Grandparents and Grand Friends Day

We had a wonderful visit with our grandparents and grand friends.  Our friends began the day in half groups with half of our class in Art and half in our classroom.  In our classroom we shared a story about a family gathering and then played math games.  It was nice to see everyone working together, sharing ideas and stories.  Next, we spent some time outdoors at recess where everyone enjoyed the fresh air and pleasant spring weather.  Then we headed over to the Meeting House for Meeting for Worship where the query was “What or who do you take care of?  What, or who, do you take care of?  How has that changed since you were younger?”

Life Cycles!

X is for Xylophone!

The children have been engaging with calculators during math station activities.  For those questioning the use of calculators at this age, Everyday Math certainly has done their research!  Citing a number of sources, including the National Research Council, Everyday Math states that when used properly, calculators can lead to better understanding of mathematical operations, enhance students’ number sense, and practice problem solving skills. Furthermore, research shows that children learn to judge when to use a calculator and when to solve a problem with other tools or materials when they are exposed to it at an early age.  

According to Everyday Math, there is no evidence that students will grow dependent on calculators or that calculators interfere with their ability to solve problems mentally or on paper.  Some examples of lessons involving calculators include “free play” or experimentation with the calculators, familiarity with buttons (ON/C, number buttons, +), counting by ones, or skip counting by numbers larger than one.  

During a recent lesson, children shared their skills by answering questions such as “How many ears does a cat have?” and “How many toes do you have?” and pushing these numbers on their calculator screen.  We also use the calculators to practice skills such as number recognition, counting forward and backward, and to practice with the “tricky teens.”  

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Making Books!

We are embarking on a new adventure- making books!  The children are excited to begin but had many good questions: “Where do you get your ideas?”, “What should go on each page?”, “What size should the book be?”, and what seemed to be the most concerning question, “How long should the book be?”  We decided it is over when you have nothing left to write!

First, we created a list of possible topics.  Some of our ideas were: family, friends, play dates, school, memories, pets, animals, vacations, sports, etc.  We decided that no matter what you write about you should make sure to know a lot about the topic and that writing about things that make you feel happy make it easier to write— all good observations!

We also discussed the mechanics of writing: beginning each sentence with a capital letter, leaving spaces between our words, and ending each sentence with an end mark.  After some time talking about topics, the children settled on their own and eagerly got to work.  We will continue to write and illustrate until our books are complete.  This is such an exciting process, and we look forward to reading their wonderful stories!

Play at School and at Home

What words come to mind when you hear play?  Experiencing, selecting, coordinating, experimenting, conceptualizing, imagining, testing, measuring, questioning, discussing, organizing, validating, observing, enjoying, improvising, creating, socializing, discovering, comparing, initiating, pretending, designing, comparing, building, transporting, expressing, ordering, communicating,  dancing, balancing, sharing.  Fred Rogers shared his wisdom of play by writing, “Play is an expression of our creativity, and creativity, I believe, is at the very root of our ability to learn, to cope, and to become whatever we may be.”   

Research, and of course our practice at Friends Select, demonstrate the immense power and experiences that play offer.   An article by The Alliance for Childhood states, “Child initiated play lays a foundation for learning and academic success.”  Through play, children learn to interact with others, develop language skills, recognize and solve problems, and discover their human potential.”  Play helps children make sense of the world and allows them to find their place in the world.  By being able to play in a physical way, children’s sensorimotor development is facilitated.  

Writing in Kindergarten

The students are gaining confidence in their ability to write, and there is a tremendous amount of excitement surrounding the writing that they do.

The students are focusing on and practicing sounding out words and writing down letters that match the sounds they hear.  For instance, if a child wants to write the word “played,” she will say that word to herself and repeat it several times while stretching it out to clarify the sounds.  She listens as she says the word and begins to write the letters that she hears.  For the word “played,” a child might phonetically write “pd”, “pld”, or “plad.” The word “have” might be spelled “hv”, or “hav.”  

While we gradually introduce more and more words that we expect the students to write independently (our word wall words), it is far more important developmentally for children to feel good and excited about their writing.  Our goal is that each child enjoys writing independently, rather than worry about correct spelling.

While students write, teachers circulate around the room providing individual support in a variety of ways.  We may assist a child in stretching out a word or give strategies for identifying a letter or sound.  We also encourage children to use each other as resources, to look at writing from a previous day, as well as to use environmental print in the classroom.  Students learn to use the classroom word wall, charts, posters, and various signs around the room to assist in their writing.

The children are eager to see and read the “teacher writing” (standardized spelling of the Kindergartener’s phonetic spelling).  As students complete their writing, they read their writing with the teacher and then the “teacher writing” is added underneath their writing.  The students then read the “teacher writing.”  They are so excited to read both their writing and the teacher’s writing.  We typically end each Writing Workshop period by having the children share their writing and illustrations with each other.

The children understand that they may not be spelling the words “correctly” or traditionally but that they are writing phonetically.  We call this writing “sound spelling” or “kid writing.”  Children will typically hear the sounds that are most prevalent in words.  

November

It's hard to believe we are already into the month of November!  We are now wrapping up our author study Lois Elhert and are starting to read books about Thanksgiving and Chanukah.  The children are very interested in the historical angle of Thanksgiving  and how we can all be thankful for our friends and family.  They are excited to learn and sing Chanukah songs which we will start next week.

Sharing in Kindergarten

We have seen an increased interest in sharing things from home,          objects bought from vacations, or news from the children.  Sharing is a great way to continue building our classroom community and learn how to speak publically and we encourage it!  We have started to schedule two children each week to bring in something, sit on the cat chair and share.  It can be an object from nature, any news from home, a favorite book, a collection of things, etc...Please encourage your child to share when it's their week.

F is for Fire Fighter

Fire Fighter Nate came to visit our class and review some important fire safety tips.  The children absolutely loved this visit and had many good questions for Nate.  They enjoyed learning about his fire fighting gear and trying it on!

G is for Garlic Bread, Guitar and Games!

We started off "G" week with a bang playing a variety of board games during morning activities.  The children loved playing all of them and it's a great lesson on how to take turns, play fairly, and count.

We made garlic bread. Many children enjoyed the savory treat, and the others who didn’t still enjoyed the process of making it!  The room and hallways smelt incredible!

To top off our "G" celebration we had middle school student Saras come in and demonstrate how he plays his electric guitar and his acoustic guitar!  The children got to take turns strumming the strings.  They now all want to be rock stars!

We also learned new math games- the Roll and Record Game (data and chance), Estimation Jar (estimating how many objects are in a jar) and introduced the ipads!  

The children were all very excited to play the math games apps we have selectively installed.   The children we're very careful with the ipads and were very familiar with them!

The apps we use for the ipads are:

Todo Math

Everyday Math Top-it and Monster Squeeze

NCTM Concentration

Math Tappers - Find Sums

Montessori Hundred Board

Cold Weather

Now that cold weather is creeping in please make sure that your child has his/her name written in their jacket/sweatshirt.  Jackets are not always needed by the end of the day and are frequently taken off.  Children and teachers try hard to keep track of these items, but occasionally they do go missing.  If your child’s name is in his/her belongings, they are much more likely to get them back!

Also, please swap out the extra clothes in your child’s cubby.  Most children still have summer clothes and will need to have more appropriate clothes for colder days.  Thank you!

We enjoyed many activities the past two weeks and would like to share some of our favorites:

• We enjoyed our exploration of the letters D and E.  We created a list of words that began with each letter and were introduced to many new vocabulary words.  We continued making our mini-dictionaries by completing the D and E cards which are displayed each week inside our classroom.

• We have been very busy working in our Writing Journals.   The children wrote and illustrated about what they did over the 4 day weekend and what they're really good at.  They focused on leaving a “finger space” between the words in their sentence.

• We continued to explore and discuss sentences and spent some time writing sentences together.  This is a mix of Modeled Writing (the writing that the teacher does on the board in front of the class while talking out loud about our thought process- modeling the positive habits of “good” writers) and Interactive Writing (a message that the teacher and children write together).

• We continue to practice writing upper and lower case letters and numbers in our Handwriting Journals.  

• Our class loves to sing and so we have been busy learning some new songs.  Ask your child to share a song with you.

• In math, we have been talking about teen numbers and focusing on the      concept of tens and ones.  It is important for children to understand that 17 is 10 and 7 more.

• Together with our 4th grade partners we made posters for the Apple Fest. The children enjoyed collaborating with their older role models!

• We had so much fun writing our names and practicing our handwriting letters and numbers in shaving cream that we sprayed on the tables!

D is for Doctor, Dough and Dance Party!

Collin Lamont’s mom Tara came in as our guest speaker for D week.  She came in her blue scrubs and read Inside your Outside, All about the Human Body, by Dr. Seuss.  The children then had a chance to become doctors wearing surgical masks and caps listening to their hearts beat with stethoscopes!  They learned how to feel for a pulse and then she topped the event off with “D” cookies and heart shaped cookies with “red blood cells”.  What an event!

We made our own dough (play dough) to celebrate the letter Dd!  The children love playing with it at Morning Activities.  In addition, we had a Dance Party during Shared Choice!  The children had a wonderful time showing off their dance moves.

E is for Eye and Edamame!

To celebrate “E” week Alexandra’s mom, Anna Bilyk came in as a guest speaker to talk about being an eye doctor.  She brought in a model of an eyeball and taught us all the different parts of our eyes.  We then made a classroom graph of our eye color.  We have quite a few blue eyed children in this class!  Anna taught us about how there are more brown eyed people in  the world than other colors and that animals that are nocturnal have bigger pupils.  Pupils get bigger in the dark, and smaller in the light. She gave us Braille cards to learn how to write our names in Braille, stickers and coloring pages to bring home!  We now are eye experts!

In addition, we had some edamame at lunch.  Many of the children enjoyed this treat, and some tried it for the first time.

Library

Each week the children look forward to and enjoy their time in the library with Tr. Paula.  The children are anxious to see what picture book Tr. Paula will read to them.  Each reading is followed with a discussion which gives the children a chance to share their observations, opinions, and ideas about the book.  Tr. Paula assists the children in selecting their own book to bring home and share with their families.  Tr. Paula offers a wide variety of books focusing on different topics and genres.  She often encourages children to choose books that are seasonal and books that involve units of study that we are experiencing in the classroom.  We hope you and your child enjoy reading the book together.

Our Kindergarten Literacy Program

Modeled Writing- A teacher models the process of writing out an idea, including thinking of the idea, deciding where on the paper to begin, which direction to go, how to sound out the words, what to put at the end of the sentence, and much more.

Interactive Writing- Students and the teacher collaborate to compose a message.  The group sounds out words together and decides which letters are needed.  A teacher helps with tricky parts to produce accurate spelling.

Independent Writing- Students do their own writing with individualized support from the teachers.  Students listen to sounds in words they want to write and write the letters they hear and words they know.  As the year goes on, high frequency words with accurate “book” spelling are introduced and the writing vocabulary expands.

Reading:

Read Aloud- Teachers read to students with attention to vocabulary, comprehension, prediction, extension, and connection.  By reading aloud, teachers also model reading behaviors and ways of thinking about a story.

Shared Reading: A teacher introduces a text, usually with a Big Book, poem, or song written on chart paper and guides the class in reading it together.  Students learn to notice patterns in language, read with expression, and build their phonics skills.

Guided Reading: Teacher’s lead small groups of children in reading a common level text.  These texts are high level interest stories with vocabulary ranging to accommodate the needs of a variety of readers.  Teacher’s help children work on one-to-one correspondence (pointing to each word), decoding tricky words, reading with expression, and comprehension.

Independent Reading: Children read by themselves and with partners daily.  In Kindergarten, “reading” may be simply looking through a picture book or a nonfiction piece on spiders “reading” the pictures.  Each week, children read with their third grade Book Buddies as well.

Speaking and Listening:

Opportunities to develop these skills include storytelling, conflict resolution, sharing stories and ideas, comprehension and response to read alouds, taking turns in Circle, following directions, Birthday Circle, moments of silence, and speaking in Meeting for Worship or Meeting for Community.

Talking, Telling, and Asking for Help!

Kindergarteners have been working hard these past few months to talk to each other when resolving conflicts. From time to time we gather in Meeting for Community to discuss the importance and complexities of using respectful words to solve problems.

We tell the children to first try to solve the problem on their own; when they do seek help or approach a teacher they say “I need help with a friend.” instead of telling on a child.  This language allows both children to take ownership of the problem and to be responsible for reaching a solution together.  Teachers then use a listening ear to clarify and support both children.  We are emphasizing that yes, we want children to talk to each other first.  However, if it does not work on the first try, to ask a teacher for help.  By asking a teacher for help, the children are able to get support and focus on the conversation.

This is all a work in progress and is never really a perfected skill.  

In Kindergarten, the children gain a lot of practice with this skill and by this time in the school year the benefits are obvious.  You can encourage your child to use similar language when solving conflicts at home as well.  The consistency helps to highlight the importance of using words to solve problems.

The children have been very busy the past few weeks learning new things, sharing ideas, creating family portraits, and gaining confidence in their skills and their roles as Kindergarteners!

We enjoyed many activities and would like to share some of our favorites:

We continue using our Handwriting Without Tears program.   We practiced the uppercase and lowercase Tt, Bb,Ff,Mn and Nn .  We focus on starting all of the letters at the top.  Ask your child to show you at home. We introduced our author of the month—Lois Ehlert.

• This month our author study will focus on Lois Ehlert.  She is a wonderful writer and illustrator.  Many of her stories focus on nature and specifically things like leaves, trees, mice, squirrels, and things that grow like plants and vegetables.  All topics which are perfect for this time of year!

• We enjoyed math stations.  We were introduced to pattern blocks and learned that another name for a “diamond” is a “rhombus.”  We spent time exploring with the pattern blocks creating patterns and new shapes.  

• We spent some time creating patterns with a variety of manipulatives including counting bears, unifix cubes, pattern blocks, and drawing patterns with crayons.  

• We practiced sorting and classifying buttons.  The children identified a variety of ways to sort and classify them.  Ask your child to share how they sorted their buttons.

As part of our Letter of the Week Study we enjoyed our exploration of the letters A,B and C.  We created a great list of "A",“B” and “C” words and were introduced to many new vocabulary words.  We added to our mini-dictionaries by completing the “B” and “C” pages. We have been playing a variety of games to increase phonemic awareness.  The games focus on a variety of skills including identifying “bigger” and “smaller” words, how many words are in a sentence, and sounds in words.

We continue to learn and practice our Fundations Key Cards.  The new ones include the letters Bb, Ff, Mm, and Nn.  Ask your child to share them with you.  (Bb-bat-”b”, Ff-fun-”f”, Mm-man-“m”, and Nn-nut-“n“).

• We have been busy writing in our Writing Journals and are working hard to remember to begin each sentence with a capital letter, leave a “one finger space” between words, and end with an end mark.

• B is for Banana Bread and C is Chocolate Chip Cookies!

• The children made banana bread to celebrate “Bb Week” and Chocolate Chip Cookies to celebrate “Cc Week.”  All of the children have opportunities to measure, pour, smell, and mix the ingredients.  As part of the cooking lesson, we read through the recipe together and discuss the ingredients.  Often we need to “double” the recipe which allows us to focus on math as well.  The children seem to really enjoy cooking in the classroom.  They like it when people stop by to investigate where the wonderful scent is coming from and ask us what we are making.  It is also an opportunity for children to try new foods. We even had enough cookies to surprise our 4th grade Book Buddies and we had a Chocolate Chip Cookie party in their room! The 4th graders adore their Kindergarten partners!

• "C" is for Comcast Center!  We took a walking trip to the Comcast Center with our Book Buddies and enjoyed watching the 3-D movie in the lobby and then was surprised to have the Philadelphia 76'ers' entertainment there. They performed acrobatic flips and gave us each a little football.  That was unexpected Philadelphia fun!  The children were thrilled!

• We enjoyed “Gathering” with all of our Kindergarten friends.  All three Kindergarten classes get together on Friday afternoon’s when we don’t have a scheduled assembly, and sing songs together.  It is a great community building activity and the children just love it.

Math and Counting

A big focus in math right now is on counting.  

We make counting a routine in the classroom so that it happens many times a day.  We count the days on the calendar and the number of days that we have been in school and record it on a growing number line posted on the wall.  We count the number of children in our class before attendance and when we are in line.  We count beginning at different numbers.  We practice counting forwards and backwards.  

Counting may seem both simple and trivial, but it is the basis for understanding our number system and for all of the work done in the primary grades.  

Counting involves the following skills: rote counting (understanding the number names and their sequence), one to one correspondence (understanding that one number stands for one object), keeping track (understanding what has been counted and what needs to be counted), connecting numbers to quantities (understanding that when we have finished counting, the final number in the sequence tells the quantity of the things we have counted), conservation (understanding that four is always four whether it be buttons, items in a line or in a group, or items that are pushed together or spread apart), and counting by groups (counting by two’s, five’s, ten’s, etc.)

These skills are developmental and cannot be truly mastered until a child is developmentally ready.  Each of these math skills are addressed in our daily routines.

Calendar Activities

The beginning of a new month means that it is time to take down last month’s calendar.  Our daily morning routine includes adding the day of the month to the calendar, keeping track of the number of days we have been in school, taking attendance, recording the weather, and identifying what day of the week it is today, what day it was yesterday, and what day it will be tomorrow.  

At the end of each month, all of the numbers on the calendar are removed.  Each child is given an opportunity to remove pieces that fit a certain category.  For example, a child might be asked to take down any number that is on a Monday, a number that comes before the number 21, a number that comes after the number 13, a number that ends in a 5, a teen number, or the first or last day of the month.  

In addition, before the weather graph and tally chart are wiped clean the graphs are discussed and children are asked to identify a variety of things:  for example, the number of sunny days, the type of weather that occurred the most or least, or how many more sunny days did we have than cloudy days.

This activity involves an extension of math skills learned: skills such as counting, identifying patterns, number recognition and number relationships, and understanding information on graphs.

The children enjoy this daily activity and especially look forward to the monthly dismantling of the calendar.

Building Community and Peaceful Conflict Resolution

One of the Quaker testimonies is nonviolence, a value that runs deeper than mere politeness and safety.  Violence is defined as anything that threatens a person’s sense of safety.  This includes things like physical hurting, name calling, and exclusion, which is an insidious form of personal violence.  

Within our community, we believe that people are good and generally do not want to hurt each other.  We also believe that everyone is capable of thinking about and reacting to conflict in a creative and peaceful manner.  At FSS, we strive to achieve this goal by educating our students in ways to solve conflicts peacefully and respectfully.  This does not happen magically and it takes quite a bit of focus and work on behalf of all members of our community.   

Teachers work with students to model appropriate language and strategies for listening to one another, taking turns speaking, processing what is heard, and ultimately having closure.  Often it is just a simple miscommunication, but other times it can require quite a bit of time talking it out.  Teachers work with students using role plays, active listening, stories, meetings for community, and other techniques that enhance self esteem as well as teach problem solving.

In addition, we exclude violent play such as wrestling, imitating violent images from media, pretend weapons, as well as Halloween costumes depicting violence.

Thinking Games

We have been introducing many new games in Kindergarten to reinforce important skills.  These are games that are played at various times throughout the day and can easily be played at home, too!

“I’m thinking of a number”- Give the child parameters to think within.  For instance, “I’m thinking of a number that is larger than 4 but smaller than 8.”

Clapping Syllables- Clap hands as you say names and words.  For instance, “to – day” (clap-clap).

I Spy- This is a great way to work on letters, letter sounds, colors, and shapes.  “I spy something that starts with the letter B.”  “I spy something that begins with the “b”  sound.”  “I spy something that is red.”  “I spy something that is round.”

Same/Different- Have your child notice something that is the same or different about two things (people, cars, dogs, hats, shoes, etc.).  For instance, “We both have sandals on.”  “I have short hair and you have long hair.”

Rhyme Time- Children love to identify rhyming words!  Give your child a word such as rug and have him/her come up with a rhyming word.  Keep alternating back and forth until you have run out of words that rhyme with rug.

Name that Number- Have your child name the number that comes just before or just after a specific number, or in between two numbers.  For instance, “What number comes after the number 9?”   “What number comes before the number 17?”   “What number comes between the numbers 3 and 5?”

These games can be played in the car, in the tub, walking to school, or while making dinner.  Have fun playing!

                            Family Conferences

Conference time is upon us!  The conferences are being held on Thursday, October 31 and Friday, November 1.  Taylor from the LS office will be sending out a google doc schedule for families to sign up for a time to meet with us.  

School will not be in session on either of those days although vacation care will be available for your convenience.  Judy Clever, the after school program director, can be contacted for information regarding the scheduled activities for those days.

Conferences are a time for us to share our observations and assessment of your child’s academic and social life within our community.  It is also a chance for you to share any observations or concerns that you might have. I will be sending out a pre-conference questionnaire.   Please fill it out and send back to school before your child's conference.

Each conference will be approximately 25 minutes.  We ask that you arrive promptly.  We will be careful to begin and end each conference as close to our schedule as possible.  If you need to bring your child with you, we will have some activities set up in the hallway outside our door for play use.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

OTHER IMPORTANT DATES

Wed. October 9 (note new date) is Lower School Specialists Night from

6-7:30

Friday, October 11-No School-Vacation Care available.

Monday, October 14 (Columbus Day)-No Vacation Care available.

Hopkins Pond Field Trip-October 22nd-9:30-11:30

Wednesday, October 30, Halloween Parade 8:30-9:15-Gym

Thursday, October 31-Parent/Teacher Conferences-Vacation Care available.

Friday, Nov. 1-Parent/Teacher Conferences-Vacation Care available.

Hopkins Pond Field Trip Date

We will visit Hopkins Pond (New Jersey) three times this year to observe the changes with each season.  All three Kindergarten classes will go together.  More information will be sent home as the dates approach.

Parents are welcome to join us!!

We leave school at 9:30 and return back by 11:30.

Trip 1: Tuesday, October 22, 2012  

As soon as the other dates are confirmed I will let you all know.

We continue to have fulfilling days, and are becoming increasingly independent in many of our classroom routines.  It is amazing how quickly the children have begun creating a fun and safe community in which to explore, learn, and grow.  The children have not missed a beat and are eager and excited to learn all that they can.  They are quite a fabulous group and make each day fun and exciting!

We have enjoyed many activities so far and we would like to share just a few:

• We created a birthday graph and discussed the results using words like most, least, more than, and less than.

• We played a Math game called Partner Match.  We explored measurement by comparing lengths and found our partner with the same length strip of paper.

• We had our very first Meeting for Worship and enjoyed meeting our Meeting Partner/Book Buddies for the first time.

• We continued to read stories by Rosemary Wells (this month's featured author) and talked about what was alike and different about the books we read.  The children are really enjoying these books.

• After sharing about our favorite first day activities, each child illustrated his/her personal favorite and they are hanging up on the bulletin board just outside of our classroom.

• We created self-portraits which are displayed in our classroom.  The children began by looking in a mirror and choosing suitable face paint based on their skin tone.  Next, they began drawing in their eyes, nose, mouth, etc.  Last, they added other special features they felt were important.  They are beautiful!  Please stop by to admire them and see if you can identify your child.

• We completed our age graph and found out that 10 of the children are five and 3 are six.

• We have been learning and singing songs in class.  Ask your child to share about them at home.

• We had our first fire drill which was very successful—the children were great!

Author Study

We are reading books by a well-known children’s author, Rosemary Wells.  So far we have been introduced to a few new characters, Max, his sister Ruby, and their Grandmother.  Max has taken us on a few exciting adventures, and we are eager to learn more about Max and meet some other characters as we continue our author study.  During each Read Aloud, children are asked questions about how they think a character is feeling or what they think the character might do next.  We also encourage children to make personal connections to the characters. We might ask them if they have ever been in a similar situation to a character and how they felt about it.  After reading a story where Max was lost in a department store for a few minutes, we heard lots of stories about lost children in our class.  We will also be learning about the author and find out what inspires her as an author.

Please consider taking a trip to the local library to read and check out books by Rosemary Wells!

In Kindergarten, we work together to keep our classroom running smoothly.  Our classroom community jobs help us to do this and give each child a sense of responsibility and pride.  Each week every child is assigned a specific job that he/she is responsible for.  The jobs change weekly and the children are always eager to complete their jobs and excited to begin a new one the following week.  Below is a list of our classroom community jobs:

Schedule Reader- responsible for announcing the daily schedule

Calendar- responsible for announcing the date and filling in the calendar

Meteorologist- responsible for checking, reporting, and recording the weather each day

Line Leader- responsible for setting a good example and being the first child in line

Door Holder- responsible for holding the door for classmates

Caboose- responsible for setting a good example and being the last child in line

Pet Keeper- responsible for taking care of the classroom pets

Lunch Helpers- responsible for helping to set up for lunch

Messenger/Librarian- responsible for delivering the attendance, lunch order, and library books

Electrician- responsible for turning off the lights to give announcements

Straws- responsible for adding a straw each day to keep track of the number of days of school (focus on ones, tens, hundreds)

Day of the Week- responsible for announcing what day it is today, what day is it was yesterday, and what day it will be tomorrow

Number of Days of School- responsible for writing the number of days we have been in school to add to our growing number line (focus on 5s and 10s)

Pinch Hitter- responsible for filling in or substituting for a job if a child is absent from school

The Friends Select birthday tradition for Kindergarten is one example of Quaker simplicity you and your child will enjoy experiencing.  We recognize each child on her or his birthday with a Birthday Circle.

During a Birthday Circle, each child in the class is asked to say something that is special or fascinating or wonderful (or ALL!)  about the birthday child.  We then sing “Happy Birthday.”  

Family is encouraged to join us for your child’s Birthday Circle.  Please let us know a week or so in advance when you would like to schedule it and we can figure out a time that works for you and for us. Also, please let us know if you would like to bring or send in a birthday treat.  

Please do not bring party favors, hats, noisemakers, or candy as we aim to keep it simple and centered on the birthday boy/girl.

If your child is having a party outside of school, we ask that you not send in invitations for us to distribute to classmates unless every child in the class is invited.

Please check in with us to schedule a convenient time for your child’s Birthday Circle.  If your child has a summer birthday, he/she can celebrate their half-birthday, or celebrate just before the end of the school year.  

Be ready to share in this special tradition!

This week a child asked the question, “What is Math?”  I posed this question to the whole class, and they had some wonderful responses which we captured on a Word Web.

The children said the following:

Math is…

--Counting

--Adding

--Subtracting

--Measurement

--Graphing

--Money

--Numbers

--Patterns

--Shapes

--Telling Time

--Solving Number Problems

--Temperature

--Calendar

Through this activity, the children realized how often we actually use Math and how woven it is into our Kindergarten day!  Each day the children engage in a variety of Math activities throughout the day and have an opportunity to explore Math through the use of manipulatives and fun games.

Book Buddies and Meeting Partners

Quaker beliefs focus on seeing the Light in each individual, and within the school community each person is treated with equity.  We are all able to learn from each other.  An activity that fosters this understanding is the classroom buddy system.  Our class is partnered with Tr. Liz’s third grade class.  

We met with our third grade partners for the first time last week.  It was great to see the children engaging with one another.  Each child in our class has a third grade buddy.  

The children will read with each other every Wednesday during our Book Buddies time and also attend Meeting for Worship together every Wednesday.  Throughout these experiences, third graders will learn how to appropriately react to a young child’s needs and our kindergarten children will learn how to be a “partner”.  

Last week we had our first Meeting for Worship (MFW).  It was held in our classroom with just our class.  We will hold Meeting for Worship in the Meetinghouse in just a few short weeks and our forth grade buddies will accompany us.   We spoke with the children about what it means to be a member of a Quaker School and read a book written and illustrated by FSS students to help explain the Quaker testimonies.  We also read a book chronicling a small child’s experience at a Meeting for Worship.  At this week’s MFW we asked the children to think about what makes them a good friend.  Many children shared their thoughts and feelings during MFW which was encouraging to see, as it speaks to the comfort level of the children in our class.  We had some time for reflection after the Meeting ended and asked the children what they noticed about the Meeting.  

Kindergarteners are encouraged to bring a book from home on Wednesday to share with their Book Buddies.  Please make sure to put your child’s name in the book.  Also, we will send home a picture of your child with his/her partner, so that you will become familiar with him/her.

We have been busy working on our morning routine.  Our goal is to help get all of our Kindergarten friends off to a smooth start each morning.  The following list explains the daily morning routine.

1. Hang book bag (and jacket) on a hook in the cubby.

2. Place the Take Home Folder in the wire bin in the classroom.

3. Place name clip inside the container.

4. Complete the Morning Message.  This activity will include reading directions and completing the task (Ex. Write the first letter of your name.).

5. Order lunch.

6. Choose a morning activity at one of the tables or on the carpet.

Take Home Folders are an integral part of our communication system.  Every afternoon it will be sent home with your child.  It may contain a reminder about a school event, a newsletter, a piece of work that your child has done, or a personal note about something that happened during the day regarding your child.  The folder will be sent home each day regardless of its contents.  There will be many days when we don’t send anything home.  It is also a way for you to communicate with us.  Please remember to check it every day and send it back to school the following day.  If the folder does not come back to school, your child will receive a “Rescue Take Home Folder” to use that afternoon.  Please then send both folders in the following day.

We are not equipped with telephones in the classroom and therefore ask that you not leave a message on our voicemail.  A better way to communicate with us is by email:

(Celesteh@friends-select.org;Catherinec@friends-select.org).  We generally check email regularly during the day and will respond to your email as quickly as possible.  Please send all emails to both teachers in the event that one teacher is absent on a particular day.  

If it is an emergency situation please feel free to call Taylor Foxwell at 215.561.5900 (Ext. 116) and he can notify us.

Lunch

School lunch is big business in Kindergarten!

Every morning one of our routines is deciding what to have for lunch. You received a lunch menu in the September monthly mailing but we also have a copy in our classroom for your convenience.  The menu is also posted each month on our school website.  The teachers go over the possibilities with the children every morning and assist them in making good choices.  It is helpful for the children if they know what the hot lunch is ahead of time.  This gives them ample time to think about what they would like and make a decision.  In addition to your child’s lunch choice, he/she will always have an option to get homemade soup, fresh vegetables, salad, and fruit.  

We encourage children to try things other than what they ordered and reassure them that taking something doesn’t mean that they have to eat the whole thing.  Talking at home ahead of time about your expectations and making healthy choices really helps the process go smoothly.

Smile It’s Picture Day!

On Tuesday, September 24th it is picture day.  Please remember to order a picture package and turn in your picture forms as soon as possible.

Back to School Night

On Thursday, September 19th, Friends Select Lower School will hold Back to School Night from 6:00-7:30.  The evening will begin with a brief meeting with David Wood in the gymnasium to share school information.  We will return to our Kindergarten classroom to discuss and share Kindergarten curriculum.  

We hope that you are able to join us for the informational meeting.

Classroom Rules

Each year we set about the big task of instituting guidelines and rules for our classroom.  I have learned over the years that the best ideas always come from the children and that they know exactly the kind of classroom environment which they would like to be apart of.  They also have better buy-in when they have created the rules themselves, as they are more meaningful.

The conversation usually begins by reminding the children of their “hopes and dreams” for the year and then asking them how we can make those ideas happen.  This leads into setting up guidelines/rules for our classroom.  Children state very clearly that we should be kind to each other, listen well, treat each other fairly, include everyone, use our class materials carefully, etc.  The list in amazing and from there we begin to group the ideas together which ultimately break down into two main groups- Take care of each other and Take care of our school.  

These two ideas are posted clearly in our classroom for us all to see and we refer to them frequently throughout the day.

Kindness Jar