Thank you!

A big thank you to Sophie's mom, Etta's mom, and Ben T.'s mom for their help this week as we created our self portraits for our social studies unit on "All About Me".  This week we read several books including "The Color of Us" and "Me I Am" to talk about what makes each of us special and unique.  We created some amazing pieces that will be hanging in the hallway shortly after our long weekend break.  Thank you again to all our helpers...I couldn't do it with out you!

When I Grow Up...

Habit 2 this week has been all about beginning with the end in mind.  To help the children understand the concept of making a long term plan and envisioning the future we read two books "When I Was Little" that captures the experience of being very young and the role that little ones play and "When I Grow Up" that speaks to the possibilities of adulthood and the potential each child has to control his/her future.  To celebrate this habit Kindergarten will be creating a class board that celebrates the possibilities of the class of 2026.  Be on the look out for these proactive thinkers in their new hallway display...coming soon!

3rd Grade Buddies!

To add another milestone to our day we had the chance to have Popsicle and playtime with our 3rd grade buddies.  These older friends will help us throughout the year as we learn to read and write.  Twice a month we will meet with them to do extension activities that support the learning already happening in our classroom.  In the meantime we will be building friendships with leaders in the building and getting to watch the wonderful modelling of older Barrett's students.  The Heroes were so excited to meet these special new friends and are already looking forward to their next visit with Ms. Diebold's Eagles!

Super Seuss Book Bags

To celebrate the responsibility of being able to bring books back and forth to school (from both our room and our school library) the children were given super cute Seuss book bags today.  They love that they had the opportunity to pick their bags and learned that these are tools to help mom and dad know what they are reading and creating at school.  Be on the look out for these book bags to come home with the children's first school library book today.  Please use this bag to transport books back and forth when your child has finished reading to/with you.  Happy reading!

Counselor Corner

Meet Sarah Aton-Wade the K-2 school counselor.  Sarah comes to our classroom once a month to do whole class lessons that support our character education program.  She also plans lessons to meet individual needs during the year such as planning friendship groups and coping skill lessons.

Building Writing Routines

For our writing lesson today we learned what to do when we get stuck during writing and what to do when we finish our writing.  The children did a great job checking their books to make sure they had pictures and words on every page and 5 or more colors per page.  The children learned today that they need to plan before they write (using post-it notes) and begin a new book.  It is so exciting to see the children independently writing and planning their stories!  Here are some pictures we took for our anchor charts of how to start a book and where to get ideas (idea folder and our memories).

Precious PJ Party

Here they are in their PJs!  The children are doing a great job of helping to remind each other to make good choices and be responsible.  We continue to read books daily during snack about building friendships, listening, and our 7 habits.  This week we are focusing on begin with the end in mind!

Calling all Mystery Readers

If you or someone close to your child is looking for an opportunity to come into our room for 15-20 minutes to read to the kids I have just the opportunity for you!
Mystery readers are moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, friends, siblings, anyone who loves to read and wants to come into our class during snack (from 2:00-2:15) to read aloud to the children.  Research shows that this is the very best way to gain pre-reading skills and extend early vocabulary...plus it gives the kids a chance to know you and you them!
All you need to do is send me three clues about who you might be (which I will include in our morning meeting), the date you would like to visit, and bring along a book or two when you come to visit.
Hope you will consider this very fun, interactive way to get to know our Heroes!

Mark your calendars...

We have some VERY exciting things coming up so please mark your calendars to ensure you can join in the Heroes' happenings!
Upcoming important dates are late start Wednesday (student begin class at 11:00 AM) on Sept. 4th.  This will also be your child's first day with a sub.  I had the opportunity to be in the collaborative school districts Teacher's Academy Class and will be absent from school one day each month through January for class attendance.
The next important date to mark is Sept. 17th...say cheese, its PICTURE DAY!  Later that week on Friday, Sept. 20th we will be having Apple Day.  I will be sending home more information in the coming weeks but if you are interested in helping I will need volunteers from 9-10 AM that morning.
The following Friday, Sept. 27th is our very first read-n-munch.  We will be needing parent volunteers to come to class from 3:15-3:45 to read to/with the children.  Please email me if you are interested and I will pass your name along to our read-n-munch coordinator.
Last, and most important, is the date of our first field trip which has been planned to Stuckmeyers Farm for October 18th (Friday) from 9:15-12:15.  Parents are welcome (and encouraged) to join  us and notices will come home closer to the date asking for the names of all interested chaperones.
Happy Weekend Everyone!

Hero's Mission

After a week of studying habit one--be proactive---the children have reached a decision about their class mission.  We talked about how missions are very important jobs and they are different for each person.  Super hero's missions are different than a soccer teams mission, etc.  The children decided that they wanted to be kind, be brave, be proactive and help others.  Sounds like a great mission for a classroom full of super kindergarten heroes.

Bucket Fillers

We have been focusing on building friendships these past two weeks and are building towards the construction of our class mission next week.  You may have seen these hanging outside other doors at Barretts, these missions serve as the keystone of our work through the 7 Habits character education process.  We learned today that everyone has an invisible bucket that can be filled when people say or do nice things for us.  Likewise, people can dip into our buckets when they choose to be unkind or hurtful in what they say and do.  We have two friends, Lovey Lion and Carey Bear, who will be on the look out for bucket fillers and will travel home with a student or two each day who are Brilliant Bucket Fillers.  The Bucket Buddies will get to spend the night at the students home and will come back to school the next morning to look for more bucket filling.
Today in readers workshop we learned what it looks like to take care of books and even had the chance to make our own to keep in our book box.  The children showed me how they keep their books nicely on the tables, turn pages at the corners, and return the books to the proper places in the room for storage.  They really impressed me and will be ready for books of their own in no time!

Super Hero Habits

Today we spent the day reviewing what readers workshop looks and sounds like and developing other Hero Habits in our classroom.  The children discovered what it means to be a mathematician-one who thinks about numbers, shows numbers in many ways, loves math, etc.-and began their math journals.  These journals will track our growth as mathematicians.  Each day we begin with the simple word problem and have a math meeting to share how we solved the questions.  The best part is the sharing of our thinking.  We learn very quickly that mathematicians can think about numbers in a variety of ways.

We read several books today including "The Quiet Book" and "Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar".  The children very quickly picked up on patterns and started using the pictures to help them decode unknown words.  We have some rock star readers in Kindergarten!

Yesterday was a blast as we opened our first learning centers, blocks and kitchen.  Check out our pictures as we learned to take turns and share together!

Popsicles, Park, and Pleasant Memories

Hard to believe it has already been a week since our first class party!  Popsicles in the park was the prefect way to kick of a year of memories and friendships with our little heroes.  Hope you enjoy these pictures and are as excited as I am for our second week together!