I have been out the past two days at some leadership trainings, and will be out again on Monday to do future PBL planning with the Kindergarten teaching team. I feel fortunate to be able do this professional development, but really miss being in class with the kids. Fortunately, Ms. Wiegand is in our classroom every Friday and Monday, so she can fill in for me when these opportunities come up. We have been busy finishing some important learning units before Winter Break. For the last two weeks, the students have been evolving quickly as writers who can write true stories about their lives that readers can actually read! We will be publishing a narrative piece at the end of this week by video taping our selves reading one of our stories. We will also continue to build our reading muscles by independently reading our just right books. After break, our morning learning station time will morph into a Readers' Workshop and a Math Workshop structure. We will also be diving into some exciting afternoon Fabric Science exploration. Hour of CodeOn Thursday, some 5th grade students helped our class participate in the hour of code. Coding is not easy work ~ it takes perseverance, patience, and a lot of thinking. The 5th grade buddies and parent helpers were a great resource to us and may have learned a little something themselves about patience when they worked hard to try to "help" and not "tell" the kindergartners what to do. I sadly missed this event, but Ms. Ward shared that she saw many 5th graders and parents re-explaining concepts, using real life examples, and simply letting kids make mistakes. This was a great learning opportunity for all! Thanks to all the parent helpers for coming in! If anyone has any photos of the event that I can post, please send them my way. If your student wants to do more at home, the link is http://code.org/learn/beyond. Two important Art requests from Ms. AmselClassroom Volunteer Our students go to art every Tuesday and Thursday from 1:05 – 1:35. Amanda, our wonderful art teacher, could really use an adult volunteer to help her in class. If you are able to commit to helping her, please let one of us know! Art Portfolio Please send a brown paper bag with handles (the heavy-duty ones like the ones from Whole Foods or Trader Joes) with your students name written on it to school. It will be used to make an art portfolio for your student to keep track of their art for the rest of the year. Progress ReportsProgress reports will be coming home in orange folders at the end of the week. This is your kindergarten student’s first progress report. Progress reports give you information about how your child is progressing academically and socially. There is a wide range of normal in kindergarten! Typically, kindergarten progress reports contain lots of 3’s (right on track as an early learner) and lots of D’s (right on track in transitioning to school routines and social kindergarten behaviors). Please do not feel that 3’s and D’s mean that your child is not amazing and full of potential. It is exactly where we want students to be. | Continuing to explore |