Getting Back into the Swing of Things

 Be sure to scroll down after this entry.  I've added three new slideshows.  Thanks for being patient.

The most important news from last week is that we have a new friend!!!  Room 115 grew by one and now we are a class family of 20!  Please drop by for lunch and welcome our new friend.

The second biggest news from last week is that we have an assistant in the classroom for the majority of the day.  Mrs. Fitzpatrick joined us on Thursday.  We know that her favorite color is pink, she likes to play golf, her favorite food is pasta, her favorite restaurant is Olive Garden and her favorite number is 18.  While you are meeting our new classmate at lunch, stop by and meet Mrs. Fitzpatrick and tell her how glad you are that she is a member of Room 115.

The third huge news from that short week is a new rewards system in our classroom.  Each child has a card with spaces available for twenty hole punches.  A punch is given out to the children that are making good choices, doing their best and following the rules.  Punches are given out throughout the day in small increments of time.  When a member of Room 115 gets all twenty punches, he/she gets to read our behavior notebook.  It is kind of like a menu full of extra special things to do in the classroom.  For example:  walk around in the classroom in your socks, trading seats with a friend  for one day,  bringing a stuffed animal to school, bringing something for show and tell, working on the computer, using Mrs. McDevitt's supplies, sitting at the round table in the lunchroom with a friend, and wearing a hat in the classroom  We should have people reaching the twenty hole mark this week.  Exciting times!

This week we will be studying the letter "Nn" as in nurse in the night.  With the following word wall words: is, him, out, then, have.

Earlier in the fall, grade level t-shirts were purchased.  It is planned for the t-shirts to be sent home on Monday and can be worn every Tuesday.  If you didn't purchase a grade level t-shirt then continue to wear regular uniform attire on Tuesdays.  I will send an email home on Monday going over the exact "rules" for the grade level t-shirts.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was very popular last week.  Remember when I told you at the small group meetings at the beginning of the year about the importance of oral language in a beginning reader... well, the poetry notebook is an excellent tool for oral language development.  Thank you for taking the time each weekend to go read and listen to our latest work.  Tongue twisters are really great ways for the children to hear sounds, rhythm and repetition.  Plus Fuzzy Wuzzy is perfect for learning the upcoming word wall word:  was.  Please do your best to make sure the poetry notebook is returned on Monday and look for it on Fridays.

Library day is  Monday as is Italian Ice Day.  I sent out emails to the families that still have credit for prepaying Italian Ice.  If you did not get an email on Friday then your child does not have money for Italian Ice.

The children did not like waiting until 2:00 for snack on Mondays so I'm going to go back to having a snack time and then a Nancy's Ice on Mondays. It was too long for some students to go without taking a brain break.  So scratch my idea of snack time and Nancy's at the same time.

We will continue to take a nap until January 20.  January 20 is the end of the semester and nap mats will be sent home.  TRUST ME...it is going to be a hard adjustment for everyone to drop the rest time.  Be very patient with your child as he adjusts to a very FULL day of learning.  (Meaning:  it is common for more emotional late afternoons and early evenings as the children come home from school exhausted!)

I will begin Accelerated Reader next week.  Look for a very important handout to come home on Thursday that will go over how I handle AR in the classroom.  I have arranged for a volunteer to help me every Wednesday in the classroom as the children begin to take comprehension tests on the classroom.  My handout will explain everything about Accelerated Reader, please be sure to read it.

Start sending in shoe boxes next Tuesday.  Adult sized shoeboxes work best to make a mailbox to hold all of our valentines. The really good kind is the ones with a separate lid but they are more and more difficult to find so the ones with a connected lid will work too.  No more toilet tissue rolls or egg cartons but still send in cool whip containers.

Information about our bowling  field trip will come home on Thursday.    You are invited to attend our field trip or pop in during our 9-12 stay at Brunswick Lanes on Friday, January 27.

I will begin report card testing this week.  I will be testing on sight words this Friday.  I will only be testing on the words from August through December.  January sight words will be tested next nine weeks.

Book orders are coming home on Monday.  Return money by Friday if interested.  If you order on-line our code is GL88R.

No school on Monday, January 16 in honor of the birthdays of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee .  


This has been long and thanks for sticking with me.  Email me with any questions or concerns you may have.

On a totally personal note:  If you do not have a connection to a Girl Scout for GS cookies then let me help you.  My house is the cookie house for our GS troop.  If you need any GS cookies then let me grab a few boxes off my dining room table.  Cookies are $3.50 a box.   The cookies arrive Tuesday and will be in my dining room until March 11 so let me help you with any of your cookie needs. 

Happy New Year!!

To celebrate the arrival of 2012, we thought really hard about one thing we wanted to learn how to do in 2012!  Check out our desires! If you click on the slideshow, you should be able to see translations of their invented spellings along with the student's initials.  If you do not click on the slide show, the captions are hidden.   Happy New Year!

A Day With the Polar Express

With the party over, we still had one more day left before the holiday vacation began.  So, we celebrated the book the Polar Express.  Check last week's blog entry for photos of us watching the movie.  When we returned from the classroom, Santa had left a package with our own bells.  We spent the afternoon singing songs, playing with puppets and drinking hot chocolate all while wearing our pajamas.  A perfect way to end 2011.

Room 115 Knows How to Throw A Party

What a special treat to stop learning in the middle of the day and have a party.  As our classroom was being prepared, we went outside and used a few props to retell the story of the Gingerbread Man.  Acting out stories is a great way to build the comprehension skills of your child.  At our party we had cupcakes, Bingo, Gingerbread pops to decorate and lots of moms and dads available to smile, laugh and be members of Room 115.  Thank you to everyone for providing the party goods and more importantly loving Room 115.

A New Year and New Changes

Happy New Year! 
 
Check out all the fun we had watching the Polar Express.  We are going to have even more fun in 2012!


There will be no reading homework this week.


This week we will be investigating the letter "Jj" as in "jellybeans in a jar".  The word wall words will be then, with, for, some.  

Check for our poetry journal on Friday.  It is a tongue twister and beware Kindergarten children find tongue twisters very funny!

Our next field trip will be Friday, January 27 for a  mid morning game of bowling and lunch at the alley.  I will send more information home next week but I wanted to give you plenty of notice to rearrange your schedules if your are interested in watching/helping/cheering us bowl. 

We had two very special birthdays to celebrate in late December!   I'm so lucky that I get to work daily with such sweetness!

I ran out of photo storage on the blog.  I've added more storage but now I'm in a waiting game for it to be credited to my account.  I will update more slideshows later this week.  Thank you for your patience.

You will hear about some changes in our classroom over the next several days.  One thing is a new behavior management system.  I will explain it at a later time. 

I am very excited to see the children and hear all about their breaks from school. Thank you for sharing your greatest treasure with me.

Email me with any questions or concerns.

Saying Goodbye to 2011

If you asked the students the most important thing about this week the answer would be Thursday, December 15. Every day we've been counting down the days until we take a break from learning and have a party!  Our classroom party will be Thursday, December 15 from 1:30-2:15.  Parents are invited to help get the room ready beginning at 1:10.  If you want to enjoy the party with your Room 115 member without chasing younger siblings you may choose the babysitting service organized by the room parents.  Contact the room moms for more details about the babysitting service or assisting with preparations for the party.  You may check your child out after the party.  The following is the most efficient way to check your child out:
1.  Before the party begins, there will be a table set up for check outs in front of the office.  Once you fill out the necessary paperwork, you will be given a slip of paper to hand me.  This paper allows me to release your child at the end of the party.
2.  Be sure to hand me the slip of paper once you enter the classroom.  If I do not have the slip of paper then you must go to the office at the end of the party and check your child out.
3.  I will not release your child without the slip of paper from the office!

This is a review week in whole group instruction.  We will be doing a lot of Gingerbread Man activities and working on word wall words.

Monday is Italian Ice for $1.00.  Remember not to send a snack on Monday if you are ordering Italian Ice.  Instead of having snack and then time for Italian Ice, I'm  protecting instructional time by combining them into one.  The party on Thursday will take the place of snack so please do not send snack on Thursday either.  I hope this is not confusing.

Return library books on Monday.

In math, we continue to compare numbers up to ten.  December calendar pages will come home in Friday's book bag.  Use the attached sheet to understand the math concepts found in calendar pages.

Friday is the day that we will be watching the Polar Express.  Your child is encouraged to wear pajamas to school on Friday.  We will take our nap mats and watch the movie on a big screen in the library.  You may send a blanket to school for your child to wrap up in as the movie is shown.  Please do not send a blanket of sentimental value because accidents do happen.  There will be Polar Express surprises all day long.

Be sure to check book bags on Friday for our last poem of 2011.  There will be more poems in 2012 so please make sure the poetry notebook is returned on January 4.

2012 will bring big changes to Room 115.  If all goes as scheduled, there will be a classroom assistant in our room for the majority of the day beginning January 4 for the remainder of the school year.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for supporting Room 115.

Last Friday we celebrated an upcoming birthday!  Happy Birthday to a fantastic young lady!  Being six will be so much fun!!!!

Please be saving egg cartons, empty Cool Whip containers and remember to be on the look out for an adult sized shoe box.  Turn in egg cartons and Cool Whip containers when empty but wait until I ask for the shoe box.

Upcoming events:
Tuesday, December 13:  Spirit Night at Jason's Deli
Thursday, December 15:  Classroom party from 1:30-2:15
Friday, December 16:  Kindergarten wears pajamas to school to watch Polar Express
Monday, December 19-Tuesday, January 3:  Winter Holiday Break
Wednesday, January 4: Students return

Friday at 3:10 begins a long break.  Be sure to continue to work on word wall words and continue reading at least five days a week.  I know you will enjoy your child without the limitations that a school day brings.  I hope you have time to draw pictures, bake cookies, play outside, build a fort with sheets and anything else that brings time with your child.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!  Be safe and I will be so excited to see the children on Wednesday, January 4, 2012!

A Quiet Week

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  My weekend was full.  When it came time to update the blog, it was way past time to sleep.  So I figured you would rather have a rested teacher than an updated blog.

Last week was a quiet week in Room 115.  We've had some pretty exciting weeks recently and there are some exciting weeks upcoming.  There is something to be said for quiet, regular, nothing exciting weeks.  With all the rain and cold temperatures, it was nice to step outside when the sun broke and enjoy the fresh air. 

Be sure to scroll down to several slideshows I posted in the middle of last week. The pictures do not do it justice all the fun we have every day in Room 115.

This week we will be investigating the letter "Ii" as in insect in the ink.  Word wall words are:  when, want, get, soon. 

It is very common for young children to flip flop the letters b and d.  This is nothing to be concerned about at this age.  A fun way to help your child remember the correct formation of these letters is:
b:  remind your child that baseball begins with the sound the letter b makes.  When you play baseball, the bat hits the ball.  Then show your child when forming the letter b that the straight line is the bat and the bat hits the ball (make a circle that touches the straight line to form the letter b).  So make the bat first and then the ball.  It would be crazy for the ball to hit the bat (that would be the letter d)!
d:  remind your child that doorknob and door begins with the sound the letter d makes.  When you open a door, you touch the doorknob first and then the door:  make the circle first (the doorknob) then draw a straight line (the door).  You can't open the door and then touch the doorknob:  that would be the letter b.  Try that technique if you notice your child having difficulty forming b's and d's.

In math, we are working on numbers to ten.  We are working with ordering and comparing amounts.

Starting next Monday, I am moving snack time to our Italian Ice time.  Up until now, it was two separate times.  I was losing too much instructional time.  If your child purchases Italian Ice then please do not send a snack on Monday.  The Italian Ice will be your child's snack.  If your child is not eating Italian Ice then please send a snack.

Be sure to check the poetry notebooks this Friday.  It will be one of those rhymes that will stay with your child forever and be quick on the tongue when the appropriate time arises. 

An email went out last Friday about our class party on Thursday,December 15 from 1:30-2:15.  The room mothers have done a wonderful job planning our special afternoon so please contact them and offer your help.  You may check your child out after the party for an early dismissal.

On Friday,December 16, the children are allowed to wear their pajamas to school as we take our nap mats and watch the movie the Polar Express in the library.  Please let me know if you have concerns about your child watching the Polar Express (it is rated G).  There will be several surprises all day long.

Keep saving egg cartons.  We no longer need paper towel tubes or toilet tissue rolls.  In January, we will start collecting shoe boxes for our Valentine's Day party.  Be on the look out for adult sized shoe boxes (the ones with the take off lids work best but they are becoming more and more difficult to find.)  Do not send shoe boxes in until I ask for them.

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, December 7:  Spirit Night:  Applebees
Tuesday, December 13:  Spirit Night at Jason's Deli
Thursday, December 15:  Holiday party
Friday, December 16:  Kindergarten wears pajamas to school to watch Polar Express
Monday, December 19-Tuesday, January 3:  Winter Holiday Break
Wednesday, January 4: Students return