Poindexter Press for the week of January 28th-February 1st, 2008

Dear Parents,
Wow! This is my first newsletter as a student teacher! I’m excited! This first four weeks has flown by for me. I have greatly enjoyed getting to know each of the students in the class. I feel that all of us have worked hard to build a relationship with each other. I am learning more about each student every day, and I find they just keep getting smarter and smarter and cuter too! ☺
I want to thank all of you for being so patient with me! I am doing my absolute best to make sure that I send the right child to the right car every morning. I know it can be frustrating seeing your child standing there and me telling them to hold on, but that is only because I am still learning what car goes with what child. I think I have it down for the most part, so hopefully in the morning dismissal will start going quicker!
Thank you also for being patient while I learn all of the routines, how to create homework, exchanging of baggie books, the students last names, and which parents belong to which children! It is a lot to learn in a short time, but I am really trying! If you have any feedback, I welcome it! Please let me know if the homework is too hard for you child or too easy and I will adjust accordingly; or if I forgot something for your child, please let me know!
This week we have been learning all about groundhogs! Monday, we read the story “Fluffy Meets the Groundhog” then looked at pictures of real groundhogs and created a fact sheet! Tuesday, we read more of “Fluffy Meets the Groundhog” and then we wrote sentences on our predictable chart. Our predictable chart started with the phrase “The groundhog…” and the students dictated excellent sentences. Wednesday, we learned a new song called “I’m a Little Groundhog” sung to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot.” We also learned the fun actions that go with the song, and practiced reading our sentences aloud from the predictable chart. Thursday, we sang our groundhog song, took a few of the student’s groundhog sentences, and mixed up the words. The students then had to unscramble the sentence to have it make sense. Friday, we drew pictures to go with our groundhog sentences and created a groundhog nose made with a Styrofoam cup. In Writer’s Workshop, we practiced adding interesting details to our stories to make them more enjoyable to read. In Math, we practiced building 3-D shapes out of cubes and simple addition with cubes on our fingers.
Starting February 11th I will begin teaching a unit on Nutrition and Healthy Habits. I will be sending a letter home early next week to give you exact details of what I am covering!
It has been a busy week but I am really excited to be in Kindergarten working closely with your child and with Mrs. Poindexter. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions!

Have a wonderful weekend! Miss Sweet

Be sure to check out the blog! The CORRECT address is:
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com

Happy February! Kristen Poindexter ☺

Poindexter Press for the week of January 22nd-25th, 2008

This week went by so fast! Miss Sweet is now leading the children during calendar, Morning Message and during our Shared Reading and Predictable Chart time. Next week, she will also lead the children during Writer's Workshop. I've had several parents ask what I get to do while she is teaching; LOTS of things-where to begin?? I will be finishing up assessments with some of the children, working with small groups of our English as a Second Language students, writing grants so we can plant a Monarch Butterfly garden in the Spring, working on professional development (workshops, projects I've dreamed up for myself, and taking a look at my Science curriculum). I am enjoying a time of self-reflection as well, which is keeping the wheels in my head turning at all hours of the day! Miss Sweet will be assuming most of my regular duties beginning February 4th, so anytime you come in during February-she is our go to person. I will always be available for questions but she is the first person to ask. I know there is sometimes uncertainty when you hear the words "student teacher", "Will my child be taught everything they normally would be during this time?" (YES!!) Kelley and I sit down almost daily and talk about her lesson ideas and make sure she is covering everything I usually would. I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have. I hope you and your child enjoy your time with her, she's got some great lesson already planned, so be waiting to hear about those!
We've spent more time learning about dinosaurs and enjoyed our first Big Book with Miss. Sweet, call Daniel's Dinosaurs. The children first read the story and then participated in many activities, including "roaring" when they heard the word "dinosaur" and making tally marks to count, highlighting important vocabulary, and talking about whether or not the story was real or fantasy. Tuesday, the children used gummy dinosaur fruit snacks to make a graph. We talked about more than, less than and equal to when comparing our graphs. Wednesday, we watched a Reading Rainbow movie clip about palentologists digging up dinosaur bones. Thursday, we used chocolate chip cookies and toothpicks to carefully excavate the chips from the cookies. Each of the children counted their chips and we made a class graph showing how many chips we each had.
Be sure to check out the NEW AND IMPROVED blog online! http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com The old blog is up and running again, but I am finding this one more user friendly and nicer to look at! :) BE SURE TO SEND BACK YOUR CHILD'S PERMISSION SLIP FOR THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM TRIP BY FEBRUARY 1ST. EVEN IF THEY CAN NOT ATTEND, PLEASE MARK THAT ON THE PERMISSION SLIP!! THANK YOU!

Have a wonderful weekend! Kristen Poindexter

Newsletter for January 14th-18th, 2008

I can’t believe we’re halfway through January already! We have been busy at work learning all about Dinosaurs! Monday, we kicked off our theme by guessing what was in Mrs. Poindexter’s mystery box. Dinosaurs of course! We also started a KWL chart (the K stands for What we Know, the W for What we Want to know, and the L for what we Learned). We completed the K and W portions of the chart. This will help me guide my instruction towards what the children are curious about. We also started a new Predictable Chart called “Dinosaurs can…” The children each though of a few words to complete the sentence. Wednesday, each of the children used our new classroom pointer (it looks like a hand!) and pointed to their sentences and read them out loud. Thursday, we played “Be the Sentence”. I selected 3 of the children’s sentences and wrote them out and cut them apart. I have special necklaces that the children wear that hold the parts of the sentence. We mix the words up and the children help me put them back in order. Friday, the children each took their sentences and illustrated them, these were then put into a classroom book.
During our math time, we have learning how to work with math cubes, mats, and math dot mats. Our first few lessons were to help us get acquainted with the materials. We then started with simple lessons to build our number sense-the ability to match an amount of an object with a number and then be able to count them accurately. We have moved on to simple story problems and the children are so excited each day when I pull out the tub of cubes.
Miss Sweet has begun co-teaching with me and so far has taken on the task of leading the children through our calendar and Morning Message times. Next week, she will also be planning our Shared Reading and Predictable Chart times. She has also taken over the duties of filling out Behavior Cards for those children who need them. Be sure to check out the blog (http://www.poindexterpressonline.blogspot) where I have been posting new things to try with your children, a new poll, and some video clips to share with you child. Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter ☺

Link to the MSDWT homepage

http://www.msdwt.k12.in.us

Click on "Our Schools"

Then select "Spring Mill"

You can find out all about the Spring Mill Bulldogs!

Try this with your kids!!

Poindexter Press for the week of January 7th-11th, 2008

Welcome back to school! I hope that you all had wonderful holiday and were able to spend some relaxing time with your families. We are back in the swing of things in our classroom and the children seem to have grown so much in the last 2 weeks! We are pleased to have my student teacher, Miss Kelley Sweet with us in our classroom until the end of February. She has written a introductory letter and you will find it attached to this newsletter. She is open to any comments, suggestions, and questions, so please feel free pass them along. During her time in our classroom, she will spend 2 weeks co-teaching with me and then will be teaching the children during the entire month of February. She will be responsible for all the lesson planning, homework, newsletters, and anything else that comes along with doing my job! :)

This week we have been working with rebus stories. Rebus stories have words and pictures on each page and are great for beginning readers because as they look through the book, they see some "words" they can read by looking at the pictures in the sentences. The story we are reading is called The Jacket I Wear in the Snow. Monday, we took a picture walk through the story and then read it aloud. Tuesday, we expanded on that by re-reading the story and the children echo read the story with me. Wednesday, we matched the pictures in the story with their words. Thursday, we took the words and pictures and put them in the order that they were in in the story.

The children are doing a great job writing!! This week, I introduced booklets! Many of the children have taken off writing short stories and some are writing short chapter books! We also learned about making lists and the children thought up a list of reasons to make lists. Encourage them at home to make lists and to help you make lists (grocery lists, birthday lists, to do lists, etc.)

Due to some problems with technology, I switched the classroom blog site to a new address: http://www.poindexterpressonline.blogspot

I hope to get all of the old information switched over, but all the new information is there already. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see added to the new site. I am able to add pictures and other information more easily with this site than the last, so I hope to be able to post LOTS more quickly.

Field Trip

Watch for information to come home this week (January 7th) about our upcoming Children's Museum Field Trip.

December 6th, 2007 Newsletter

Dear Parents,
We began our study of Holidays Around the World this week by learning about Hanukkah, Saint Nick Day, and Saint Lucia Day. During our Hanukkah study, we read several books about Hanukkah, studied a menorah, and then made one of our own. We also learned about the dreidel game and potato pancakes! Yum! On St. Nick Day, “St. Nick” stopped by and left presents in our shoes-we were very glad that no one received sticks instead of goodies in their shoes! ☺ On St. Lucia day, the tradition in my house is for the oldest daughter (me!) to make cinnamon rolls and a hot beverage for the rest of the members of the family. St. Lucia dressed up in a white robe and wore a wreath of candles on her head. The children each made their “wreath” of candles and we enjoyed cinnamon treats!
We have also been busy chasing the Gingerbread Man around our classroom. We have read several different versions of the story and compared and contrasted them using a Venn Diagram (two overlapping circles where we wrote similarities and differences between two stories). We all got a chance to visit the Gingerbread Store and with the play money we were given, were able to “shop” for items to decorate our felt Gingerbread Boys and Girls—they are adorable and will be coming home soon! We had many opportunities to sequence the story and the class favorite was when we used the wooden spoon characters to chase the Gingerbread man around our circle.
We are in need of more AM and PM classroom volunteers! If you are able to give an hour (even ½ hour!!) of your time even once a month, we would love to have you in our classroom to work with a small group! To sign up for a time, just stop in and jot your name down on the calendar located on the Parent Volunteer Table!
Be sure to check out the blog site for new information: http://podcast.msdwt.k12.in.us/weblog
Have a great weekend!

Kristen Poindexter ☺

Happy New Year! 2008

Happy New Year Everyone! I've decided to switch to this blogger site because I was having "techie" issues with the other one. I hope to get everything switched over from the old blog to the new one fairly soon, but in the mean time, all new newsletter updates, pictures, and other information will be posted to this site.

Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see posted on the blog that is not already here--I will do my best to accommodate!

Kristen Poindexter