Saturday, January 30, 2021

Hi JK Parents and Friends!

The last week of January 2021!  Wow.  We learned about Winter and finished our conversation, "What I Would do as President".  






Show N Tell was at record speed with our early dismissal Fridays!  I love how excited they get to share their favorites with their friends!  Much more meaningful in person than on Zoom!  

We read Rotten Ralph and The Rotten Valentine.  The Rotten Ralph books are always favorites as it's fun to read about someone being naughty!  Rotten Ralph put bugs in chocolates and gave them to people for Valentine's Day.  His owner loves him very much regardless of his rotten behavior.  He's really sweet once he stops acting rotten.  :). 



 







Little frosting mustache!  We loved your cupcakes, Zamir!  :). 





Literacy:
We practiced (all) letter formation on white boards as well as concentrating on the letter "Nn".  We made a list of "Nn" words, as well as words and names that have/end with "Nn".  Isolating letter sounds helps with their ability to decode even the most difficult words.  













Fine Motor:
We finished our "Snowmen at Night" paintings and writing prompt.  What wonderful imaginations they have!  We talked about words that describe things and listed options for writing to add more color to stories by asking who, what, where why and when.  We read and hunted for sight words, and vowel sounds, using "flippy dolphin" to use a different sound if the first didn't sound right.  We are working on digraphs and blends as we read through our RAZ kids books.  

We made February calendars and learned to cut symmetrical hearts.  We talked about our Valentine's Day Party which will be February 11, 2021-more to come regarding a sign up sheet and bringing in a white box to decorate for our Valentine's Mailboxes!  FYI:  There is no school February 12th for Teacher Professional Development Day.  There is also no school that Monday, February 15th in honor of President's Day!  







Math & Science:

French class was fun with Shape Bingo!  The children identified shapes and colors as they each practiced telling the class which color shape they had on their Bingo card-in French of course!  Their accents are amazing.  

We talked about snow and snowflakes and how frozen water and dust makes snowflakes.  Water can be frozen to become a solid or thaw to become a liquid again.  

SNOW DAYS are so fun!  I'm so happy we all were able to slide and play and build in the snow on Tuesday.  Our hill at the park is perfect for sledding.  We will try out our new sleds this week!  

We took a short walk to visit a Roycemore Alum, Mrs. Eisner, along with Adrianne Finley-Odell.  We sang "Happy Birthday" in celebration of Mrs. Eisner's 96th Birthday!  She was singing the Roycemore Song when she came (almost outside) to see us!  It was a beautiful, emotional visit and we were so happy to brighten her day.  

We are finalizing our plans for summer camp at Roycemore.  I will be teaching three camps total for Inspiration Factory:  Water Works (afternoons) and Author Study/Mo Willems-Elephant and Piggy (mornings).  Those camps will run the first two weeks school is out, with an option to stay for lunch and recess in between sessions.  The third week school is out I will be teaching a morning session camp (8:30-11:30 am) Little Chefs and Manners.  More to come on these but please be sure to sign up once those are made available to you.  They fill quickly and are an amazing way to kick start the summer!  The kids love them and it's so great to see their friends and meet new friends.  It's a great mix of fun in the sun and running through sprinklers as well as interesting learning time with hands on in the classroom and outside activities.  Along with Inspiration Factory Camps, Camp Griffin is available all summer, beginning the second week school is out.  Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions about camp!  It seems far away but always sneaks up on us.  

Have a lovely Sunday!

Ms. Massey


Sunday, January 24, 2021

 Welcome Back to all of These Fabulous JKers!

Oh what fun we had our first week back!

We read The Snowy Day and made snowy pictures using paint, cotton, glue and markers.  We made our own footprints outside in the snow and played games as we laughed with our friends we missed so much!  



























Math & Science:We took turns experiencing blubber and how it insulates in cold weather for our experiment.  We collectively came up with a hypothesis, that the blubber would keep us warmer than the unprotected hand in the ice cold water.  The children were surprised that the blubber we used is what fat looks like in our bodies, and that the fat or blubber on penguins is "good fat" that helps keep their bodies warm in the arctic waters.  

Literacy:
We read Snowmen at Night and practiced finishing the sentences with rhyming words.  The children used pastels and paints to make their own Snow people at night, and wrote stories that began..."If I were a snowman at night I would..." Have a party!  Eat lots of snow!  Skate!  Have a snowball fight!  They used inventive spelling and/or copied words using finger spaces between along with correct letter formation, always beginning at the top! 
































The children had fun playing with new games and classroom activities and toys that were delivered while they were on break.  They love our new cash register, puppets, sensory bin, play dough tools, games, etc.  



























Dr. Glader visited us and talked to JK about what to do if they have a problem, and how not telling anyone makes the problem or worry get bigger.  

Library was wonderful and Ms. Hilda had an incredible collection of books for the children to choose from.  We love spending time reading with each child after they pick out their library books.  





We read and learned more about Martin Luther King Junior and talked about what they would do if they were a leader like he was, or President of the United States.  More to come next week on those answers!  

Have a wonderful week!

Ms. Massey