Week 15: December 10-14, 2012

The frost is on the meadow!

Kinderbees

News
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS  

The Winter Concert on Wednesday was our biggest highlight of the week.  Our Kinderbees and Mrs. White’s Can Do Kids did an outstanding job. It was their first experience on a big stage with an even bigger audience.  They were wonderful performers and were respectful listeners which helped to make a great audience. We hope you enjoyed the show!

Santa Lucia Day

On Thursday, December 13th,  we celebrated Santa Lucia Day by bringing gingersnap cookies to our friends in the 1st and 2nd grade and singing a short version of a traditional song, “When in the darkest night, enter with candelight, Santa Lucia,  Santa Lucia.” We enjoyed dressing up with handmade paper hats and holly crowns. Our very own Lucia dressed in a white gown with a red sash to portray Santa Lucia who lived in the fourth century in Sweden. 

Math: From the beginning of the year in Morning Meeting our math activities involve daily counting. For instance, when counting our number of classmates at school during attendance and the Number of Days in school (as we approach 100).  We use Unifix cubes to count and gather and straws  to count and bundle together to make tens. 

This week we began to learn how to represent numbers of objects using this strategy by physically grouping them and then drawing them on paper.  Math Activities: I hope the Everyday Math Home Link activities makes sense.  Additional math activity ideas will be sent home each week. Let me know if you have any questions.

Phonics:  This week’s Jolly Phonics lessons introduced two new vowel combinations /ee/ and
/or/.   They are making great progress. Keep up the at home practice!   

Explorations:  Painting continues to be a big highlight.   The children are really enjoying the opportunity to paint and are learning how to clean up afterward.  

Keira shares her pinecone treasure from nature.

Share:  We enjoyed wonderful shares from nature.  Among the many shares, we had rocks, gemstones, and pinecones.   Next week share theme will be the same. We are talking about the beginning sounds of each share and making connections to the letters that make those sounds. Please help your child choose something that comes from nature.  It can be something they find outside or treasure from nature they already have. 

CALENDAR:

All Next Week: 

• Christmas Project:  Please send in Non-Perishable Foods for this additional holiday fundraiser  

• December 19th Holiday Brunch: If you would like to join your child please send in a note to reserve a place. We eat lunch at 10:45-11:15am. The cost is $3.55.  Thank you! 

• December 20th:  Holiday Kindergarten Party. If you would like to participate or contribute please contact our class parent Sara Doolan.  Please help your child decorate the manilla bookmark which will be exchanged on Thursday next week at 10:20 am. Please return no later than  Tuesday.   Make sure they write To: and  From:  on it so we know who it goes to and who it came from. 
  -- We are planning to decorate cookies at 8:30 in the morning on Thursday, we have gym at 9:34 am then plan on exchanging the bookmarks at 10:20. After Lunch (11:15-11:45) we will be doing a holiday craft. then dismissal is at 12:00pm. Happy Holidays to all!  

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Group Snack: Thank you to Conner’s family for contributing this week’s healthy snack! We enjoyed more healthy snacks throughout the week with pretzels, popcorn, carrots and clementines. Next week’s snack will be provided by Kerridwyn’s family.  Thank you!

• Snack 2013:  We will be signing up for more snack again starting with the week of January 2.  Please I will post a new sign up outside our door. You may send in a note with your requested date or email me to write in. Please make a first and second choice in case your first choice is taken. Thank you!

• David’s House:  We collected the pennies this week and sang together today in Mrs. Hitchcock’s class. We recorded it and it was played on the radio station KIXX 100.5 for the radiothon for David’s House.

• Outerwear:  The colder weather is here! If snow falls, please send in winter boots, snow pants, mittens, and hats. Please help your child learn to zip up their jackets on their own.  It will help us get them ready to go outside more easily. 

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar 

Week 14: December 3-7, 2012

Kinderbees

Tanner demonstrates his robotic skills
as he carefully follows Ms. Jenks' directions.

News
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS  

In Science/Language Arts, we have been learning about living things. More specifically, how to compare people (animal kingdom) and trees (plant kingdom).  We read  Are Trees Alive? by Debbie Miller.  In it, we learned to consider how our legs and body are like the trees trunk, and our arms are like the trees branches, our head is like the trees crown, our blood is like a tree’s sap, our skin is like the tree’s bark and more! The children each chose one aspect, and wrote and illustrated their sentence.  We will be making a class book from the originals and I will make copies to send home.   

We also have been learning about animals and how they adapt to the changing seasons. While we need to dress more warmly this time of year, (please send in your child with hats!) and many of us have harvested our gardens and have stored our veggies in our pantry and maybe even the freezer, some animals also store foods, some migrate, and some hibernate.   We read a special issue of Scholastic’s “Let’s Find Out” about different animals who hibernate and then chose an animal to write about where they may hibernate.  Your children are learning to tap out their words as they write them,  practice reading what they write, while also checking to see if it makes sense.  They are also learning to consider what they will illustrate to support the words that are written.  These are very complex tasks.  Their effort and hard work deserves our recognition. Bravo Kinderbees! 

Paige loves to paint!

Phonics:  This week’s Jolly Phonics lessons introduced two new vowel combinations /oa/ and
/ie/.   As we practice the sounds and sight words together as a whole group, I can see they are practicing at home and are doing nicely.  We are beginning to tap out words that have only 2 sounds but three letters (as in “tie”) and three sounds but 4 letters (as in “coat”)! In the next few weeks I plan to introduce small predictable books for them to begin to read.   These vowel combinations will help them tackle words with these vowel patterns. Keep up the great work!  

Math Activities: I sent home Math Home Link Activities to help guide you at home to help your child develop an understanding of a variety of math concepts.  Let me know if you have any questions. 

Explorations:  This week I introduced painting to our explorations.  The children are really enjoying the opportunity to paint in a large format on the easel.  They also are enjoying  the WikiStix, building with Legos, housekeeping, blocks and clay.  We have been learning how to work together better on group projects by using our words.  Please help your child resolve their problems using their words and asking for help.  This is a strategy we are working to develop at school. They don’t always know are to articulate their frustrations, but modeling it form them can help. 

Chance paints his his favorite tractor -- John Deere.

Share:  We enjoyed a week of great /r/ shares.  Among the many shares, we had rocks, a stuffed rabbit and rat, and even a rhinoceros.    Next week share theme will be something they want to share from nature.  We will discover the sound it begins with and keep a record/tally. Please help your child choose something that comes from nature.  It can be something they find outside or treasure from nature they already have. 

CALENDAR:

Maeve explores
magnetic properties.

All Next Week: 

• David’s House:  Please send in pennies or coins for our K-2 David’s House Annual Fundraiser all next week. 
  
• Christmas Project:  Please send in Non-Perishable Foods for this additional holiday fundraiser if you can.
  
• December 12th, 6:30-7:30: Happy Holiday Season Concert:  Please plan on arriving by 6:15pm.  You should bring your child to our classroom and then you can get a seat in the auditorium.  After the concert we will go back to our room and you can pick your child up there.  More information will be available on the school website in the coming weeks.

The Following Week: week of December 17th

• December 19th Holiday Brunch: If you would like to join your child please send in a note to reserve a place. We eat lunch at 10:45-11:15am. The cost is $3.55. Thank you! 
• December 20th (Noon Dismissal):  Holiday Kindergarten Party. If you would like to participate or contribute in some way please contact our class parents.  I am sending home a blank bookmark attached to today's newsletter. Your child selected a Secret Buddy from our Kindergarten wing.  His/her buddy  may even be from Mrs. White’s class.  We will practicing being detectives to learn what our buddy likes so that they can draw and decorate the book mark for their Secret Buddy. Make sure they write To: and  From:  on it so we know who it goes to and who it came from.

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Group Snack: Thank you to Isaac’s family for contributing this week’s healthy snack! We enjoyed wonderful snacks throughout the week with homemade banana bread, fresh raw veggies: celery, carrots, broccoli, cheese, crackers and pepperoni.   Next week’s snack will be provided by Conner’s family.  Thank you!

• Outerwear:  The colder weather is here! If snow falls, please send in winter boots, mittens, and hats. Please help your child learn to zip up their jackets on their own.  It will help us get them ready to go outside more easily. 

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar 

Weeks 12 & 13: November 30, 2012

Stella and Bryant at the Friendship Feast. 

Kinderbees

News
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS  

Change is happening all around us.  As the weather begins to get colder we have begun to make preparations for the season of shorter days and longer nights.  At home we may have harvested our gardens, tucked our gardens in their beds, and exchanged our lighter clothing for warmer ones in our closets and drawers.  At school we are learning about these changes along with the seasonal celebrations that are enjoyed this time of year. 

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving with Mrs. White’s class by singing songs and participating with a Thanksgiving Friendship Feast.  We are learning about the signs of fall or autumn which will continue our study of Living Things.  Next week we will be studying trees (plants) and comparing them to the animal kingdom (people).  

Tylor labels his picture.

Language Arts:  This past week we completed our fourth and final English Language Arts Assessment: Comprehension.  We read The Bear Under the Stairs, by Helen Cooper.  The children are learning to retell stories, thinking about sequencing: the beginning, middle and end.  They also had to think about how they might be similar or different to the main character.  We learned how to label our pictures by drawing a line to an object in the picture and writing it’s name.  They worked very hard to complete this lengthy assessment and I am very proud of their work. 

Phonics:  This week’s Jolly Phonics lessons introduced the vowel combination /ai/ and the consonant /j/.  As we add new sounds to their sound book, please continue having your child practice their actions and sounds on a daily basis.  It will help with their fluency as we begin to learn to blend the sounds to make words. 

On Thursday, I sent home a new Sight Word practice activity.  Over the past few weeks I have introduced several sight words.  We will continue to add new words on a weekly basis.  Similar to the Sound Book, it will be important to practice these Sight Words daily to improve their fluency.  They are excited to learn new words and use them in their writing. 

Games and activities: I hope you have enjoyed playing Memory Sound Game. If you would like your child to play the Memory Game at home, please send in a note and I will send it home in their bag.  I am beginning to send home tins of
c-v-c (consonant-vowel- consonant) words that your child can sound out.  If they get stuck have them say and do the actions for each sound and then blend the sounds together. 

Kerridwyn build her dam with
her little sister and Maeve.

Tylor and Tanner chew their carrots
like beavers through a log.

Nature’s Carpenter’s: Beavers  Thank you to our ELF parent volunteers, Lori Beland, Keith Bryant, Stacey Wilber, and Dave Brodeur (Zeb’s dad from the 2nd grade). On Thursday we were treated a fantastic lesson on Beavers.  We learned a lot about these incredible oversized rodents: how they grow, what they eat, and how they build their dams.  We learned about how their bodies are adapted to their survival.  We enjoyed a puppet show, and dressed Lucia up to look like a beaver.  Then we built our own dams using playdough and sticks and tested it with water.   As a final activity we pretended to be beavers by chewing through a carrot stick (instead of a log). The kids enjoyed eating the carrots, even the ones who always turn their noses up at carrots at snack!  Surprises will never cease.  :)

Legos and Kindos learning to share and be fair.

Explorations:  This week our explorations included a WikiStix and Legos. We have been learning how to working together better on group projects by using our words.  Cooperative play and work is an important aspect of every kindergarten classroom. In the picture above we are working on sharing space, sharing toys, and asking for pieces and help. 

Share:  We enjoyed a week of great /p/ shares.  Next week share theme is the sound /r/. Please brainstorm with your child some things that begin with the sound /r/ and help them choose a share that fits our theme.  

CALENDAR:

•  December 12th, 6:30-7:30: Happy Holiday Season Concert:  Please plan on arriving by 6:15pm.  You should bring your child to our classroom and then you can get a seat in the auditorium.  After the concert we will go back to our room and you can pick your child up there.  More information will be available on the school website in the coming weeks. 

Rockin' it!

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

•  Group Snack: Thank you to Morgan’s family for contributing this week’s healthy snack! We enjoyed wonderful snacks throughout the week with homemade muffins and pumpkin bread and pretzels and Cheddar Popcorn.   Next week’s snack will be provided by Isaac’s family.  I can’t thank you all enough for all your help in making this work so well.. 

• Outerwear:  The colder weather is here! If snow falls, please send in winter boots, mittens, and hats. Please help your child learn to zip up their jackets on their own.  It will help us get them ready to go outside more easily. 

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar