Families,
Wow! October has flown by!! I am really enjoying meeting with all of you for conferences! Thank you for sharing your insights and for your ongoing support!
The newsletter is brief this week! Highlights are below:
Monday:
Partner Games: Build a Staircase, Build a City.
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Important Notes:
hear the kids share 2 short songs! Please remember to park off site – in the
surrounding neighborhoods. Please do not park at the Methodist church.
Wow! October has flown by!! I am really enjoying meeting with all of you for conferences! Thank you for sharing your insights and for your ongoing support!
The newsletter is brief this week! Highlights are below:
Monday:
- Happy Birthday to Daniel! We started our day by making him a Birthday Book!
- Our new Alphafriend is Benny Bear!
- In Math we introduced new stations. They include:
Partner Games: Build a Staircase, Build a City.
- We had Art today!
Tuesday:
- We reviewed the writing process:
- Think 2. Picture 3. Say! 4. Sketch 5. Write
- We had Music and PE today!
- We had a Science Talk today focused on our Green Pumpkin that has now turned Orange! We are still sharing our thoughts about if it is growing or not! We weighed it again today and learned it has actually lost an ounce of weight! We thought about if it is getting any water or food, since we know living things need food and water. We agreed it is not. We noticed and think the stem is also drying out! Some kids wonder if the pumpkin is drying out too? Does turning orange mean it’s still growing or getting ripe one child asked! We LOVE science and are learning a lot by sharing our ideas and wonderings!
Wednesday:
- At Writer’s Workshop we introduced the idea of s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g our stories across 3 pages! Everyone tried out this idea J The children practiced saying their idea first and then telling what they wanted to include on the first page, the second page, and the last page! They sketched their ideas across the pages and then worked to begin adding labels and words to their pictures!
- We are Social Detectives! In Superflex today, we learned how we can use our eyes, ears, brain, and heart to help figure out what is going on with friends and people around us. Being a Social Detective helps us to better understand how the people around us are feeling and what is happening!
- We went to the library today!
- We think our Ladybugs may have escaped!! We do not see any in our Ladybug Habitat! We noticed to top was loose! We are being science detectives – Mrs. Lane also saw one crawling across a table – evidence that they have gotten out! Luckily there is no threat! They cannot hurt us in any way! We have ordered some new Ladybugs and will secure the container they live in! We will also continue to be on the lookout for escaped Ladybugs in our classroom J
Thursday:
- We began our day with Book Buddies. We read about the Life-cycle of the pumpkin and also about spiders in our Scholastic Readers! We really like our buddy time.
- We had Motion /Emotion today with Ms. Freeman. We read the story call The Dot by Peter Renyolds about a silly dot that gets all mixed-up inside the book!
- We had PE and ended the day with outdoor recess!
Friday:
- We had our first Big Backyard seasonal walk today! We went outside and walked around the school, looking for signs of fall! The kids had clipboards and a list of things to look for including – colorful leaves, birds flying, fall flowers, nuts/seeds for animals, etc. At the end of our walk, we stopped to observe the Maple tree by the side of the school. We noticed the leaves are beginning to change color. We’ll check this tree again to see what it looks like in the winter and then again in the spring! Special thanks to the parents who helped lead our walk today!
- In Reader’s Workshop we continue to study Storybooks and are learning about retelling! We are also spending time reading to ourselves and reading with a buddy!
- In Math Workshop, we added a new station – A counting jar! We are learning to represent numbers in new ways and also to make matching sets. Each week our Counting Jar will have a different number of objects to count and match a set to. This week we have mini-pumpkins in the jar!
- We had music class today!
Important Notes:
- Learning Lab Highlights this week include: Book Making, in writing center, Block Building, Science Inquiry (Ladybugs and Pumpkins), Playing School (Big book reading and rereading songs and poems!) Games and Puzzles, Legos, and Play-doh with a Halloween theme!
- Reminder: Next Wednesday, October 31st we will have a Halloween – Fall Parade! Kids are invited to wear a costume to school or fall colors!!
hear the kids share 2 short songs! Please remember to park off site – in the
surrounding neighborhoods. Please do not park at the Methodist church.
- The kids will share the same 2 songs the following day at All School Meeting at 9:00 AM (if you are not able to attend the parade on Wednesday!) We will also wear our Hastings Hero Tee-shirts that we have printed with Leaf Prints to All School Meeting!
Kindergarten News ~ October 19, 2018
Dear Families,
We have had such an exciting and busy week in kindergarten! Our Field Trip was a huge success and we have been involved with many special projects and learning activities! Below are some highlights!
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Notes:
We have had such an exciting and busy week in kindergarten! Our Field Trip was a huge success and we have been involved with many special projects and learning activities! Below are some highlights!
Monday:
- We started a Leaf-Printing project today! We have been noticing the beautiful fall colors and the changes taking place as the weather begins to get cooler! To celebrate these changes, we are painting leaves and printing them on our Hastings Hero Tee-Shirts!
- Our new Alphafriend is “Tt” for Tiggy Tiger!
- We are learning to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out words and listen for sounds as we begin to add words and label to our writing during writer’s workshop!
- We continue to work on “telling/saying” our stories before we write them down! This really helps us practice what we want to say and tell about!
- We are reading a favorite storybook called The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We are learning how a “picture walk” (looking through the whole book - at the pictures, before we begin reading) can help us think more deeply about what the story might be about! We continue to build reading stamina! We are up to 5 minutes of reading independently! We have been practicing the reading strategies of: retelling a book we know, connecting pages by using the words “and then…”, and adding a “pinch of ourselves” (connecting things we know about the topics in the books we are “reading”). Our class LOVES books!!
- We had our Vision and Hearing screened today by the Lexington school nurses. This is a yearly screening. If there were any concerns, you will be contacted.
Tuesday:
- We noticed our green pumpkin is turning orange! We weighed it today to check and see if it had gotten any bigger since many kids thought it had! We learned it had not gained any weight since we weighed it last week!
- We talked about living vs. non-living things! We looked at pictures of things that are living (cat, tree, person, etc.) and non-living things (toy train, rock, Teddy Bear, etc.) and then shared our thinking about what makes that so! We established that living things grow and change, can move, need food and water, and breathe. Following this we introduced something new for our science table: Lady Bug larva! We will observe our larva to see if it turns into Lady Bugs! We could see them crawling – so we know they are alive! Some of us now think that maybe our pumpkin is not alive… we do not think it is growing anymore. We’ll keep checking back to see if it gains any weight! This week, we will also learn more about how pumpkins grow as we prepare for our field trip!
Wednesday:
- Our Field Trip was Great!!! Here are the things we loved…
- Riding the BIG yellow Bus (for some, this was a first bus ride!!)
- Our Hayride around the Farm!
- Apple Cider donuts and cider in the barn – yum!
- Picking pumpkins!
- Eating Lunch at the farm!
- Visiting the animals including: deer, llamas, pigs, sheep, pheasants, rabbits, geese, and goats!!
- Playing in the farm themed play area!
- The weather was perfect and we had so much fun! We returned to school rested, and then talked about our favorite things on the trip!
- Special thanks to the parents that chaperoned and to all the parents who were flexible J and agreed to switch from this trip and come on our next field trip to the Boston Children’s Theater in February! We deeply appreciate your help!
Thursday:
- We are Hastings Heroes! We started our morning with a special celebration! The entire school joined together and enjoyed a morning rotating through 5 stations geared toward building self-regulation, cooperation, appreciation of differences, and gratitude. Together with our 3rd grade buddies, we enjoyed parachute play, doing energizers and calming activities on Go Noodle, Buddy reading in the library, decorating a special “Thank You” banner that will be hung on the outside of our building for the construction workers to see, and sing multi-cultural songs!
- We did a special “Sink and Float” activity with our pumpkins today! The kids all predicted if they thought their pumpkin would “sink” of “float” if placed in a large tub of water. We are learning to make predictions and share our thinking and ideas like scientists do! After making predictions, each child had a chance to test his/her pumpkin. At the end of our experiment, we tested our HUGE classroom pumpkin! Please ask your child to tell you about this experiment and what happened! What do you think? Do pumpkins sink or float?
- We ended our day with Learning Labs! Many children were observing our Ladybug larva. We wonder what will happen with them and if they will change?
Friday:
- This morning we had a special math activity! Every 6 weeks or so s we being learning about new math concepts, we will do something called Launch The Learning! Our Math Specialist Becky DeSantis will co-teach these launches with me. The launches are designed to activate the children’s thinking and wondering! We want children to learn that math is not just about getting the answer but rather about thinking and sharing understanding and engaging in problem-solving. Our math launches are designed to be open-ended allowing kids to make observations and work at their own level. Today we introduced a counting task. Using Red and Yellow tiles, the children had a chance to organize, count, and make connections between the number of yellow and red tiles they had and the different ways to possibly organize and count these tiles. It was interesting to hear them talk about and share their math thinking! It will be exciting to see their math thinking and questioning grow as we working on launches throughout the year!
- We made observational drawings of our pumpkins and measured them today! We noticed they are different sizes and shapes! We also continued our conversation about living and non-living things as we asked the question, “Is your pumpkin living?” This is a tricky concept for young children! It is fine that some children thing their pumpkins are living. We are learning that living things have certain characteristics including: they grow and change, need a food source, and breathe air. We’ll continue thinking about this throughout the year!
Notes:
- I am looking forward to seeing all of your for parent teacher conferences over the next 2 weeks! Please be sure to complete the conference planning form and return it by Monday! Thanks in advance for your help!
Kindergarten News ~ October 12, 2018
Dear Families,
We have had a great week in room #3! Below you'll find information about our workshops this week, our green pumpkin, and more!
Tuesday:
At writer’s workshop we continue to focus on writing true stories! Today we learned 2 new strategies writer’s use to help them get ready to write after they have thought of an idea! The first strategy is to close your eyes and make a picture of your idea in your head! Try to think about what you can draw /add to your picture to help tell your story.
The second strategy is to “say” your idea. We practiced using our fingers to help us. Using our thumb, we said “My story is about…” Next, we told 1 or 2 important things we wanted to be sure to share in our story! Both the visual practice and the verbal practice help the kids to think more deeply about what they want to show in their pictures and what they want to say. At this point in the year, we are emphasizing the importance of telling your story in your picture and adding details so someone looking at your picture knows what your are telling about. The kids love writing and have so many stories to tell! This is truly exciting work!
Our new Alphafriend this week is “Rr” for Reggie Rooster!
During Reader’s Workshop today we learned that readers always think about connecting the pages throughout a book – they wonder how they go together and look for the connections from one page to the next!
We finished up math stations from last week today!
Wednesday: We practiced visualizing and telling our stories across out fingers again this morning to help us get ready to write! We also learned about adding details to our pictures that help the reader know the “setting” where our story takes place! All of the kids tried out adding in a detail (ex. The sun sky – if outside, etc.) to their sketches to tell where their story was taking place!
We celebrated Benny’s 6th birthday today! Happy Birthday Benny! We talked about how to be a good math partner today (share materials, take turns, pay attention, stay in control, be a good sport!) We learned 2 new math games and played them with a partner. We will add these games to stations this week!
Thursday: Today we met with our 3rd grade buddies for the second time! Our buddies helped us read and learn about school rules, feelings, and ways to be polite as we read Let’s Find Out Scholastic magazines together! The buddies had a great time working together J In kindergarten we use the Let’s Find Out Scholastic readers to help us explore themes in both science and social studies. Each month your child will get his/her own copies with new topics to explore!
Later in the morning we had a science talk! Our focus was a green pumpkin. We looked closely at the pumpkin and all had a chance to touch it and hold it. Next we talked about how scientists share what to “Notice/observe” and also share what to are “wondering”. After sharing what we all noticed, we made a list of the things we are wondering! Here are our wonderings…
Friday: This morning we worked on adding words to our writing! We are learning to say the words we want to write s-l-o-w-l-y and as we say them, we listen for the beginning sound and then write it down. We can say the word again and listen for more sounds and try to write those too! We are also learning that writers add labels to their sketches to help the reader know more about what is in their story!
During reading today, we learned that readers add “a pinch of themselves” as they read. This means that readers are always thinking about what they know too and are trying to make connections to what they are reading. For example, if I am reading a book about squirrels, I might say “squirrels like to chase one another, I watch them run up and down the trees in my backyard every morning.”
During math today, we opened the partner game stations and a new dice race, a counting station, a building station, and a measuring station!
Important Notes:
Have a Great Weekend!
We have had a great week in room #3! Below you'll find information about our workshops this week, our green pumpkin, and more!
Tuesday:
At writer’s workshop we continue to focus on writing true stories! Today we learned 2 new strategies writer’s use to help them get ready to write after they have thought of an idea! The first strategy is to close your eyes and make a picture of your idea in your head! Try to think about what you can draw /add to your picture to help tell your story.
The second strategy is to “say” your idea. We practiced using our fingers to help us. Using our thumb, we said “My story is about…” Next, we told 1 or 2 important things we wanted to be sure to share in our story! Both the visual practice and the verbal practice help the kids to think more deeply about what they want to show in their pictures and what they want to say. At this point in the year, we are emphasizing the importance of telling your story in your picture and adding details so someone looking at your picture knows what your are telling about. The kids love writing and have so many stories to tell! This is truly exciting work!
Our new Alphafriend this week is “Rr” for Reggie Rooster!
During Reader’s Workshop today we learned that readers always think about connecting the pages throughout a book – they wonder how they go together and look for the connections from one page to the next!
We finished up math stations from last week today!
Wednesday: We practiced visualizing and telling our stories across out fingers again this morning to help us get ready to write! We also learned about adding details to our pictures that help the reader know the “setting” where our story takes place! All of the kids tried out adding in a detail (ex. The sun sky – if outside, etc.) to their sketches to tell where their story was taking place!
We celebrated Benny’s 6th birthday today! Happy Birthday Benny! We talked about how to be a good math partner today (share materials, take turns, pay attention, stay in control, be a good sport!) We learned 2 new math games and played them with a partner. We will add these games to stations this week!
Thursday: Today we met with our 3rd grade buddies for the second time! Our buddies helped us read and learn about school rules, feelings, and ways to be polite as we read Let’s Find Out Scholastic magazines together! The buddies had a great time working together J In kindergarten we use the Let’s Find Out Scholastic readers to help us explore themes in both science and social studies. Each month your child will get his/her own copies with new topics to explore!
Later in the morning we had a science talk! Our focus was a green pumpkin. We looked closely at the pumpkin and all had a chance to touch it and hold it. Next we talked about how scientists share what to “Notice/observe” and also share what to are “wondering”. After sharing what we all noticed, we made a list of the things we are wondering! Here are our wonderings…
- How will it become orange?
- I wonder why the stem is hard?
- Why is the steam green?
- Why is the steam curved?
- Why is the stem weak?
- Why is there orange on the bottom?
- Why are there stripes?
- Why there are little dots?
- How do pumpkins grow?
- What do Pumpkin seeds look like?
- Will it stay green?
- Is this pumpkin still growing?
Friday: This morning we worked on adding words to our writing! We are learning to say the words we want to write s-l-o-w-l-y and as we say them, we listen for the beginning sound and then write it down. We can say the word again and listen for more sounds and try to write those too! We are also learning that writers add labels to their sketches to help the reader know more about what is in their story!
During reading today, we learned that readers add “a pinch of themselves” as they read. This means that readers are always thinking about what they know too and are trying to make connections to what they are reading. For example, if I am reading a book about squirrels, I might say “squirrels like to chase one another, I watch them run up and down the trees in my backyard every morning.”
During math today, we opened the partner game stations and a new dice race, a counting station, a building station, and a measuring station!
Important Notes:
- Our Classroom Website is up! You can access it by going to the Hastings Webpage, hovering over the tab that says “Faculty and Staff” and then clicking on Staff Emails and Websites. Next, click on kindergarten, and then you’ll see the link to our classroom website! You can also find it by entering this web address: https://hastings3.weebly.com/
- Our field trip is next Wednesday, October 17th. I will send a reminder on Monday. Please note that ALL children must bring a lunch from home on that day as we will be eating lunch at the farm.
- Mary your calendars! The kindergarten classes will be having a brief Halloween/Fall parade on Wednesday, October 31st. Families are invited to join us in the gym between 9:00 – 9:15 AM. More information will come home next week.
- In addition to all of the curriculum I write about, our days also include 45 minutes for Learning Labs 4 days a week! Learning Labs are a time when all of the kids are self-directed and make choices about the things they would like to do! This is our favorite time of day J This week children built Sky Scrapers in blocks, worked together to create elaborate Lego buildings, invited friends to play games, played “school” and took turns being the teacher and reading poems and books to the “class”, wrote lists and made pictures for one anther in the writing center, worked together in the sand table, and painted self-portraits in the art area!
- Please remember to send back Alphafriend (consonant) Folders by Friday each week! We introduce a new Alphafriend on Mondays and add them to the folders on that day for the kids to bring home and review. Thanks so much for helping us with this!
- Welcome fall! Next week we will begin a Leaf-Printing Tee Shirt project during Learning Labs! Children are invited to collect up to 10 leaves and bring them to school in a ZIPLOC bag (keeps them from drying out) on Monday. We’ll be working on our tee shirts over the next week or so! We will be decorating our Yellow Hastings Hero shirts!
- If you are interested in ordering a book from our book order, please send back your form with a check by next Tuesday, October 16th (or go ahead and order online!
Have a Great Weekend!
Kindergarten News ~ October 5, 2018
Dear Families,
What an exciting week it has been! On Monday we arrived to discover that our first Monarch butterfly had hatched! It was quite large and beautiful. It was orange and black with white dots. During meeting Monday morning, we talked about what Monarchs eat (nectar). We learned that nectar is the sweet liquid they drink from flowers. We also learned that you could mix up sugar and water
(1 part sugar to 9 parts water) to make food for a butterfly. The kids all helped stir the sugar into the water until it dissolved and then we soaked a cotton ball in the sugar water. We learned that butterflies taste with their feet! We carefully helped our butterfly onto the cotton ball and then watched it as it unfurled its long tongue and began to drink! - truly fascinating!! On Tuesday, we had a special visit from Scientist Fran Ludwig who taught us about tagging Monarch butterflies. We learned that in the fall, Monarch butterflies begin their long journey to Mexico where they will spend the winter! No one knows how they know exactly where to fly, but they do!
They gather together in the hundreds of thousands on tress where they rest until winter ends and then make their way back up north. Scientists look for butterflies that have been tagged and then record and research the numbers on their tags to see where they have come from! Ms. Ludwig tagged one of our butterflies and left us a tag for our butterfly that is about to hatch! We noticed we could see the orange wings through the transparent chrysalis – a sign (we learned) that meant our second butterfly would soon hatch!
Sure enough, during the middle of Reader’s Workshop we noticed it had suddenly emerged! We quietly put away our books and took the time to all gather and observe it. We noticed its wings were curled up and it looked wet! It was hanging upside down. Over the next several hours, its wings straightened and dried.
On Wednesday, we tagged our second butterfly and fed it. We gathered one last time to observe and talk about the butterflies in preparation for releasing them. We watched a video showing the butterflies gathering in Mexico and agreed it was truly magical! Here is the link if you would like to watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN8-pNnvJ5s
Following this, we made butterfly headbands to celebrate the release and then headed outside to let them go. After a few minutes, they both flew off and we watched as they flew higher and higher eventually landing up in a tree. What a wonderful learning experience they provided for us all. We talked about ways we could help protect the declining Monarch population and decided we might like to plant Milkweed as suggested in the short video about Monarchs that we watched. On Thursday we took a walk to the front of the school where we located several Milkweed plants with large seed filled pods. We gathered a few and are going to research how to plant the seeds and raise the Milkweed. Stay tuned! One thing we all know after this week is, we love science and, we are all scientists!
Additional highlights this week:
Have a wonderful weekend!
Notes:
What an exciting week it has been! On Monday we arrived to discover that our first Monarch butterfly had hatched! It was quite large and beautiful. It was orange and black with white dots. During meeting Monday morning, we talked about what Monarchs eat (nectar). We learned that nectar is the sweet liquid they drink from flowers. We also learned that you could mix up sugar and water
(1 part sugar to 9 parts water) to make food for a butterfly. The kids all helped stir the sugar into the water until it dissolved and then we soaked a cotton ball in the sugar water. We learned that butterflies taste with their feet! We carefully helped our butterfly onto the cotton ball and then watched it as it unfurled its long tongue and began to drink! - truly fascinating!! On Tuesday, we had a special visit from Scientist Fran Ludwig who taught us about tagging Monarch butterflies. We learned that in the fall, Monarch butterflies begin their long journey to Mexico where they will spend the winter! No one knows how they know exactly where to fly, but they do!
They gather together in the hundreds of thousands on tress where they rest until winter ends and then make their way back up north. Scientists look for butterflies that have been tagged and then record and research the numbers on their tags to see where they have come from! Ms. Ludwig tagged one of our butterflies and left us a tag for our butterfly that is about to hatch! We noticed we could see the orange wings through the transparent chrysalis – a sign (we learned) that meant our second butterfly would soon hatch!
Sure enough, during the middle of Reader’s Workshop we noticed it had suddenly emerged! We quietly put away our books and took the time to all gather and observe it. We noticed its wings were curled up and it looked wet! It was hanging upside down. Over the next several hours, its wings straightened and dried.
On Wednesday, we tagged our second butterfly and fed it. We gathered one last time to observe and talk about the butterflies in preparation for releasing them. We watched a video showing the butterflies gathering in Mexico and agreed it was truly magical! Here is the link if you would like to watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN8-pNnvJ5s
Following this, we made butterfly headbands to celebrate the release and then headed outside to let them go. After a few minutes, they both flew off and we watched as they flew higher and higher eventually landing up in a tree. What a wonderful learning experience they provided for us all. We talked about ways we could help protect the declining Monarch population and decided we might like to plant Milkweed as suggested in the short video about Monarchs that we watched. On Thursday we took a walk to the front of the school where we located several Milkweed plants with large seed filled pods. We gathered a few and are going to research how to plant the seeds and raise the Milkweed. Stay tuned! One thing we all know after this week is, we love science and, we are all scientists!
Additional highlights this week:
- Our new Alphafriend is Mimi Mouse
- We are busy writing true stories in room 3! We learned that if we think we are done, we can go back and add details to our pictures, letters for labels or words, or we can begin a new piece of writing!
- We worked to strengthen our muscles in our fingers by ripping colorful paper to create fall trees for our October calendars!
- In Superflex, we continued learning about Rockbrain (the brain invader that makes us get “stuck” on our own ideas!
- We made our 1st birthday book! Happy Birthday to Kalea who turned 6 on Thursday!
- During Reader’s Workshop we practiced “reading” a book from cover to cover! We are working on building our reading stamina! We are up to 3 minutes as an entire class!
- Learning Lab favorites this week include: Playing School! Legos and Blocks, House corner, Reading, Writing Center, Science, Games and Puzzles and Sand Table, Art Center!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Notes:
- Reminder: No school on Monday, October 8th for Columbus Day.
- Thank you all for sharing your email addresses! I will pass the list on to our room parents.
- Please consider joining the PTO (Parent –Teachers – Organization)! The PTO supports all of us by: funding special projects, supporting parent – teacher events, supporting special presentations such as Math Night, providing mini-grants for teachers to secure materials for units /learning, and so much more! Additionally, they print a Hastings School Directory that includes all families school-wide with names/class/and contact information. In order to receive a Hard copy of the directory, you must join by tomorrow October 6, 2018. You can find information about the PTO on the Hastings Website (main page – left side) or copy and paste this into your browser: http://hastings-pto.org/join/
Kindergarten News ~September 28, 2018
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Notes:
Have a Great Weekend!
- We introduced Alphafriends this morning! Alphafriends is a letter-sound (Phonics) program we will use in kindergarten this year. Each week we’ll introduce a new letter. We’ll learn a song that highlights the sound the letter makes. We’ll also practice the formation for both the upper and lowercase letter throughout the week. Most of the Alphafriends feature animals and songs that the kids love! Please encourage your child to draw or cut out a picture that begins with the weekly letter for his/her Alphafriend folder and send it back by Friday each week. I f you forgot to send back the folder today, it’s not too late, but we will need it by Monday J
- We Are All Readers! Today we learned that reading begins with thinking! We took and “Environmental Print Walk” through the school and then our classroom hunting for words and trying the read them! The kids loved this! The message is that reading begins with thinking and then looking. We talked about how we can do this everywhere – as we ride in the car, walk through town, or just look around our homes! We are all readers!
- We had Art class today.
Tuesday:
- We illustrated caterpillar poems this morning to put into our Monthly Poem Collection. We read these all the time and will bring our Poem Folders home at the end of the year!
- Both of our caterpillars have turned into a chrysalis! We are watching them and looking for changes. All of the kids have made observations and shared what they notice. We read a story today called Becoming a Butterfly by Anne Rockwell to help us understand more about the lifecycle!
- During math we sequenced the stages of the butterfly lifecycle.
- We had music and P.E. today.
Wednesday:
- We introduced writer’s workshop today! We learned that writing begins with thinking and drawing! In this unit, we will write “true” stories about ourselves! The kids were very excited to share their ideas and get to work! This is the beginning of a very exciting journey J You will be amazed at the progress your child makes as a writer this year!
- We learned the difference between Storybooks and “Learn About the World” Books today! Learn About the World Books are books that teach us about real things! Storybooks tell made up stories about characters.
- We started new Math Stations today! We introduced dice games, a Unifix cube building station, A number reading station where kids use play-doh to fill a 10-Frame with the corresponding number, and a Grab and Count station where kids are reaching into a bag and taking a handful of counters and then counting them.
- We had Superflex with MS. Stratford and learned about ROCKBRAIN! Rockbrain is a brain invader that makes us get “stuck” on our own ideas! We learned that the way to defeat him is to be “flexible” or do what the group is doing!
- We had Library today
Thursday:
- We met our Book Buddies for the first time today! This year our class will be buddies with Maureen McKenna’s 3rd grade class! We’ll meet every other week to read together, play games, do projects, play, and even have snack! Buddies are another way we work to help connect the children to the Hastings community! Today we played a Buddy Bingo game to help the children find out more about the ways about one another. The kids were very excited and really enjoyed this first visit!
- Ms. Freeman visited our classroom today and read us a “feelings” book called How Are You Peeling? This fun book featured a variety of vegetables that had feelings faces added. We used the story to have a discussion about different feelings and also about how you can have more than 1 feeling at the same time!
- We had P.E. today
Friday:
- We had school pictures today!
- We have our own Book Boxes! Today we worked to build 1 minute of reading “stamina” as we practiced reading books using the pictures and/or words!
- We watched our class slideshow of kindergarten – the kids LOVED it J
- We ended the day with math workshop!
- We had music today.
Notes:
- It was so nice to see so many of you last night! I am thrilled to partner with all of you to make this a great year! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns!
- This Sunday is the Hastings Harvest Run – one of my favorite school events. I hope many of you will be there! I unfortunately will miss this year as it falls on my 34th wedding anniversary and I will be away.
- Please let me know if it is OK to share your email address with our room parents and classroom families and if so, what address you prefer we use. This will be used for classroom updates and for all of you so you may contact one another. Please send me a quick email at [email protected].
Have a Great Weekend!
Kindergarten News ~ September 21, 2018
We have had a great week in kindergarten! Here are some highlights:
Monday:
· This morning we drew and wrote “true” stories! Over the next week, we will be starting our daily Writer’s Workshop. Our first writing unit will focus on Narrative Writing. In this unit, the children will share things about themselves and their lives! The work we did today helps me to know more about where each child is starting. It is an amazing journey and it will be so exciting to see how each child changes and grows as a writer (and reader) throughout the year! I think you will be amazed J
· We are learning about the term “Independent”. We read a story called Franklin Rides a Bicycle by Paulette Bourgeois. In this story, Franklin struggles to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. After almost giving up, he decides to keep on trying! In the end, he learns how to do it! We used this book to help introduce the idea of being Independent. As a group, we defined Independent as “something you can do all by yourself”. We talked about the things we each can do independently and how in kindergarten we are all learning to be independent! Tomorrow will make a book telling about some of the things we can do all by ourselves. The message to “keep trying” was also powerful one. We will talk about this a lot this year!
· We made our own book version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! In our version, the very hungry caterpillar visited our classroom looking for food! Each child made a page telling what the caterpillar ate and then used green and red dots to add a hungry caterpillar. As we worked on our pages, we also focused on the beginning letter sounds in the different foods the caterpillar ate. We will bind our pages together to make a class book.
· We had art class today!
Tuesday:
· We worked on a class book about the things we can do all by ourselves! We will call our book, The Independent Book!
· We are learning about the different shapes we can combine to draw a person. We practiced drawing people today that had bodies instead of just lines and sticks. As we begin Writer’s Workshop, we will learn that our pictures tell our stories. We will learn how to add details to our drawings including feelings and motion!
· We had music and PE today.
· We started new math stations today including: number writing in shaving cream, exploration of 10-Frames, exploration of Geo-boards, exploration of Geo-blocks, and exploration of colored tiles. During math workshop, the children are able to select where they want to work. In the beginning weeks, our focus is on learning how to:
use materials, work at stations, move to new stations, clean up, and build stamina for attention. The kids are enjoying math workshop!
Wednesday: Yom Kippur
Thursday:
· Our day began with All School Meeting!
· Ms. Freeman, our school counselor visited out classroom today to talk about feelings. She read the book, Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day By Jamie Lee Curtis. We worked on identifying feelings. Ms. Freeman will visit our class every week to help us explore themes related to social and emotional development.
· We had PE class today.
· Our second caterpillar has transformed into a chrysalis! During learning labs, many children looked closely at it and made observational drawings! We wonder how long it will take to hatch into a butterfly?
Friday:
· This morning we worked on assessment. We had a literacy screening called Aimsweb. Each child worked through short assessments to help us learn more about where we are starting.
· We went to music and then visited to library to exchange books.
· We love books! Today we introduced 2 different kinds of books: “Storybooks” (they tell a story about something that happens to someone) and “Learn About The World” Books (they teach you about something). We have lots of Learn About the World books (non-fiction books) in room 3! We know that reading begins with looking and thinking! We practiced this today as the children picked books to try this out with!
· In preparation to begin Reader’s Workshop, we introduced 3 Ways To Read a Book!
These include:
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story
We practiced all of these ways as we reread favorite stories together.
· We continued working in Math stations.
Have a great Weekend!
Note/Important Dates:
· Thank you all for sending back everything for our field trip so quickly!
· Next Week we are beginning a phonics (letter sound) program called Alphafriends! The children will all be bringing home a folder with an alphabet letter to focus on and practice through the week – instructions will accompany this work. Folders will be due back at the end of each week. This is voluntary but we hope everyone will choose to participate! We have found it is worthwhile for all of the kids regardless of letter-sound knowledge.
Thursday, September 27th – Back To School Night-Location: Hastings
5:45 - 6:15 pm Specialist teachers and Counselors in the Library ~ meet and
greet
6:15 - 7:00 pm Grades K-2 grade level/classroom conversations
6:45 - 7:05 pm Special Education Staff meet and greet in the Library
6:45-7:05 pm Specialist teachers meet and greet in my office
7:10 - 7:30 pm Everyone meets in the gym
7:30 - 8:15 pm Grades 3-5 grade level/classroom conversations
· Friday, September 28th – School Picture Day
· Sunday, September 30th – Hastings 7th Annual 5K Harvest Run/Walk, Hayden
· Monday, October 8th – No School - Columbus Day
Monday:
· This morning we drew and wrote “true” stories! Over the next week, we will be starting our daily Writer’s Workshop. Our first writing unit will focus on Narrative Writing. In this unit, the children will share things about themselves and their lives! The work we did today helps me to know more about where each child is starting. It is an amazing journey and it will be so exciting to see how each child changes and grows as a writer (and reader) throughout the year! I think you will be amazed J
· We are learning about the term “Independent”. We read a story called Franklin Rides a Bicycle by Paulette Bourgeois. In this story, Franklin struggles to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. After almost giving up, he decides to keep on trying! In the end, he learns how to do it! We used this book to help introduce the idea of being Independent. As a group, we defined Independent as “something you can do all by yourself”. We talked about the things we each can do independently and how in kindergarten we are all learning to be independent! Tomorrow will make a book telling about some of the things we can do all by ourselves. The message to “keep trying” was also powerful one. We will talk about this a lot this year!
· We made our own book version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! In our version, the very hungry caterpillar visited our classroom looking for food! Each child made a page telling what the caterpillar ate and then used green and red dots to add a hungry caterpillar. As we worked on our pages, we also focused on the beginning letter sounds in the different foods the caterpillar ate. We will bind our pages together to make a class book.
· We had art class today!
Tuesday:
· We worked on a class book about the things we can do all by ourselves! We will call our book, The Independent Book!
· We are learning about the different shapes we can combine to draw a person. We practiced drawing people today that had bodies instead of just lines and sticks. As we begin Writer’s Workshop, we will learn that our pictures tell our stories. We will learn how to add details to our drawings including feelings and motion!
· We had music and PE today.
· We started new math stations today including: number writing in shaving cream, exploration of 10-Frames, exploration of Geo-boards, exploration of Geo-blocks, and exploration of colored tiles. During math workshop, the children are able to select where they want to work. In the beginning weeks, our focus is on learning how to:
use materials, work at stations, move to new stations, clean up, and build stamina for attention. The kids are enjoying math workshop!
Wednesday: Yom Kippur
Thursday:
· Our day began with All School Meeting!
· Ms. Freeman, our school counselor visited out classroom today to talk about feelings. She read the book, Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day By Jamie Lee Curtis. We worked on identifying feelings. Ms. Freeman will visit our class every week to help us explore themes related to social and emotional development.
· We had PE class today.
· Our second caterpillar has transformed into a chrysalis! During learning labs, many children looked closely at it and made observational drawings! We wonder how long it will take to hatch into a butterfly?
Friday:
· This morning we worked on assessment. We had a literacy screening called Aimsweb. Each child worked through short assessments to help us learn more about where we are starting.
· We went to music and then visited to library to exchange books.
· We love books! Today we introduced 2 different kinds of books: “Storybooks” (they tell a story about something that happens to someone) and “Learn About The World” Books (they teach you about something). We have lots of Learn About the World books (non-fiction books) in room 3! We know that reading begins with looking and thinking! We practiced this today as the children picked books to try this out with!
· In preparation to begin Reader’s Workshop, we introduced 3 Ways To Read a Book!
These include:
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story
We practiced all of these ways as we reread favorite stories together.
· We continued working in Math stations.
Have a great Weekend!
Note/Important Dates:
· Thank you all for sending back everything for our field trip so quickly!
· Next Week we are beginning a phonics (letter sound) program called Alphafriends! The children will all be bringing home a folder with an alphabet letter to focus on and practice through the week – instructions will accompany this work. Folders will be due back at the end of each week. This is voluntary but we hope everyone will choose to participate! We have found it is worthwhile for all of the kids regardless of letter-sound knowledge.
Thursday, September 27th – Back To School Night-Location: Hastings
5:45 - 6:15 pm Specialist teachers and Counselors in the Library ~ meet and
greet
6:15 - 7:00 pm Grades K-2 grade level/classroom conversations
6:45 - 7:05 pm Special Education Staff meet and greet in the Library
6:45-7:05 pm Specialist teachers meet and greet in my office
7:10 - 7:30 pm Everyone meets in the gym
7:30 - 8:15 pm Grades 3-5 grade level/classroom conversations
· Friday, September 28th – School Picture Day
· Sunday, September 30th – Hastings 7th Annual 5K Harvest Run/Walk, Hayden
· Monday, October 8th – No School - Columbus Day
Kindergarten News ~ September 14, 2018
Dear Families,
We have truly had a fantastic week! The children are picking up new routines quickly and learning their way around Hastings school! We continue to play name games each day and the kids seem happy and excited to be here! I am sure they are tired after school as our days have been exciting and busy! Here are some highlights from our week:
Tuesday:
· Welcome Back J This morning we sang The Wheels on the Bus and extended this theme into writing as we worked in bus-shaped books that share information about ourselves!
· We are learning about being scientists and made a list of some of the things we think a scientist does… looks closely and observes, uses tools, asks questions, draws what they notice, does experiments… and more! We read a short book to help confirm our ideas! We learned that something exciting is coming for our science table this week! We are all excited to be scientists!
· We had art class with Ms. Bettencourt for the first time today. Our usual art day will be Mondays but since we have had 2 weeks of holidays, we switched schedules just for this week! We love art J
· We explored a variety of math materials including Unifix cubes, pattern blocks, dominoes, dice, and colored pegs and peg boards. We are learning how to work, clean up, and move between stations during math time!
Wednesday:
· We continued working on our bus books today and drew pictures of the things we hope to learn about this year in kindergarten!
· We went to the library!
· Yay! We have 2 Monarch Caterpillars for our science table! We will practice being scientists as we observe them over the next few weeks.
· An important part of our Kindergarten curriculum focuses on building social skills as well as helping us to think about ourselves and others. We also work on developing self-regulation skills and the ability to express our emotions in productive ways. We will work on all of these concepts and more in several ways throughout the year. Two staff members who will be helping me teach social skill lessons this year are Kelly Stratford, a speech and language therapist at our school and Celeste Freeman, our school counselor. Today, Ms. Stratford joined our class and led a lesson introducing the idea of “Expected” and “Unexpected” behavior. The students watched a clip from Beauty and the Beast to help them think about what might be “expected” and “unexpected” (the beast was doing many unexpected things J). Following this, we played a game where the kids had to decide if a behavior was “expected” or “unexpected!” Ms. Stratford will join us every Wednesday morning to co-teach lessons that relate to self-regulation and a variety of social skills with me.
· We continued exploring math materials in stations today.
Thursday:
· We worked in our bus books to draw pictures of some of the children in class we are making friends with. We also had an important conversation about how we want to be treated in our classroom and including others!
· We had P.E. and music today.
· During Learning Labs, we continued observing our caterpillars!
Friday:
· We finished sharing ideas for our class rules this morning. We made pictures of ourselves to decorate and sign our rules! We’ll type these up and get them out to you all next week!
· We had Music class today.
· Our Reading Specialist, Amy Muzyka came in and read to our class today! Miss Muzyka will be working with all of the kindergarten classes this year to help us with reading and writing!
· We read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and then made models of our caterpillars using paper strips and glue. We used black, white, and yellow strips to make caterpillars with patterns and drew and cut out our own large green leaves!
Have a Great Weekend!
Notes:
· I hope you are hearing a little about our days… the kids truly are off to a great start!
· Thank you all for remembering to send a note when your child’s dismissal plans change!
· Next week we will be starting Writer’s Workshop! Initially, we will start by writing about things we know about! This may include people we know about, places we know about, and things we know about. It can be helpful to talk over the weekend about all of the things they know about. This way as we begin generating ideas for topics next week, your child will have some ideas to start with J
Important Dates:
· Wednesday, September 19th – NO SCHOOL Yom Kippur
Thursday, September 27th – Back To School Night-Location: Hastings
5:45 - 6:15 pm Specialist teachers and Counselors in the Library ~ meet and
greet
6:15 - 7:00 pm Grades K-2 grade level/classroom conversations
6:45 - 7:05 pm Special Education Staff meet and greet in the Library
6:45-7:05 pm Specialist teachers meet and greet in my office
7:10 - 7:30 pm Everyone meets in the gym
7:30 - 8:15 pm Grades 3-5 grade level/classroom conversations
· Friday, September 28th – School Picture Day
· Sunday, September 30th – Hastings 7th Annual 5K Harvest Run/Walk, Hayden
· Monday, October 8th – No School - Columbus Day
· Wednesday, October 17th – Field Trip to Smolak Farms – Pumpkin Picking! (More info. coming next week!)
We have truly had a fantastic week! The children are picking up new routines quickly and learning their way around Hastings school! We continue to play name games each day and the kids seem happy and excited to be here! I am sure they are tired after school as our days have been exciting and busy! Here are some highlights from our week:
Tuesday:
· Welcome Back J This morning we sang The Wheels on the Bus and extended this theme into writing as we worked in bus-shaped books that share information about ourselves!
· We are learning about being scientists and made a list of some of the things we think a scientist does… looks closely and observes, uses tools, asks questions, draws what they notice, does experiments… and more! We read a short book to help confirm our ideas! We learned that something exciting is coming for our science table this week! We are all excited to be scientists!
· We had art class with Ms. Bettencourt for the first time today. Our usual art day will be Mondays but since we have had 2 weeks of holidays, we switched schedules just for this week! We love art J
· We explored a variety of math materials including Unifix cubes, pattern blocks, dominoes, dice, and colored pegs and peg boards. We are learning how to work, clean up, and move between stations during math time!
Wednesday:
· We continued working on our bus books today and drew pictures of the things we hope to learn about this year in kindergarten!
· We went to the library!
· Yay! We have 2 Monarch Caterpillars for our science table! We will practice being scientists as we observe them over the next few weeks.
· An important part of our Kindergarten curriculum focuses on building social skills as well as helping us to think about ourselves and others. We also work on developing self-regulation skills and the ability to express our emotions in productive ways. We will work on all of these concepts and more in several ways throughout the year. Two staff members who will be helping me teach social skill lessons this year are Kelly Stratford, a speech and language therapist at our school and Celeste Freeman, our school counselor. Today, Ms. Stratford joined our class and led a lesson introducing the idea of “Expected” and “Unexpected” behavior. The students watched a clip from Beauty and the Beast to help them think about what might be “expected” and “unexpected” (the beast was doing many unexpected things J). Following this, we played a game where the kids had to decide if a behavior was “expected” or “unexpected!” Ms. Stratford will join us every Wednesday morning to co-teach lessons that relate to self-regulation and a variety of social skills with me.
· We continued exploring math materials in stations today.
Thursday:
· We worked in our bus books to draw pictures of some of the children in class we are making friends with. We also had an important conversation about how we want to be treated in our classroom and including others!
· We had P.E. and music today.
· During Learning Labs, we continued observing our caterpillars!
Friday:
· We finished sharing ideas for our class rules this morning. We made pictures of ourselves to decorate and sign our rules! We’ll type these up and get them out to you all next week!
· We had Music class today.
· Our Reading Specialist, Amy Muzyka came in and read to our class today! Miss Muzyka will be working with all of the kindergarten classes this year to help us with reading and writing!
· We read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and then made models of our caterpillars using paper strips and glue. We used black, white, and yellow strips to make caterpillars with patterns and drew and cut out our own large green leaves!
Have a Great Weekend!
Notes:
· I hope you are hearing a little about our days… the kids truly are off to a great start!
· Thank you all for remembering to send a note when your child’s dismissal plans change!
· Next week we will be starting Writer’s Workshop! Initially, we will start by writing about things we know about! This may include people we know about, places we know about, and things we know about. It can be helpful to talk over the weekend about all of the things they know about. This way as we begin generating ideas for topics next week, your child will have some ideas to start with J
Important Dates:
· Wednesday, September 19th – NO SCHOOL Yom Kippur
Thursday, September 27th – Back To School Night-Location: Hastings
5:45 - 6:15 pm Specialist teachers and Counselors in the Library ~ meet and
greet
6:15 - 7:00 pm Grades K-2 grade level/classroom conversations
6:45 - 7:05 pm Special Education Staff meet and greet in the Library
6:45-7:05 pm Specialist teachers meet and greet in my office
7:10 - 7:30 pm Everyone meets in the gym
7:30 - 8:15 pm Grades 3-5 grade level/classroom conversations
· Friday, September 28th – School Picture Day
· Sunday, September 30th – Hastings 7th Annual 5K Harvest Run/Walk, Hayden
· Monday, October 8th – No School - Columbus Day
· Wednesday, October 17th – Field Trip to Smolak Farms – Pumpkin Picking! (More info. coming next week!)
Kindergarten News ~ September 7, 2018
Tuesday: Welcome Back! I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! The kids did a remarkable job today considering we were away from school for 4 days AND, it was our 1st full day! Here are some Tuesday Highlights:
· We reviewed routines this morning and learned how to unpack our lunches and make a lunch choice.
· We went on a scavenger hunt through the school to find the animals from the story Brown Bear! We placed the animals in special places with specific adults so we could learn our way around the school and meet some of the adults we will work with this year. We found…
-Red Bird in the art room with Mrs. Bettencourt
-Purple Cat in the music room with Mr. Sullivan (Our music teacher this year will be Mrs. Jacques. Mrs. Jacques has been recovering for surgery on her leg. She will be back next week!)
-Yellow Duck in the main office with our school secretary Ms. Cardillo
-Blue Horse in the principal’s office with Mrs. Lipsitz
-White Dog in the gym with Mr. Heinze
-Green Frog in the nurse’s office with Mrs. Salitsky
-Orange Goldfish was in the Assistant Principal’s office with Mrs. Knight and our school counselor Ms. Freeman
-And Black Sheep in the Library with Mrs. Rich
· We took pictures of the animals with the new adults we met and will create a classroom picture board so we can work on recognizing faces and new names.
· We made a graph showing our favorite animal from the story.
· We had our first Fire Drill today. The kids did an outstanding job!
· We had lunch in the cafeteria for the first time! The kids did so well J.
· We had our first “rest” time and listened to some calm music while we relaxed.
· We had Music class and P.E. also for the first time today!
· We had a nice long time to explore and play in the classroom. Children chose between sand table, play-doh table, lego table, puzzle table, writing center, and reading area. We are learning how to sign-in and out of different centers and clean up! We are also practicing sharing, taking turns, and using friendly words!
Wednesday: Today we made our first class book based on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Our Book is called Children, Children, Who Do You See? It features the photographs and names of all the children in our class! Each child colored his/her own page. We’ll bind our book together and use it to help us practice and learn our classmate’s names. Later in the morning, we read poem called
-over-
Everybody Has A Name. We used the poem to help us think about our own special names. Following the story, we counted the letters in our own names, cut them apart, glued them down, and created a large class graph showing the number of letters each child has in his/her name! Here are some additional highlights from our day:
· We had our first Library class with Ms. Rich.
· We talked about ways we are all alike and ways we are all different! In these first weeks of school, this is a big focus in our classroom. As we get to know one another we’ll learn more about all of the ways each of us is special and unique as well as all of the things we share in common!
· We had time to explore and play in different stations in the classroom.
· We sang some new songs together!
Thursday: This morning we went to All School Meeting! All School Meeting is a time when the entire school comes together in the gym for a meeting. During this time many different kinds of things happen! Sometimes there are classes that share something they are learning about, a special project, a song, or even a skit! There are also small groups that share and sometimes, individual kids might perform music, share a special talent, or read a poem. This is also a time when school-wide news is shared, school-wide behavior is discussed and modeled, and we learn about what it means to be part of the whole school community!! Generally speaking, All School Meeting takes place every other Thursday between 8:55 and 9:25 AM. Check the Hastings calendar on the website for specific dates if you’d like to attend!
At some point during the year, our class will share. I will let you know well in advance so you can join us if you like. I was so proud of our class today! They were wonderful audience members!
Here are more highlights from our day:
· We had P.E. with Mr. Heinze today! Please note: Our PE days are Tuesdays and Thursdays J I goofed and originally said Tuesdays and Fridays!
· We read a wonderful book called Two Eyes, A Nose, and A Mouth by Roberta Grobel Intrater. This book helped us think about the features on our faces and how no two people look alike! Following this, we used crayons to create our first Self-Portraits!
Friday: This morning we read a short story about a place called Ridley. Ridley is a place with NO rules! In Ridley, because there are no rules, everyone is always getting hurt and in to trouble! There is no learning because there are no rules about teachers or kids going to school L There is a lot of pollution because there are no rules about cleaning up and getting rid of trash. We used this story to help us begin to think about why we have rules, and the kind of rules we think are important for our classroom. We all agreed we want everyone to feel welcome, feel happy, and be able to do their best learning! The kids each made a picture of a rule they think is important for our class and then shared it. We will group their ideas together and use them to create our own classroom rules! Stay tuned – we’ll share them with you as soon as they are completed!
Later in the morning we read a Bigbook and sang the much-loved song, The Wheels on the Bus! Following this, we practiced cutting and gluing as we created our own shape collage buses to top our September calendar!
We’ll make a calendar each month to help us learn more about time, practice number recognition and number writing, and to integrate a theme through an art or craft experience for the top of our calendar. We hope you enjoy these and also find a special place to hang them at home!
Here are a couple of other highlights from today:
· We decorated small pictures of ourselves to use for a g graph showing how many classmates are 5 and how many are 6! Our pictures are movable! Each time we have a birthday, we’ll change our graph. It will be interesting to see how it changes through the year!
· We had music class.
· We played and worked in many stations and opened the Block Area for the first time!
As you can see, kindergarten is a fun and busy place! We are working hard to learn new routines, new names, and feel comfortable in our new surroundings. I am so proud of the kids and know we are in for a great year! They have been just so wonderful through all of the heat this week - Let’s hope cooler days are ahead!!
Thank you all for helping your children get off to such a good start!
Over the next week or two, I hope to have our class website up and running! Until then, I will continue to send a hard copy of the newsletter each week. I hope this helps you know more about your child’s day and what we have been doing. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns!
My school email address is [email protected]
Additional notes and reminders:
· No School Monday! All my best to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah J
· Please continue to remember to check your child’s folder each day and please remember to send it back to school each day.
· We do something called a “secret message” at the end of each day.
Together we review the day and all we did and try to think of 1 highlight that might be written on the “secret message”. This is a way to help the children review all of the things we did through the day so hopefully they can remember to share something with you! If you are not hearing much about our day, try asking your child, “what was the secret message today?” That might help J
-over-
· Please remember to send a note whenever your child has a chance in dismissal plans.
· Please help us by packing snack and lunch in 2 different containers/bags. Each morning the children put their snacks in their cubbies and lunches go in the lunch wagon. This helps the children know what to eat for lunch and then later for snack.
· PLEASE send in a picture of you family ASAP if you have not done so. Next week we will continue learning about each other and I would like each child to be able to share a picture of his/her family. If you do not have a recent picture, you can take one and email it to me and I am happy to print it out!
Here are some upcoming important dates for you to put on your calendar:
· Tuesday, September 11th – Hastings Back to School Picnic (4:30-6:30)· Thursday, September 27th – Back To School Night (more information to follow)
· Friday, September 28th – School Pictures.
Volunteer Opportunities:
At our Back to school Night on September 27th I will go over the many different ways to volunteer at our school and in our classroom! Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Have A Nice Weekend! See you Tuesday!
· We reviewed routines this morning and learned how to unpack our lunches and make a lunch choice.
· We went on a scavenger hunt through the school to find the animals from the story Brown Bear! We placed the animals in special places with specific adults so we could learn our way around the school and meet some of the adults we will work with this year. We found…
-Red Bird in the art room with Mrs. Bettencourt
-Purple Cat in the music room with Mr. Sullivan (Our music teacher this year will be Mrs. Jacques. Mrs. Jacques has been recovering for surgery on her leg. She will be back next week!)
-Yellow Duck in the main office with our school secretary Ms. Cardillo
-Blue Horse in the principal’s office with Mrs. Lipsitz
-White Dog in the gym with Mr. Heinze
-Green Frog in the nurse’s office with Mrs. Salitsky
-Orange Goldfish was in the Assistant Principal’s office with Mrs. Knight and our school counselor Ms. Freeman
-And Black Sheep in the Library with Mrs. Rich
· We took pictures of the animals with the new adults we met and will create a classroom picture board so we can work on recognizing faces and new names.
· We made a graph showing our favorite animal from the story.
· We had our first Fire Drill today. The kids did an outstanding job!
· We had lunch in the cafeteria for the first time! The kids did so well J.
· We had our first “rest” time and listened to some calm music while we relaxed.
· We had Music class and P.E. also for the first time today!
· We had a nice long time to explore and play in the classroom. Children chose between sand table, play-doh table, lego table, puzzle table, writing center, and reading area. We are learning how to sign-in and out of different centers and clean up! We are also practicing sharing, taking turns, and using friendly words!
Wednesday: Today we made our first class book based on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Our Book is called Children, Children, Who Do You See? It features the photographs and names of all the children in our class! Each child colored his/her own page. We’ll bind our book together and use it to help us practice and learn our classmate’s names. Later in the morning, we read poem called
-over-
Everybody Has A Name. We used the poem to help us think about our own special names. Following the story, we counted the letters in our own names, cut them apart, glued them down, and created a large class graph showing the number of letters each child has in his/her name! Here are some additional highlights from our day:
· We had our first Library class with Ms. Rich.
· We talked about ways we are all alike and ways we are all different! In these first weeks of school, this is a big focus in our classroom. As we get to know one another we’ll learn more about all of the ways each of us is special and unique as well as all of the things we share in common!
· We had time to explore and play in different stations in the classroom.
· We sang some new songs together!
Thursday: This morning we went to All School Meeting! All School Meeting is a time when the entire school comes together in the gym for a meeting. During this time many different kinds of things happen! Sometimes there are classes that share something they are learning about, a special project, a song, or even a skit! There are also small groups that share and sometimes, individual kids might perform music, share a special talent, or read a poem. This is also a time when school-wide news is shared, school-wide behavior is discussed and modeled, and we learn about what it means to be part of the whole school community!! Generally speaking, All School Meeting takes place every other Thursday between 8:55 and 9:25 AM. Check the Hastings calendar on the website for specific dates if you’d like to attend!
At some point during the year, our class will share. I will let you know well in advance so you can join us if you like. I was so proud of our class today! They were wonderful audience members!
Here are more highlights from our day:
· We had P.E. with Mr. Heinze today! Please note: Our PE days are Tuesdays and Thursdays J I goofed and originally said Tuesdays and Fridays!
· We read a wonderful book called Two Eyes, A Nose, and A Mouth by Roberta Grobel Intrater. This book helped us think about the features on our faces and how no two people look alike! Following this, we used crayons to create our first Self-Portraits!
Friday: This morning we read a short story about a place called Ridley. Ridley is a place with NO rules! In Ridley, because there are no rules, everyone is always getting hurt and in to trouble! There is no learning because there are no rules about teachers or kids going to school L There is a lot of pollution because there are no rules about cleaning up and getting rid of trash. We used this story to help us begin to think about why we have rules, and the kind of rules we think are important for our classroom. We all agreed we want everyone to feel welcome, feel happy, and be able to do their best learning! The kids each made a picture of a rule they think is important for our class and then shared it. We will group their ideas together and use them to create our own classroom rules! Stay tuned – we’ll share them with you as soon as they are completed!
Later in the morning we read a Bigbook and sang the much-loved song, The Wheels on the Bus! Following this, we practiced cutting and gluing as we created our own shape collage buses to top our September calendar!
We’ll make a calendar each month to help us learn more about time, practice number recognition and number writing, and to integrate a theme through an art or craft experience for the top of our calendar. We hope you enjoy these and also find a special place to hang them at home!
Here are a couple of other highlights from today:
· We decorated small pictures of ourselves to use for a g graph showing how many classmates are 5 and how many are 6! Our pictures are movable! Each time we have a birthday, we’ll change our graph. It will be interesting to see how it changes through the year!
· We had music class.
· We played and worked in many stations and opened the Block Area for the first time!
As you can see, kindergarten is a fun and busy place! We are working hard to learn new routines, new names, and feel comfortable in our new surroundings. I am so proud of the kids and know we are in for a great year! They have been just so wonderful through all of the heat this week - Let’s hope cooler days are ahead!!
Thank you all for helping your children get off to such a good start!
Over the next week or two, I hope to have our class website up and running! Until then, I will continue to send a hard copy of the newsletter each week. I hope this helps you know more about your child’s day and what we have been doing. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns!
My school email address is [email protected]
Additional notes and reminders:
· No School Monday! All my best to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah J
· Please continue to remember to check your child’s folder each day and please remember to send it back to school each day.
· We do something called a “secret message” at the end of each day.
Together we review the day and all we did and try to think of 1 highlight that might be written on the “secret message”. This is a way to help the children review all of the things we did through the day so hopefully they can remember to share something with you! If you are not hearing much about our day, try asking your child, “what was the secret message today?” That might help J
-over-
· Please remember to send a note whenever your child has a chance in dismissal plans.
· Please help us by packing snack and lunch in 2 different containers/bags. Each morning the children put their snacks in their cubbies and lunches go in the lunch wagon. This helps the children know what to eat for lunch and then later for snack.
· PLEASE send in a picture of you family ASAP if you have not done so. Next week we will continue learning about each other and I would like each child to be able to share a picture of his/her family. If you do not have a recent picture, you can take one and email it to me and I am happy to print it out!
- Last, but certainly not least, if you pick up your child in the car line, it is most helpful to have car seats on the driver’s side. In this manner, the kiddos can get into the car and buckled up quickly! Thank you for considering this request!
Here are some upcoming important dates for you to put on your calendar:
· Tuesday, September 11th – Hastings Back to School Picnic (4:30-6:30)· Thursday, September 27th – Back To School Night (more information to follow)
· Friday, September 28th – School Pictures.
- Sunday, September 30th – Hastings 5K Harvest Run/Walk
Volunteer Opportunities:
At our Back to school Night on September 27th I will go over the many different ways to volunteer at our school and in our classroom! Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Have A Nice Weekend! See you Tuesday!
Kindergarten News ~ August 30, 2018
Dear Families,
We are off to a great start! The first few days have passed quickly and the children seem happy and excited to be here.
Our work for the next few weeks will focus on building classroom community, learning names, finding our way around the school, and learning new routines!
Here are some highlights from our first short week:
On Tuesday, we read the much-loved story The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. This story focuses on a baby raccoon named Chester who was nervous about starting school. Chester’s mother assured him that no matter where he was, her love would always be right there with him! We used this story to open a discussion about how we were feeling about starting kindergarten. We talked about the range of emotions we can feel – happy, nervous, excited, scared, worried, etc. After our discussion, we drew pictures to show how we were feeling. We also visited the hardtop area and learned for the first time and learned about recess this year! Later in the morning, we had time to explore different centers in our classroom. The children had fun working in Legos, Writing Center, Puzzle Area, Library Area, at the Sand Table, and with Play-doh!
On Wednesday, we had a Guided Dismissal practice. All of the students in our school had a chance to learn and practice the procedures for a safe dismissal time! Later in the morning, we revisited the story The Kissing Hand and made raccoon puppets! The children practiced following a task list to complete their puppets. We had a lot of fun making these and then singing a special song about the Kissing Hand! Later in the morning, we had more time to explore the centers we introduced yesterday. We also introduced and opened the Drama Area (it’s a hose corner right now) today!
On Thursday, we had our first All School Meeting! This year we will meet as an entire school every other week to build our school community, learn about one another, and celebrate the learning that is happening across the school! At some point over the year, kindergarten will share at All School Meeting! We’ll be sure to let you know well in advance so you may attend if you’d like! Later in the morning we had a practice fire drill. The entire school will participate in a fire drill at some point next week and we wanted to make sure the kids would know what to expect. We had recess, explored new areas in the classroom, and talked about what our full days will be like next week! We are so proud of the kids for all they have accomplished in 3 short days!
-over-
Important Information:
Mondays: Art
Tuesdays: Music and PE
Wednesdays: Library
Thursdays: P.E.
Fridays: Music
Please be sure your child wears sneakers on both Tuesdays and Fridays.
There are multiple selections available on a given day. You may also put money into your child’s lunch account online (please check the Hastings Homepage for more details under “Food Services”). Here is the web address/link for the lunch menu:
http://schools.whitsons.com/ma/lexington-public-schools?page=menu
Part of our morning routine will include making a lunch choice. If your child is bringing a lunch from home, please be sure to pack snack and lunch separately. This is a great help! When packed together, children easily get confused and often eat their lunch at snack time. Please know that I plan to stay with the kids the first few days to help them adjust to the new routines in the cafeteria.
Following lunch and afternoon recess, we will have rest for 20-30 minutes depending on how tired the children are.
Children may bring in a small stuffed animal (must fit in a backpack) or blanket to rest with we will provide rest mats. Please do not send in toys.
I try to check email when I have time but I may not get to it until the end of the day, depending on what is happening in the classroom.
***Additionally, with all of the construction at Hastings this year, we have many more walkers and this makes end of the day dismissal a little busier!
We need your help! Please come over and pick up your child on the wall outside of Ms. Syed’s Kindergarten classroom. Please discourage your child from running over to you. Please also make sure your child says “good-bye” to Ms. Syed so she knows your child has been picked up! Also, on days where there are lots of walkers, please be patient as Ms. Syed may dismiss walkers by class in order to ensure a safe and orderly pick-up for all kids and care givers. We appreciate your help with this. One more note – because there are so many walkers this year, we strongly encourage you to pick up and head out rather than letting your child run around during dismissal time. We sincerely thank you for your assistance with this J
I know we are asking for a lot of information right now and I promise it will slow down once we are all settled in! Pictures of loved ones are especially important right now, as the children get a lot of reassurance from seeing your loving faces in moments where they are missing you! We will be laminating these pictures and use them for both comfort and as a way to learn more about each other in the coming weeks! Please make a special effort to send a picture if you have not done so already.
Kelly Hurley – Special Educator
Toni Ferrara-Reinstein – Special Educator
Laurie Lane – Kindergarten Assistant
Amy Morin – Specialized Instructional Assistant
Please join me in welcoming these fabulous teachers to our classroom! They will certainly enrich the learning for all of us this year!
-over-
Coming Soon…
Stay tuned for information about our classroom website! I hope to have it updated and up soon!
I am thrilled to be your child’s kindergarten teacher and look forward to working with you and your children!
Reminder: NO SCHOOL MONDAY: Labor Day
Enjoy the long weekend!
We are off to a great start! The first few days have passed quickly and the children seem happy and excited to be here.
Our work for the next few weeks will focus on building classroom community, learning names, finding our way around the school, and learning new routines!
Here are some highlights from our first short week:
On Tuesday, we read the much-loved story The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. This story focuses on a baby raccoon named Chester who was nervous about starting school. Chester’s mother assured him that no matter where he was, her love would always be right there with him! We used this story to open a discussion about how we were feeling about starting kindergarten. We talked about the range of emotions we can feel – happy, nervous, excited, scared, worried, etc. After our discussion, we drew pictures to show how we were feeling. We also visited the hardtop area and learned for the first time and learned about recess this year! Later in the morning, we had time to explore different centers in our classroom. The children had fun working in Legos, Writing Center, Puzzle Area, Library Area, at the Sand Table, and with Play-doh!
On Wednesday, we had a Guided Dismissal practice. All of the students in our school had a chance to learn and practice the procedures for a safe dismissal time! Later in the morning, we revisited the story The Kissing Hand and made raccoon puppets! The children practiced following a task list to complete their puppets. We had a lot of fun making these and then singing a special song about the Kissing Hand! Later in the morning, we had more time to explore the centers we introduced yesterday. We also introduced and opened the Drama Area (it’s a hose corner right now) today!
On Thursday, we had our first All School Meeting! This year we will meet as an entire school every other week to build our school community, learn about one another, and celebrate the learning that is happening across the school! At some point over the year, kindergarten will share at All School Meeting! We’ll be sure to let you know well in advance so you may attend if you’d like! Later in the morning we had a practice fire drill. The entire school will participate in a fire drill at some point next week and we wanted to make sure the kids would know what to expect. We had recess, explored new areas in the classroom, and talked about what our full days will be like next week! We are so proud of the kids for all they have accomplished in 3 short days!
-over-
Important Information:
- Specialist Schedule
Mondays: Art
Tuesdays: Music and PE
Wednesdays: Library
Thursdays: P.E.
Fridays: Music
Please be sure your child wears sneakers on both Tuesdays and Fridays.
- Full- Day Schedule
- Lunch and Rest
There are multiple selections available on a given day. You may also put money into your child’s lunch account online (please check the Hastings Homepage for more details under “Food Services”). Here is the web address/link for the lunch menu:
http://schools.whitsons.com/ma/lexington-public-schools?page=menu
Part of our morning routine will include making a lunch choice. If your child is bringing a lunch from home, please be sure to pack snack and lunch separately. This is a great help! When packed together, children easily get confused and often eat their lunch at snack time. Please know that I plan to stay with the kids the first few days to help them adjust to the new routines in the cafeteria.
Following lunch and afternoon recess, we will have rest for 20-30 minutes depending on how tired the children are.
Children may bring in a small stuffed animal (must fit in a backpack) or blanket to rest with we will provide rest mats. Please do not send in toys.
- Contacting Me
I try to check email when I have time but I may not get to it until the end of the day, depending on what is happening in the classroom.
- Dismissal
- Walkers
***Additionally, with all of the construction at Hastings this year, we have many more walkers and this makes end of the day dismissal a little busier!
We need your help! Please come over and pick up your child on the wall outside of Ms. Syed’s Kindergarten classroom. Please discourage your child from running over to you. Please also make sure your child says “good-bye” to Ms. Syed so she knows your child has been picked up! Also, on days where there are lots of walkers, please be patient as Ms. Syed may dismiss walkers by class in order to ensure a safe and orderly pick-up for all kids and care givers. We appreciate your help with this. One more note – because there are so many walkers this year, we strongly encourage you to pick up and head out rather than letting your child run around during dismissal time. We sincerely thank you for your assistance with this J
- Car Riders
- Supplies
I know we are asking for a lot of information right now and I promise it will slow down once we are all settled in! Pictures of loved ones are especially important right now, as the children get a lot of reassurance from seeing your loving faces in moments where they are missing you! We will be laminating these pictures and use them for both comfort and as a way to learn more about each other in the coming weeks! Please make a special effort to send a picture if you have not done so already.
- Room #3 Team!
Kelly Hurley – Special Educator
Toni Ferrara-Reinstein – Special Educator
Laurie Lane – Kindergarten Assistant
Amy Morin – Specialized Instructional Assistant
Please join me in welcoming these fabulous teachers to our classroom! They will certainly enrich the learning for all of us this year!
-over-
Coming Soon…
Stay tuned for information about our classroom website! I hope to have it updated and up soon!
I am thrilled to be your child’s kindergarten teacher and look forward to working with you and your children!
Reminder: NO SCHOOL MONDAY: Labor Day
Enjoy the long weekend!