Dear Families:
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I want to first thank you for the opportunity to have taught your beautiful children. They are an amazing group of kids who are so ready for First Grade (so don't worry!) They brought such joy to me each and every day. I cannot believe ten months went by so fast. It seems like yesterday when we all first met. I am really going to miss them so much.
I also want to thank you for all the support you have given to me during the school year. You are a great group of parents who I always knew that I could call on for any number of things. Whenever the Kindergarten classes went on school trips, I always knew that I would have a huge number of my parents to come with us. I always had more parents than any other class. Whenever we needed school supplies, all I had to do was ask...the supplies were in the classroom the next day. This made my job so much easier. Thank you.
I want to thank you also for the beautiful plant and the very generous gift that I received on Friday. I meant it when I said that teaching your children was a gift enough. Yet, I do want to thank you so much. Again...it was over the top.
I want to thank my class parents, Keith's mom, Roshi's mom and Lily's mom, for all the coodination they did throughout the year. I know how difficult that job is. Thank you on behalf of myself and the class.
Well...our time is coming to an end and it is always at this time of the year when I get very sad and emotional. Yet, I have all the great pictures and now the wonderful video that Beth Benson made for our class so you and your children will never be far from my thoughts.
As many of you know, I will not be teaching Kindergarten next year. I am moving on to Second Grade. Hopefully, I will have some of my wonderful children again in a couple of years.
Have a wonderful restful and happy summer. If you ever need to speak to me, my door is always open. See you around the neighborhood.
Fondly,
Ms. Grahsm
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
THANK YOU
Dear Parents:
I want to thank you for coming to today's Spring Celebration. The children did an amazing job with their poems and songs. I really loved it and hope that you did as well. They were the cutiest Sunflowers that I have ever seen.
I know that you also will be happy reading your children's poems in the P.S. 154's Poetry Extravaganza Book of Poetry which will be going home today in your child's backpack. The kids in K-207 picked out their favorite poem to get published in this book and the poems are really adorable. Our own books of poetry are on the bulletin board outside our classroom. When I was putting the poems in the book, I could not believe how many poems they had written. The poems the children recited today were poems from our Shared Reading for the several weeks before the celebration. They love reciting them. Copies of the poems are now in their Shared Reading notebooks. Have the children recite them to you again while they point to each word. It is amazing how well they are reading.
The children just loved writing their poems. The writing unit of study on Poetry teaches children to explore, and savor language, valuing voice and repetition, sounds and onomatopoeia (even if they never heard any of these terms before). The children in Class K-207 learned to read and write with an ear, appreciating and revising the pace and rhythm of words, and they learned to care not only about their topics, but also about how they write about those topics. Poetry can teach children to deliberately craft their language, trying things on the page on purpose, hoping to create special effects.
Poetry can also encourage young children to see the world with fresh eyes. They write what the see. Children can learn to see with their hearts, to show their feelings by pretending and imagining with language. The children in Class K-207 learned to have fun with words…to be daredevils and gymnasts with language.
For any parent who was not able to come to the spring celebration, please take time to look at their book of poems on display outside our classroom.
Thank you to for all the snacks and supplies that we have received. The Children were so happy to see so many of you today. Also...thank you for all your support. I know that on any occasion I could call any number of you to come by and help me. You are a great group of parents! I will miss you next year.
Fondly,
Mrs. Graham
PS: Kindergarten Graduation - June 23rd in the MultiMedia Room.... More to follow!
I want to thank you for coming to today's Spring Celebration. The children did an amazing job with their poems and songs. I really loved it and hope that you did as well. They were the cutiest Sunflowers that I have ever seen.
I know that you also will be happy reading your children's poems in the P.S. 154's Poetry Extravaganza Book of Poetry which will be going home today in your child's backpack. The kids in K-207 picked out their favorite poem to get published in this book and the poems are really adorable. Our own books of poetry are on the bulletin board outside our classroom. When I was putting the poems in the book, I could not believe how many poems they had written. The poems the children recited today were poems from our Shared Reading for the several weeks before the celebration. They love reciting them. Copies of the poems are now in their Shared Reading notebooks. Have the children recite them to you again while they point to each word. It is amazing how well they are reading.
The children just loved writing their poems. The writing unit of study on Poetry teaches children to explore, and savor language, valuing voice and repetition, sounds and onomatopoeia (even if they never heard any of these terms before). The children in Class K-207 learned to read and write with an ear, appreciating and revising the pace and rhythm of words, and they learned to care not only about their topics, but also about how they write about those topics. Poetry can teach children to deliberately craft their language, trying things on the page on purpose, hoping to create special effects.
Poetry can also encourage young children to see the world with fresh eyes. They write what the see. Children can learn to see with their hearts, to show their feelings by pretending and imagining with language. The children in Class K-207 learned to have fun with words…to be daredevils and gymnasts with language.
For any parent who was not able to come to the spring celebration, please take time to look at their book of poems on display outside our classroom.
Thank you to for all the snacks and supplies that we have received. The Children were so happy to see so many of you today. Also...thank you for all your support. I know that on any occasion I could call any number of you to come by and help me. You are a great group of parents! I will miss you next year.
Fondly,
Mrs. Graham
PS: Kindergarten Graduation - June 23rd in the MultiMedia Room.... More to follow!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
SPRING CELEBRATION
Dear Parents:
PLEASE JOIN CLASS K-207 FOR A SPRING CELEBRATION. THIS IS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS BUT WILL BE FUN. WE WILL BE PERFORMING SOME OF OUR FAVORITE SPRING POEMS AND SONGS.
BRING YOUR CAMERAS!!!
WHEN: Friday, June 4, 2010
TIME: 9:00 A.M.
WHERE: CLASS K-207
*Too many wonderful things going on in Class K-207 – not enough time in the day!!!!
Love,
Ms. Graham and the Children of Class K-207
PLEASE JOIN CLASS K-207 FOR A SPRING CELEBRATION. THIS IS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS BUT WILL BE FUN. WE WILL BE PERFORMING SOME OF OUR FAVORITE SPRING POEMS AND SONGS.
BRING YOUR CAMERAS!!!
WHEN: Friday, June 4, 2010
TIME: 9:00 A.M.
WHERE: CLASS K-207
*Too many wonderful things going on in Class K-207 – not enough time in the day!!!!
Love,
Ms. Graham and the Children of Class K-207
Monday, May 3, 2010
WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?
Dear K-207 Families,
I AM SORRY THAT I HAVE NOT WRITTEN IN A WHILE...I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW FAST TIME GOES. I AM ALSO IN A LITTLE BIT OF DENIAL THAT YOUR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN WILL BE LEAVING ME AND MOVING TO FIRST GRADE! WHILE THAT THOUGHT MAKES ME A LITTLE SAD, I AM HAPPY TO SAY THAT EACH ONE OF THEM IS READY!
IMPORTANT!
I would appreciate it very much if you would send in as soon as possible a favorite family recipe. (You could also send in a few if you wish!) I would like to have these recipes before Wednesday of this week. It would be great if the recipes could be typed on white paper but not necessary. I would like you to change the title of the recipe to include your child’s first name. The titles could be made up – for example… “LILY’S LUSIOUS LEMON PIE”. I know this is a last minute notice, so I understand if you cannot do this. (“Always something, Mrs. Graham!”) If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with me.
NEXT IMPORTANT NOTICES!
Save the date! Our class’ graduation is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23rd from 9am-11am. More information is included below.
Please note Parents as Enrichment Partners this month takes place on Friday, May 14th for the entire school. I am trying to get together a little poem presentation for that day. I will keep you posted
• K207, K203 and K109 graduation is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23rd. Due to the large size of this year’s Kindergarten, we will be holding 2 separate graduation ceremonies. K207’s graduation will be held in the Multimedia Room on Wednesday, June 23rd from 9-11am. Teachers and class parents are collaborating on the planning.
Teachers have decided on colors for each class. Our class color is red. The class color helps create somewhat of a uniform appearance during the ceremony, and helps set a casual tone. Please keep in mind that some children will be coming back to the classroom after the ceremony for the second half of the school day and should be dressed appropriately for school (i.e. paint, clay, playground, etc.) You can, of course, take your child out for their special day. I know that many parents love to take their children to lunch with the family. Please let me know what you decide.
That said, K-207 kids are welcome to wear a red t-shirt or shirt, along with neutral or red bottoms—or a red dress. Alternatively, if you had something else in mind that you wanted your child to wear—in other words, something not red--you might want to incorporate a touch of red just so they feel a part of the color theme. For example red socks or hair barrettes, a red pin, or something else with a red pattern even, could be a fun addition to an otherwise non-red ensemble. Please understand that by no means do we intend for families to make a special clothing purchase for this ceremony.
• We are pleased that one of the grandfathers in Ms. Kissen’s class (K-203), Miles' Grandfather Michael, the Playground Builder, will visit all the Kindergarten classes this Wednesday, May 5th. We are grateful to Miles’ grandfather Michael for driving out to PS 154 all the way from his home in Pennsylvania to show the children images from many of the playgrounds he was involved in building. He’ll also be on hand to continue to answer their many wonderings about playgrounds. Thanks to Miles’ family and for Ms. Kissen for helping to make this happen!
• Interested in joining K-207 this Thursday 5/6 at 9:30 for our weekly walk to the Vanderbilt playground?
Class K-207 has been having a ball watching the progress of the building of Vanderbuilt Playground. We have been making weekly visits (for a total of 5 so far) and have been keeping a journal on the progress. We have talked to a variety of architects, engineers and playground builders. We have met with the designer and interviewed her several times about the progress. When this playground opens in the summer, the children in Class K-207 will be so invested in this playground that they will believe this playground belongs only to them. We have been especially interested in the huge Spider Web from Germany. It is almost completed and the children are so excited that they intend to try to build a large one in our classroom. We will need a lot of supplies to accomplish this huge task. If anyone has large styrofoam balls just hanging around or red rope or the paper towel rolls (we need many of these), please send them in ASAP. If you would like to help us build, please let me know.
• K-207 would love to plant in our classroom!
I would love to have a few parents take the lead with helping K-207 make a class garden! This will be in addition to the garden that we are taking part in the schoolyard. The K teachers have decided on a theme for our plot: A spaghetti garden! I would like to get seedlings and begin the process in the classroom. Let me know if you’d like to volunteer to help the kids’ plant!
• Reminder: Paper Bag Players trip is this Friday 5/7
If you have not yet done so, please remember to sign and return the permission slip for the Paper Bag Players trip on May 7th. I will let you know tomorrow what parents will be coming on the trip.
• Reminder: Kindergarten Author Visit with Nina Crews scheduled for Thursday, May 13th
Local author, Nina Crews, returns to PS 154 to meet with the kindergarten classes! (She visited last year’s kindergarten also.) Over the next several weeks we’ll be reading from her books The Neighborhood Mother Goose and Below. She’ll be doing a presentation on her illustrating and writing process and the children will have the opportunity to ask her questions.
• Reminder: K-207 visits Prospect Park Imagination Playground with our Fourth Grade Buddies on Wednesday, May 19th at 9:30
We are scheduled to take a school bus over to Prospect Park’s Imagination Playground located at Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Road with our Fourth Grade Buddies. We will be leaving school at 9:30 am and will return to school before lunch at 11:10. I welcome parent and/or caregiver volunteers for this trip. If you are interested in joining us, email me, or send me a note in your child’s homework folder.
• Seeking Recycled Materials & Other Materials for Playground Constructions
As I stated earlier, Class K-207 is interested in making a large spider web for our classroom. In addition, some children may be interested in creating other playground equipment. I’d like to start collecting materials now. I’ll be collecting the following: empty cracker boxes/cereal boxes/ & other boxes of a variety of sizes, paper towel rolls, cleaned plastic & tin take-out containers, cleaned plastic yogurt containers and other similar containers of different sizes; felt & other fabric swatches; cotton balls; gardening wire (that is easily bendable by kindergarteners), cardboard; foamcore (hard posterboard); electrical tape in a variety of colors; modeling clay/Fimo, cardstock and other materials that easily lend themselves to 3-dimensional construction. If there are other materials you have on hand that you may wish to donate, simply contact me. Other items on my wish list include a couple of masking tape dispensers and an additional hot glue gun for the classroom. Once we begin this construction process, stay tuned as they’re will be plenty of opportunities for parents to help with the construction process in the classroom.
• Seeking assistance doing general classroom work afterschool
I can use some general classroom help after school. There is work to be done organizing books, cutting cardboard, prepping materials, and more. If you have as little at 20 minutes, after school one day, please let me know.
• Mark your calendars:
- Wednesday, May 5th: Playground Designer visits all K classes.
- Thursday, May 6th: Walk to Vanderbilt in the morning!
- Friday, May 7th: Kindergarten trip to see the Paper Bag Players
- Thursday, May 13th: Kindergarten Author visit with Nina Crews
- Friday, May 14th: Parents as Enrichment Partners 8:50 –9:20am
- Wednesday, May 19th: class trip to the Imagination Playground in Prospect Park with our 4th Grade Buddies.
- Monday, May 31st: Memorial Day, school closed
- Wednesday, June 23rd: 9am-11am, Kindergarten graduation with classes K207, K203 and K109.
- Monday, June 28th: Last Day of School
Thank you for your support! You are a wonderful group of Parents and I have enjoyed working with you this year SO MUCH.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
I AM SORRY THAT I HAVE NOT WRITTEN IN A WHILE...I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW FAST TIME GOES. I AM ALSO IN A LITTLE BIT OF DENIAL THAT YOUR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN WILL BE LEAVING ME AND MOVING TO FIRST GRADE! WHILE THAT THOUGHT MAKES ME A LITTLE SAD, I AM HAPPY TO SAY THAT EACH ONE OF THEM IS READY!
IMPORTANT!
I would appreciate it very much if you would send in as soon as possible a favorite family recipe. (You could also send in a few if you wish!) I would like to have these recipes before Wednesday of this week. It would be great if the recipes could be typed on white paper but not necessary. I would like you to change the title of the recipe to include your child’s first name. The titles could be made up – for example… “LILY’S LUSIOUS LEMON PIE”. I know this is a last minute notice, so I understand if you cannot do this. (“Always something, Mrs. Graham!”) If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with me.
NEXT IMPORTANT NOTICES!
Save the date! Our class’ graduation is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23rd from 9am-11am. More information is included below.
Please note Parents as Enrichment Partners this month takes place on Friday, May 14th for the entire school. I am trying to get together a little poem presentation for that day. I will keep you posted
• K207, K203 and K109 graduation is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23rd. Due to the large size of this year’s Kindergarten, we will be holding 2 separate graduation ceremonies. K207’s graduation will be held in the Multimedia Room on Wednesday, June 23rd from 9-11am. Teachers and class parents are collaborating on the planning.
Teachers have decided on colors for each class. Our class color is red. The class color helps create somewhat of a uniform appearance during the ceremony, and helps set a casual tone. Please keep in mind that some children will be coming back to the classroom after the ceremony for the second half of the school day and should be dressed appropriately for school (i.e. paint, clay, playground, etc.) You can, of course, take your child out for their special day. I know that many parents love to take their children to lunch with the family. Please let me know what you decide.
That said, K-207 kids are welcome to wear a red t-shirt or shirt, along with neutral or red bottoms—or a red dress. Alternatively, if you had something else in mind that you wanted your child to wear—in other words, something not red--you might want to incorporate a touch of red just so they feel a part of the color theme. For example red socks or hair barrettes, a red pin, or something else with a red pattern even, could be a fun addition to an otherwise non-red ensemble. Please understand that by no means do we intend for families to make a special clothing purchase for this ceremony.
• We are pleased that one of the grandfathers in Ms. Kissen’s class (K-203), Miles' Grandfather Michael, the Playground Builder, will visit all the Kindergarten classes this Wednesday, May 5th. We are grateful to Miles’ grandfather Michael for driving out to PS 154 all the way from his home in Pennsylvania to show the children images from many of the playgrounds he was involved in building. He’ll also be on hand to continue to answer their many wonderings about playgrounds. Thanks to Miles’ family and for Ms. Kissen for helping to make this happen!
• Interested in joining K-207 this Thursday 5/6 at 9:30 for our weekly walk to the Vanderbilt playground?
Class K-207 has been having a ball watching the progress of the building of Vanderbuilt Playground. We have been making weekly visits (for a total of 5 so far) and have been keeping a journal on the progress. We have talked to a variety of architects, engineers and playground builders. We have met with the designer and interviewed her several times about the progress. When this playground opens in the summer, the children in Class K-207 will be so invested in this playground that they will believe this playground belongs only to them. We have been especially interested in the huge Spider Web from Germany. It is almost completed and the children are so excited that they intend to try to build a large one in our classroom. We will need a lot of supplies to accomplish this huge task. If anyone has large styrofoam balls just hanging around or red rope or the paper towel rolls (we need many of these), please send them in ASAP. If you would like to help us build, please let me know.
• K-207 would love to plant in our classroom!
I would love to have a few parents take the lead with helping K-207 make a class garden! This will be in addition to the garden that we are taking part in the schoolyard. The K teachers have decided on a theme for our plot: A spaghetti garden! I would like to get seedlings and begin the process in the classroom. Let me know if you’d like to volunteer to help the kids’ plant!
• Reminder: Paper Bag Players trip is this Friday 5/7
If you have not yet done so, please remember to sign and return the permission slip for the Paper Bag Players trip on May 7th. I will let you know tomorrow what parents will be coming on the trip.
• Reminder: Kindergarten Author Visit with Nina Crews scheduled for Thursday, May 13th
Local author, Nina Crews, returns to PS 154 to meet with the kindergarten classes! (She visited last year’s kindergarten also.) Over the next several weeks we’ll be reading from her books The Neighborhood Mother Goose and Below. She’ll be doing a presentation on her illustrating and writing process and the children will have the opportunity to ask her questions.
• Reminder: K-207 visits Prospect Park Imagination Playground with our Fourth Grade Buddies on Wednesday, May 19th at 9:30
We are scheduled to take a school bus over to Prospect Park’s Imagination Playground located at Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Road with our Fourth Grade Buddies. We will be leaving school at 9:30 am and will return to school before lunch at 11:10. I welcome parent and/or caregiver volunteers for this trip. If you are interested in joining us, email me, or send me a note in your child’s homework folder.
• Seeking Recycled Materials & Other Materials for Playground Constructions
As I stated earlier, Class K-207 is interested in making a large spider web for our classroom. In addition, some children may be interested in creating other playground equipment. I’d like to start collecting materials now. I’ll be collecting the following: empty cracker boxes/cereal boxes/ & other boxes of a variety of sizes, paper towel rolls, cleaned plastic & tin take-out containers, cleaned plastic yogurt containers and other similar containers of different sizes; felt & other fabric swatches; cotton balls; gardening wire (that is easily bendable by kindergarteners), cardboard; foamcore (hard posterboard); electrical tape in a variety of colors; modeling clay/Fimo, cardstock and other materials that easily lend themselves to 3-dimensional construction. If there are other materials you have on hand that you may wish to donate, simply contact me. Other items on my wish list include a couple of masking tape dispensers and an additional hot glue gun for the classroom. Once we begin this construction process, stay tuned as they’re will be plenty of opportunities for parents to help with the construction process in the classroom.
• Seeking assistance doing general classroom work afterschool
I can use some general classroom help after school. There is work to be done organizing books, cutting cardboard, prepping materials, and more. If you have as little at 20 minutes, after school one day, please let me know.
• Mark your calendars:
- Wednesday, May 5th: Playground Designer visits all K classes.
- Thursday, May 6th: Walk to Vanderbilt in the morning!
- Friday, May 7th: Kindergarten trip to see the Paper Bag Players
- Thursday, May 13th: Kindergarten Author visit with Nina Crews
- Friday, May 14th: Parents as Enrichment Partners 8:50 –9:20am
- Wednesday, May 19th: class trip to the Imagination Playground in Prospect Park with our 4th Grade Buddies.
- Monday, May 31st: Memorial Day, school closed
- Wednesday, June 23rd: 9am-11am, Kindergarten graduation with classes K207, K203 and K109.
- Monday, June 28th: Last Day of School
Thank you for your support! You are a wonderful group of Parents and I have enjoyed working with you this year SO MUCH.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Happy Spring Break!
Dear Families,
Happy beginning of the Spring Vacation Week!!! As you can see, I am thinking about the children and miss them already....and it’s only been ONE day!
I am sorry that I have not written in quite some time. Where does the time go? My son, Brendan, who is a Freshman at Tulane advised me that I haven’t been on the blog for a long time. I was surprised to learn that he is keeping up with me and Class K-207 by looking at the blog every now and then - even from college. WOW!
You may not believe this but I have been actively getting ready - sadly - for the end of school and the graduation of your beautiful children from Kindergarten and the stepping up to First Grade. Believe me they are ready!!! I am so sad because I would love to keep them all in Kindergarten forever! I will soon be in touch with my Class Parents and would appreciate any help and input that my families can give to us. Our Kindergarten graduations have always been so special and seem to get better every year. It is certainly not too early to start. Believe me....time goes by very very quickly.
A couple of notes....we are in the midsts of our new unit of study in Social Studies this month. We started investigating Playgrounds! The Kindergarten teachers are working extensively with a staff developer, Renee Dinnerstein, on using the Reggio Emilia approach to investigate new topics. We will continue to collaborate with her over the next few months.
As part of our study, the children will be visiting playgrounds, interviewing contractors, looking at blue prints of playgrounds, and designing our own maps and blue prints of playgrounds. The children will be encouraged to ask questions and think creatively throughout this study. We launched this study on Friday by visiting the wonderful playground at the Liberty Science Museum. Thank you to all my parents who volunteered to come on the trip with us. I had TEN parent volunteers who came with us. They were so helpful and really worked hard on keeping on eye on all the children who were running around, climbing and going down large slides. The children loved the “science” playground....We had sole use of the playground for a period of time and the children loved investigating the NEW things they saw at the playground. When we returned to class, the children drew and wrote in their science notebooks what they saw in the playground that “surprised” them. They are doing wonderful scientific investigations and are making very involved observations.
Some ideas we have for this unit are for the children to design their own playgrounds, visit various playgrounds in the neighborhood, and even create a family “playground memory journal.” Please remember your favorite memory of a playground experience and send in any pictures that you may have of yourself at the playground. We will be sending the journal home for you to write in. The children will love to hear all about your experiences as a child. We are also going to be comparing photographs of playgrounds and looking at playground catalogues. We will be actively using the Smartboard in the classroom to think and design our very own playground. Please let us know if you have any photographs or pictures from magazines or the internet of playgrounds. If anyone is or knows any landscapers or architects who could come into the Kindergarten classes to discuss how playgrounds are built, please let us know!
We will also be keeping a journal on the making of the new Vanderbuilt Playground and will be visiting the site weekly to observe and report on the progress of the work. If anyone has any suggestions or contacts with this project, it will be very appreciated. If you would like to take your children to view the site over the vacation period - and maybe take some pictures that we can look at on our return - that would be a great beginning.
To give you a heads up....on April 9th - the first Friday after the Spring Break - K 207, together with the other Kindergarten classes, will be visiting the Brooklyn Children’s Museum to participate in an animal exploration and museum exploration. Thank you to Sandy, Matthew Smith’s mom, for helping to arrange this great trip for us. The permission slip was given out on Friday in your child’s backpack.
We are still in need of large glue sticks, crayons, black felt pens.
Thank you all for your support.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Happy beginning of the Spring Vacation Week!!! As you can see, I am thinking about the children and miss them already....and it’s only been ONE day!
I am sorry that I have not written in quite some time. Where does the time go? My son, Brendan, who is a Freshman at Tulane advised me that I haven’t been on the blog for a long time. I was surprised to learn that he is keeping up with me and Class K-207 by looking at the blog every now and then - even from college. WOW!
You may not believe this but I have been actively getting ready - sadly - for the end of school and the graduation of your beautiful children from Kindergarten and the stepping up to First Grade. Believe me they are ready!!! I am so sad because I would love to keep them all in Kindergarten forever! I will soon be in touch with my Class Parents and would appreciate any help and input that my families can give to us. Our Kindergarten graduations have always been so special and seem to get better every year. It is certainly not too early to start. Believe me....time goes by very very quickly.
A couple of notes....we are in the midsts of our new unit of study in Social Studies this month. We started investigating Playgrounds! The Kindergarten teachers are working extensively with a staff developer, Renee Dinnerstein, on using the Reggio Emilia approach to investigate new topics. We will continue to collaborate with her over the next few months.
As part of our study, the children will be visiting playgrounds, interviewing contractors, looking at blue prints of playgrounds, and designing our own maps and blue prints of playgrounds. The children will be encouraged to ask questions and think creatively throughout this study. We launched this study on Friday by visiting the wonderful playground at the Liberty Science Museum. Thank you to all my parents who volunteered to come on the trip with us. I had TEN parent volunteers who came with us. They were so helpful and really worked hard on keeping on eye on all the children who were running around, climbing and going down large slides. The children loved the “science” playground....We had sole use of the playground for a period of time and the children loved investigating the NEW things they saw at the playground. When we returned to class, the children drew and wrote in their science notebooks what they saw in the playground that “surprised” them. They are doing wonderful scientific investigations and are making very involved observations.
Some ideas we have for this unit are for the children to design their own playgrounds, visit various playgrounds in the neighborhood, and even create a family “playground memory journal.” Please remember your favorite memory of a playground experience and send in any pictures that you may have of yourself at the playground. We will be sending the journal home for you to write in. The children will love to hear all about your experiences as a child. We are also going to be comparing photographs of playgrounds and looking at playground catalogues. We will be actively using the Smartboard in the classroom to think and design our very own playground. Please let us know if you have any photographs or pictures from magazines or the internet of playgrounds. If anyone is or knows any landscapers or architects who could come into the Kindergarten classes to discuss how playgrounds are built, please let us know!
We will also be keeping a journal on the making of the new Vanderbuilt Playground and will be visiting the site weekly to observe and report on the progress of the work. If anyone has any suggestions or contacts with this project, it will be very appreciated. If you would like to take your children to view the site over the vacation period - and maybe take some pictures that we can look at on our return - that would be a great beginning.
To give you a heads up....on April 9th - the first Friday after the Spring Break - K 207, together with the other Kindergarten classes, will be visiting the Brooklyn Children’s Museum to participate in an animal exploration and museum exploration. Thank you to Sandy, Matthew Smith’s mom, for helping to arrange this great trip for us. The permission slip was given out on Friday in your child’s backpack.
We are still in need of large glue sticks, crayons, black felt pens.
Thank you all for your support.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Publishing Party - March 5th
Dear Parents:
For those of you who did not get the invitation in your child's backpack please see the invitation below:
PUBLISHING PARTY
CLASS K-207 HAS COMPLETED THEIR WRITING UNIT ON
“How To Books”
PLEASE JOIN US FOR A CELEBRATION OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENT. WE WILL BE READING OUR FINAL PIECES TOMORROW MORNING AT PARENT AS LEARNING PARTNERS
WHEN: FRIDAY, March 5, 2010
TIME: 8:40 A.M.
WHERE: CLASS K-207
Also here are a few updates and requests:
The Chinatown trip has been rescheduled for Friday, March 12th. We will be leaving the school at 10 a.m. (LET'S HOPE IT DOESN'T SNOW, SLEET OR RAIN THIS TIME!!!!)
The Pizza Party has not yet been rescheduled! We will keep you informed.
We will be making butter on St. Patrick's Day with our 4th grade buddies. We will be in need of glass jelly jars. Please do not throw them away after you finish with the jelly. For that day our class is responsible for very SMALL bagels. We would appreciate any assistance that you can provide us with obtaining these bagels. (PS: The butter will be GREEEN!!!!) This activity will happen on March 17th at 10:20 if you would like to come by.
I am in need of large glue sticks and black flair pens. We also need crayons, markers and colored pencils.
We have enough snacks in our classroom to last us a while. I will let you know when we will need more. Of course, we still LOVE Fruity Friday.
Thank you for all your help.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
For those of you who did not get the invitation in your child's backpack please see the invitation below:
PUBLISHING PARTY
CLASS K-207 HAS COMPLETED THEIR WRITING UNIT ON
“How To Books”
PLEASE JOIN US FOR A CELEBRATION OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENT. WE WILL BE READING OUR FINAL PIECES TOMORROW MORNING AT PARENT AS LEARNING PARTNERS
WHEN: FRIDAY, March 5, 2010
TIME: 8:40 A.M.
WHERE: CLASS K-207
Also here are a few updates and requests:
The Chinatown trip has been rescheduled for Friday, March 12th. We will be leaving the school at 10 a.m. (LET'S HOPE IT DOESN'T SNOW, SLEET OR RAIN THIS TIME!!!!)
The Pizza Party has not yet been rescheduled! We will keep you informed.
We will be making butter on St. Patrick's Day with our 4th grade buddies. We will be in need of glass jelly jars. Please do not throw them away after you finish with the jelly. For that day our class is responsible for very SMALL bagels. We would appreciate any assistance that you can provide us with obtaining these bagels. (PS: The butter will be GREEEN!!!!) This activity will happen on March 17th at 10:20 if you would like to come by.
I am in need of large glue sticks and black flair pens. We also need crayons, markers and colored pencils.
We have enough snacks in our classroom to last us a while. I will let you know when we will need more. Of course, we still LOVE Fruity Friday.
Thank you for all your help.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Thursday, February 25, 2010
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
DEAR PARENTS:
BAD NEWS!!!! THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS ARE SADDENED THAT OUR ANNUAL TRIP TO CHINATOWN SUNSET PARK, TOMORROW - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 WILL BE POSTPONED DUE TO THE BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS. WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MAY CANCEL ALL TRIPS AND BUSES BUT WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TELL US UNTIL 6 P.M. TONIGHT OR EARLY TOMORROW MORNING. THE RESTAURANT – PACIFICANA – ADVISED US THAT THEY WOULD NEED TO KNOW WHETHER WE WOULD BE COMING TO THE RESTAURANT BY EARLY AFTERNOON BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE TO STAFF THE RESTAURANT. IF WE WERE NOT ABLE TO MAKE IT TOMORROW, WE WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYMENT. WE WOULD RATHER BE SAFE THAN SORRY SO WE HAVE DECIDED TO POSTONE THE TRIP AND WILL RESCEDULE AT A LATER DATE.
IN ANY EVENT, IF WE DID GO TOMORROW, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE OUR WALKING TOUR OF THE CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD BECAUSE OF THE SNOW AND WOULD BE MISSING OUT ON A LOT OF INTERESTING SEA CREATURES – TURTLES, CRABS, ETC. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THE KINDERGARTENERS LOVE TO DO.
WE HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND AND WILL LET YOU KNOW THE NEW DATE AS SOON AS WE RESCHEDULE. ANYWAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR - 4707 – YEAR OF THE TIGER! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.
FONDLY,
MS. GRAHAM
PS: I AM GOING TO TRY TO RESCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 12TH. OUR PARENT HELPERS FOR CLASS K-207 WILL BE:
ANTONIO'S MOM
QUINN'S MOM
EMERSON'S MOM
KEITH'S MOM
LILY'S MOM
MATTHEW SMITH'S DAD OR MOM
ROSHI'S DAD
SIMONE'S DAD
DAVION'S MOM
PSS: ALSO I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE DID NOT HAVE OUR PIZZA PARTY TODAY EITHER!!! THIS WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT MS. MILLEDGE AND I COULD NOT GET THE MULTI-MEDIA ROOM. THE CHILDREN KNEW THIS YESTERDAY BUT I GUESS DID NOT TELL SOME OF THEIR PARENTS. SORRY! THIS PARTY WILL ALSO BE RE-SCHEDULED IN MARCH.
BAD NEWS!!!! THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS ARE SADDENED THAT OUR ANNUAL TRIP TO CHINATOWN SUNSET PARK, TOMORROW - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 WILL BE POSTPONED DUE TO THE BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS. WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MAY CANCEL ALL TRIPS AND BUSES BUT WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TELL US UNTIL 6 P.M. TONIGHT OR EARLY TOMORROW MORNING. THE RESTAURANT – PACIFICANA – ADVISED US THAT THEY WOULD NEED TO KNOW WHETHER WE WOULD BE COMING TO THE RESTAURANT BY EARLY AFTERNOON BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE TO STAFF THE RESTAURANT. IF WE WERE NOT ABLE TO MAKE IT TOMORROW, WE WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYMENT. WE WOULD RATHER BE SAFE THAN SORRY SO WE HAVE DECIDED TO POSTONE THE TRIP AND WILL RESCEDULE AT A LATER DATE.
IN ANY EVENT, IF WE DID GO TOMORROW, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE OUR WALKING TOUR OF THE CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD BECAUSE OF THE SNOW AND WOULD BE MISSING OUT ON A LOT OF INTERESTING SEA CREATURES – TURTLES, CRABS, ETC. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THE KINDERGARTENERS LOVE TO DO.
WE HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND AND WILL LET YOU KNOW THE NEW DATE AS SOON AS WE RESCHEDULE. ANYWAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR - 4707 – YEAR OF THE TIGER! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.
FONDLY,
MS. GRAHAM
PS: I AM GOING TO TRY TO RESCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 12TH. OUR PARENT HELPERS FOR CLASS K-207 WILL BE:
ANTONIO'S MOM
QUINN'S MOM
EMERSON'S MOM
KEITH'S MOM
LILY'S MOM
MATTHEW SMITH'S DAD OR MOM
ROSHI'S DAD
SIMONE'S DAD
DAVION'S MOM
PSS: ALSO I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE DID NOT HAVE OUR PIZZA PARTY TODAY EITHER!!! THIS WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT MS. MILLEDGE AND I COULD NOT GET THE MULTI-MEDIA ROOM. THE CHILDREN KNEW THIS YESTERDAY BUT I GUESS DID NOT TELL SOME OF THEIR PARENTS. SORRY! THIS PARTY WILL ALSO BE RE-SCHEDULED IN MARCH.
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