Friday, March 30

Everyone tests their handmade kites.

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

Gone are those warm sunny days that graced us last week. Although we haven’t had another considerable snowfall, the wind brought cloudier and colder days.  Please make sure your child has ample layers for outside recess both in the morning when the temperature seems to be at its coldest and in the afternoon when the children are outside for an extended period of time. 

Hunter’s mom was able to spend the day on Monday and help with activities throughout the day. A big Thank you to Marta for sharing your smile, as well as your two helping hands! J  Leah Gartner continues to come in to read to the children on Tuesday morning as part of a reading program. Thank you!

We had another busy week with plenty to share with you. Our biggest news is that we have a new student. Her name is Sophia Taylor and we are delighted to have her join our class.  She visited twice this week and will be starting full time this coming Monday. 

Finn and Tanner make their tissue paper flowers. 

On Thursday, we celebrated the beginning of spring with an afternoon of crafts and activities. The children from both kindergartens were put together and divided into three groups to participate in the activities. Each group rotated among the different stations: planting herb seeds in biodegradable newspaper pots – which will be sold at the Farm Fest later in the spring, tissue paper flower-making, and paper kite-making. Thank you to Rochelle Kleber (Lilly’s mom) from Mrs. White’s class and Melanie Westenfeld, who were able to assist me with the tissue paper flower station; Alicia Jenks and Janet Cathey who supervised the planting station, and Mike Nixon who helped Ginny with the paper kites station.  The children enjoyed working in the mixed groups.  We are looking forward to all the fun that springtime brings.

Language Arts:

We have been writing in their journals and have been working practicing tapping the sounds in words to help them write them.

Keira

Ian

Students of the Week 

Our Students of the Week are Keira and Ian. Among the variety of questions that were asked during the interview, we learned Keira’s favorite color is blue and Ian’s is black. Keira’s favorite food is ramen noodles and Ian’s is pizza. Keira wants to be a teacher for doctors and Ian wants to be a detective in the FBI. 

Ian

The children continue to go to the computer lab 2-4 times per week depending on our schedule. They recently started logging into the math site: www.runmoby.com which the school just purchased a license. If you would like your child to do some at home, you can go to the site and have them log in to do lessons. Your child’s login and password is the same. Just type it in twice. It is handwritten below:

________________________________.

CALENDAR

• Next week is National Public Health Week. Our nurse, Mrs. Christie-Males has lots of exciting things planned for that week. Stay tuned! Each day has a different color to match a healthy colorful food. Dress your child accordingly: Monday: Red, Tuesday: Orange/Yellow; Wednesday: Green; Thursday: Blue/Purple/ and Friday: Rainbow.

• Share: This week’s share theme: voiced and unvoiced /th/ elicited a “thrilling” share of a crocodile’s head with very sharp teeth, a Thunderbird matchbox car and feathers. Next week’s share theme is /qu/. Get quacking!  J

•  Snacks:  Thank you to Ian and his family for this week’s snack. The class enjoyed cheese sticks, pretzels, and delicious baby carrots. Next week’s share will be provided by Ava’s family. Many thanks! J

• We have an upcoming field trip on April 10^th to see the play “Henry and Mudge” at the Lebanon Opera House. If you would like to be a chaperone, please let me know. The bus will be leaving around 9:15am. Please send in $5 for admission next week. We have an additional field trip to the LOH later in the spring, so feel free to send in $10 to pay in advance. Thank you!

• Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences:  If you would like to schedule a conference and haven’t done so yet, please send in your conference sign up sheet. Spaces are still available. Thursday, April 5^th and April 6^th has time slots open, as does, Wednesday, April 11.  

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Reminder: Our classroom reading buddy, George, is being sent home on Fridays to be returned on the following Monday. Included in the bag is a journal. Please write in the journal the book or books you read to him and any funny stories that may have resulted from his home visit. Keep him for the weekend and return him and the journal on the following Monday. Andrew had a delightful weekend with him last weekend. He enjoyed a fun-filled weekend with him and his family! We are looking forward to hearing all about George’s adventures. Thanks! 

• Reminder: Extra Clothing:  Please make sure your child has warm clothes for the chillier days and an extra set of clothing in case they get wet. Thank you!  

• Scholastic Book Orders: You can order anytime online if you like. Please use our classroom code: H9K3R

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar

jbodnar@wsesu.net

Friday, March 23, 2012

Enjoying popsicles on a warm day. 

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

While enjoying popsicles outside this afternoon, Maple said, “We asked for spring and we got summer!”   That’s for sure! Fortunately it has been beautiful and not humid.  As more warm weather approaches though, please send in water bottles so the children can quench their thirst and refresh themselves easily throughout the day. 

The recent spate of spring weather inspired me to rearrange the room last weekend. The children are enjoying the new layout – it is a bit more open.  With the couch near the windows we are using this space for share and read alouds. Our worktable is closer to the sink for baking days and provides more visibility and accessibility when we work at tables and rotate among stations.

We started a new project this week: a felt pencil case.  It is fairly simple with a single piece of felt folded into an envelope shape with stitching along the sides. We are using a dull steel yarn needle to make the stitches. The children chose among a variety of colors and contrasting embroidery thread.  They all seem very excited and are eager to learn the new stitch. Upon completion we will learn to stitch on a button and embroider one or two initials. We will keep them in our chair pockets to help organize and personalize our supplies.  J 

Kaitlyn and Keira tapp out sounds to write words

Language Arts:

We have been writing in their journals and have been working practicing tapping the sounds in words to help them write them.

 Students of the Week

Our first two students of the week are Maple and Hunter. We interviewed our students and tested our listening abilities by remembering what they said. Then everyone drew pictures and illustrated their sentences. These pages will go in a personal book that will go home to be shared with their families. A copy will remain in the classroom so the children can practice and share reading together.

If you would like to send in a photo of your child  feel free to send it in and I will return it when the project is over. Thank you!

CALENDAR

• Share: Next week’s share theme are hard and soft sounds: /th/ as in “this” and /th/ as in “think”.  This week we were treated to some interesting shares. We learned there are tricky letters when put together sound like /ch/ such as: tr in tree and truck or dr in dragon.  Brady’s connected his share of a baseball mitt and ball, to the word catch.”

•  Snacks:  Thank you to Kaitlyn and her family for this week’s snack. We enjoyed cheese sticks, crispy apples, yogurt and Cheese Nips. We also baked fresh applesauce muffins. Next week Ian’s family will be providing snack. Many thanks! J

• Kindergarten Spring Festival: We are hoping to celebrate the arrival of the spring with a festival at on the afternoon of Thursday, March 29. We are tentatively planning for 1:00- 2:15pm. We plan to have it outside – weather permitting. If you would like to help out please let me know.

• Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences:  If you would like to schedule a conference please fill out the attached form and note your first and second choices. Return it as soon as possible. I will send home a confirmation date and time on a first come first served basis. 

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Reminder: Our classroom reading buddy, George, (a stuffed animal) is being sent home on Fridays to be returned on the following Monday. Included in the bag is a journal. Please write in the journal the book or books you read to him and any funny stories that may have resulted from his home visit. Keep him for the weekend and return him on the following Monday. Cashton was his first baby-sitter. He enjoyed a fun-filled weekend with him and his family! We are looking forward to hearing all about George’s adventures. Thanks! 

• Reminder: Extra Clothing:  Outdoor recess is very wet at this time of year. Things are finally drying up. However, I’m pretty sure we are not free of colder days or even snow. If it snows, please remember boots and snow pants. Otherwise we will send home those items. Thanks! 

• Scholastic Book Orders: You can order anytime online if you like. Please use our classroom code: H9K3R

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar

jbodnar@wsesu.net

Friday, March 16, 2012

Kayla mixes the bread dough.

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

Signs of spring are on the way and with the changing weather comes renewed energy and spirit!  We have been able to take advantage of the warmer temperatures by getting outside for morning recess a bit more than usual. We also are continuing to build on our bread making skills. The children helped me make another batch of homemade bread on Wednesday. We used regular white bread flour and combined it with some wheat flour. This has improved the flavor and the children enjoy seeing it rise and making it into fun personal-sized shaped rolls. We enjoyed fresh bread for snack on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, we baked banana and applesauce muffins. We will continue to make more bread in the coming weeks as a way to experience this authentic task, explore our senses, and enjoy healthy snacks.  If you would like to help with baking let me know. The children are enjoying the process as well as the end results…. Tasting!  J 

We continue to sing with Mrs. White’s class on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings from 8:05 – 8:15 am. We are learning a variety of new songs like Red, Red Robin; Friends, Friends; Aiken Drum; and John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, among many others.

Language Arts:

We are learning how to make new words with magnetic letters from words we already know. For instance: If we can make the word “day”, we can change out the first letter /consonant and insert a new one to make a number of new words. For instance: bay, may, say, and ray. We learned that they all rhyme. We used them in sentences. We put out learning to work when we practiced writing in our journals. Our writing prompt was to write about the Signs of Spring.

I have been reading a new chapter book about a gnome named Puck. He’s quite a character who is learning some important life lessons about being kind and being a good friend. The students have been forming clay objects while they listen to the story. They are surprised that the story doesn’t have many pictures. They are learning to use their imaginations while they listen and work their clay. I am enjoying watching them as I read and as well as listening to them as they explain at the end of the reading about what they have made. They are learning to trust their abilities and use their imaginations.

Cashton and Andrew solving their puzzles.

Explorations

Time spent learning to work together making puzzles, sharing the rocker board, using the computers, building with blocks and role playing in the drama center have been memorable and have offered many learning and growing opportunities.

CALENDAR

•  Share: Next week’s share theme is the sounds: /ch/ and /sh/.

• Snacks:  This week we enjoyed apples with cinnamon, pretzels, bananas, crackers, freshly baked bread (lovingly baked by the Kinderbees!). Next week Kaitlyn’s family is providing snack. Many thanks! J

• We are hoping to celebrate the coming of spring with a spring festival at the school on the afternoon of Thursday, March 29. We are tentatively planning for 1:00- 2:15pm. Weather permitting we plan to do it outside. If you would like to help out please let me know.

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Reminder: Our classroom reading buddy (a stuffed animal) is being sent home on Fridays to be returned on the following Monday. Included in the bag is a journal. Please write in the journal the book or books you read to him and any funny stories that may have resulted from his home visit. Keep him for the weekend and return him on the following Monday. Thanks! 

• We will start learning about each other next week. We will celebrate one or two new Students of the Week.  If you would like to send in a photo of your child in advance so I have a picture to display feel free to send it in and I will return it when the project is over. Thank you!

• Reminder: Extra Clothing:  Outdoor recess is very wet at this time of year. Please plan ahead and send in extra socks and a pair of pants/sweatpants for your child in case their clothing gets wet through their snow pants. We try to keep them as dry as possible, but this time of year is extremely difficult. Thank you!

• Scholastic Book Orders:  I extended the March book orders. If you would like to place an order, please return the order forms by Monday, March 19.  You can order easily online if you like. Please use our classroom code: H9K3R

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar

jbodnar@wsesu.net

Friday, March 2, 2012

Kayla and Ava dress up for drama.

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

 Our first week back from vacation has been filled with lots of energy.  We are working on channeling this energy in a positive way as we navigate our day paying attention to rules and routines. It is normal at this point in the year to begin to forget responsibilities, so I am focusing a bit of attention on how to be better community members.  I hope by the week’s end it has been easier to get your child back into the routines at home as well. 

With the new snowfall, just a quick reminder too about hats, boots and mittens for recess.

Mr. Cox Reads Owl Moon. 

Language Arts:

Continue having your child finish the Jolly Phonics workbook. You may notice your child working especially hard to finish his or her Jolly Phonics workbook. Several children have completed theirs and have received a special writing notebook and box of colored pencils as a reward. J

Mr. Cox visited our classroom on Wednesday at the end of the day to read his favorite book, Owl Moon. The children enjoyed getting to know him and having a chance to get to know him a bit more. Thank you Mr. Cox!

Friday is Dr. Seuss’ Birthday celebration. We will be reading with our 8^th grade Advisory buddies and enjoying Dr. Seuss related activities.

Cashton, Andrew and Brady build a spaceship. 

 CALENDAR

• Share: We didn’t have share this week in order to take a break from the routine. Share will return next week with the theme of these two sounds: short and long /oo/ and /y/. Please brainstorm with your child to choose a share that will connect with the sound.  This is a fun and challenging activity to do with your child at home as you try to find one that fits.

• Snacks:  Thank you to Finn’s family for providing this past week’s healthy snacks.  We enjoyed a homemade gorp mixture, yummy yogurt, and crackers and cheese.  A big Thank you to the Liland family for this week’s snack and a hearty thank you to one and all for all your contributions for the past 12 weeks. I will be providing next week’s snack.  Please see attached sign up for the following 12 weeks. J

Ryan and Keira building with Legos

 HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Scholastic Book Orders:  February book orders will be coming in shortly.  March Book order forms are enclosed. Please return your orders or place online by March 15.  If you order online please use our classroom code: H9K3R

Hunter constructs a village road.

• Breakfast: I am trying to encourage children to eat their breakfast in the cafeteria before coming to the classroom. School starts at 8:00 am and some children are eating their breakfast until 8:15.  We are singing in the mornings with Mrs. White’s class at 8:05 and they will miss this important time with the other class if they are still eating. Now that we are in the second half of the year it is a good idea to try to get them in the habit to eat breakfast before school or if they eat at school, to eat it in the cafeteria before 8:00 am. Let me know if your child has special considerations that I need to be aware of. Thank you! J

• Please help your child become a shoe-tying expert. It is difficult to continually tie laces throughout the day. If your child is not yet ready to tie his or her shoes and you are buying new sneakers, please consider Velcro until they have mastered the art of tying. I really appreciate your help and your support. Thank you!

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar

2.17.12

3 Cheers Hundred's Day!

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

 This has been a week of many highlights – with Valentines Day and our celebration of 100 Days of School. We enjoyed making valentines, sharing treats and doing special Valentines activities in the classroom.

On Thursday, we learned more about the number 100. We finished reading Emily’s first 100 Days of School, by Rosemary Wells and read Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100^th Day of Kindergarten by Joseph Slate. We built a long chain of 337 links. It was made up of 33 links of 10 with 7 left over. Each child chose a color and counted out 10 links and put them together. On the rug we linked the separate chains of 10 together and made a long chain. We also started a list of 100 things that we are grateful for… We are at 37 right now. Stay tuned. Once it is complete I’ll send it home so they can share it with you.

Counting 10 of each treats makes Trail Mix 100!

We made trail mix of 100 treats using 10 different snacks: raisins, m&m’s, peanuts, etc. They also worked in their table groups together to build one building using 100 small colored blocks and flats. This proved to be the most difficult as some children had trouble collaborating on one building. Something to work on. J At the end of the day we shared our collections of ten things that we brought in. We didn’t finish everything so tomorrow we will finish the other activities.

Language Arts:

Continue having your child finish the Jolly Phonics workbook. When it is completed I will have a special treat for each child. :)

Math:

We continued to talk about money and the two coins introduced to date: penny and nickel.  We also worked to learn about different ways to make ten. We reviewed what a math sentence is and practiced reading our math sentences: 8+2=10; 3+7=10, etc. This activity used two sided plastic shaped beans. One side is red and the other white. You can do this activity at home using pennies. Put 10 pennies in a cup. Have them gently spill the pennies out of the cup on a table or floor. Count how many are heads up and how many are tails up. Help them to write their math sentence: for instance, 4+6=10  (four heads + 6 tails = 10 pennies altogether).

Cashton's /v/ share: Valentine's Day Bear

  

Stars the Hamster is Star for the day!

CALENDAR

• Share: I had inadvertently forgotten to choose new share sounds for this week. I sent home a note on Monday and chose: /ng/ and /v/. It was timely with Valentines Day this week. Cashton brought in his new Valentines teddy.  On Monday Ava brought in a special share: her hamster, Stars. The children enjoyed learning about her new pet and watching ash she traveled in her hamster ball on the rug.

•   Snacks:  Thank you to Andrew’s family for providing this past week’s healthy snacks.  We enjoyed Cheese, Nilla Wafers, apples and raisins. A big Thank you to everyone for the extra Valentine treats which we enjoyed.  This coming week’s snacks will be donated by Finn’s family.  Thank you one and all!

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Scholastic Book Orders:  Please return on Wednesday, February  15.  I will be submitting the scholastic book order  by Wednesday next week. If you didn’t return your book order but would like to still place an order you can order online at scholastic.com using our classroom code: H9K3R

• February Vacation: February 20-24^th.. I hope you all enjoy a happy, healthy and restful break.

• A special thank you to everyone for the special Valentines given to me by your children. They were very delightful!

Thank you!

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar

2.10.12

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

 The Hanover Footnotes (a-cappella chorus) came to school on Wednesday to demonstrate their singing talents. The children enjoyed hearing and seeing their exciting performance with Broadway songs from Wicked, Greece and other favorites.

No field trip this week, but we did enjoy the warmer weather. The playground is becoming less icy and so we are getting outside for recess more often.

Social Studies:

Our study of Kwanzaa has taken us to the fourth principle: Cooperative Economics. We would like to raise money to buy an African drum called a Djembe for the class. We made a list of things we could do.  We thought it would be fun to make crafts and sell them. I will be looking into how we might be able to accomplish this and will let you know. If you have any ideas please contact me. Thank you!

Language Arts:

I will be sending home your child’s Jolly Phonics workbook. Please have him/her finish the activity pages. Thank you!

We will continue to work on blending, rhyming and writing. On Tuesday, February 7, we participated in Vermont Writes, a statewide initiative focusing on writing. After introducing the prompts and talking about what they might write about, the wrote and illustrated their sentences for 7 – 10 uninterrupted minutes.  The prompts were: What is your earliest memory and If I had one wish, it would be…  Their work is mounted on construction paper and posted in our hallway. Come and take a look! Afterward, they each read their sentences to the class. Great job Kinder-Authors!

Math:

This week we started a unit on money in conjunction with our Kwanzaa Principle #4: Cooperative Economics. It also ties in nicely with the upcoming Presidents Day. This week we focused on the penny and nickel. They learned whose faces are on the coins and about how they are the same and how they are different focusing on physical characteristics and value.  We will continue next week working with these two coins and will probably introduce the dime.

Ryan painting up a storm.

CALENDAR

Share: Wonderfully zesty /w/ and /z/ shares! The students listened to shares about wheels, watches, warm-ups, owls, penguins, wings, bubble wand and for /z/ we learned that the “s” makes the /z/ sound sometimes at the end of the word as in “wheels,” “stickers,”  and “cars.” Next week's share is the sounds /ng/  and /v/.

Snacks:  Thank you to Ryan’s family for providing this past week’s healthy snacks.  It was suggested that I post the snack items so parents know what was eaten and help them make choices when it is their turn. This week the children enjoyed Smartfood popcorn, clementines, cheese, crackers, and carrots. I find these whole food items are great choices for the kids. They are easy to distribute, easy to eat, and are healthy. They don’t have food dyes, or highly processed sugars, etc.  Basic choices are fruits, cheeses, crackers, raw veggies, and yogurt. If you have any questions about what works best, or any suggestions please let me know and I’ll be happy to help.

This coming week’s snacks will be donated by Andrew’s family.  Thank you one and all!

100^th day of school:  Please help your child think about bringing in a collection of 100 items that they can share with the class by Thursday, February 16th. The collection should fit inside a baggie (no larger than a gallon size). Some ideas might be: 100 raisins, 100 cheerios, 100 pennies, 100 button, etc. 

We started table teams and jobs early in January. The children have done very well with them. Each week they have a different jobs, based on their seating location For instance: 12:00 gets the napkins, 3:00 gets the Milk, 6:00 gets the bowls (with the snacks) and 9:00 gets the straws and is the table captain. As table captain they are responsible for making sure the tables are clean and chairs are pushed in.  For the most part they really have enjoyed participating, pitching-in to clean up and overall they have done a great job learning how to help each other. 

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

•  Scholastic Book Orders:  Please return on Wednesday, February  15.  You can always order directly online using the code: H9K3R

• February Vacation: February 20-24^th.
• Thank you to Kaitlyn’s family for donating pencil top erasers, glue sticks, glue, and whiteboard markers!

Thank you!

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar

2.3.12

Dana Jacobsen-Goodhue talks to the children before we go into the pasture with the alpaca.

 
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

We enjoyed a fantastic walking field trip on Tuesday to the Jacobsen-Goodhue Alpaca farm and Sherry Clarke’s Goat farm. The children were very excited to meet the animals, learn about their care and ways in which these animals contribute to our lives.  The kindergarten classes left at 8:30 am and were back in time for Art at 9:50 am.

Keira and Kayla chat with an alpaca.

 The students did well following the rules on our walk and when we were with the animals. They were able to pet the alpacas and feed them. At the goat farm we were able to pet them and see how they are milked. 

All hands are busy petting.

In the photo on the right you can see the head of an adorable goat as he is being adored by his kinder fans.

When we returned we made Thank You notes that will be delivered to our hosts.

Read Aloud: After our field trip to the farm Leah Gartner read three fun farm books. Oh What a Noisy Farm by Harriet Ziefert, Big Red Farm, by Margaret Wise Brown, and Cluck 0’clock, by Kes Gray.

The children wrote and illustrated their favorite part of the field trip. They are beginning to stretch their writer’s wings as writers.

Hopscotch to it!

Jolly Phonics:

We completed the last grouping of 6 sounds with /er/ and /ar/ this week!  This is a big accomplishment. They are doing a great job learning the sounds, using what they know when they read on their own and when writing. We will have lots of more fun activities the rest of the year. They should be very proud and pleased. I am. J

Social Studies:

In our study of Kwanzaa, the third principle is Collective Work. As a result the class brainstormed some ideas: they decided to work together to clean their table trays.  Another classroom project idea was decorating the classroom bulletin boards. They have been making snowflakes – white ones and colorful ones using washable markers which we dipped in water. They cut beautiful unique snowflake patterns which you can see in the hallway and inside the classroom if you visit.

This week’s morning explorations included an inside hopscotch board and the classroom computers. Most of the children have enjoyed learning how to play hopscotch, to balance and toss, and to learn to take turns.  Blocks, and Legos continue to be best sellers.

Another group effort by Kinderbuilders.

CALENDAR

• Share: Great /or/ shares! We were treated to a toy fork lift, an orange, a unicorn, an adorable panda, a noisy gorilla, something from a bookstore, and I brought in some gorp for an extra snack share.  Next week’s share theme will be a choice of either the sound /z/ or /w/.

• Snacks: Thank you to Cashton’s  family for providing this past week’s healthy snacks.  This coming week’s snacks will be donated by Ryan’s family.

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS:

• Scholastic Book Orders: are going out in today’s folder. Please return on Wednesday, February  15.  You can always order directly online using the code: H9K3R

• Reminder: Lately, students are forgetting sneakers or shoes to wear inside durling the day. Please make sure your child has inside shoes/sneakers to wear  everyday. Boots are too clunky and hot for wearing inside.

• Water bottles are still needed in their cubbies even during the winter months. Please send in a water bottle for them to use throughout the day. Thank you!

Thank you!

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Bodnar