Important! Contact Info

Hello SK friends and families,

Beginning Monday, please be certain to address all e-mails to Mrs. Duffey (jduffey@usmk12.org) so that we can ensure good communication in Mrs. Linzmeier's absence.  While she will have access to e-mail, Mrs. L. will not be in the classroom or at school, and unable to deliver messages to Mrs. D. 

(Of course, if you can send it to both teachers, we would both appreciate being kept in the loop/having access to a record of communication.)

Thank you for your generous flexibility in this transition.

Dear families and friends

Thank you for your kind words and generous support this week.  We are a strong classroom community of SKers, teachers, and families, only growing stronger.

***New photo album is up!  Sunday 9/30***

Ask Your SKer about:

Daily Five (just four as of now!) - building stamina and practicing new skills:

- Read to Self: Point to each word

- Read to someone: EEKK and Check for Understanding

- Work on Writing: capitals, spaces, ending punctuation

- Word Work: creating letters, using them to make star words

Language

- Printing: the letters O, o ("below the blue sky, circle back to make a rainbow, around and up")

- Journaling/scrapbooking: writing about our emerging butterflies, and our Fly Away Fiesta, focusing on capitals, spacing, ending punctuation

Math

- Patterns in sound and movement: clap, stomp, tap, pat, hum and sing a pattern with your SKer!)

- Number Recognition: using fingers to practice recognizing groupings in a flash

- Counting On From Five: five fingers plus ? more fingers = ...

- Calendar: counting days in SK by ones/fives/tens, tallying our days, charting the date, bar graphing weather, recognizing rhymes in the lunch menu, participating in surveys with morning message

Science

- Butterflies: emerged!  Every chrysalis has been vacated, and we celebrated with a Migrate to Mexico/Fly Away Fiesta!  We danced, ate tortilla chips and salsa, and said bon voyage to the butterflies!

- Praying Mantis: to learn more about butterflies, we voted, chose and studied a new insect... the Praying Mantis!  We created a Venn to compare and contrast the two insects' bodies, life cycles, eating habits, and habitats.  We even created winged friends to flip

and compare butterfly to praying mantis!

Reminders:

- Art Bags: please empty and enjoy your SKer's art bag contents with him or her.  So much hard work and learning awaits!  On Monday, please send it back, empty.

- Friday Folders: please encourage your SKer to make a routine of placing his or her Friday Folder into the top basket each Monday morning.  Their job, not yours!

- Cooler Days: long pants and sleeves, and send a jacket please, now that cooler days are here!  Recess is a good long time for free play and fresh air, and we want everyone safe and comfortable.

- Plastic grocery bags: always appreciated for a variety of classroom needs - thank you!

- Pumpkin Patch Field Trip: October 10th, we'll depart at 12:30 for a 1-2pm visit to learn more about our next unit if study...pumpkins!  Thank you for getting in touch with Melissa Sheppard if you are volunteering your time.  

- Birthday/Superstars: on your SKer's day, we invite you and your family to attend for 1:45 birthday treat, 2:00 superstar poster sharing, 2:15 show and share and 2:30 writing/illustrating superstar book pages

- Healthy Picnic: thank you for sending back healthy, safe (but free!) treats for 18 friends when the basket goes home to your SKer on the Friday before his or her big day.

Coming up next week:

- SK tree study!  Tagging, voting, observing, sketching, leaf rubbing, consulting with our resident arborist Mrs. Z, and more!

Smile!

Hello and howdy do, SK families!  We smiled brightly through our week in SK, especially for the camera on Picture Day this Friday!

Ask your SKer about what we were doing in the top photo (the smile game!) and all about their learning this week in our classroom:



Science:
Waiting for Wings: watching a video from Mrs. Pierson's room, of a Monarch emerging from its chrysalis!  Ask your friend which body part emerges last, and why.  We also learned that the Monarch butterflies, all of them from Canada and the United States, migrate to Mexico together.. there are so many all in the same place that it looks like fall.  Orange "leaves" (wings!) everywhere.
Emerging: when a butterflies "comes out" of the chrysalis, we call it emerging - our chrysalis' are becoming transparent, a good sign that the butterflies are almost ready to emerge.  The black wings were really showing through this afternoon, and friends were thrilled to keep a close watch on our friends!
Insects: exploring the world of insects, and comparing insects with non-insects
Body parts: we know that insects have a head, thorax, abdomen, two eyes, a mouth, antennae, six legs and come in all colors, shapes and sizes.  We love singing the insect song... ask your SKer to teach you and sing along together!



Language:
Daily Five: checking for understanding means to stop after a page and ask questions; who, what, where, when, why and how.  We can ask a friend these questions ("Read to Someone") or we can ask ourselves these questions while we read too ("Read to Self"); we are working to increase our stamina and sit EEKK with our buddy while we Read to Someone.  We love sharing our reading with a friend, checking for their understanding... and then taking turns!
Journaling:  We are "Working on Writing" in a meaningful way: documenting our days in SK! We are working hard on three important components of our writing; capitalization (the first letter in the sentence), spacing (finger or pencil spaces are great!) and ending punctuation.
Printing: We're building our confidence as we carefully form our "pull-down" letters (starting at the blue sky, or red fence, and pulling down the green grass.)  Encourage your SK friend to get good practice writing I, i, L, l, T and t, especially in the context of our star words, found on the inside cover of their SK Book Box.  (I, like, the, etc.)






Math
Numbers: looking at numbers in new ways!  Using counters to create "trains" (connected groupings), we took them apart in different ways to examine what's "inside" of a number... inside of 6 we found 1 and 5, 2 and 4, 3 and 3!
5 Frames: W
Zero the Hero: celebrating our second Zero the Hero day!  On day 20 of SK we sang our Zero the Hero song, and started using our number line to count in three different ways!
Counting: by ones, fives and tens, with the help of our Days in SK number line!  We clap for ones, pat our laps for fives, and tap our heads for tens.  This rhythm is strengthening our counting.  Practice your counting with you SK friend, and add in the claps, pats and taps to highlight number patterns, and have fun too!  

Bar graphs: collecting data, tracking how many days we'd had caterpillars, how many days we've had with our chrysalis, and comparing the columns of our bar graphs.

Books We've Loved This Week
"The Bee's Sneeze" by Ellis Nadler
"Q is for Duck" by Mary Elting 
"A was Once an Apple Pie" by Edward Lear
"The Very Lonely Firefly"by Eric Carle 
"Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes 
"The Grouchy Ladyburg" by Eric Carle 





Extra!  Extra!  Announcements:
Superstar: Our Superstar celebrations will begin with our first friend, Sofia, on September 28th!  We will always send our Superstar poster/tube home many days in advance so that you may help your SK friend prepare for their celebration (and so that you can be sure your calendars marked, in hopes that you can attend our classroom fete!)  More details shared at Back to School Night, and enclosed in the Superstar poster/tube that you'll receive ahead of time.
Computers: Our SK friends practiced using a mouse and a laptop with Mrs. Pilarzyk this week; the good practice will come in handy when we take the ERBs (used as a tool for baseline assessment) in the upcoming week.
Hallway pick-up: If we are walking to car circle and you catch you SK friend on the way, we thank you kindly for catching our attention and saying "I'm taking ______" so that we have an accurate count when we get out to the front circle!
Cozy Up: Please remember that our SK friends spend nearly 50 minutes of good outdoor fresh air play time together after lunch and before rest.  As the temperatures simmer down, please encourage them to wear long sleeves and long pants or tights, and to bring a warm jacket.
Phone Calls: This weekend we will be giving each family a call to check in with you on your child's transition to SK.  This is a short, informal time to start a conversation that we will follow up on during conferences.  No worries when "the teacher calls!"

Have a weekend filled with smiling, grinning, beaming faces! 

State of the Blog!

***UPDATE!  Anonymous commenters are welcome at SKHooray.blogspot.com - please join us!

Hello good friends and families,

Picasa:
Please give our Homecoming/Field Trip link another shot if you please; we hope we have found the glitch!

Commenting:
We have added the option to comment anonymously if you do not have an account.

Have a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Your Friends in SK P217

We've Got Spirit, How 'Bout You?!

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!
*If you are having trouble opening the link to this week's Picasa album, we apologize!  We have the privacy settings set to "Anyone with the link" so as to limit traffic from non-usm visitors.  Please let us know if you are continuing to experience problems and we will work with our tech coordinator to solve the problem.

Our days have been filled with Wildcat pride, and loads of learning.
Ask your SKer about:

Science

- Insect bodies: they have three parts!  head, thorax, abdomen (ask them to sing you the song!)

- Proboscis: butterflies long curly tongue that they use to drink nectar from brightly colored flowers
- Tiny scales: butterflies have them on their wings - but don't touch them!  (ask your SKer what could happen if you touched the scales)
- Water-wings: butterflies wings are waterproof!  (ask your SKer what happens when droplets touch their wings)
- Metamorphosis: changing through the life cycle
- Camouflage: stick bugs sure are, and other creatures that blend in with their habitat are too!

Language
- Daily Five News: we practiced building our stamina in new ways this week: while we did Work On Writing and during Read to a Buddy (sitting "EEKK" - ask your SKer what that stands for!)
- Writing/Printing: we start our writing with an upper case letter, use finger spaces, and end with a period (or an exclamation mark if we're feeling excited!)  We worked hard on our "pull down" letters, practicing L and l, I and i.
- Scrap booking: we created a new entry for our first thrilling field trip, writing what we learned at the Milwaukee Public Museum about insects, and butterflies

Math

 

- Coin Study: we have been studying all four coins up close with magnifying glasses, sorting them by size, color, edge (rough or smooth), thickness (thick or thin), and even date!  (1973?  2002?)
- Calendar: we continue to grow our morning calendar routine!  Each friend is creating daily bar graphs, tally charts, number grids and Zero the Hero checks as we build a foundation to explore numbers and patterns throughout the school year

 

 

Books We've Loved This Week:
- "Miss Mary Mack" by Mary Ann Hoberman

 

- "Arthur Writes a Story" by Marc Brown
- "Are you a Butterfly?" by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries
- "The Butterfly Alphabet" by Kjell B. Sandved

 

Extra!  Extra!  Announcements:
- Back To School Night: Thursday, September 20th is a big night for you!  Be sure to make plans to attend (parents only) at 6:45pm; we will be going over all of the important logistics to ensure that your SKer's school year is a tremendous success!
- Picture Day: next Friday!  Please do bring in your form/check right away so that your child's order can be filled.
- Picasa: enjoy a new crop of photos (upper right hand corner of the blog!)
- Math Links: check inside your SKer's Friday folder for good practice (and good fun!) using math skills we are working to strengthen (remember; it's not homework!  No need to bring it back to school; use it and enjoy it together as you build a strong base at home.)
- Healthy Picnic: Thank in advance to our good friend Lewis for bringing in a healthy snack for 18 friends to enjoy together next week!
 

Have yourselves a spirited weekend filled with good cheer!

Happy Homecoming Week!

We had a class meeting to decide how to celebrate USM's Homecoming!  We know that it's a big BIG week for our school, our teams and our athletes, so we are planning exciting, spirited things to make, wear and do, all to get us in the homecoming mood!

We have a new SK cheer; help us practice while we're at home with you this week!

USM is Number One!
We're gonna ROCK and ROLL 'til the day is done!

Also, we are encouraged (but not required!) to get into the Homecoming spirit with these kooky, crazy dress-up days:

Have a spirited week, (please remember that we have our field trip on Thursday afternoon, and picture day is not this Friday, but next week Friday)... and GO WILDCATS!

We love bugs (and insects too!)

We have gone buggy in SK P217 this week!  

Our days were filled with learning galore:

Science:

- Bug Walk with USM Lower School Science Expert Mrs. Ziegelbauer where we collected critters to observe up close.

- Comparing/contrasting what Insects have/don't have, what Insects are/aren't, and what we thought we'd see on our walk/what we really did see!

- Predicting a timeline for the next phase in our caterpillar's life cycle!  (How many days until chrysalis?)

Language:

- IPICK Just Right Fit books (learning how to choose a book that's just right for us as readers)

- Journaling about our exciting Bug Walk adventure

- Reading to self (and building our stamina by many minutes!)

- Working on our letter formation with shaving cream, wiki sticks and play dough!

- Enjoying Word Work in small groups (focusing on upper and lower case letter matches, ordering words alphabetically, etc.)
- adding MY to our Star Words and Word Wall!  Reading "My Bus" to self, and reading EEKK (elbow-elbow, knee-knee) with a buddy, as well as in small groups

Math:

- Learning to tally the days we've been in SK, the number of friends wearing blue vs. gold, the number of red cars in a book... we love to tally!

- Meeting Zero the Hero, and learning more about his important job in the world of math

- Sorting each other and objects by attribute (and working to guess "What's My Attribute" when others sort!)

- Strengthening our number identification, and formation of numerals in our writing

Books We've Loved This Week:

- "Tally O'Malley" by Stuart J Murphy

- "Move Over, Rover" by Karen Beaumount

- "Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies" by Mel Boring
- "Monarch Butterfly" by Gail Gibbons
- "Looking at Bugs" a My First Field Guide series book
- "The Life Cycle of a Butterly" by Paula Z. Hogan
- "Emily's First 100 Days of School" by Rosemary Wells

Extra!  Extra!  Announcements:

- Towels: please bring in any gently used hand or bath towels to be cut up and used as dry erase board erasers for the children in their math and word work

- Picture Day: please bring in your forms... picture day is September 20th!

- Homecoming: please remember that we are celebrating our Wildcat Spirit next week!  Encourage your SKer to participate by wearing the following Spirit Gear: 

Tuesday: Crazy Sock Day, Wednesday: Blue and Gold Day, Thursday: Crazy Hat Day, Friday: Jersey Day (any team you like!)

- Our First Field Trip: We are headed to the Museum on Thursday afternoon!  Remind your SKer to pick out comfortable shoes for lots of walking and exploring.
- Picasa albums: up and running!  Please see the upper right hand gadget on our blog for weekly album uploads filled with fun and learning in SK!

Coming Up Next Week:

- TUESDAY: SK Parent Coffee (8:15 in Ells Conference Room)
- WEDNESDAY: Whole school Spirit Rally to cheer on USM!
- THURSDAY: Field Trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum!
- FRIDAY: a visit from Willie the Wildcat at recess!
(**** Picture Day is NEXT week Friday - sorry about the mix-up!)

(for more details on much of the above, please see our wonderfully informative weekly e-mail from friendly room parent, Melissa Sheppard! If you are not receiving these e-mails, send a kind request to mnmplus2@gmail.com)

Have a fluttering, zipping, dip-diving and growth-filled weekend (inspired by our insect friends!)

First Five Fantastic Days

Hello Families!

This week in our room, we welcomed 18 new friends... our caterpillars!  We have made discoveries together through our careful observations (They eat milkweed!  They grow bigger by the day!  They make scat!)  We are looking forward to learning more about them, and their insect friends, on our Bug Hunt next week with Lower School Science Expert, Mrs. Ziegelbauer.



As we explored new ideas this week, we ignited our excitement and supported our discoveries with good books together.  Here are a few of our favorites:
"Pete the Cat" by Eric Litwin
"From Anne to Zach" by Mary Jane Martin
"What is Science?" by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
"What is a Scientest?" by Barbara Lehn
"Miss Bindergarten Stays Home From Kindergarten" by Joseph Slate
"Officer Buckle and Gloria" by Peggy Rathman



This week's learning, and reviewing, in SK P217 included...

Language:
- Reviewing our letters, creating ABC order, and fine-tuning our letter sounds
- Learning sign language! (The alphabet and simple words to help us communicate in
the classroom)
- Daily Five: (The Daily Five is a literacy block that is designed to fully
engage students in reading in writing.)  
- Learning and practicing different ways to read a book: read the words, read the pictures and retell the
story.  
- Practicing "read to self" (one way the Daily Five strengthens reading skills) and working hard to increase our
stamina, or the time we spend on task reading.  (The next step will be
helping children find "just right" books and we will use those to guide
their individualized reading instruction and strategies.)
- ***Book Boxes: On Friday, children brought home their decorated book boxes.
These boxes are for you to keep at home to store the decodable books that
children bring home from school. On the inside cover of the book box you
will find the SK Star Words. These are the sight words that we will
introduce throughout the year in SK.



Math:
- Creating patterns, and being detectives for patterns all around us.
- Thinking about numbers in groups (three caterpillars in each of six cups is eighteen caterpillars all together!)
- Strengthening one-to-one correspondence, counting forward and backward, graphing data and charting information, all in our morning calendar books.



Science:  
- Exploring the world of insects, and our new caterpillars 
- Illustrating our own individual life cycle theories, and describing the transitions within them



Extra!  Extra!  Important Announcements!
- We have library every F day. Each week your child will bring home two
library books.  Please return the books within the week and your child
will then pick out new books each F day.
- Looking for:  Gently used bath towels.  These are great to cut up and use
for our erasers for our work work with dry erase boards!
- Birthday/Superstar/Healthy Picnic calendars: please find your SKer's important dates in their Friday folder this week.