Hello Neighbor

Last week was a fun, family celebration week. The children brought their family trees to school and we used them for several activities. We used them to graph the number of brothers and sisters we had total in the classroom, there are more sisters than brothers. We used the family trees to make a book page that says the number of boys and girls that live in our houses. We also completed several projects that will be ongoing throughout the year and will be a surprise for parents some time this school year. We learned about letter "L," the sound it makes and what words start with that sound. We were able to make a letter L list from these words that the children came up with, doing our Show and Share helps with this weekly activity. The morning class had a great day celebrating Clifford's birthday with him and they even got to meet the author on the live webcast.

Next week we will be talking about our community and neighbors. We are going to make a large map in the classroom on the train table and we will be coloring our houses to place on the map. Using environmental print that children see out in the community we are going to cut out several of these signs and place them on blocks so they can help build a community on our large map. We are going to read a story entitled "On Our Street," in this story a dog gets lost and the children are looking for the dog. The children are able to use a map to see where the dog has been and then locate him. We will use several types of maps and map keys to find animals and locations on a map. Using our large community map we are going to play a game with the dog from the story and using location words try to find where the dog is hiding.
Next week's letter is the letter F. We are going to do a Frog on a Log counting activity, some fine motor finger strengthening with the hip hop frogs and counting frogs. Don't forget Thursday is Show and Share bring in something that starts with the letter F. This weeks color is red so make sure you wear Red on Thursday.
We will have several new friends joining our a.m. and p.m. classes soon. In the morning class we will have two new friends: Aarav and Austin and in the p.m. class we will have one new friend Aidan. We would like to welcome our new friends to our class.
On September 30 the online portfolio that I use for the class, Lifecubby, updated and "improved" its software. In the process of doing this several of the editing features were not restored and some pictures that were originally rotated into the proper position were switched back to a sideways angle. I have been in contact with them regarding this and they have advised me to wait until the end of this week before adding any additional entries to cubbies in order for all of the bugs to be worked out, so because of that although I have entries to make I am holding off until all of the glitches have been worked out.  
One last reminder if you are placing a Scholastic order I will need your order by October 4th. Please make sure when you are filling out orders that you are sending in to school (not online) that you carefully review your order and totals.

Week of September 24-27

Weekly Theme: Meet My Family

Color: Green

Letter: L-Show and Share-An item that starts with the letter L

Last week we had the opportunity to talk about our classroom and to develop a set of classroom rules. The children did an activity in which they chose pictures and decided if the people in the picture were making good choices or bad choices. After sorting the pictures we used the good choice pictures to develop classroom rules. The rules that we developed include:

1. Be a listener.

2. Use a quiet inside voice.

3. Use gentle hands.

4. Keep hands to self.

5. Use walking feet inside.

6. Wait your turn.

Hopefully this activity will give the children ownership of the rules and will be make it easier to remind them.

We made a yellow sunshine for yellow week and the children made a picture of themselves from a small cardboard cutout. The sunshines are hanging in our window in the classroom and we are going to use the cutouts on another wall in the classroom to create a circle of friends.

Next week we will be talking about our family. On Thursday I sent home a family tree, please fill this out and return it ASAP we will be using the information for some sorting activities and to create a classsroom counting book.

On Monday the a.m. class will be celebrating Clifford's birthday. Scholastic is broadcasting a celebration of Clifford's 50th birthday party at 10:00 so the a.m. classes are participating in it and making Clifford dog ears to wear to the party. This broadcast is only at 10:00 so unfortunately the p.m. class will not be able to participate it this activity. There will be other opportunities for the p.m. class to participate in a variety of activities.

We will be using Legos for letter L to replicate designs, make patterns and paint prints. We will also be making Lid Ladybugs.

We are going to be reading the story "The Napping House" and we will do several activities such as sequencing the events of the story. On Thursday please have your child bring their Letter L Show and Share item and because it is green week please have them wear the color green on Thursday.

Last week I entered journal entries into everyone's cubby on Life Cubby. You should have received an invitation to join so that you can view your child's cubby. If you did not receive one please let me know so that I am able to go back and send one to you. I will be updating cubbies with more pictures soon.

Week of September 17-20 Our Happy Classroom

Last week was a great week at school. We talked about and practiced identifying emotions. We labeled feelings and identified reasons why someone may display those emotions. We did some role playing with a variety of peer interactions identifying the feelings and what the appropriate response may be to positive and negative peer situations. The children made a school or a bus and placed pictures of their friends on it. The children were able to bring this home so that they could share their new school friends with their family. This week we will be talking about our classroom and working together. The children will participate in developing classroom rules. Identifying rules that we need to have to keep everyone safe at school such as: use an inside voice, use walking feet, and keep hands and feet to selves. We are going to read "Pirates at School."
Next week will be yellow week and we are going to make a yellow sun. On Thursday, September 20 please have your child wear some yellow to school.  We are going to read "Pete the Cat, Four Groovy Buttons." This story reinforces, repeated  phrases, colors and counting. We have read two other Pete the Cat stories at school. These books have some repeated phrases and a rhythm that the children enjoy. Visit Pete the Cat at: www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/.
We will also be making figure of ourselves which when finished will be displayed in the classroom for a while. The children will bring them home when we are finished displaying them at school.
Thursday is Show and Share and this week your child need to bring a picture of their family.
I have entered journal entries into each child's cubby on LifeCubby.me. I have come across some editing problems during this process and have contacted the company to get those resolved, I hope this issue will be resolved quickly. When this issue is resolved I will begin sending LIfeCubby invitations so that you can begin accessing your child's eportfolio or "cubby." Currently some of the journal entries have been placed in the wrong cubbies and in order to maintain privacy I need to resolve that issue before sending invitations to view your child's cubby.
Classroom Reminders:
-Please return any forms you have not returned yet. If I do not have your permission slip to begin your child's eportfolio I will not be able to send you an invitation to access your child's cubby or begin entering entries into your child's cubby.
-Please remember to be prompt at pick up and drop off.  We begin getting children out of cars at 8:20 in the a.m. and 11:50 in the p.m. and due to safety concerns we have to close the doors at 8:30. in the a.m. and 12:00 p.m. If you arrive after these time you will need to go to the office and sign your child in. It is important to be on time because we begin classroom activities promptly and when your child arrives later it can make them feel a little disoriented because the day has started and they still have to complete the check in process. At the end of the day we begin taking the children to their cars at 10:50 and 2:20.
-The children have begun bringing home the classbook to share with you. Please take the opportunity to look at this with your child. If your child has not brought this home yet they will be soon.
 

Show and Share for September 13th will be to bring in a picture of a friend.  If you do not have a picture of one of your child's friends they can draw a picture of their friend. Please make sure you include the friend's name with the picture.

Week of Sept. 10-13 Friends and Feelings

We had a great first week of school. Everyone came to school happy and they are getting use to the classroom routine. We are all meeting new friends and getting to know our new friends. This week everyone completed a page for our book, "I Am Special." Each class made a book and every child will get the opportunity to bring the book home and share it with their family. Please take the time to sit down with your child and look at the book, talk about it and see some of their new friends at school. There is a paper at the back of each book that is for comments, please feel free to share any comments you have regarding the book or just sign your name. We will continue to make different books throughout the school year and everyone will get the opportunity to take the books home and share them.  When your child has a school book at home please be careful with them, all of the students take pride in their work and we want to be able to share them with everyone.

Next week our theme is Friends and Feelings. We are going to be making friendship bracelets placing a bead on our bracelet for each of our friends as well as practicing those fine motor skills When the children first arrive at school there are three tables set up with activities on them. These activities typically include a fine motor task, a learning task and a cooperative, problem solving task. The children are then given the opportunity to rotate to each of the activities. Some of the arrival activities may be repeated later in the week to provide additional practice with these skills.  We are also going to be completing our self portraits we started on Thursday last week. The morning class will be making a school bus that displays all of their friends at school, this is a great way for you and your child to learn and remember their new friends' names. The afternoon class will be making a school house with all of their friends in it. We will also be reading several stories about how to be a good friend and labeling our feelings.  We are going to problem solve some friend situations identifying how the situation might make us feel and how to solve the problem positively. At this young age children are just learning about friendships and how to navigate them, this is a way to help influence those positive relationships and positive problem solving skills. We are also going to be using photos we took in class to play a Friend Memory game.

Just a few reminders:

       If you have any additional paperwork please turn it in as soon as possible. Once I have all of the paperwork I can put together a class roster. The class roster will be sent home so that you can contact anyone from our class.

      Once I input everyone's email addresses and I have signed consent forms I will begin posting journal entries in everyone's "cubbies"(eportfolio). I have some photos from their first week of school that I will be able to start inputting.

      Thursday is our gym day so please make sure your child wears tennis shoes or shoes that are secure on their feet, not flipflops or slippery dress shoes. This week when we went to gym we practiced the three steps of throwing: step, point, throw. We practiced this by throwing a ball and knocking down the candles on the birthday cake (bowling pins on a box).
      Thursdays are also Show and Share, please check the calendar that was sent home at the parent orientation regarding what is for Show and Share.

 

Dear Parents,

The children have been working hard to make a class book at school.  They would like to share the book with their families, so each child will have the opportunity to take each book home for one night.  While the book is at home please take the opportunity to read and discuss the book with your child, they are so proud of their work.  Please also take very good care of our book so that the next child will have the opportunity to share it with their family. After you read the book please sign the back page and return it the next day.

We hope you enjoy our literature.

Mrs. Shields and Class