HAPPY SPRING

HAPPY SPRING

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving



 I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  May the day be full of love and laughter!

We are thankful for..................

Today, the children shared what they are thankful for ..........

Abigail-nature, family, my pets-Aidan and Rainbow, my friends
Abi-Mommy, Easter eggs, stars, love
Alex-my family, nature, my friends, the world
Amaya-my sisters, food, my family, water
Amelie-Daddy Dog, rainbows, nature, my family
Ava-my brother, painted eggs, love, my mom
Caden-shelter, the earth, sports, my pets-Pippa, Lexie and Ralph
Ceci-pizza, watermelon, rainbows, colors, flowers
Gavin-fishing, Large mouth and small mouth bass, soccer, flag football
Ian-trees, fresh water, music, pets
Isabelle-the stars, love, family, the world
Jonas-the world, my friends, pets, nature
Jonathan-my mom and dad, nature, my two cats-Mittens and Toto, a turkey dinner
Penelope-food, family, nature, water
Reese-Poodles, rainbows, baby animals, turtles

All School Meeting

We had an all school meeting today! It began with some wonderful guitar music.  The 5th grade hosts did a great job.  The Kindergarten classes shared some cute songs and poems.  Our buddy class and the 2nd graders presented skits and choral readings about the first Thanksgiving.  Jonas accepted a beany cardinal for our classroom. The meeting ended with a sing-a-long with the string jam.





10's and 1's- Counting Efficiently and Accurately

 This week, we have been focusing on how to count efficiently and accurately by using ten frames, tally marks and skip counting.  Also, the children were asked to explain how they counted using words, numbers and pictures in their math journals.




Sunday, November 23, 2014

A New Family Tradition

The Leaves of Thanks are a wonderful Thanksgiving Day tradition and also makes a treasured keepsake for future generations. Set harvest colored leaves in a basket or on the dinner table. Ask each guest to write down what they are thankful for and take turns reading them during dessert. You can collage them into the Thanksgiving Album along with one great photo of the family around the dinner table, holding their leaves. It’s the making of a tradition your family will revere for so many years to come.
If this is a tradition that you already do, are you saving those slips of paper? If not, start now. Can you imagine how powerful it is to pull those Gratitude slips out and revisit them over the years? I am beginning to add those into the Thanksgiving album that I started. I can handle that – one page a year, and the whole album is dedicated to Thanksgiving.

Thank You!

Thank you for the beautiful flowers.  It was so thoughtful of all of you. I continue to be supported by all of you kind words at this difficult time.

T-Shirt Printing

The children had a delightful time creating their one of a kind leaf print shirts. My thanks to all of the helping hands.






Friday, November 21, 2014

Sharing Schedule


The children and I met today and designed a sharing schedule.  Your child has chosen a day to be his/her share day.  If your child would like to share a special treasure or experience, he or she will present during our morning meeting. Sharing is a wonderful way to practice our speaking and listening skills. Also, it is a way we continue to build our community by learning more about each other. After your child shares, he/she asks  the rest of the community for a question, connection and compliment. Please let me know if you have any questions.


OUR SHARING SCHEDULE

Monday                    Thursday
Reece                       Penelope                      
Abi W.                      Abigail                  
Ben                           Amaya             
                                 Isabelle                             
Tuesday
Jonas                     Friday
Caden                     Amelie
Cecilia                    Ava
Megan                    Alex
                             
Wednesday
Ian
Gavin
Jonathan


Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Math Update

We have just finished our unit on 2-D and 3-D shapes. We will begin a unit on tens and ones. The children will explore how to make tens and how counting by tens is efficient. Also, the students will work on their fact fluency for addition sentences with a sum of 10.

Fundations Update


Fundations-Over the next few weeks, we will be learning about the bonus letters f, l, s,-puff, still and mess are three examples. Also, we will learn 3 welded sounds..am as in ham, an as in fan and all as in ball. We will continue to review the digraphs, sh, th, wh, ch and ck. Please continue to complete the home practice components of the Unit packets. I will be sending home the next packet on Monday, November 17th.

STEAM CART-Science,Technology, Engineering, Art and Math

As part of the Big Read, the library/tech center will have a STEAM cart available for the students to use in the library or classrooms. Last week, we had fun with the cup challenges! I recommend a sleeve of plastic cups for home use,,the children were engaged as they thought about construction, balance and building!









Bulb Planting

We had a fabulous time planting bulbs in our planter boxes.  We will look forward to sketching the flowers in the spring. My thanks to all that donated bulbs and the green thumb volunteers.





Thursday, November 6, 2014

Kids and Company- Strong Messages

We had our last lesson for Kids And Company-Together For Safety with Mrs. McIlvaine. This week's lesson was on how to send an "I mean business" message when a child is feeling he/she is in an unsafe situation. The students practiced standing tall, looking someone straight in the eye, using a powerful voice and "no manners" to say "CUT IT OT!!" "LEAVE ME ALONE" or
THIS IS NOT MY MOM OR DAD...HELP ME" We reassured the children that most strangers are nice people we don't know but that if they felt they were in a situation where their warning bells were going off that they had many safety strategies to use. We encourage you to continually review all of the safety strategies presented. Please let me know if you have any questions about the content of this lesson or any of the previous lessons.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Olweus Meeting-Sometimes We Agree-Sometimes We Disagree

Today's Olweus meeting focused on strategies we could use when we disagree or have a difference of opinions with a friend. We began our discussion by reading the book, Friends Mostly by Barbara Joosse. After, we worked with a partner to share a solution or strategy to a scenario such as "You and a friend are working on a drawing of a tree and your friend wants to color the leaves purple and you want to color the leaves green." or "You are playing with a toy and leave to get a tissue and when you come back someone else is playing with the toy and won't give you your turn back." Finally, we made a list of strategies to use in our classroom community.






Here the list of strategies we brainstormed:

What To Do When We Disagree

Use an "I" message
Ask a trusted adult for help
Compromise
Stop and make a plan
Take turns
Take a break
Change the activity
Accept "no" if it is said kindly
Have a conversation
Share
Remind people about their promises