What's New?

Families,

If you are looking for enrichment activities in Mathematics, you can use the user name and passwords sent home in your child's Daily Folder (please write me a note in the planner if you need another letter with the information).    The activities assigned on the Envisions website will allow you to see a Visual Learning Animation which your child sees every day as we go through the math topics. A link is on our blog for your convenience if you'd like to access the site. Currently, we are in Topic 3, understanding numbers 0 to 5.

Letters with user names and passwords will be available by early next week for our Reading series on Think Central.  The link is also located to the right of your screen under "Helpful Websites".

I look forward to meeting with you soon to talk about your child's progress next week.  

Thank you for staying in close contact with me.  I will continue to strive to keep you abreast of our classroom life.

Warmly,
Mrs. C.

Gingerbread Goodness

I have to admit I had fun with this thematic unit!!  I think the kids did, too.  

Just look at those happy faces!

After reading The Gingerbread Man, we read The Gingerbread Boy to introduce the reading comprehension skill of compare and contrast.  The comparison also lead to talking about vocabulary terms same and different which previews our first math topic of sorting.  Always sneaking in something extra, we found words that had -an in the stories.



The Gingerbread Man arrived to deliver the cookies---long story.  The gingerbread men had escaped from the oven in the cafeteria.  The children took a tour of the school to search for them. Unbeknownst to the children, they were learning  the locations of very important places in our school like the nurse, the principal's office, guidance, and the media center.

Here, the children used gingerbread bears as nonstandard units of measurement with everyday items in our classroom, such as books and bins.

Homework

I am grading assessments and it occurs to me that I would like to try adapting homework to the learner instead of sending home a general, one size fits all packet of worksheets.  This is where being partners in your child's learning will be beneficial.  Each child will have different skills to focus on and I will provide feedback on their progress.  I will use a rubric. Rubrics specify the level of performance expected in an assignment/project.  Along with specific comments provided by me, the use of rubrics will (in time) help your learner judge and revise their own work before handing in an assignment.

4- Perfect score, can’t ask for more.  Look at me, I am a four!

3- Almost perfect, look at me.  Doing great, I am a three.

2- Still much to do, makes me a two.  But I can do it, I’ll show you.

1- I have just begun.  with hard work, I’ll get it done, but for now, I am a one.

Homework will be assigned on a Friday and collected the following Friday. This week, I will send a review of the Math we learned.  Homework will begin in earnest on the week of 9/12.  Let's give this a try.  

"I'm done! Now what do I do?"

I use routines to assist in effective classroom management.  There is a small poster in class above the "All Done" bin that holds completed work.  It has the acronym C.R.O.W.  Next to each letter there is a picture.  I have explained and demonstrated to the children what they can choose to do when they have completed their work.  C- clean up, R- read (the pictures in a book), O- other work, W- write.  The children absolutely amazed me when I saw a couple of them go to the Name Word Wall and begin to write a new friend's name.

The children are learning that reading the pictures is reading.  When they are done, they get a sheet of paper and draw what happened first, next, last (we are working on this, which will be a good segue to expository writing).

One of the kiddos enjoying read to self.

Even at this young age, establishing routines in the classroom help build work and time management skills.  It also helps create an organized and predictable environment where the children can feel safe and secure.

Morning Message

Every morning after the students perform their morning routine activities, they go to the Morning Message Board.  This board displays a message like:  "Good Morning!  Today is Wednesday, August 31, 2011.  Do you think we will find the gingerbread cookies?"  There is a column for yes and no.  The children get to express their opinions to the questions by signing their name.  Other benefits to the morning message include:  demonstrating writing is speech written down, differentiating between a letter, word and a sentence and associating letter and sounds to name a few. I definitely "share the pen"!

I then use the data to sneak in a simple addition sentence.

The Kissing Hand

This heartfelt story is read on the first day.

After reading the story, the children completed a survey on
whether they wanted a chocolate kiss or a kiss from Mommy.

Once everyone signed, I used the signatures to show a simple
addition sentence.

Welcome to our room!

Two days of staggered start for my kinder kiddos!  Please enjoy the tour of our room and first day activities.  Please forgive the lack of apparent order of the photographs, I am still getting used to blogging!

This is our library nook.

These are my learning focused boards with space for essential questions and learning goals. My husband created magnets for me so that I can still use the whiteboard.  Below, are interactive word walls where children can access vocabulary words and take them to their desk.

Drawing a picture of the cereal and writing in the journal.

Will it ever be this clean again????

Here, I used cereal as a common experience to spark off journal writing on the first day,
thank you Melissa Forney!  We also snuck in math concepts and sorted the fruit ring cereal, but don't tell the kids that!!

"A child's name is an island of certainty in a sea of unfamiliar print."- Marie Clay
This is an idea I adapted from Nellie Edge.  According to Nellie Edge, when you allow the children to participate in writing that means something to them daily, automaticity with letter formation and handwriting control is reinforced.

As you enter our room, this is the view to the left.

Whole group teaching area.  Hubby reinforced easels with shower board and added
a rain gutter (thanks, hon!) to facilitate teaching on these boards.

Cozy Classroom

One of my goals is to strive to make the class operate as a FAMILY, where care, consideration and encouragement are given high priority.

My hope is to create a classroom community where each child feels secure, nurtured and supported by their environment.  What better way to demonstrate everyone is welcome in our room than to have family photos displayed (honorable mention:  insert malomee here). I believe the children will delight in finding their photos around the room as well as delight in learning about their new friends and family.

I am requesting you send in a 3 x 5 framed photograph of your child with the family during the first two weeks of school.

Rev' Up the RPM's

This is not the kindergarten you remember.  It's not the kindergarten I remember either, playing inside the handmade house while Anthony S. shook the sides to strong arm me out.  Gone are the sand and water tables, bye-bye, to the housekeeping center, too.  The dramatic change that is taking place in kindergarten reflects the need for individuals to be able to think critically and be creative problem solvers in our ever evolving, fast paced world.  Amidst the transformation, I believe that kindergarten remains the foundation on which each learner constructs their educational experience.  So, does that mean I will push my precious putt-putt past the red line down Highway 1 every morning to get to school?  Tempting as that may be on mornings I am running late, the reference to rev'ing up the rpm's means there must be Rigor, Purpose and Measurable methods incorporated in designing my learner-centered instruction.  I am enthusiastic about constructing common activities based on the standards alongside the children that will assist in binding prior knowledge to new information.  I look forward to watching them create meaning of the concepts I teach and take ownership of delving into work that will promote higher order thinking.  Learners, start your engines...

You are safe with me

I am certain many have heard the adage, "Rules are made to be broken".  I feel it would be counterproductive for me to have "rules" and post them as such.  Clearly, I must have expectations of my learners as it is necessary to manage the ebb and flow of our time together.  But, more than that, when the children promise to:

1. Follow directions quickly
2. Raise your hand
3. Make smart choices
4. Listen when others speak
5. Make your teacher happy

they are sowing the seeds of skills they can utilize across the span of their life.  Of course, they won't raise their hands at a board meeting, but waiting to be acknowledged and listening when others speak are norms expected in mainstream society.  

As I have expectations of my learners, I think they should expect much of me.  I want them to expect me to be prepared, to be patient and to be kind among other things.  I want them to know that I will do all I can to safeguard not only their physical well-being while they are with me, but their social-emotional selves as well.  Our classroom management program is based on a stroke of genius found on Fairy Dust Teaching created by Sally Haughey (thanks again to my malomee for finding this).  This management system provides each learner with a kangaroo and a pouch.  The five principles of behavior act as the foundation for classroom decorum.  If a learner is having difficulty adhering to one or more of the guidelines, it is a perfect opportunity for me to redirect the behavior.  If the learner chooses not to comply, their kangaroo will leave their pouch for the safety of mine.  When the learner is ready to modify their behavior, they will return to their own pouch.  Consequences will be reasonable and logical, and adhere to the districtwide  Positive Behavior Support system currently in place.

I have been positively influenced by Love and Logic, Whole Brain Teaching, and Responsive Classroom.

Working hand-in-hand with families as active partners, the cooperation in the classroom the children demonstrate today will hopefully be the foundation of productive, world-class citizens of tomorrow.

New Beginnings

My students and I have yet to begin learning, laughing and loving kindergarten as we are still enjoying the last days of summer vacation.  I realize the intention behind the blog title, it is the direction in which I wish to guide my class this year. Purposefully, I want to meet the expectations of the rigorous standards set before me and weave in what I believe to be a cornerstone for my learners and me, the three C's.  The three C's encompass the concepts of communication, cooperation and compassion.  With the loving support of my family and a wonderful teaching partner, I will strive to make my vision a reality.