Grandparents and Special Friends Day  was such a wonderful day for everyone.

I wish you a peaceful week,
Liliana

Dear Families,

These past two weeks I have observed the children playing and learning together as a community much more comfortable in their interactions, and much better at communicating their needs and wants to each other in positive ways. I have witnessed much tenderness and kindness in their negotiations.

On October 29 the children worked together to plan a presentation at the assembly celebrating Robert C. Parker Day. They made posters of letters to spell out the school’s name working together in wonderful collaboration. Also on that day the children had fun joining in on an all school buddy hike.

Highlights:

Language Arts/Social Studies

The children have continued to enjoy partners reading time on the rug using a variety of books from the classroom library. We use playing as a way to expand vocabulary and write, especially in the dress-up/kitchen area, and the block center. The children show lots of interest in writing as they feel the need to communicate messages about their work at play. The children also learned a new poem called Fall. As a group, the children had fun discussing the needs of people and comparing them to the needs of animals. They drew pictures of their homes to represent the human need for shelter, as they begin to think about animal shelters.

Science

The children are very interested in the ant farm and tadpoles. The tadpoles have a new home – a larger tank with a filter. The ants built several tunnels and continue to work. The tadpoles and the ants are popular around the school with many children stopping in the classroom to take a look.

The children drew pictures to represents stages of growth in tadpoles. They will be displayed in the classroom or hallway.

We made a list of favorite animals living in New York State and each child chose an animal to research. Our wonderful librarian, Carol, provided us with books on each animal. The children enjoyed reading the books with their buddies.

Kindergarten Math with Lynne

The kindergarten math group has continued looking at patterns both outside and inside. We had a wonderful outdoor walk with the first graders on Monday and the children found a multitude of patterns on the play structure, tree branches, and leaves. The walk allowed us the opportunity to talk about symmetry also as we examined materials found in nature.

We read the book Kente Colors and the children noticed patterns on the characters clothing as well as the borders of each page. They then began making patterns from paper shapes that we will use to make borders around the bulletin boards. Their patterns, reflective of their own creativity and thinking, look wonderful. We also had time to make patterns using the unit blocks, an activity that will continue through next week.

First Grade Math

The first graders have been having fun with “tadpole math.” They observed how the tadpoles group themselves in the tank and drew pictures to represent various combinations of the total number of tadpoles. The children also used manipulatives to make different combinations of the number of the day. Also the children have been learning to count by twos by making patterns with unifix cubes and “skip count” (ask your first grader about it).

Special Visit

The three and four year old children visited our classroom and the K/1’s enjoyed sharing their science binders with them. The K/1 children were very attentive, and very nurturing toward their young friends. There will be more visits from our young neighbors in the future.

Reminders

Friday, November 9 is Family/Teacher Conference day. Sign up sheets are at the front desk, or call Natalie to schedule a conference if you have not already done so. If you cannot make it that day, I am happy to schedule a more convenient time.

Request

The children will be constructing habitats for the animals they are studying and will need shoe boxes or similar containers. If you have such containers, please send in one or two in the next two weeks. Thank you.

I wish you a peaceful week,

Liliana

Dear Families,

What a wonderful week!  The children enjoyed exploring CMOST very much and contributed with interest to the discussion about animal homes.  They were excited about touching a very beautiful colorful snake (most of them), and a 45 year old Eastern Box Turtle.  The children also had fun watching CMOST newest Dome show “Zula Patrol Under the Weather.” The field trip ended with a “See More CMOST Scavenger Hunt.”  The scavenger hunt gave the children plenty of time to explore the museum – an activity everyone seemed to enjoy.

Science
Everyone is very excited about the tadpoles and the ant farm.  The children brainstormed all that they have noticed about the tadpoles, and began a brainstorm about what they have noticed about the ant farm.  Also they have begun to do observational drawings of the ant farm.  We took a nature walk on one of the week’s beautiful warm days.  Words cannot describe all the fun we had during our walk on the school’s beautiful trails.  The children discovered all sorts of things including many praying mantises, crickets, and grasshoppers.  They noticed with excitement changes brought by the fall season especially the fallen colorful leaves.  We picked many leaves, used them to make leaf rubbings, and placed them on our classroom tree.  Also our tree is becoming a pretend home for animals.  Presently we have placed a bird’s nest on the tree and the children decided that we should make a bird and some eggs to place in the nest. We will work on this next week.

Language Arts/Social Studies
We continued to read books about ants, and especially tadpoles.  The children are beginning to use vocabulary from the books to describe the life cycle of a frog, and are beginning to recognize words we use in our science center, or use the words to learn the alphabet.

First Grade Math
The children have been working on finding combinations of 10 or a number of their choice (below 20) by adding numbers together, and sharing their combinations with the class.  The children have also worked on making patterns with the pattern blocks, and finding patterns in our fall leaves.

Kindergarten Math with Lynne
The kindergarten math group continued their investigation of patterns.  This week our focus was on window pane patterns-doing patterns along the perimeter of a shape.   We also did sorting activities where the children could pick a rule for sorting materials, such as all the purple objects in the center of a circle and all the other colored items on the outside.  We used transportation manipulatives for the sorting activity and some rules the children used included sorting by color, type of vehicle, vehicles with wheels vice those without.  The children’s heights were measured and marked outside our door in the first weeks of school.  This week they used interlocking cubes to measure their heights and recorded their number on the hall chart.  They had great fun devising ways to measure themselves-some compared their tower of cubes to their body by lying down, others used the chart in the hall, while others did comparisons while standing.

Buddies
The children enjoyed getting together with their buddies in the computer lab and most of them finished typing up their interviews.

A Special Visit
Hannah and Nora from the 4/5 class showed the children an injured Monarch Butterfly they found on the grounds.  The girls are caring for the butterfly with a broken wing, and told the children the butterfly’s needs by asking the K/1 class to look for special flowers (clover) and bedding when they are out on the playground.  The K/1 class began helping by gathering in a circle around the butterfly and giving it some healing energy.  The children were able to do this for a few minutes in total silence—-it was amazing!

Hope to see you at the potluck dinner Wednesday.  Have a peaceful week.

Liliana

Dear Families,

The children are looking forward to our field trip on October 18 at the Children’s Museum. We will leave school by 8:45 to arrive at the museum by 9:00am. So please arrive at the school by at least 8:40. The program we will be attending is called Where Do You Call Home which complements our fall theme on homes and habitats. If the following information is correct, we will need drivers for 2 more children to make the class total of 14.

Science
We began the week by watching the birth of our Monarch Butterfly on film. The children seemed satisfied witnessing this important event on film and watched it a few times with excitement. We read a few books on frogs and ants to prepare for the arrival of an ant farm and tadpoles. On Friday morning the children headed for the Science center, as they entered the classroom, to discover 12 tadpoles and an ant farm full of ants busy building tunnels and chambers. We are looking forward to observing the growth and activities of our new classroom friends.

Language Arts/Social Studies
The children have been enjoying creating and performing plays in small groups. They have initiated this activity on their own and I have been enjoying watching them discuss and assign roles, and gather an audience to watch their performances. At the moment the performances do not seem to have an end. Next week we will be writing scripts that might actually have an ending. Meanwhile it is all very interesting and I am learning a lot about the children as I observe them create freely.

The children had fun brainstorming, and writing and drawing their Hopes and Dreams for the school year. They are posted in the classroom.

First Grade Math
The children have continued their exploration with measuring and comparing lengths. They measured a strip of tape the length of the rug using their feet followed by a lively and interesting discussion wondering about the different results. This exploration will continue so the children can arrive at a conclusion through reasoning and investigations. The children have also been exploring with pattern blocks and shape templates.

Kindergarten Math – by Lynne
The kindergarten math group has spent the beginning of the year learning about each other. Among the activities was making a class friendship web and answering questions of the day about ourselves. We have taken an outdoor shape walk and noticed a variety of different shapes on the school grounds, and the children have spent time becoming familiar with many of the materials they will be using throughout the year. We have talked about patterns this week, looking at those found on clothing and in books. We have also acted out patterns with our bodies and made patterns using a class chart, as well as our shoes. We read Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? By Bill Martin and will use the book as a model for a class book entitled Butterfly, Butterfly what do you Hear? in honor of the Monarch Butterfly.

The parents of our kindergartners were sent a media release form from The Record newspaper to fill out and return Monday. Every year The Record showcases kindergarten classes in our area. “Saluting the Class of 2020” will be published in The Record on Friday, November 2, 2007. There will be a picture of the kindergarten class and each student’s name and response to these questions: “What would you like to be when you grow up” and “What do you think you’ll need to do that job?”

Buddies: On Friday the K/1 class and middle school buddies interviewed each other. Our middle school buddies will be typing these up to be posted in our hallway along with photos.

Celebration: On Friday morning we celebrated Isa’s birthday. Happy birthday Isa! The class enjoyed immensely a story about a pirate girl read to the children by Isa’s dad.

Fire Prevention Week: the children listened to a presentation and demonstration by a local fire department about being safe in case of fire.

Reminder: Picture day is Wednesday, October 17 for the K-8. Please remember to get your forms into school.

I wish everyone a peaceful week,

Liliana

Dear Families,

Friday morning the children were very excited to notice that our chrysalis was changing color from bright green to brown, and by late afternoon we could see colors resembling a butterfly.  I was disappointed that the children were not going to witness the birth of the butterfly, but Saturday morning around 7:30 a.m. I was able to film the shell of the chrysalis peeling away, the butterfly emerging quickly, and hanging from the chrysalis drying its folded wings.  I am very happy that the children will be able to see the birth on film.  I released the butterfly in my neighbor’s flower garden.  Enclosed are a couple of photos of the butterfly for you and your children to enjoy.

Additional highlights of the week:

Language Arts and Social Studies
The children completed their class book by brainstorming titles for the book and voting on the title Our Classroom Book.  We read many books on butterflies.  The children’s favorite book Becoming Butterflies by Anne Rockwell we read several times.  The children added a poem Butterfly Wings and a song I Had a Little Turtle to their Poems and Songs binders.  They will be bringing the binders home occasionally to share with you.  We are almost done with interviews and next week the children will share them with the class.  A picture of your child and interview will be posted in the classroom.

Science
The children enjoyed constructing a Venn diagram on the floor to represent the colors of their clothes.  The children explored the field outside our classroom with magnifying glasses.  In the classroom they made observational drawings of the chrysalis, dragonfly, the cabbage in water and the cabbage with no water.  We had to say goodbye to the cabbage in water because it got quite “stinky”.

Math
In First Grade Math the children had fun exploring using the ruler – they measured objects around the classroom and recorder their findings.  Next week I will begin to include Kindergarten Math as well.  Friday the class created a Tooth Graph to represent the number of lost upper and lower teeth using tally marks.  Also we are working on a birthday graph.

I am looking forward to meeting with you at a listening conference.  Enjoy the long weekend and this unusually wonderful weather.

I wish you a peaceful week,

Liliana

Dear Families,

I enjoyed spending time with several of you Tuesday evening at Meet the Teachers Night. I would like to remind you to please sign up for a listening conference so you can tell me all about your child. I would like to get them done during October. I can be available mornings between 7:30-8:30 and after school Tuesdays and Fridays 5:00-7:00, and Thursdays 5:00-6:00.

Highlights of the week:
The children walked into the classroom one morning to find that our monarch caterpillar had turned into a chrysalis overnight. We are keeping a close watch and hope we get to witness the birth of the butterfly.

In Science with Emily and Liliana, we made a Venn diagram of living and non-living objects. The children showed great interest and made very thoughtful contributions. We are continuing to explore this area by allowing the children to discuss, and debate based on observation and their own personal knowledge and experience. This is one of many opportunities for the children to agree or disagree and be O.K. with either. Agree to disagree.

We have a beautiful dragonfly in the Science Center. It died in our classroom and became a gift for the children to observe and marvel at its delicate and exquisite beauty. Thank you to Brian for bringing a woolly bear caterpillar for everyone to observe.

Wednesday afternoon the kindergarten and first grade math classes got together and Caroline’s mom, Lore, helped us make vegan vegetable soup using the corn and cabbage from the garden and other vegetables Lore brought us. Thank you to Caroline’s mom for helping us to make such delicious soup, and thank you for the big beautiful sunflowers. We enjoyed the soup Thursday for lunch (most of us).

Friday the class celebrated Ava’s birthday. Happy birthday Ava! I stayed home Friday to recover from a fever and sore throat – similar symptoms several children have experienced during the past few weeks.

Reminder: our field trip to the Children’s Museum is scheduled for October 18. Please let me know if you are able to drive that day. We have a few drivers but need more.

I wish you a peaceful week,

Liliana

Dear Families,

We ended the week last Friday meeting our buddies.  The children were assigned buddies from the middle school, and enjoyed spending some time together reading and getting to know each other.  Also we had a wonderful time Friday afternoon in the butterfly garden looking for monarch caterpillars.  We checked the milkweed plants very carefully until the children discovered a small caterpillar.  During our search one of the children, also, found an empty chrysalis.  Apparently a monarch butterfly had just emerged and was resting on a leaf drying its wings before taking flight.  We took the chrysalis and the caterpillar in the classroom.  The caterpillar has been eating lots of milkweed leaves and getting bigger each day.

We began the week Monday by visiting the garden outside our windows, during Science class, and making observational drawings.  The children were happy to place these first drawings in their science journals.  We went back to the garden Wednesday morning and after thanking Earth for growing our plants, we picked the corn, cabbage, and marigold flowers.  The children were very excited to bring the plants in the classroom, explore them, and make observational drawings.  We are conducting an experiment with two cabbage plants.  Because they were picked with their roots, we placed one in water and one in a tray without water.  The children made guesses about what might happen to each plant and have been keeping a close watch.  They are looking forward to using the corn in a vegetable soup we will be cooking next week.

The children have been working on a class book about themselves by writing and decorating their names, drawing pictures of themselves, their families, and their friends.  Next week the children will be adding a few more pages to complete the book.  There has been much discussion about friends and how to be a good friend.  The discussions will continue as each child continues to find his/her place within the community of the classroom, the playground, and the school.

This week we also welcomed our student teacher from Hudson Valley Community College, Samantha Stuarts.  Samantha will be with us on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

I am happy to let you know that we have our first field trip planned for October 18 to the Children’s Museum of Science & Technology at the RPI Tech Park, 250 Jordan Road, Troy.  There will be hands on activities and a visit to the planetarium.  More information will be coming as the date approaches.  I hope several of you will be able to drive that day.  We will be spending most of the morning at the museum.

I hope to see everyone at Meet the Teachers Night, Tuesday evening 7-8:30 p.m.

I wish you a peaceful week,

Liliana

I am keeping this blog as an example of an elementary school blog for the faculty at my daughter’s school.

To date it has represented the entirety of Lynn’s kindergarten 2006-2007 year.

I intend to continue this blog with Liliana’s K-1 year 2007-2008 in which my daughter was in first grade.

I will change the blog design to reflect the new year and new teacher.

Isa’s Story and contribution to Epic Change.