Masquerade, Carnival, Party - Hip Hooray!

We cheered for Halloween this week in SK...come along to learn more about the happenings inside our P217 Haunted Classroom, if you dare!



Daily Five + Language

- Book Buffet: choosing new Just Right books to fill our personal book bins with!
- New Decodable: "I Nap" Book 10 joins our black book box at home this weekend
- New Word Family: from our new book "I Nap", the -ap family joins our Word Family Wall!  If you know your letter sounds, you can make LOADS of words with -ap!  (Chant our song... "ap, ap, ap... put on an L and you've got lap!  Lap, lap, lap...take off the L and you've got ap!")
- Pumpkin Book: a new (color!) book to add to our black book box at home also... it tells the story of all the ways we measured our pumpkins!
- Read to Someone: with our 3rd grade buddies!  We practiced retelling and check for understanding, back and forth.
- Vowels: we LOVED trying to find a word that doesn't have a vowel... but we couldn't!  We even tried saying each others names without the vowels... so silly!  Sing (to the tuen of BINGO) with your SK friend... "There are some letters that I know and vowels are their name-o... a, e, i, o, u... a, e, i, o, u....a, e, i, o, u....and vowels are their name-o!"



Printing, Journals, Scrapbooking

- Printing: E and e!  Play pictionary with your SKer, drawing things that start with "e" and watching their formation.  E: start at the blue sky, pull down staight, pick up!  Up to the blue sky, slide right, pick up!  To the red fence, slide right, pick up!  To the green grass, slide right, pick up!  e: start at the red fence, slide right, circle back around.
- Journals: looking forward to the SK carnival and predicting our favorite games!
- Scrapbooking: looking back at our day of celebrations and retelling about our favorite highlights.



Math

- The Tricky Teens: We explored how to make the teens and what they mean (ten + more... there's always a 10 hiding inside, that's why they all start with "1"), where teen numbers can be found (between 10 and 20... or 12 and 20, if you're a purest), and how we say teen numbers (Is it five-teen?  No!)



Science

-We were quite busy this week finishing up our pumpkin study!  We created the life cycle of a pumpkin  using paints, watercolors, construction paper and yarn to put it all together.  It was quite a fun project and the children were able to practice their life cycle song ("Seed, Sprout, Plant, Flower, Pumpkin....now its Halloween!")

Extra!  Extra!  Reminders:

- Next Special Helper: Gabe on Monday 10/29 (please bring a show & share that belongs in our -am, -at, or -ap family... or two things that rhyme with each other!)
- Next Healthy Picnic: Charlotte on Monday 10/29
- Next Superstar Celebration: Mr. Marco on 11/1 (and Maya's on deck for 11/6!)

Coming Up Next Week:

- Art Bags: coming your way filled with Pumpkin/October wares!
- Black Cat Fun Run: Wednesday October 31st between 2 and 3pm
- Election Booth: Voting as a whole Lower School + Preprimary on a new lunch menu item!
- Beginning to move into our next month's science study (a certain gobbly-type animal friend!) and our social studies unit about thankfulness.
- As always, keep an eye out on your e-mail for Melissa Sheppard's helpful reminders!

A Day in the Life (Cycle) of a Pumpkin!

What a week for celebrations and explorations!  Take a peek at our week...
(Sorry for the petite photo album this week!  More shots of hard work and good fun to come next week!)



Daily Five:

- Stamina: We reached twenty minutes!  In between three mini lessons, we break out into our sign-ins (read to self, read to someone, work on writing, word work, listen to reading) for twenty minutes each time.  We are becoming professional experts at increasing our stamina as we read and write (and pushing ourselves to do more!)
- Skills: point to the first letter, "read" the picture clues, ask yourself questions as you read, stretch the sounds in a word that's tricky (then put them all together.)
- Centers: We added lots of -am and -at family work to our Word Work centers (creating -am family and -at family words, and sorting ones that make sense and that are silly words.)  We are reading to ourselves using the words, the pictures, and retelling.  We are reading books with friends using Check for Understanding, I Read You Read, and Read Two Different Books.



Language:

- Journals: a new class book!  We used our new star words "we" and "go" to write "We Go!  SKers on the Move", a class book that gives families lots of details about where a busy day in the life of a five year old can take us.
- Printing: C, c and __, ___.  Starting under the line and circling back is tricky!  Play pictionary with your SK friend to practice; draw a car, coat, can, cup, etc. and have them try writing the word.  Don't focus on their spelling; check on how their "c" formation is looking.



Math:

- Which Way Should I Go: we used directional words (above, over, under, beside, next to, near) to draw pumpkins on a spooky October scene!
- Counting, counting: we played games, clapping, tapping, jumping, cheering, all while we counted (i.e. "The Magic Number is 8.  When the number ends in "8", jump up and cheer it!  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, EIGHT! 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, EIGHTEEN!)
- Shape collage: we played "Roll A Jackolantern"; each number represented a shape (1 is a square, 2 is a rectangle, 3 is a triangle, etc.) and when we'd roll a number, we'd add the corresponding shape to our pumpkin's face!  Great for quick recognition of numbers 1-6.



Science:

Life cycle of the pumpkin: our focus this week, learning more about how it grows and changes from seed to pumpkin and back to seed!  We made our own seed, sprout, plant (vine), flower and pumpkin that tell the story of the life cycle!  Ask your SKer to show it to you, and sing the song too.

Snip, snip, seed, sprout: We also had fun creating (and putting together in the right order!) our own puzzle pieces for seed, sprout, planter, flower, pumpkin.  Good practice for those tricky cutting skills, and our botanist brains!

Extra!  Extra!  Reminders:

Halloween Party: coming up on..... Parent volunteers should be in touch with Melissa Sheppard (we thank you for your time and help!)  We will be wearing our costumes to school (please don't send them along; we need friends ready to go at 8am.  Remember; no superheroes, villains or weapons of any kind.  If you are unsure in any way, please do get in touch before the dress up day), and be participating in the all school Masquarade March through the upper school!
Healthy Picnic: Please use the big green basket to bring back a healthy snack for 18 friends (no nuts or nut products, please.)  See the attached tag for good ideas.
Superstar: next up... Marco!  He will be our first November Birthday/Superstar celebration.  Family is welcome to join us!
No School: comment writing falls on Friday, October 26.  See you back in school the following Monday!

Coming Up Next:

We will wrap up our pumpkin study next week, exploring any SK questions we haven't answered yet, and then move on to Halloween Fun!  Then, onward to November and sharing traditions of thankfulness, plus Terrific Turkeys!

Get in touch!

As our team grows, so does our contact info!

Please e-mail both Mrs. Schwartz (tschwartz@usmk12.org) and Mrs. Duffey (jduffey@usmk12.org) to be sure that your message reaches the classroom.  (Having one teacher out ill today reminded us that it would help to keep the lines of communication open if you knew where to find them all!)

Have a peaceful night,

Mrs. D. and Mrs. S.

New Adventures in SK P217!

Hello good families of SK friends!

We are delighted to warmly welcome Ms. Schwartz to our SK team, and to our classroom.  She will be with us while our friend Mrs. Linzmeier rests and works on feeling better at home.



Ask your SK friend about:

Daily Five

Another round of building stamina - we've reached 17 minutes of independent focused productive work!  We are u  p to all five (the Daily Five!), including Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing.  We've also teamed up with our 3rd Grade Buddies, to meet each A Day for 15 minutes of Read to Someone.  What fun to have them read to us, and to read to them too!

Language

Journaling - writing descriptive scrapbook pages detailing our eventful trip to the Pumpkin Patch!  We are using Upper Case, Finger Space, Ending Punctuation, and thinking about our topic, while writing two sentences that go together.
Printing - adding D and d to our letter we can write the SK Way, and practicing the whole kit and caboodle so far (L, I, T, A, O, l, i, t, a, o)
Describing words - writing as much information as we could to describe our pumpkins (tall, short, skinny, wide, bumpy, scratchy, smooth... the list goes on!)
Word Families - exciting news!  We began with the "-am" family and added the "-at" family!  When you can read "am" and "at", and when you know your letter sounds, you can read SO MANY words!  We do a cheer here in SK: "Am, am, am, put on a "r" and you've got ram!  Ram, ram, ram, take off the "r" and you've got am!"  Try it with am and at, with your SK friend.

Math

Spinners - probability and bar graphs (charting which pieces of the Pumpkin Pie spinner we landed on, and growing our bar graphs!  Which columns are equal?  Which columns are more or fewer?  How many more pieces of pie until that column reaches the top?  Thrilling stuff!)
Counting - with movement, incorporating action into rote counting games
Patterns - in our classroom, and our school... they're everywhere!  Hunt for your own at home or out in the world

Science

Pumpkins!  We began exploring our new unit with a story about Jonathan and the seed (what could it be?) and then charted a KWL (What do I know, what do I wonder, what do I want to learn?)  We want to know more about the stems, the vines, the colors of pumpkins, how big they can get, if the size and the weight of a pumpkin go together, what parts of the pumpkin you can eat, and loads more!
Field Trip - we headed to Barthel Fruit Farm (thank you, kind and flexible volunteers!) to gather information, and our pumpkins for research!
Research - we've begun measuring our pumpkin's height (how tall?) and circumference (how far around?), and can't wait to check out if it sinks or floats!  Together if your SKer, see if you can find out how much your pumpkin weighs, and something that weighs about the same!

Books We Loved

When The Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger
Lionel In the Fall by Stephen Krensky
Patty's Pumpkin Patch by Teri Sloat
It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall

Reminders

Monday - no school, while teachers have an inservice here at USM.  Look for patterns, find fun ways to count, hunt for fall colors, describe the pumpkins you see in your neighborhood!
Coats - every day!
Tote bags - every day!
Toys - not at school, please.  One snuggly friend left in the sleeping bag for rest time works well.
Friday Folders - remind SK friends that their job is to pop it in the box on their way in on Duffey!

Coming Up

We have much more to explore in the world of pumpkins!  Language, math and science converge to learn more about descriptive writing, measurement and the life cycle of a plant.

Pumpkin/pillowcases!

Hello all!

As the reminder that is stapled to your SKer's tote reads, we ask that you send your friend dressed for the weather tomorrow, and with an old pillow case + newspaper section stuffed inside (for carrying our pumpkins back to school in!)

Thanks for helping us to have a pumpkin-filled and productive day at the patch tomorrow, Wednesday October 10th!

Mrs. Duffey and Ms. Schwartz (and Mrs. Petersen, and Mrs. Linzmeier - our SK family is growing!)

Rest Journals

Hello Families!

If your SKer brings home a beautifully written/illustrated rest time journal, that code for "It's filled to the brim!"

Please send back a fresh spiral notebook for them to keep at the ready for our 1:00-1:30 rest time.

With thanks,

Mrs. Duffey

Falling into SK Tree Week!

We fell in love with Fall this week in SK!

Ask your SK friend about:

Daily Five
Stamina: proud to have increased our stamina from 11 minutes last week to 12.5 minutes this week!
Read to Someone: strengthening our Coaching/Time skills (count to three, ask "Coach or time" and then give support, but not the answer, or more time), and learning 3 Ways to Read a Book to Someone (Check for Understanding, I Read/You Read, Read Two Different Books)
Good Reader Tools: use the picture clues, point to the words AND look at the first letter (that helps us when the picture shows a dog, but the word is "puppy!")

Language
Journaling - upper case, finger space, ending puncuation... that's our mantra!  Introducing "topic" or "big ideas" and challenging ourselves to use describing words (bumpy, rough, huge, smooth, round, tall), with two good details in each of our journals.
Printing - Here are the letters we're working on, and the Zaner Bloser formation language we use to remind SK friends of the motion: "A" (Start up at the blue sky, slant down left, pick up!  Start up at the blue sky, slant down right, pick up!  Start on the red fence, slide right.)  "a" (Start under the red fence, circle back to make a rainbow, circle around, down and up, pull down from the red fence to the green grass.)

Math
5 Frames, 10 Frames - they help us recognize groups of five/ten in a flash, and the number relationships that work within the frame (2+3=5, 5-4=1), and strengthen our ability to "count on" from five, our "count back" from ten (5+3 more = 8, 10-1 = 9)
Numbers in Our Room/School - friends went on a hunt in small groups, one in our room, one around the school, searching for numbers in all different places!  Clocks, calendars, charts, graphs, labels, and more!  We worked as a large group to figure out why we need numbers, how we use them, and what life would be like without them!
Shape Collages - Naming shapes, making them with our bodies, and hunting for them in magazines (the Restoration Hardware magazine was more like a coffee table book - we put it to great use!), shadow-cutting them and gluing them into our personal collages
Which Way Do I Go - we took turns in two small groups; one group used directional clues on a list (of 25!) to find their way around the school.  The other group, in our classroom, followed verbal cues and mapped their way on a game board!  First time listening sure helped us all on these good math games!

Science
Tree Walk - walking tree to tree and using describing language to say what we notice, as scientists, helped us to make a big decision about which tree to choose for our year in SK
Voting with Our Feet - instad of making a chart like we did with insects, we moved our bodies to the tree we wanted to study, and took a vote!  One tree had twelve pairs of SK feet under its branches.. our SK Tree is the large maple to the left of the middle school entrance!
Observation Sketch - we used our arborist eyes to study the tree's leaves, branches and trunk, taking note of each characteristic and drawing only what we observed, recording good information for our Science Notebook
Expert Tree Talk - Mrs. Z, our resident Science Expert, took us out to our tree and used her iPad to identify the tree's leaves... it's a Sugar Maple!  It's called that because it's filled with a higher sugar content than other trees, and makes great syrup, if you're up for doing the work!  We also learned that our leaves are now orange because the green chemical, chlorophyll, is gone and we're finally seeing the leaves' true colors!
Leaf Rubbing - We collected Sugar Maple leaves from our SK tree, and used them for rubbings!  The beautiful art we made not only helped to bring fall into our classroom, but it highlighted the veins in the leaf that sparked great discussion about water and food for all living things!
Prediction - We illustrated a prediction and added describing words for our SK Tree in Winter - can't wait to see if our theory comes true in January!
Calendar: Thermometer/Temperature - we're finding the temperature and using colors to show how warm or cold it's been.  Many mornings in the fifties mean lots of deep green days in our calendar books - can you predict if November will move in the yellow direction or the blue direction?

Books We Loved
A Tree for Me by Nancy Van Laan
Hello, Tree! by Joanne Ryder
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Jan Brett
Sky Tree by Nicholas Locker
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood

Extra, Extra: Reminders for Next Week:
Field Trip: It's coming right up on Wednesday October 10th (not the 11th!) - can't wait to meet our volunteers (who have confirmed with Melissa Sheppard!) at 1pm at Barthel Fruit Farm (until our 2pm departure.)
Decodable Books: Help your SKer remember that Book 7 is coming home today, and that each black and white decodable should be stored in their black Book Box (with the star words listed on the inside cover!)  This collection will help each friend build strong reading skills, even if the books themselves are not where your SK reader is right now.
Tote Bags: to school and back, everyday please!
Toys: please remind friends that toys do not belong at school.  One snuggly buddy can stay here in their sleeping bag, but bringing multiple toys back and forth can take away from our good learning here in SK.
Jackets: everyday, please!

Coming Up Next:
Pumpkin Study: loads of math exploration next week as we weigh and measure our pumpkins in all different ways!  No two pumpkins are the same, just like SKer's, so we'll be using our best describing words to give good information about our pumpkin picks.

Pumpkin Trip - 10/10/12

Hello everyone!

In case you didn't catch Melissa's e-mail last night, our field trip is scheduled for Wednesday 10/10 (not Tuesday 10/11.)  We could not schedule USM bus drivers for 10/11, and opted for the 10/10 date so that our children would be riding with friendly faces that they know well on our transportation staff.

If you have volunteered, please get in touch with Melissa (mnmplus2@gmail.com) to let her know if you will still be able to make the trip, or if you will need a replacement volunteer.

Thank you for your flexibility and dedication!