Kindergarten Writing and Reading

The past few weeks the children have been making lots of books to put in their book boxes that they can read on their own. The letter books that have been made so far are for t,f,b,m,and n. When we practice letters and sounds in Kindergarten, we also incorporate handwriting skills as well as phonics. There is a wide variety of ability levels within a Kindergarten classroom. Putting the pieces together so that everyone is learning is a tricky puzzle, but it is all coming together now as I know the kids' academic levels from baseline assessments completed in September.

Other song or nursery rhyme books that have been made for their book boxes are The Five Little Pumpkins, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and next week they will work on Little Miss Muffet. Not only are the children practicing reading and writing rhymes with these books, but they are also learning how to track the words with a 1-1 match. They will begin identifying Kindergarten Sight Words within these poems starting next week. I also use these poems/songs to practice beginning reading comprehension and fluency. The children get to act these poems out-an activity that is a hit with my group of performers this year.

This week we began our formal Reading and Writing Workshops. Be sure to ask your child what a workshop looks like, sounds like, and feels like in our classroom.

Fire Safety Photos

What's Happening in Our Classroom

Our class has been hard at work with getting to know each other. The last Totally Terrific Children will have a chance to be honored someday in the next 5 days. We have loved looking at the photos and hearing about what each child enjoys. This activity is enhanced with the name study celebrations and the connections to phonological awareness activities.

Here is a breakdown of our studies for the month of September:

Social Studies Theme Work: All About Us, Totally Terrific Child

Literacy:Totally Terrific Child, establishing a reading and writing community, beginning phonological skills, baseline literacy assessments,

Math: Establishing math workplaces and math workshops, math assessments, naming/sorting/graphing 2-D shapes, counting and comparing sets using 10-Frames, numeral recognition and writing, reading a calendar, sorting

Ready Readers

Today half of the class worked with me on this phonological awareness activity while the other half went to the Imagination Playground. The groups will switch tomorrow so your child may take this activity home then. After reading lots of books about what it looks like to be a BEST SELF learner in Kindergarten, the entire class brainstormed some simple sentences on what Kindergarten students do at school. We wrote them on sentence strips and then counted the number of words and cut the sentences apart. The kids put the sentences back together based on their word memory. In the small group, they are given various sentences to cut apart, mix up, and put back together. They glued the sentences in proper word order then illustrated.

Froggy Friend

This little lady was hopping down our hallway. Lucy, the bus driver and Pre-School Para-educator, showed us that her white neck marks her as a girl. I learned something new yesterday!

Notes From September PTO Meeting

PTO NOTES & NEWS SEPTEMBER 2011

We have received $575 in direct donations - thank you!

We will be funding new sand for the volleyball court which was upgraded this summer.

The PTO will be discussing a capital improvement plan for the year and how to spend our money. Anyone interested in this please contact Randy Sweeney or Alice Brown.

HANNAFORD HELPS SCHOOLS program goes from 9/4 - 12/3. If you shop at Hannaford check out the tags in the store indicating which brands are included in the program. Buy 4 of any product and earn dollars for our school. This is a huge fundraiser for us every year!

PRICE CHOPPER TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS: If you have a Price Chopper card and shop there you can register for our school. Each time you shop there and scan your card, our school earns dollars. If you enrolled in the program prior to August 2010 you need to re-enroll. go to www2.pricechopper.com/toolsforschools. Our school code is 15260.


Highlights of Principals Report:
• Lots of work and improvements were done in the school over the summer including replacement of boilers, asbestos removal, carpet replacement and computer replacements.
• The SCS administration was recognized by the VT Dept. of Ed for outstanding leadership in support of a culture of wellness in our school.
• New Staff: Emily Vigneault - 3rd grade, Katie McGrain - 4th grade, Caril Lilly - 7th grade art, Margo Austin - CY Connecting Youth SAP
• A new Skills4Life period has been created for middle school students. This time will be dedicated to teaching health and wellness and will be taught by Jocelyn Bouyea, Rachel Petraska, Margo Austin, Alan Mihan, Georgene Grover, Allan Miller and core teachers.
• Middle school sports - 45 students on cross-country, 44 in boys soccer, 22 in girls soccer and 35 in girls field hockey.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

Innisbrook Gift Wrap Fundraiser begins 9/14 and ends on 9/28
Walking Wednesdays - Every Wednesday in October. Meet at the town green starting at 7:30 and walk to school!
Newberry Cup Bake Sale - October 15
Innisbrook Distribution - October 25
UA Curriculum Night - October 25



Help Wanted
Newberry Bake Sale - Bakers and helpers
Innisbrook distribution - on 10/25
Everybody Wins Mentoring Program - This program connects you with a child that you will read with each Tuesday during their lunch. Interested? Contact Kathy Twombly at 985-1189 or ktwombly@cssu.org.
Pierson Library Booksale - Helpers need to set-up on 10/6 and 10/7, help with sale on 10/8 and 10/9 and packing up on 10/9. Interested? Contact Cathy Townsend at 985-5094 or CJOVT@yahoo.com.

Thank Yous to:
• Rita Daley and Teresa Shuptrine for our PTO bulletin board
• Sarah Vincent and all the Teacher's Breakfast chefs
• First Day Greeters
• Ginger Williamson and Zynnia Seidita for coordinating Innisbrook
• Leslie Borrok, Betty Winget and Lisa Merrill for the SCS Directory
• Directory Ad helpers
• Everyone who filled out a volunteer form!

Questions? Want to get involved?

Contact: Randy Sweeney or Alice Brown
985-8190 985-4918
sweeneyrs@gmail.com aliceandy@myfairpoint.net

Imagination Playground

SALSA!

Cooperation, teamwork, patience! They were all "Best Selves" making salsa with our volunteers today.

Learning Letter Sounds

Please be sure to ask your child to read Learning Letter Sounds to you tomorrow night. We have been singing this song together for the past week and it is time for them to share it at home. This song teaches letters and sounds to those who need that instruction and also lends itself to the reading process and vocabulary development for those who are already reading. Please have your child use a finger to track under the words and letters as they read. Happy reading and singing!

News and Announcements

Today the class began their journey to becoming phonological thinkers. We used News and Announcements to point out parts of writing: letters vs. words, spacing between words, and comprehending the message. What an amazing group of readers and writers!

November Conference Sign Ups

Please be sure to take some time to sign up for November conferences. It will be here before you know it. All you have to do is go to our team webpage on the SCS website. On the left hand column you will see "Hazen November Conference Sign Up". Just click on that and it will take you to my page. Follow the directions and be sure to write your time into your own scheduling book.

Totally Terrific Child

In the coming weeks, your child will be honored for a day as our "Totally Terrific Child". This activity gets each child sharing about themselves and the class learning more about our community of learners. They get to use their homework timelines and photos to guide our conversations about them. Each child will take home a book that the class works on together that incorporates handwriting, phonics, phonemic awareness, and comprehension skills.

First Hands On Nature

Today the class enjoyed their first Hands On Nature lesson from three classroom volunteers. The topic was Metamorphosis. They enjoyed a puppet show that gave basic information about the four stages that insects go through: egg, larva, pupa,and adult. They became scientists and used their observation skills to look for insects in small groups. Then they did a metamorphosis relay race. Ask your child what stage they ate crackers in.

First Classroom Reward

Well, they did it on the sixth day of school. They worked together and filled our classroom marble jar. So, for a fun reward, we will be going outside for snack time tomorrow. Yippy!

Thank You Again!

Thanks again for taking time out of your family lives to come to our Curriculum Night. We were very impressed with the turn out. If you did not have the opportunity to come, I will place a copy of the one handout that was given in your child's mailbox. We will be posting our PowerPoint Presentation on our team Blog by next week.

Hopes and Dreams

Please come to see our classroom display of the children's "Hopes and Dreams" in the hallway above the cubby area. This is the beginning step to establishing our classroom rules. By tomorrow afternoon, my hope is to have our rules set which we will talk about and agree to altogether.

Curriculum Night Reminder

This is just a reminder that curriculum night is tomorrow 9/7 from 6-7 PM in our Journey team space. This night is designed for parents to learn more about their child's day. Hope to see you there.

Fun, Fun, Fun

I had such an amazing week with the kids. I keep telling them that I am so impressed with the number of new friendships that have already been made. Making new friends and establishing comfort levels is what the first six weeks of school are about. We have been playing many games to get to know each other better. A lot of the time these past three days was spent also getting to know classroom materials as well as each other. The kids have been involved in guided discoveries to help them learn proper technique and use of many fun materials. Of course, Choice Time is always a hit and most of our classroom is now open and available to them at that time. Be sure to ask your child about tunnel tag, the playground,Chee Chee Cha, the peanut butter song, library, music, scarves at P.E., choice time activities, finger painting "mini-me" people, and Jacob W.'s birthday party.

A few things to remember:
1. Be sure to label any clothing, lunch boxes, water bottles that come to school so that we can find the right home for them when they get misplaced.
2. If the kids want to bring in water bottles, I am encouraging them to do so. Please be sure that they can easily open the top themselves.
3. We have Library on Thursdays. You can keep those books at home until then. Be sure to send them in on Thursdays so that they can be exchanged for new ones. At some point, they will be taking home three at a time.


Curriculum Night is this upcoming Wednesday. Hope to see you there. If you cannot make it, let me know and I will be sure to get you the information.

Have a safe, fun, and restful long weekend!

Exciting Times!

The classroom is ready for another group of excited kindergarten students. The first day activities are planned and placed very carefully around the room. I am ready for another fun, productive school year. Be sure to tell your children how much I enjoyed meeting them at conferences and Open House. I can't wait to get to know them better. See you soon!

Welcome to Our Classroom Blog!

Hello everyone! Thanks for visiting our classroom blog. The excitement of a new school year is refreshing and energizing at the same time. I am especially excited about the group of friends that will be in our class. I can't wait to see everyone again at Open House on Monday.

I will be using this Blog to update you on what is going on in the classroom. Please be sure to subscribe to my blog in the upper left hand corner of this page. This will allow you to be notified via your email when I post to this blog.

See you again soon!