Thursday, March 24, 2016
Monkeys
Today was a day that was filled with monkeys. I read a short book about monkeys, but it was our activities that were particularly fun. The children were so engrossed in the activities that they did not get to all of the ones I had planned. I promised them that I would rearrange tomorrow's plans so that they could continue with the activities.
I taught the children how to draw and paint monkeys using shapes and lines that they could draw. The painters in the class were so focused and spent a fair length of time on their art work as they created monkeys.
Do you remember the scuba divers the children made with their faces? Today, I showed them how to make monkeys with their faces. The children who were busy with this activity enjoyed seeing their faces turn into monkey faces on monkey bodies. Some of them were howling with laughter... just like howler monkeys!
If you haven't had a chance to see the children's rainforest bulletin board, you should swing by the classroom before I take it down next week. The animals that the children have made are decorating it.
On Friday, I will be leaving early since I have a flight to catch to Washington DC. Tom and I are spending Easter with our eldest daughter and her husband. I will be out on Monday. I will see everyone on Tuesday.
I taught the children how to draw and paint monkeys using shapes and lines that they could draw. The painters in the class were so focused and spent a fair length of time on their art work as they created monkeys.
Do you remember the scuba divers the children made with their faces? Today, I showed them how to make monkeys with their faces. The children who were busy with this activity enjoyed seeing their faces turn into monkey faces on monkey bodies. Some of them were howling with laughter... just like howler monkeys!
If you haven't had a chance to see the children's rainforest bulletin board, you should swing by the classroom before I take it down next week. The animals that the children have made are decorating it.
On Friday, I will be leaving early since I have a flight to catch to Washington DC. Tom and I are spending Easter with our eldest daughter and her husband. I will be out on Monday. I will see everyone on Tuesday.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Welcome March
We welcomed March by talking about some of the happenings in March... birthdays and the coming of spring. Today, the children realized that I removed the weather graph and replaced it with a 'weather calendar'. We will be tracking the lion and lamb days for the month of March to see if the poem, March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, is correct. Since this morning was cold, the children decided that it was a lion day. We decided that the children will use the temperature as the guide for determining lion and lamb days.
Our question of the week was: How do you feel on rainy days?. Most of the children felt happy because they like to splash puddles. They graphed their answers and talked about the data on the graph. Following this, they drew and wrote in their journals. Their task was to draw a picture that matched their sentence: I feel ______ when it rains because ____________. I was very pleased with how the children are drawing with details so that their pictures can ell a story.
The children looked at the unified cubes that some of their peers assembled yesterday to compare the rainfall in deserts, Williamstown and rainforests. When they saw the different lengths of unify cubes (9, 44, 100) they understood how much it rains in the rainforest.
We continued to review the letters XYZ.
Tomorrow's conferences will be in the classroom,
Our question of the week was: How do you feel on rainy days?. Most of the children felt happy because they like to splash puddles. They graphed their answers and talked about the data on the graph. Following this, they drew and wrote in their journals. Their task was to draw a picture that matched their sentence: I feel ______ when it rains because ____________. I was very pleased with how the children are drawing with details so that their pictures can ell a story.
The children looked at the unified cubes that some of their peers assembled yesterday to compare the rainfall in deserts, Williamstown and rainforests. When they saw the different lengths of unify cubes (9, 44, 100) they understood how much it rains in the rainforest.
We continued to review the letters XYZ.
Tomorrow's conferences will be in the classroom,
Friday, February 12, 2016
Red and Pink Celebration
We were a blast of red and pink today! Not only did the children enjoy the healthy red and pink snack food at snack. Boy, did they eat well! We worked the red and pink clothes into a math lesson. The children graphed entered data on a graph to figure out how many people wore red, pink, both colors, or neither color. After the graph was completed they all looked at the graph and drew conclusions about the data. They enjoyed this math activity very much.
To conclude the brief study of the Sonoran Desert, I read The Magic School Bus Gets all Dried Up. I asked the children to raise their hands when they heard something they knew as I read the book. I was rewarded with many hands being raised as I read the book. The kids felt pretty good about all of their newly learned desert knowledge. They painted resist pictures of what they enjoyed learning about the desert. The pictures were sent home today.
Have a nice vacation week. I am hoping that a week of us all being away from each other will give us a chance to get healthy. Someone asked me my plans for the vacation. My plans are for me to get healthy.
To conclude the brief study of the Sonoran Desert, I read The Magic School Bus Gets all Dried Up. I asked the children to raise their hands when they heard something they knew as I read the book. I was rewarded with many hands being raised as I read the book. The kids felt pretty good about all of their newly learned desert knowledge. They painted resist pictures of what they enjoyed learning about the desert. The pictures were sent home today.
Have a nice vacation week. I am hoping that a week of us all being away from each other will give us a chance to get healthy. Someone asked me my plans for the vacation. My plans are for me to get healthy.
Friday, June 19, 2015
The Last Day
I love the last day of school because once I complete the progress reports I am able to reflect on how much each and everyone of your children has grown. On the final day of school, even though they are so young the children sense that things will be different and they seem to cherish the bonds of friendship that have been formed over the year. It is bittersweet, though, because it is time to say goodbye to the wonderful children who are heading to kindergarten. I am so thankful that some will be with me another year. It makes the final day easier.
Nancy and I end each year with our final circle. As the children sit at circle, first I talk to each child to tell them what made them wonderful to have in class and reflect on each one's accomplishment. Following this, Nancy shares what she will always remember about each one of them. It is a memorable time filed with smiles, laughter and, yes, tears (from Nancy and me).
Our field trip to The Clark was delightful. As a teacher it was so rewarding to walk into the first gallery that is filled with Frederic Remington and Winslow Homer's art and hear the children gasp with excitement and hear their electrified voices name the paintings that they saw. The children were eager to share with the docent their knowledge of the artwork. Over seven weeks, the children learned about so many paintings that they saw only a sampling of the art that we studied. They are bringing home two gifts from The Clark, a postcard and a bookmark. The bookmark is free admission for one adult to accompany a child into the museum. The children were very excited to learn that you could bring them there for free. I hope that you take advantage of the free admission. (If you go to The Clark, you may want to review with your child the artists and their artwork by looking at the slide shows that are on the right side of this post. Just click on the name and it is a link to the slide show.)
It was a busy day, so I did not have a chance to show the children the video of Walk for WES. Please look at it with your child. Be sure to take a good look at it about 57 seconds into the video. I think your child would enjoy reliving the fun of the Walk for WES which we participated in on Monday. By the way, did you hear that the PTO raised over $5000? Next year, the PTO will provided a lion share of our classroom budget which is used for supplies. Thank you for your donations!
Finally, thank you for all of the support that you have given me throughout the year or in some cases two or three years. I have best job in the world because not only do I have the joy to be with your children, but I also have the opportunity work with parents who value what I do.
Nancy and I end each year with our final circle. As the children sit at circle, first I talk to each child to tell them what made them wonderful to have in class and reflect on each one's accomplishment. Following this, Nancy shares what she will always remember about each one of them. It is a memorable time filed with smiles, laughter and, yes, tears (from Nancy and me).
Our field trip to The Clark was delightful. As a teacher it was so rewarding to walk into the first gallery that is filled with Frederic Remington and Winslow Homer's art and hear the children gasp with excitement and hear their electrified voices name the paintings that they saw. The children were eager to share with the docent their knowledge of the artwork. Over seven weeks, the children learned about so many paintings that they saw only a sampling of the art that we studied. They are bringing home two gifts from The Clark, a postcard and a bookmark. The bookmark is free admission for one adult to accompany a child into the museum. The children were very excited to learn that you could bring them there for free. I hope that you take advantage of the free admission. (If you go to The Clark, you may want to review with your child the artists and their artwork by looking at the slide shows that are on the right side of this post. Just click on the name and it is a link to the slide show.)
It was a busy day, so I did not have a chance to show the children the video of Walk for WES. Please look at it with your child. Be sure to take a good look at it about 57 seconds into the video. I think your child would enjoy reliving the fun of the Walk for WES which we participated in on Monday. By the way, did you hear that the PTO raised over $5000? Next year, the PTO will provided a lion share of our classroom budget which is used for supplies. Thank you for your donations!
Finally, thank you for all of the support that you have given me throughout the year or in some cases two or three years. I have best job in the world because not only do I have the joy to be with your children, but I also have the opportunity work with parents who value what I do.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
One Last Day of Learning
Today the children enjoyed the slide show about Winslow Homer that is now posted on this blog on the right. It was fun listening to them discuss what they knew about him. Prior to learning about Homer, they wanted to know if he painted horses since they knew that Degas and Remington painted horses. After they viewed the slide show, I heard the children telling each other that he painted horses, but he isn't famous for painting horses like Remington is.
Today, we harvested the lettuce that the children planted and grew. It is amazing how much it grew after the drenching rains we have had. The children are going to have the lettuce in a salad with the pizza for tomorrow's lunch. (A shout out to Jeanne who will pick up the pizza that I have ordered)
The class is excited about Friday's field trip. This afternoon, we reviewed how to behave in the museum. It was so delightful when one child said that we should write thank you notes to the guide after the field trip. We talked that if there is a painting which they would like to look at longer or see a painting that we pass in the gallery, that they could let you know that they would like to go back to The Clark.
I read the following book to the children this afternoon, and they absolutely loved it. It was fun reading it with them because they recognized the work of various artists that were highlighted in the book. There were squeals of excitement as when they realized that they knew the artists and the works of art. One child requested that I put the book on the blog. So here it is...
The field trip is in the morning. When we get back to school, we will have pizza and salad and sorbet for dessert.
Today, we harvested the lettuce that the children planted and grew. It is amazing how much it grew after the drenching rains we have had. The children are going to have the lettuce in a salad with the pizza for tomorrow's lunch. (A shout out to Jeanne who will pick up the pizza that I have ordered)
The class is excited about Friday's field trip. This afternoon, we reviewed how to behave in the museum. It was so delightful when one child said that we should write thank you notes to the guide after the field trip. We talked that if there is a painting which they would like to look at longer or see a painting that we pass in the gallery, that they could let you know that they would like to go back to The Clark.
I read the following book to the children this afternoon, and they absolutely loved it. It was fun reading it with them because they recognized the work of various artists that were highlighted in the book. There were squeals of excitement as when they realized that they knew the artists and the works of art. One child requested that I put the book on the blog. So here it is...
Monday, June 15, 2015
Fun Day
Despite the rainy morning, the children had a fun day for field day and Walk for WES. Our intrepid principal and creative gym teacher came up with an alternative field day plan which actually was absolutely perfect for the preschoolers.
All of the preschoolers were brought to the gym from 9-9:30 for fun and games. This time was dedicated to just the preschoolers. They had fun in the bounce house and enjoyed choosing other activities. Some of their choices were: face/ arm painting, beading, scooter boards, jumping on mats. The time was the prefect length of time. It was also very nice that the children were with the children they know from Sherry's class and did not feel overwhelmed by older children (as in past years).
The rained cleared long enough for us to have Walk for WES at the end of the day. The entire school walked in a big loop both in and out of the school. If your child is a little tired, it is probably because we walked and danced for a solid forty minutes. We walked and danced the loop five times! Donations are still being accepted.
Tomorrow, we have another activity planned to help the children who are moving to K with their transition. Our entire class will have our morning snack in the cafeteria. Lisa, our cafeteria manager, is planning a snack for the children. The class will go to the cafeteria and learn how to go through the cafeteria line. Instead of lunch, they will pick up their snack. The children will learn where they pick up utensils, where the kindergartners sit, and how to dispose of their waste. These seemingly little tasks can be stressful for kindergartners on their first day of school. I hope that this helps with the first day jitters.
All of the preschoolers were brought to the gym from 9-9:30 for fun and games. This time was dedicated to just the preschoolers. They had fun in the bounce house and enjoyed choosing other activities. Some of their choices were: face/ arm painting, beading, scooter boards, jumping on mats. The time was the prefect length of time. It was also very nice that the children were with the children they know from Sherry's class and did not feel overwhelmed by older children (as in past years).
The rained cleared long enough for us to have Walk for WES at the end of the day. The entire school walked in a big loop both in and out of the school. If your child is a little tired, it is probably because we walked and danced for a solid forty minutes. We walked and danced the loop five times! Donations are still being accepted.
Tomorrow, we have another activity planned to help the children who are moving to K with their transition. Our entire class will have our morning snack in the cafeteria. Lisa, our cafeteria manager, is planning a snack for the children. The class will go to the cafeteria and learn how to go through the cafeteria line. Instead of lunch, they will pick up their snack. The children will learn where they pick up utensils, where the kindergartners sit, and how to dispose of their waste. These seemingly little tasks can be stressful for kindergartners on their first day of school. I hope that this helps with the first day jitters.
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