Hi JK Parents and Friends!

This week we went upstairs to the science lab to experience "ooey gooey" science experiments.  The children were able to observe the interaction of chemicals that make glowsticks illuminate.  They also made their own slime and then watched a pumpkin explode, as a result of the breaking of a triple bond in a molecule of acetylene.  I am not sure they will remember the substances used, but they loved hearing that the pumpkin might have had too much Halloween candy!

This week in Spanish we celebrated Dia de los Muertos. We decorated skull cookies and shared our lanterns. The children were excited to wear their salt skull necklaces around Roycemore for everyone to see. We watched a video about Dia de los Muertos and discussed the significance of the celebrations and customs.

 "Dicen Feliz Dia de los Muertos!"  (Happy Day of the Dead)

 We painted our self portraits, paying special attention to our individual skin tones, hair color and eye color.  It is a great way to document the progression over the school year and observe the many ways our young artists are developing.

At the sensory table, we spent the closing of Halloween Day with sorting of bugs and centipedes, noting the similarities in texture, color, size and type of insect, counting each as we grouped them.

The short week flew by, as the class continued their practice of songs for Grandparent's Day in Music class, made November calendars decorated with pumpkin pie pieces (small, medium and large), and worked in small groups to then join our paper chains for one group art project.  Working collectively, making different patterns, using our fine motor skills, and collaborating on the best way to join each link to the class chain were all processes they worked through in this collective project.

We are studying the election this week and discussing ways we can be leaders in our own school, classroom, homes and communities.  Help our young citizens recognize ways they can be leaders and please feel free to share when you notice these efforts.

I am including an article on the importance and positive results of reading non-fiction books and would love to hear of any favorites your children have read.  Our themes are election and giving thanks this week and next, but we can find a way to incorporate their interests at any time.

Have a great week!

Why is nonfiction reading important for kids?
On average, kids today spend less than 4 minutes a day reading nonfiction1. Yes, 4 minutes. What can you actually read in 4 little minutes? How much can you truly understand and feel comfortable talking about later?

It is common knowledge that how much a child reads is important. Kids who read more will perform better, acquire a greater vocabulary and develop better critical thinking skills. However, what a child reads is also important. Statistics show that kids actually read an average of 25 minutes a day (which is very low compared to the 4 hours and 29 minutes a day they spend watching TV). Of those 25 minutes, just 4 are spent on nonfiction. But is that enough? How can reading nonfiction really help?

A study by Marzano underlined that nonfiction reading helps kids develop background knowledge. You might be thinking, “So what?” Well, that same study shows that background knowledge actually accounts for 33% of the variance in student achievement.

Educators now commonly assert that reading more nonfiction early on tremendously helps children reach the appropriate reading levels in later grade. An interesting report from ACT in 2006, Reading Between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals About College Readiness in Reading, states that “the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are college ready and students who are not is the ability to comprehend complex texts.” According to experts, nonfiction is a great way for kids to develop critical thinking and analytical skills and, you guessed it, the ability to read and understand complex texts.

Common Core State Standards are now addressing the growing importance of school curricula across the United States by increasing the amount of nonfiction texts in classroom reading lessons. In the past, 80% of the texts read in class were fiction. Now, the Common Core Standards aim for reading materials to be 50% fiction and 50% nonfiction. While it could take some time for this significant change to be fully implemented at school, the shift in what children read can also come from home!

Kids have to read nonfiction!
Of course, there’s no need to lock your child’s monster stories in a closet and replace them with boring textbooks! Work with them to learn what they’re interested in — whether it’s sports, science, or history — and look together for fun and interesting texts! Nonfiction is everywhere. The challenge is to find nonfiction texts that are engaging and age-appropriate for your little ones! Remember, the objective is to get them to read nonfiction daily and actually enjoy it! And while reading fiction is a great way to develop children's imaginations and creativity, it’s nonfiction that sparks their curiosity and opens their minds to the world!

JK Happenings!

Good evening JK parents!

Our week was full of activity with miming stories the children dictated to me and then acted out as we all recited together.  It's a great exercise to encourage collaboration and imagination, along with music and movement.  Our Halloween theme allowed us to discuss our bones and skeletal system and make skeletons from our names, along with completing our upper and lower case "B" word lists and hunting for B's in all of our stories we read and places we walked around the school.

 Making lanterns to decorate for the season!  

 Spanish class had the children painting and talking about celebrations in Mexico and their significance to practices today.

 Our reading buddies came to our classroom again and read to their JK buddies and then all of the groups made pictures together.  Their conversations became more relaxed as they worked on creating something together.  

We ended the week with the festivities of our class party with centers of art projects and making paper chains and witch pictures, designing our own snacks, creating from cinnamon play doh, throwing balls to score in bozo buckets, and drinking a special punch (witch's brew) with dry ice. The older kids entertained us and were so wonderful as the class enjoyed games and activities upstairs for Carnival.

Thank you for all of your help and contributions to our party and for your time spent assisting the kids with their costumes and fun. The month of November will bring our theme of giving thanks as we jump into a season of talking about what we can do to make someone else's day happier. We are filling buckets each day with our actions and words.

Have a great week!

October Awesomeness!

Happy almost Halloween from JK!  

These past two weeks have been such a fun time in our classroom!  We have studied the great artist Van Gogh, learned about bats and "echolocation" and had a pajama party earned through amazing participation and listening to fill our frog jar.  Some of the children were introduced to the wonderful world of smores for the first time!  Our sensory table provided tons of fun with pumpkins and shaving cream, and a fun way to write letters and numbers while squishing through glittery foam.  Their ability to regulate themselves in the classroom and navigate to each center has lead to their free choice of chosen activities.  We also ventured to the park many times, and colored textured drawings from our "Great Leaf Hunt".  This next week will be full of more Halloween fun and learning as we continue our handwriting practice and music and movement, through many songs with choreography.  They are all now "my kids" as they light up the room and grow in their abilities through socializing with friends in our intentional teaching environment!    

We used our witch's fingers in reading groups to underline the words in guided reading activities. Understanding the correspondence to words one at a time as they are grouped together to form sentences is essential to developing readers.  Each child is able to identify and circle letters in paragraphs as they teach the class where to find specific letters.

Starry Night painters aka little Van Gogh's!

Twinkies!

Each week the children are advancing in their Spanish familiarity through games and activities to practice colors and common phrases and items with Ms. Floyd.

"You shouldn't say some of those words Sally!"

The little teachers practicing their letters and numbers as they teach the class!

The detailed drawings and descriptions from these young artists impresses me every day!

Pastels, paint, glue and glitter!  Does it get any better?  

 And, our last "All About Me" poster has been presented by our newest addition to the classroom!  What a remarkable presentation from a four year old, talking about all of his favorite things.

 She definitely won the prize for largest show and tell item ever!  The children loved giving hugs to their new furry friend.

"It's really a princess but her kitty Sharp Claws isn't in the picture.  She's looking out the window and is late for the party!"

 Leap frog is an amazing game for exercise!  Mr. B knows how to make it all fun.

This week was full of Pumpkins in JK!  We learned about the parts of a pumpkin and read many books about various pumpkin facts and adventures.  We watched a video about a square pumpkin whose differences saved the entire pumpkin patch.  The students started practicing a skit about “Five Little Pumpkins” and enjoyed playing different parts before they “rolled out of sight”! 

We continued our love of cooking in class as we made pumpkin muffins.  We cooked them in the school oven, and then decorated them with cream cheese frosting, sprinkles and sugar and enjoyed them for our snack.  Throughout the process of becoming little chefs, they are also learning how to cook (collaborate and communicate) as part of a group, problem solve, measure ingredients, take turns, change the properties of ingredients by combining them, and that they can make something quite tasty by working together (compromising and discussing different ideas) and following instructions! 

Our third grade reading buddies visited our classroom and found cozy corners with their JK buddies to read their favorite stories.  The children ask about them every day and when they will see them again, so it’s clear they are enjoying the conversation and special attention they receive from their older friends.  

Our math skills were tested during a fun game with squirrels counting their nuts, where the children worked both individually and in small groups to recognize and identify numbers from 11-20.  Many are fluid in recognizing numbers from 1-10 but get a little stumped with the next group.  Feel free to use any opportunities at home or around town where you see the double-digit numbers, to point them out to increase familiarity.  It also makes it more relevant and easier to learn if they see a connection to their own lives and how the information will be useful.  Each day we practice our “Handwriting Without Tears”.  Repetition when writing the lower case letters is slowly replacing the all caps from the very first week.  We will continue to build on our names by adding last names, phone numbers etc. as each student is ready. 

Show and Tell continues to be a highlight of the week as the children practice their public speaking and leadership skills by managing the questions from their classmates and discuss their favorite items.  We are jumping into Van Gogh next, and are mixing in a little of our bat study early to keep the October and Halloween excitement alive. 

Have a great week! 

Hi JK parents! 

We had a wonderful week learning about farm life and animals.  We simulated milking a cow (and think we were all squirted in the eye at least once!) and watched a video of children who live on a farm and milk cows everyday.  The class was amazed at how much effort it required to produce a small bowl of milk.  We also played a harvest-time counting math game, painted self portraits, decorated farm scenes, practiced our handwriting and reading in our small groups, and played rhyming games where the children were all identifying how the words had like endings but different beginnings.  I love the words they create when rhyming! 

They are amazing singers and dancers, and have already learned a new song about October and picking “fat pumpkins”.   Our class is becoming more cohesive and making great strides to complete filling our frog jar.  I see a pajama party on the horizon!