Like you, I was shaken to the core by the events that transpired in Connecticut last Friday.  It has been difficult to push it out of all our minds in order to maintain a sense of calm, routine and consistency.  I received a beautiful poem from a friend today via email that I will copy and paste at the end of this blog - maybe it will offer you a bit of comfort as it did me.

The staff at Leeds met with Mr. Smith on Monday morning to be advised of ways to handle student comments.  We do have support personnel in the school for any students who may show signs of trauma.  In kindergarten, not one student has mentioned any knowledge of the event.  My class has continued to work as expected the week before Christmas.  I want to thank each of you for however you chose to handle this awful situation - your sons and daughters seem to have maintained their innocence through this very evil situation.  As adults, we each question just how safe our schools are and how we can protect those we love.  I can only promise you that I will always do everything in my power to keep your child safe emotionally, academically and physically.

I think we will all be holding those we love a little closer during this holiday time and I wish each and every one of you a very safe and healthy winter break.   With love, Barbara Ann

Very Touching..... God Bless These Families!

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
when what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

This is the month of holidays and this week we have learned about Hanukkah.  We read a story about how the Maccabees defeated the king's army and how they returned to the temple and found only enough oil to last for one day.  However, when they lit the menorah, the oil lasted for 8 days!  On Monday we ''lit'' the first three candles on our homemade menorah and have added one each day.  We have been working on a Hanukkah project that will be displayed on our outside bulletin board by Friday. 

In Math this week, we have learned about how we use attributes to described things.  We began with attribute blokcs and children sorted them according to size, shape, color and thickness.  Then we used buttons to find common attributes.  Children are learning they can use many words to describe how things are alike and different.  We will be having a special Hanukkah treat on Friday and I am expecting the Elf ion the Shelf to show up any day now!

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.  BA

This week our class has been learning about the African-American holiday, Kwanzaa.  Some of the Swahili words we have been using are very difficult for us to pronounce yet in spite of that, we now that Kwanzaa celebrates  the past and future with lights, unity, faith and feasting just like our more familiar holidays.    If you have a chance to visit the school, be sure to see our mkekas, the Kwanzaa mats that we have woven with construction paper.  They are proudly, and colorfully,  displayed on the bulletin board outside our classroom.  The sixth principle of Kwanzaa is creativity so today we completed a little project that will become a gift for some lucky family members!  Tomorrow we will begin learning about  Hanukkah. 

We are moving on to our third Math Investigations, What Comes Next?: Patterns and Functions. In this unit, students will investigate what makes a repeating pattern. They will focus on attributes of objects and think about which attributes (i.e., size, color, shape, orientation) are important in the patterns they will be making. Students will  work with simple and complex repeating patterns. They will have many opportunities to copy, create, and extend repeating patterns using a variety of materials and common objects. They will also use patterns to determine what comes next and focus on the part, or unit, of a pattern that repeats.  We have already had some experience with patterns on our monthly calendar so I think many of our students are quite familiar with patterns.

We also welcomed a new student, Patricia, to our classroom this week bringing our total to 19.  She has fit into our routine very nicely and is making friends quickly.

Math night at Leeds, this past Wednesday was very well attended and students and parents alike enjoyed playing Compare, Grab and Count, Roll and Record,  and  Toss the Chips.  Thanks to those of you who were able to attend in this very busy month.

I hope everyone enjoys a good weekend.  Barbara Ann

The last day of November - hard to believe!  Anyway, we finished the month and week making a graph of the weather for the school days this month.  It will be in your child's folder so please take a look and ask your child what she/he notices about the weather for November. 

You will also find a Scholastic Book Cub form.  If you wish to order any books, the form must be returned with a check by Friday, December 7th.  I realize that is only a week, however, if the order is to be received by the start of the vacation we have to get it sent in quickly.  If you are buying books for gifts, please attach a note to that effect and we will let you know when the order arrives and make arrangements to get the books to you without your child knowing.

The next month is always a very exciting one for students as the holidays approach.  While we do work on holiday activities we do try to keep everything pretty low key.  We discuss the history of each holiday (Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas) and complete some activities that are representative of the symbols of each holiday. 

Students are in the process of writing about their ''stuffies''.  When their pages are complete, they will be assembled into a little booklet which your child will eventually bring home.   The emphasis right now is on learning about capital letters at the beginning of sentences and periods at the end as well as practicing ''inventive spelling''.  Please encourage your child to sound out words and accept any reasonable phonetic spelling.  This is preparation for beginning Writer's Workshop in the new year.  

Enjoy the weekend.  BA

Novenber 28th

I know it has been a while so let me recap our activities for November.  Most of the month was spent finishing up our pumpkin activities and then doing an apple unit.  We read lots of stories about apples and the seasonal life cycle of an apple tree, we made patterns using apples and learned some songs and poems about apples.  After tasting a piece of red apple, yellow apple and green apple, we graphed the results and for the first time ever, most students liked the green apples best!  The culmination of the unit was an apple sampler snack where we were able to taste the applesauce and apple crisp we had made along with some apple jelly and some apple cider.  We all decided that apples are a very versatile food and one that most of us like in many different forms. 

This week in Math, we are working on making comparisons by finding names and items in the classroom that are longer and shorter than our name tower.  We have also been discussing the meaning of the abbreviation am and pm as well as things we do during the day and things we do at night.  Since this is the l;ast week of November, we are trying to finish up all our November activities in preparation for December. 

Starting next week, we will learn about the history behind Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas as we make some projects related to each holiday.  It is a very busy and exciting time for our class.  Don't tell, but, I'm quite sure we will be having a visit from the Elf on the Shelf at some point!

I am concerned about the reading log homework.  In the past, I have usually had 100% (or close to it) participation.  So far this year, there have been at least 5 or 6 children not returning the reading log each day.  I'm not sure what the problem is.  As we discussed at interview time, I do want this to be your child's responsibility, however, if your child is one that you know is constantly leaving his/her rreading log at home, please help them out with reminders such as "What do you need to pack in your backpack?" or ""Do you have everything you need for Ms. Bennett today?"  You might also help them find a spot at home where they can put their reading log every day and putting a pen or pencil in the plastic bag makes it easier to remember to get the log initialed each day.  I'm hoping we can get this working better. 

Mrs. Adams would very much appreciate more donations of clorox wipes for our tables each day.  Also, now that we really do seem to be getting colder weather, please be sure that all your child's winter items are labelled.  We have our coat racks set up and children are now hanging their coats on hangers each day which gives us more room in our cubbies.  This classroom does get quite cool when the sun is not shining so it might be a good idea to send in a sweater or sweatshirt that can stay here for the cooler days.  Children should not have to wear boots all day so if you can send a pair of indoor shoes to stay that would be great but at least please be sure your child has shoes in his/her backpack. 

Have a good evening.  BA

What a beautiful day and the weekend looks to be much the same.  We took out center time outside this afternoon (after practicing quiet transitions a couple of times!) to enjoy the sunshine after so many dark, cloudy days.

Since Monday is Veteran's Day, we took some time this morning to talk about why we celebrate this day.  The children have little booklets they are bringing home and we made Veteran Day medals that they will also be bringing home.  Please be sure to reinforce that meaning of this special day and its significance in our lives.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if this was the generation that brought peace to all!

This afternoon we were able to go to the computer lab for Math and work on number sentences!  We worked on a website called linktolearning.com that has some wonderful activites for all ages.  We use the computer lab every other Friday if Ms, Pearson, (a former Leeds teacher) is able to come in and get the computers set up for us.  If any of you know of age appropriate websites that you think could be useful, please pass the web addy along!

Just a reminder that next week we will be making apple crisp and apple sauce.  If you can supply us with some apples it would be most appreciated.  Thanks in advance. 

Precious Moments:  I was reminded last week that one of the students in our classroom has a father that is a teacher at a local community college.  After conferences, I asked the child what her dad  taught at college and she quietly replied, "Students!"

Enjoy the weekend.  Barbara Ann

Good evening all.  By now, you have helped your child with his/her homework and the reading log is tucked safely into the backpack to bring back to school tomorrow.  The class was very excited to be getting homework like the older kids!  Thank you for supporting the efforts of our emergent readers.

Today was a pretty cold day and some of our children were not dressed for the change.  I spoke with them at length today about how important it is to have mitts, hats and a warm coat for the winter.  I also encouraged them to wear snow pants when it is cold even if we don't have snow.  Tomorrow I will bring out our coat hangers and we will practice tucking mitts into hats, hats into coat sleeves and then hanging our jackets on hangers.  We do have some extra mitts and hats at school.  Whenever someone borrows a hat, Mrs. Adams very kindly takes it home and washes it so hats are always clean for students to use as needed.  If you are having difficulty finding appropriate clothing for you child for the winter, please let me know so we can help out. 

For the next week and a half, we will be working on an apple unit.  Today we started with an apple tasting so students were able to taste a piece of  red (Fuji), yellow (Golden Delicious) and green (Granny Smith) apple.  The majority of students chose the Granny Smith apples as their favorite!  We will be graphing our findings tomorrow.  Next week we will be making applesauce and apple crisp.  Donations of cooking apples will be gratefully accepted. 

Stay warm - the weekend looks great for a bit of a warm up.  BA

This storm has really made a mess of the schedule for this week!  I do not know yet how the district is going to handle the cancellation of parent teacher conferences from yesterday.  Mr. Smith was going to attend a meeting that will hopefully resolve the issue and as soon as I know what will happen, I will pass that information on to you. 

Another thing I was planning to do yesterday was to have the children carve our extra pumpkins.  When I went to school this morning, I had all intentions of carving the pumpkins today, however, when I got to school, neither Mrs. Adams or I could locate our pumpkin carving tools!  We are still looking but we would really like to do the carving tomorrow so if you have any kid friendly pumpkin carving tools that we could use tomorrow, please send them in with your child in the morning.  Thank you so much. 

I am looking forward to the rest of the conferences this week.  Please remember to be prompt and if you have questions, write them down so we can address all issues as best we can in the 20 minutes we have together.  Again, if we need more time, we can always schedule more time next week.  Thank you.  Barbara Ann

This has been a crazy week.  I think the late start Wednesday was a bit confusing for all of us since it was something new.  There is one more day like that in March so we'll see what is decided for next year!

This week we began our Unit 2 work in Math which is all about counting and comparing.  Students will practice counting and connecting nyumber words, numerals and quantities in the first half.  In the second part of the unit, students will compare the length of objects and the quantities of different sets.  they will also practice ordering by length and quantity.  This week we were able to learn a game called Roll and Record that gave us much needed practice in writing numerals.  We also made pumpkin men and used eyes made of different shapes containing a number of dots in one eye and the corresponding word and numeral in the other eye.  These will be on display on the bulletin board outside our classroom during conference week.

Speaking of conference week, it is next week and hopefully you all have your time posted at home.  Mrs. Clark has a copy of my schedule so if you forget your time, please call the office.  It is so hard to fit all our news into just 20 minutes so please be prompt for your appointment and I will try to be sure to end conferences at the designated time so I do not have to keep anyone waiting.  If you (or I) feel we need to talk further we can always schedule another appointment for next week to continue our discussion.

Since next week is all half days with dismissal time at 12:20, we will have snack in the morning at about 11:00 which would normally be lunch time.  The children who are getting bag lunches will eat them at that time.  The rest of the class will have a their snack or lunch if you want to send a lunch in for them.  In the past I have found that most parents send in a substantial snack and then give their child lunch when they get home after 12:20.  Either way is fine with us. 

This weather has been perfect!  Will it continue?  Next week looks a little tricky at this point.  We will be sending home your child's change of clothing before Thanksgiving so you can exchange it for more weather appropriate clothing for the winter.  As the children start to wear more clothing for outside, please be sure to put names or initials inside all articles of clothing.  Thanks so much.

Enjoy the weekend.

Precious Moments:  This week we had bananas at lunch and there were a few that didn't get eaten so Mrs. Adams brought them back to the classroom in case we needed to use them at snack time.  Sure enough, there was one student who had forgotten to bring a snack.  Mrs. Adams said, "You are so lucky,  Here is a banana with your name on it."  The little boy looked it all over carefully, then looked at Mrs. Adams and said very seriously, "I can't find my name on it."

We 'wrote' our first stories today!  Well, actually, the children drew pictures of the story and Mrs. Admas and I scribed the words for the story.  This was part of our initial writing assessment.  It will be interesting to see the progress throughout the year and with the final assessment in May.

In Math today we started our Counting Books.  As you know we have been working on identifying numbers through 20 (more for some of the children), making one to one correspondence as we count and showing pictures to depict numbers.  The counting book is a culmination of all those skills as well as beginning to associate a word with each number.  These books usually take quite a few days to complete but hopefully by the end of the week, most of them should be finished.  Parents are usually quite surprised that their child does not know all the numbers they can count.  One of the major math goals is to get children identifying numbers out of sequence. 

Our carpet and floor were very dirty today.  The playground and grounds in general are quite wet in spots and the dirt sticks in the indentations of the childrens'shoes.  Then of course it gets tracked in the classroom and on the carpet which they have to sit on.  Several children have brought shoes specifically for indoor wear.  If you have not sent in extra shoes, please do so if at all possible.  Also, we have a number of children who do not have an extra set of clothing yet.

Precious Moments:  Last Friday when I was struggling to get the VCR to work, one little boy sitting close by commented, "Ï have a TV just like that at home, except it works!"

Enjoy this fabulous weather.  BA

Oops - I was really counting on seeing the video when I wrote the blog during my prep!  I should have known better.  We had some technical difficulties and could not get the TV/VCR setup to work - we are working with extrememly antiquated technology.  So, we had to postpone our video until next week.  I will try to get It's the Great Pumpkin on a DVD to show through the computer for next week.  The children were disappointed but real troupers about the situation.  Have a good weekend.  BA

Despite the rain, it was a sunny day in our classroom with lots of smiling faces!  We began the morning activites with finishing our little pumpkin books by measuring the height of our pumpkins in unifix cubes and weighing them.  We also named the pumkins and made pictures of what they will look like for Halloween. 

The children used their Handwriting Without Tears notebooks for the first time today as we reviewed the formation of the letter 'n'.  We also talked about the sound and make a chart of words that begin with the letter 'n'.  Please review this at home and reference the sound of 'n' as often as you can in relation to names and/or objects encountered in your environment. 

After lunch, we worked on the pictures of our families that will go into a class book.  Just about everyone finished during Math time.  You can look for this book to be on display when you come in for Parent-Teacher conferences at the end of the month.

Following Music this afternoon, we watched the video "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".  this was the reward the class chose for accumulating 10 compliments since September, from people outside our classroom.  We already have 3 stars on our new compliment chart!

Enjoy the weekend everyone.  Barbara Ann

What a beautiful day!  We started out reviewing syllables by sorting our names according to how many syllables each name had.  We discovered that there were more two syllable names than three syllable names and only one person had a one syllable name and one person had a four syllable name. 

For Math today, we had to figure out how to use unifix cubes to measure around the middle of our pumpkins.  Ask your child what strategy we used!  It was interesting to see how many different sized pumpkins had similar circumferences.  Tomorrow we will be finding the height of our pumpkins before we weight them.  Your child will be bringing home his/her pumpkin Friday afternoon.

After PE we took a walk along the bike path to gather some fall leaves for a project next week and to look for other signs of fall.  We found acorns, a wooly bear caterpillar, many plants with seeds ready to fall and some wild asters along with many great leaves.  The children were delighted to see the waterfall and learn about why the dam was broken.

Have a great evening.  BA

We had a fabulous trip to the pumpkin patch today!  Smith Voc provided two tractor drawn wagons to transport students back to the fields off Burts Pitt Road and under bright sunny skies, each child was able to chose their own pumpkin (the only condition was that they were responsible for carrying it - to the wagon, into the baskets and eventually home).  The pumpkins will remain at school so we can do some activities with them on Thursday and Friday when students will bring their pumpkins home.  We have a few extras that we will use next week and then carve in the classroom. 

Tomorrow afternoon we will be taking a walk on the bike path to collect some leaves and look for other signs of fall.  According to the weather report, it should be a carbon copy of today!  Since we will be in the shade for most of the walk, please have your child dress in layers again tomorrow and good shoes for walking will be necessary.  Thank you.  BA

As you probably know, I was absent yesterday because a tooth broke on Wednesday evening so I spent a while at the dentist yesterday.  As it turns out, I will be having the tooth extracted next week so I will also be away next Wednesday afternoon.  Ugh.

We finished the alphabet today!  And, celebrated with cupcakes!  Now that we have gone through all the names, sounds and formation of the letters, we will be focusing on one or two of them in more depth each week as we begin to apply our knowledge to the beginning, ending and medial sounds of words.  As the children write, we will be encouraging them to begin using lower case letters except where upper case letters are required (beginning of sentences, names of months and people, etc.)  I have also finished hearing the story of the Gingerbread Man retold by all students so everyone should have their booklet at home to retell the story to you.  I have found that all the children can recall the main events of the story, however, many require prompting to add details.  As your child retells stories at home, please ask questions that require details to reinforce this concept which will eventually carry over to their own story telling as we begin Writers Workshop. 

In your child's folder tonight is an appointment form for Parent-Teacher Conferences at the end of the week.  Please sign and return the bottom portion as soon as possible.  The top portion is a reminder for you to keep.  Mrs. Adams will be sending home a form for those who wish to order a bag lunch for their child for the week of conferences which will be half days for children.  The bag lunches consist of a sandwich, and usually raw vegetables, fruit and milk.  The lunches must be pre-ordered by all who need one.

It was pretty chilly outside this morning!   Please be sure your child is dressed in layers so they are warm in the morning and can shed clothing as the day warms up.  Many of us even had mittens on today!

Precious Moments:  One child today had to change clothing because she got wet at recess time.  Mrs. Adams asked if she could do it herself and she quickly replied, "Öf course, because I'm 6 and I'm in kindergarten!"

Enjoy the weekend - BA

We were unable to get outside at all today but tomorrow is looking more promising for our bear hunt.  We did put together picture books so we have another story to retell.  I apologize for not getting these stories home faster, however, I like to hear each child retell the story first so I have a good idea of how well they are beginning to understand beginning, middle and end.  This is an important concept as we prepare to begin writing our own stories!

Only three letters of the alphabet left!  We completed E /e/ elephant and D /d/ duck today.  I have promised the class a special treat for snack on Friday to celebrate the completion of the alphabet!

Please check to see if you have sent in the conference appointment form and the permission slip for the field trip to the pumpkin patch next week.  I am waiting on a few more people before these are complete.  Thank you.  

I am working on getting math assessments done this week and will begin literacy assessments next week.  this is in preparation for our parent teacher conferences coming up at the end of this month.  I love watching children learn and seeing how they figure things out!

Precious moment:  During snack time yesterday one child commented, Ï had kiwi for breakfast and more kiwi for snack,  I really need a break from kiwi!"   I'll trade places!!!

Welcome back!  We had a "Quick Share"this morning where each child has a chance to share one thing they did over the long weekend and it certainly sounds like we had some very busy families!  The children quickly settled into our classroom routines this morning as we learned the letter G /g/ goose.  I am hoping to finish the letters this week so we are "doubling up" so we also learned the letter F /f/ fish this afternoon!  Please be sure to practice the letters with your child - I am finding that very few children know the sounds of the letters.  

Your child has homework tonight!  Since this is National Fire Safety Week, we talked about fire safety this morning.  Your child's homework for tonight is to talk with you about a fire safety plan - what to do in case of fire at your house:  the fastest way out of the house during the day and at night; where will your meeting place be: and what to do in case of fire.  Along with fire safety, we will be talking about when and how to use 9-1-1 for emergencies. 

This afternoon we also practiced "We're Going On a Bear Hunt".  If you should happen by our playground one nice day this week, you just might see our class outside going on a bear hunt in the playground.  In preparation for our trip next week to the pumpkin patch, we learned a new poem today:

               

     Pumpkin, pumpkin, big and round

     I'm glad you grew upon the ground.

     I'm glad you don't grow in a tree,

     Because you might fall down on me!

Mrs. Adams was away today attending a funeral so we had assistance from Mrs. Punska who used to teach grade 2 at Leeds!  She is fabulous and things went very smoothly.  And....what a beautiful group of children I had today - everyone was decked out in their finest for picture day and I can't wait to see how those pics turned out!  The pictures took a good chunk of time out of our morning, however, we did manage to do the letter H /h/ horse, read a book about Columbus and completed an activity sheet which your child has in his/her folder.  Ask them about Columbus Day!  This afternoon we were able to go to the computer lab and worked on the website internet4classrooms.com with a phonics activity where children had to chose the correct letter to show the beginning sound of the object caught by Garfield!  At the end of the day, students played outside instead of centers inside to celebrate what might be the last summery day of this year!

I'm headed to the Cape for the long weekend.  Hope you all enjoy a happy healthy Columbus Day weekend with your family and friends.  See you back on Tuesday, October 9th.  BA

Our day started this morning with a fire drill and the kindergarteners filed out of the school and walked quietly to our safe spot beautifully!  When we returned to the classroom, we learned the name and sound of the letter I /i/ igloo and then retold the story The Napping House using cut out characters that your child will be bringing home next week.  During our indoor recess, we learned a new game called "Heads Up, Seven Up".  Our 5th Grade Buddies joined us this afternoon and taught us a new song which we will practice next week and then helped us make scarecrows to put on our sunset backgrounds - they are wonderful and on display on the bulletin board outside our classroom.  Please take time to take a look at them. 

Scholastic book orders will be sent out tomorrow and the books ordered should arrive within two weeks. 

PICTURE DAY IS TOMORROW!  Have a good evening everyone.  Barbara Ann

We had our first Community Meeting today and it was wonderful.  The kindergarteners were an excellent audience and enjoyed learning a new song that I hope our 5th grade buddies will reinforce with us tomorrow.  Speaking of 5th Grade Buddies, each student painted a sunset background today so when we meet with our buddies tomorrow, they can help to create a scarecrow out of scrap fabric and paper to complete the picture.  These will be posted on the bulletin board in the hall.  The letter today was J /j/ jump.  We continued working on Counting Jars in Math and students are doing quite well at making one to one correspondence when counting.  This is a skill that you could reinforce at home whenever a counting opportunity arises.  For example, you could put out some pennies to have your child count or count how many items are in the grocery bag, etc.  I forgot to mention that one of our students, Miles, noticed a praying mantis in the grass yesterday which I was able to catch in our butterfly house so we could examine it for the afternoon.  We also watched a short video on YouTube and learned how praying mantis capture prey three times their size with their front legs that are covered with little spikes.  We also learned they have big eyes, can turn their heads almost 180 degrees, and change colors to camouflage themselves on sticks or leaves.   

Good evening.  Today we learned the letter K /k/ kangaroo.  I am finding that many students can name the letters but have difficulty giving the sounds of the letters which is a crucial part of developing skills needed to become readers.  Again, please take time to review the letters as your child brings their worksheets home and help your child identify words in their environment that begin with each letter.   We also finished writing all the numbers 0 through 9.  The class was somewhat amazed to learn that as they get older they will be able to write any number at all using the digits 0 through 9!  We were able to take a look at counting jars today and began the practice of developing strategies to make one to one correspondence as we count.    Mrs. Adams was away this afternoon and Mrs. Punska very competently filled in for her.  Mrs. Adams will be back tomorrow.   Tomorrow, Wednesday, is our first community meeting of the year and we welcome family and friends.  It will be from 9:10 to 9:30 in the cafetorium.  Have a good evening. 

October 1st, 2012

This morning, we did the letter L /l/ lion.  Before we could line up for lunch, each child had to give me a word that started with the sound of L (lion, lady, lizard, light, etc) .  We also made a flip book of words that rhyme with the word ''an''.  Your child will have this flip book in his/her folder so please take a couple minutes to have them read it to you.  This afternoon we read "The Napping Book" by Audrey Wood and will be doing an activity tomorrow that will help us retell the story. 

We practiced writing the numbers 3 and 8 this afternoon and will finish up numbers tomorrow with the number 5.  Math will be so much easier when we are able to read and write numbers! 

Some of you already know that I have a voice disorder called Spasmodic Dysphonia for which I get botox injections in my vocal cords 2 or 3 times a year.    I try to delay treatments for as long as I can, however, my voice is telling me it is time to make another appointment.  For people with this condition, talking on the phone seems to trigger the spasms which is one major reason why I prefer email or talking in person.   If I do call you for whatever reason and you hear my voice shaking please understand that it is the dysphonia and not because there is a serious problem.  I often worry more about the person at the other end when my voice is bad, than whatever I am calling about! 

Precious Moment:  Each day, the student teacher aide gives a weather report following recess and puts pictures that depict the weather on a chart.  The eight choices are: sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, hot, cold, foggy and snowy.  Today the weather report was sunny, cloudy, hot and windy.  When the aide is finished we always ask for questions or comments about the chart.  One child raised a hand today and said, "Ms. Bennett, I noticed that it was really froggy this morning!"

While I think about it - last week Mrs. Adams sent a walking trip permission slip home in your child's folder.  If you ave not returned this form to school please try to get it filled out this weekend and sent back on Monday.  Leaves are starting to fall and we would love to take a walk along the bike path looking for signs of fall and collecting some leaves.  Thanks so much.  BA

Well, this has been an incredible week.  The Gingerbread Man kept us high with anticipation all week and today we learned he had left the building to travel the world.  He did promise to keep in touch with us through postcards, so we are hoping it won't bee too long before we hear from him!

Aside from that adventure, we also read three different versions of The Gingerbread Man and made comparisons between the three.  We learned that some stories are so old and have become such favorites, that they are retold in different ways.  Each student has made a picture book of the Gingerbread Man so they can retell the story in their own words.  These books are now in their book boxes and as they retell the story to either Mrs. Adams or myself, they will bring it home. 

Throughout the year we make many little books so I am hoping you can find a special spot to put these books as they come home.  Eventually your child will be able to read some of these books and in the meantime, as you read with them, encourage them to finger point to each word so they get the concept of what a word is, and they can begin to identify some of the high frequency words.  We have spent a lot of time working on class expectations and it really makes a huge difference as the year goes on.  We only have 5 rules - be kind, be safe, show respect, do your best, and have fun - and be making daily reference to these rules as needed, the children are beginning to make better choices. 

Enjoy the weekend.  Looking forward to continuing the blog next week.  Barbara Ann

We had no luck tracking down the Gingerbread Man although we did receive two more notes - one that Mrs. McCarthy, our school nurse brought to us, and one that was found on the cafeteria door at lunch time. Mrs. McCrthy said she saw him from behind but he was just too quick for her to catch! Tomorrow is a new day!

I have received some very positive feedback about using this format so I will continue to let you know what is happening in the classroom through the blog.  I will try to update at the end of each day.  Please feel free to make general comments on the blog as well, however, if you have questions or concerns with your child specifically, please contact me through email or by phone. 

Well, things did not go as planned today. First thing this morning our class made a fantastic looking gingerbread man out of the 'dough' Mrs. Adams had prepared. It smelled so good we could hardly wait till snack time so we could sample this delectable treat. We carefully carried the cookie sheet up to the cafeteria, putting it in the oven to cook for a half hour. When we returned to retrieve our treat, the little guy had disappeared, leaving a note saying he had gone off to explore the school. We split into two groups and slowly made our way back to the classroom, searching all the nooks and crannies along the way but to no avail. It seems he was watching the class in PE this afternoon because Ms. Bischoff found a not onn her desk and then our 5th grade buddies came down to our room with yet another note at the end of the day. As we travelled through the halls to lunch, some of our students thought they saw shadows and a leg, but we had o luck catching this evasive creature. Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow.

Good evening everyone.  This is my first blog and I am trying this out as a means of sending newsletters rather than use the school email that is inefficient at best.  Please respond with the first name only of your child so I will know how many were able to access this blog.  Thanks so much.