Fantastic First Day!

Today was a successful day! The children were kind, helpful, and attentive.
We read The Kissing Hand and talked about our first day feelings.
We are learning Hey Diddle, Diddle this week. We will be visiting different places in the school
to find the dish and spoon. This will help the children get a better sense of the layout of the school.
I introduced caring for the IPad today and the children learned how to scan a QR code! The QRCODES took them to a talking animal that told them
about something important in the room. We will be doing this again in small
group time.
The children are working on practicing writing their names. We are learning how to grip our pencil and how to write our last names too.
It is our goal to work daily on listening carefully and raising our hands without calling out. You can give gentle reminders about this at home.
Today, the children participated in calendar math. We practiced counting to100 and will continue this daily. During this time we are going over the months of the year, days of the week as well as many other important math and language arts concepts. Calendar time
is an important time of day.
This week and next week we will focus on the sight words I,love, you, the.
We will also revisit/introduce letter sounds during calendar time.
At home, please read daily and practice name writing.
Names begin with an uppercase letter and have lowercase letters inside of them.
I will update our blog as often as possible.
Please remember to sign up for mystery reader!
If you need the QRcode for the Google document,
please send me an E-Mail as soon as possible.
If you have any paperwork at home from the office, please return it.
Have a happy day!

Learning and Surprises

Happy Monday!
Today we started off our day with a review of shapes. The children hunted through the magazines for shapes! We described our shapes as well.

Then, we read and discussed The Bumpy Little Pumpkin.


Our I CAN-
I can retell the characters and the setting of a story.
I can identify the author and the illustrator.

We had a surprise Mystery Reader today! Technology has no boundaries! 

Our word we will focus on during whole group this week

Our shared reading this week.

 We continue to make learning about being a good citizen part of our daily class routine. The children are learning about and practicing the first of The Seven Habits. Be Proactive!

Mystery Reader

Thank you for returning your Mystery Reader forms.
We are now booked for September. We have 4 Friday's open in October!
Mystery Reader will be held each Friday unless we have an assembly.
Readers will be sent a clue sheet before their date. Please fill it out and return in before Friday.
We will read the clues to the class prior to your arrival. 
When you arrive, please check in at the security desk. Then, they will call down to the room to let us know that we have a "Mystery Guest."
We will be returning from music right before Mystery Reader time, so please don't stand in the hallway because the kids will see you. 

If you have not returned your form, and want to be a reader, please do so soon.
We will do our best to assign you a date that you requested. 

Rules We Can Use!

Each day we will work together on learning what a leader and good citizen looks like.
Today we created class rules and read How Full Is Your Bucket.
Ask your child what a bucket filler does.

Please continue to encourage your child to be an active listener.

All of our friends have been moving their stars forward. We needed some gentle reminders today about staying on task and on our cushions.

In math we will continue to work  on counting and number identification up to 20 and for those who are ready, we will go beyond.

Please let me know if you are willing to volunteer in our classroom.
I am looking forward to seeing the Mystery Reader paper work come in! It's first come first serve so get them in soon!


Many papers from the PTA will go home on Thursday. Please make sure to look at them and empty out your child's folder.
If you haven't initialed your child's folder each night this week, please begin tomorrow.
This is our way of knowing that you have seen their folder and have celebrated their hard work.

Information

Reminders:

Tuesday, September 30th Word Study mini-workshop

Sign up for Mystery Reader! We are booked through November. Sign up for a Tuesday in December-June

If you have already signed up we gave you one of the dates that you requested or sent you a note requesting that you choose another date.

Supplies: 

We need the following.  If you can give we would really appreciate it. 

dry erase erasers

Sharpie Markers- Fine point every color

Large Post-It Note Poster Paper

black empty film containers (What are my chances anyone has these?-Fingers crossed)

empty, clean, Styrofoam/paper coffee cups with lids with just one hole in the top (15)

clean corks

8 pairs of adult small cloth gardening gloves

8 dollar store, plastic chip bowls large enough to hold a jumbo bag of chips

ping pong balls(8)

golf balls (8)

8 blind folds that can fit a child's head

Each day we are learning in small group.  We are working on one to one pointing and what to do when we are "stuck" on a word?

-get your mouth ready

-look at the picture

Yes, that is a MONSTER FINGER...

Your child came home with name writing practice today.  Please use this as a guide when working with your child. 

Today we read a story called I Love School.

Prior to reading we activated our schema. We asked ourselves-"What do I already know about school." We also discussed the characters, setting, author, and illustrator as we read.  We learned that setting change in stories.  When we remember a story and tell it in our own words we are retelling.  As you are reading with your child encourage activating schema, discuss the characters, setting, and events.  Ask- "does this remind you of something in your life?" When we make connections, we remember what we read.  Stay tuned for a video of our song! 

2nd Day

Today was a great day in Rainbow Valley.
The children were engaged in learning.  

Our tables are finally named! Does your child know what his or her table's name is?
We have the following names:
Take turns, clean up, self-control, be kind, share, and respect.  We are learning about what it means to be a hardworking citizen in our class and our table names reflect that and so does our behavior. 
 Many of our friends have moved their stars and have added tickets to their table's cup. If your child has moved his or her star or earned tickets, can they tell you how they earned that recognition? These are great conversations to be having at home. We are setting high expectations and appreciate you doing the same for our kindergarten friends.
When I would like the children to refocus or transition we say, "Please give me five."
Ask your child about this.  

Did you hear that the Dish and The Spoon ran away AGAIN?
Today we found them in Mr. Fritz's room.  He is our music teacher.  

REMINDER:  If you haven't returned all Open House paper work please do so by Friday. :)

Calling ALL MYSTERY READERS!!!  Please return your form as soon as possible. The slots fill up fast.  I will do my very best to accommodate everyone. 

Calling All Readers!

Parents:
If you have not already been a Mystery Reader and wish to be one, please send me an Email. Every Tuesday from 8:25-8:45 we need a reader.  We have one more Tuesday in April and May is open.
We are all set on recycling materials.  Our lesson was last week.  Please don't send in anymore materials. 
Please continue to encourage recyling at home.
Many of you have asked about Field Day.  Mrs. T. will be in touch about Field Day soon.

Our day...

Today was filled with mystery.
Who is that knocking at our door?
Why it's a former Rainbow Valley Friend also the sister of a current Rainbow Valley Friend. Jordan was our mystery reader.
Today we also discovered what makes a shadow.
We began the lesson through sharing what was already in our schema.
Then, we went outside to our adopted tree and observed what was creating the shadow.
To our surprise it was the sun and the tree.
Over the next few weeks we will be exploring shadows.
We are focusing on the meanings of the following terms in relationship to shadows:
sunlight
shadow
block
black
above
position

THANK YOU!

I want to extend a BIG thank you to all of our Mystery Readers.  I also want to thank everyone who has signed up to be a reader. We will make sure if you volunteered to read that you will have your day. We continue readers until the last week of school. :)
The kids look forward to this every Wednesday. Every reader brings such joy to our classroom.

IPAD FUN

We have been really enjoying IPADs this week.

The students have enjoyed using various different apps.
We love using the IPads in our class, and I wanted to let all of you know which Apps we were using so you can use them at home if you would like. I have used all of these apps in class  Math magic, math bingo, ABC word families, ABC pocket phonics, and word magic. The anaologies for kids and sentence builder are apps we use for students who are ready for something a little more challenging.
Gus has even enjoyed his new IPAD. :)  Mommy just can't stop teaching once she gets home!

Gus practicing his sight words! :)

Fabulous Friday

Another great week has flown on by in Rainbow Valley!  I hope your child will share with you all that we have been learning in class. 


Today we went back to the library and checked out new books.  If your child did not return his/her book then they were not able to get a new one.  Please enjoy these books at home, once you've read them, fill out the reading log!!!  Many students are working on Reading Log number two!  Way to go!


If you have not returned your Mystery Reader form, please do so next week.


Thank you again for sharing your children with us.  We truly love seeing their smiling faces each and everyday!

Poetry Images and An Old Friend

Today the afternoon class started working on creating poetry images.  Boy, was this fun!
They painted pictures with words. 
We also had a former Rainbow Valley student as a Mystery Reader in the afternoon class.

We need Mystery Readers

Parents and Friends,
We need Mystery Readers for the following dates:
Wed. April 13th
Please Email me if you or someone you child knows would like to be a reader.
Morning Class Reader: 10:30-10:50 Afternoon Class Reader: 1:20-1:40
Thanks!

Calling All Mystery Readers!

We have the following dates avilable for Mystery Reader:
Morning Class: February 2nd from 10:30-10:50.

Afternoon Class: February 2nd,16th, and 23rd from 1:20-1:40

If you are interested in reading to our kindergarten friends please E-mail me the dates.  This is first come first serve.  I will contact you with a schedule as soon as possible.

Thank you for making learning fun!