Catch up!

     We have been working hard in Literacy Centers to develop stronger hands for writing and writing our names. Some of us are working on tracing, while others are working on practicing writing their first and last name. We have used dry erase markers on white boards, paper and markers, and writing our name with our fingers in rice and sand. To develop stronger muscles in our hands, we've manipulated play-doh, moon sand, and clay. We have also practiced moving things from one place to another using tweezers. During free art, scissors and glue have been used a lot since they appeared in our art caddies.
     During Math Workshop, the children have been working on positional words (above, below, beside, between, etc.), sorting, and patterns. Some of us are working on AB patterns (red, blue, red, blue) while others are working on making patterns with shapes. We have a sorting center that has been very popular during "free math." The children can sort by size, color, or shape. This is usually worked on by two to three people at a time. I love listening to them socialize as they figure out which piece goes in what area of the sorting tray.
     In Science Exploration, the children have been busy discovering magnets. They have been taking the magnet wand around the classroom and figuring out what is magnetic and what isn't. Tomorrow, I will send home a sandwich sized baggy with each child. Over the weekend, see if you can help your child find five or so things that may or may not be magnetic that will fit in the bag. We will get our baggies out during science next week and do some experiments. The baggies will come back home with the items that you send in. Your child may bring them in Monday or Wednesday.

     Conferences have been coming quick(Tuesday, November 6th)! We spent some time this week preparing for them. Please check the Conference Schedule and double check your child's conference time. If you are running late, please call the school (540-563-5036) so I have a heads up. Because of our back to back schedule, we will need to reschedule if you are more than 10 minutes late. Thank you for understanding!

Fall Fun

     Since Fall Festival, everything has been about apples, pumpkins, and everything Fall. The children have listened to Pumpkin Town by Katie McKy, Picking Apples & Pumpkins by Amy & Richard Hutchings, and Albert's Fieldtrip by Leslie Tryon. We've been using these stories to reflect on our own Fall Festival trips. We had a few minutes before heading off to music class yesterday, so we made "thank you pictures" for Carvins Cove and Jeter Farm.  The children drew pictures of their favorite part of each trip. If your child didn't attend our FF, he/she drew a picture of their favorite thing about their trip. The bubbles were popular at Carvins Cove while the slides were the favorite at Jeter Farm. We will stuff them in an envelope and mail them to each place.

 

     In Math Workshop yesterday, we played with different shapes and positional words (above, below, etc). In the midst of playing with shape magnets, the children got very interested in magnets. The discussion quickly turned into what things are magnetic and what things aren't. Each of the children predicted if something they picked out would "stick" to our magnet wand or not. We had fun finding metal objects around the classroom. 

     Today during Literacy, we reflected one more time on our FF trips and did a journal page. We had drama this morning after fruit break recess and the children got to put on costumes and get into character once again. I heard we had several pirates, cowgirls, race car drivers, and lizards. Be sure to ask your child what they dressed up as.

     Later this morning, we had Science Discovery. I put out several different sensory activities on the tables that the children rotated through. We used moon sand, water beads, and magnets. 

     Thank you to Lila and her mom for baking us an apple cake that we each enjoyed during fruit break this morning. If your child didn't eat all of the fruit break you packed, that's why! :) YUM. Next week in class, we will be making applesauce from scratch.Have I mentioned how much I love Fall?!? 

Remember all of the chatter about Bake Sale during Gatherings? If you checked Quick Notes this week, you know the first Bake Sale was today! If you'd like to, you can just send in a couple dollars for your child to use over the course of the next several weeks(Bake Sales are every Wednesday), I have a special place where the children keep their money. They can just go grab their $0.50 when needed. I'll let you know when it's time to refill their stash. 

Check out our Facebook group for some added photos. 

Catch Up and Fall Festival

     While I have a few minutes to break away from Fall Festival preparations, I'll update you on the highlights of this week!

Monday morning, we were joined by "Doc" and "Grammy." Rose's grandparents were in town visiting from California and stopped in to read us a story. Doc read Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins.

     

Thank you so very much for squeezing time for us into your visit! 

     Today, we had another special treat. Katrina, a middle school teacher at CS, kicked off our very first Math Workshop. She first read Apples, A to Z by Margaret McNamara. In this book, each letter has something to do with apples (C is for Cider, etc.). The children then did a taste test of 3 different types of apples: red delicious, honey crisp, and granny smith. We then did a chart to see which apple was the favorite. Honey crisp was the tie breaker.

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     The children are so excited about Fall Festival! We will leave promptly tomorrow morning, so please be here on time. If you are needed to come to CS to pick up a child that will ride with you, a blue note is taped on your child's folder. Please take note of the following chart. If you're child is listed to meet at Community School and travel with us, they are either riding with someone else or you as the parent are driving children in addition to your own. If your child is under the list to meet us at the field trip location, you're only driving your child and we'll see you there around 9:30am! If your child is riding with someone other than you, I must have their labeled car seat left at school during morning drop off. 

     If you have ANY questions, please don't hesitate to email me. I will check my email this evening and in the morning before school. If I don't reply, I didn't get it!

Wednesday

       The past few school days have flown by. I guess that's what you get when your fish fly. We've been lead through morning meeting this week by Hayes. Over the past few days, we've read a number of books during morning meeting. Holly has came in and read How are you Peeling? by Saxton Fraymann and Joost Elffers and Piggies by Don and Audrey Wood.

     

     I have continued to work on assessing the children when I have help in the classroom. I have Hollins University student employees who work in our room three days a week. Their names are Denise, Marissa, and Erika. If you hear about them, they work in our room to either help me (copying, cutting, laminating, etc.) or do activities with the children. Currently, they're helping me out by playing with or reading to the children while I work one-on-one with them to complete assessments. I am hoping to have them all finished up by early next week. We will begin adapting our daily "schedule" more closely next week, although we have Fall Festival. 

     The children have familiarized themselves with the things in the classroom and language used in the classroom (clear bins, floor toys, and free art for example). Here is the answer to the hint I posted in our Facebook group last week. We're exploring Water Beads. They start out in tiny little baggies. Once submerged in water, they look like this after about 5 minutes:

After about 5 hours, they look like this:

     We've been watching them grow and today they were put in our sensory table. A couple of the kids tried them out after lunch. Some words they used to describe them were: wet, slimy, squishy, cold, and bouncy. We took a couple out and dropped them on the floor to see what would happen - they certainly bounce! We'll sit a couple out and let the air dry them out and watch them shrink back down. 

 

     Please make sure you're visiting the school Calendar, Quick Notes, and our Facebook page often. Several of you were surprised about not having school Monday and picture day today. Please utilize all of the tools available to you so you're up to date on what's going on. 

This week, we've been lead through morning meeting by Wilson. Our class "jobs" have officially started, so you may hear about being the "light switcher" or "scrap master." We have read several new books about fish, and have completed several projects. Our fish made from CDs are hanging in our window along with the project inspired by this book:

     We learned about six different types of fish in this book, and created out own. They are also hanging in our windows. Please come by and check them out when you get a chance! Each child created their own fish and described what kind of food the fish eats, where it lives, and what it likes to do. 

     We've also completed two journal pages this week. The first one is prompted: "What I like best about school is..." while the second one was inspired by this book:

     In this story, there is a minnow and a tadpole. When the tadpole grows up, he goes out and explores the world and tells the minnow all about it. The minnow would like to give exploring a try, but quickly discovers "fish is fish" and that the water is where he belongs. We then pretended to be fish and went on an adventure of our own. We then did a journal page that followed the prompt: "If I were a fish going on a journey, I'd discover..."

We've also already had music, drama, and Spanish so far this week. The children will have an opportunity to use the keyboard lab in music class once a week. They used them on Monday, and photos have been posted on our closed Facebook group for you to enjoy. 

There are still a couple parents who haven't sent back in the blue Communications form and the orange Fall Festival form. Please make sure you send them in if you haven't done so. I need these forms in order to plan appropriately for transportation to Jeter's Farm and Carvin's Cove. Thanks so much!