A halloween story (that your child has practiced telling at school)

In a dark, dark woods,
There was a dark, dark, house.

In the dark, dark, house,
There was a dark, dark, door.

Through the dark, dark, door,
There was a dark, dark, hall.

Down the dark, dark, hall,
There was a dark, dark stairs.

Up the dark, dark stairs,
There was a dark, dark, cupboard.

In the dark, dark, cupboard,
There was a dark, dark, box.

In the dark, dark box,
There was a……….
GHOST!

Song

Below are the words to a song the children have been learning. I learned this song from my Kindergarten teacher. Ask your child to show you the hand motions that go with the song.

My pigeon house,
I open up wide
And I let all my pigeons free.

They fly all around,
And up,
And down,
And they sit in the tallest tree.

And when they return,
From their merry, merry flight,
They close their eyes,
And say goodnight:

Coo roo, Coo roo, Coo roo,
Coo roo, Coo roo, Coo roo.

Howell Nature Center

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time and energy to make our trip to Howell a safe and successful learning event for all the children. On Monday, I did a survey of which events the children enjoyed most. The first choice for most children was the evening hayride. Other popular events were: seeing the birds of prey, canoeing, and roasting marshmallows. As the photo reveals, I think sleeping in bunk beds was another highlight of the trip.

Owl Pellets

On Tuesday, October 14, all the children were scientists. Each child was paired with a child from another class and together they dissected owl pellets. The owl pellets were bought at an area science supply store and were sterilized for use with children. During the dissecting process, the children found and identified bones of the small animals eaten by the owl, i.e. voles, moles, and mice. This project was an introduction to learning about predators/prey. During our trip to Howell, we will be seeing a presentation about owls and other birds of prey.

Leslie Science and Nature Center

Our trip to Leslie Science and Nature Center on Wednesday, October 15 was a great success. As a precursor to the trip, we read: Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats by Jim Arnosky. The book introduces different wildlife habitats including grassland, wetlands, and woodlands. The book was a great introduction to the topics discussed on our tour at Leslie Science Center.


Bob, our guide, took us for a walk through the woods. During our walk, he pointed out large animal habitats, the woods and the pond, and small habitats like a log. We learned a habitat must have food, water, and shelter for the animal to survive.

We learned that a dead tree on the ground is called a log, a dead tree that isn’t laying on the ground is called a snag, and a living tree is, of course, a tree.



We learned to identify poison ivy.

After our walk, we went inside to see some live animals. Bob took out a snake and a turtle for us to see up close and to touch.

Thank you to Kristen Boudia and Melissa Bruzzano for helping with the driving and supervising on this trip.

As a follow-up to the trip we read, One Small Place in a Tree by Barbara Brenner. This book follows the process of a scratch in a tree, developing into a hole that turns into a home for a variety of woodland animals. Even after the tree dies, it is a home to small reptiles, bugs, and rodents.

mathematics

I use a variety of sources to develop the K/1 math program. I get materials from the web, books, and the other fabulous SK teachers.
There are two formal math programs I will be using this year: “Everyday Mathematics” and “Singapore Math”. Both these programs have strengths and weaknesses. “Everyday” provides many hands on experiences to assist children learn various mathematic concepts but this program lacks rote computation practice. Singapore is the opposite, stressing computation with very little concrete ways for children to understand why they are doing the computations. By using a combination of these programs, children get both concrete application and computation practice.

After our morning gathering each day, we have math. Math looks different on various days. Generally, the math lesson starts with a group lesson for all the children, to introduce or practice a math concept. Then the children work in their Singapore Math books. Here are a few of the things we have been working on in so far this year:
-Becoming acquainted with a number line and number chart
-Skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s
-Making Patterns
-Recognizing geometric shapes
-Determining even and odd numbers
-Simple addition and subtraction story problems
-Reading bar graphs
-Learning mathematical symbols, =, +, -, <, and >

On Fridays, I usually set up “Math Exploration Stations”. The children choose from a variety of math activities set up in the room. Some of the activities are done in groups while others are to be worked on independently. For example, at one table children may practiced writing addition equations using dominos, at another table there is an addition board game, and at a third table, are Geo boards and rubber bands that they can use to create shapes and patterns. On the floor, are blocks and the children’s task is to see what they can build using 50 blocks.

My overall goal for the children is that they enjoy mathematics and that they strengthen their basic math knowledge and computational skill, while gaining an understanding and appreciation that one can use various strategies to discover solutions to mathematical problems.

Writing

Making writing a natural part of everyday life for the children is very important to me as a teacher. I do this in formal and informal ways.

The physical mechanics of writing require fine motor skills. In the lower elementary years children are refining their fine motor skills. Many of the activities they do everyday help develop these skills; some are obvious such as drawing and cutting, but others might not be as readily apparent such as playing with play dough or building with legos. Even getting ready to go outside takes fine motor skills as zippers are zippered and buttons buttoned. All these activities help strengthen muscles and develop fine motor abilities. Drawing on large upright surfaces such as the chalkboard, or painting at the easel, is also essential. These activities help develop the upper arm strength which is necessary for writing small.

As fine motor skills are developing, children also need to learn the convention of letter formation and good penmanship. For this, SK uses a program called “Hand Writing Without Tears”. This program employs a system of big and small lines and curves to form all the letters of the alphabet. It starts with the children practicing on small chalkboards and then moves into workbooks. The children received their workbooks last week. We work in these books about twice a week for approximately10 minutes. Surprisingly, the children can’t wait to practice their penmanship.

The children are also learning the function of writing as a means to communicate. On a daily basis, writing materials are available to the children so they can incorporate drawing and writing into their activities and play. For example, the children have been writing on the small dry erase board to take orders for their restaurant.

Every morning the children write in journals. We started the year with blank paper and the children drew pictures to convey their thoughts. The journals entries can depict something that really happened or something from their imagination. In October, the children started using paper that has a place for a picture and lines for “writing”. At first, many children will just write their names or make lines on the page to represent letters; other children use inventive and conventional spelling to put their ideas on paper.

During journal writing time, I encourage children to spell things on their own. It is more important that the children get their ideas down on the page rather than spelling words the “correct” way. By using "inventive spelling", children sound out the word by writing whatever they hear. In the beginning, the children often just hear the consonants. For example, they will write “plz” for please. As time goes on, they will add more letters including vowels. If there is a word a child consistently uses and misspells, I will show the conventional spelling so the misspelled version does not become ingrained.

Here are a few suggestions of writing activities you can do at home with your child:
-Have them help you make shopping lists
-Write up coming events on a calendar
-Write a note to a friend or relative

Thank you James

Today Amelia’s dad, James, came and told us about the printing business. James explained there are many jobs to do in a printing shop. He hires people to help him. His job is to help the people that work for him know how to do things and make sure everyone has what they need to do their jobs. Some of the jobs people do are: answering the phones and emails from costumers, making screens for printing, printing, and ordering materials to print on. Besides printing images on shirts, they also print scarves and bumper stickers. James gave stickers to all of the children that his shop printed.

Walk with Faye

Faye Stoner took us on a walk to explore two habitats in County Farm Park. First stop, the grasslands where she collected bugs. She swung her net through the grass and caught spiders, beetles, caterpillars, and crickets. Faye told us if we tried this on a dry, sunny, fall day we would catch a more bugs and a larger variety.

Next, she had the children get in pairs. The task was to fill an egg carton with signs of fall. The children found Asters, a purple fall flower, as well as dried grass seedpods, white dogwood berries and dried Queen Ann’s Lace. After finding some items in the grasslands, we moved into the next habitat, the woods. Faye took us down her “secret” path. By the time we got back to a main path, the children’s egg cartons were filled with acorns, hickory nuts, colorful leaves, and mushrooms.

At the end of the tour, Faye challenged the children to spend 1 minute in silence, listening to the woods. As you know, we are a very talkative group, so this was a real challenge but true to form, the children met the challenge and we had a magical moment of peace amongst the trees. As always, Faye has awoken us to the natural world around us.