Mrs. Beattie's Kindergarten

2012-02-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

We have quite a collection of 100's in our classroom: 100 pasta pieces turned into a butterfly, 100 beads, 100 pieces of rice (which looks like about a tablespoon), 100 words organized in 10 lists, 100 legos built into a car, 100 tiles, 100 paper squares, 100 pistachio shells, 100 mini marshmallows, 50 toothpicks + 50 mini marshmallows built into a sculpture, 100 pieces of colorful yarn, 100 pussy willow buds, and a structure created today with 100 geo-blocks! Thank you for your help compiling these collections.

2012-02-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

Today Emily Von Trapp completed her work teaching children in the class to give each other lavender hand massages. Everyone seemed to greatly enjoy this opportunity.

Valentine's Day is in one week! We will be making large personal envelopes to collect valentines next Tuesday. Today I am sending home a class list. If your child brings valentines, please make sure there is one for each child in the class. Also, please refrain from sending in sugary treats/ candy as part of your child's valentines. My experience has been that consuming vast amounts of sugar is disruptive to the rhythm of our day and interferes with lunch!

Thursday is our 100th day. Several children have already brought in creative collections of 100 things. These can come in any time between now and Thursday.

2012-01-31T06:15:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic trip to the fire station today. Firemen Tristan and George showed us what firefighters do when they are called to a fire and how they keep themselves safe while they fight a fire. We were then given a tour of a fire truck and the equipment van. I was extremely impressed with the level of respect the entire class showed during our visit and on our walks to and from the fire station!

2012-01-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

Bub Burbank, who is a custodian at our school and also the new fire cheif, has graciously agreed to give us a tour of the fire station tomorrow. We will be walking over around 8:20 and should be back in time for library at 9:00.

2012-01-25T04:15:00.000-08:00

We have spent lots of time discussing community the last couple of weeks. When asked what community was, the class decided it was a group of people who help each other. We talked about different kinds of communities that we may belong to and have really focused our attention on the school community and the Waitsfield community. This week children have been creating a block community by painting block buildings and labeling them. We also worked on community books. Next week, we will begin a project in the computer lab focusing on important ways we can help in the different communities we belong to. All of this is in preparation for our Bread and Puppet residency at the end of February, which will have a focus on community.

Today was our 90th day of school. As long as the weather cooperates, this means our 100th day will be in two weeks, on February 8th. I have asked each child to collect 100 somethings at home and choose a way to display these in the class. We brainstormed objects that would work well for this: toothpicks, pasta pieces, mini marshmallows, legos, beads. I have encouraged children to have fun thinking of creative ways to share their objects, for example one child thought of collecting 100 legos and building a structure, while someone else thought of making a design with 100 toothpicks and gluing it in paper. These can come in any time between now and February 8th.

If you haven't sent in Flynn money yet ($3.00 per child), please do. While our show is not until April, we need to pay the bill for the entire school now.

2012-01-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

We have finished learning the letter formations and sounds for all of the lower-case letters. Over the next several weeks we will learn upper-case formations as well. Knowing all of the letter sounds, we have moved on to forming simple 3 and 4 letter words with similar endings. We have been practicing tapping the sounds (perhaps your child could demonstrate) and then blending them into words. Children were also very curious about ch, sh, ck, and th, which appear on the bottom of our letter poster, so we have talked about those sounds as well, noting that sometimes the number of letters in a word doesn't match the number of sounds (chat, ship, chin, to name a few).

Please remember to send in $3.00 for the Flynn Performance. Our trip is in the end of April, but money should be in by Friday.

WINTER CONCERT TOMORROW EVENING AT 6:00. Students should come to the gym between 5:50 and 5:55 and join the class on our mat!

2012-01-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Emily Church many children have been making accordion books during Writer's Workshop. Children have been working with these in many different ways, but one of the fun things about them is they can hold two different stories.

There has been great interest in the block area recently and the creations seem to be getting bigger and more innovative each day! This week builders have spent a lot of time combining block structures and cars. The block area was also getting a little crowded so I shifted a few things in the room to increase the block space a bit. This also created a separate area for puzzles, another high-interest activity lately.

The winter concert will now be next Thursday, January 19th, at 6:00 p.m. Students should arrive between 5:50 and 5:55 and come straight to the gym.

While we will not be going to the Flynn Theater until April, money for performances is being collected now. The PTA subsidizes the cost of the performances, so we are asking each child to bring in $3.00. Please send this in by next Friday. Have a great long weekend!

2012-01-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

For the next several Tuesdays, Lily's mom, Emily vonTrapp, will be coming into the classroom during stations to give small groups of children lavender hand massages. Lavender is an herb that has gained recognition for its calming and soothing effects. Emily will be using lavender oil for these massages and will ultimately teach the children to give hand massages to each other, giving them a perfect opportunity for positive and gentle interaction. So if your children come home smelling of lavender, perhaps you could convince them to give you a hand massage!

Please remember our winter concert is on Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the gym.

2012-01-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

We took advantage of the cold on Tuesday and Wednesday and made icy sun catchers with colorful bits of nature in them. These are now hanging all around the playground. Alas, they may not last through the weekend's predicted warmer temperatures, but they are fun to look at for now!

After two days of not going outside because of the cold, today we spent a significant amount of time enjoying the various joys of winter! Everyone had a chance to try either skiing or snowshoeing, and I think everyone took at least one turn down the hill in a sled. Snowshoeing wasn't quite as much fun as skiing as there really isn't much snow on the ground, but I think everyone appreciated the opportunity to try different activities. We came in with just enough time to think about things we noticed with our different senses and record these in our science notebooks. Some of the observations included: I saw sculptures of ice, I tasted snow, I felt the coldness of the air, I saw ice melting, I saw sun catchers on the trees, I felt wobbly on my skis!

2012-01-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful week whatever you were doing. It was fun to hear about the various ways students spent the vacation.

Our next eight weeks will be busy! In math, in addition to our continued focus on number sense, we will be exploring measurement using different non-standard units (cubes, craft sticks etc.), and in several weeks we will begin an exploration of geometry. We have nearly covered all of the lower case letters and soon we will focus on upper case letters, learning these at a much faster pace because most students are already familiar with them. In science we will soon begin an exploration of the five senses, and in social studies we will be looking at community and ways people help each other, which will tie into our arts residency at the end of February. We will also try to ski and snowshoe enjoy the changes winter brings!

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD HAS APPROPRIATE WINTER CLOTHING EACH DAY!!!

2011-12-15T10:56:00.000-08:00

We have continued our study of rocks over the last couple of weeks. Children have had lots of opportunity for free exploration with our classroom rock collection and a few students have brought in collections of their own to share. We've spent a lot of time describing different rocks, thinking about how they look and how they feel, and making scientific drawings of a few rocks. In addition we have read several non-fiction books about rocks. From these we created movements for the three different kinds of rocks and combined these into one flowing sequence. Perhaps your child could show you all or part of this! We will be wrapping up this unit next week.

2011-12-14T09:08:00.001-08:00

Over the last several weeks I have been inviting small groups of children to eat lunch in the classroom with me. This is something that is optional, but I find most children eagerly accept the invitation. This gives me an opportunity to get to know individual children on a different level and gives the children a chance to eat in a different setting. After everyone has had a chance to join me once, I will be trying to mix up the groups, so they can hopefully get to know all of their classmates a little better and expand beyond peers who they feel most comfortable with. So far the children who have participated have loved it and I have many asking to come again!

2011-12-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, as part of our Early Release Day professional development I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of a workshop led by Amy Butler from the North Branch Nature Center. Amy currently spends every Wednesday morning in Moretown and every Friday in Montpelier leading children in outdoor exploration. While I’m not certain North Branch has the resources to spend time with us this year, I was able to get many fantastic ideas from Amy and am hoping to put some of these into practice soon. The work she has been doing is amazing and I am certain all of our students would thrive on such an experience.

When Amy is with her groups they are outside for the entire morning, rain or shine, and one critical piece that she mentioned is appropriate clothing. With snow finally arriving, please make sure your child comes to school prepared to go outside. While we don’t currently spend entire mornings outside, we do go out each day for recess. Warm, dry children are happy children! While I do have at least one extra of everything, children tend to be happier with their own gear. Thank you for your help with this. As a parent of two small children I recognize the challenges posed by all of the extra stuff that comes with winter!

2011-12-05T05:11:00.001-08:00

We have been spending lots of time in the last few weeks working on our quiet reading routine. We spend at least a few minutes every day engaged in quiet reading. This can mean many different things depending on the individual child, but for most quiet reading means looking at a book and using the pictures to read a story. Often children are looking at a book that has already been read to them, and they approximate the words as they tell the story to themselves. Other things we have been doing in class to support reading development include reading the familiar morning message together every day and picking out specific words to underline, as well as reading short predictable books in small groups, using pictures and repetition to help us read the words.

Today in your child’s orange folder is an article about the developmental stages of reading. Most kindergarteners end the year in the emergent or early stages, so I did not include the specifics about developing and fluent stages. I often think of the acquisition of reading as very similar to the acquisition of walking: certain components need to be in place for children to acquire these skills, but as long as those components are in place children will learn to walk and learn to read. However, they do these at very individual paces. Many children learn to walk by 9 months, while some don’t take first steps until they are over a year old. Some children rely on the support of furniture, large toys, etc. for months before they walk independently, while others seem to stand up and take their first independent steps almost instantly. Similarly, some children will spend a lot of time practicing reading before actually reading many words, while others will seem to start reading overnight. The best thing adults can do is offer encouragement whatever stage a child is at. Regardless of the age a child learns to walk or the process he/she follows, children go on to be adept walkers. The same most often holds true for reading.

Recognizing some sight words is another important component in the development of reading and I have also included a list of the first 20 words on the Fry’s sight word list. We have continued to work on the, is, at, and you and have also been focusing on I, and, to, a, and on. I think these are most meaningful and most easily learned in some kind of context so I have chosen to emphasize those that appear in our morning message frequently, or that crop up in children’s writing often. I also believe that one of the best ways to learn to read a word is by writing it so we have been working on short personal paragraphs with several sentences written on sentence strips. Children have written 3-5 sentences about themselves and have then had opportunities to place these on the pocket chart and read them back to me and to the whole class. I am sending the list primarily for informational purposes, but if your child has an interest in working on the words, a good way to practice them is through notes- either help your child write a short note using some of the words, or you write a short note to your child and help him/her read it. Please only do this if your child is interested, otherwise it will be counterproductive.

2011-11-29T08:39:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a peaceful and relaxing holiday. Everyone seems to have returned rejuvenated!

Today in your child's orange folder is a packet of math games that I collected from various resources. They vary in level of difficulty and skills, but hopefully there is at least one that will appeal to everyone.

We have begun our study of rocks and several children have brought in rocks to share. I have a large collection in the classroom, but children are welcome to bring in rocks of their own. If your child would like to keep the rocks please send them in a labeled bag.

As I mentioned previously, our next share will focus on 3-5 things that start with the same letter. One strategy for gathering these items is to think of one thing your child would really like to share and then fine a couple of other objects that start with the same letter. Two children shared today- see if your child remembers what letters these shares represented.

2011-11-17T03:30:00.000-08:00

Today in your child's orange folder you will find his/her report card. I have included a rubric for language arts and math to give you a sense of the expectations for this trimester, and how these will change as we progress through the year. Hopefully this will be helpful as you look at your child's report card. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you next week!

We have been working on creating social stories as a class for various routines. I have been taking pictures of students modeling these routines and we are making them into class books. So far we have a completed book for sharing and a book in progress for quiet reading and playing board games. When the books are finished they serve as good reminders for appropriate behavior in specific situations and are also just fun to read.

For our next share I have asked everyone to bring in 3 items that start with the same letter. Children will have an opportunity to share their items and we will guess what letter they represent. I'll remind them again after the Thanksgiving break, but I thought some children might enjoy thinking about and gathering their items over the break.

Our next science unit, which we will be covering after Thanksgiving, focuses on rocks. I have many, many rocks, but if children happen to find an interesting or special rock that they would like to bring in for our study that would be great. I'm thinking the ground will soon be covered in snow and rock collecting will become a bit more challenging!

2011-11-15T09:00:00.001-08:00

We are still having a lot of kindergarteners sign up for hot snack right at snack time and Kathi has been running out of snacks. If you're child will have hot snack regularly on a specific day, for instance every Tuesday, it is very helpful to know this. Otherwise if you could please email Kathi the day before to sign up that would be very helpful. The menu is always the same: Monday-cheese stick and fruit, Tuesday- bagel and cream cheese, Wednesday- cereal and milk, Thursday- egg burritos, and Friday- trail mix. Thank you!

In Writers Workshop we continue to work on writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end. Students are now working on writing their own sentences for their stories using sounds they hear. For example H and I wnt f a wk could represent Hannah and I went for a walk. I am also encouraging them to leave spaces between words and to number their pages. It is very exciting for me to be able to read some of what they are writing without having it read to me.

In math we have been working more extensively on patterns. We have been creating, extending, and identifying all kinds of patterns. We have also continued working on sorting and counting.

I will not be in school on Thursday. I am attending an all day workshop at the Flynn Theater called "Engaging Active Learners", with a focus on incorporating movement and drama throughout the curriculum. While I hate to be away from the classroom I have always been very impressed by offerings from the Flynn and believe this workshop will be very worthwhile.

2011-11-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

Today in your child's orange folder there is a letter about accessing Power School to get information about your child's lunch account.

Please remember to sign up for a conference if you haven't done so already. The online scheduler should be working now!

I have been busily doing assessments in across academic areas for report cards!

2011-11-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

Today in your child's orange folder there is a sheet with directions for scheduling parent conferences using the online scheduler, which actually opens tomorros. I am running my conferences on the afternoons/evenings of November 21st and 22nd starting at 12:00. When you access my schedule the 12:00-2:30 times say available, but have a red X. I'm not sure what the red X means but these times are open- please feel free to fill them up!

2011-11-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

Today in your child's backpack you will find a shiny, new, laminated orange folder! This will take the place of the tattered blue folders. Inside there is a sign up form for the Thanksgiving lunch which takes place on Thursday, November 17th.

Please remember to schedule a conference for your child using the online scheduler, which opens tomorrow morning. I am holding conferences on the afternoons/evenings of November 21st and 22nd. If for some reason you can't make it on either of those days please let me know as soon as possible and we can try to find a different time.

2011-11-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Our class received many compliments on their performance this morning! Writing the song, learning the words, and practicing performing for an audience took a lot of effort on the part of students. They did a fantastic job!

As we are wrapping up our science unit on living and nonliving things we have been creating a game based on what we have learned. We have read a little bit about endangered species and discussed the hardships they face and what need is not being met for them to thrive. We have used this information to make cards for the game that move a player either forward or backwards depending on the situation. Everyone has been excited about this process and eager to actually play the game. Many students have also expressed an interest in creating their own games so this may be a future station!

Our tile bucket is nearly full. We will most likely have a small celebration on Tuesday for all of our acts of kindess and respect.

2011-11-02T08:36:00.001-07:00

Today during Writers Workshop we took a few minutes to clean out our writing folders! They were getting very full. Everyone had a chance to look through their work, decide what they might like to keep for further work. The rest should be coming home today.

We have been very busy during the last few weeks. Some of the things we have been talking about/ working on include:

-measuring to determine whether objects are shorter or longer than 10 cubes

- sorting sets of objects

- showing numbers to 10 using math hands, and then showing the numbers a different way

(eg. showing 5 with 4 and 1 and then 5 and 0)

- counting the tiles in our kindness bucket which is up to 39 so far

- working on books about our families and things we like to do with them

- observing, drawing, and labeling corn and bean seeds as they begin to sprout

And practicing, practicing, practicing our song for our performance on Friday morning.

Assembly starts at 7:45. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD ARRIVES BY 7:40 ON FRIDAY!

The song is brief and your child will miss it if they are late.

2011-10-31T09:07:00.001-07:00

Perhaps you have heard about our new tile bucket. Whenever we have an example of someone being polite or kind a tile is added to the bucket. Likewise tiles are taken out when we are not respectful. This is to help us remember to be nice to each other. We have been brainstorming and role playing lots of examples of being respectful and treating each other with kindness. An area that we are placing particular emphasis on is sharing. We will have a celebration when the bucket is full.

We will be singing out song at a very brief assembly this Friday. Assembly starts at 7:45. PLEASE have your child here by 7:40 so they don't miss the song!

2011-10-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

Please make sure your child has appropriate footwear (sneakers) for gym on Mondays and Wednesdays. Mr. Drake has noted that several children are consistently unprepared and are unable to fully participate in gym class. As we move into colder weather it is fine to leave a pair of sneakers here if that is easier. Thanks for your help!

This week we have been reading books that portray non-living things as living. When we have been making t-charts of the living and non-living things in the books, having some really interesting discussions and hopefully clarifying some misconceptions. Yesterday we read Happy Birthday Moon, by Frank Asch and Papa Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle. When we were done someone noted the moon was a living thing and all but one student agreed. We talked about why the moon might be living: it grows and changes and it moves. We had some interesting discussion about whether the moon needs food, water, and air. Finally I asked what the moon was and someone replied rock. We were then able to conclude that if the moon is made of rock it must not be living, because rocks don't need food, air, water, or light. This was a really great discussion and we'll continue to look at similar books for the rest of the week.

2011-10-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

Pictures have arrived! If I did not give you your child's pictures this morning you should find them in his/her backpack. Class pictures have not come yet, but should be here soon.

Several people have asked about Halloween next Monday. While I know the holiday will be in the front of many children's minds, my intent is to keep the day as routine as possible. With our half day schedule it seems kids will have lots of opportunities to participate in Halloween activities later on. Hopefully maintaining some normalcy at school might help kids last until trick-or-treat time!

During Writers Workshop some children have been writing very creative but violent stories. Today we began our workshop with a discussion about this. While I want to encourage writing in every possible way, I'm not comfortable with stories about killing. We brainstormed alternative ideas (magic, having problems resolved in a friendly way) and decided that a good rule of thumb is that a topic is okay if I would read it to the class. If it's not the kind of story I would read to the class then it is probably not an appropriate topic to write about.

2011-10-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

Today in your child's blue folder or backpack you will find a copy of the student directory. This has addresses and phone numbers for all students in the school!

This week we read the book Leaf Man by Lois Elhert. I intended to give the children the opportunity to gather materials on the playground for their own leaf creations, but our attempts were thwarted by the wet weather. Instead children will be working on this in a station next week. Hopefully we will have a chance to gather things at school on Monday, but I also encourage them to find things at home this weekend and bring them in in a labeled baggie. Good things to look for include all kinds of leaves, seeds, flowers etc. Flatter items work best.

2011-10-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

During our last few sessions of Writers Workshop we have worked on planning stories, with a beginning, middle, and end. When we first started this process we were thinking about small moments in our own lives that we could write about, but then several students asked if they could plan fiction stories, to which I replied, "Of course!" Today we talked about turning some of these story ideas into books that we can put a laminated cover on. For a book to be ready for a cover it has to have pictures and words (students can write any sounds they hear and I will then scribe the story), and it has to have a beginning, middle, and end. Once students get a cover they can put a title on their books and we will keep them at school for a little while to be shared and read. Eventually they will come home.

The weather is definitely growing chillier. Please make sure your child has appropriate outdoor clothing. Unless it is raining heavily we will go outside.

2011-10-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

Today in your child's blue folder or backpack you will find a letter of introduction from Cat Fair, our guidance counselor. Cat has been meeting with the entire class on Thursday mornings and will soon start working with small groups of 3-4 children, giving students an opportunity to get to know each other better and work on friendship skills. Everyone will have a chance to meet with her in this setting.

Today was our first official Friday morning assembly. We were audience members for a 1st-4th grade play. The kindergarteners were a fantastic audience! These assemblies occur about twice a month and give us a great chance to practice audience skills, or performance skills. We will be performing our autumn song at a brief assembly on Friday, November 4th.

Thank you to those of you who expressed interest in volunteering in the classroom. I will contact you soon about a starting date. Have a wonderful weekend!

2011-10-12T09:23:00.001-07:00

As a class we have written a song about autumn. Mr. Hill has been given our lyrics and a basic tune and he is now working on the song with the class. We are hoping to practice for a few more weeks and then share it at a Friday morning assembly. I will keep you posted as to our progress and your child can probably share some or all of the song with you!

So far three children have shared favorite books (Logan, Tessa, and Eamon). They have been three very different books. It is fun to learn what interests individual children and to be exposed to books we maybe haven't heard of. Children who haven't shared can keep bringing these in anytime.

2011-10-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

We have nearly completed six weeks of school and I feel like we are settling into our schedule and students are becoming comfortable with the routines of the day. We are now ready to welcome parent volunteers! Today in your child's blue folder there is a volunteer form. If you would like to help out in the classroom on a regular basis please return this form.

This week in Fundations we are working on the letters m and n.

This morning our final butterfly emerged. We determined that it was a male because of the two black dots on its rear wings. We spent some time observing it this morning and released it with good wishes at the end of the day.

2011-10-07T12:10:00.001-07:00

We had a fantastic field trip to the Green Mountain Club. The morning started off a little chilly and foggy, but the sun quickly appeared and warmed things nicely. We were split into two groups. Both groups hiked the Short Trail behind the GMC headquarters, stopping along the way to look for and talk about signs of autumn. Ask your child what his/her favorite part of the day was. Thank you to Amanda Kalichstein, Solomon's mom, and Kayla Clark, Colbey's mom, for coming as chaperones and Katie Westhelle, Maggie Marble, and Lauren Sauer for accompanying us as school support staff. Enjoy the beautiful long weekend!

2011-10-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

The last two days everyone in the class has had an opportunity to visit the computer lab. This week students were given an opportunity to become familiar with the computers and explore Kidpix. Next week we will begin a project in the lab.

As part of our discussion of living things this week we have been observing earthworms. We talked about things they would need before we created a habitat for them. We now know a list of five things that all living things need: water, food, air, light, and space. We talked about the fact that the earthworms actually stay away from the light (and we even covered our container with black paper so they would tunnel near the sides), but things they rely on for food like dead leaves and plants, do need light. Today everyone was able to complete an entry in their science notebooks about the needs of the earthworms.

FIELD TRIP ON FRIDAY!! The weather looks great, but chilly. Please make sure your child has a jacket and perhaps a hat and mittens. We will be outside from 9-11.

2011-10-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

One of the most important skills your child will develop in kindergarten is a beginning sense of number. While it may seem simple, number sense is quite complex and involves the interplay between several skills and concepts. Practicing these skills over and over is the best way to develop fluency and facility. Much of our work during stations will emphasize number sense. Today in your child's blue folder there is a compilation of ideas for fun ways you can work on these skills with your child outside of school.

Today during our Fundations work we learned the letters f and b. I will be attending a Fundations workshop all day on Thursday to further support our work in this area.

2011-09-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Each day when the children arrive there is a morning message and a question, which gives them an opportunity to sign there names on the white board. One of the questions this week was "Do you have a favorite book?" Everyone responded in the yes box and there was a lot of conversation about some of the favorite books. Over the course of next several weeks I would love everyone to bring in a favorite book to share with the class. Before I read the books to the class I would like the children to tell the class the title of the book, the author, and why they think it is such a great book. Please help your child pick a book and think about why it is a favorite. These can be sent in anytime and we will start sharing one or two each day.

Please remember our field trip next Friday!

2011-09-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

Today in your child's blue folder there is a reminder of our field trip next Friday, October 7th. Please let me know if you would like to join us!

Also please remember picture day this Friday.

Yesterday we brainstormed a list of living things along with reasons we think they are living. The list included flowers because they grow, foxes because they have babies, lions because they eat meat, fire because it moves, and turtles because they swim. We then talked about some of the needs of living things: water, food, air, and light. Today we revisited our list and compared it to the needs of living things. It seems like fire needs food (wood) and air, but we know that fire doesn't need water, so we concluded that fire is not a living thing. We will talk about other things that might appear to be living but are actually non-living in the coming weeks.

2011-09-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

Today, sometime between 8:15 and 8:45 our last caterpillar shed it's skin and became a chrysalis. We noticed at the very end of the process- we didn't see the skin being shed, but did observe the chrysalis wiggling around and setting into the chrysalis phase. I am guessing we will have our first butterfly by the end of the week.

We also continued our discussion of living and non-living things today and read several books about this. Through our discussions we are slowly refining our conceptions of what determines if something is living. Today we learned three things that living things need. See if your child remembers any of them!

2011-09-25T04:17:00.001-07:00

Today we began the Fundations program, which focuses on phonological awareness and handwriting. In your child's blue folder there is a picture of the correct pencil grip that we are working on along with a packet that shows the letter formations for all of the lower case letters. We will be working on 2-3 letters each week for the next 12 weeks, until we complete the alphabet. The packets are just intended to be a resource for you- I don't expect children to practice at home, but if they are interested in writing you can encourage appropriate pencil grip and letter formation.

Please remember that Open House is this evening from 5:00-6:00. We have created a checklist of things your children would like to show you!

2011-09-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I have a follow up class for a course I took this summer so I will not be in school. I talked to the class about having a substitute and what the day will look like. Emily will be with them all day as well.

The class is focused on inquiry science, with a big emphasis on science notebooks and discussions. We have already started working in our science notebooks and this morning we had a fantastic discussion about what our caterpillars need to survive. It led to several great questions that we will begin to investigate on Friday or next week: is milkweed alive, and does the milkweed last longer if it is in dirt compared to when it has been cut and is in our butterfly house.

We also had a fantastic session of Writer's Workshop today. The children are really becoming engaged in the writing process and are eager to share what they write with the class. Several students shared stories today that didn't have words, but when they shared they read them like books. One of the was about a "hideous alien monster", another about a giant t-rex, and one about a group of patterned butterflies flying into the blue sky overhead. This is definitely a group of writers with lots of stories to tell! It is very exciting.

2011-09-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

We have started establishing our routine for stations each day. So far the stations have mostly been focused on things children can do independently, so the emphasis can be placed on learning the routine. Some of the stations we have had so far are sand table, listening to books on CD, play dough, drawing self-portraits, observing the caterpillars, and exploring math manipulatives. So far we have just had one station each day, but soon we will have a rotation with two stations per day. These generally last for about 15 minutes and the children rotate through them in groups of 3-4. Ask your child about some of the stations he/she has worked in so far.

Many children brought home a book today call Children In Mrs. Beattie's Class (some chose to keep their copies at school). These are based on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear and will help us learn each other's names and practice reading with highly predictable text. We have extra copies in the room, so your child is welcome to keep the one that come home.

2011-09-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today we had multiple conversations about keeping our hands and bodies to ourselves. We have talked about this a lot in the first two weeks, but many children still tend to solve problems physically rather than using words. We will definitely keep working on this and I appreciate any conversations you can have with your child about it at home.

If your child has not brought in his/her artifact bag yet, please send it in tomorrow. I think we have four children who still need to share. We have learned so much about each other from these any many children are noticing things they have in common with classmates. I'd like everyone to finish sharing in the next few days.

Remember picture day is Friday, September 30th. Picture forms can be sent in any time and can be given to me or Kathi.

2011-09-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Today in your child's blue folder you will find picture forms and a notice about an after school art class offered by Sarah Hughes. Picture forms can be returned to Kathi or me.

There has been great interest among some of the children in playing restaurant and creating menus. If anyone has access to real restaurant menus these would be a welcome addition to our kitchen area.

We have a field trip to the Green Mountain Club scheduled for Friday, October 7th. The trip is led by staff members from the Green Mountain Audubon Center. We will leave school around 8:30 and should be back by lunch. We will need at least a couple of chaperones and welcome anyone who would like to join us. Please let me know if you are interested in coming.

2011-09-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

After seven days of school we are mastering basic routines like lining up, eating snack, and doing jobs and packing up at the end of the day (everyone did a fantastic job of this today)! We are now beginning our discussion of broader classroom norms so that everyone can have a fantastic school year. We read the book Officer Buckle and Gloria today, by Peggy Rathmun and brainstormed our own list of safety tips or rules to live by for the classroom. After today our list is the following: wear shoes, walk inside, respect living things, stay with the class, listen, no weapons in school (even pretend), don't stand on furniture, always tell the truth, sit down on swings, respect materials, use good manners, and be nice to each other. I love the variety of things the children thought of as they were considering a safe classroom environment. Obviously this list is much to long to become our list of class rules. We will discuss these further in the coming days and talk about ways we can refine the list but still have all of these things included. We also read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud, about the importance of treating others with kindness. We will also continue this conversation throughout the year.

We have continued to share artifact bags and are a little more than halfway through the class. It's been really fun to see what each child brings in and learn a little more about their families and interests. As we do this we are working on focusing all of our attention on the person sharing, listening carefully to think of questions that can help us learn even more about the sharer. It can be very hard for five year olds (and older people as well!) to focus their thoughts on another person without bringing it back to themselves. We have gotten better and better at this each day.

2011-09-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today three children shared their artifact bags. Ask your child if he/she remembers anything about Solomon, Anna, or Eamon. If your child hasn't brought his/her bag in yet, please help them compile these and send them in soon. Some things to include might be pictures, objects that represent a favorite activity, etc. We will keep sharing 3-4 a day until everyone has shared.

In your child's blue folder you will find a letter about our first math unit. We have incorporated work with the calendar into Morning Meeting along with some counting activities. By the end of the week everyone will also have a chance to explore some of our math manipulatives during station time.

There has been some confusion around snack, and hot snack in particular. I think it took a few days for everyone to make the distinction between snack and lunch, but I am trying to remind them to only eat one or maybe two things at snack and be sure to save something for lunch. I have six children signed up for hot snack everyday right now. Some students seem interested in getting this on certain days as well, which is fine, but we really need to make sure they are signed up if they are going to take it. Ideally students will sign up for it a day ahead for planning and preparation purposes. The choices stay the same from week to week: Monday- cheese stick and fruit (usually apples), Tuesday- cereal with milk, Wednesday- bagels with cream cheese, Thursday- egg burritos, Friday- trail mix. Also, if your child is having hot lunch, but not hot snack, please send a snack. Everyone is starving by snack time! We will not let anyone go hungry, but I also need to be mindful of leaving enough snacks for those who have signed up.

Yahoo! We finally have some caterpillars in the room. We will be observing these closely over the next several weeks as we begin our unit on living and nonliving things.

2011-09-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

We had a great first week! Everyone has made great progress in mastering the day to day routines: sitting for meetings, walking through the halls in a line, eating snack, packing up, and having lunch in the cafeteria, to name just a few. We have spent lots of time discussing and modeling expectations for all of these routines and will continue to do so.

One of the routines we worked on this week was quiet reading. We talked about all aspects of this from choosing a book to finding a comfortable spot to read it. Even though many children in the class can't yet read words, we discussed ways they can still read the books and come to understand the story. As a whole class we read three wordless picture books, all of which were big hits: Rain Storm by Barbara Lehman, Chalk by Bill Thomson, and Flotsam by David Weisner.

Today we met with fourth grade partners from Mrs. Hale's class. Everyone was introduced to their partners (which will change periodically) and then students worked in small groups on an outdoor scavenger hunt. Ask your child what they had to find! Everyone did a fantastic job on this. We will continue our work with the fourth graders each Friday.

Earlier in the week we talked about differences and ways in which we are all different and all have particular things that are challenging for us. I told the class that sometimes people learn differently and we discussed one student in our class. We talked about ways everyone can help this student learn and include her in play. Please let me know if your child has any questions about this. We will continue to discuss the differences among all of us throughout the year.

Once again I forgot the folders! Thank you for doing such a great job of remembering to return them. They will come home on Monday! Have a fantastic weekend.

2011-09-08T10:51:00.001-07:00

In the business of our day, I forgot to send the blue folders, but they would have been empty! We will have our first artifact bag share tomorrow. Please remember to help your child create one for next week.

2011-09-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

We had another great day. Today I introduced Writer's Workshop. We read a wordless picture book called Rainstorm, and talked about the wonderful story it told with pictures. I then wrote my own brief story about a hike with my son, first with pictures, and then modeling different ways that I could write the story- making marks pretending to write words, writing letters, or actually trying to write words. All of these are great ways for kindergarteners to practice writing.

Today in your child's blue folder you will find a copy of our schedule. The blank spots will be filled in over the next several weeks as we become accustomed to routines. Some of the things we will be doing during these times are Writer's Workshop, Reader's Workshop, math stations, and science or social studies. I will send a more complete schedule as it falls into place. My overall sense is that we are off to a great start. Please let me know of any questions or concerns you may have.

2011-09-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great first day! Getting a school year under way takes a lot of patience on the part of students, with a lot of time spent listening and learning routines. Everyone did a wonderful job and the entire class received a huge compliment from Mrs. Drysdale, the librarian, after their library time. Much of our time in the coming weeks will be spent reviewing expectations and practicing routines. We will also focus much of our attention on getting to know each other and building our classroom community.

In your child’s bag you will find a bluish folder with a note of explanation inside. This will travel back and forth with your child each day, and should be placed in the basket by the door upon arrival in the morning (this can be your child’s responsibility).

Tomorrow I will send a copy of our schedule. Our specials schedule is:

Monday gym

Tuesday library

Wednesday gym

Thursday guidance (1^st trimester) and music

Friday art

Please make sure your child has appropriate shoes for gym. A pair could be left at school if that is easier than carrying them back and forth. You are also welcome to leave extra clothes at school if you’d like. Please put them in a labeled bag and I will find a space to store them. I also have extra clothes in the classroom and the nurse has some as well.

Please make sure I am aware of after school plans/changes for your child. It is extremely important for me to know where each child is going at the end of the day, especially at the beginning of the year. You can notify me or Kathi of any changes.

Today was also my son's first day of kindergarten in Waterbury. When I picked him up he was too tired to give me any details about the day! I'm sure your children are tired too! Please compliment them on a fantastic first day and let me know if there are any burning questions or sources of stress. My biggest priority in these first few weeks is making sure every one is comfortable in school.

2011-06-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

We have spent the last two days immersed in science experiments. Yesterday everyone made paper airplanes and we did several tests with these in the gym. Some chose to test two different airplanes, while others tested the same airplane with and without a paper clip attached.

Today we experiment with bubbles. First we spent time blowing bubbles with regular circle wands and discussed our observations. Then we made predictions about what would happen if the wands were different shapes. Everyone tested triangle and square wands as well as one other shape. Ask your child about the results.

In the midst of our bubble exploration I was presented with 5 beautiful blueberry bushes, already laden with fruits. Thank you so much for such a lovely gift and thank you for such a wonderful year. What a fabulous group to have my first kindergarten year with. It has passed so quickly and I will always have such fond memories of this group. Thank you!

2011-06-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

In conjunction with our discussions of weather, this week we have been talking about the sun and it's importance in our lives. We have talked about the sun as a source of warmth (heat), light, and energy. This morning we talked about things people had eaten for breakfast and traced them all back to the sun. Yesterday everyone made a bracelet with solar beads and witnessed them change in the sun. Today we talked about whether it was the heat or light that made the beads change and how we could test this. Someone suggested putting some beads in hot water to see if it was heat. We did this and observed no change. We then tried putting sunscreen on some of the beads and exposing them to sun. Ask your child what we noticed.

I have a big collection of student work/ art that can go home. It is organized into a pile for each student. I will put these out each morning and you are welcome to take them along with your child's paper mache animal (I'm afraid things will get squashed in backpacks!)

2011-06-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

All year we have been making weather graphs during morning meeting. We have been spending some time reviewing the graphs and noting the general trends and changes from month to month.

This morning everyone was given a copy of a graph. They had to look at the data and decide if their graph was from winter, spring, or summer.

We finally made it into the garden today to plant our beans. Hopefully they won't be bothered by the chilly night! We will watch for the plants to emerge in the next couple of weeks.

2011-05-26T09:06:00.001-07:00

It was so nice to see everyone at the concert last night. The kindergarteners did such a wonderful job at both the rehearsal yesterday and the performance.

Today Carol Hosford, who was principal and WES when I first began working here (and who I'm sure many of you know) came to read the class the book Big Bouffant, written by her daughter, Kate Hosford. They were a fabulous audience. Ask your child about the book. Kate will be in Waitsfield for a book party/reading at the Joslin Library shortly after school is out. Carol wasn't sure of the exact date yet, but said there would be posters with specific information. I think it would be a fun event.

2011-05-25T08:48:00.001-07:00

Today during math students began conducting their own surveys, using t-charts to collect data from their classmates. We examined several of the completed charts and tried to make mathematical statements about them such as, "more kids in the class like cherries than don't." We have had lots of experience looking at t-charts during morning meeting, but this is the first time students have created their own surveys. They had a lot of fun thinking of questions and collecting the data. We will continue work in this area for the next several weeks.

*The spring music concert is tonight at 6:30. Students should meet the class on the Kindergarten mat in the gym. They looked great during our rehearsal today!

2011-05-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Today we continued our investigation of liquids with liquid races. Children worked in pairs to see which was fastest: oil, water, or cream. Ask your child about the results. Everyone then had a chance to investigate a different question. Some chose to see whether bigger or smaller drops of liquid are faster, while some chose to compare honey and glue. Several fascinating accidental discoveries were made as well. During our follow up discussion someone suggested we try all of the liquids on a different surface because then the oil might actually be faster. We will do that tomorrow.

2011-05-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

I spent much of the day just outside the classroom plugging away at the math assessments, which are nearly complete. The kids spent some time making very thoughtful cards for Connie, working on more problem solving, and in between the rain drops, finally getting outside. They have done a really great job this week with a pretty disrupted schedule and lots of rain!

2011-05-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day! Mrs. Hale and I decided to take advantage of the weather and instead of our usual project time we went out to play a very low-key game of kickball with the third graders.

Earlier in the week we reviewed all of Aesop's fables that we have read and listed the characters in each. Everyone then chose a favorite character (or 2 or 3) and made stick puppets for these. We have spent the last few days using the puppets to act out the fables. Some favorites are The Sun and the Wind, The Dog and the Bone, and The Tortoise and the Hare.

*On Monday we will be visiting Harwood for a musical performance around 9:45 and returning at 11:00.

2011-05-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

In math we have been working on solving various word problems and documenting solutions. Most of the children can find answers readily, but clearly showing their thinking is much more challenging. We have been working on making diagrams, or pictures, with numbers to represent solutions. Students have also been encouraged to write a math equation to go with their solution.

This week during read aloud we have been focusing on Aesop's fables. We have read about 10 fables so far and discussed the morals, or lessons in the story. Ask your child to share a favorite with you.

This morning most of the children completed their animal projects in the computer lab. Next week they will work on organizing all of their pages in a slide show. They have done such a great job on these projects that I have decided to print each report as well so they can have a hard copy to keep.

*Next Monday we will travel to Harwood around 9:45 for an African music performance. We will return to school around 11:00.

2011-05-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

We have come into a very busy time of year as we move into the final six weeks of school. My intent is to stick to the regular routine as much as possible. We already have a couple of performances scheduled- an African music performance at Harwood on Tuesday, May 17th, and a performance by Kid on the Block at our school on Tuesday, May 24th. In addition I am just beginning end of the year assessments which are time consuming and can cause minor disruptions in our routine.

Today we spent time in the computer lab continuing our animal reports/ slide shows. Many children finished or are very close to being done. They have done fantastic work and I can't wait to share the final products. These have fallen under the umbrella of our study of living versus nonliving things. We have also been exploring plants through this lens. Much of our discussion has focused on the needs of living things: water, food, air, light and space. A couple of weekends ago we accidentally discovered what happens to sunflower plants without enough water! We replaced these with radishes, which sprout very quickly, and will be exploring the effects of varying amounts of light on some of these plants. We also have one pot that is filled with radish sprouts and one student noted that space might become an issue for these plants, so we will be watching this pot with space in mind.

During the month of May a lot of important work is taking place in our district around curriculum and report cards. I have been asked to spend a couple of days collaborating with other teachers from the district in these areas. While I hate to miss days in the classroom, I do think it is important to have input from teachers across schools and grade levels.

2011-04-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

This week during math we spent time working on problem solving. The problems all had multiple possibilities for solutions and everyone was asked to solve each problem in at least two ways. This weeks problems focused on smaller numbers to help children become fluent with these and allow them to focus on other aspects of the problem, for example making sure their solutions fit the wording of a given problem. We will continue work in this area next week.

Today we ventured to the garden in small groups and everyone had a chance to get acquainted with the kindergarten plots. We spent our time today cultivating the soil in preparation for planting beans when the weather allows. In the next couple of weeks our main task is to keep weeds from getting established in our plots, so we will continue to spend some time there.

2011-04-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

We have started an exploration of liquids, focusing on water this week. Students have had an opportunity to explore with droppers. Some of the questions they explored were how small a drop they could make, how close together they could make two drops, how are drops made close to a surface different from those made far away. Some of the things we observed were that drops generally have the same round shape and when two drops get very close together, they combine to form one larger drop.

On Tuesday, May 16th the whole school will be traveling to Harwood for a performance by "Kinobe and the African Sensation", a band from Uganda. We will leave school at 9:45 and be back shortly after 11:00.

During the month of May teachers from all of the district schools will be spending time aligning report cards for the district so there is more consistency between schools. I will be at a meeting all day Monday working on the kindergarten portion of this.

2011-04-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

We visited the computer lab again this morning to continue working on reports/ slide shows. Almost everyone has at least two pages completed. This has been a great activity for practicing constructing sentences, beginning them with upper case letters, ending them with periods, and leaving spaces between words, not to mention practicing some beginning typing, which requires matching letter sounds to the letters on the keyboard. Yesterday we added ear, legs, noses, fins etc. to our paper mache projects. I am hoping that these can be complete by the end of the week so painting can take place after the vacation.

Mrs. Hale and I carted the load of pennies to Northfield Savings Bank last Friday. (I'm sure this was an amusing sight-- it was quite a load and they did not push easily through the mud!) The bank has graciously agreed to count them in the next few days and then write a check for Pennies for Peace. We will share the final amount soon.

As you probably know, there has been a variety of illness traveling through the school and our classroom. Hopefully the change in weather and a vacation will return us all to good health!

2011-04-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the computer lab to start our animal reports/ slide shows. Everyone has chosen an animal and will be writing a sentence about what the animal looks like, where it lives, what it eats, and then one more sentence that either tells about a special feature that helps this animal survive or an interesting fact. Almost everyone finished their cover slides and some even began work on a second slide. We will continue working on these next week and for several weeks after the vacation. In conjunction with this, this morning we began working on paper mache models of the animals. Everyone did a fantastic job and seemed to really enjoy this process.

We have been playing two games related to math that everyone seems to really enjoy. One involves guessing a 3-D shape by feel. A student is given a 3-D shape to hold behind his or her back and then asked several questions to help identify it: does it have curved surfaces, would it roll, does it have any points, do some of the edges come to a point at the top etc. They are quite adept at using the questions to correctly identify the shape. For the other game, a volunteer uses his or her hands to flash a given number and the rest of the class guesses what it is. This is challenging when we get into higher numbers like 67, but great practice for both the person flashing the number, and for the students guessing what it is.

At assembly this Friday morning we will be showing a short clip of activities that we have done with third graders while working on the Pennies for Peace project. Mr. Hubbard will once again try to lift the bin and provided that he can't, Mrs. Korb will be shaving a W into his head. It should be exciting!

2011-03-30T06:16:00.000-07:00

This week everyone chose an animal to learn about. We will be visiting the computer lab to create All About slide shows/ reports for these animals in the coming weeks. Everyone will be asked to write a sentence telling what their animals look like, what they eat, where they live, and one interesting fact. In addition everyone will make a paper mache model of their animals. We will probably begin this part of the project next week. It might be a little messy-- if you'd like, you could send in a smock (large t-shirt) for your child to use while we are working on this. I'd also happily take any newspaper you might have sitting around!

We began looking at 3-D shapes this week. Students had an opportunity to think of examples of some of these shapes in the world. A disco ball, the Earth, and balls are all spheres. Culverts and water bottles are cylinders. The book shelves in our classroom are examples of triangular prisms.

Next Friday, April 8th, we will be showing a short movie at assembly of some of the activities we have done with Mrs. Hale's class around the Pennies for Peace project. Mr. Hubbard will attempt to lift the bin of pennies. If it is too heavy for him Mrs. Korb will be shaving a W into his head. It should be exciting!

2011-03-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

This week Alison Champlin worked with everyone during work stations on telling time. The main focus was telling time to the hour, but children also worked on telling time to the half hour. With the prevalence of digital clocks is not as easy to get regular practice telling time with analog clocks, but if you happen to have one encourage your child to try to tell the time.

We continued to work with 2-D shapes this week. Some of our shape creations are on display on one of the bulletin boards across from the gym. Next week we will look at 3-D shapes.

During reading everyone has been working on piecing together scrambled sentences. I have been randomly presenting the individual words from a sentence one at a time. After the children have read each word they manipulate them to make a logical sentence.

We have continued to read a lot of non-fiction books, recording facts as a group after the readings. I have asked everyone to be considering an animal that they would be interested in learning about for a short individual report.

2011-03-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

After the glorious weather yesterday, this morning we made list of signs of spring, and noted that according to the calendar it officially begins on Sunday!

We are revisiting living versus nonliving things in science. We briefly talked about these in the fall when we had our caterpillars, but will be having a more in depth exploration this spring. Today we revisited the five needs of living things- water, food, air, light, and space- and then did an experiment around how birds meet their needs for food. Everyone had a dish with various foods, and four different beaks to use to move their food to their nests. The beaks were a clothespin, a toothpick, a spoon, and tweezers. Ask your child which beak he or she would want to have. Everyone did a great job of conducting the experiment thoughtfully and carefully recording the best beak for each food type.

2011-03-11T08:48:00.001-08:00

Our science experiment today involved cleaning pennies. First we made predictions about the best way to clean them water, soapy water, or lemon juice. Then we used some of our dirtiest pennies to test this. Ask your child which worked best. Our results were varied and we talked about the importance of always reporting what you actually observe, not what you expect or what another group observes. We also weighed the pennies our class has collected so far-- 7 pounds! At assembly this morning Mr. Hubbard challenged the school to collect enough pennies so he can't lift the bin by Connie's desk. If we meet this challenge he will have a W shaved into his head. Keep sending them in!

2011-03-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

During Writers Workshop this week we have been focusing on non-fiction and working on All About posters. Children have chosen a topic they know a lot about and have been recording facts and creating illustrations to accompany these. Eventually these will be mounted on posters for display. We have experts on a variety of topics including chicks, New York City, the ocean, and backagons. Did you know that only the medium size backagons have levers that transform them!

Thank you for all of the pennies. Tomorrow we will be doing some fun math and science activities with these before we add them to tub by Connie's desk. Feel free to send more if you have them.

2011-03-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

We have been spending a lot of time talking about spring and the signs we should be seeing soon, although right now it seems as if winter will be around for a while. Our calendar has a pattern of spring birds and I assured the class that Canada geese and red-wing blackbirds definitely return in March!

Today we went to the computer lab and everyone had an opportunity to explore a program called Shapes. The children used pattern block shapes to make pictures. Ask your child what he or she created.

Conference times were sent home with each child today. They are scheduled for next Thursday, March 17th. Please let me know if your time does not work for you and we can try to make alternative arrangements.

We have a growing collection of pennies in the classroom and there is a collection bucket by Connie's desk as well. Please keep sending them in.

2011-03-04T09:06:00.001-08:00

We have started a new geometry unit in math called Make a Shape, Build a Block. This unit focuses on two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. Students will create, identify, describe, and compare shapes. They will explore the relationship between 2-D and 3-D shapes as well.

Today the Pennies for Peace project was formally introduced to the whole school during morning assembly. We met with Mrs. Hale's class and worked on squares for a culture quilt. Each child's square depicts a favorite food, a favorite activity, favorite clothes, and a family tradition. The students did a wonderful job thinking of meaningful things to represent on these. In the coming weeks we will talk about the culture in Korphe, Pakistan and compare it to our own culture. Please feel free to send in pennies any time. There are now collection jars in every classroom.

2011-03-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a chance to enjoy some of your child's vacation week. It is hard to believe it is March already and the second trimester is nearly complete. Report cards will be going home on Monday, March 14th, with conferences on Thursday evening March 17th, and Friday the 18th. I believe you have already received notification of your conference time. If not, you will soon. Please let me know as soon if possible if the designated time doesn't work for you and we can try to reschedule at a different time.

2011-02-17T09:09:00.001-08:00

This week we completed our Africa reports. I provided an introduction and a conclusion and students each wrote their own body, focusing on how life in Africa is different from that in Vermont. They did a fantastic job on these. We also had several very productive sessions of writer's workshop this week. We have been talking about trying to write sentences, starting with capital letters, and leaving spaces between words. It has been amazing to see the progress everyone has made and the level of independence many children are now showing.

We did another science experiment today. Ask your child to describe what happened when salt and sugar were added to oil floating on water.

Tomorrow we will continue our work on the Pennies for Peace project. We read the book Listen to the Wind today, which tells about the efforts of Greg Mortenson. Please feel free to send in pennies anytime. We have a collection jar in the classroom and soon there will be one in the lobby as well.

The children have so enjoyed the African dance residency this week. We had the added bonus of hearing the drumming throughout the days, as our classroom is so close to the gym. There is a culminating performance for the older students tomorrow morning. Our class will not be part of this, but we will be watching.

It is hard to believe it is time for another vacation, although the illness and fatigue tell me it really is time. I hope you have time to enjoy the week wherever you are.

2011-02-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy day today! Our morning began promptly with African dancing. Ask your child to tell you about his or her experience with this. I heard lots of positive, excited comments. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. We will be dancing again on Wednesday and on Friday morning at 8:00 there is a culminating performance that will include some students. (I'm not yet sure if any Kindergarten students are part of this.)

Then of course there was Valentines Day! The children were very excited about this and spent a fair amount of time passing out their cards and examining the contents of their mail boxes.

We were joined this morning by Alison Champlin, who will be doing an internship with us for the next several weeks. She will be in the classroom on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and joining Mrs. Belknaps's class in the afternoons. The children put her right to work and it was nice to have an extra set of hands.

2011-02-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

Today we began a service-learning project called Pennies for Peace. This program was started by Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea, which is about his mission to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan giving all children access to an education. The Pennies for Peace program is designed to help students broaden their cultural awareness while having a positive impact on a global scale. More information about this program is available on the web site: www.penniesforpeace.org. We will be collecting pennies for the next couple of months as we work on this project.

Today we read a Liberian folktale called Head, Body, Legs. It is a story about cooperation. We also read parts of a book called Weird Friends, about animals that live in cooperation and help each other. Ask your children if they remember how the rhino and cattle egret help each other survive.

Please remember students are welcome to bring in Valentines on Monday. A class list is posted in the previous blog entry.

2011-02-09T03:06:00.000-08:00

Wow- February is flying by! It just occurred to me that Valentine's Day is Monday. If your child would like to bring in valentines for classmates that is fine, but please make sure there is one for everyone. We have 15 students in our class: Amalia, Amy, Beckett, Brooke, Ciera, Cody, Damon, Emma, Gabe, Kai, Molly, Nate, Rachel, Tyler, and Zeb.

2011-02-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

We have been talking about Africa a lot in preparation for next week's African dance residency. Today we looked at a map of the world and talked about continents. We counted the seven continents and used magnets to label Africa and North America. We have read several stories that depict village life in Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and Liberia) and talked about how life for children in these places is similar to ours, and more notably how it is different. We will be writing a report together focusing on the ways life for some children in Africa is different from life for children in Vermont.

*Please note that my only email address is abeattie73@gmail.com, which is listed on the side of this blog. I used to have a hotmail account, but no longer use it.

2011-02-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

Our day began with an assembly at which the whole class showed exemplary audience skills. We followed this with an exploration of taste. Students had the opportunity to taste something bitter, sour, and sweet and attempt to locate which part of the tongue is responsible for each. This was tricky, but we finally concluded that taste buds at the back of the tongue detect bitter tastes, those on the side detect sour taste, and the tip of the tongue is where we taste sweet things. The taste buds for salty are all over the tongue.

Everyone had an opportunity in the last couple of days to make a collection of 100. We talked about strategies for easily counting to 100, and most of us chose to make 10 groups of 10. Some of the collections were 100 dice, 100 crayons, 100 cubes, 100 pattern blocks, 100 tiles, 100 bears, 100 small animals, and 100 letters.

2011-02-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

This week we have started talking about Africa in anticipation of our African dance residency, which will take place February 14th - 18th. We have read several books depicting life in an African village and noted mostly the differences in comparison to our own lives.

In math we have continued working on addition of smaller numbers. Today we played a game called "Toss the Chips" that focused on decomposing numbers up to 10, although several students chose to work with larger numbers. We have also been really focused on the number 100 as our 100th day is supposed to be Thursday (probably Friday given the weather that is moving in!)

2011-01-28T04:23:00.001-08:00

Today we explored smell in our study of the five senses. Students smelled scented cotton in four jars and guessed what scent each one was: coffee, grapefruit, apple soap, or garlic. The garlic was pretty potent and the least favorite. Later we talked about ways our sense of smell helps keeps us safe. Some of the ideas we thought of were smelling fire and smelling bad food. Amy also noted that animals rely on their sense of smell to detect danger and protect their young.

During choice time over the last few weeks many students have been choosing to read or continue with writer's workshop. I love that these are things they are enjoying so much that they choose to do them during free time.

We had another fabulous ski today. Our loop in the field was a little longer and a little faster. If the weather allows maybe we get even farther next week!

2011-01-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic trip to the Flynn. Everyone did a great job of being patient and respectful both on the bus and in the theater. We had front row seats which made for a truly memorable experience!

2011-01-24T08:37:00.000-08:00

Today we reviewed the Dr. Seuss stories we have read and talked about the messages in them. We noticed the themes of be nice, respect others, respect differences, and be yourself, came up over and over. We will be paying attention for these themes in tomorrow's show as well.

We will leave just after 8:00 tomorrow. Please make sure your child is here!

We will be missing snack time at school, but students will have an opportunity to have a simple snack on the bus. It would be great if you could send something very manageable and not too messy- a snack bar or something similar.

2011-01-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we continued with the five senses, exploring sound. We played sound bingo using a CD of various everyday sounds and pictures to match. For some reason both my own children and the students in the class really love the baby laughing! Then each student was given a jar with an item in it. They needed to find a classroom with the same item in his jar using their sense of hearing. We then talked about examples of when our sense of hearing helps us or is particularly important.

We continued playing the game One More, One Fewer today, with students working on various levels. Some use dice with different numbers, while some changed the game to Ten More, Ten Fewer. It is fascinating to watch how they approach this task and to follow the different thought processes. To adults the concepts of one more or one fewer can seem quite simple, but to students just learning about numbers, even those who count adeptly, there is a lot of heavy thinking involved.

We had a fabulous ski today. I was a bit nervous about the logistics of this, but everyone did a fantastic job. I was particularly pleased with the independence and enthusiasm shown by everyone.

2011-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Today we finished upper case letters up to W. We will hopefully get in X, Y, and Z this week as well.

Today students started illustrating their retellings of The Mitten. We also played a game called One More, One Fewer, which provides further practice with the symbols and concepts of addition and subtraction. Some students had or will have the opportunity to play this by adding and subtracting ten. Two groups began planning their skits for our friendship video projects. The other two groups will work on this tomorrow. The class learned a new song in library that seemed to be in everyone's heads upon their return, so we sang it again when they came back! Perhaps your child can sing it with you too . The chorus begins, "I jumped aboard a sailing ship and the captain said to me..." We read the book Horton Hears A Who by Dr. Seuss in anticipation of next week's Flynn field trip.

Thursday's menu has been changed to pizza.

Please remember we will be going to the Flynn Theater in Burlington next Tuesday, January 25th. We will leave around 8:30 and should be back in time for lunch.

2011-01-13T12:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday as part of our five senses study we explored the sense of touch. Students worked their way around the room feeling eight every day objects inside bags, using their sense of touch to identify these. We then discussed ways in which our sense of touch helps us and instances when it is particularly important, such as sensing heat. Today we did an experiment that involved an illusion of touch. One bucket was filled with icy cold water, one with hot water, and one with room temperature water. Students put one hand in the ice water and one in the hot water for about a minute. Then they submerged both hands in the room temperature water. Ask them to tell you what they experienced.

Over the last few weeks we have read multiple versions of the Ukrainian folktale The Mitten. Today we did our own retelling, which the students will use to make their own Mitten books.

2011-01-13T04:02:00.000-08:00

All students should meet their classes in the gym at 6:25 p.m. this evening. Our concert will begin at 6:30. See you then!

2011-01-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Each morning students have been signing in. This entails writing their names using an upper case letter to start, followed by lower case letters, and writing the date with numbers. Today's date was an interesting one! Next they fill in the corresponding number on a January calendar, and complete a weather graph.

We have covered upper case letters through p and will finish the alphabet in the next couple of weeks. I have stressed to the class the importance of always forming their letters the correct way so they don't form habits that will have to be unlearned later. We have been reviewing correct number formation as well.

In math we have been working on addition. Most students have been working with small numbers and two addends, while some have been working with larger quantities or three addends. We also learned a new game today, Racing Bears, which provides more practice with compliments to ten, as well as work decomposing numbers 1-6.

Tomorrow instead of work stations we will be having a school wide rehearsal for our winter concert, which is on Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m.

2011-01-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

We were very busy this week! As part of our study of five senses we talked about the eye and sense of sight. Students worked in small groups to briefly experience the world without sight, leading each other around with blindfolds. They also had an opportunity to watch the iris in action, watching a partner's eyes as the lights in a dark room were turned on- hopefully everyone was able to see their partner's pupil constrict as the room brightened.

Today we did a whole class response to literature using the book Prize In The Snow, by Bill Easerling. Our focus was how the boy in the story changed from the beginning to the end of the book.

We have continued to have discussions daily about what it means to be a good friend: being kind, sharing, helping others, and including others. We have also been looking for examples of friendship in books we have read. Today we read The Sneetches, by Dr. Seuss and had a great discussion about differences.

2011-01-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful week.

The next seven weeks will be very busy. There is a lot going on in our classroom as well as school wide. Next week, on the evening of Thursday, January 13th is the winter concert for the whole school. This begins at 6:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, January 25th we will be traveling to the Flynn Theater in Burlington to see the show Seussical the Musical, based on the stories of Dr. Seuss. In the mean time we will be reading many of his books in preparation for this event.

There is also an African dance residency planned for the week of February 14th-18th. I will share more details about this as the date gets closer.

We will be continuing our study of the five senses and also learn about states of matter for science.

For social studies we will work on a unit on friendship. For this students will work in small groups to complete a video project about friendship.

I am also hoping to squeeze in a few sessions of cross country skiing. We have just enough equipment for everyone. Hopefully we will get more snow soon!

2010-12-21T11:25:00.000-08:00

Despite the short week I feel like we accomplished a lot in the last three days. We have covered uppercase letters up to K and practiced their formation. We also began practicing writing our names and the date in preparation for signing in each day after the vacation. As part of our calendar routine someone already has the job of graphing the weather while another person records the temperature. This week we added a job of showing the temperature on a large paper thermometer by moving a paper clip to the corresponding number. This will help develop awareness of number sequence and their location on a number line. We also began working on compliments to 10. Recognizing compliments to 10 is a critical component in students facility with numbers. If students can break up any number to ten and put the parts together again with ease, they will be able to work with larger numbers in flexible and powerful ways. We will continue this important work after the vacation.

This morning we read the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert and worked in small groups to create our own snow people, modeled after those in the book.

Thank you for the gift certificate to Ocha, which is our favorite restaurant in Waterbury. We will enjoy it. Have a joyous and peaceful holiday.

2010-12-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

As part of our phonemic awareness instruction we have been working on segmenting the sounds in words. We have been working on this skill in several ways. One way has involved physically spelling words in the whole group. Each child has been given a letter. I say a word and the students who have the sounds in the word stand up and arrange themselves to spell the word. They then hop forward one at a time as they say their sound, making the word. We have also been playing hangman using one- syllable words with short vowel sounds. They love this game, which is a great way to develop their awareness of the letters and sounds.

Instead of regular work stations this week we have game stations. Some of the games the children will play are Race to Ten, a math game that helps familiarize them with adding and subtracting and compliments to ten, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a game that involves comparing shapes and finding different ways to build hexagons, Hangman, Shut the Box, and Compare (otherwise known as war).

2010-12-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

It has been a bit of a crazy week. My family was struck by the stomach bug- may you be spared. Pajama and popcorn day was today. And everyone is counting down the days until vacation! Amidst the craziness we are trying to proceed with some of our usual routines. We have started unit 4 in math, Measuring and Counting. This unit develops ideas about counting and quantity, comparison, linear measurement, the composition of numbers, and addition and subtraction. Counting correctly and telling how many is just the first step toward understanding of numbers. Children also need to develop a sense of different quantities and the relationship between them. Children need many varied experiences with numbers in order to see the relationships between them, visualize their quantities, and understand the concepts of more and less. There is a lot going on in this unit as we work on creating a strong foundation for future work with numbers.

2010-12-09T08:46:00.000-08:00

This morning we had a great discussion about friendship. This began with a discussion of differences and a game that highlighted the many ways in which we are all different from each other, along with the things we have in common. We discussed what it means to be a good friend and things we can do if we are hoping to make more friends. We talked about two misconceptions: if a classmate is friends with one person he or she can't be friends with another person and if a friend chooses to play with someone new at some point they are no longer your friend. I shared several stories that hopefully conveyed the idea that there is always room for more friends. While it is wonderful to have a few great friends who we play with often, we also talked about how much fun it can be to play with someone new sometimes. I encouraged students to take these ideas outside of school as well, at their various after school sites or through play dates.

Already I am seeing more independence and efficiency with all of the winter gear. I have also noticed children helping each other with this. While I am happy to zip jackets and help with snow pants over boots, the more each person can do independently the smoother our end or day transition will be.

2010-12-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

Ahh winter!! In anticipation of cold later in the week and because the whole class was having such a great time in the new snow we had a longer than usual recess today. The snow added a new dimension to the play ground and the children all played really nicely together driving trucks in the snow, going on the slide, keeping the base of the slide soft with fresh snow- there were many examples of cooperation and team work. We are definitely still working out a system for getting on the new layers that come with snow and keeping track of all of these things when we're not wearing them. I am confident that with a bit of practice we will become more efficient and get better at making sure we only grab our own gear at the end of the day! We have lots of black snow pants in the class and we had to take a few minutes to work out a three way mix up before boarding the bus. Fortunately everyone's clothing seems to be labeled-this helps tremendously.

2010-12-06T06:08:00.001-08:00

This morning we welcomed Willow to our class. This was a great opportunity for us to revisit our class rules as well as some of the routines we established at the start of the year. Willow already knows 12 of the students in our class so she fits right in!

I introduced the letters x and y today, which completes the alphabet. We will begin learning formation for uppercase letters next week, covering these much faster than we did lowercase letters. We will review lowercase letter formations at the same time.

This week looks to be rather cold. Please make sure your child has appropriate apparel for recess. The playground is especially susceptible to wind.

2010-12-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

In honor of Damon's first lost tooth earlier in the week (and all of those that preceded it) we sang the song So Long Old Tooth and read a book about tooth traditions around the world. Ask your child some of the things children in other parts of the world do when they lose a tooth.

In math this week we continued looking at patterns. In addition we played several games that involve counting, comparing, and algebraic reasoning. Shut the Box is usually played with a box with numbered tiles and a die, but it could easily be played with playing cards or boxes drawn on paper, 1-9, and a die. With children finding different ways to reach the same sum (2+5 = 3+4), this game develops algebraic reasoning. We also played a game called Build a City using Unifix cubes, a die, and a chip labeled ‘more’ on one side and ‘less’ on the other. This could also be adapted using legos or another kind of connecting blocks. I have sent home directions for both of these if your child is interested in playing at home. This game helps children develop a sense of quantity for both smaller and larger numbers, as well as number relationships. I particularly like the twist at the end, when players flip the more/less chip to see who wins. While we played these games we talked about being a good sport, playing fair, and being a good winner or loser. Several students modeled this by shaking hands and saying good game when they were done. I sent home directions for both of these games today if your child is interested in playing at home.

Today we also worked with our third grade partners. We began a project on the five senses.

Have a great weekend!

2010-12-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

We have read several books about Hanukkah this week as we begin our exploration of some of the different holidays observed at this time of year. I am beginning to teach the class the dreidel game, which involves some great math skills.

A new student will be joining our class next week. We have started talking about ways we can welcome her into the class and make her feel comfortable. Many of the students already know her from Spring Hill, which will help make the transition easier, but we have discussed the importance of giving her a fresh start in this class and allowing her the space to get to know all of the children in the class. Today we brainstormed parts of the day that may feel particularly overwhelming to a new student and assigned volunteers to help her through those specific parts of the day for the first several days she is here. We also talked about how fifteen versus sixteen and how much nicer it can be to work with an even number of students when forming groups! We are excited to have her join us.

2010-11-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. My family traveled to New Hampshire to visit my parents.

I would like to thank everyone for coming to conferences last week. This marks the first time I have not had any cancellations and I appreciate your efforts to be there.

Today I introduced q and z, bringing us to twenty four letters so far. As we are learning all of the lower case letters we are spending greater chunks of time on creating and manipulating words and sentences, which is very exciting.

In the next few weeks we will be talking about different holiday traditions and begin a study of the five senses.

2010-11-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

This week I introduced the letters p and j. We have been working on the formation of these two letters as well as letters that have previously been introduced. In addition we have been talking about sentence structure- groups of words, always beginning with a capital letter, some kind of end punctuation. Today as part of handwriting students were writing very simple sentences such as The sun is big.

We are continuing our work with patterns during math. This week we have used the Smart Board to predict what comes next in patterns or to create our own patterns. The children are getting very good at identifying and naming patterns-- AB, AAB etc.

We have started writing our own story called If You Give a Cheetah Chocolate. This is based on If You Give A Mouse a Cookie and other books by Laura Joffe Numeroff. Ask your child what happens if you give a cheetah chocolate.

2010-11-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

With a snow day, early release for the whole school on Wednesday, and ski and skate sale there was a lot of energy in the air this week! This was particularly evident with kindergartners at recess. They tend to burst out the door and run, run, run, which is great, but eventually this tends to turn into tagging, which then turns into roughness. We had many conversations about what is and is not appropriate on the playground. Hands need to be kept to ourselves unless we are playing a tag game in which case gentle tags are appropriate. Today we brainstormed good things to do at recess, including several tag games.

Report cards will be going home next Friday. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you at conferences. Please be sure to let me know if you can't make your scheduled time and we can reschedule for another time.

Have a great weekend!

2010-11-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

This week I introduced the letters l, k, and h, which are all sky line letters. We practiced correct formation for these letters and used them to make some words as well.

There has been a lot of excitement during Writer's Workshop the last two weeks. Several students have published books and many more are very close. The criteria for a first published book was pages with pictures and some words. For the second published book students need to make sure the pages are connected and include some sentences. These may have full words or just the beginning sounds of words.

We will be wrapping up our study of rocks by talking about the different uses of rocks, past and present. Ask your child some of the important ways that rocks are used.

Today I read a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. Ask your child what it means to fill a bucket and how this can be done.

2010-11-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Today I sent home a letter from Cat Fair, our guidance counselor, introducing herself and the guidance program at the school. Because she doesn't formally meet with the kindergarten class until the last trimester, she will be meeting with small groups of students from the class on Fridays to play a game. This will serve the dual purpose of helping her get to know the kindergarten students and giving students in the class a chance to spend time with each other in a smaller group setting. When invited, the children may choose whether or not they would like to go with her, but I am encouraging everyone to go at least once. Those who have been thus far have really enjoyed it.

The children have also really enjoyed lunch meetings with me in the library. If your child hasn't been yet they will definitely be invited next week. Again this is optional, but so far most students are eager for the opportunity.

We have also had several discussions in the class about being ourselves and making decisions based on what we want rather than what someone else is doing. There has been a trend among the boys of crowding a particular student, wanting to sit only where he sits, and do only what he does. We have talked about the importance of giving people personal space. While this particular student has many admirable qualities worth emulating, I am trying to help the children recognize that they each have wonderful qualities too and their classmates will be more apt to see this if they are authentic. Please reinforce this idea with your child.

Please let me know as soon as possible if your conference time does not work for you so we. Have a great weekend.

2010-11-03T09:07:00.001-07:00

A letter about parent conferences with your child's scheduled time was sent home today. All kindergarten conferences have been scheduled for Monday, November 22nd. If for some reason that day or your scheduled time won't work I am happy to reschedule on a different day at 9:00 or 11:30. If you are a morning person I would also be happy to meet with you before school any day. Please look for the letter in your child's bag and let me know if you need to make a change.

Today we looked at sandstone and limestone, both examples of sedimentary rocks. The limestone sample that Emma shared with us has lots of little fossils in it. We talked about how these rocks were made when layers of mud, clay, sand, rocks, shells and other things were pressed together over a long period of time. We then used different colors of clay to make our own sedimentary rocks.