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.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!!!!!
Dear Parents:
I am sorry that it has taken so long for me to post on my blog but I could not get into the blog for a few days and had to figure out what was going on.... Anyway, when things work, it is wonderful but when things break down....boy... it is extremely frustrating. I am happy to be up and running again. So.... Happy Chinese New Year....Happy 100 Days of School....Happy Valentine's Day and I hope that you all had a Happy Vacation Week!!!! I have missed all your children and cannot wait to see them on Monday.
Before we left on vacation, I told the children that the day that we come back from our vacation - Monday - is the 100th day of school. Well….actually…. if we did not have a snow day… it would have been. SO MONDAY IS NOT THE 100th DAY OF SCHOOL BUT IS THE 99th DAY OF SCHOOL. THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL IS ON TUESDAY. So that will be the day when we will celebrate our 100th day!!!! As I have originally told you, we will celebrate the 100th day with a PAJAMA PARTY. So the children will be allowed to wear their most comfortable pajamas to school on Tuesday. We will celebrate by reading many of our sleepy time books. It will be a fun day with a lot of fun activities. I cannot believe that it has been almost 100 days. Do you believe it? Your children are doing amazing work and have matured so much these last 98 days. As a teacher...it makes me so happy to see all of them love school and enjoy every subject and to be reading and writing and doing difficult math problems everyday. The children in Class K-207 will certainly be ready for the rigors of 1st Grade. We have been doing a lot of work on our math curriculum getting ready for the 100th day. We made links with construction paper and the children figured out that it would take ten links to get to 100 if each link was 10. The links are inside the classroom for all to see. We also worked on the question - How many hands does it take to get to 100? The children of Class K-207 painted their hands and grouped by 5's (fingers) to find the answer. Do you know how many group of 5's make 100? Come look at the painted hands on the wall outside our classroom. We also read the book - Emily's First 100 Days of School by Rosemary Wells and learned the song - 100 Bottles of POP on the Wall. Our shared reading is a poem this week is entitled 100 days and it is to the tune of Ten Little Indians. We looked at some the 100 objects that your children brought into class and counted them by 5's and 10's. We will continue doing this next week so….if you haven’t brought in the 100 objects, you still have time to do this next week. We are going to be looking at our straws on Monday. We will notice that they are grouped by 9 tens and 9 ones and that on Tuesday - our big day - our straws will be grouped as 1 one hundred - 0 tens - and 0 ones. Very exciting stuff!!!
I would like to remind you that the Kindergarten Classes will be going on a walking tour of CHINATOWN SUNSET PARK on Friday, February 26, 2010 and will be having lunch at Pacificana Restaurant, located at 813 55th Street, Brooklyn, NY. We will be having an authentic Chinese lunch and will be seeing the Lion Dance. The children will be leaving the school around 9:40 a.m. and will walk around the Chinatown neighborhood – if the weather is appropriate - where we will see many live creatures – turtles, crabs, etc. Lunch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. This is the Year of the Tiger - 4707. Have a healthy appetite. The food is very good. Even though we were supposed to only bring 5 parents, I have included additional parents to come along - since they have not been on trips with the class before. I will let you know who the lucky parents are next week. As parent helpers, this goes without saying, that we need to watch all the children in the class and not just our own. Thank you in advance.
Here is an overview of what your child is learning this month.
Reading Workshop: This is a new unit of study where the children are story detectives. They are noticing and defining patterns in their texts and using these patterns to help them read their books.
Writing Workshop: This is also a new unit called How-To Books. How-To Books are types of procedural writing. Each of your children will be a teacher this month and into the next month! It empowers the children to get them to think about what they know how to do really well. I have had a mix of How-To's so far. They are all hilarious. Please have a conversation with your child about all of the things that he or she knows how to do, make or play! It is important that you child be able to teach us how to do or make something step-by-step.
Bed Time Stories: Our Winnie-the-Pooh study has been a great success so far! Pooh has met a lot of new friends. The children are so excited about this unit.
Word Study: We are learning so many sight words. The children have received a list of the word walls and will need to know these words both in their reading and writing processes. Ask them about the Word Wall Fairy who visits our class sometimes!
Shared Reading: We are reading Big Books and the children are getting familiar with all the sight words and patterns. It is really exciting.
Social Studies: We finished our Beautiful Stuff unit. Our Beautiful Stuff self portraits are currently on the bulletin board outside our classroom. Please stop by and take a look….They are amazing. We will be starting our Playground study with our staff developer, Rene Dinnerstein, in early March. It goes without saying that Class K-207 is very excited about this new unit!
Math: We are skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. We are playing addition Top It with our classroom playing cards, playing Math Bingo and are working on not-so-easy math word problems. We are very busy in math!!!
That is all for now. As always, if you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Check out this great literacy website: www.starfall.com. The children love it.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
PS: Also on Thursday, February 25th, Class K-207, together with our Class Buddies, Class 4-304 (Ms. Milledge's Class), will celebrate our winning of the Penny Harvest with a Pizza Party in the Multi-Media Room. The Time of the party will be at 2:10. I will be decorating the room during my prep at 1:20. If anyone would like to come and help out, that would be great. The school is supplying the pizza for our classes. The parents in Ms. Milledge's class will be supplying the plates, etc. I am requesting our parents supply the drinks. If anyone could supply a bottle of juice, etc. on Thursday afternoon, it would be greatly appreciated by me and Ms. Milledge. Thank you in advance.
I am sorry that it has taken so long for me to post on my blog but I could not get into the blog for a few days and had to figure out what was going on.... Anyway, when things work, it is wonderful but when things break down....boy... it is extremely frustrating. I am happy to be up and running again. So.... Happy Chinese New Year....Happy 100 Days of School....Happy Valentine's Day and I hope that you all had a Happy Vacation Week!!!! I have missed all your children and cannot wait to see them on Monday.
Before we left on vacation, I told the children that the day that we come back from our vacation - Monday - is the 100th day of school. Well….actually…. if we did not have a snow day… it would have been. SO MONDAY IS NOT THE 100th DAY OF SCHOOL BUT IS THE 99th DAY OF SCHOOL. THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL IS ON TUESDAY. So that will be the day when we will celebrate our 100th day!!!! As I have originally told you, we will celebrate the 100th day with a PAJAMA PARTY. So the children will be allowed to wear their most comfortable pajamas to school on Tuesday. We will celebrate by reading many of our sleepy time books. It will be a fun day with a lot of fun activities. I cannot believe that it has been almost 100 days. Do you believe it? Your children are doing amazing work and have matured so much these last 98 days. As a teacher...it makes me so happy to see all of them love school and enjoy every subject and to be reading and writing and doing difficult math problems everyday. The children in Class K-207 will certainly be ready for the rigors of 1st Grade. We have been doing a lot of work on our math curriculum getting ready for the 100th day. We made links with construction paper and the children figured out that it would take ten links to get to 100 if each link was 10. The links are inside the classroom for all to see. We also worked on the question - How many hands does it take to get to 100? The children of Class K-207 painted their hands and grouped by 5's (fingers) to find the answer. Do you know how many group of 5's make 100? Come look at the painted hands on the wall outside our classroom. We also read the book - Emily's First 100 Days of School by Rosemary Wells and learned the song - 100 Bottles of POP on the Wall. Our shared reading is a poem this week is entitled 100 days and it is to the tune of Ten Little Indians. We looked at some the 100 objects that your children brought into class and counted them by 5's and 10's. We will continue doing this next week so….if you haven’t brought in the 100 objects, you still have time to do this next week. We are going to be looking at our straws on Monday. We will notice that they are grouped by 9 tens and 9 ones and that on Tuesday - our big day - our straws will be grouped as 1 one hundred - 0 tens - and 0 ones. Very exciting stuff!!!
I would like to remind you that the Kindergarten Classes will be going on a walking tour of CHINATOWN SUNSET PARK on Friday, February 26, 2010 and will be having lunch at Pacificana Restaurant, located at 813 55th Street, Brooklyn, NY. We will be having an authentic Chinese lunch and will be seeing the Lion Dance. The children will be leaving the school around 9:40 a.m. and will walk around the Chinatown neighborhood – if the weather is appropriate - where we will see many live creatures – turtles, crabs, etc. Lunch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. This is the Year of the Tiger - 4707. Have a healthy appetite. The food is very good. Even though we were supposed to only bring 5 parents, I have included additional parents to come along - since they have not been on trips with the class before. I will let you know who the lucky parents are next week. As parent helpers, this goes without saying, that we need to watch all the children in the class and not just our own. Thank you in advance.
Here is an overview of what your child is learning this month.
Reading Workshop: This is a new unit of study where the children are story detectives. They are noticing and defining patterns in their texts and using these patterns to help them read their books.
Writing Workshop: This is also a new unit called How-To Books. How-To Books are types of procedural writing. Each of your children will be a teacher this month and into the next month! It empowers the children to get them to think about what they know how to do really well. I have had a mix of How-To's so far. They are all hilarious. Please have a conversation with your child about all of the things that he or she knows how to do, make or play! It is important that you child be able to teach us how to do or make something step-by-step.
Bed Time Stories: Our Winnie-the-Pooh study has been a great success so far! Pooh has met a lot of new friends. The children are so excited about this unit.
Word Study: We are learning so many sight words. The children have received a list of the word walls and will need to know these words both in their reading and writing processes. Ask them about the Word Wall Fairy who visits our class sometimes!
Shared Reading: We are reading Big Books and the children are getting familiar with all the sight words and patterns. It is really exciting.
Social Studies: We finished our Beautiful Stuff unit. Our Beautiful Stuff self portraits are currently on the bulletin board outside our classroom. Please stop by and take a look….They are amazing. We will be starting our Playground study with our staff developer, Rene Dinnerstein, in early March. It goes without saying that Class K-207 is very excited about this new unit!
Math: We are skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. We are playing addition Top It with our classroom playing cards, playing Math Bingo and are working on not-so-easy math word problems. We are very busy in math!!!
That is all for now. As always, if you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Check out this great literacy website: www.starfall.com. The children love it.
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
PS: Also on Thursday, February 25th, Class K-207, together with our Class Buddies, Class 4-304 (Ms. Milledge's Class), will celebrate our winning of the Penny Harvest with a Pizza Party in the Multi-Media Room. The Time of the party will be at 2:10. I will be decorating the room during my prep at 1:20. If anyone would like to come and help out, that would be great. The school is supplying the pizza for our classes. The parents in Ms. Milledge's class will be supplying the plates, etc. I am requesting our parents supply the drinks. If anyone could supply a bottle of juice, etc. on Thursday afternoon, it would be greatly appreciated by me and Ms. Milledge. Thank you in advance.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
BEAUTIFUL STUFF
Dear Families:
I am so excited to announce that our "Beautiful Stuff" self-portraits are up in the hallway for all to see. The children did an amazing job in portraying themselves with odd materials. I am so impressed.
To a young child, the world is full of materials to touch, discover and explore. To find, collect, sort, and use materials is to embark on a special kind of adventure. For adults, gathering materials means rediscovering the richness and beauty in natural, unexpected, and recyclable objects that are all around us, but not often noticed.
One way to rediscover our own creative impulses is to see possibilities in materials. Children possess a natural openness to the potential of materials. When adults become aware of this process, they find ways to watch and listen to children. Children and adults become collaborators as they discover, collect, sort, arrange, experiment, create, construct, and think with materials. The goal is to allow children to become fluent with materials – as if materials were a language.
K-207 enjoyed learning with our “Beautiful Stuff” and created these wonderful self portraits. Please stop by and take a look. We would love to share our Art with all of you. Enjoy!
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
I am so excited to announce that our "Beautiful Stuff" self-portraits are up in the hallway for all to see. The children did an amazing job in portraying themselves with odd materials. I am so impressed.
To a young child, the world is full of materials to touch, discover and explore. To find, collect, sort, and use materials is to embark on a special kind of adventure. For adults, gathering materials means rediscovering the richness and beauty in natural, unexpected, and recyclable objects that are all around us, but not often noticed.
One way to rediscover our own creative impulses is to see possibilities in materials. Children possess a natural openness to the potential of materials. When adults become aware of this process, they find ways to watch and listen to children. Children and adults become collaborators as they discover, collect, sort, arrange, experiment, create, construct, and think with materials. The goal is to allow children to become fluent with materials – as if materials were a language.
K-207 enjoyed learning with our “Beautiful Stuff” and created these wonderful self portraits. Please stop by and take a look. We would love to share our Art with all of you. Enjoy!
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Do you believe February is almost here!!!
Dear Parents:
Happy END of January. February is an important month in K-207. We have Valentine's Day, the 100th Day of School, Chinese New Year, Trips, Birthdays, A WEEK OFF.... The list goes on and on. How are we going to get all our learning in? I will be writing more about our February activities in the coming days.
I would like everyone in the class to know that we have a new student. His name is Davion Mumper. He is an absolutely lovely boy who comes to us from Manhattan. He quickly became a part of K-207 and it is as if he has always been with us. The children have embraced him warmly. He is a great addition to K-207. Please say hello to him and introduce yourself to his mom and baby brother who drop him off in the morning.
Also... I am sure that everyone knows that Sasha is back from Russia after spending a month there. December went by quickly. It is as if she never left. She also brought back with her a new baby brother. Everyone is so happy that she has returned to the class - especially Antonio.
I would appreciate it very much if you would send in a SMALL baby photo of your child by February 1st. I would like to be able to cut the photo so I do not want one that has sentimental value to you. It will be placed on the outside door of my room with the caption “Can you guess the Valentine Sweetheart?” At the end of the month, I will post the names of the children underneath the picture. It will be a lot of fun for the second floor to figure out who is who!!!. I told Roshi that everyone will know it is her if her baby picture has her beautiful red hair! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with me.
I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY...SO....I am also planning to have a small Valentine's Day party on Friday, February 12th in the classroom. It will be at 2 p.m. I hope families can make it. It is the Friday before the long week off.
The 100th Day of School falls on the First Monday we return from vacation. I am up in the air about whether to keep our celebration on that day or have it on Tuesday. That is the day that I promised the children that they can wear pajamas to school and have a leisurely day of reading and playing. I will let you know my decision soon.
The Winnie the Pooh project is well underway. I pick the names randomly from a hat - a boy hat ... then a girl hat. The children know that they all will have a chance to take Winnie home and to be patient. Antonio was lucky number one and Lily was lucky number two. I would appreciate it very much if on Thursday before Winnie is returned to school on Friday that you give Winnie a bath in the washing machine to make sure that he is clean for the next child. I am very concerned about lice so I think that this is an important measure. The children really look forward to this activity and I hope that you all get a chance to make the easy recipes in the back of the notebook.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
* FRIDAY, February 5th - Trip to see the Lollipops Orchestra. Stay tuned for mroe information and a permission slip! Parent volunteers are welcome!
* FRIDAY, February 12th - Valentine's Day party at 2:00 p.m.
* MONDAY, February 15th - FRIDAY, February 19th - School is closed for the Mid-Winter Recess.
* MONDAY, February 22nd - 100th day of school. More later!
* FRIDAY, February 26th - Save the Date! The Kindergarten Classes will be going on a trip to Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Own Chinatown, to celebrate Lunar New Year. Will will be having lunch at Pacificana Restaurant on 55th Street. Information and a permission slip is going home today. Parent volunteers will be welcome.
THANK YOU TO ALL THE PARENTS WHO ARE BRINGING IN THE SNACKS, FRUIT AND THE EXTRA SUPPLIES WE SO DESPERATELY NEED. YOU ARE THE GREATEST.
FONDLY,
Ms. Graham
Happy END of January. February is an important month in K-207. We have Valentine's Day, the 100th Day of School, Chinese New Year, Trips, Birthdays, A WEEK OFF.... The list goes on and on. How are we going to get all our learning in? I will be writing more about our February activities in the coming days.
I would like everyone in the class to know that we have a new student. His name is Davion Mumper. He is an absolutely lovely boy who comes to us from Manhattan. He quickly became a part of K-207 and it is as if he has always been with us. The children have embraced him warmly. He is a great addition to K-207. Please say hello to him and introduce yourself to his mom and baby brother who drop him off in the morning.
Also... I am sure that everyone knows that Sasha is back from Russia after spending a month there. December went by quickly. It is as if she never left. She also brought back with her a new baby brother. Everyone is so happy that she has returned to the class - especially Antonio.
I would appreciate it very much if you would send in a SMALL baby photo of your child by February 1st. I would like to be able to cut the photo so I do not want one that has sentimental value to you. It will be placed on the outside door of my room with the caption “Can you guess the Valentine Sweetheart?” At the end of the month, I will post the names of the children underneath the picture. It will be a lot of fun for the second floor to figure out who is who!!!. I told Roshi that everyone will know it is her if her baby picture has her beautiful red hair! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with me.
I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY...SO....I am also planning to have a small Valentine's Day party on Friday, February 12th in the classroom. It will be at 2 p.m. I hope families can make it. It is the Friday before the long week off.
The 100th Day of School falls on the First Monday we return from vacation. I am up in the air about whether to keep our celebration on that day or have it on Tuesday. That is the day that I promised the children that they can wear pajamas to school and have a leisurely day of reading and playing. I will let you know my decision soon.
The Winnie the Pooh project is well underway. I pick the names randomly from a hat - a boy hat ... then a girl hat. The children know that they all will have a chance to take Winnie home and to be patient. Antonio was lucky number one and Lily was lucky number two. I would appreciate it very much if on Thursday before Winnie is returned to school on Friday that you give Winnie a bath in the washing machine to make sure that he is clean for the next child. I am very concerned about lice so I think that this is an important measure. The children really look forward to this activity and I hope that you all get a chance to make the easy recipes in the back of the notebook.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
* FRIDAY, February 5th - Trip to see the Lollipops Orchestra. Stay tuned for mroe information and a permission slip! Parent volunteers are welcome!
* FRIDAY, February 12th - Valentine's Day party at 2:00 p.m.
* MONDAY, February 15th - FRIDAY, February 19th - School is closed for the Mid-Winter Recess.
* MONDAY, February 22nd - 100th day of school. More later!
* FRIDAY, February 26th - Save the Date! The Kindergarten Classes will be going on a trip to Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Own Chinatown, to celebrate Lunar New Year. Will will be having lunch at Pacificana Restaurant on 55th Street. Information and a permission slip is going home today. Parent volunteers will be welcome.
THANK YOU TO ALL THE PARENTS WHO ARE BRINGING IN THE SNACKS, FRUIT AND THE EXTRA SUPPLIES WE SO DESPERATELY NEED. YOU ARE THE GREATEST.
FONDLY,
Ms. Graham
Thursday, January 7, 2010
WINNIE-THE-POOH and PARENT AS ENRICHMENT PARTNERS
Dear Families:
Please join Class K-207 in launching our new Winnie-the-Pooh study unit tomorrow morning - January 8th - during Parent as Enrichment Partners at 8:45 a.m. We will launch our study by reading Winnie-the-Pooh books with the children. I have many copies of various Winnie-the-Pooh books in the classroom. Yet, if you have a favorite one that you and your child would like to read, please bring it along. There's no formal presentation....just reading with the kids. The children are excited about this new unit - as all the Kindergarten teachers are.
Each week, I will randomly pick a child’s name from a hat and that child will bring Winnie and the Winnie journal home for the entire week – getting Winnie on Friday and returning him and the Journal the following Friday. I am in the process of getting the Journal ready and hopefully Winnie will be coming home to someone’s house next Friday. Please take care of Winnie. He will be part of your family for the week!
Hope to see all of you here tomorrow at Parent as Enrichment Partners!
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Please join Class K-207 in launching our new Winnie-the-Pooh study unit tomorrow morning - January 8th - during Parent as Enrichment Partners at 8:45 a.m. We will launch our study by reading Winnie-the-Pooh books with the children. I have many copies of various Winnie-the-Pooh books in the classroom. Yet, if you have a favorite one that you and your child would like to read, please bring it along. There's no formal presentation....just reading with the kids. The children are excited about this new unit - as all the Kindergarten teachers are.
Each week, I will randomly pick a child’s name from a hat and that child will bring Winnie and the Winnie journal home for the entire week – getting Winnie on Friday and returning him and the Journal the following Friday. I am in the process of getting the Journal ready and hopefully Winnie will be coming home to someone’s house next Friday. Please take care of Winnie. He will be part of your family for the week!
Hope to see all of you here tomorrow at Parent as Enrichment Partners!
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 AND WINNIE-THE-POOH STUDY
Dear Families:
Happy New Year!!! I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the WONDERFUL and GENEROUS class gifts that I received. You all were overly generous and I thank you so much. Teaching your wonderful children is a gift enough!!!!
I am excited to announce that Class K-207 will be beginning a new fun unit in our classroom. We are calling it "Winnie-the-Pooh's Journey." I have spoken to the children today about this study. Boy….were they excited! We all know Winnie-the-Pooh as a strong childhood image - a sort of iconic figure when we were younger. Children love Winnie and friends and they seem so excited to be incorporating Winnie-the-Pooh into our Kindergarten class.
For this study, we have a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh and have made a Winnie Journal. The journal consists of: a map of Winnie's home, the Winnie-the-Pooh directions, the history of Winnie-the-Pooh, pictures of Winnie & friends, Winnie-the-Pooh recipes and more. More importantly, there are pages for the children to write about their Winnie-the-Pooh experience or "adventure." Each week, a different child will take home Winnie-the-Pooh. They will include Winnie in their activities and will treat Winnie with kindness and respect. During this week, your children will write in their journal about their time with Pooh. The culmination of this project will occur in the Spring - where we all go to Prospect Park to find Winnie's home in the Hundred Acre Woods and have a class picnic. I bet you did not know that Winnie lives in our own Prospect Park!!!
This segment will help children learn the concept of friendship and how important it is to share experiences with one another. This will be a way to teach them about responsibilities. With an adult's help, they will learn to be a little more responsible by caring for Winnie.
During our read-aloud in the classroom, we will be reading the classic children's story - Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne. The world was introduced to this portly little bear in 1926. Along with his young friend, Christopher Robin, Pooh delighted readers from the very beginning. His often befuddled perceptions and adorable insights won the hearts of everyone around him, including his close group of friends. From the energetic Tigger to the dismal Eeyoor, A. A. Milne created a charming bunch both inspirational and entertaining. These simple creatures often reflected a small piece of all of us: humble, silly, wise, cautious, creative, and full of life. I know that your children will be delighted with Pooh's adventures as we were when we were children.
I am asking that the parents keep an eye on Winnie. The purpose of this assignment is really to have fun. I certainly do not want to add any extra burden on you. The children in past years just loved this assignment and really looked so forward to the day when they could take Winnie home. I pick the names of the children from a hat each week - so it is pretty random. Every child will have the opportunity to take Winnie for one week. Winnie will be given them on Friday and MUST be returned the following Friday! It is important that Winnie is returned on time because the next child really looks forward to his/her week. On the Friday that Winnie is returned, the children share their adventures at Morning Meeting - reading their journal entries and looking at the pictures you take of them and Winnie and Pooh.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to me. Thank you again for all your support!
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
Happy New Year!!! I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the WONDERFUL and GENEROUS class gifts that I received. You all were overly generous and I thank you so much. Teaching your wonderful children is a gift enough!!!!
I am excited to announce that Class K-207 will be beginning a new fun unit in our classroom. We are calling it "Winnie-the-Pooh's Journey." I have spoken to the children today about this study. Boy….were they excited! We all know Winnie-the-Pooh as a strong childhood image - a sort of iconic figure when we were younger. Children love Winnie and friends and they seem so excited to be incorporating Winnie-the-Pooh into our Kindergarten class.
For this study, we have a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh and have made a Winnie Journal. The journal consists of: a map of Winnie's home, the Winnie-the-Pooh directions, the history of Winnie-the-Pooh, pictures of Winnie & friends, Winnie-the-Pooh recipes and more. More importantly, there are pages for the children to write about their Winnie-the-Pooh experience or "adventure." Each week, a different child will take home Winnie-the-Pooh. They will include Winnie in their activities and will treat Winnie with kindness and respect. During this week, your children will write in their journal about their time with Pooh. The culmination of this project will occur in the Spring - where we all go to Prospect Park to find Winnie's home in the Hundred Acre Woods and have a class picnic. I bet you did not know that Winnie lives in our own Prospect Park!!!
This segment will help children learn the concept of friendship and how important it is to share experiences with one another. This will be a way to teach them about responsibilities. With an adult's help, they will learn to be a little more responsible by caring for Winnie.
During our read-aloud in the classroom, we will be reading the classic children's story - Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne. The world was introduced to this portly little bear in 1926. Along with his young friend, Christopher Robin, Pooh delighted readers from the very beginning. His often befuddled perceptions and adorable insights won the hearts of everyone around him, including his close group of friends. From the energetic Tigger to the dismal Eeyoor, A. A. Milne created a charming bunch both inspirational and entertaining. These simple creatures often reflected a small piece of all of us: humble, silly, wise, cautious, creative, and full of life. I know that your children will be delighted with Pooh's adventures as we were when we were children.
I am asking that the parents keep an eye on Winnie. The purpose of this assignment is really to have fun. I certainly do not want to add any extra burden on you. The children in past years just loved this assignment and really looked so forward to the day when they could take Winnie home. I pick the names of the children from a hat each week - so it is pretty random. Every child will have the opportunity to take Winnie for one week. Winnie will be given them on Friday and MUST be returned the following Friday! It is important that Winnie is returned on time because the next child really looks forward to his/her week. On the Friday that Winnie is returned, the children share their adventures at Morning Meeting - reading their journal entries and looking at the pictures you take of them and Winnie and Pooh.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to me. Thank you again for all your support!
Fondly,
Ms. Graham
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