Newsletter for the week of September 11th, 2009

Dear Families,

Miss Sizemore is doing a great job teaching the children.  She is now teaching full time and has jumped in with great enthusiasm! 

This week, the children have been reading the Big Book titled “Cookie’s Week”.  The story is about a cat who gets into all kinds of mischief.  Tuesday, the children took a picture walk through the story and then listened as it was read aloud to them.  Wednesday, they practiced echo reading the story back to Miss Sizemore.  Thursday, the children looked for the days of the week in the story. 

The children also started a new Predictable Chart.  It is titled, “If I had a Pet…” and the children had to include things they would need to do if they had a pet.

This week in Open Court (our new Phonemic Awareness kit) we reviewed the letters K, L, M, and N.  We also read “Go Play!” (a decodable book). 

We are also reading our way through the Magic Tree House series and have finished 2 books: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Hide Tide in Hawaii.  On Tuesday, I received notification from DonorsChoose.org that we received funding for a grant proposal I wrote to receive most of the 41 titles in the series.  We have the Washington Township Schools Foundation to thank along with Lucia (my mom), and the Johnson family from (Irvine, CA).  I’ve also posted another grant called “Books without a Home!” so we’re hoping to get that one funded as well! 

During Math Work Stations this week, all the materials were switched out for materials that focus on Sorting.  The children rotate each day to one station and the materials remain in each tub until the children have visited each one at least one time.  A BIG Kindergarten thank you to Grace and Ella’s mom’s for helping in our classroom on Thursday!  You helped to make our math lesson run very smoothly!  Some children practiced covering numbers on a chart of 30 numbers, others played Number Bingo, and others rolled a large die and counted cubes! 

Thanks for another great week!  Please check out the Specials Schedule on the back of this newsletter.  Be sure to check your snack calendar as well! 

Kristen Poindexter

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
September 14th-Yellow Day	September 15th- Green Day	September 16th- Blue Day	September 17th- Red Day	September 18th- Orange Day
September 21st- Yellow Day	September 22nd- Green Day	September 23rd- Blue Day	September 24th- Red Day	September 25th- Orange Day
September 28th- Yellow Day	September 29th- Green Day	September 30th- Blue Day	October 1st -Red Day	October 2nd- Orange Day

 

 

 

Snack Calendar for September:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Ryan-14th	Brigid-15th	Fernando M 16th	Ashlay-17th	Ben-18th
Madeline-21st	Ka-22nd	Elias-23rd	Ella-24th	Jillian-25th
Lindsey-28th	Fiona-29th	Amarrion-30th

 When sending in snacks, please be sure to include enough for 24 students.  We prefer healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, vanilla wafers, goldfish crackers, etc.  You are more than welcome to send them in ahead of time if you would like to do that.  We try very hard to schedule a child on the closest day to their birthday so that they can bring a special snack if they would like to do that. Please contact me if you have any  questions! :)

 

Newsletter for the week of December 12th, 2008

Dear Families,
The Gingerbread Man has been keeping us on our toes this week, with mail deliveries from all over the world!
Monday, we got a delivery from Antarctica.Near the package, we found the ingredients to make reindeer food--glitter, oats, and plastic baggies. We all enjoyed shaking the baggies and watching the glitter move around the bags!. We put another dot on our map to mark this trip. We also read The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. After reading the story, we compared and contrasted this story with that of The Gingerbread Boy. We used a Venn Diagram (two large intersecting circles). In one circle we wrote everything that was unique to the Gingerbread Boy and in the other large circle everything that happened only in the Gingerbread Baby. In the area where the circles overlap, we wrote down things that happened in both stories.
Tuesday, the Gingerbread Man sent us a letter from Israel. He was there to learn about the celebration of Hanukkah. He also sent along menorahs for us to cut out and glue together. When we reached to the bottom of the package, we discovered 9 candles that we could put in the menorah I keep here at school to share with the children. We put the candles in and lit them briefly so the children could see them lit. They all “oooohed!” and “aaaahhhed!” when we did this! :) We also read several books about Hanukkah-including one called The Matzo Ball Boy! He ended up in some soup!
Wednesday, we got a delivery from Africa. .Inside the package were black sheets of paper, along with red and green strips of paper. The directions in our letter told us to weave mats just liked the ones used during Kwanzaa celebrations around the world. We put another dot on our map to mark this trip.
Thursday, while I was gone, the children looked at a Scholastic News that showed many different holiday celebrations. They talked and shared their thoughts about the holiday windows that were shown and then held them up to the light to see the celebration happening through the window.
Friday, we learned all about St. Lucia day. The package with our instructions was delivered to my house yesterday--wink, wink! I was glad that it was because inside was a bread machine mix for Cinnamon Raisin Bread. The Gingerbread Man told us about the tradition in Sweden surrounding St. Lucia Day. The oldest girl in the house would dress up wearing a white gown with a red sash and would deliver sweet treats, such as cinnamon raisin bread to her parents on St Lucia Day. She would also wear a crown made with greenery and candles, so the children make their own crowns.
The children have been doing a wonderful job helping me to write the Morning Message each day so far this year. Last month, we began, “Sharing the Pen”. The children were invited to come to the chart paper and help write the sounds that they heard in the words. This month, we have been writing our own individual Morning Messages and sharing them with the class. The children are invited to tell about something they did the previous evening or weekend. You should see their writing! It is done totally unassisted and it is amazing! Watch for those special messages to be coming home in the next few months to come!
Don’t forget that on Wednesday next week, we will be learning about Polar Animals and the North Pole, so be sure to send your child in their pajamas and make sure that they bring their regular shoes as well! We will have a fun day learning about very cold places and the animals that live there!
We also practiced a tornado drill this week--just a heads up so you know what your child might be talking about! :)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com

Newsletter for the week of December 5th, 2008

Dear Families,
I’m sure by now you have heard that the Gingerbread Man visited our classroom and stole some of our Gingerbread cookies to take with him on and around the world tour. The Gingerbread Man left several clues for us to find and to help us learn about celebrations around the world. You can see pictures of our “crime scene” on either of the blogs. The children have put on their thinking caps are are busy making lists of suspects and clues that we find along the way.
Our week started out innocently enough--we took a picture walk through our new Big Book, The Gingerbread Boy and we then read it aloud. The children enjoyed the story very much! Tuesday, we read the story again and this time we retold and sequenced the story with pictures and the names of the characters. The children all love saying those famous words, “Run, run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”
Wednesday, I really talked up the graphing we were going to do in the afternoon with our gingerbread cookies. Upon returning from recess, we discovered quite a mess on our floor and we all rushed over to see what it was. We found a map of the world, passports for each of us, a book about Las Posadas, two bags of cookies (one open and empty) and a note from The Gingerbread Man. He said that he had taken the cookies and was off to learn about winter celebrations around the world--he wanted to share the cookies with everyone he met. The note said that he was visiting Mexcio first. Not too long after that, Mrs. McDaniel (our wonderful secretary!) rushed into our classroom with a packed addressed to us, straight from Mexico. We opened it and read yet another note from The Gingerbread Man. This time, he was already in Mexico, and was learning all about Las Posadas. We learned about some of the other holiday customs in Mexico, like making and hanging poinsettias. The Gingerbread Man had thoughtfully included directions to show us how to make them out of red paper. We tried, but were not very successful at that! (We will try again later!)
Thursday, the Gingerbread Man surprised us with an early morning e-mail from Brazil. We got another package (that was mysteriously delivered overnight) and when we opened it up, there was a note that told us to check my e-mail. When we did, we found and e-mail that said, “Hello from Brazil!”. We read it and saw a slideshow all about holiday customs in Brazil. The package we received contained toucan birds printed on heavy paper with instructions to watercolor them and paint them with vegetable oil to make them shine. We are letting these dry for a few days! :)
We also ended up with enough Gingerbread cookies to complete our graph (the Gingerbread Man was kind enough to leave me money to buy new cookies to replace the ones he borrowed from us). We each took one bite from the cookie and then using Gingerbread Man cutouts, we cut the same part off of them as the part we ate. We then made a graph of the results. Usually, we make a vertical graph, but this time we made a horizontal graph, so the children could see the difference, but still interpret information from it.
Friday, we got another letter--this time from Australia. The Gingerbread Man told us how the holidays are celebrated there--complete with surfboards and white kangaroos! We also made Australian bellflowers; a common flower found in Australia during the holiday season.
Friday morning, we retold the story of the Gingerbread Man using props made from wooden spoons. We sat in a circle and passed the characters around as they appeared in the story--this also let the children experience the “chase” of all the Gingerbread characters. We also made Gingerbread Man puppets for the children to bring home and retell the story to you with.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com

Newsletter for November 14th, 2008

Dear Families,
This week we have read one of my most favorite stories ever! I love to read The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie to the children--it always makes them laugh. We began on Monday by taking a picture walk through the story and then reading it aloud. Tuesday, I used my large pocket chart and retold the story (with help from the children) with words and pictures. Wednesday, I used my Little Old Lady prop to tell the story to the children. She is a cutout of a Little Old Lady that I have attached a plastic baggie to the back of and use as her stomach. As I tell the story, we drop the corresponding foods into her “stomach” and watch it fill up! Thursday we read the story again and colored our own Little Old Ladies. Friday, we colored and cut apart the items she eats in the stories and used them to retell the story to each other. Look for your child’s Little Old Lady to come home in their backpacks today. Ask them to tell you the story and watch to see if they can sequence the items as they appear in the story
Our Predictable Chart this week was a fun one! It was titled, “I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed...” The children came up with some very funny ideas! You will have to ask your child what he or she said in response! The class book that we made form the sentences is wonderful--I was excited all week to see the illustrations that would go along with their words.
During our Math time, we have continued to work on patterns. We used a variety of materials to assess the children’s knowledge and they are all doing quite well! Next week, we will be moving on to some other math related games and then on to graphing and reading and collecting data from graphs.
Our recycling is going well. The 2nd graders have already come to our room twice this week to empty our boxes. Keep sending in those recyclable materials! The children are so proud that they bring things in to recycle.
We planted our milkweed plants on Monday and placed them into the greenhouse that we have in our classroom. The children will each be taking turns caring for them, watering them and rotating them under the grow lamp.
Writer’s Workshop this week has really taken off! The children are so interested in making words, where they come from, and how to put them together. I have seen so much growth in their writing just in the last two weeks--it is incredible!
As the weather gets colder, please make sure that your child has a hat, gloves, and appropriate coat for out door weather. We go out most days above freezing for recess. Please also make sure to label their things with their name-it makes it much easier to find the owners! Many children do not recognize their coats, hats, or gloves so this would be a big help!
Our next convocation is Monday, November 24th at 1:15 in the gym. Each classroom will be recognizing 2 Students of the Month that represent our character value for that time period. I will be sure to let you know if your child is chosen so that you can attend if you are able. You are more than welcome to come to all of our convocations--Kindergarten usually sits in the front, so be sure to look for us there and come join us!
I have also opened our Parent Volunteer Library. This is a collection of books about various parenting topics that are available for checkout in our classroom. They will be located by the Parent Volunteer table. Please feel free to come in anytime and check them out! I have read most of them and can point you in the right direction so you can learn more about topics concerning your child and their development.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com

Newsletter for November 7th, 2008

Dear Families,
This week we have been learning all about the Little Red Hen and her helpers. We began by reading the Big Book The Little Red Hen. We then talked about how we could help out in our classroom and in our homes. That translated into a Predictable Chart titled, “I will help...”. We have many great ambitious helpers in our classroom, so be sure to ask your child what they will do to help either at home or at school. We read several different versions of the Little Red Hen, including The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza, With Love from the Little Red Hen, and Cook-A-Doodle-Do! Thursday, we acted out the story with character tags and several actors and actresses. The props for this story will go into our Drama Work Station so the children can retell it over and over.
We also discussed ways that we can help our planet and a wonderful opportunity was presented to us by Miss Rude’s 2nd grade class. They got a large recycling dumpster for our building that can accept paper (magazines, cardboard, newspaper) plastic (labeled 1&2) and cans. We have three large boxes in our classroom donated by Sophia’s family that we are decorating to collect these things in our classrooms. If you have any of these materials, please feel free to send them in daily with your child, but please make sure they are rinsed out and cleaned beforehand--we don’t want to attract any bugs! :)
Our compost is coming along as well. We are still adding materials to it, so any “green” or “organic matter” that you have at home can be sent in. The children are taking turns at recess turning the compost and adding their contributions from home. Think how much less garbage you would have at home if you sent in all your cans, plastic, paper, and composting materials! I know that at my house we take the garbage out much less frequently! :)
I wish that you could have seen our classroom on Thursday during Writer’s Workshop! It was AMAZING! There were children everywhere and to the passerby it could have looked like chaos! There were children borrowing “Rainbow Words” from the word wall, stapling books, discovering the new lined paper that I put out and surveys everywhere about the election and who the children voted for! I took several pictures and will post them on both of the blogs below for you to see. EVERY child in this room was writing about something and it was so good to see the end results! I hope that you too are seeing progress in your child’s writing at home, because we are surely seeing it here!
Our classroom election on Tuesday was wonderful! We each took turns voting with secret ballots. The children were asked to vote for their favorite flavor of ice cream--Vanilla emerged as our winner with a strong lead over chocolate early on in the voting process. There is a picture of the graph on the blogs as well.
Just a few other tidbits to share:
Sight word cards for the “green rainbow words” came home Monday with the homework, please practice them daily if possible (blue and purple were also sent home again for a reminder). When using these with your child, be sure to allow them to manipulate the words from all three colors into sentences so that they can see that these words can be used for writing.
I have also opened our Parent Volunteer Library. This is a collection of books about various parenting topics that are available for checkout in our classroom. They will be located by the Parent Volunteer table. Please feel free to come in anytime and check them out! I have read most of them and can point you in the right direction so you can learn more about topics concerning your child and their development.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com

Newsletter and pictures for October 17th, 2008

Dear Families,
How many of you can say that you like spiders? The children have discovered the art of surveying each other to find out their likes and dislikes and are coming up with very creative questions each day. After watching them create their own survey sheets for several days, I created one that they can all use: but they have to write in their own question and the answer choices in order to be able to use it. Mrs. Groote and I are helping those students who need assistance writing their questions and many words have been added to our word wall because of it. Today’s popular question was “Do you have a Wii?” There have also been questions about favorite color, food, shapes, animals, and on and on!
You should have seen the children’s faces light up when I told them we would be learning about spiders this week! We started our theme with a Big Book titled, I Love Spiders. Monday, we took our usual picture walk through the story. Tuesday, the children echo read the story and Wednesday, we predicted how many times we would read the word “spider” in the story and then we highlighted it each time we found it. This will be a new task that goes into our Big Book Work Station. Thursday, we made a web all about Spiders and things that we knew about them and had learned about them. Friday, we added to the web and completed our KWL chart.
Our KWL chart was created with the students thoughts. The “K” stands for “what we know”, the “W” for “what we want to know”, and the “L”, “what we learned”. We spent some time on Monday filling in the KW parts of the chart. The children knew many things about spiders and so we made a long list of those. They also had some wonderful things they wanted to know about spiders, so I took that information and used it to help me choose the books I would read aloud and the concepts we would explore about spiders. Friday, we re-visited the chart and looked at the “L” column and answered many of the questions from the “W” column. The chart is hanging in the hallway outside of our classroom.
We dove deep into patterning this week. Wednesday, we used candy corn to help get us excited about patterning. The children all did a wonderful job and Thursday, we continued to make more patterns with various materials. We used fall shaped foam pieces, spider and bat rings, fall shaped math manipulatives, and fall themed stamps and patterning paper. I took pictures of many of the patterns and posted some of them on my blog (the last one listed below).
We also created a new Predictable Chart this week, simply called, “Spiders...”. The children came up with some amazing ways to end this sentence! You can see a picture of that on our classroom blog. Friday, we used the sentences to make a class book. I will have all of our class books out for you to look at during our conference times in two weeks.
I sent home conference confirmation sheets Monday, so if you need to make a change please let me know. Please note that on Tuesday the 28th, there is a 1/2 day of school. If you child will be getting home a different way that day, please let me know that as well. There is NO KINDERGARTEN on Wednesday the 29th or Thursday the 30th, so please make a note of that. Grades 1-5 will have 1/2 days even though we are not in school.
Friday, October 31st, is a holiday that is celebrated by some, but not all of our students. Please do not send your child to school wearing a costume. We will not be having a party that day, but instead have chosen to use that day for a Science Stretch Day where we will get together with the 3 other Kindergarten classes for a day full of science activities!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com

Dear Families,
We’ve been learning all about pumpkins this week! Our Big Book this week is called Pumpkin, Pumpkin and is a wonderful story about a boy named Jamie and the process of growing a pumpkin. Monday, we took a picture walk through the story and gave our thoughts as to what might happen on each page. Tuesday, we predicted how many times the word “pumpkin” would appear in the book (13). We highlighted it each time we found it and then went back and counted. Wednesday, played Guess The Covered Word. I covered some key words in the story and through reading the story, they children had to use the words and the letters in the covered word to guess what it was. Thursday, we talked about the life cycle of the pumpkin. We used sentence strips and wrote down step by step the growing process of a pumpkin. Friday, we choral read the book together and reviewed the different activities we could do with this book once it is in Big Book Work Station.
We also introduced two new Work Stations this week: Name Work Station and Work with the Teacher Station. At Name Work Station, I will be creating a box for each child to practice writing their names, tracing their names, and matching magnetic letters to outlines of their names. They all love to see their name in print at this age, and this lets them do that but also practice fine motor skills, their friends names, and one to one correspondence. Work with the Teacher Station is a station where the children will come work with either myself or Mrs. Groote. We will be doing different activities for different groups of children based upon their current ability levels. These may be as simple as identifying letters all the way up to reading simple books and having a discussion. These activities will change throughout the year and when a child’s ability level changes.
Our Predictable Chart this week was all about pumpkins. We started the week by beginning our chart, A pumpkin is...” The children then each took turns over two days completing their sentence. Wednesday, we touch read the sentences; the children each had a chance to come up to the chart and read it aloud. Thursday, I picked three sentences and wrote them on sentence strips. I cut them apart and the children came up to the front of our group and held them. We then talked about what students needed to switch with others so that the words would be in the correct order and match our Predictable Chart. Friday, I gave the students their sentences that I had typed into the computer and cut apart. We used them to illustrate a class book called “ A Pumpkin Is....”. You can see it in our classroom.
During our Math time this week, we completed a Pattern Block Pumpkin, much like the apple we made last week. After completing it, the children graphed the numbers of each pattern block shape that they used to make their pumpkin. We also had our first opportunity to sequence the life cycle of a pumpkin on paper. The children were given 6 pictures of the life cycle and asked to put them in order. We glued them on a sheet and they will be displayed in the hallway out side of our classroom. We also used our balance scales. We talked about how we could make each side balance with the other. The children had different math tools at each table and were given the opportunity to rotate from table to table and use various materials.
During our Writer’s Workshop time, our mini-lessons this week were about stretching out words and writing down the sounds that we heard. We placed special emphasis on writing down the first sounds in the words we want to write. I conference with 5-6 children a day and am charting their progress so we will be able to see the children’s growth throughout the school year. More on that at conference time! :)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com