We have had another awesome week of learning here in Kindergarten! This week we revisited our "Fierce Wonderings." A "Fierce Wondering" is a something that sparks our curiosity--a topic that we want to know more about. After a class discussion of our wonderings, we wrote about them, came back into our Community Circle, and shared them out. We sorted our "Fierce Wonderings" into categories and found that 14 friends wanted to learn more about the caterpillars that live on the vines that line our school. Three friends wanted to learn more about water. Another three friends wanted to investigate why dinosaurs are extinct. Since most of our friends want to learn more about caterpillars, we decided that this topic will guide our first major project. We launched our project with an observation of the caterpillars. We went outside, went on a caterpillar hunt, and recorded our findings. As Scientists, we made sure to observe "with our eyes" (not our hands) and pay very close attention to what we saw. Our observation was filled with excitement and it was neat to hear the Kinders call out to each other when a caterpillar was found. Creative movement is an important part of our day in Kindergarten. Children of all ages have a natural proclivity to move, sing, and dance. It is a great way to get active, develop body awareness, and strengthen gross motor skills. Creative movement has also served as a wonderful way for us to strengthen our classroom community! It is always great fun to sing and dance with friends. This week we worked with hula hoops. You can check out our hooping adventure here: I am currently working on assessments and will use these to form our reading groups. I integrate a balanced approach to literacy through read alouds, guided reading/writing, and word work. Our literacy instruction time will be a "sacred" part of the day meaning it will be an uninterrupted, everyday activity. We will be in need of in class volunteers during this time to support our learning centers. If you are available to support us in the afternoon, please email me as soon as possible.
Once again, thank you all for your ongoing support! It was so nice chatting with many of you at our school picnic! To another magical week, Mrs. Rosemarie
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We have had an awesome week here in Kindergarten! Firstly, I would like to thank all of you who came out to our "Back to School" Night. I enjoyed getting to know all of you better and look forward to many more opportunities! As many of you already know, our "2 weeks" are up and we are now welcoming in class volunteers! I appreciate all of the support we have received this week. A very big THANK YOU to:
This week we began our work on our "Hopes and Dreams" banner. We began with an initial discussion of our hopes and dreams for this school year. We then wrote and drew our first draft. Some of our "Hopes and Dreams" included:
This week we also met with our "Fifth Grade Buddies" from Ms. Kruming's class. Through this process, each of our Kinders is paired up with a fifth grader. Your child will work closely with this "Buddy" weekly--engaging in read alouds, games, and project support. This week our "Buddies" came over and read us some stories from our Classroom Library. Please make sure to check out pictures of our first "Buddies" meeting (in the "Our Week in Pictures" section). The children had so much fun! Cross grade level collaboration has many benefits. Not only do our Kinders receive academic support from older peers, but they also become friends with children across the grades. It is a wonderful way to strengthen our school wide community. Once again, thank you for all of your support! We are off to amazing year!
With Love, Mrs. Rosemarie Alessandra's drawing of me and my coffee mug! First and foremost, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Kindergarten at High Tech Elementary School. We facilitate an experiential (hands-on), developmentally appropriate curriculum driven by the passions and fierce wonderings of our students. Throughout the year, your child will learn essential language, math, and social skills through a variety of projects. Through collaboration, critique, and revision of multiple drafts, your child will create beautiful work! We have had an awesome first two weeks of Kindergarten! We have spent the last few days engaged in community building, development of classroom norms and expectations, and exploration of classroom materials. Our Kinders are becoming more and more familiar with our classroom and are already developing many friendships! We have discussed and written about the qualities of a "Good Friend." We even wrote about the new friends we have made these last couple weeks. Ask your child about their new friends! I am sure they will have so much to share! Last week, we began our work on our Mini Community Building Project, "All About Me." In this project, we will strengthen our classroom community by getting to know each other better. We will create self-portraits and share out our interests, hopes, and dreams. We will also launch our literacy and math instruction through an exploration of our names. Often times, the very first words your child recognizes and reads are his/her name and the names of family members! We will do the same with the names in our classroom. During our "project work," we discussed the art of "Critique." At HTe, we use "critique" as a integral piece in the creation of beautiful work. When we critique, we make sure our feedback is: 1) Kind (We use words that are friendly and nice. We make sure to take care our friends' feelings.) 2) Helpful (Our feedback is used to HELP our friends work become stronger or more beautiful) 3) Specific (We tell our friends exactly what they should add in their next drafts.) The children began the critique process with their Self-Portraits. They have learned that they can either accept their friend's feedback or politely decline. They have caught onto this process quickly and have been receptive to each other's feedback. It is really neat to see the changes they have made to their work based on their peer feedback. You will have an opportunity to check out their Self-Portraits and the draft process at our Back to School Night held this Wednesday, September 12 from 5:45-7:15. The night will begin with a School Welcome from our Director. We will then break out into information sessions/town meetings held in respective classrooms. I am excited to listen and share our ideas for this school year! Thank you all for your support! I look forward to working together to create a magical first year of school for your children! With Love, Mrs. Rosemarie |
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September 2017
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