FYI: Free Home Depot Workshops for Kids....9/5/09

Home Depot offers free Kids Workshops the first Saturday of each month from 9-12 at all locations. This Saturday, they are offering a workshop entitled 'Build a Bean Bag Toss.' For more info, please visit http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/Kids_Workshops

For the Record!

Just for the record, there were no criers in the classroom on the first day of school! The kids did wonderfully. Once we get into a routine, things get easier for the children.

I hope they sleep well tonight. They were tired by the end of the day.

Thank you.

Kindergarten Blog

http://www.stjohnthebaptistkindergarten.blogspot.com/

I will be posting the most relevant information on my Kindergarten blog. This way, if you lose the paperwork, you can just look online.

I would also love to utilize this blog for community events or any information that you as Saint John the Baptist parents have to share with our Kindergarten community. For example, I just found out about the website:

http://www.baystateparent.com

This site is a wonderful resource for events taking place in the Central and Eastern parts of Massachusetts for all of you Boston lovers.

If you have something you would like for me to put on my blog, please slip me a note!

I will not post names or pictures on this blog as a safety precaution and to honor all confidentiality.

Thank you!

Kindergarten Homework

Kindergarten Homework

1. Each Monday, the children will be sent home with a list of 5 Sight words. The children are expected to study these words and to be prepared to spell the words for me either orally or on paper. The informal quizzes will not begin until October, as I don’t want you or your child to begin the year stressed out. They will either be quizzed on Friday or the following Monday. I will send home a Sight Word game each week for you and your child to play. These suggestions invite the children to read, spell, write, draw, etc. the sight words. Making these words part of your child’s sight vocabulary means more fluent reading. You can make up your own games as well. For example, I created Enter/Exit with my daughters. I tape a sight word to the entrance of rooms in our house. In order for them to enter the room, they must be able to read the word on the door. I do the same on the other side of the door for them to exit.

2. The students will also receive a weekly reader that goes hand and hand with our Scott Foresman Reading Street Language Arts curriculum. I would like for the children to practice reading the booklet each night. This does not need to be returned to school. If your child can read the book very easily, I recommend that you visit this website:

http://bartlettes.scsk12.org/~cordonc/LeveledReaders.html

These are our leveled readers that can be read online. I always send home the first reader, but the others underneath are more challenging. Use these if your child is showing eagerness to read more.

3. Math Journals are also part of homework this year. The Math Journals are a nice way for the children to record how they understand a math idea by either drawing or writing. The Math Journal is a way for the children to express their mathematical thinking in their own way creatively and artistically. They will have one Math Journal exercise each night.

4. Lastly, I am encouraging the children to become ‘Helpful Hands’ at home and within their community. This ties in with our curriculum because Kindergarten is a time to learn sharing, helping, and independence. Many times the children who leave messes behind or do not offer help to others do not have responsibility at home. I am asking that each child perform one simple chore a day at home to instill sharing, helping, and independence.

An organized homework packet will be sent home on Mondays and are due back the following Monday. This gives your family a full week to work on the assignments.

5. Good Morning Presentations are also an extension of Kindergarten homework. This handout will be separate.

Good Morning Presentations

Good Morning Presentation
First Presentation Topic- My Summer Fun

The Good Morning Presentation is another aspect of Kindergarten homework this year at Saint John the Baptist School. This is going to be a glorified Show and Tell experience for the children. Your child will present four topics throughout the year.

Each morning at Morning Meeting, one child will deliver a two-three minute presentation on a topic. A typical presentation may include a Kindergartner introducing a family pet through stories and a homemade poster. Another presentation may be a child informing her classmates about her trip to Florida. The opportunities are endless.

The Good Morning Program encourages intellectual community, builds research and speaking skills, and provides an opportunity to pursue and share interests. It is our goal to have students become comfortable when speaking in front of an audience.

How do I get started?

1. Brainstorm with your child about the topic in which they will be presenting.

Example: Brandy: My Pet Dog

2. Plan out the presentation with your child and come up with about 8-10 sentences that will tell about the topic.

Example:
1. Brandy is my dog.
2. She is really my grandma’s dog but we visit her all the time.
3. My mommy won’t let me get my very own dog.
4. Brandy is a cocker spaniel and she is 12 years old.
5. She is tan colored and she smells bad.
6. She smells because of skin and mouth problems.
7. I love to take Brandy for walks to the pond.
8. Brandy has a best friend and her name is Kitty.
9. She also loves my Papa and Mema a lot.
10. They take good care of her and bring her to get haircuts.

3. You will write the sentences out on a piece of paper with visual clues so that your child will know what to say. At home, your child will practice this presentation many times so that he/she will be prepared to present at school. I always help the children with their readings. By the third presentation, your child will be able to do much of the reading on his/her own.


4. Your child will also create a homemade poster with minimal help from parents. The poster should enhance the presentation in some way and should be neat and easy to see from afar. It is your child’s job to design and draw on the poster. When the children create the posters themselves, you can see such joy and excitement in their eyes. The children take ownership for their work and feel so very proud.

Family Sharing: Tuesdays at 10:30

I am designating each Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. as Family Sharing. There is an assigned date for each of you to attend. Please sign the form stating that someone from your family will attend the assigned date and please mark it on your calendar! The date will be sent home within the second week of school. (It can be the kindergartner’s mother, father, aunt, sibling, etc.) The purpose of this is for the children to have guest speakers, to see Catholic role models within their community, and for the children to show-off their beloved families! The speakers will be you, the family members from the community who will talk with the children. This year’s theme is Gifts and Talents from God.

Formed in God’s Image, we are called to participate in the work of Creation. We bring our God-given talents to life each time we use them to help others. Creativity is all around us: in the construction of buildings, in gardens filled with plants and flowers, in posters and flyer announcements, in meals prepared for our sustenance and enjoyment, in any form of human enterprise that calls upon our imagination and industry. Our task is to discover and use our gifts for the benefit of others.

“We are the makers, creators, artists, with the potential to make the world a better place, to heal its scars, to sustain and enhance its life.”
” Pope John Paul II

With your family, discuss some of the specific ways to use your God-given gifts and talents to help those with whom you live, work, pray and play.

Think It Through:
God has loved us into being and has given us the gifts to help those in our communities and beyond. Name a gift or talent that God has given you and members in your family.

As a family, design a “Family Shield.” Make a symbol or picture representing each individual’s gift or talent. Talk about how and when to use those talents for the good of the community. You will use your Family Shield during your presentation and then we will display it in our Kindergarten classroom.

When you come in, you will talk to the children about your Family’s Shield. This should be a great experience for you and your child. Some possible activities that you can do to prepare for your visit include:

-Find photographs of you displaying your gifts and talents
-Give of your gifts through several family projects this year
-Consider studying more about your gifts and talents to become even more educated
-Help your child discover his/her own gifts and talents
-Compliment others in the community for their special contributions to the world

This is a meaningful activity that you should get your child and entire family involved with. It will help your child understand how God instills unique characteristics in us all.

The speakers will generally talk for about 15 minutes. The children will have time for a short question and answer period. In addition, it would be wonderful if you brought along a short activity or related story to conclude the visit. Please contact me with any questions/concerns related to Family Sharing. It should be a wonderful experience!

*Please sign the slip that will come home with your child.

A Few More Items...

I would like for the children to bring in a picture of his/her family. I would like this by the second day of school if possible so that we can make Family Hearts for the children to hang in their cubbies. This is a nice way to comfort a child if he/she gets troubled during the day. I bring the child to his/her Family Heart and they feel reassured by looking at their family. The picture can be recent or when they were a baby!

I also would like for the children to bring in a disposable camera with his/her name on it. I would like for this to be in by next week. The children will take two or three pictures a month of something special going on in our room. During Free Choice Time your child may make some Lego creation that they will want to take a picture of. Also, if I see your child doing something cute, creative, etc…basically a Kodak moment, I’ll snap away so that you’ll have that moment to treasure as well. At the end of the year, we can print these to create a Kindergarten Keepsake Book.

If I think of anything else, I’ll be sure to let you know!

Thank you.

Kindergarten Schedule

Kindergarten Schedule

7:55-8:30
Morning Circle
Prayers, Greetings, Easel Lesson, Good Morning Presentation, Energizer: Theater Games or American Folk Songs for Children by Mike and Peggy Seeger

8:30-9:15
Math Lesson
Problem of the Day, Group Lesson from Sadlier-Oxford, Worksheet Assessment

9:15-9:45
Free Choice Time
Dramatic Play Boxes (authentic tea set, Home Depot builder, hairdresser, tourist, etc.)
Blocks, Art, Reading Area, Legos, and more…

9:45-10:30
Bathroom, Snack, Recess

10:30-11:15
Kindergarten Special
Monday: Computers
Tuesday: Family Sharing, Art at 1:09
Wednesday: Physical Education
Thursday: Computers
Friday: Music

11:15-12:20
Lunch and Recess

12:20-12:30
Relaxation
Relaxation Meditation, Books From Home, Talk about Feelings

12:30-1:00
Journal, Handwriting, Reading, Religion
Monday: Journal Writing (book will go home at the end of year)
Tuesday: Handwriting (book will go home at the end of year)
Wednesday: Junior Great Books
Thursday: Handwriting
Friday: Formal Religion Lesson from Blest Are We (Silver Burdett Ginn) and Starting the Way God’s Way (McGraw Hill)

1:00-1:40 (M,W, Th, F…Art is on Tuesday)
Language Arts
Group instruction: Scott Foresman Reading Street Series
Question of the Day
Comprehension
Phonological Awareness
Letter Recognition
Shared Writing
Worksheet pages

1:40-1:50: Prepare for Dismissal at 1:55

The First Day Poem

The First Day

I gave you a little wink and smile
as you dropped your child off today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
and know your child must stay.

You've been with her for five years now
and have been a loving guide,
but now, alas, the time has come
to leave her at my side.

Just know that as you drive away
and tears down your cheeks may flow,
I'll love him as I would my own
and help him learn and grow.

For as a parent, I too know
how quickly the years do pass,
and that one day soon it will be my turn
to take my child to class.

So please put your mind at ease
and cry those tears no more,
for I will love her and take her in
when you leave her at my door.

Author unknown