Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the /sk/ blend.  We will make skeletons and our snack of "skinny sticks" (pretzels) will be provided by Aryan!

Sharing:  This week the Piglets will share.

Color Days:  This week we will be making our brown book and we will wear brown on Thursday.

We will be getting into the Halloween spirit this week making witch puppets and ghosts!  Thank you for sending in egg cartons. 

I will continue to assess the children in both reading and math in preparation for our upcoming report cards and parent conferences.

Thursday we will have our annual Shake Drill.  During this drill we practice what to do during an earthquake.  Please discuss this with your child.

Our schedule this week:

Monday:  Photo Shoot #2!  Big Buddies
Tuesday:  Speech & Language
Wednesday:  Let's Find Out! magazine, yoga, council, P.E.
Thursday:  Happy Birthday Miss Samm.! Shake Drill, Second Step
Friday:  Morning Assembly, Homework Review, Sharing, Science Hike, P.E.

A big thank you to Michael's dad, Caeser, for coming in to talk to the children about his job as a postal worker.  We are learning about communities and community workers.  The children loved hearing about what he does at his job!

Thank you all for your continued commitment to helping your children learn at home and for helping in our classroom.

~Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will be practicing the sound of the final /ch/ blend. We will make "watches" and our snack of peaches will be provide by Elliot!

Color Days:  This week's color is black. We will make our black color book and wear black on Thursday.

Sharing:  This week the Eeyores will share.  If your child is a Tigger, and forgot his/her share last week, please prepare a share for this coming Friday as well.

Meet Ms. F, who has funny feet.
"I'm Ms. F, and I'm very fond of my funny feet! I like to frolic and walk fancy-free. My funny feet are different from other people's feet. We're all different from one another, and that's just fine! I just got back from Florida, where I saw some of my favorite things - like flocks of flamingos, floating frogs, and fragrant flowers. Very cool!"

Ms. F teachers us that everyone is different.  This is such an important social skills lesson and correlates nicely with our Second Step program.  I am happy to say that we received our brand new Second Step box of materials.  The family link letters have changed and have great activities.  I will be sending these home on Thursdays, after our Second Step lesson.  Please help your child complete the activities and reinforce our lesson concept at home.  It is wonderful to watch the children putting these skills into action.

We will begin our Lexia reading program on the computers this week.  The first step is a placement test and then each child will work at her/his own level on the program.  This is a school wide program to sharpen reading skills.  You can find information here.

This week we will begin Unit 3 of our Benchmark reading series:  Where People Live.  We will be learning about different types of homes and lifestyles as we learn letter sounds and sight words.

A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteers who enrich the Room K student's lives with one to one attention, loads of patience and enthusiasm.  Thank you to our moms who prepped materials at home for our upcoming fun Halloween crafts!

Our Schedule:
Marvelous Monday:  Photo Shoot, Big Buddies, Dance
Terrific Tuesday:  Speech & Language
Wonderful Wednesday:  Let's Find Out! magazine, yoga, Couoncil, P.E.
Thrilling Thursday:  Wear Black today!, Second Step
Fabulous Friday:  Morning Assembly, Sharing, Art Trek (artist Paul Klee), Science, P.E., Homework Review

I'm looking forward to a great week in Room K!
Mrs. W

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the blend of /ch/.  We will make paper chains and our snack of cherries will be provided by Elia!

Sharing:  We have a new sharing topic so be sure to look at it under the "more" tab on this site.  This week the Tiggers will share.

Color Days:  This week is Pink Week and we will have Pink Day on Thursday.

This week we will meet Ms. E, who loves to exercise!  She is a "letter light" letter, meaning she is a vowel letter.  We will practice both the long and short sound of the letter E.  The children are doing very well with our language arts routine of our Letter People pages, rhyming book, Handwriting Without Tears printing practice, alphabet picture-word journal, listening center and the Starfall activities.   We also work in our Benchmark reading series workbooks and have begun our leveled readers and now are adding sight words.  This week we will have the following words:  a, is, it, this.  You can practice these words at home with your child and also look for them in the environment.

This week we will begin our October math journal and our number 7 book.  We enjoy adding math games, sorting activities and Starfall math activities.  In science we are learning about the sense of touch this week.  I hope you were able to discuss the Second Step lesson with your children.  They really enjoyed it and your reinforcement of this at home helps your child develop strong social skills.

Our schedule this week:
Monday:  Big Buddies, Dance
Tuesday:  Speech & Language
Wednesday:  Let's Find Out! magazine, Yoga, Council P.E.
Thursday:  Pink Day!, Second Step
Friday:  Morning Assembly, Homework Review, Sharing, Science, P.E., Treasure Box

Thank you all for the amazing support you provide for Room K both in and out of the classroom!
Mrs. W.

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the sound of initial /L/.  Our craft project will be "leaves on trees" and our snack of lemonade will be contributed by Hasan!

Sharing:  This week the Pigglets will share.

School Pictures:  Room K school pictures will be on Tuesday.  We will most likely go first so please be on time to school.  We take our school pictures in the garden.

Coyote Run:  Please get lots of pledges for our annual Coyote Run that helps to fund our P.E. program.  We will be running at 8:45 on Friday and we need at least 4 volunteers.  Please either sign up on our Shutterfly account or talk to Laura. 

Purple Day:  This week we will make our purple books and we will wear purple on Thursday!

Mid-Semester Progress Reports will be sent home this week.  Please sign and return the letters to acknowledge receipt.  Many students will receive letters as we are required to give parents advanced notice of children not meeting grade level standards prior to report cards.  This information will be useful to parents and support at home has a big impact on student learning.  TK and K have different report cards.  We will have parent conferences the week of November 5th.

This week we will meet Mr. D.  He is very dashing in his dancing suit.  We will practice writing Dd using our Handwriting Without Tears model, one big line and one big curve, one big line and one small curve.  Please continue to practice all letters we have covered at home.

During our Language Arts time we practice "perfect printing" using the materials from our Handwriting Without Tears program.  We use special pencils, pencil grips, crayons, magnetic boards, wood lines and curves and sing songs reminding us to start our letters at the top.  It is very important to reinforce these skills at home as your child develops and solidifies the brain to hand synapses that create life-long printing/handwriting skills.  This is extremely important as your child must learn to writing quickly and legibly and will be writing more every year as they progress in school.  Early habits are important habits!

We are exploring new activities on our Starfall program including letter recognition, letter sounds, listening to stories, sounding out three letter (CVC-consonant-vowel-consonant) words, vowel sounds, math activities (patterns, sorting, counting, addition, subtraction)  We also use sorting tubs, pattern blocks, play math games, learn to write and count with a new number each week, and work in our monthly math journal.

This week we will begin Art Trek.  A huge thanks to Sarah for attending the training, and to Ana and Lisa for stepping up to volunteer to co-teach the lessons.  This is a parent driven program and we are so grateful for our Art Trek parents.  This weeks lesson is on shapes (such a great tie-in to our math program) and the artist Kandinsky.

Last week we went on our first Science "hike" to our garden.  We explored with magnifying glasses and talked about plants, trees, and objects in the garden.  We did not have a parent helper for this activity, but we really do need at least 2 parents to assist, especially if we want to hike up to the amphitheater.  Please let me know, or sign up on the Shutterfly site, if you can assist with these monthly hikes.

Second Step will begin this week.  It is an empathy program focusing on social-emotional skills and the lessons have a weekly theme.  The program uses three puppets:  Impulsive Puppy, Slow Down Snail and Be Calm Bunny, to teach the lessons.  Also included are picture cards with photos of situations discussed as a group.  I will send home a letter for each theme so you can reinforce the behaviors at home.  Take a look at the website for more information.

The children are enjoying their Big Buddies and I have posted some photos on our class Shutterfly share site.  We will be reading together and doing reading related activities each week.

We have a very busy schedule with so many fun activities in Room K.  I am very grateful to the parent volunteers who help facilitate small group instruction and prepare materials.  Thank you!

Best wishes,
Amy Weisberg

Speech & Language:  This week we will practice the sound of initial /F/.  We will make fish bowls and our snack of figs will be contributed by Lucia!

Sharing:  This week the Eeyores will share.

Color Days:  This week we will make our green book and wear green on Thursday.

Meet Mr. C who wears a colossal cap.  We will practice the sound and writing of the letter Cc this week using our Letter People pages and our Alphabet Dictionary books.  We will also work in our rhyming books, and writing journals.  This week we will complete an informal monthly assessment assessing letter writing, number writing and a self-portrait.  I will also assess the children monthly using ESGI (Educational Software for Guided Instruction).  This helps me guide instruction to meet the students' needs. 

At math time we will complete our number 5 book and work in our September math journals.  We have also begun using sorting tubs to practice classification and continue puzzles and the favorite pattern blocks.

Science:  This week we will begin our science hikes which occur monthly.  Our first hike will be to our school garden where we will have an activity with Ms. Benor, our science teacher.  We encourage parent participation.  The time will be from 12:40-1:10.

Speaking of the garden....each class has a garden space at our school and we have a lovely garden plot for room K.  We need a garden parent (s) to coordinate this and I will be more than happy to explain our garden program to anyone interested.  The children love to work in the garden and plant (eat) vegetables.

I am mentoring a student from Pepperdine University, Ms. Lee, who is enrolled in an education class, and she will be coming into our class once a week on Friday to help during small groups.

This week's schedule:
Monday:  Big Buddies, Dance
Tuesday:  Let's Find Out! Magazine
Wednesday:  No school
Thursday:  Green Day
Friday:  Morning Assembly, Sharing (Eeyores), Homework Review, Science hike, P.E.

Speech & Language-This week we will practice the sound of final /g/.  Our craft will be making flags and our snack of "green logs" (celery sticks).

Sharing:  This week the Tiggers will share.

Color Day-This week we will wear the color yellow on Thursday.

,This week we will meet Mr. B and his beautiful buttons.  We will work in our Rhyming Books, Alphabet Dictionary and journals.  We will continue working in our Benchmark books.

We will work in our #4 books in math and continue in our math journal.  We will use our sorting tubs and pattern blocks.

Hopefully the students are getting used to their new homework and settling into the routine of school.  We have a full week with many fun activities and opportunities for the children to demonstrate their interests and abilities.  We are enjoying getting to know the children and watching them become a classroom family.

Our schedule:
Monday-No School
Tuesday-Speech & Language, Buddies (make-up due to holiday)
Wednesday-Let's Find Out! magazine, yoga, council, P.E.
Thursday-Yellow Day
Friday-Morning Assembly, Homework Review, Sharing, Science, P.E.

Thank you for all you do to make Room K such a great classroom family!
Mrs. W.

Sharing-This week the Winnie-The-Poohs will share on Friday

Speech & Language-This week we will focus on the sound of final /k/.  For our craft we will make a book and our snack of milk (almond) and cookies will be contributed by Sofia.

Color Day-This week is orange week and we will wear orange on Thursday.

This week we will begin our Letter People lessons.  We will meet Ms. A and practice her sound "ahhhh."  We will learn her song, complete our Picture Dictionary page and use our Starfall computer program to practice the letter and sound of A.

During language arts we will work in our Rhyming Book and our journals.  We will also begin our Benchmark reading series. The first unit is All About Me. 

In math this week we will begin our #3 books and our September math journal.  During math we also rotate through groups using math manipulatives, Starfall math, playdough, puzzles and more!

We will read our first Let's Find Out Magazine this week.  This is a magazine that focuses on science and social studies.  You can access it online with the code 123RoomK at scholastic.com/lfo.

Our schedule:
Monday-No School-Labor Day
Tuesday-Speech & Language
Wednesday-Let's Find Out! magazine, Yoga, Council, P.E.
Thursday-Orange Day
Friday-Morning Assembly, Homework Review, Sharing, Science, P.E.

Thank you to all of our volunteers!  Your help in the classroom helps our children learn in small groups and we appreciate it so much.
Mrs. W

Speech & Language Class:  This week we will practice the sound of initial /k/.  We will make crowns with objects that begin with /k/ and our snack of carrots will be provided by Ms. Youmna, our speech teacher.  I will explain more about this class at Back-to-School Night.

Sharing:  Sharing will begin in September.  In the meanwhile, you can take a look at the sharing assignments listed on this site under the "more" tab.

Color Days:  This week is blue week!  We will make our blue book and wear blue on Thursday!

More blog content below....

Sharing:  Please be on the lookout for a special sharing project coming home on Monday and due on Friday.  We are all getting to know each other and this fun activity will help!  Beginning in September we will have weekly sharing with one group sharing each week. The sharing topics are all here on this website under the "more" tab!

We had a great first week in Room K!  The children are quickly becoming friends and having fun playing on the playground, working in learning centers and singing on the carpet and of course, learning the 3 B's:  be safe, be respectful, and be responsible.

*All children must have their binder by Monday!  We use these binders to hold our Letter People pages, which we will begin soon.  If you are not sure I received your child's materials, please check with me Monday morning.

*Check your child's Book Buddy and folder every day.  We send home homework and important papers in these folders.  All children must bring their folder in their Book Buddy every day.

*Please help your child return all homework and signed papers when they are due.

Thank you for all of your interest, help and support!

Our schedule:
Monday-Reading Buddies, Dance, Free Choice

Tuesday-Speech & Language (beginning 8/28)

Wednesday- Yoga, Council, P.E. (2:05-2:40)

Thursday-Library(starting soon), Free Choice

Friday-Morning Assembly, Science (12:40-1:10), P.E. (1:20-1:55)

Our library time will be added soon.

We will be celebrating a few birthdays this month.  Our new school policy is to offer the opportunity to donate a book to your classroom library in honor of your child's birthday.  You may wrap it if you like, and your child may present it to the class.

Upcoming:

Class "Commitment" dinner (TBD)
Volunteer Opportunities

Classroom Volunteers may start in one week.  Please be sure to have your TB test paperwork on file in the office so you can volunteer, it really helps create a smaller ratio for the children and give them more individual attention.

It is so wonderful getting to know our new Room K families!
Best wishes,
Mrs. Weisberg

I just got home from a high school graduation party for one of my former kindergarten students.  He is off to Georgetown University in Washington D.C.  I was honored to be there with "Miss Linda" from Children's Corner, and a few of the student's high school teachers and counselors.  It was so special to be considered an important part of his life, his first teacher at "big kid" school.  Seeing my students move on is hard, but seeing the people they become is amazing!

It is now time for these Room K students to move on, but before they leave we have one last fun-filled week together.  Remember we have a 1:35 dismissal Monday-Wednesday and Thursday is a minimum day, 12:40.

Monday:  Track & Field Day
Tuesday:  Teachers vs. 5th Graders Kickball game, 5th grade play
Wednesday:  watch 5th grade culmination practice
Thursday:  Last Day of School, "Coronation," & class party

Thanks to all of you for the help and support during this school year,
Best wishes,
Mrs. W