Grandparents day

Recess at the Fields

This week in kindergarten

We continue to work on our plans for when the pile driving starts.  It has been three to five days away for several weeks now, so it is difficult to plan anything with certainty.  Please keep your eye on your email for late breaking news of field trips or other diversions.

"Grandparents and Special Friends" day is this Thursday.  We are welcoming your child's relatives and close adult friends to the Ramona from 12:15 to 1:00.  

I hope to send leveled readers home today.  Your child should receive three copies of books that they have (theoretically) read with their reading groups.  If possible have your child read these to you.  If you can, create a space for your child to keep these books (and others that should follow).

I have slightly more than half of families signed up for conferences on November 9th and 10th.  If you did not sign up, feel free to stop by and sign up, or shoot me an email -- Thursday morning is fairly tight, but there are open slots at many other times.

Please note that there is no school on November 4th due to a teacher planning day, and there is no school on the 9-11th for conferences and Veteran's Day.

This weeks themes:
Theme Book: Armadillo's Orange
Other Books:  Miscellany 
Letter study: Ss
Letters we know: Mm, Tt, Aa
New words: is, have (week 2)
Words we know: I, am, the, little, a, to
Writing: telling a story
Math: Counting within 10's, patterns, shapes
Song: Home on the Range

This week in kindergarten

We had a wonderful wet day at Kruger's Farm last week.  The kids were cheerful and enthusiastic despite wet clothes and unrelenting rain.  Many thanks to our big crew of volunteers who made the whole trip easy and relaxing.

Tomorrow is a late start Wednesday!  School will start at 10:15, and buses will run two hours behind schedule.  The kindergarten team will  be at the main campus early in the morning for professional development.

Beginning today we will be meeting in the morning in the classroom.  I will miss seeing all the students and parents across the school each morning, but it will be nice to have parents have a bit of time in the classroom.

Our literacy work is entering it's more mature phase.  We are beginning the second round of "real centers".  Our four centers -- writing, reading for meaning, math, and art / science / discovery -- will continue their current form throughout the year.  I have been regularly meeting with reading groups during center time,  The work with different groups varies; some students are working on learning letter names, and  others on making sense of challenging words and letter patterns.  For a majority of students our work is beginning to focus on blending sounds together to decode simple two and three letter words, and on recognizing our "sight words" in context.

I really appreciate all the parent support last week.  Parents were quick to sign paperwork, donate snacks and volunteer in the classroom and on our field trip.

This weeks themes:
Theme Book: Life in an Ocean
Other Books:  No David 
Letter study: Aa
Letters we know: Mm, Tt
New words: is, have 
Words we know: I, am, the, little, a, to
Writing: telling a story
Math: Patterns
Song: Roll on Columbia

This week in kindergarten

This is an interesting and diverting week in many ways.  First off, be aware there is NO SCHOOL on FRIDAY, due to the statewide teachers inservice day.  We are heading to Kruger's Farm on Thursday and there will be a substitute on Wednesday while I am at a training session, Yesterday and today are relatively normal days, if you don't factor in the flood in Ms. Forst's room yesterday, and the impending beginning of pile-driving next week.

Speaking of pile driving...  As many of you know, our room has the best view of the future construction site and, probably, the most exposure to the noise of pile driving.  We are waiting until the noise begins to make a decision about what to do about this.  There are three options on the table at this point; 1) remain in our classroom, 2) move to the music room on the other side of the building, and 3) move to the open space on this side of the building.  We want to see what the relative noise levels are in each room before we make a decision.  

I am looking forward to our field trip on Thursday.  As of early this morning, we are only missing five permission forms.  Thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in volunteering.  Please be at the Ramona by 9:30 or meet us at Kruger Farms at 10:15.  The weather forecast seems relatively grim -- periods of rain and temperatures in the 50's.  Please be sure to dress your child for rain, coolness and mud!

In the mean time, the work goes on...  We are enjoying our new centers, and slowly making progress in our writing and math. Our "quiet reading time" is growing quieter and more book centered.  We have read a slew of fun books and we had a great time with our reading buddies last week.

  

Finally, in my many years of teaching kindergarten, I have seen a lot of smuggling.  Students love to break the routine of kindergarten by sneaking in an assortment of items. Over the years I have seen countless Lego Star Wars figures and Pokemon cards, dolls, unicorns and even a live hamster!  But until yesterday, I have never had a student smuggle in a volume of poems by Robert Browning.

This weeks themes:
Theme Book: Dig Dig Digging
Other Books:  Farming
Letter study: Tt
Letters we know: Mm
New words: a, to (week 2)
Words we know: I, am, the, little
Writing: telling a story
Math: 10 frames
Song: TBD

More early October

Here's more news...

Be sure to check your child's backpack today for information about our Apple tasting and for our very important field trip information.  You can follow this link to pay the $10.00 that this field trip costs our school.  Let us know if you are unable to pay at this time.  PLEASE be sure sign and return our release.

I do plan on taking lots of pictures of our activities and posting them to this blog soon.  Be sure to let me know if posting photos of your child raises any privacy concerns.

We had a busy week with a visit from Susan Smallsreed, the NW library's children's librarian, a visit with Mollie Porter to explore the life cycle of a sunflower, and our amazing apple tasting on Wednesday (Thank you Food Front and Mollie).

Here are some important October dates...

October 13 -- Field Trip to Kruger Farm
October 14 -- Statewide Inservice -- No School
October 19 -- Late Opening -- School starts two hours late
October 21 -- OMSI Classes
October 27 -- Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Early October in kindergarten

My apologies for not getting this out earlier.  Our Ramona theme this week has been more about pile-driving...

It was great to see many parents from our room at last night's community meeting regarding the pile driving.  When I left, it seemed that there was very thoughtful conversations happening about each of the alternatives.  My understanding is that we will have a firm plan by next week.

Today (Thursday) is our day of "real" centers.  Over the next four center days your child will be working at the math center, the writing center, the art/science/discovery center. or the "reading for meaning" center.  Each day your child's animal group will be at a different center.  We usually do centers after recess Monday - Thursday, and we love to have volunteers during that time.

Speaking of volunteers, it has been great to see some new faces in the classroom.  Please consider making some time to help out in the classroom.

We are critically low on snacks -- starting tomorrow we plan to mooch off of other classrooms with a better snack supply.  Please think of us as you shop.

Ask your child (an occasional feature of the blog..)
Who is in your center group?
What center were you at today?
What book did Mr. Melling read?
What book did you read at quiet reading time?
What did you do in switch? (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)
What did you do in art? (Tuesdays and Fridays)

This weeks themes:
Theme Book: Julius
Other Books:  No theme this week
Letter study: Mm
New words: a, to
Words we know: I, am, the, little
Writing: "King of -ing"
Math: October calendar, sorting
Song: Do-Re--Mi.