Yesterday we went to the computer lab again. Students have started a calendar project. Each child used Kidpix to create a picture for autumn. We will be working on all of the seasons in the coming weeks.

We have changed our spots in the line and on the rug. Every child has been assigned a letter. Ask your child what his or her letter is!

Remember picture day is next Tuesday, October 5th.

Our field trip to the Green Mountain Club is next Friday, October 8th.

This morning I introduced students to a new book, Who Do You See: Children in Mrs. Beattie's Class. This follows the pattern of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? using photos of the students in the class. They seemed pretty excited about this. I am hoping to begin more formalized literacy instruction soon (once I finally finish the math assessments!) and I am planning to use repetitive, predictable, high interest books as a starting point. Interest level seems to be higher if students are more involved in the book, either as the subject of the book, or as authors. They will be working on a predictable book about their families this week and I also hope we will write a similar book about autumn. They will each get a copy of these books to keep at school for now, and eventually to bring home.

Hopefully you found some information about Fundations in your child's red folder today. This explains a bit about the program and also includes information about the letter formation for t, f, b, n, and m, which are the letters we have learned so far. THIS IS NOT HOMEWORK! It is meant as a guide for you if your child is interested in practicing writing at home, or just so you know what we are doing in school. As I mentioned in the spring, I am not planning to assign homework. Students who are interested in practicing what they've learned will do so on their own, and those who aren't interested most likely need a rest and some time to absorb all that they are taking in.

We had a lengthy conversation this morning about appropriate bus behavior, staying in seats, facing forward, talking quietly, so the bus driver can focus on driving. I also gave students assigned bus seats, which the driver may adjust. It would be great if you could have a conversation with your child about bus behavior, and the importance of being safe on the bus.

Today was our first assembly. Kindergarteners received many compliments on their excellent behavior throughout the assembly. They sat quietly and were an attentive audience. Assemblies will take place on the second and fourth Fridays of each month.

Today we worked with Mrs. Hale's class on a bit of butterfly math. Students worked with their partners to create a table of butterflies and antennae. They then made a diagram to go with this. This gave kindergarteners a good opportunity to practice counting and provided the third graders with a chance to help create some mathematical representations.

We had our first butterfly today! We saw it emerge from the chrysalis and kept our eye on it as it went from small and crumpled to dry and ready to fly.

Tomorrow morning there is an assembly. We spent a lot of time today talking about appropriate assembly behavior: sitting up, facing forward, hands to ourselves, listening quietly, still bodies. Please reinforce this message with your child. If for some reason you arrive and we are not in the room, we will be in the gym. Your child can quietly join us.

It was great to see everyone last night at Open House. It is a wonderful chance for your children to show you what they've been doing and talk to you about their kindergarten experience.

Yesterday we had our first visit to the computer lab. Students had an opportunity to explore Kidpix. We will be starting a project in the lab next week.

We have formally started Fundations. So far we have learned the sounds and proper letter formation for t, b, and f.

Today everyone has a new red home folder. The green ones were getting a bit tattered.

There is a picture form along with an explanation of our second math unit in each child's folder. Picture day is Tuesday, October 5th.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD HAS SNEAKERS FOR GYM ON MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS. Mr. Drake said crocs and other sandals aren't really working out. Students are welcome to leave a pair of shoes at school for gym if that helps.

We had a very busy day. A large chunk of our time was spent with Mrs. Hale's class finishing up the butterfly mobiles. These will be hanging up in the room by tomorrow evening for open house.

We also learned a new math game called roll and record. This involves rolling dice and recording the number. This provides practice recognizing groups up to six, without actually counting them, as well as practice writing numbers. We also started creating our own counting books based on Anno's Counting Book.

I look forward to seeing all of you for open house tomorrow night.

This morning we worked with Mrs. Hale's class again. We began creating a mobile depicting the life cycle of a monarch butterfly. Students worked with their partners to show the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly stages. They did a great job and will finish on

Monday. WE ARE PLANNING TO USE STICKS ABOUT 18 INCHES LONG TO HANG THEM. IF YOU COULD SEND A STICK ON MONDAY, GREAT. Mrs. Hale and I will collect some ourselves so we will have enough.

Thanks for sending in Flynn money. We almost have it all. It is $3.50 for those who haven't sent it yet.

Have a great weekend!

PLEASE BRING FLYNN MONEY BY TOMORROW! Connie really needs this to reserve our seats.

The class was with a substitute today while I worked my way through the Primary Numbers Observation Assessment. This is a district wide test that needs to be done in the next couple of weeks and takes about 20 minutes per child. From what I could tell and the feed back I got from Mrs. Hughes, they had a fantastic day.

We have been reading and comparing different versions of The Little Red Hen this week. This provided an opportunity for shared reading. In addition students have had a chance to identify repeated words such as hen, cat, dog, and mouse. We will also be talking about the various action words used throughout the stories. In conjunction with this, tomorrow we will be making our own corn bread.

We will be taking a field trip with Mrs. Belknap's first grade to the Green Mountain Club in Waterbury Center on Friday, October 8th. Educators from the Audbon Center will meet us there to lead the trip, which will be focused on the broad question "What signs of autumn can we find?". The bulk of our time will be spent outside on the Short Trail, a half mile hiking trail behind the club. We will be taking a bus, leaving around 8:30 and back in time for lunch. We will need a few chaperones. Please let me know if you would like to join us.

This morning I introduced the Smart Board, which was very exciting. Students used the board to create butterflies and caterpillars. We then counted them and organized them. We made rows of caterpillars and columns of two different kinds of butterflies. I got this idea from another teacher's web page and thought it was a great way to introduce the Smart Board and teach the concept of rows and columns.

During work stations I introduced our sand table, which has new Jurassic Sand. This is dust free very kid friendly sand.

I have revised our schedule and now realize that you may not be able to access the link to it without my permission. For now I am sending a hard copy of it in students' green folders. Please know that it may change throughout the year as new things crop up.

I will not be in the classroom on Wednesday. I will be in the building working with students one on one to begin the Primary Numbers Observation Assessment. This is a time consuming assessment that needs to be done in the next few weeks. Sarah Hughes who spends a lot of time in the building will be my substitute and I will be in and out of the room as I take individual students.

It's hard to believe we have completed three weeks of school. Math is well underway, work stations are established, and we have done two days of writer's workshop. This is a program that focuses on phonemic awareness and hand writing. Next week I will be introducing Fundations to the class. This is a program that focuses on phonemic awareness and letter formation/hand writing.

It has become very apparent that I will need to change the schedule that I made prior to the start of school. I am trying to balance our time before specials/ snack / recess with the time that follows this break. Trying to do both work stations and math at the end of the day will not work, it just isn't a big enough chunk of time. I have been experimenting with various sequences the last few days and I will revise the schedule some time next week.

I created a sharing schedule today. Your child may bring something to share on his or her sharing day. This is not required, but it is a good opportunity to practice speaking to the whole class. I have told the children to please not share toys. Special objects, books, pictures, or stories about something they have done are great things to share. Below is the schedule:

Monday: Emma, Kai, Rachel

Tuesday: Tyler, Ciera, Nate

Wednesday: Amalia, Cody, Amy

Thursday: Molly, Brooke, Gabe

Friday: Damon, Zeb, Beckett

Have a wonderful weekend!

We officially have three rules for our class: be nice, be safe, be responsible. Not everyone knew what responsible meant at first, but we have discussed the meaning a lot and will continue to do so. This seems like a list that everyone can remember and most every behavior can fall under at least one of these rules.

During snack today one of our caterpillars shed its skin. I forgot what an amazing thing this is to watch. I think most everyone caught a glimpse of the transformation from wiggling caterpillar to still chrysalis. I think we will have at least one butterfly by next week.

We started Writer's Workshop yesterday. I introduced it by telling students they will be writing books throughout the year, then modeling how to think of something to write about, and the process of getting these thoughts on paper. I told them if they can talk (can they ever!) then they can write. They are encouraged to start with a picture to represent their stories. Then they can add writing. This can be words for the pictures, letters to represent sounds, or "driting"- drawing that looks like writing. At this point anything is fine as long as they are working hard on their stories. I read several books about Writer's Workshop in the spring and the one thing they all said was don't wait to start.

We have also spent some time role playing how to resolve problems nicely, so maybe they don't even become problems. Some examples included if someone is in your way when you are packing up, if someone is using something you would like to use, if someone is doing something that is bothering you (eg. shaking a table). We had some wonderful actors and actresses showing very appropriate ways of addressing these situations and then responding. We still need a little work when these things actually occur, but we will keep working on it.

Several students have brought in items to share, which is great. We have seen several bee hives and a snake skin so far. Because 15 students can not all share in one day I am planning to make a sharing schedule by the end of the week so students will have an assigned day to share something if they choose. I have told them I do not want them to share toys. Some great sharing ideas are favorite books, special objects or things they've found (like a snake skin), pictures, or even just a story about something they've done.

Please remember to send in $3.50 for the Flynn by September 17. I have about half of the money so far.

Happy Friday! Wow, the week flew by. I am so enjoying this group of children and the rhythms of each day. We have had many great successes and still some areas where we need a lot of practice (of course). Some things that the entire class has gotten really good at in just eight days are: bathroom procedure, transitioning to lunch and the lunchroom procedure, transitioning from lunch to the bus, listening quietly to books, the calendar routine, and work stations. I am particularly thrilled about how well work stations have gone in just three days as this will be a very important part of our day and I will eventually need to use the time to work with small groups. They have been fabulous during this time.

Some things we still need to work on are: sitting quietly during whole group discussions/ meetings and raising our hands before we speak, transitioning quickly to the carpet or the line, keeping our hands to ourselves in circles or in line, and using words to solve conflicts. We will be working on this last one a lot in the coming weeks

As the week has passed I have noticed that my husband, my own kids at home, and the children in the class have all steadily grown more tired, a little crankier, and quicker to melt when things aren't as they should be! I think a three day weekend and a break in the heat will do us all some good! Have a fabulous weekend and thank you for all of your support.

This morning when I arrived I found that our caterpillar had been squished sometime after I left yesterday. Since we are in the midst of observing the caterpillars and drawing what we see, we went out to the milkweed by the school early this morning and promptly found two new caterpillars. While I know that whatever happened to our last caterpillar was after 12:30 and not done by anyone in the class, we talked about the importance of being very careful when we are around their house as they are quite delicate. We also talked about leaving the rest of the caterpillars in their natural environment, as two will be plenty for our purposes.

Today I introduced assigned seats on the rug and places in line. This strategy comes from Mr. Hubbard and seems to be quite effective. You will notice a yellow line taped to the floor and a blue circle on the carpet. Both are numbered. Students have each been assigned a number and this corresponds to their place in line as well as their place on the circle. I will reassign numbers periodically. My hope is that this system will help make transitions to a line or to circle faster because everyone will know exactly where to go, and will also help define personal space. Thank you Mr. Hubbard!

This morning when students arrived they had the option of going outside with Katie who is with us until 7:50. This worked really well and made the transition to Morning Meeting much smoother. We will keep trying this on nice days until the colder weather sets in.

Today we spent a little bit of time discussing rules, or ways we need to be in the classroom to have a successful year. We will continue this discussion over the next several days and then establish a small list of classroom rules for the year.

We have been doing a little bit of yoga each day to break up our listening times, get children moving, and hopefully help them feel energized and focused! Some students have been reluctant participants which is fine, but if they choose not to join us they need to sit quietly at a table. I am hoping that soon everyone will feel comfortable participating.

Today I began work stations, which is a time when students are working at various tasks in small groups. This will be a critical routine when I need to assess students and when I begin reading groups. One of the stations today was documenting what is happening with our caterpillars. In anticipation of this we read the book ish by Peter H. Reynolds. This is about a boy whose drawings never feel "right" until his sister points out that they don't need to be perfect, they can be treeish, mountainish, or in our case caterpillarish.

Please remember to send in $3.50 for the Flynn.

PLEASE NO MORE BACKOGONS or other toys at school. They are problematic even at snack and recess. Thank you.