Shape Collages

Today the kids had fun looking for shapes in magazines and then cutting them out and pasting them out and gluing them onto large cutout shapes.  The kids weren't satisfied with just a square, rectangle, circle and triangle.  They asked me to also cut them out an oval and hexagon.  Then it was time to count the shapes.   The class felt like the circle had the most shapes on it, so we counted 34 circles.  It was a fun way to learn about shapes.

Name Ball

 Yesterday one of our students found a beach ball in our storage area.  "Let's DO something with this!" he pleaded.  Yes, we thought, let's do something with it.  We wrote everyone's name on the ball and then let the kids pass the ball back and forth.  Then they read the name their thumb was closest to after catching the ball.  It was great fun, and wonderful practice in turn taking.

We have also been increasing our Read to Self and Read to Someone times.  The class is settling into this routine so well.  We have been able to work with individual children while they are reading. Thanks to everyone who sent books in for the book boxes.  If you haven't sent books in for your child yet, find some books your child likes to "read" (think read the pictures, retell the story, read the words).

Team Teaching

Ms. Roper’s and Mrs. Burgess’s Kindergarten

Welcome to kindergarten!  We are so excited to both be team teaching all the kindergarten students this year.  This is a new way of teaching kindergarten so we thought we would answer some of your questions.

WHAT is team teaching?

A definition of team teaching we like is “it’s a style of instruction in which resources as well as interests and expertise of a team of teachers are pooled in order to enhance the effectiveness of instruction.” (Dipu Kalanilayam, "Educational Technology for All” blog).

 WHY team teach kindergarten?

1)     Each year our kindergarten students enter with a huge variety of academic, social and behavioral skills and needs.  When one teacher works with one class, she is spread so thin it is difficult to effectively teach to the wide spectrum of abilities.  When two teachers are working with all the students of two classes, we can better group these students based upon their strengths and challenges and have double the staffing to teach to where the children are.  For example, instead of being able to work with three different ability groups each day, we can now meet with six different ability groups.

2)     Teachers also have different strengths and talents.  The children benefit from the specific abilities and interests of two teachers instead of one.

3)     The children now have two sets of eyes on them, observing and planning for their individual needs.  The team teaching set up we have allows for continual analysis of each child and collaborative planning to best meet that child’s needs.

HOW does team teaching work?

1)  The teachers work together to plan instruction. They both take responsibility for all the students.  The children are divided into two set groups only for specials (music, art, library, computers and physical education).  The rest of the time the groupings are flexible, changing as the students grow.

2) When whole group instruction is being delivered, one teacher is teaching, while the other is supporting or working with individual students.

3)  Small group instruction is delivered by both teachers.  Teachers may be working with half of the class or they may be working with groups of 3-7 children while the rest of the class works independently.    

4)     The teachers are constantly observing and taking notes on the students.  They share their observations and use them to collaboratively make instructional decisions.

What should I do if I have more questions?

ASK US!

We are working hard to provide you with as much information as possible. 

1)  We have parent friendly copies of the Common Core for kindergarten that were distributed on our information night.  That will answer the question of “what” we are teaching your child.

2)  We write in home-school notebooks almost every day, to let you know how your own child is doing in the class.  This is a great place to ask questions.

3)    We send home almost weekly newsletters that can also be read on our blog.

4)    We keep an almost daily blog detailing what we do to teach the Common Core standards.  The blog can be found at

http://wiscassetkindergarten.blogspot.com/

5)    We respond to e-mail sent to broper@svrsu.org and lburgess@svrsu.org.

6)     Call us at 882-7585.

Newsletter

                                            September 19, 2013

Dear Families,

Kindergarten is having a great time doing calendar,

morning message, writing, and reading.  We have

increased our Read to Self time to 14 minutes.  This

is a great accomplishment, but it comes with a

challenge.  Our kids are running out of books to read

in the 14 minute time span.  Please send your child in

with 3 or 4 books from home that he or she is

confident reading (think those Dr. Seuss books, or the

ones they beg you to read over and over).  Remember they 

can "read the pictures," "read the words," or retell the story.

We know some of you are interested in volunteering

as well.  Please let us know in your child’s notebook

what days and times would work best for you and

we’ll call you to set it up and see what you are most

interested in doing.

We enjoyed chatting with many of you during our

kindergarten information night.  If you missed it, you

can pick up the Common Core handout at the Open

House on Tuesday, September 24 from 5:30-6:30. 

We look forward to seeing you then!

                                                            Your Partners in Learning,

                                                            Ms. Roper and Mrs. Burgess

Pick a Character

We have been enjoying two very different book characters, Pete the Cat and Pigeon.  Today the kids talked about which was their favorite and why.  Then we each drew our favorite character with a speech bubble.  Some of us had to draw both because we just couldn't pick one.  Brandon summed it up well when he told us, "Pete the Cat says, 'It's all good.' and Pigeon says, 'It's all bad."

Everyone also tried their hand at drawing their own Mat Man, they had to include several parts of the body including ears, fingers, toes, and belly buttons.  They are on display so you can see them at the Open House on Tuesday, September 24 from 5:30 to 6:30.

Have a super weekend!

Read to Someone and Mat Man

Today the kids learned how to use our handwriting blocks to make "Mat Man."  Mat Man is helping us become familiar with big and little lines as well as big and little curves.  We will be using these concepts as we start writing our letters.  Then we tried our next component of the Daily Five, Read to Someone.  The kids all partnered up and read Elbow to Elbow and Knee to Knee for three minutes.  They loved the opportunity to share their books.  We will continue to add minutes to Read to Someone as the kids build their stamina.  There is a lot of brain power in this classroom!

Scientists in Training

 Today was a day for science.  We experimented with "magic color" bottles and recorded what happened when we shook the bottles.  You can make one at home by mixing water with food coloring and then adding oil. We observed a live praying mantis.  And we practiced using magnifying glasses to make objects look bigger.  The kids had fun recording what they saw, just like real scientists do.  We continued to collect data in our morning message by finding out how many fish each child had.  This is a class that loves to experiment and observe.

Calendar

Your children are becoming calendar wizards.  They are counting up and down from 10, singing the days of the week, learning about place value, and learning about money. You can help extend this idea at home by having your child count with you while you are waiting at a traffic light.  You can look at a calendar at home and talk about what day of the week it is.  You can also count the number of pennies in your change purse.

Read to Self, Write to Self

Our kids are busy building stamina every day!  They have worked up to reading to themselves 10 minutes a day, and writing silently for 5 minutes a day. We could use your help when it come to Read to Self.  The kids have a bank of books that are low leveled readers.  These books are read through quickly.  We would love to have families send in two to three books that their child is familiar with  from home.  We are talking about those books that kids read over and over and over at home.  Just write your child's name in the book, and send it to school on Monday so we can build their book boxes.
Have a great weekend, and read with your kiddos!

Pick Up Time Meets the Common Core

Look at the pictures above.  What do you see?  Kids picking up their play area comes to mind, doesn't it?  These kids are learning all the time.  They learn at the blue rug through direct instruction, and then they learn through their play.  Never mind the language and science standards that were covered before pick up time.  Instead let's look at the pick up time.  As the children were picking up they were considering where the materials needed to go.  They sorted their tools so that tomorrow it would be easy to use them.  That action supports the Common Core Math Standard  K.Md.3 "Classify objects into given categories..."

Stay tuned for more great work in kindergarten!

Newsletter

Dear Kindergarten Families,

       We are well into the second week of school and the kids are settling into their routine.  They are reading independently (remember the blog definition of reading, read the story, read the words, retell the story) for up to 8 minutes now.  They are helping complete our morning message and calendar routine.  The kids are finding question marks everywhere now that our morning message has a question every day.

        We hope to see many of you next Monday night, September 16 from 5:30-6:30 as we explain the Kindergarten Common Core Standards.  We will be meeting in the kindergarten room.

       Remember that we update our classroom blog frequently.  You can enter your e-mail on the right sidebar to receive updates whenever there is a new post.  The web address is http://wiscassetkindergarten.blogspot.com/

If you haven’t returned the permission slip to post (or not post) your child’s picture on the blog, please do so soon. 

       We have found some coats, water bottles, and lunch boxes on the playground or in the middle of the classroom.  We love to return personal items to the right child and would greatly appreciate your help with this goal.  Please label anything you would like to come home with your child’s name. This will grow even more important when winter arrives and 12 pairs of black snow pants come into the classroom.

       This is a wonderful group of kindergarten students.  We are having a lovely time with them.

                            Your Partners in Learning,

                                   Mrs. Burgess and Ms. Roper

Day 5

Today the kids learned about questions and question marks in our morning message, as well in our new Pete the Cat book.  We practiced separated into KB and KR groups for our special classes.  Our pictures were taken.  We learned we could count sounds as we dropped marbles into jars.  During math centers, we matched unifix cube trains to paper strips.  (See above)

Our writers had the choice to write a new story or keep working on the current story.  Some students used an alphabet chart to help them write more words.  The kids are very excited about the work they are doing in writing.  

We talked about quiet voices and practiced using quiet voices to say "Hello."  Thanks to all who sent in the breakfast forms as well as the blog permission sheets for photos.  Please remember to label your child's coats, sweaters, lunch boxes and backpacks with their names.  Our new song is, "If you like then you better put your name on it...."  We also learned a new song about a duchess whose belly rumbles.  This a great singing group!

Parent Letter

September 6, 2013

Dear Parents,

We need your help.  There has been some confusion in the morning about who needs to eat a breakfast here at school.  Could you please fill out the bottom and send it back to school on Monday with your child so we know who needs to eat breakfast and who ate at home? This will help our mornings be a little less hectic.  

We hope you are enjoying the notebooks.  It is wonderful reading what you write about your child.  The red folders will be traveling back and forth from school to home when there are papers that need to be looked at or filled out.  Please take a few minutes each night to look through these and then send the folder back to school.

Also, one more organizational tool.  Could you please write your child’s name on their lunch boxes?  Some children have the same ones and we are getting confused when it is snack or lunch time.

Thank you so much for your help in these matters.  It is such a pleasure working with your children th

is year and we have learned so much already.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Burgess and Ms. Roper

Readers and Writers

 We are proud to report our kindergarten students are readers and writers.  In just the third day of school the kids were reading independently for five minutes.  They were conferencing with each other about their writing.  "Reading?  Writing?" you ask.  That's correct. Just as babies progress from babbling to talking or crawling to walking they practice reading and writing.  The chart above shows kids how they can read.  Each child has a box filled with books that they read by reading the pictures, words or retelling the story.  Right now they are building their stamina in reading independently.

The students are also doing a great job writing informational stories.  They started writing the second day of school and then revised their stories on the third day.  They added to their pictures and practiced writing more words.  The kids learned to conference with each other and to look at their stories to find ways to add information. Their progress is exciting!

Math Stations and Story Writing

What a wonderful second day of school we had!  The kindergarten students started their first stories.  Many of them already put letters down to represent words.  They went to work counting and sorting during math stations. They practiced building stamina reading books by themselves.  Their reading included telling a story using the pictures or retelling a story they had heard before. They had a great time in the exploration room using the kitchen, building with blocks, playing school, using the sand and bean tables and simply watching the class frogs.

We learned to sing a new song called "Black Socks."  We rapped the alphabet. We practiced direction words like "under," "between," "beside," "on top of," and "behind."  The class worked hard to earn more foam pieces by following the 4 Expectations (Be in Your Spot, Quiet Voice/Kind Words, Follow Directions, and Body to Self).  This is an enthusiastic group of kiddos and we are thrilled to be teaching them.

First Day of School

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As we walked out onto the playground this morning we were thrilled to see such happy, brand new students.  The kindergarten class lined right up and entered the school ready to learn.  They learned where their cubbies were, how to hang up their backpacks and jackets and then where to sit at the tables.

Mrs. Burgess taught the class about the Four Expectations of our class and school.  Our Four Expectations are:
1. Quiet and Kind Voice
2. Be in Your Spot
3. Follow Directions
4. Body to Self

When children are observed following our Four Expectations they earn foam pieces that are held in a clear container.  When the container is filled the class earns a group reward.  The kids were thrilled each time they earned more pieces.

Then we practiced shaking hands, singing a song about friends and read a morning message.  The class had a great time exploring the room.  It was a busy day, and we look forward to a great year in kindergarten!