Today, after Center Time and Afternoon Meeting, we read a couple of books about Thanksgiving. One, Thanksgiving Day, told the story of the Pilgrims, and the other, Gracias, The Thanksgiving Turkey, was a funnier book about a turkey and a family in New York City (the turkey is meant for dinner, but the family happily ends up eating chicken). Then, we were off to the Computer Lab for a half hour.

When we got back to the room, we talked about our Penny Pal donations, and counted out a dollar of each type of coin. Each child made an estimation of how much money was in the bucket -- they ranged from $1.75 to $4,000,000.87. I'll bring it to the coin counting machine at the bank and see how much it is actually. We spent some time reviewing the letter sounds that we have learned in phonics class thus far, and practicing writing some simple words with those letters. Then, since it was a pretty nice day (there's no wind on our playground), we went outside instead of having Choice Time. After that, we were off to Spanish, pick-up, or the buses.

Today, after Center Time, we had a special guest. Christine, Adele's mom, came in to present a music lesson that is a part of the BRAVO! program. In this program, the kids will be exposed to classical music, composers, and gain an appreciation and understanding of the elements of music. It was really fun - ask your child all about it.

After our music lesson, the kids each made a self-portrait for our classroom wall, and then had Writer's Workshop, in which the kids learned a bit about the revision process. We spent time reviewing all of the writing that they have done thus far, and thought about ways to revise and expand the writing that they have already done.

After Writer's workshop, we did a math assessment/activity using 100s charts and even counting by 2s. We finished up with Choice Time, and then bundled everyone up to go home.

Have a great weekend - stay warm!!

Today, after Center Time and Afternoon Meeting, we had a phonics and reading lesson before gym class. We met a new High Hat friend - today was Noisy Nan (the /n/ sound - she has issues with nutcrackers - ask your child all about it). We also talked about new 'word families' that we can write now that we know the letter 'n' - words that end in -an and words that end in -in.

Then we went down the hall for gym class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson - who were both wearing roller blades, to our surprise. I got to the gym a bit early to pick them up, and ran a couple of laps around the gym with them -- kindergartners are faster than they look, but then you all probably already knew that...

After gym we hustled up to the Media Center for book check-out, and them back down to our class where we had a short math lesson about counting. We practiced counting by 10s, by 5s, by 2s, and backwards from both 20 and 10, all using the hundreds chart.

The day finished up with Choice Time. Then, after all were properly bundled up, we headed to Minneapolis Kids or home.

Today, after Center Time and Afternoon Meeting, we worked on reading and writing. We talked about three sight words that we are learning (I, see, and like). We used a page that had sentences that started with either I like or I see, and the kids took their page around the room and wrote words that they saw in the room to finish the sentences. The kids then practiced reading what they had written (to read their own writing and the sight words as well).

After writing, we had a special visitor -- Katie Cronin, who is a kindergarten parent, came in to run the Art Adventure program. The program is sponsored by the Minneapolis Institute of Art (here's a link for info about the program, and here's a link to see the works of art that the kids will see). The kids get the chance to see prints/photos of works that are in the museum, and talk about them. They saw a really cool mask from a Native American tribe in the Pacific Northwest, and then they made a mask out of a paper plate, which they should have in their backpacks today.

I didn't have a chance to put their homework packets in their backpacks today, so I will send it home tomorrow.

Today is the 50th day of kindergarten -- time flies when you're having fun, I guess!!

Today, after Center Time (new centers today!) and Afternoon Meeting, we had just enough time to read Rianna's Star of the Week poster (nice job, Rianna!) and finish the math lesson that we started yesterday before we headed up to the Computer Lab for our math and reading practice there. In math, we finished the "parts of ten" activity - your child should have brought it home today.

After computers, we came back down to the room and used the portable white boards and markers for the first time this year. Each child got his or her own mini-white board and we practiced the letter sounds that the High Hat friends have taught us this year so far. We also worked on 'stretching' words out to spell them, and all of the kids spelled three letter words on their boards.

At the end of the day, we finished up with Choice Time, and then it was time to go home.


Sorry for the late post - I just got home from a very successful Latino Parent Night at Burroughs - we had a potluck dinner in the cafeteria. As part of the bilingual team at Burroughs, I help with such activities throughout the year. It was great fun!

Today, after Center Time and Afternoon Meeting , we worked on math -- the kids used unifix ('linker') cubes to make combinations of 10, and labeled them on a page. They also are beginning to write the corresponding "number sentences" (6+4=10, for instance). After math, we met a new High Hat friend (to go along with the new one from last Friday, Wendy Watch). Today we met Dirty Dan, and learned about the /d/ sound.

After our phonics lesson, we went up to the computer lab for our time practicing math and reading skills. When we got back down to our class, we had time to preview the centers that we will have tomorrow (all new ones). that left just enough time for Choice Time. Then the kids were off to Spanish or home!

We also talked about the Penny Pals program that we are running here at school. If your child is talking about bring spare change to school, we will be using it to buy hygiene supplies for families that are currently living at the Harriet Tubman shelter in south Minneapolis.

Also, it's not too late to send in donations for our class basket for the Silent Auction - thanks for your generosity!

Sorry for the no posting yesterday - we had a good day. I had class last night, and was also getting ready for a presentation that I made at a conference.

If you are interested, here is a link to a flyer that describes the conference at which I presented today at the College of Saint Benedict - I talked about how I teach kids to be writers in kindergarten. It was a very good day, and, obviously, there was a sub in class today.

Have a great weekend!

After Center Time and Afternoon Meeting today, we continued with our genre study of fables. Today we read the story of the Fox and the Stork, in which the fox invited the stork to his house for dinner, only to serve the soup in shallow bowls that the stork, with her long beak, could not drink. The stork then invited the fox to her house for dinner, but served the soup in narrow, long-necked containers that only she could drink from. The moral of the story was "treat others as you would like to be treated" - a good lesson for all of us, I think. We talked about the plot as well as the moral of the story.

After we finished our genre study, we went to the computer lab for our math and reading practice there.

After the lab, we had a short reading and phonics lesson, in which we talked about our new High Hat friend Hairy Horse, and read another book that had lots of 'h' words in it (Hide and Seek Hippo) - and at the end of the book there is a picture in which we had to find all of the things that begin with the letter h. We projected the pages up on the big screen, which is always a hit with the kids. We then had math workshop -- the kids could either choose to work on their counting books, or they could play a game called "Grab and Count" using blocks. Ask your child which s/he chose!

We finished up with Choice Time -- having Choice Time at the end of the day is working very well -- it gives the kids something to look forward to throughout.

Have a great evening!

After Center Time and Afternoon Meeting today, we met a new friend of Mr. High Hat's in phonics class today. We read a story about "Hairy Horse" (which is obviously the /h/ sound), and then talked a bit about word families, and learned how to make rhyming stories -- we made words that all ended in -at and -it, and then wrote a sentence that ended with those words.

Then, we were off to the music room for music class with Mr. Hofmann. When we got back to the room, we worked on our counting books in math class again. We finished up the day with Choice Time.

Today, after a very short Choice Time, we talked about our new (and improved!) kindergarten schedule. Instead of Choice Time at the beginning of the day, we will start with Centers, in which the kids will work on a skill from either math or literacy in small groups. I will also run guided reading groups with the kids at this time. We talked about the centers for the week, and then had a chance to try one of them out. We will begin with Centers in the morning tomorrow (Choice Time will be at the end of the day now).

After our "Centers Practice," we had our Afternoon Meeting, and then had a little bit of time to read our Star of the Week poster (great job reading, Annie!). After Star of the Week, we worked on the counting books that we began in Math Workshop last week. We reviewed Anno's Counting Book, and then worked on our own books - they are looking nice! We also had a chance to read another counting book - We All Go on Safari - A Counting book from Tanzania.

Today we also talked about our new system for behavior management in the classroom. Each child has a pocket on a chart in the front of the room. In the pocket is a green, a yellow, and a red slip of paper. Every child starts the day on green ("go - you're doing fine"). As a warning, if a child needs a reminder about their behavior, they will go to the chart and pull out the front (green) paper, which will leave the yellow tag ("slow - think about your behavior"). If there is another behavior incident, the yellow tag will be pulled as well, and read will be left (red = "stop"). If a kid reaches red, they will miss part of their choice time for that day. If the red card needs to be pulled as well, I will call home. I like this system because it is another opportunity for a conversation at home -- you can ask your child for a behavior update based upon their card color each day.

After our reading (we also read another counting book called Down in the Swamp), we headed up to the Computer Lab for our time there. We went a half hour later than usual, so by the time we got back down to the classroom, it was time for us to get packed up and head to Spanish class or home!

Today, after Choice Time and Afternoon Meeting, we started Math Workshop. This week we have been reading and thinking about counting books, and we read Anno's Counting Book on Wednesday. Today, we started our own counting book, by adding pictures of objects to pages that contain that number (on the '3' page, for instance, the kids drew three of every object that they added). We will continue to work on them next week - the books go up to 11, so we didn't get nearly done. At the end of Math Workshop, the kids all shared their work with two other kids in the class -- they were all very proud of their work.

As we finished math, we read a couple of books for a break - The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norman Juster and Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories by Laura Vacaro Seeger (both donations from the Book Fair - thank you!!).

The we started reading/phonics, were we reviewed the letter sounds that we have learned about from Mr. High Hat thus far, and started to make the connection between the sounds and spelling simple words (using the /t/, the /a/, and the /p/ sounds to spell 'tap," for instance). Ask your child what they used to write the words -- it's pretty funny!

At the end of the day, Will's mom came in to read one of Will's favorite books to us (he's the Star of the Week this week) - she read It's Not Easy Being Five, which seemed a very fitting end to a week of kindergarten... :-)

Have a great weekend!

Today I had a sub in the room for the afternoon, so here's what I had planned for her -- ask your child how their day stacked up to my plan!

After Choice Time and Afternoon Meeting, the kids read a quick book with the sub. Then, they headed to gym, where they stayed inside today. Then, they worked on phonics - and met a new High Hat friend -- Apple Annie (the short /a/ sound, as in apple). They did a little work on story sequencing, putting the pictures from the High Hat story in order, and then writing and drawing words that begin with that sound.

They finished up with a couple of math activities that dealt with numbers and number words.

After Choice TIme and Afternoon Meeting, we had a little bit of time to enjoy what looks to be the last of 60 degree weather in November. We went outside for a couple of minutes to play on the playground!

After the short recess, we did Writer's Workshop. I taught a short mini-lesson about using speech bubbles again (something of a repeat of a lesson from last week). We read a book that used speech bubbles (Hug), and learned that we can use speech bubbles for "dialogue" (your child should know that word now) and we can use it for individual people in stories who are talking.

We then headed up to the Computer Lab for 1/2 hour. After the lab, we started a math lesson that we will continue tomorrow - we will be making counting books. To get ready, we read a very cool counting book - Anno's Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno.

Then, we were on our ways!

Another note - I sent home school pictures today - the kids were to leave them in thheir backpacks until they got home -- I hope that was the case!

Today, after Choice Time and Afternoon Meeting, we had a chance to get out the instruments and sing and play (a very loud) Happy Birthday to Lili. Lili also brought her Mom to read If you Give a Cat a Cupcake, which is one of her favorite books. We had a little bit of time to read our new high Hat Story (Copy Cat - /k/ sound). Then, it was off to the Music Room for music class with Mr Hofmann.

When we came back to the classroom, we had had a chance for this week's Star of the Week to read his poster to us -- nice job, Will!!

Then it was time for reading/phonics. We read two short books that emphasized the /k/ sound - one with the letter 'c' and one with the letter 'k.' At the end of each book, there was a picture that had many things that began with the sound. We projected it up on the projection screen, and together found all of the 'hidden' pictures.

Before we packed up to go home we got to eat the yummy cupcakes that Lili brought for her birthday.

Don't forget to vote today!