Our first day was a success! I promised the children I would tell every parent THANK YOU for doing such a great job preparing these little ones for school. So please let them know, their teacher LOVES them already!Take a peek at our time together…

National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry introduced in 1996 and organized by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States.
In honor of National Poetry Month, students created “Book Spine” poetry during their library lesson. Students arranged book titles to make a poem. Just like regular poetry, they created a poem that was serious or funny.
To make a “Book Spine” poem the students started by moving books around with their spines together so that the titles were like lines of a poem. Students moved books around into different stacks until they found lines that worked best together to create a poem.

Below are some of the “Book Spine” poems our class created.

Last month we were responsible for teaching the school about the word tolerance. Take a peek below and check out some of our performance. Hope you enjoy it!

per•sis•tence

noun p?r-?sis-t?n(t)s, -?zis-

Read: Enemy Pie by by Derek Munson

One boy’s perfect summer seems to be ruined when his worst enemy, Jeremy Ross, moves in down the block. Fortunately, though, Dad has a recipe for enemy pie. But it seems that the pie will only be effective if the recipient is treated kindly before eating it. Reluctantly, the boy agrees to spend time with Jeremy.

It might not be Enemy Pie or like your grandma’s apple pie, but these factories go through quite the process and add their own magic touch for a melt in your mouth taste. Watch the video below to see how this factory produces mini apple pies.

People say they don’t have time to be kind. Watch the video below to see how to stop and remind others that kindness only takes a moment! Kindness blossoms…

Read: I Like Your Buttons by by Sarah Marwil Lamstein, illustrated by Nancy Cote

When Cassandra compliments her teacher, she starts good feelings flying throughout the school, out onto the playground, and all around the neighborhood.
Pay It Forward!

Watch a clip from the movie “Pay It Forward.”

October is here. Watch the video below by Thomas Rasel. It highlights the sights and sounds of autumn. Identify other signs in our environment that let' us know the fall season is ahead. What is your favorite fall activity?

Listen to Dave Pilkey's 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. Compare this story to the President's Turkey Pardon of 2012.

Brain Pop, Jr. has a video and quiz about Thanksgiving. Click the image below and see how well you do!

Try Turkey Swap is to switch the locations of the turkeys and the pigs with as few moves as possible. You can move each tile by clicking on it. A tile can be moved to the empty space if the space is immediately beside it, or if there is one tile between it and the space.

Parents are the first and most important teachers. As your child's first teacher, you can strongly influence his/her learning attitudes and behaviors. Carol Dweck, leading researcher in the area of Growth Mindset states, "We can all agree that meaningful schoolwork promotes students' learning of academic content. But why stop there? I believe that meaningful work can also teach students to love challenges, to enjoy effort, to be resilient, and to value their own improvement. In other words, we can design and present learning tasks in a way that helps students develop a growth mindset, which leads to not just short-term achievement but also long-term success." Take a look at the short video below for some helpful hints. For further information on this topic check out the book- Mindset by Carol Dweck.

In Writer’s Workshop the children have been observing,collecting, studying and writing about bits of their world. This unit ties in with our science curriculum and also provides an opportunity for informational writing.

Skills and Strategies Taught( What it looks and sounds like)

*Writers are exact in drawing and labeling scientific artifacts
*Writers “zoom in” and create close up drawings
*Writers add words to tell more

*Writers look again and find details they may have missed

Ways to support your child at home:

*Provide paper, pens, and a writing spot to encourage writing
*Encourage your child to get outside and collect interesting artifacts. Then write about them.
*Help develop an understanding of sound symbol relationships by encouraging your child to stretch out words and write the sounds he/she hears.Your child may be able to write only the first sound or first and last. Celebrate all attempts.

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International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration, began when teacher Terry Shay introduced his classroom to Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot on September 15, 2009.

The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “make her mark”. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe.

In celebration of our success this first week of Kindergarten, we ended the week with a dot party of our own! First,we joined Ms.Widmayer’s class for a community reading of the book. Next we got messy! We created one of a kind dot creations using watercolors. We collaborated on a group mural using tempera paint. We thought about how we would make our mark this year.Then the children brainstormed “I can..” lists and wrote about their goals. We had fun doing dot to dot puzzles. Last , we used dot stickers and exercised our fine motor muscles as well as our creative juices creating dot collages.