Dear Families,
The kiddos in Room #7 had another great week! Each day, the Kindergartners are becoming more comfortable with our many routines, the school, and with each other. It’s wonderful to watch them engage in conversations and learn more about each other. Moreover, it is awesome to see them know each other’s names a wee bit more every day!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is all the rage in Room #7! We have been talking about beginning sounds and letters in the students’ names. Many of our Learning Lab Centers focus around the alphabet and learning our letters. Everyone is very excited for the parents to see the bulletin board the students constructed based on the book!
The class has also been busy with Math stations. We do a lot of station work in Kindergarten. The following are the Math stations our class worked with this week.
- Pattern Blocks - Students built patterns and intricate designs.
- Cover the Dots – Given mats with different amounts of black dots on them, students practiced their 1:1 correspondence and counting skills by covering these dots with colored tiles. This is a skill the Kindergartners will continue to hone for weeks to come!
- Brown Bear Roll– At this engaging, independent center, the boys and girls rolled a die and then colored in the corresponding animal from the beloved book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Everyone received practice recognizing the corresponding numeral to the dots on the die!
- Foam Ten Frames – Using our foam ten frames, the cherubs were able to manipulate the pegs to represent a given number. To begin, we chatted about how each ten frame has five spaces on the top and five spaces on the bottom, with a total of 10 spaces. The kiddos and I also discussed how you always start by filling up the top frame first and then move onto the bottom frame for higher numbers. Everyone loved manipulating the foam pegs to show the different numbers! This was definitely a fan favorite!
- Cubes – The kiddos loved exploring this fun manipulative! They enjoyed making patterns, building, and creating together.
- Dominos – Matching number dots together, the mathematicians in Room #7 loved working together to create an amazing array.
The class is doing an outstanding job with all of the Math stations. Moreover, we also talked about making sure to participate in new stations before returning to previous ones, and everybody is working on doing exactly what’s expected and following our important routines! Way to go Room #7!
This week, we talked a lot about families and how they can be the same and different! Although families can be comprised of various people, the boys and girls made sure to share that every family loves each other, takes care of one another, and plays together! Each child created his/her very own family portrait. Come to Curriculum Night to see yours!
On Thursday, Ms. Freeman our school counselor, came to visit our class for Motion and Emotion! This year she will visit all of the Kindergarten classes and do lessons related to building social and emotional skills. Ms. Freeman also loves to dance with the kids…and the kids LOVE it too! Today Ms. Freeman read a story called The Way I Feel and then talked to the kids about “feelings” they had/have about starting Kindergarten. We’ll continue to talk more about this over the next several weeks!
On Friday we also talked about what a scientist does! We read a book called What Is A Scientist? By Barbara Lehn. We discussed how a scientist learns by looking closely at things, by wondering, and by asking questions! We introduced a beautiful Monarch caterpillar to the children. We will continue to observe it over the next couple of weeks and see how it changes!
Next week, Writer’s Workshop will be launched in Room #7!! To start our foray into writing, the Kindergartners will be writing about things, people, and places they know. We will begin this feat by brainstorming so that the writers have many topics from which to choose. Our young writers will kick off the writing process by learning how to tell stories orally. As a class, we will practice storytelling so that they get a feel for the process. If you have any pictures of your child doing something he or she likes, or of any special people and/or places, please send them in! I will add those photos to each individual’s writing folder so your child will have quick access to even more writing ideas!
On Friday, we read the story, How Full is Your Bucket? It is a wonderful narrative about a little boy named Felix. This charming book explains to children how being kind not only helps others but also helps themselves. As he goes about his day, Felix interacts with different people. Using the metaphor of a bucket and dipper, Felix’s grandfather explains why positive interactions with others make Felix feel good while negative dealings leave him feeling bad. The grandfather also shows Felix how he himself is affecting others, whether he means to or not. This beautifully illustrated story contains a powerful message: that the way we relate to others has a profound impact on every aspect of our lives. The students of Room #7 discussed this concept and thought of ideas on how to fill each other’s bucket. It was quite touching to hear all the ideas the students had to help one another be safe and happy. To bolster this discussion, we now have a class bucket. Throughout the year, as people fill each other’s bucket, we will add pompoms to it! We already have quite a few! Room #7 is full of Bucket Fillers!
Important Notes:
- Curriculum Night: Back to School Night is quickly approaching! It will take place on Thursday, September 26th.
6:15 - 7:00 pm Grades 3-5 grade level/classroom conversations
7:10 - 7:25 pm Everyone meets in the gym
7:30 - 8:15 pm Grades K-2 grade level/classroom conversations
- School Picture Day: Friday, September 27th.
- P.E.: Please remember to send your child with sneakers on Mondays and Thursdays.
- Library: Have your child bring in his/her library book on Tuesday so that he/she can take out a new one!
- Please also separate your child’s snack from his/her lunch to avoid any confusion as to what he/she should eat at which time. Additionally, if you can review with your child which bag is which (snack or lunch), this will help avoid any misunderstandings! Thank you!
- Please continue to remember to check your child’s folder each day.
- Again… Please send a note whenever your child has a change in dismissal plans.
- PLEASE send in a picture of you family ASAP if you have not already done so. Next week we will continue learning about each other and I would like each child to be able to share a picture of his/her family. If you do not have a recent picture, you can take one and email it to me and I will be happy to print it out!
Lastly, a note from your friendly PTO:
1) Please make sure your information is in Membership Toolkit (MTK), the new PTO database. In addition to the weekly bulletin and event notices, all room parent communications will be sent via MTK this year so it is important for their information to be there. Families do NOT need to be members to get these important communications (but we'd love it if they were!), but they DO need to have their correct contact information in the system. We will be getting a file from Central Office in a few weeks, but that will only be of the families who gave consent via Aspen. Last year those opting out included several families, including a few PTO Board members who accidentally clicked the wrong box on that in Aspen! We are hoping to include as many Hastings families as possible this year, especially with there being so much going on with the new building. Parents can access MTK via this link: https://hastingspto.membershiptoolkit.com/
2) The 10th Annual Hastings Harvest 5K Run/Walk is 4 weeks away on Sunday, October 6. Our publicity has been a bit delayed this year so registrations are down at the moment. Any and all encouragement to participate via your classroom communications would be greatly appreciated. We are sending emails and flyers as well, but it is important that we have as much participation as possible as this event is one of the biggest fundraisers for the PTO. Families can learn more and register for the race at http://www.hastingsharvestrun.com/
Have a fun-filled weekend!