I'm feeling particularly on top of things right now, having just finished the January newsletter. Here it is for your reading pleasure:
January 2014 Newsletter for Room 202
Please let me know if there are any oversights or omissions. And, as always, if you have questions, please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.
Thursday is Library this week, as well as the Holiday Sing Along. The assembly begins at 9:00 am. Kinders will perform at 9:50, but won't be there for the rest of the performances.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Happy Holidays!
We've been busy making and doing this past week, as we move towards the Winter Break. I think both the Morning and Afternoon concerts were a success, but unfortunately, I didn't manage to take any photos during either event myself. Happily, Abbey's mom sent along a panoramic that she took of the students at the concert, which I'm eager to share with you.
This week, we've finished off our star ornaments and sent them home. Though Mr. Zippy may never recover from all the glitter, I hope you enjoy them. We've also been making ornaments with oranges and cloves. They look neat piled all together. Each student has spelled out the first initial of their name and then they've been given creative license to add other decorative features. Many are finding the cloves a bit "picky" , but most seem to enjoy the scent. Those are being sent home as they finish.
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Then Wednesday is the big day, because we're decorating our gingerbread men. The students are very excited. I've baked them and just hope none crack before their debut. Thanks very much to the parents who're coming in to help ice tomorrow: Nancy and Joe in the afternoon and Tara and Olivia in the morning. Your support really makes things like this possible in the classroom.
Thanks really to all the parents: you really make my job so much easier in so many ways, from just supporting your child's learning and independence to those who've taken on Scholastic or sent in Play Doh or other things that support our learning. You've all been incredibly supportive, and I really appreciate your efforts.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Big Ideas
Today we read The Gingerbread Man. It's the poem for this week and we also read a version of the story in class.
It led to a discussion of rhyming. This is a new concept for many of students and they're still shaky on the concept. For instance, even though "AND" and "BAM" have similar sounds to "MAN", they're not quite rhymes. Of course, it helped our discussion that there are 3 students with the last name "TRAN".
Other words students made with the AN pattern were: FAN, RAN, GRAN and VAN. We also talked about other rhyming words and patterns, like Mouse/House and Cat/Sat. This is a powerful concept to reinforce when reading and writing with your child, because it helps to build pattern recognition.
Another concept we're currently building is the idea of More and Less. Our question of the day has been related to this idea for some time. When asking "How many letters are in your name?" or "How many people are in your family?", I also place cards with the words "Less", a number between 1 and 10, and "More". It's surprising how tricky this is for many students. Even when they can count to ten, they're often unsure which numbers are more or less.
Today I also placed some shapes in our painting centre to see what would come of it. Here are some of the preliminary results:
It led to a discussion of rhyming. This is a new concept for many of students and they're still shaky on the concept. For instance, even though "AND" and "BAM" have similar sounds to "MAN", they're not quite rhymes. Of course, it helped our discussion that there are 3 students with the last name "TRAN".
Other words students made with the AN pattern were: FAN, RAN, GRAN and VAN. We also talked about other rhyming words and patterns, like Mouse/House and Cat/Sat. This is a powerful concept to reinforce when reading and writing with your child, because it helps to build pattern recognition.
Another concept we're currently building is the idea of More and Less. Our question of the day has been related to this idea for some time. When asking "How many letters are in your name?" or "How many people are in your family?", I also place cards with the words "Less", a number between 1 and 10, and "More". It's surprising how tricky this is for many students. Even when they can count to ten, they're often unsure which numbers are more or less.
Today I also placed some shapes in our painting centre to see what would come of it. Here are some of the preliminary results:
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| Two trees and a constellation |
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| What I like about this one is that she used the outine she'd painted and filled it in in a contrasting colour. |
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| This is a butterfly. |
Friday, December 6, 2013
Error on PM Christmas Concert
Dear Parents,
First of all, my apologies. On the class newsletter, I wrote down the incorrect time for the Afternoon concert. It is actually at 1:30 pm on December 13th. The Morning concert is still on Thursday, December 12th at 9:30 am.
I've been busy learning all about different family traditions through our show and share theme this month. So far we've talked about Eid, seen Dreidels and Menorahs, looked at Elf on the Shelf, eaten some pomegranates, admired some ornaments, and read The Grinch and The Polar Express. I look forward to hearing about many more celebrations in the next two weeks.
We've also been busy learning about Goliath, our pet Newt. Apparently, newts are like small salamanders and their skin must always be moist. The salt from our skin can hurt them, so we can't pick him up. We've noticed that he likes to hide on the log and also talked a lot about why salamanders must be sneaky: with poor eyesight, no claws and slow swimming, they need to protect themselves from predators. Although they are nocturnal, some of our students still think Goliath might be scared of the dark as well. Goliath's skin is slippery to help him slip out of predator's hands and he can regrow a body part (like a leg, tail or even an eye) if he does get caught.
It's always interesting to see how students integrate the things you bring to the class. Many have been playing being teacher, but this above is new. We are continuing in many of the same centres, but thanks as well to Heather, we have new outfits for George and the other babies. Students have been keeping busy in the house centre, trying on all the new clothes.
First of all, my apologies. On the class newsletter, I wrote down the incorrect time for the Afternoon concert. It is actually at 1:30 pm on December 13th. The Morning concert is still on Thursday, December 12th at 9:30 am.
I've been busy learning all about different family traditions through our show and share theme this month. So far we've talked about Eid, seen Dreidels and Menorahs, looked at Elf on the Shelf, eaten some pomegranates, admired some ornaments, and read The Grinch and The Polar Express. I look forward to hearing about many more celebrations in the next two weeks.
We've also been busy learning about Goliath, our pet Newt. Apparently, newts are like small salamanders and their skin must always be moist. The salt from our skin can hurt them, so we can't pick him up. We've noticed that he likes to hide on the log and also talked a lot about why salamanders must be sneaky: with poor eyesight, no claws and slow swimming, they need to protect themselves from predators. Although they are nocturnal, some of our students still think Goliath might be scared of the dark as well. Goliath's skin is slippery to help him slip out of predator's hands and he can regrow a body part (like a leg, tail or even an eye) if he does get caught.
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| Here's Goliath, looking out at the classroom. Here you can see his orange underbelly. |
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| Students are using my modelled writing to begin their own letters. |
Have a great weekend!
Lisa Goegan
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