Ms. Graham's Kindergarten Class

Thank you and Good-bye!

2010-06-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Families:
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I want to first thank you for the opportunity to have taught your beautiful children. They are an amazing group of kids who are so ready for First Grade (so don't worry!) They brought such joy to me each and every day. I cannot believe ten months went by so fast. It seems like yesterday when we all first met. I am really going to miss them so much.

I also want to thank you for all the support you have given to me during the school year. You are a great group of parents who I always knew that I could call on for any number of things. Whenever the Kindergarten classes went on school trips, I always knew that I would have a huge number of my parents to come with us. I always had more parents than any other class. Whenever we needed school supplies, all I had to do was ask...the supplies were in the classroom the next day. This made my job so much easier. Thank you.

I want to thank you also for the beautiful plant and the very generous gift that I received on Friday. I meant it when I said that teaching your children was a gift enough. Yet, I do want to thank you so much. Again...it was over the top.

I want to thank my class parents, Keith's mom, Roshi's mom and Lily's mom, for all the coodination they did throughout the year. I know how difficult that job is. Thank you on behalf of myself and the class.

Well...our time is coming to an end and it is always at this time of the year when I get very sad and emotional. Yet, I have all the great pictures and now the wonderful video that Beth Benson made for our class so you and your children will never be far from my thoughts.

As many of you know, I will not be teaching Kindergarten next year. I am moving on to Second Grade. Hopefully, I will have some of my wonderful children again in a couple of years.

Have a wonderful restful and happy summer. If you ever need to speak to me, my door is always open. See you around the neighborhood.

Fondly,
Ms. Grahsm

THANK YOU

2010-06-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Parents:

I want to thank you for coming to today's Spring Celebration. The children did an amazing job with their poems and songs. I really loved it and hope that you did as well. They were the cutiest Sunflowers that I have ever seen.

I know that you also will be happy reading your children's poems in the P.S. 154's Poetry Extravaganza Book of Poetry which will be going home today in your child's backpack. The kids in K-207 picked out their favorite poem to get published in this book and the poems are really adorable. Our own books of poetry are on the bulletin board outside our classroom. When I was putting the poems in the book, I could not believe how many poems they had written. The poems the children recited today were poems from our Shared Reading for the several weeks before the celebration. They love reciting them. Copies of the poems are now in their Shared Reading notebooks. Have the children recite them to you again while they point to each word. It is amazing how well they are reading.

The children just loved writing their poems. The writing unit of study on Poetry teaches children to explore, and savor language, valuing voice and repetition, sounds and onomatopoeia (even if they never heard any of these terms before). The children in Class K-207 learned to read and write with an ear, appreciating and revising the pace and rhythm of words, and they learned to care not only about their topics, but also about how they write about those topics. Poetry can teach children to deliberately craft their language, trying things on the page on purpose, hoping to create special effects.

Poetry can also encourage young children to see the world with fresh eyes. They write what the see. Children can learn to see with their hearts, to show their feelings by pretending and imagining with language. The children in Class K-207 learned to have fun with words…to be daredevils and gymnasts with language.

For any parent who was not able to come to the spring celebration, please take time to look at their book of poems on display outside our classroom.

Thank you to for all the snacks and supplies that we have received. The Children were so happy to see so many of you today. Also...thank you for all your support. I know that on any occasion I could call any number of you to come by and help me. You are a great group of parents! I will miss you next year.

Fondly,
Mrs. Graham

PS: Kindergarten Graduation - June 23rd in the MultiMedia Room.... More to follow!

SPRING CELEBRATION

2010-06-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Parents:

PLEASE JOIN CLASS K-207 FOR A SPRING CELEBRATION. THIS IS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS BUT WILL BE FUN. WE WILL BE PERFORMING SOME OF OUR FAVORITE SPRING POEMS AND SONGS.
BRING YOUR CAMERAS!!!

WHEN: Friday, June 4, 2010

TIME: 9:00 A.M.

WHERE: CLASS K-207

*Too many wonderful things going on in Class K-207 – not enough time in the day!!!!

Love,
Ms. Graham and the Children of Class K-207

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

2010-05-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

Dear K-207 Families,

I AM SORRY THAT I HAVE NOT WRITTEN IN A WHILE...I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW FAST TIME GOES. I AM ALSO IN A LITTLE BIT OF DENIAL THAT YOUR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN WILL BE LEAVING ME AND MOVING TO FIRST GRADE! WHILE THAT THOUGHT MAKES ME A LITTLE SAD, I AM HAPPY TO SAY THAT EACH ONE OF THEM IS READY!

IMPORTANT!
I would appreciate it very much if you would send in as soon as possible a favorite family recipe. (You could also send in a few if you wish!) I would like to have these recipes before Wednesday of this week. It would be great if the recipes could be typed on white paper but not necessary. I would like you to change the title of the recipe to include your child’s first name. The titles could be made up – for example… “LILY’S LUSIOUS LEMON PIE”. I know this is a last minute notice, so I understand if you cannot do this. (“Always something, Mrs. Graham!”) If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with me.
NEXT IMPORTANT NOTICES!

Save the date! Our class’ graduation is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23rd from 9am-11am. More information is included below.

Please note Parents as Enrichment Partners this month takes place on Friday, May 14th for the entire school. I am trying to get together a little poem presentation for that day. I will keep you posted

• K207, K203 and K109 graduation is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23rd. Due to the large size of this year’s Kindergarten, we will be holding 2 separate graduation ceremonies. K207’s graduation will be held in the Multimedia Room on Wednesday, June 23rd from 9-11am. Teachers and class parents are collaborating on the planning.

Teachers have decided on colors for each class. Our class color is red. The class color helps create somewhat of a uniform appearance during the ceremony, and helps set a casual tone. Please keep in mind that some children will be coming back to the classroom after the ceremony for the second half of the school day and should be dressed appropriately for school (i.e. paint, clay, playground, etc.) You can, of course, take your child out for their special day. I know that many parents love to take their children to lunch with the family. Please let me know what you decide.

That said, K-207 kids are welcome to wear a red t-shirt or shirt, along with neutral or red bottoms—or a red dress. Alternatively, if you had something else in mind that you wanted your child to wear—in other words, something not red--you might want to incorporate a touch of red just so they feel a part of the color theme. For example red socks or hair barrettes, a red pin, or something else with a red pattern even, could be a fun addition to an otherwise non-red ensemble. Please understand that by no means do we intend for families to make a special clothing purchase for this ceremony.

• We are pleased that one of the grandfathers in Ms. Kissen’s class (K-203), Miles' Grandfather Michael, the Playground Builder, will visit all the Kindergarten classes this Wednesday, May 5th. We are grateful to Miles’ grandfather Michael for driving out to PS 154 all the way from his home in Pennsylvania to show the children images from many of the playgrounds he was involved in building. He’ll also be on hand to continue to answer their many wonderings about playgrounds. Thanks to Miles’ family and for Ms. Kissen for helping to make this happen!

• Interested in joining K-207 this Thursday 5/6 at 9:30 for our weekly walk to the Vanderbilt playground?
Class K-207 has been having a ball watching the progress of the building of Vanderbuilt Playground. We have been making weekly visits (for a total of 5 so far) and have been keeping a journal on the progress. We have talked to a variety of architects, engineers and playground builders. We have met with the designer and interviewed her several times about the progress. When this playground opens in the summer, the children in Class K-207 will be so invested in this playground that they will believe this playground belongs only to them. We have been especially interested in the huge Spider Web from Germany. It is almost completed and the children are so excited that they intend to try to build a large one in our classroom. We will need a lot of supplies to accomplish this huge task. If anyone has large styrofoam balls just hanging around or red rope or the paper towel rolls (we need many of these), please send them in ASAP. If you would like to help us build, please let me know.

• K-207 would love to plant in our classroom!
I would love to have a few parents take the lead with helping K-207 make a class garden! This will be in addition to the garden that we are taking part in the schoolyard. The K teachers have decided on a theme for our plot: A spaghetti garden! I would like to get seedlings and begin the process in the classroom. Let me know if you’d like to volunteer to help the kids’ plant!

• Reminder: Paper Bag Players trip is this Friday 5/7
If you have not yet done so, please remember to sign and return the permission slip for the Paper Bag Players trip on May 7th. I will let you know tomorrow what parents will be coming on the trip.

• Reminder: Kindergarten Author Visit with Nina Crews scheduled for Thursday, May 13th
Local author, Nina Crews, returns to PS 154 to meet with the kindergarten classes! (She visited last year’s kindergarten also.) Over the next several weeks we’ll be reading from her books The Neighborhood Mother Goose and Below. She’ll be doing a presentation on her illustrating and writing process and the children will have the opportunity to ask her questions.

• Reminder: K-207 visits Prospect Park Imagination Playground with our Fourth Grade Buddies on Wednesday, May 19th at 9:30
We are scheduled to take a school bus over to Prospect Park’s Imagination Playground located at Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Road with our Fourth Grade Buddies. We will be leaving school at 9:30 am and will return to school before lunch at 11:10. I welcome parent and/or caregiver volunteers for this trip. If you are interested in joining us, email me, or send me a note in your child’s homework folder.

• Seeking Recycled Materials & Other Materials for Playground Constructions
As I stated earlier, Class K-207 is interested in making a large spider web for our classroom. In addition, some children may be interested in creating other playground equipment. I’d like to start collecting materials now. I’ll be collecting the following: empty cracker boxes/cereal boxes/ & other boxes of a variety of sizes, paper towel rolls, cleaned plastic & tin take-out containers, cleaned plastic yogurt containers and other similar containers of different sizes; felt & other fabric swatches; cotton balls; gardening wire (that is easily bendable by kindergarteners), cardboard; foamcore (hard posterboard); electrical tape in a variety of colors; modeling clay/Fimo, cardstock and other materials that easily lend themselves to 3-dimensional construction. If there are other materials you have on hand that you may wish to donate, simply contact me. Other items on my wish list include a couple of masking tape dispensers and an additional hot glue gun for the classroom. Once we begin this construction process, stay tuned as they’re will be plenty of opportunities for parents to help with the construction process in the classroom.

• Seeking assistance doing general classroom work afterschool
I can use some general classroom help after school. There is work to be done organizing books, cutting cardboard, prepping materials, and more. If you have as little at 20 minutes, after school one day, please let me know.

• Mark your calendars:
- Wednesday, May 5th: Playground Designer visits all K classes.
- Thursday, May 6th: Walk to Vanderbilt in the morning!
- Friday, May 7th: Kindergarten trip to see the Paper Bag Players
- Thursday, May 13th: Kindergarten Author visit with Nina Crews
- Friday, May 14th: Parents as Enrichment Partners 8:50 –9:20am
- Wednesday, May 19th: class trip to the Imagination Playground in Prospect Park with our 4th Grade Buddies.
- Monday, May 31st: Memorial Day, school closed
- Wednesday, June 23rd: 9am-11am, Kindergarten graduation with classes K207, K203 and K109.
- Monday, June 28th: Last Day of School

Thank you for your support! You are a wonderful group of Parents and I have enjoyed working with you this year SO MUCH.

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

Happy Spring Break!

2010-03-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Families,

Happy beginning of the Spring Vacation Week!!! As you can see, I am thinking about the children and miss them already....and it’s only been ONE day!

I am sorry that I have not written in quite some time. Where does the time go? My son, Brendan, who is a Freshman at Tulane advised me that I haven’t been on the blog for a long time. I was surprised to learn that he is keeping up with me and Class K-207 by looking at the blog every now and then - even from college. WOW!

You may not believe this but I have been actively getting ready - sadly - for the end of school and the graduation of your beautiful children from Kindergarten and the stepping up to First Grade. Believe me they are ready!!! I am so sad because I would love to keep them all in Kindergarten forever! I will soon be in touch with my Class Parents and would appreciate any help and input that my families can give to us. Our Kindergarten graduations have always been so special and seem to get better every year. It is certainly not too early to start. Believe me....time goes by very very quickly.

A couple of notes....we are in the midsts of our new unit of study in Social Studies this month. We started investigating Playgrounds! The Kindergarten teachers are working extensively with a staff developer, Renee Dinnerstein, on using the Reggio Emilia approach to investigate new topics. We will continue to collaborate with her over the next few months.

As part of our study, the children will be visiting playgrounds, interviewing contractors, looking at blue prints of playgrounds, and designing our own maps and blue prints of playgrounds. The children will be encouraged to ask questions and think creatively throughout this study. We launched this study on Friday by visiting the wonderful playground at the Liberty Science Museum. Thank you to all my parents who volunteered to come on the trip with us. I had TEN parent volunteers who came with us. They were so helpful and really worked hard on keeping on eye on all the children who were running around, climbing and going down large slides. The children loved the “science” playground....We had sole use of the playground for a period of time and the children loved investigating the NEW things they saw at the playground. When we returned to class, the children drew and wrote in their science notebooks what they saw in the playground that “surprised” them. They are doing wonderful scientific investigations and are making very involved observations.

Some ideas we have for this unit are for the children to design their own playgrounds, visit various playgrounds in the neighborhood, and even create a family “playground memory journal.” Please remember your favorite memory of a playground experience and send in any pictures that you may have of yourself at the playground. We will be sending the journal home for you to write in. The children will love to hear all about your experiences as a child. We are also going to be comparing photographs of playgrounds and looking at playground catalogues. We will be actively using the Smartboard in the classroom to think and design our very own playground. Please let us know if you have any photographs or pictures from magazines or the internet of playgrounds. If anyone is or knows any landscapers or architects who could come into the Kindergarten classes to discuss how playgrounds are built, please let us know!

We will also be keeping a journal on the making of the new Vanderbuilt Playground and will be visiting the site weekly to observe and report on the progress of the work. If anyone has any suggestions or contacts with this project, it will be very appreciated. If you would like to take your children to view the site over the vacation period - and maybe take some pictures that we can look at on our return - that would be a great beginning.

To give you a heads up....on April 9th - the first Friday after the Spring Break - K 207, together with the other Kindergarten classes, will be visiting the Brooklyn Children’s Museum to participate in an animal exploration and museum exploration. Thank you to Sandy, Matthew Smith’s mom, for helping to arrange this great trip for us. The permission slip was given out on Friday in your child’s backpack.

We are still in need of large glue sticks, crayons, black felt pens.

Thank you all for your support.

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

Publishing Party - March 5th

2010-03-04T15:45:00.000-08:00

Dear Parents:

For those of you who did not get the invitation in your child's backpack please see the invitation below:

PUBLISHING PARTY

CLASS K-207 HAS COMPLETED THEIR WRITING UNIT ON

“How To Books”

PLEASE JOIN US FOR A CELEBRATION OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENT. WE WILL BE READING OUR FINAL PIECES TOMORROW MORNING AT PARENT AS LEARNING PARTNERS

WHEN: FRIDAY, March 5, 2010
TIME: 8:40 A.M.
WHERE: CLASS K-207

Also here are a few updates and requests:

The Chinatown trip has been rescheduled for Friday, March 12th. We will be leaving the school at 10 a.m. (LET'S HOPE IT DOESN'T SNOW, SLEET OR RAIN THIS TIME!!!!)

The Pizza Party has not yet been rescheduled! We will keep you informed.

We will be making butter on St. Patrick's Day with our 4th grade buddies. We will be in need of glass jelly jars. Please do not throw them away after you finish with the jelly. For that day our class is responsible for very SMALL bagels. We would appreciate any assistance that you can provide us with obtaining these bagels. (PS: The butter will be GREEEN!!!!) This activity will happen on March 17th at 10:20 if you would like to come by.

I am in need of large glue sticks and black flair pens. We also need crayons, markers and colored pencils.

We have enough snacks in our classroom to last us a while. I will let you know when we will need more. Of course, we still LOVE Fruity Friday.

Thank you for all your help.

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

2010-02-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

DEAR PARENTS:

BAD NEWS!!!! THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS ARE SADDENED THAT OUR ANNUAL TRIP TO CHINATOWN SUNSET PARK, TOMORROW - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 WILL BE POSTPONED DUE TO THE BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS. WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MAY CANCEL ALL TRIPS AND BUSES BUT WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TELL US UNTIL 6 P.M. TONIGHT OR EARLY TOMORROW MORNING. THE RESTAURANT – PACIFICANA – ADVISED US THAT THEY WOULD NEED TO KNOW WHETHER WE WOULD BE COMING TO THE RESTAURANT BY EARLY AFTERNOON BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE TO STAFF THE RESTAURANT. IF WE WERE NOT ABLE TO MAKE IT TOMORROW, WE WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYMENT. WE WOULD RATHER BE SAFE THAN SORRY SO WE HAVE DECIDED TO POSTONE THE TRIP AND WILL RESCEDULE AT A LATER DATE.

IN ANY EVENT, IF WE DID GO TOMORROW, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE OUR WALKING TOUR OF THE CHINATOWN NEIGHBORHOOD BECAUSE OF THE SNOW AND WOULD BE MISSING OUT ON A LOT OF INTERESTING SEA CREATURES – TURTLES, CRABS, ETC. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THE KINDERGARTENERS LOVE TO DO.

WE HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND AND WILL LET YOU KNOW THE NEW DATE AS SOON AS WE RESCHEDULE. ANYWAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR - 4707 – YEAR OF THE TIGER! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.

FONDLY,
MS. GRAHAM

PS: I AM GOING TO TRY TO RESCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 12TH. OUR PARENT HELPERS FOR CLASS K-207 WILL BE:

ANTONIO'S MOM
QUINN'S MOM
EMERSON'S MOM
KEITH'S MOM
LILY'S MOM
MATTHEW SMITH'S DAD OR MOM
ROSHI'S DAD
SIMONE'S DAD
DAVION'S MOM

PSS: ALSO I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE DID NOT HAVE OUR PIZZA PARTY TODAY EITHER!!! THIS WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT MS. MILLEDGE AND I COULD NOT GET THE MULTI-MEDIA ROOM. THE CHILDREN KNEW THIS YESTERDAY BUT I GUESS DID NOT TELL SOME OF THEIR PARENTS. SORRY! THIS PARTY WILL ALSO BE RE-SCHEDULED IN MARCH.

WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!!!!!

2010-02-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

Dear Parents:
I am sorry that it has taken so long for me to post on my blog but I could not get into the blog for a few days and had to figure out what was going on.... Anyway, when things work, it is wonderful but when things break down....boy... it is extremely frustrating. I am happy to be up and running again. So.... Happy Chinese New Year....Happy 100 Days of School....Happy Valentine's Day and I hope that you all had a Happy Vacation Week!!!! I have missed all your children and cannot wait to see them on Monday.

Before we left on vacation, I told the children that the day that we come back from our vacation - Monday - is the 100th day of school. Well….actually…. if we did not have a snow day… it would have been. SO MONDAY IS NOT THE 100th DAY OF SCHOOL BUT IS THE 99th DAY OF SCHOOL. THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL IS ON TUESDAY. So that will be the day when we will celebrate our 100th day!!!! As I have originally told you, we will celebrate the 100th day with a PAJAMA PARTY. So the children will be allowed to wear their most comfortable pajamas to school on Tuesday. We will celebrate by reading many of our sleepy time books. It will be a fun day with a lot of fun activities. I cannot believe that it has been almost 100 days. Do you believe it? Your children are doing amazing work and have matured so much these last 98 days. As a teacher...it makes me so happy to see all of them love school and enjoy every subject and to be reading and writing and doing difficult math problems everyday. The children in Class K-207 will certainly be ready for the rigors of 1st Grade. We have been doing a lot of work on our math curriculum getting ready for the 100th day. We made links with construction paper and the children figured out that it would take ten links to get to 100 if each link was 10. The links are inside the classroom for all to see. We also worked on the question - How many hands does it take to get to 100? The children of Class K-207 painted their hands and grouped by 5's (fingers) to find the answer. Do you know how many group of 5's make 100? Come look at the painted hands on the wall outside our classroom. We also read the book - Emily's First 100 Days of School by Rosemary Wells and learned the song - 100 Bottles of POP on the Wall. Our shared reading is a poem this week is entitled 100 days and it is to the tune of Ten Little Indians. We looked at some the 100 objects that your children brought into class and counted them by 5's and 10's. We will continue doing this next week so….if you haven’t brought in the 100 objects, you still have time to do this next week. We are going to be looking at our straws on Monday. We will notice that they are grouped by 9 tens and 9 ones and that on Tuesday - our big day - our straws will be grouped as 1 one hundred - 0 tens - and 0 ones. Very exciting stuff!!!

I would like to remind you that the Kindergarten Classes will be going on a walking tour of CHINATOWN SUNSET PARK on Friday, February 26, 2010 and will be having lunch at Pacificana Restaurant, located at 813 55th Street, Brooklyn, NY. We will be having an authentic Chinese lunch and will be seeing the Lion Dance. The children will be leaving the school around 9:40 a.m. and will walk around the Chinatown neighborhood – if the weather is appropriate - where we will see many live creatures – turtles, crabs, etc. Lunch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. This is the Year of the Tiger - 4707. Have a healthy appetite. The food is very good. Even though we were supposed to only bring 5 parents, I have included additional parents to come along - since they have not been on trips with the class before. I will let you know who the lucky parents are next week. As parent helpers, this goes without saying, that we need to watch all the children in the class and not just our own. Thank you in advance.

Here is an overview of what your child is learning this month.

Reading Workshop: This is a new unit of study where the children are story detectives. They are noticing and defining patterns in their texts and using these patterns to help them read their books.

Writing Workshop: This is also a new unit called How-To Books. How-To Books are types of procedural writing. Each of your children will be a teacher this month and into the next month! It empowers the children to get them to think about what they know how to do really well. I have had a mix of How-To's so far. They are all hilarious. Please have a conversation with your child about all of the things that he or she knows how to do, make or play! It is important that you child be able to teach us how to do or make something step-by-step.

Bed Time Stories: Our Winnie-the-Pooh study has been a great success so far! Pooh has met a lot of new friends. The children are so excited about this unit.

Word Study: We are learning so many sight words. The children have received a list of the word walls and will need to know these words both in their reading and writing processes. Ask them about the Word Wall Fairy who visits our class sometimes!

Shared Reading: We are reading Big Books and the children are getting familiar with all the sight words and patterns. It is really exciting.

Social Studies: We finished our Beautiful Stuff unit. Our Beautiful Stuff self portraits are currently on the bulletin board outside our classroom. Please stop by and take a look….They are amazing. We will be starting our Playground study with our staff developer, Rene Dinnerstein, in early March. It goes without saying that Class K-207 is very excited about this new unit!

Math: We are skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. We are playing addition Top It with our classroom playing cards, playing Math Bingo and are working on not-so-easy math word problems. We are very busy in math!!!

That is all for now. As always, if you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Check out this great literacy website: www.starfall.com. The children love it.

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

PS: Also on Thursday, February 25th, Class K-207, together with our Class Buddies, Class 4-304 (Ms. Milledge's Class), will celebrate our winning of the Penny Harvest with a Pizza Party in the Multi-Media Room. The Time of the party will be at 2:10. I will be decorating the room during my prep at 1:20. If anyone would like to come and help out, that would be great. The school is supplying the pizza for our classes. The parents in Ms. Milledge's class will be supplying the plates, etc. I am requesting our parents supply the drinks. If anyone could supply a bottle of juice, etc. on Thursday afternoon, it would be greatly appreciated by me and Ms. Milledge. Thank you in advance.

BEAUTIFUL STUFF

2010-02-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Families:

I am so excited to announce that our "Beautiful Stuff" self-portraits are up in the hallway for all to see. The children did an amazing job in portraying themselves with odd materials. I am so impressed.

To a young child, the world is full of materials to touch, discover and explore. To find, collect, sort, and use materials is to embark on a special kind of adventure. For adults, gathering materials means rediscovering the richness and beauty in natural, unexpected, and recyclable objects that are all around us, but not often noticed.

One way to rediscover our own creative impulses is to see possibilities in materials. Children possess a natural openness to the potential of materials. When adults become aware of this process, they find ways to watch and listen to children. Children and adults become collaborators as they discover, collect, sort, arrange, experiment, create, construct, and think with materials. The goal is to allow children to become fluent with materials – as if materials were a language.

K-207 enjoyed learning with our “Beautiful Stuff” and created these wonderful self portraits. Please stop by and take a look. We would love to share our Art with all of you. Enjoy!

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

Do you believe February is almost here!!!

2010-01-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Parents:

Happy END of January. February is an important month in K-207. We have Valentine's Day, the 100th Day of School, Chinese New Year, Trips, Birthdays, A WEEK OFF.... The list goes on and on. How are we going to get all our learning in? I will be writing more about our February activities in the coming days.

I would like everyone in the class to know that we have a new student. His name is Davion Mumper. He is an absolutely lovely boy who comes to us from Manhattan. He quickly became a part of K-207 and it is as if he has always been with us. The children have embraced him warmly. He is a great addition to K-207. Please say hello to him and introduce yourself to his mom and baby brother who drop him off in the morning.

Also... I am sure that everyone knows that Sasha is back from Russia after spending a month there. December went by quickly. It is as if she never left. She also brought back with her a new baby brother. Everyone is so happy that she has returned to the class - especially Antonio.

I would appreciate it very much if you would send in a SMALL baby photo of your child by February 1st. I would like to be able to cut the photo so I do not want one that has sentimental value to you. It will be placed on the outside door of my room with the caption “Can you guess the Valentine Sweetheart?” At the end of the month, I will post the names of the children underneath the picture. It will be a lot of fun for the second floor to figure out who is who!!!. I told Roshi that everyone will know it is her if her baby picture has her beautiful red hair! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with me.

I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY...SO....I am also planning to have a small Valentine's Day party on Friday, February 12th in the classroom. It will be at 2 p.m. I hope families can make it. It is the Friday before the long week off.

The 100th Day of School falls on the First Monday we return from vacation. I am up in the air about whether to keep our celebration on that day or have it on Tuesday. That is the day that I promised the children that they can wear pajamas to school and have a leisurely day of reading and playing. I will let you know my decision soon.

The Winnie the Pooh project is well underway. I pick the names randomly from a hat - a boy hat ... then a girl hat. The children know that they all will have a chance to take Winnie home and to be patient. Antonio was lucky number one and Lily was lucky number two. I would appreciate it very much if on Thursday before Winnie is returned to school on Friday that you give Winnie a bath in the washing machine to make sure that he is clean for the next child. I am very concerned about lice so I think that this is an important measure. The children really look forward to this activity and I hope that you all get a chance to make the easy recipes in the back of the notebook.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

* FRIDAY, February 5th - Trip to see the Lollipops Orchestra. Stay tuned for mroe information and a permission slip! Parent volunteers are welcome!

* FRIDAY, February 12th - Valentine's Day party at 2:00 p.m.

* MONDAY, February 15th - FRIDAY, February 19th - School is closed for the Mid-Winter Recess.

* MONDAY, February 22nd - 100th day of school. More later!

* FRIDAY, February 26th - Save the Date! The Kindergarten Classes will be going on a trip to Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Own Chinatown, to celebrate Lunar New Year. Will will be having lunch at Pacificana Restaurant on 55th Street. Information and a permission slip is going home today. Parent volunteers will be welcome.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE PARENTS WHO ARE BRINGING IN THE SNACKS, FRUIT AND THE EXTRA SUPPLIES WE SO DESPERATELY NEED. YOU ARE THE GREATEST.

FONDLY,
Ms. Graham

WINNIE-THE-POOH and PARENT AS ENRICHMENT PARTNERS

2010-01-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Families:

Please join Class K-207 in launching our new Winnie-the-Pooh study unit tomorrow morning - January 8th - during Parent as Enrichment Partners at 8:45 a.m. We will launch our study by reading Winnie-the-Pooh books with the children. I have many copies of various Winnie-the-Pooh books in the classroom. Yet, if you have a favorite one that you and your child would like to read, please bring it along. There's no formal presentation....just reading with the kids. The children are excited about this new unit - as all the Kindergarten teachers are.

Each week, I will randomly pick a child’s name from a hat and that child will bring Winnie and the Winnie journal home for the entire week – getting Winnie on Friday and returning him and the Journal the following Friday. I am in the process of getting the Journal ready and hopefully Winnie will be coming home to someone’s house next Friday. Please take care of Winnie. He will be part of your family for the week!

Hope to see all of you here tomorrow at Parent as Enrichment Partners!

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 AND WINNIE-THE-POOH STUDY

2010-01-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Families:
Happy New Year!!! I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the WONDERFUL and GENEROUS class gifts that I received. You all were overly generous and I thank you so much. Teaching your wonderful children is a gift enough!!!!

I am excited to announce that Class K-207 will be beginning a new fun unit in our classroom. We are calling it "Winnie-the-Pooh's Journey." I have spoken to the children today about this study. Boy….were they excited! We all know Winnie-the-Pooh as a strong childhood image - a sort of iconic figure when we were younger. Children love Winnie and friends and they seem so excited to be incorporating Winnie-the-Pooh into our Kindergarten class.

For this study, we have a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh and have made a Winnie Journal. The journal consists of: a map of Winnie's home, the Winnie-the-Pooh directions, the history of Winnie-the-Pooh, pictures of Winnie & friends, Winnie-the-Pooh recipes and more. More importantly, there are pages for the children to write about their Winnie-the-Pooh experience or "adventure." Each week, a different child will take home Winnie-the-Pooh. They will include Winnie in their activities and will treat Winnie with kindness and respect. During this week, your children will write in their journal about their time with Pooh. The culmination of this project will occur in the Spring - where we all go to Prospect Park to find Winnie's home in the Hundred Acre Woods and have a class picnic. I bet you did not know that Winnie lives in our own Prospect Park!!!

This segment will help children learn the concept of friendship and how important it is to share experiences with one another. This will be a way to teach them about responsibilities. With an adult's help, they will learn to be a little more responsible by caring for Winnie.

During our read-aloud in the classroom, we will be reading the classic children's story - Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne. The world was introduced to this portly little bear in 1926. Along with his young friend, Christopher Robin, Pooh delighted readers from the very beginning. His often befuddled perceptions and adorable insights won the hearts of everyone around him, including his close group of friends. From the energetic Tigger to the dismal Eeyoor, A. A. Milne created a charming bunch both inspirational and entertaining. These simple creatures often reflected a small piece of all of us: humble, silly, wise, cautious, creative, and full of life. I know that your children will be delighted with Pooh's adventures as we were when we were children.

I am asking that the parents keep an eye on Winnie. The purpose of this assignment is really to have fun. I certainly do not want to add any extra burden on you. The children in past years just loved this assignment and really looked so forward to the day when they could take Winnie home. I pick the names of the children from a hat each week - so it is pretty random. Every child will have the opportunity to take Winnie for one week. Winnie will be given them on Friday and MUST be returned the following Friday! It is important that Winnie is returned on time because the next child really looks forward to his/her week. On the Friday that Winnie is returned, the children share their adventures at Morning Meeting - reading their journal entries and looking at the pictures you take of them and Winnie and Pooh.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to me. Thank you again for all your support!

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

DO YOU BELIEVE THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US?

2009-12-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

Dear K-207 Families,

I hope those of you who attended the Winter Fail this past weekend had a lovely time!

I would love to go over a few things with our class community.

It is with great pride that I inform you that Class K-207 was the winner of the Penny Harvest competition. We share this prize with our Fourth Grade Buddies – Class 4-304. Our class alone brought in 256 pounds of pennies, which equals about $425.00 to give to charity. Together with Class 4-304, we brought in over 300 pounds of pennies. While everyone in our class contributed to the penny harvest very generously, I must thank Antonio and his wonderful family for bringing in over and beyond the amount of pennies that – I believe – has never been done before. I could not even lift the bags that Antonio brought in!!! All this is for a very good cause and our class benefits not only from getting a pizza party but we get to choose what charity the money collected in the school goes to. Thank you to all.

The kindergarten classes went this week to the theater to see Alice in Wonderland performed at the College of Staten Island. I think the children enjoyed it very much. I was a little concerned about the big puppets but the children just laughed about them when we returned to our classroom. Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who attended. The children just love when their parents and caregivers come with us on our trips.

In other exciting news we finished up our unit on Writing Like Scientists and the children’s published books and these pieces are currently on display outside the classroom later this week.

Here is the news for the coming the weeks!

• K-207 visits the Brooklyn Public Library’s KIDSMOBILE:

The Brooklyn Public Library KidsMobile will be visiting P.S. 154 the week of December 14-18. Our class will have the opportunity to visit the Mobile on Wednesday, December 16th at 9:00 a.m. As part of the visit, there will be a short read aloud or puppet show, a tour of the Mobile and the children will have time to browse and checkout books. My goal is for each child in our class to be able to check out books during this special visit!

In order for a child to check-out books s/he must have either:

- a green library card or a library card application signed by a parent.

- If your child already has a library card: By Monday, December 14th, please send it to me via your child’s homework folder in a sealed envelope with your child’s name written outside. If your child already has a green library card, do not reapply.

- If your child does not yet have a Brooklyn Public Library Card: Please complete the application (which will be sent home on Friday, December 11th) thoroughly and return it to me no later than Monday, December 14th.

K-207 WINTER CELEBRATION: Wednesday, December 23rd at 9:00 a.m.

• To celebrate the festive season, I hope you all will join us in the classroom for a bit of breakfast and a casual concert/sing-along, with the children. As the time nears, I hope that we can coordinate who brings what to the celebration.

While I know how difficult it can be for parents with jobs outside the home to join us in the classroom, if you have been wondering when it would be best to arrange your schedule to join your child in K-207, this will likely be the morning you won’t want to miss! The children will be leading us in song to celebrate the season! I hope each child can have at least one visitor there for them. (If not a parent, then another family member or caregiver. Older siblings are welcome too!)

WE ARE ALSO LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RETURN OF OUR GOOD FRIEND AND CLASSMATE - SASHA - FROM RUSSIA. SHE WILL BE RETURNING WITH HER NEW BROTHER!!! WE HAVE MISSED HER SO MUCH AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING ALL THE GREAT STORIES THAT WE ARE SURE SHE HAS TO TELL.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

o Wednesday, December 16th at 9:00 a.m. - K-207 Visits the Brooklyn KidsMobile!

o Wednesday, December 23rd, K-207 Winter Celebration Join us in the classroom at 9:00 a.m. for a special holiday party. The children will lead us in singing songs for the season!

o Thursday, December 24-Friday, January 1 School is closed for Winter Recess

Thank you for all your wonderful support! If you have any questions you can email, leave a message for me by calling the main office, or send me a note in your child’s homework folder.

Fondly
Ms. Graham

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Families:
Thank you to all of you who came with the class last week to Prospect Park to pick up leaves, rocks and acorns for our Scientific Unit of Study. It was such a nice day – one of the few that we may have left – and the kids just loved picking out unusual objects to write about. Believe me…they do love to write and love Writing Workshop.

When working in Kindergarten classrooms, it is easy to buy into the idea that little children cannot really articulate what they are trying to do as writers, and that they cannot really make plans and have intentions as writers. But that simply is not true! Five and six year old children absolutely want the chance to think about what they have already done, to imagine what they want to do, and to make deliberate choices and plans for how they will proceed. A good way to teach writing is to have the children think about their writing. This means, teaching kids how they can answer questions such as, "What are you working on as a writer?" and "What have you tried so far?" "How did it go?' "What were you thinking of doing next?" I love the scientific writing unit. We look at objects very very closely – even with magnifying glasses – and describe in detail what the object looks like and feels like. It is very distinct. I think it is important to show children how to go from KNOWING ABOUT to USING letters to communicate their stories. From their writing pieces so far, I know that they are ready to do this. After all, the only reason to learn about letters in the first place is because you have something to say. You know as well as I do how much they have to say!!!

I know that you can help them with this unit by looking at objects – such a leaves, shells, rocks and asking the children what they notice about the object. Is the rock bumpy? Is the shell swirly? What does the leaf look like? How big is the rock? Talk to the children so that they can really look and notice the various attributes of the objects and have something to write about when they are in Writing Workshop. By doing this it will make the children comfortable in knowing what to write about when the time comes for them to write. They will have several new adjectives in their repertoire.

I want to thank the parents who came into our class last Wednesday and participated in our Cooking with Our Buddies Project. The children made pumpkin cake with our Fourth Grade Buddies and absolutely loved it. They loved making the pumpkin cake (?), talking to their buddies and eating the pumpkin cake. It did not look appetizing at the time but when I tasted it, it was actually very good. The Fourth Graders were wonderful teachers and really helped the kids learn about measuring, cleaning up, etc. The kids really didn’t need us at all – RIGHT? Yet, it was so fun to watch them.

I also want to thank everyone for joining us to the trip to Prospect Park Zoo. We really had a ball. I am trying to upload the pictures that we took on our website and hopefully the pictures will be on soon. Even though the weather was a little daunting….I know the children loved the trip and looking at all the animals - as did all the parents who came with us. We have been really busy in Class K-207!!!

On Friday, one of our classmates – Sasha – left for a month long trip to Russia to pick up her new brother – Misha. We are sad that Sasha is not going to be with us for a month but we will be so excited to see Sasha and Misha when they return on December 22nd. I am sure that she will have many stories to tell us!

This week is our long Thanksgiving weekend. Our last day of school is Wednesday. We all have so much to be thankful for so I would like to celebrate Wednesday afternoon in Class K-207. The children and I have been discussing what we are thankful for. Some of our comments are "I am thankful for my mom," "I am thankful for my dad." "I am thankful for love," "I am thankful for my teachers.” Each child has something unique to say. I just love listening to each one. So I am making a Thanksgiving tree and will have each child put their own leaf (their handprint) on the tree and tell the class what they are thankful for. If you would like to come to our class at 1:30 on Wednesday afternoon to help us celebrate, you are more than welcome.

I am listing some of the things that we need to make this a wonderful celebration. Please send me a comment on this blog or e-mail - www.kindergarten.k207@gmail.com to let me know if you are able to come and participate in our celebration. If you notice that someone is not on the e-mail list, please make sure to spread the word.

I am taking this opportunity to thank all of you for the wonderful support you have given to me and to Class K-207. I want to thank you especially for the books purchased for our class from the Book Fair. It has been a wonderful three months. Happy Thanksgiving!
Fondly,
Ms. Graham

List of things needed:
cups and plates
forks
sliced turkey
cranberry sauce
juice
stuffing (?)
fruit
pies
any dessert

PS: The kindergarten teachers have a couple of theatre trips scheduled for December. More on this later.

Do you believe that we are at the 36th Day of School!!!

2009-11-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

Dear K-207 Families,

We had a great trip to Green Meadows Farm on Friday! Thanks to all the parents and babysitters who joined us! We saw so many different types of animals and enjoyed the hayride so much.

I hope you and your children enjoyed Halloween this past weekend. I attended the Park Slope Halloween Parade on Saturday night and as the children always say: “It was AWESOME.”

Also on Saturday, as part of Community Board 6 – of which I am a member – I went on a 4-hour tour of all the playgrounds/parks in the Park Slope/Windsor Terrace/Red Hook/Dumbo areas. I got a lot of ideas that we can use for new trips with our class. It was very exciting to see the work being done – and the work that needs to be done - to our playgrounds throughout Brooklyn. On this trip, we also went to the Red Hook farm where volunteers work a “real” farm to get fresh produce. I was surprised that a farm like this is in our own backyard. I would like to take a trip with our class and the other Kindergarten classes to see this farm.

I hope to see many of you this Friday for Parents As Enrichment Partners. At the PAEP, you will have a chance to read, and comment on the children’s published stories from our most recent Personal Narratives Unit in Writing Workshop!

Here is the news for this week:

Report Cards & Conferences

Report Cards will be sent home next Monday. As you may know, kindergarteners get narrative reports for this first marking period.

Parent Teacher conferences will be held next Tuesday, November 10th from 1-3pm and from 5:30 – 8pm.
Please be sure to return the preference sheet so I can schedule your conference.

• School closures & ½ Day: There is no school tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4th as it is a Professional Development Day for faculty and Election Day. Please be sure to vote! Next Tuesday, November 10th will be a ½ day for children to allow time for Parent Teacher Conferences. Next Wednesday, November 11th school is closed for Veteran’s Day.

• Walk to the Park
Stay tuned! I would like to take the children on a walk to Prospect Park to collect more leaves for our Writing like Scientists Unit of study. I will confirm the day based on when parents are able to volunteer.

• Book Fair visit scheduled for this Thursday: The school’s Scholastic Book Fair is opening this week in the MMR. Our class will likely be visiting the school book fair this Thursday. (If there is any change I’ll let you know. I scheduled our visit 9:50. If you would like your child to be able to make any purchases at the Book Fair, please send money in a sealed envelope with your child’s name written on the outside. A flyer was sent home in your child’s homework folder that shows some of the books that will be for sale. If there are specific titles you want your child to purchase, please write them down on the envelope you send in. Also, I discourage the purchase of the toys and trinkets for sale. I would like the children to only purchase book since all children cannot afford “toys.” It really tends to be a problem. If your child wants to purchase toys, please feel free to come back with your child after school since the fair will be going on at that time also.

Please note: I find the Book Fair is both exciting and challenging for kindergarteners, as some children’s families are able to send in spending money and others are not. In an effort to ensure a harmonious excursion for the whole class, I will accept donations from families who would like to contribute some spending money for children in the class whose families may not be in a financial position to send in spending money at the moment.

As for how much you send in for your child, while it’s great that Scholastic is offering quality books at decent prices, it is difficult when the range of money children come with, is excessively wide. For that reason, though it truly is up to you, I recommend sending in $5 to a maximum of $10 for your child for our class trip to the book fair. If you want spend more, you and your child can always stop by the book fair afterschool.

Mark Your Calendars
o Tonight, Monday, November 2nd is Parents’ Night Out, sponsored by the PTA.
o Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3rd is Election Day. School is closed for Professional Development.
o This Friday, November 6th is our next Parents As Enrichment Partners. Parents and friends are invited into the classroom at 8:55 or so, and you will be welcome to stay until about 9:20 to allow us sufficient time to transition for Ms. Rosen who begins Science at 9:30. You will have a chance to read the children’s published story from our most recent Personal Narratives Unit in Writing Workshop!
o Next Tuesday, November 10th is a ½ day. We will dismiss at 12noon. Conferences begin at 1pm.
o Next, Wednesday, November 11th. School is closed for Veteran’s Day.

PLEASE NOTE: Gym has been changed from Tuesday morning at 8:40 to Thursdays at 1:20. Children should have sneakers on at that time. Science with Ms Rosen is now scheduled for Tuesday morning at 8:40. Ms. Rosen will be picking the children up at that time from the schoolyard.

Thank you! I also want to thank my wonderful families for inviting me (and my husband) to the Parents Night Out. We really appreciate it and look forward to seeing you there.

As always, if you have any questions you can email, leave a message for me by calling the main office, or send me a note in your child’s homework folder.

Thank you all for your support.

Sincerely,
Ms. Graham

2009-10-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Families:

Well…our blog has received good reviews. Thank you for that. Our homework poll ended this week...Only three parents weighed in. All three thought that there should be homework in Kindergarten!!! That was a big surprise.

We had an extremely busy week last week so I will try to break it down. We are continuing to work on our personal narratives. You should ask them about their writing. The children have really embraced the “Writing Workshop.” Mr. Ortiz came into our class to observe our Writing Workshop, and could not believe how self-sufficient the children were. The children have become experts at writing/drawing (1) where they are; (2) who they are with; and, finally (3) what they are doing. The children have been really concentrating on sounding out the words that they want to put on paper and trying hard to write the letters that they hear. The children have been doing an amazing job and their writing has been getting better and better everyday. As I tell the children, the only words that we want the children to be able to spell correctly in their writing pieces are their "word wall” words. These are the sight words that the children have been learning weekly. We have been practicing them everyday, so they should know how to spell them. The words that they should know and spell correctly in their writing pieces are ... "the”, “I." We have been practicing putting the words into sentences so the children are familiar with how to use them correctly. Our new words this week are “we” and “me". Also, ask the children about our “word wall fairy.” She comes to school at night and puts pictures of things on our “word wall.” For example, the fairy put a “ghost” on the G letter; a “witch” on the W letter.

We are reading our emergent storybooks and the children love the series. The books we have read so far are Corduroy, Will I Have a Friend, Where the Wild Things Are, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The books that we will be reading next week are The Little Red Hen and The Three Little Pigs. We read the new "Star Books" everyday for a week so that the children become very familiar with the text and the illustrations. At the end of the week, the children shop for these "star books" and because they are so familiar with the words and pictures since they heard the book a number of times, they actually can read the book - first to themselves and then to their reading partner. They may not get all the words correct but they comprehend the story and are able to retell they story by looking at the illustrations. During partner reading, they children act out the story with their partner. I was amazed when one of the children remembered something in the story - Corduroy - that I forgot and was able to tell me that Corduroy - one of the characters in the book thought the escalator was a "mountain." I had to look back to make sure that he was correct!!! He was!!! I have also made several copies of the main characters in our books and put them on sticks…so the children will be also acting out their stories with “puppets.” This is going to be introduced next week.

Our math is improving everyday. I am in the middle of assessing the children's math ability and boy...it takes quite a long time with each child because they really know so much. We make math interactive in Kindergarten and work a lot on math problems.

Our science curriculum is great. Our Science/ Literacy teacher is Ms. Rosen. She is doing a great job with the children. The children have been learning all sorts of things about leaves and trees and have been having so much fun. Next week, the children will be adopting a tree in the neighborhood and will take many trips to look at the tree during the various seasons – noting the differences in their science notebooks.

WORD STUDY – I would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful parents - led by Tyler’s mom - who really went over and beyond their call to duty by working on our word study books. There was a lot of cutting and drawing on the back of the word study sheets but having this work all completed makes to so much easier to get the children started on their work study program. I really could not have done this all myself. Thank you all so much!

Unfortunately, the kindergarten children do not receive computer instruction with Ms. Patterson. This begins in First Grade. Yet, we will be having the Computer Tech Squad come into our class once a week with the school’s laptops to work with the children and show the children how to use the computers. I think some of our children could show us a thing or two!!!

Our Social Studies inquiry study is underway with "Our Caring Classroom Community” We have buddied up with Ms. Millredge’s Fourth Grade Class and will be working with our Fourth Grade Buddies twice a month. The children are very excited because they get to go up to the “Big Kid’s” floor. We are working on an interview, a playground activity and a COOKING activity. I will be requesting some measuring cups, spoons and other items we need to “cook”. Ms. Millredge will be asking her parents for the cooking ingredients. Thank you in advance.

For Art, the Kindergarten classes build on the developing skills and art concepts that the children explored in Pre-K. Kindergarten will be making abstract paintings -exploring line and color mixing concepts. The children have competed accordion "books" with an under the sea theme using tempera and collage. These works of art are up in the classroom and have really helped decorate the room. Art is on Monday at 10:20. I know that Ms. Kelly would love to have parent volunteers at this time, so if you would like to help out during Art, please let me know.

Speaking of under the sea themes… The children and I want to thank you all so much for the fish tank and the fish. I especially want to thank Celia’s mom for all the hard work that did in setting up the aquarium. The children love the fish – we have three – and are working on the names for them. I am crossing my fingers that they survive. So far … so good. Thank you so much.

Our Music Program is also on Mondays and the children are really enjoying the new songs and dances that they are learning.

Gym is at 8:45 on Tuesdays with Ms. Ussury. They love what they are learning and playing sports. Please remember to have your child wear sneakers on that day.

As you can see, our curriculum is very full and rich. Your children are really thriving and are such a pleasure to work with. I love working with them and watching them grow everyday. You are all doing a great job. You should be very proud.

I enjoyed seeing so many of you and at the children at the Boo Bash on Friday. The kids really seemed to having such a GREAT time. I loved the costumes.

As you know, on Friday, October 30th, the kindergarten classes will be going to Green Meadow Farms. I would love to take all my parents, but we are limited by the bus to only taking 5 parents. I may squeeze another one or two – but don’t tell anybody. I will let you know tomorrow who will be coming with us. There will be many trips, so if you are not on this trip, you will be able to come on the next trip. This will be a fun day.

“Parents as Enrichment Partners” is on Friday, November 6. Please come by the class and read with your child!

Have a wonderful week,

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

What is Happening this week in Class K-207

2009-10-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

Dear K-207 Families,

I was so happy to see so many of you at last week’s Curriculum Night and at the Parents As Enrichment Partners on Friday morning. I hope that we answered all your questions. If you were not able to attend, I have a Kindergarten Curriculum package for you to take home.

IMPORTANT: Dismissal Procedures this Week - SO SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE!!!
As per the note home that Mr. Ortiz sent out last Friday, dismissal procedures are altered for the week. This is due to the fact that the schoolyard will be closed for painting starting at 9 am each day this week. Our class, along with all kindergarteners will dismiss from the Multi-Media Rom on the first floor (where we were on Curriculum Night.) If you have older children, refer to the letter that Mr. Ortiz sent out to determine whether you would need to pick them up from the Sherman or Windsor Street entrances. Please remember to inform the adults who pick up your children of this change.

Recess this Week
The schoolyard will be closed for recess and gym this week. Typically when it rains, the children come into the classroom and have time for open-ended play with table toys and other manipulatives. This is the case for this week. The children are coping and love to come to the classroom after lunch. Today, the Physical Education teacher, Ms. Ussury, took the children to the park for Gym. The children told me that they had an amazing time. Thank you to Ben's mom (and Dog), Tyler's mom, Emerson's mom, and Roshi's mom for helping out with the children. Also, in the afternoon, I took the children on a "Number Walk" around the neighborhood to look for numbers and write them down with Tyler's mom....so the children are getting outdoor time.

Reading journals, Shared reading journals, book baggies & math homework packets
As discussed on curriculum night, homework is not mandatory in Kindergarten but I do recommend reading with your child and completing the Reading Journal. Children who get read to every night show significant differences in their approach and ability to read. The Reading Homework Journals should be sent back to class on Fridays. The Shared Reading Journals should be returned on Mondays. The Red Homework Folders should be returned to school everyday. The Math Homework Packet which is given out on Mondays, should also be returned on Friday. The book baggies with the book your child chose should be returned everyday so that a new book could be taken home.

Music & Chess
On Monday, Katerina Onatskaia from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music started working with our class! She will be with our class on Monday afternoons at 1:00. The children loved her and had a wonderful first Music class. We will have Chess with Mr. Jairo on Friday aftersoons directly after lunch.

Scholastic Orders
I pass them onto you because Scholastic does offer some good books at decent prices. If you want to place an order online, please follow the instructions provided in the enclosed letter, or send in your order form and check in a sealed envelope with your child’s name on it. Also for each book that you order, our class gets credits towards free books. Please take the opportunity to look at the order forms that I send home. Thank you to Lily's mom for volunteering to help out with this.

Class Photos
The class photos will be taken on Friday, October 23rd. You also have the option to also purchase individual pictures of your child. I realize order forms were not sent home yet. If they are not in your child’s homework folder today, then just stay tuned. . .

Reminder: Shoe-tying / zipping/ buttoning practice + please practice putting coats & jackets on independently
Autumn has arrived and winter is on the way. Some children need more practice getting their coats/ sweatshirts on independently. Please practice this at home with your child. (I have been teaching those kids the method where you lay your coat out upside down on the floor in front of you, then put your hands in the sleeves and then it comes over your head and falls into place. Remember that one?!) Also, if you can work with your children at home to continue practicing the other important life skills listed above, it will facilitate their independence at school and beyond! Thank you! Also, PLEASE LABEL ALL YOUR CHILDREN'S ITEMS!!!! We do not want them to lose anything.

Reminder: Health forms
Just another reminder: The school nurse continues to request that families return the health forms as soon as possible (if you have not yet done so already.)

Mark Your Calendars
On Tuesdays, please dress your child in sneakers for Grade-level Gym
School is closed for Columbus Day on Monday, October 12th
Class Photos will be taken on Friday, October 23rd.
On Friday, October 30th we will be going to Green Meadows Farm. We will need parent volunteers to join us for this trip. Continue to stay tuned for a permission slip and additional details.

I want to thank you all for your great support..... Your children are amazing and working very very hard in Kindergarten. We are also having such a great time.

If you need to speak to me about any issue, please do not hesitate to see me. My door is always open.

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

PS I was going to post some pictures of today's "Number Walk" but my camera just ran out of batteries..... I will charge them and post the new pictures soon. They are so adorable!!!!

Welcome to Class K-207

2009-09-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Families of K-207:

Do you believe we have been in school for two weeks already and are now beginning our third week of school? Time sure files!!! As I told you during the summer, this is our class blog for our wonderful Kindergarten class. I am excited! I thought that this would be an excellent way for us as a community to interact with each other. I know how sad it must be for all of you to not know every move your young five year old is making throughout the day. So I am going to attempt to fill in some of the spaces. I am sure that as time goes by, this site will get better and better. As your child's kindergarten teacher, I am deeply aware of how the quality of the family/teacher/child partnership impacts a student's successful year. I believe that one of the greatest factors affecting student success - that cuts across all boundaries of race, religion, economics, culture and ability - is the level of appropriate parent involvement. I think a great deal about family/teacher/child partnerships. One of my main objectives as a teacher is to have strong partnerships with all of our class families, and to involve families in the daily life of our classroom and school. I hope this blog will help a little.

Tomorrow will mark our 13th day of school. We are having a great time. As many of you know, we begin our day with Table Toys. This is an opportunity for the children to interact with one another and share their experiences with their fellow classmates. The children already know that when they come into our class, they open their schoolbags and take out their red homework folders and look books. They put their red folders into their mailbox and take a new look book for the day. I try not to help them because I have been stressing independence from day one. It is hard in the beginning but the children become more and more independent as the weeks goes on. At the end of the year, the children are soooo ready for First Grade!!!

During Writing Workshop, we are currently working on our personal narrative writing. Don’t worry… we do not expect young kindergarteners to be actually “writing.” The idea behind our Writing Workshop is that all children have a story to tell. They can do this through letters and words but most of the time – during the first couple of months of the year – they “write” their stories through their “pictures.” It is amazing. The children really have many stories to tell – from learning to swim without floatees to walking their dogs. Soon we will be publishing our first piece of writing and inviting you to join us for our “Publishing Party.” When we talk about publishing, we want the children to pick a piece of writing that meet three criteria: (1) they love it, (2) they can "read" it and (3) they can make it better. The children revise their writing by adding to the pictures, adding to the words and coloring it in! It is a very exciting time and you will learn more about this as the weeks progress.

During Reading Workshop, we are learning what good readers do – how to pick a book, what are some of the first things we do when we pick a book that we like. Ask them….they will tell you.

During Math Workshop, we are working on the Everyday Math program. This is a “hands-on” math exploration. Everyday we work on a different math concept and the children love it. They do know a lot about math and are becoming great mathematicians!!! You have done a good job parents.

As you know, for our Social Studies curriculum, we will be working throughout the year on a Playground study. This is an inquiry based study where will have a lot of hands on activities and take many different trips to various playgrounds throughout the city. More information to come.

Thanks to our wonderful Parent Teacher Association, Kindergarten will be receiving chess instruction. The children are very excited about this. I have not been told when this instruction will begin but I believe it will be relatively soon. Our chess instructor's name is Jairo and he is wonderful and an excellent teacher. Even I will be learning chess for the first time. Jairo has been teaching chess at PS 154 for several years. He is very talented and supportive. If you would like to join us for a session, please let me know.

Our children also will have Music and already involved in a NEW Physical Education program, a Class Community Program and Art.

This is what we will be working on for the week:

Shared Reading Poem: Hickory Dickory Dock

Shared Reading Big Book: Hairy Bear by Joy Cowley

Star Books for the Week: The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Gingerbread Boy

Writing Workshop: Continuing with Personal Narratives

Reading Workshop: Reading our Emergent Story Books

Math: Patterns all around, Multisensory Counts, Countdown to Zero

Science: Tree Exploration

Social Studies: Playgrounds

Our Star Books are:

The Three Billy Goats Gruffs
The Gingerbread Boy
Will I have a Friend?
The Three Little Pigs
Little Red Riding Hood
Leo the Late Bloomer
Caps For Sale
Harry the Dirty Dog
Corduroy
The Lion and the Little Red Bird
Owl Babies

THE FOLLOWING IS A VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!!!!!

We have several children in our classroom who are VERY, VERY allergic to all kinds of nuts. I want to incorporate a NUT-FREE classroom environment and need your help. I would very much appreciate it if you would not send any “nut” lunches or snacks with your child. YES, that includes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches if you can help it. I would not be asking this of you – because I know how much children LOVE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – if it was not a dire circumstance. The health of all our children is imperative to me and to the school community. Please speak to your child about this. It is important that they know the circumstances and are able to talk about it. THANK YOU. If you need to speak to me, please do not hesitate.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you at our Curriculum Conference on Wednesday night, September 30th. With my kindergarten colleagues, we will explain our curriculum in detail and answer any questions you may have about the school. I recommend that all parents attend. If you are unable to attend, I will send home information for you to review about the curriculum. If you have any personal questions or need to contact me about any issues pertaining to your child, please email me at kindergarten.k207@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful week. Please feel free to post a comment. I would love this to be an interactive site for our classroom community.

Fondly,
Ms. Graham

PS: Now I have posted several pictures of our Shared Reading where the children and I put on a short play for our Big Book – The Farm Concert (Everyone got a chance to participate!!) and our first Parent as Enrichment Partners. ENJOY!

Hello New Parents of Class k-207!

2009-08-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Class K-207. I am excited to be your child's kindergarten teacher for the 2009-2010 school year. The kindergarten teachers have been planning and getting ready for the new year. We have many fun activities in store for the children.

Being a mother myself, I know how difficult it is to let your children leave you for probably the first time. Since I believe in having an interactive relationship with my parents, last year I created a class blog. I was able to let parents - especially working parents who were not able to come to the school on a daily basis - know what was happening in the classroom. If you would like to look at last year's blog to see what we did throughout the school year, you can log on to http://www.k207.blogspot.com/. I am dedicated to continuing this tradition. Our new blog's site name is rather long - http://www.msgrahamskindergartenclass.blogspot.com/. I could not get a shorter name even though I tried several times. If you would like to get in touch with me anytime throughout the year, you can post on the blog or you can also e-mail me at kindergarten.k207@gmail.com. I am looking forward to working with all of you. I am very excited and cannot wait to begin the new term!!!

See you on September 9th.

Sincerely,
Ms. Graham