Week 2, 2017

Dear Parents,

We have completed our first full week of school! The children are transitioning well to the morning routine and we have focused on learning each others names and classroom procedures and guidelines. There is a lot to cover this week so please bare with me!

1. Curriculum night is Wednesday August 30th starting at 6. There will be three sessions running from 6:00-6:40, 6:40-7:20 and 7:20-8:00. Mrs. Robinson and I are asking that if at all possible you attend the first 2 sessions so we may attend our own children's classroom meeting the third session. Admin will be available during each session to answer specific CSD curriculum questions. Please plan to arrange for childcare for your child during this time. 
2. School pictures are being taken next Wednesday. 
3. Please read Leslie's email regarding homework. We will be sending home books each night that you can read to your child. These are to be returned the next day. You do not need to record these in a reading log. 
4. Thank you for labeling snack separately. Please encourage your child to open containers and baggies at home, to clean up after themselves and put items away. We have started doing all of these self help skills in kindergarten and it is so helpful when it is reinforced at home. 
5. During curriculum night we will go over schedule, field trips and volunteers in the classroom. 
6. Your child started specials this week. Music with Mrs. Shutt, Art with Mrs. Tiasia, PE with Ms. Nancy and Spanish with Ms. Ruby!  

Readers Workshop:

This week has mainly been about routine and procedure but we have had fun learning nursery rhymes. We have recited them in different voices (a class favorite), made books and made rhyming words from the stories. We made a cracked Humpty Dumpty and discussed how we would put Humpty back together again. We have been matching upper and lower case letters, digging for eggs in the sensory table to find the correct upper and lower case match. We have built walls for Humpty to fall from.  We have been sequencing the stories as well as reading different versions of the classic nursery rhyme. The children have also participated in partner reading.

Writers workshop:
I introduced them to their handwriting book. We worked on letter F with pencils, play-dough and chalk. The children also drew pictures that started with letter F.

Science:

This week, we predicted what would happen if Humpty fell from the wall to the ground using an egg and a hard boiled egg.

Math centers:
Our main focus this week was exploring math manipulatives. The children also used 1:1 correspondence when matching numbers to groups up to 12.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Hazlett

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hello!

This blog will be updated weekly with all of the fun activities we do each week and the curriculum we learn (and occasionally a few pictures). There will be some weeks it will not be updated due to holiday's, a crazy week etc. but my goal is to send out an update every single week by Friday. Please check this each week as it will have important announcements!

I thought I would send this first blog out with a note saying hello and thank you all for a great first week! Your support has been outstanding. The first week of kindergarten can be super overwhelming and rough for the kiddos and they have all done exceptionally well! Thank you to everyone who has donated things to our classroom already. Our outside field toys, play dough mats and magna-tiles (and all of the other supplies and items that have been donated) are helping us start our year off great!

I also wanted to send a few reminders and let you all know that I have officially started my maternity leave! If my little guy does not come on his own this weekend, he will be evicted some time early next week. :) I will send another update with pictures once he finally decides to join the world. Mrs. Hazlett and Mrs. Robinson are set up for a successful 12 weeks without me, but I will definitely come in for an occasional lunch and recess. I will also plan to be at the fairy tale play that will happen sometime this fall (date TBA). If you need anything within these next 12 weeks, please email Mrs. Hazlett (jhazlett@csdspartans.org) as I will not be checking my email very often. I plan to return to school November 13th!

Reminders:

1. Please send your child to school wearing tennis shoes every single day! This is a school rule that we take very seriously as we are super active each day. We need everyone wearing socks and tennis shoes each day so that we all stay safe!
2. If you haven't sent in your child's head shot and extra pair of clothes, please do so by Monday.
3. Your child will be coming home with a blue folder every night. This is our main form of communication each day. It's also how your child will deliver all of their important papers and classwork to you. Please check it and empty if every night. If you need to send us a note, you can place it in the folder as well because we check these every morning.
4. Starting Monday, your child will get to pick a "take home" book. You get to keep this book for one night only. This is a book that you read to them that afternoon/evening. In the beginning of kindergarten, your child's only "homework" is to read with you and PLAY! Of course, if your child gets home and does not want you to read that book, that is totally fine. He/she can pick a book from home for you to read. This just gives you one more book to choose from.
5. If your child is going to be absent from school due to sickness, vacation etc.. please email attendance@csdspartans.org and CC Mrs. Hazlett (and me when I return to school). This applies to every form of absence except the eclipse day. If you are going to keep your child home on Monday the 21st, then you were supposed to fill out the form sent via email last week. Let me know if this is confusing/does not make sense. 

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!
Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

This Week

The picture above and below are from last week's cardboard arcade that we tested out in the middle school. Very  neat. 

Enjoying s'mores outside as that was one of our balloon activities. The chocolate chips were melting faster than everyone could eat them in the sun!

Hello parents,

First of all, I cannot thank you enough for showering my sweet baby boy this week! My husband and I were blown away by your generosity and the love that you shared with us this week. We are so thankful! The high chair is already put together and sitting in our kitchen. :)

Second of all I wanted to send a quick update about this week. So sorry it has been forever! Things have been crazy both at school and at home.

Math Workshop: 

We learned a new math game this week: Two players face each other standing with their hands behind their back. Both partners say "1,2,3 draw!" and they flash however many fingers they want. The first player to shout out the sum gets a point. The first person to get 10 points wins the game. This is great for working on math facts.

Thematic Centers:

There were no thematic centers and instead, we are using that time for extra writing/editing. Yesterday the kids worked on writing about what they would do if they could be any sea creature. Today the kids wrote about their feelings of summer break approaching.

Reader's Workshop: 

Many kids have finished bare books but we still have several who are decorating/illustrating. We are using reader's workshop for that! We have also been reading lots of beach/summer books.

Announcements:

We have been enjoying out balloon popping activities each day. For the last 10 days each balloon that we pop has a fun activity. This year the kids came up with the ideas and voted on their top 10!

Ms. Rubi needs a few supplies for Spanish on Monday (we are switching specials next week). Be on the lookout for the sign up for that!

The mine field trip is next week (Wednesday). We have several chaperones, so thank you! I will send another email about this next week, but we will need your child to wear old/water resistant clothes and water resistant shoes. Something that can quickly dry but no flip flops. We will be standing in a shallow river, so dress your child appropriately! Please send a change of clothes and a towel just to be sure. They will need a packed lunch (with an ice pack if anything needs to stay cold), sunscreen already applied and a container with a lid to collect rocks. The "Zip lock" to go containers work best. But a small box is fine too. Please do not bring a zip lock bag. We learned the hard way a couple years ago that the rocks poke right through the bag and rip a hole. A hat is optional.

I have enjoyed meeting with everyone for end of year conferences. I cannot believe the loop is over! It is not too late to sign up. If we cannot find a time during the school day to meet, I am happy to do a phone conference as well. I know everyone's schedules are just as crazy as mine!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Schultz

April 24th-28th

We celebrated poem in your pocket day by singing a special song and sharing poems. How fun!

Bead counters for adding and subtracting in math. 

Play dough cutting to learn about halves and fourths. 

Happy to see the sun on Wednesday so we celebrated with a class picture!

Sharing poems today!

Practicing for our play!

Michael, Liam and Landon loved counting the mystery change jar. $47.62 is what they counted. We will see what coin star says. ;)

This week we focused on passion projects and play practice.

Thematic Centers:

We have been finishing up art centers for the art show and practicing for the play every afternoon. There were no must do centers this week.

Reader's Workshop:

This week there were new spelling words and leveled book.s Hopefully everyone had a chance to read with their child this week! Ms, Alicia and I pulled children individually to read rather than in groups.Everyone is still working on their bare book.

Math Workshop:

This week we continued to learn about fractions. We added in learning about thirds and practiced fractions within word problems. Some friends even learned about reducing fractions and adding fractions.

Writer's Workshop:

This week we focused on poetry again in honor of poem in your pocket day! Many children asked to share their poems.

**We are in need of glue sticks! If you have any extras, send them in.

**If your child did not have any special paper for their bare book, now is a great time to send some in! We are starting to finish editing writing pieces and the kids are excited to glue their writing onto special scrapbook paper. Each child should have between 12 and 16 pieces of special paper that matches their topic.

**If you are able to volunteer to help us cut paper/glue for bare books just send me an email with what time you can come and I will set you up! It is a very easy task that can be done anytime during the day in the resource room and we are thankful for the help.

**Our play is next week (Thursday) May 4th at 11:00 in the black box. Don't miss it!

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz

April 17th-21st

Hello!

We have had a busy week. I just want to say thank you again for making my birthday so special. What a treat.

Earth Day stations: On Wednesday we learned all about plants in honor of earth day on Saturday. Even though it rained and we had to move it inside, we still had a blast!

Math Workshop:

This week we learned all about fractions! We practiced on white boards and then with yummy cookies. This year we focus on halves, fourths and quarters. We continued to rotate through review math tubs.

Dividing cookies in haves and quarters! So fun.

Reader's Workshop:

We did not do leveled books this week with the hopes that you would use that time to work on play lines. But there were new spelling words! Passion projects are still going well.

Writer's Workshop:

We took a break from passion projects to work on writer's workshop. This week we wrote poems! We wrote a class poem about spring. Here it is:

Spring

The sun is shinning bright.
The bees are buzzing delight.
Olaf is melting in a pool.
Olaf is trying to be cool.
Butterflies are flapping in the wind.
The end!

Thematic Unit:
This week we are studying Renior. He liked to paint outside and liked to paint people talking and doing things like having a picnic, watering flowers, washing clothes etc. We rotated through 4 centers:

1. Flowers in a watering can painting (these are at school for the art show)
2. Renior painted China plates (we used paper plates and these are at school for the art show)
3. How to Spot Renior book illustrations
4. Boating party water color pencil painting with speech bubbles. The water color pencils are so neat! These are drying at school.

Play Lines: Please, please, please help us by practicing play lines. We started to practice this week and it was difficult because many kids had not started practicing their lines at all yet.

*So sorry about the calendar mix up. For some reason, my copy did not save. Hope that helps though!

*If anyone is able to send in one more pack of baby wipes, we can use them!

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz

April 3rd-6th

Hello parents!

We have had a great week before spring break.

Math Workshop:

This week we finished part/part total fact families. We finally rotated through everyone! We also made "bead counters." Each child received a string with 20 beads of two different colors. 10 dark beads and 10 light beads are strung onto a necklace. We use these for even/odd numbers, counting by 2s and 3s, addition and subtraction, tens and ones, and more. It's a tangible way for kids to experience the math topics that we are learning. We practiced using them with addition and subtraction this week.

Reader's Workshop:

We have many kids who have started working on typing their bear books pages! Lots of kids are editing their writing pieces and publishing things. It's so neat to see them working so hard on such a big project.

Each child received their leveled book this week. There were no word study words this week. It was a short week and we are ahead of the other classes so we took a short break this week. :)

Thematic Centers:

We are still studying artists and this week we studied Henri Matisse. He "painted with scissors." He made bright and bold pictures as well as more serious/darker pictures. Two of his art pieces are at the top of the blog. We rotated through 4 centers:

1. Make a replica of the dancing woman (these are at school)
2. Make a replica of the flower vase using bright colors, paper and tissue paper (these are at school)
3. "Dance" with scissors. Use bold paper and cut out different shapes to make a paper collage
4. Make a replica of Matisse's fish bowl using paper cut outs, paint and tissue paper (these are drying at school but will be sent home next week)

Play: We are working on songs here but need your help practicing play lines at home! Thank you for working with your child on their lines each week. It doesn't have to be "homework." You can simply practice while riding in the car, waiting at the grocery store etc.

Earth Day: We will need a few supplies for this day and we will be sending out a sign up genius soon. We will also need a few volunteers for that day so sign up if you are able!

I  hope everyone has a wonderful break!
Mrs. Schultz

Last Week of March

Center Time!

Hello! Please see the important list of dates for the rest of the year. How crazy is that?

Spring Break: April 7th-14th We return to school April 17th
Artist Play and Art Gallery May 4th at 11:00 in the black box and then our classroom
Organ Concert May 9th at 12:30 (We will need a few helpers for this)
No school: May 12th
Emerald Hollow Mine Field Trip: May 24th (we will need a few helpers for this)
No school: May 26th and 29th
Author's Tea: May 30th Time TBA
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL: May 31st

Reader's Workshop: Everyone received their leveled reader and worked on their passion project. Many children have started editing and it is so cool to see their polished writing.

Math Workshop: This week we worked on fact families using the part/part/total mats. This was really hard but everyone is slowly catching on. Example: I have 3 numbers, 6, 4 and 10 and I can make 4 equations out of that.
6+4=10
4+6=10
10-6=4
10-4=6

Science: I forgot to post that Ms. Rachel's experiment with the pennies the other week was really cool. Everyone experimented with leaving pennies in vinegar for a few minutes versus over the weekend. Then the leftover pennies were used at the end of their rainbows! The children received 3 primary colors and had to create the whole rainbow using just those 3 colors. Last week and this week there was no sci fri.

Thematic Centers: This week our artist was Picasso! What an interesting man. He sculpted, sketched and painted. We read numerous stories about him and his art and rotated through 4 centers:

1. Illustrate the How to Spot a Picasso book
2. After learning about the blue period, paint about a time that made you sad using shades of blue only. Write a sentence to go with it. (This is still at school.)
3. After learning about cubism, create your own portrait using shapes, lines and bright colors. (This is at school for the art show.)
4. Use black paper and chalk to create your own version of Picasso's rooster painting called "La Coq." (This is at school for the art show)
A quick note about these art centers. We are keeping many of these artist centers at school to hang for the gallery walk after our play. We cannot wait for you to see the art.

**We are also in need of baby wipes, spoons and forks if anyone has any to spare! We like to keep the spoons and forks here at school because many children do not pack them in their lunch box.  :)

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz