Kindergarten Report Cards

Your child will be bringing home a report card today. This report card reflects some of your child's progress this year. You will find a letter with a review of our kindergarten themes included as well. Each kindergartener also filled out their "own report cards", a self assessment. Please take some time this weekend to discuss these reports with your child. I am so pleased with the growth demonstrated in this class. Many social and academic gains were noted. If you have any questions or would like more clarification( which I do indeed have), please feel free to contact me. E-mail seems to work best at this point.

Reading to End Racism

Last Wednesday, each classroom at Union School participated in a program called, "Reading to End Racism". Guest readers came to each class to explore the concept of racism, and to help provide opportunities for discussion about different races, and cultural backgrounds. Our guest reader, Mrs. Bluhm, chose a story about colors. The book was called" All the Colors of the Earth."The class really enjoyed this book. As a matter of fact, they asked to hear it again right away! Many images of earth based colors were provides, and a variety of images of children as well.Mrs. Bluhm brought some items from her kitchen, such as cinnamon, wheat, flour, curry and cocoa and coffee. These items were also referenced in the book.We then created our own  class book ,"All the Colors of Mrs. Koch's Class." Each student wrote about what they were like.
Some lines include,
" I am like golden sand."
"I am like speckled wheat."
" I am like a hedgehog, because my hair is prickly."
" My lips are like a robin."
"My skin is the same as my dog's belly."

Mrs. Bluhm plans to return to read the completed class book!

A packet was sent home to help facilitate family discussions about "Reading to End Racism". Please take a look at this valuable information!!

Nature Adventure Program

We will head to Hubbard Park tomorrow. We will  plan to leave the school around 9:00( after morning snack), and take the same route into the park. We will do a tracking activity with Amy Butler and choose our individual "sit spots'. We plan to also have a fire and enjoy some marshmallows! We'll return to school by 11:30. Please join us if you are able.

Yoga Lessons with Rocco

Yoga comes to room 7. Each Tuesday and Thursday , we will do some yoga at our morning meeting. Rocco leads our yoga lessons. He is a student intern from Norwich University, and a yoga teacher and fitness instructor. We learned the mountain pose, warrior pose, warrior two pose, backbend and downward dog. These photos from our first session show that we have a flexible class of young yogis!

Way to go !!

The Class Earns a Celebration!

The class has filled the warm fuzzy jar again. Following rules, being caring, and acts of kindness all helped this group to earn enough warm fuzzies to fill the jar. We voted on our celebration and Popcorn party was the winning vote. I decided to throw in a movie as well. On Monday afternoon, we will celebrate together
with some fresh popped corn, and a movie.




Our next celebration will be a dress-up and stuffed animal day. I will keep you posted on the date depending on when the jar fills up again.

The Whole Class is Here!

The whole class is together for the first time in a long time!!

Snow Table Fun

We filled our water table with snow Last Friday. We wondered if the snow would melt right away. Some wondered if the snow would turn to water right away. Some wondered if ice would happen. Some wondered if it was the same snow as outside.Some wondered if it would be here next week.We really enjoyed exploring snow. Maybe we'll have a "snow table" more often.

Learning About Martin Luther King Jr. and his BIG Words

We have been reading a book called "Martin's Big Words". This book details the life of MLK. It also describes how Martin's words live on.The class has had some interesting discussions about BIG words, and ways to make the world a better place. Skin color has also been a topic of discussion. We looked at all of the varieties of color we have in our class! We even found crayons to match many of our skin tones. Make sure to check out our bulletin board in the hall for some of our BIG words.

Kindergarten Sight Words

Change in Nature Adventure Dates

We will NOT be going out on January 21st. Instead, we will go on January 28th. All are welcome to join us, and Jim Hutton, Molly's dad, has offered to make a fire at the shelter on that day. I have even stirred up some marshmallows(vegan) for a special snack.

The Stomach Bug Hits Room 7!

Unfortunately, the stomach bug has arrived in full force at UES. Many students and staff are feeling the impact.We have had about half of our class out of school the past few days due to the bug. Please help your child get plenty of rest, plenty of fluids, and to wash carefully before eating. We are taking preventions here at school as well. I hope we will all be healthy next week! Hang in there, all you parents of sick little ones!

Nature Adventure Program- Shelters

Today was a fantastic day to be outdoors! We explored winter weather, looked for signs of animal action and discovered and built a shelter. many thanks to all who helped make it such a fun day!!

An important lesson about tongues and cold metal was also learned!

Nature Adventure Program

We are heading to Hubbard Park for Nature Adventure program this Friday, January 7th.We will discuss shelters for all kinds of creatures in winter weather. We may even build a shelter! Please help your child choose layers to wear in order to stay cozy and have fun! A list will be included in the green folder, to use as a reference point.
Suggestions for winter weather:
Extra set of dry pants, shirt, socks(in a ziploc bag with name)
Wool/fleece socks(please no cotton)
Winter boots
Winter Jacket
Ski Pants
Long Underwear/layer
Sweater/fleece
Hat
Thick mittens or gloves(please no knits)
Extra mittens or gloves
Regular back pack
Water bottle
Please call, or just show up if you would like to join us. Many adults make the trip even better!!
We usually depart around 8:45 and return around 11:30.

Kindergarten Sight Word Practice

You may have noticed a slide show at the top of this blog. It is a list of the most common sight words that kindergarteners will encounter in print. I thought it might be fun for you and your child to view this slide show occassionally, to improve sight word recognition. We will also practice sight words here at school.