Gingerbread

We have been busy the past two weeks with our Gingerbread Theme. Today we made paper gingerbread houses and decorated them with gingerbread stickers. Tomorrow we will be making our gingerbread houses and taking them home. Thank you for all of the home support by sending in the materials to make this fun and memorable project a success!

We are finishing up our math chapter dealing with numbers up to 10. We will take the test next week. When we come back in January we will start our chapter on measuring.

Don't forget to dress your child for the weather. With it being so cold this past week we have been staying in for the first recess and even second recess. Sometimes we have been going outside for the last recess. I have seen lots of fluffy coats, scarves, mittens, and even hats. Thank you for making sure your child is dressed for the weather.

I am still looking for volunteers for our Christmas Party next week. I have one volunteer so far. If you are planning on coming to winter sharing in the afternoon, you could help with the party and still catch the show:)

Don't forget there will be NO HOMEWORK OVER WINTER BREAK.

Also remember HOMEWORK WILL NOT GO OUT AGAIN IN JANUARY UNTIL FRIDAY, JANUARY 8TH.

The January Book Orders are set up if you order online. I do not have both catalogs yet, so they will be sent out with January homework.

Have a great week!

Brrr! December is Here!

Student Success and Slippers is tonight at 6:30. Doors open at 6:15.

December is under way and with it comes the cold. Please remember to send your child with a coat each day. A hat and gloves or mittens are a great idea too. We go outside in the cold unless it is unsafe because of ice on the pavement. If your child does not bring a coat on these cold days, he or she will be sent into the office for recess to keep out of the cold.

We had a lot of fun decorating a door inside the building with a gingerbread theme. The kids love walking to PE or music and getting to see "our door". This was a school-wide project.

Again, Winter Sharing Program is on Friday, December 18th. We are performing at 8:30 and at 1:30. Space is very limited so please only pick one performance to attend. In the morning we are performing with morning kindergarten and 1st grade. In the afternoon we are performing with afternoon kindergarten and 2nd grade.

We will be making our gingerbread houses on Friday, December 11th. Thank you Rebecca for volunteering to come in Thursday night to help me get them ready for Friday! I will take lots of pictures!

We will also be having our holiday party on Friday, December 18th from 11:50-1:10. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer. It will be run the same way as the last party with different "stations" including rudolph hats and reindeer food.

Getting Ready for Turkey Day!

We have been busy learning about Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, and Indians. I have really enjoyed seeing all of the "Tom the Turkey's". I know the kids are enjoying seeing them come in as well. Thanks for helping your child complete their project. I have taken a picture of each one to put in your child's portfolio that will be sent home at the end of the year.

Don't forget there is no homework until December 4th. Please keep reading with your child daily. I am sending out a weekly newsletter this week, but I will not be sending out another weekly newsletter (homework cover sheet) until then either.

Our Parkside Food Drive is under way. Feel free to send in non-perishable food items with your child between now and December 17th.

Student Success and Slippers is on December 3rd. It is a great event for the entire family. Children get to come to school that night dressed in their p.j.'s and with their favorite stuffed animal. They get to listen to stories and eat milk & cookies. Adults get to go to the gym and learn about our math curriculum and strategies to help your child be successful in math. I will be there to present the kindergarten portion to parents. Hope to see you there!

Our Winter Sharing Program is already less than a month away. All day kindergarten will be performing both at 8:30 (with 1st grade) and 1:35 (with 2nd grade). Please be respectful to all families by picking only one of the times to attend. We have limited seating and want to make sure everyone gets to see their special someone.

Have a fun and safe Thanksgiving next week!

Conference Week

This has been a very wacky week schedule week for us at school and I'm sure everyone at home as well. It has been great sharing student progress so far and I am excited to see the rest of my parents today.

I already have one student who turned in her "Tom the Turkey" in disguise. To the right you will find "Tom the Ballerina". What an awesome idea! I don't think this Tom will be eaten on Thanksgiving Day. I can't wait to see the rest of the turkey's. Remember, the Turkey Dressing Project is due next Thursday, November 19th. Of course I will gladly take them sooner.

You might be wondering why you sent in a one-inch binder at the beginning of the year. This is for your child's kindergarten portfolio. This is something I started about 4 years ago to show capture your child's progress throughout the year. I save student work and originals of writing samples and progress report/report card assessments. At the end of the year I send these home with your child along with a photo CD of the pictures I have taken of your child throughout the year. I think it is a neat keepsake and great way for you and your child to reflect on the progress they have made.

Don't forget, there is homework coming home today, but I will not be sending home any work next Thursday. This is to give your child and family a break for the holiday. I will be keeping the homework folder when it comes in next week. Any papers that the office sends home will go home in your child's backpack without the folder.

Welcome November

As the holidays are near, we get even busier than usual. Above are some marble art pumpkins from our Halloween Party and some raccoons from our art center. It is always fun to share student work. They work so hard!

Next week is conference week. Remember, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday are early release days and Wednesday is Veteran's Day with no school. I am looking forward to seeing each of you again and sharing your child's progress with you.

Next week is also the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library. Our Librarian Ms. Lakin does a great job making the library match the theme of the book fair each year. Feel free to browse before or after your conference.

I am sending out a family project with homework this week. It is "Turkey Dressing". Basically, we are trying to disguise Tom the Turkey, so he doesn't get gobbled up on Thanksgiving Day. Please help your child out. I have a directions sheet and examples on the back of the directions sheet. I have included "Tom" and also a piece of construction paper to glue him to. You don't have to use the construction paper if you have something you would rather use.

We have been working with beginning sounds and rhyming sounds and are even starting to learn specifically about vowels. In Zoo Phonics we call these "The Hardest Workers". We have been learning about nocturnal animals too. While talking about bats we even had a discussion about mammals. We are learning so much!

See you next week.

End of October

I am almost complete with progress report testing and am delighted with what I am seeing. Children are really picking up on the necessary kindergarten skills. Just in the past month they have come so far. I can't wait to see each of you at conferences in November to go over progress reports.

We are starting chapter 4 in math next week, which is numbers 0-5. We are also going to be learning about nocturnal animals in science. The kids are having a lot of fun working with our middle school helper in the mornings with sight word and math games. I am really seeing the benefits.

We have been making a lot of class books in our room too. Each one is totally different and each one all of the kids contribute too. We have a book where I took pictures to measure how tall they are compared to paper pumpkin cut-outs, a book based on the children's book "No David", a skeleton book where I took their picture and they manipulated a skeleton cut-out to copy what they were doing in the picture, our version of Mrs. Wishy Washy, and many more. We even have a book by last years kindergarten class giving this years class advice about kindergarten. It's called "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Welcome To Your New Room". My goal is to have enough class made books by the end of the year for each child to take at least one home.

A special thank you to all of my volunteers that will be helping with our party today and to all of the families that sent in stuff for the party. Remember, if your name wasn't on the list, your name will be on a list for an upcoming party. We make gingerbread houses in December and there is a lot of goodies and help required for them. It is so exciting to see the kids understand the interest you are taking in their education. There are so many ways to let your child know that you value their education including volunteering, chaperoning trips, helping them with their homework, reading with them, asking them how their day was, helping with prep work, etc. I know each of you are doing one or many of these because I hear the kids talk about it all the time.

Time to get ready for the day. Hope each of you have a fun and safe weekend!

Conferences, Book Orders, and Parties

Fall conferences are just around the corner. Next week I am going to begin assessing students for the progress reports that we will go over during conferences. We test over many items. Some include Zoo Phonics animal name, sound, and signal (motion that goes with the sounds), name writing (like on homework sheet), number writing to 10 (reversals are counted as incorrect), number identification to 10, comprehension, rhyming, and more. Some of the testing is completed whole group and some individually. Remember, I cannot score your child on how they perform for you at home, only how they perform during the test for me.

Next week you will be getting your November book orders. I am sending out 4 of them instead of just 2. There are some special orders for the holidays and also a math/science order. I thought some of you might be interested. If you are considering buying your child some books as a present, please let me know and when the books arrive I will not send them with your child. I will contact you instead. A huge thank you to all of the parents that are ordering books online. I have earned 4 free books for the classroom so far based on the online orders. I can't wait to do some shopping!

I am still looking for volunteers for our Halloween Party next Friday, October 30th. I have 3 volunteers so far and am hoping for 4-7 to really make sure things run smoothly. If you would like to volunteer, please let me know ASAP. The party will run from 11:50-1:10.

Sorry I missed so many of you at the pumpkin patch. I can't wait to see each of you real soon!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

This week we took our second math test. The children are really starting to understand test taking procedures. Each child gets their own "office" during test time, which they think is pretty neat. We are now moving to Chapter 3 in math which is all about patterns. During calendar, the children have already learned about AB patterns and AABB patterns, so most of the concepts will already be very familiar to the children.

Our child with the peanut allergy has moved and so we are lifting our "Peanut Free Zone", unless another child moves in with a peanut allergy.

In tomorrow's homework folder I am sending out our class list of what is needed for our Halloween Party on Friday, October 30th. We will have our party from 11:50-1:10. I am looking for volunteers to help out with activities during this time period. Let me know A.S.A.P. if you are able to help out. Not all children were included on the list of things to supply. If your child was not on the list, they will be on a future list.

The weather is starting to get more and more unpredictable. Please, please, please make sure your child is dressed for the weather. We stay inside if it is raining or pouring, but if it is barely sprinkling, the children may be going outside for recess. It is hard to be cooped up all day in the classroom for the children. Also, when the weather gets colder, your child may be sent to sit in the office if they are not dressed for the weather. This is not because they are in trouble, but because we cannot have children outside in the cold with no coat.

I am looking forward to our first field trip tomorrow. I have been talking with the children all week about dressing for the weather tomorrow. I hear it may be raining! I know tomorrow is red and black day for spirit week, but dressing for rain is probably more important since we don't want cold, wet kids in the afternoon.

See many of you tomorrow!

Welcome October

We have been learning a lot about the pumpkins and the lifecycle of a pumpkin in science. We have already learned many similarities between pumpkins and apples and will be comparing them in the coming week on a Venn Diagram. Of course the kids are super excited about our trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Don't forget to make sure your child is dressed for the weather that day as we will be coming back to school after the trip and finishing up our day. We don't want any kids in wet clothes for the day because it rained etc.

As with every class I have students of all levels. I have been working really hard to challenge kids that need a extra challenge. Two of my ways of accomplishing this is through our Calendar Math Books and Daily Math Journals. Our Calendar Math Books we complete after calendar each morning. We complete how many days we have been in school, write out the date (eg. 10-10-09), roll 2 dice and graph the total, and pick a domino where we draw the domino on our paper and find the number on a hundreds chart. I would be happy to pull these out at conferences next month and show you. We also do our Daily Math Journal at the end of the day. We are working on addition and subtraction right now as well as one to one correspondence and understanding a number line. I understand that not all children will understand the concepts this early in the year, but all children are able to follow along with me as we complete these as a whole group. We completed our first journal and it went home Friday. The nice thing about both of these books is that for the children that need the extra challenge, they are able to stretch their brains more and can move from recognizing concepts to understanding and applying math skills. For the children that are still recognizing math skills, this will only strengthen their number sense skills, which is a huge focus in kindergarten math and math throughout the grades.

Parkside Elementary has a Lost and Found located on the railing in the office. If your child is missing any articles of clothing, this is the place to look. As the weather is getting colder, children wear their coats out to all recesses and if they are hot at recess, we encourage them to tie their coats around their waist so the coats do not get left outside and end up in Lost and Found.

I have come up with some fun ideas for our Halloween Party this month and will be sending out information soon.

Start of a New Month

October is starting today and I know the kids are excited as I am. They were watching me change the calendar yesterday and already asking important questions like "Are we going to the pumpkin patch tomorrow?" I have been so impressed this week by how independent the children are getting during centers. They really know what to do and are going the extra mile to help each other be successful. Along with the weekly newsletter (the Classroom Happenings section on the homework cover sheet) that is going home this week, there is also a October newsletter from me. Please read both to see what we have been busy doing in September. Hopefully you get a chance to look through your child's work weekly when it is sent home to see how far he/she has already come. Volunteers are coming out of the woodwork! It is a great feeling to know how supportive each family is of their child's education. Have a great first week of October.

Math Tests and Apple Trees

Another busy week in kindergarten. We took our first math test of the year today. It was over Chapter 1, which was all about math position words. Kids were assessed over words such as above, below, before, between, left, right, same, and different. I was very impressed with how well all of the children did for it being their first test taken as a whole group. So much of kindergarten is teaching procedures. When taking a test as a whole group, children learn how to keep answers to themselves and keep thier eyes on their own papers, and keeping up with the group. So much to learn!

The class is having a lot of fun learning about apples for science. We have been reading a lot of books about the lifecycle of apples/apple trees. We have been learning about what trees look like in winter, spring, summer, and fall as well as how apples develop and what causes apples to develop on trees. The children had the opportunity to do a little painting, which we will be making into an apple tree later this week or next week. Tomorrow we will be graphing the apples that were brought in, catagorizing them by shape and size, and making observational drawing for art. Next month we are going to learn about pumpkins and their lifecycle for science.

Pumpkin Patch is coming up soon. Please make sure you turn in your child's permission slip A.S.A.P. and turn in your volunteer application form if you haven't already done so if you would like to attend. Parents are going to need to transport themselves to and from the field trip. Kids will ride the bus. I'm sure we can set up some carpools for parents who are interested.

Talk to you soon.

First Full Week of Kindergarten

Yeah! We successfully made it through our first full week of school. I am amazed every day at how fast the kids are picking up on routines. We have already learned four sight words (we, will, I, see) and have started playing "The Great Word Race", a sight word game that gives the children lots of practice reading sight words. We are very fortunate to have a helper come in every morning from the middle school. With his help, we are able to practice math and reading concepts in groups of two. On average he seems to be able to work with each child about every three days. We are still working on position word concepts in math. We should be finishing up the chapter next week and moving on to patterns.

Last week we started centers by exploring the manipulatives that go along with them. This week we took it up a notch and starting the "learning" part of centers. We are now going through rotations of math, listening, art, magnetic letters, read the room, and writing centers. Each center has tasks to complete before moving to the next center. I am really stressing how important being trustworthy is during centers because ultimately this time will be used by me to work with small groups of children on individual needs. To do this, I need to rely on the children to be self sufficiet, hard workers that are honest about completing their work so I'm not policing them. This is an ongoing process that will take a few months, but the kids are catching on fast. They are a great group of kids that I know will amaze me throughout the year.

Next week we are going to really be focusing on apples for science. Don't forget to send an apple in with your child next Wednesday. I plan on having the kids graph the different kinds of apples they bring in, looking at the inside of some apples, talking about the lifecycle of the apple tree, and making applesauce...yum!

Have a wonderful weekend.

First Weeks of Kindergarten

We have already learned so much this week. A large part of the first few weeks pertain to learning rules and routines. The children are picking up quickly. One of the biggest things we are learning with the rules are to listen when someone else is talking and follow the directions that are given. Many students have already owed some of their recesses due to "moving their monkey down" on the behavior chart. This is totally normal. I am firm so they understand what the boundaries are. If your child is continually owing recess I will let you know.

A challenge for the children has been when to use the restroom. Of course I don't want any bathroom accidents, but as soon as one child asks to use the restroom, they all seem to need to use the restroom. Unfortunately, a lot of instruction is whole group and it is hard to catch everyone up or continue teaching when there is a steady stream of children heading to the restroom. I encourage children to go as soon as they get to the classroom in the morning, at recess, at lunch, and at center time (if I'm not giving directions to the class). Please encourage your child to do the same.

By the end of this week, the children will have been introduced to all of their Zoo Phonics character, signals, and sounds. It takes practice to perfect, but they are well on their way. In math we are working on concept words such as above, below, in front, behind, in between, left, right, etc. We are also working in math journals for problem solving. For handwriting we are working in our "Rainbow Writing Line Tracing Journals". I tell the kids that this book is exercise for our fingers. We are building up our hand muscles and making them strong. Basically we are tracing lines to learn how to control our strokes, which will help us when we write letters. I call it rainbow writing because the students trace the lines with a marker and then again with another marker, which makes the lines look like a rainbow. We are beginning to learn how to rotate through centers. This takes lots of practice. Right now it is a lot of play, but it will help them learn the routine before we involve the work part of it.

Thank you family members for remembering to pick up your walkers in Mrs. Marganelli's room after 2:25. This makes the wrap up at the end of the day go really smooth. Also, thank you for informing the office of any bus or walker changes. This helps the children feel safe when they know what to expect.

Have a great week!

Kindergarten Conferences

I was very excited to have 100 percent turnout for our conferences today. It was great to know that I have so many dedicated families that want to be an active part in their child's educational success.

I wanted to make sure I followed up with a few reminders:

• I will send out my classroom volunteer application form next Friday, September 11th. If you or any member of your family would like to volunteer, please fill it out so I know where your interests lie. Volunteering in the classroom will begin in October. I will notify those who would like to volunteer of their assigned dates/times later this month.
• If you plan on volunteering in the classroom or on field trips, please complete the blue distict volunteer application form. A copy of your driver's license is also required.
• Any money for book orders, lunch/milk, tuition, etc. can be sent with your child's homework folder on Thursday's or can be pinned to your child, inside of an envelope, with the purpose of the money written on the check or envelope.
• Please call the office or send a note to notify us of any bus or pick-up changes.

I had several questions regarding almond butter and whether that could be substituted in sandwiches for peanut butter. The child with the peanut allergy also has reactions to almond butter, but sunflower butter (available at Safeway) is a safe substitution. Thank you for helping us out.

If you had the opportunity to go over the packet from our meeting today and have any more questions, please feel free to call me or email me. Thanks.