An Amazing Start to the Year!

Hello Lovely Families!

So far the beginning of the year has been wonderful!  I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know your sweet children as we settle into a new school year!  Routines are being established, friends are being made and we are having lots of fun!

Math

We have begun our study of patterns!  We’ve learned some new games and have been building patterns with a variety of materials.  Can your child find or build patterns anywhere around home?  Perhaps a striped afghan or fancy socks…rugs, pajamas…we will soon be starting a list of patterns we find in everyday life, and I would love for you and your child to add to it!  Some of the new games we’ve learned will be added to the take home collection…please feel free to take games home anytime now! 

Language Arts

What a group of writers!  Writing workshop is already a success with everyone thinking of topics to write about and “writing” at his or her own level.  We have been exploring Language Arts choices…Alphabet BINGO, letter/word matching puzzles, beginning consonant games, letter hunts around the room, reading, name puzzles… We learned our first 2 letters in handwriting, F and E, using our special chalkboards for the first time…pretty exciting!  Next week letter studies will begin in small groups.

Theme

We have been busy with many activities getting to know each other better  and learning to use the 3 part message to help us solve problems peacefully.  

The 3 Part Message includes: Noticing (describing what you noticed or what happened), Feeling (telling how you feel), and Next Time (making a request for what you would like to see happen).  We spent a day on each part reading books to learn about it and using games to practice it.  Our feelings bean bag toss has been a big hit!  Be sure to ask your child about this one!  Finally, we used puppets to put all the parts together and practice using the 3 Part Message.  We have even had some real life opportunities to practice this message.  Sometimes we may say or do something in a grumpy way and then have a “rewind moment” and work on using this new method.  It is still new to the kids and will be something we work on throughout the year.  I am proud of the efforts they have put into learning how to use the 3 part message and extremely proud of those willing to try this in real life scenarios.  We have cards available in the classroom to help us remember each of the steps.  If you’d like one for home, let me know!

Inspired by projects we'd been working on for International Day of Peace, Cassius declared that he was going to work to end the war.  I asked what he was planning to do and he said "make posters".  I offered large paper and soon many friends had joined the cause!  Thanks for the idea Cassius!

Investigations

This is our end of the day choosing time.  There are so many ships to be built, picnics to be had, and books to be read!  It seems that this time of day has become a favorite for many.  I love taking a step back to watch the social interactions that occur as children explore various interests.  Free exploration offers a wonderful opportunity to grow as an individual and friend.  So far, favorite choices seem to be: tinker toys, the casita, reading, art, blocks and legos. 

I have rethought my request to have parents wait in the hallway until we clean up.  Investigations is actually a really neat time to come on in and interact with the kids.  So, as long as you think your child will still be able to participate in our community clean up (we all help to clean the whole classroom) at the end of the day, you are welcome to come on in and join us anytime after 2:30!  Please note: Wed is teacher planning day, so the afternoon schedule varies.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with me!  I cherish the time I get to spend with them and look forward to seeing them each day!  I am so thankful to have such an amazing group of kids to spend the year with!