We had another fabulous week of learning in Room 143! Our Kinders are writing away in Writer's Workshop. This week they learned about adding details to a piece. They learned, "If you think you're done, you've only just begun!" We discussed how we can strengthen a piece by adding more to the pictures or adding more to the words. The children are writing more and more each day and it is so exciting to watch their growth in writing. You may notice as your child writes at home that he or she may not be spelling most words conventionally. Most of our children are writing phonetically, meaning they are spelling words based on the sounds they hear. This is developmentally appropriate and should be encouraged! This does not mean that conventional spelling is not important. The children are coming into their own as writers and your praise and gentle encouragement make all the difference.
In Math, we are continuing our study of Geometry. We anchored the concepts of plane figures or flat shapes by creating pictures out the shapes. The designs created by the children were so creative! There were fried eggs made out of circles, houses made of rectangles, and Cinderella's beautiful stagecoach made of ovals. We will continue our Geometry in Art unit through an artist study. This week, we met our UCSD Classroom Teaching Assistant, Anna Tom. She is currently working on her coursework towards her Education minor. Miss Anna will be working with our class every Friday until mid-March. Last, but definitely not least, we had a wonderful Cooking Center with Ms. Norma. The children made sweet Chex Mix and really enjoyed it! Thank you to Ms. Norma and all of our families who donate ingredients and their time in an effort to run this center. Thank you again for all of your continued support! In Gratitude, Mrs. Rosemarie
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We had another great week of learning in Room 143! This week we launched our Mini Writer's Workshop Project. In "Writer's Workshop," students learn about the craft of writing in a child-centered, literacy rich environment. Each child is a "working author" who writes from the heart, specifically about his/her own experiences. During this 4-week project, students will be encouraged to choose a "small moment" in his or her life to write about. Our authors will take their "small moment" and go through the writing process: Prewriting (Brainstorming), Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing. Our project will conclude with a Publishing Party, a celebration of our "Local Authors" journey and an opportunity to hear our class books read by their authors! If you are skilled with book making or scrapbooking, this is the project for you! Please email me if you are interested in supporting our "Writer's Workshop" project.
In Math, we continued our Geometry unit with a discussion of "plane" or flat figures: square, triangle, circle, rectangle and oval. We will reinforce these concepts next week though art and design projects. Our Kinders are making great progress with their emerging literacy! We learned about "Word Families" this week with a focus on "short a" words. We focused on the word pattern -at and the decoding or "souding out" strategy. I have been working very closely with our "literacy groups" to meet the diverse needs of the readers in our classroom. The children are excited to have their "Special Time" with Mrs. Rosemarie. This time is respected. The children understand that this is uninterrupted time dedicated to helping them become "Good Readers." The time may consist of a reteaching of our letter of the week lesson, Guided Reading (reading a book under the guidance of the teacher), or a lively discussion of a shared reading. I really enjoy the "Special Reading Time" and I know your children do too! Thank you again for all of your lovely support! In Gratitude, Mrs. Rosemarie Welcome back, Friends! I hope all of you had a beautiful holiday season with your families. Thank you for all of your well wishes and thoughtful gifts! I am so happy to be back teaching and learning alongside your wonderful children.
We had an AMAZING Winter Exhibition! I was so proud of all our Kinders! They were confident in sharing their learning and put on a beautiful Exhibition. From Anatomy Experts and Honey Tastings to Bug Songs, our visitors were able to experience a variety of student-led "Bug" stations. It was such a pleasure to see the awe in all of our visitors' faces. Every few minutes, I would have someone approach me saying, "This is AMAZING!" A very big THANK YOU to our families for supporting our Kinders through this journey! If you happen to have any pictures of this very special event, please email them or post them on our Shutterfly site. We are compiling a library of pictures of HTe's first Exhibition and would love to collect as many photos as possible! Thank you in advance for your support! We had a great first week back! Our students have come back ready than ever! We have hit the ground running with our academics. We have started our Geometry unit and learned about the following solid figures: cube, sphere, cylinder, cone, and pyramid. We played with the shapes, explored whether the shapes stacked, rolled, or slid, and discussed where we have seen the figures in real life. To reinforce these concepts, please have your child look for solid figures around your home and neighborhood. We have been working very hard on becoming "Good Readers" though our letter of the week, sight word, and comprehension instruction. In order to meet the diverse needs of our class, we will be working in small flexible groups. Please be on the lookout for a letter describing what your child will be working on in his/her literacy group. Our next project will center around the Tide Pools and Sea Life. To incorporate the "Adult World Connection," we are currently seeking experts in this field. If you know of any sea life experts or are one yourself, please email me and we can discuss how you can support our next project. Thank you again for all of your support! Cheers to a magical 2012! Warmest Regards, Mrs. Rosemarie |
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September 2017
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