February 28, 2011

    Happy March birthdays to our teachers and friends:  Carter on 3/1, Miss Krystina on 3/15, Kaela on 3/16 and Ava on 3/24!!!!!  Happy birthday friends!!!

       Green Eggs and Ham Day – Wednesday, March 2nd

Wednesday is Dr. Seuss’ Birthday and Read-Across-America Day.  We shall celebrate in our traditional way of inviting you and your friends to come to the school for the morning and read, read, read. Kids have the option to come in their pajamas, and bring blankets and pillows to snuggle up with a good book. [Please make sure kids bring a change of clothes for the regular afternoon activities].  We will also serve up a grand breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham.  We need parents to help with this in the morning.  If you are available to join us for this, please let Jane know at museumschooloffice@gmail.com 

We also need the following items to make sure everyone has enough to eat.  If you can help out with any of these, we’d greatly appreciate it: Eggs, Bacon, Ham, Veggie Bacon, Hash Browns, Muffins, Fruit, Veggies, Bagels, Cream Cheese, Juice, Plates, Utensils, Cups – NO SUGARY ITEMS PLEASE

     In language arts we are working on writing complete sentences in our journals.  I’ve been urging the students to speak in complete sentences as well.  Many times I’ll ask the children why they like a certain book or character and they will answer with the word “because”.  We will continue working on this both in speaking and writing.

   In math we will begin to work with money, pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.  We are also looking forward to working with addition.  I am certain that the students will do very well with both concepts.  We will work with ten frames, which are useful when counting up to 100.

      We are totally looking forward to our 100^th day of kindergarten.  Our 100^th day will be on Monday, March 7.  We will join forces with Ms Jayne Marie and the first grade students for a one hundred-full day of activities! 

       Please help us win an ice cream party by selling Opportunity tickets!  I am hoping that each kindergarten student sells 7 or more tickets.  Come on, let’s win this party and help our fabulous school!!!!!!

       A big thank you to Erin Pennell for donating the great boxes that we used for our Valentine day mailboxes.  Another big THANK YOU to our wonderful room moms, Susan Seiguer and Shanti Curto, for the fun and sweet activities that they created and brought for us to enjoy. The Godiva strawberries dipped in chocolate were yummy treats, the kindergarten students loved them!  Thank you Miss Michelle! 

       If  your child recited the poem “Our Flag” last Friday, they do not have a poem this week.

       Please make sure that you get started on the leprechaun trap!

       Have a great evening and I’ll see you tomorrow.

                    Ms. Diana

January 19, 2011

         Happy New Year Kindergarten Families!  I have missed all of my little friends!    We have quite an exciting year ahead of us.

         This week we will be learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his dreams for a better world.  We will write about our very own dreams for a better and brighter world.  Once these have been created and corrected I will post them in the classroom.  They should be ready for viewing by the following week.  The students will have a poem called Dance and Sing inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King for Friday, January 21.

         We will go to the Rare Hare Art Studio on Wednesday, January 26 to learn about the quirky artist, Louise Nevelson.  We will also create our own Nevelson box.  The cost of the fieldtrip is $10.00 per child.  We need drivers to transport students back and forth from school to the studio and back.  Due to the limited indoor space, which we have reserved for the children, parents are welcome to grab a cup of coffee at the local café and watch from the outdoor patio area of the studio.  Please turn in the signed permission slips and $10. BEFORE next Wednesday.

         Next week we will take a look at the lunar celebration of Chinese New Year.  We are going to practice eating with chopsticks, make beautiful lanterns, playful dragons and enjoy traditional Chinese stories.  I am asking that the students all wear red on February 3, the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebration. The Chinese view red as good luck and one can never have enough!

         Our 100^th day of school is approaching quickly and we have been talking about this special occasion since the very first day of school.  We are going to set up a 100 Museum in our classroom and we need your help.  I am asking that each student bring a collection of 100 things for our museum and that each student count out their own collections at home before bringing them to school.  The collections must contain 100 objects that are the same.  Students can bring 100 cotton balls, 100 beans, 100 pebbles, 100 foam flowers, 100 Legos, 100 pieces of pasta, etc… Students are invited to bring as many 100 collections as they can.  I would like to be able to use some of the items for a 100 Day crown that each student will create.  I understand that if a student brings 100 Pokemon cards or 100 Legos, these will not be used for our crowns but collections with stickers, cereal, pebbles, beads will be used. Please bring your collections in a plastic bag and get counting!  Let’s make this the best 100 Museum ever!  Students may begin to bring their collections now.

         Scholastic book order forms will go home today.  There are so many great books to choose from.  The Ready Readers are great for all emergent readers.  Please send in your book orders by Monday, January 31.

    Ms.         Diana

                                                October 4, 2010

       Happy October Kindergarten Families!  We have an exciting month filled with birthdays, Mr. Phil, our fearless leader 10/7, Aidin and Miss Ruby 10/13, Ms Diana 10/14 and Trey 10/17.  We also have a fun and educational trip planned for 10/21 to Bates Nut Farm and Pumpkin Patch.  The fire fighters are going to be talking to us about fire safety this month and we have a spook-tacular celebration planned for the end of the month!

       In math for the month of October the students will investigate and experiment with the shapes in their environments they relate to geometric models.  It is important for children to become familiar with the characteristics of geometric figures and use language that accurately describes those figures.  Visualizing, drawing and comparing shapes in various positions develops spatial sense.  Using both geometric shapes and everyday shapes to create patterns helps young children to see relationships, find connections, and learn how to make predictions.

       In this chapter children will explore common plane (2 dimensional) and solid (3-dimensional) figures, both as abstract shapes and in real life.  Children will predict what shape or real life object is likely to come next in patterns involving color, shape and size.  They will also transfer patterns from one form to another, such as transferring a color pattern to one using letters.  Ultimately, they will use what they have learned about patterns to make patterns of their own.

In reading and language arts our focus will be on the sound and the letter “Pp”.  We will continue with our phonemic awareness activities, oral blending and segmentation, rhyming words, and identification of sounds.  The poem this week is called Pumpkin, Pumpkin.

      The students are really stepping up to the poem challenge!  Thank you so much to all of the parents for your ongoing support.

      In social studies we are going to take a closer look at the most important type of community, our very own family.  I am asking that each student please bring in a family picture/pictures to class by Wednesday.  We are going to be describing what a family is and it would be nice to see and hear about all of ours.

      In Spanish we will be learning thematic vocabulary.  The following is a list of some words that we will be working on: la calabaza, pumpkin, la bruja, the witch, el fantasma, the ghost, el caramelo, the candy, la noche, the night, el murcielago, the bat.

       In science we will take a look at the life cycle of a pumpkin and we will be prepared for our exciting field trip on October 21.

       Enclosed is the permission slip for our trip.  Please sign and return to school with $7.50 (cash only please) by Friday, 10/8, if able to chaperone, please fill out the attached form as well.

       Our first Shining Star is Taj Curto!

               Have a great week!

                     Diana de la Peña

         Please bring your driver’s license and current insurance to the office if you plan to drive. 

          More information about this field trip will come soon.

September 26, 2010

Artist of the Month: Jackson Pollock

       Thanks to all the parents that attended the “Back To School” event.  I am looking forward to a wonderful and productive year with all of you!

       This week in language arts our focus will be the letter “Aa”.  We are working on the short vowel sound of the letter “Aa” that we hear in words like apple and astronaut.  We will be working on oral blending.  The goal of oral blending activities is to lead the children to understand that spoken words are made up of smaller units of sound.  Becoming aware of syllables and word parts is the first and step towards this end.

       In math this week our focus will be:

• Counting backward by ones
• Recognizing and understanding zero as a number for “none”
• Representing numbers with concrete objects
• Using one-to-one correspondence to count objects
• Recognizing and representing numbers with objects
• Finding ways to sort objects

       Last week the students were introduced to the artist Jackson Pollock and we began to create our own Pollock inspired art.  I have found a fun website for our young artists, JacksonPollock.org.  Here they can create in the same style that Jackson Pollock made popular but without the mess.  This site is especially great if you have an ipad.  Check it out!

       This week we will be doing all of the great apple activities mentioned in last week’s newsletter.  I will bring a variety of apples to school on Monday and look forward to enjoying them with my students.

       The Friday poetry recital was wonderful and I invite parents to join us for this great event.  The students recite their poems first thing on Friday mornings. It was great to see that our little friend Gage wanted to go on first this week!  Great job to all!

       I am in the process of a classroom volunteer schedule for parents to sign up.  Thanks for your patience.

       A big thank you to all of the dedicated and supportive parents that have found extra time to come in and help out.  We so appreciate you and all that you do.

       Many of you have said that your children are bringing home their unfinished lunches.  In an effort to encourage them to eat their lunch, in the afternoon we are giving snack to students that have eaten their entire lunch.  It was nice to see my little friends finishing up sandwiches and fruit before being given a snack.

Looking forward to another fun week,

Diana de la Peña

September 19, 2010

     This week was busy!  Thanks to all of the parents that have come in to help!  Thank you so much; your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time, patience and supplies!

     Friday was our first poetry recital and the kindergarten students did such a fabulous job.  They are so bright and eager to learn, I feel lucky to be here with them.  Thank you to all of the parents for the support at home in learning the poem.  We look forward to seeing you all again this Friday.

 I will send a homework packet home on Monday.  The packet will include skills and concepts that we have learned and worked on in the classroom.  Your child has until the following Monday to complete and turn in. The poetry book will also come home every Monday and should be returned each Friday.

     Next week we will focus on the sound of the letter “Bb”.  I will also begin to group the students into reading groups. We are doing many phonemic awareness activities, playing rhyming games and identifying the beginning, middle and ending sounds/words.

     In math I have been establishing daily routines through the use of the daily calendar.  We identify the day of the week, the month, the date, how many days we have been in school, and daily patterning on the calendar.  In addition, we have a daily weather-person who predicts the day’s weather.  Next week we are going to begin sorting activities.  The children will sort a variety of objects by size, shape and color.

     In science we are going to be learning about the lifecycle of an apple tree.  We will be working on making our own apple book, which we look forward to sharing with all of our families very soon.  The students are going to compare and contrast different varieties of apples and they will taste each type of apple to determine which is their favorite.  The students will learn to read a pictograph that we will create. Yummy!  This is going to be a great unit of study.

In social studies we are going to begin discussing communities and our roles in them.  We will begin with our family community and then move on to our school community.  We will explore the man that we call Johnny Appleseed and the contributions he made.

     I will post a volunteer schedule next week and look forward to seeing many of you in the classroom.

     I look forward to seeing all of you at the Back To School Night on Thursday, September 23 from 5:30-7:30.

     Have a great weekend!

     Diana de la Peña

   Next week I will begin to assess the students and place them in reading and math groups.  Please know that the groups are fluid and dynamic, changing constantly as children develop and master new skills.

   I will be sending home a sheet with your child’s name for homework practice.  Although every student is able to write their name I would like for them to write their name using an upper case letter only at the beginning and lower case for the remainder.  This will take some practice as lower case letters are challenging to form but they’ll be writing their name on each project and paper they are given in kindergarten. 

       Next week we‘re going to jump in to our curriculum beginning with math.  In math we will begin our new unit by studying patterns.  Patterns are found everywhere, our clothing, in nature, our homes. We will be creating our own patterns using the blocks that are provided in our math program.  The children have been introduced to the six shapes that we’ll use.  These shapes are: green triangle, orange square, blue rhombus, red trapezoid, tan rhombus and yellow hexagon.  Try to use math vocabulary whenever possible as this reinforces what is taught in the classroom.

       In reading and language arts we will begin by distinguishing and identifying beginning, middle and ending sounds.  We will also focus on the sound of the letter “Ll”. 

              Next week we will begin all of our enrichment classes and activities. Monday we’ll have sewing with Miss Krystina after morning recess. In the afternoon following lunch we have art with Ms Julie. On Thursday, Rachel Keener will teach us tap.  If your child has tap shoes please bring them to school and encourage your child to store them inside their cubby.  If your child does not have tap shoes we have loaners that we would be happy to lend out or they can be purchased inexpensively at Payless.  Wednesday and Friday we have gamelan with Miss Andrea and Mr. Alex Khalil.  Also on Fridays, Miss Wuri will teach our young dancers Indonesian dancing,  Every Friday we will meet up with our second grade book buddies.  Our book buddies read to us, help us with special projects and even watch out for the younger students on the playground and at school.

       The Poetry Books are in your child’s folder today.  The students should memorize the poem for Friday and be ready to recite it.  Please return the Poetry Book every Friday so that we can add the new poem.

       Thank you for being so supportive and I wish you all a relaxing weekend!

Diana

What to Expect in Your Child’s

      Kindergarten Classroom

      Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to teach your child during this very crucial kindergarten year!  I know that you, as parents, could have chosen other classes, schools and teachers but you have chosen the Museum School.  For this I am honored and thankful.  Together we will have a wonderful year full of growth and fun.  You will see your child develop new skills and bloom before your eyes!

Discipline

       I truly believe that each and every child has the right to learn and grow in a classroom that provides a safe, warm, nurturing environment.  In order to accomplish this I use a positive approach in my discipline program.  I give each child the opportunity to shine and succeed many times throughout the day and when he or she does, positive praise, Ms. De la Pena dollars, points and special privileges reward them. 

       In addition, I use a color-coded system that allows for the parents to see, each night how their child behaved in school during the day.  

       On the first day of kindergarten the children and I will discuss the rules of our kindergarten classroom, or as I like to call them, the keys to our classroom.

       These are the rules that each child must follow while in school; they are the keys to the classroom. Raise your hand to participate, use kind words, share, put things away, be a good listener, follow directions and have fun.

     When a child chooses not to follow the rules he or she is given a friendly warning.  If the behavior continues the child will be asked to move his or her clip from green to yellow.  If the child chooses to continue the negative behavior he or she will move their clip to red.  When negative behavior persists the child is then asked to move the clip to blue.  Please take a look at the card your child receives each day.  If it is any other color but green, read the back of the card, sign it and have your child return it to school the following day.  Upon returning the card, I will speak with your child and he or she will return their clip to the color green.

       Please make sure that your child places his/her green cards in a special place where they will not be lost.  Once your child has saved up 20 green cards they are entitled to a trip to the treasure chest!  This is always great fun and the children love it!

       Green Card-great day!

       Yellow Card- child was warned (more than once) and behavior continued.

Red Card- child was asked to sit out and think about ways to change behavior.

Blue Card-phone call to parents.

Homework

       Homework will be given weekly and it will be a packet.  The homework is an extension of what we have learned in the classroom during the week.  I will give the homework packet out on Monday and it should be returned the following Monday.  If your child is spending more that 10-15 minutes a night on homework please let me know and I will modify the assignments.

Poetry

   Each child will have a poetry book and every Monday we will study a new poem, which will be pasted inside.  Your child will be asked to memorize the poem and present it in front of the class on Friday.  Encourage your child to use an expressive voice. 

       The poetry book must be returned to school on Friday and there you will find how he or she did on the presentation of the week’s poem.

Homework Folders

       In addition to the poetry book your child will receive a homework folder that must be returned every single day to class.  Corrected papers, notes form the teacher and school and homework will be placed inside.  Remember, if your child does not bring the folder I cannot place a GREEN card inside.

Mystery Tub

       The Mystery Tub is a fun activity for the students and your child will bring home the Mystery Tub many times during the school year.

            You and your child will place an object inside the tub and try to think of three clues describing the object (don’t make it too simple).  The clues can be written down or you can draw pictures to make it easier for child to remember the clues.  Practice the clues with your child the night before or on the way to school.  He/She is going to be responsible for giving the clues in front of the class until someone can guess what might be in the Mystery Tub.  I would like for your children to give the clues, it’s no fun when I have to read the clues.

Peanut Butter Bear

       Peanut Butter Bear is our classroom mascot and every week a new student will have the opportunity to take him home for an entire week.  Along with Peanut Butter Bear you will find his travel journal and some simple instructions.  I encourage you to take pictures and place them in the journal; the children love to see what PB Bear was up to. 

Shining Star

       The Shining Star is also chosen randomly on a weekly basis.  This is a chance for the students and I to get to know each other and to show off a little.  You will receive a short outline and will be asked to make a poster featuring your son or daughter.  Please limit your poster size since we do have limited space on the walls of the classroom. 

Fieldtrips

       We take various fieldtrips during the school year depending on the theme we are studying.  Parent volunteers are always needed to accompany us and/or to drive.  Please bring your drivers license and proof of insurance to school and I will make a copy for our files if you are planning on driving.

              Please limit your cell phone use during the fieldtrips.  The children are our main priority and using the phone can be a distraction.  In the past issues have arisen when special items are purchased for one group of children and not another.  It simply is not fair for the children and I ask that you do not purchase treats during fieldtrips unless you plan on treating the entire class.

Parent Volunteer Hours

       There will be a Parent Volunteer box in the classroom with various projects that any parent can take home and complete.  Included in this box will be projects that need to be done at school.  All parents are encouraged to consider taking on these projects.  They consist of cutting, stapling and assembling small books and art projects that are needed in the classroom.  There will also be copying on the Xerox machine.  I truly appreciate this!

Volunteer Jobs in the Classroom

       Parent involvement is a vital part in the success of our kindergarten classroom.  Please consider participating in any way you can.  Here are some ways that you can make a big difference.

Scholastic Book Orders______________________

Field Trip Drivers__________________________

Classroom Volunteers______________________

Friday Folders___________________________

Organizing Classroom Library_________________

Room Mother___________________________

       Please feel free to stop by the classroom before or after school if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.  You can also e-mail me at museumschooldiana@.gmail.com or diana.delapena@cox.net

       So, sit back, sign up, strap in and enjoy the year!

                          Diana de la Peña