Flat Stanley Update

Our Flat Stanleys are all back! We have had a wonderful time receiving letters, packages, pictures and special gifts from our host families! Stanley has seen many exciting destinations and has reported back all of his adventures.

We have located all of the places he visited on a world map. They are:

Vancouver, Canada

Mill Valley, California

Phoenix, Arizona

Sun City West, Arizona

Davao City, Philippines

Pasadena, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

Naples, Florida

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Forked River, New Jersey

Milton, Massachusetts

Whitman, Massachusetts

Weston, Connecticut

Oslo, Norway

Thank you to all our host families for making this such a fun project for our class!

Our Fantastic Fieldtrips

We have recently taken two very fun field trips. One was a whole-school fieldtrip to the Lloyd Center for Environmental Studies in Westport, MA.

The K/1 class learned about the marine forest and enjoyed a scavenger hunt to find things that are found in this environment with our fantastic guides, Amanda and Sam.

We also went exploring in a salt water marsh. We hunted for spiders, crabs, birds, snails and other interesting life that make its home in this ecosystem.

The highlight of the trip was when the class got to handle nets and “go fishing” for crabs and other creatures that live in the area of the marsh that leads to the ocean.

Back at the Learning Center, we handled different organisms in a special holding tank. We held crabs, mussels, clams, conch and starfish. It was very exciting!

Our second spring fieldtrip was to the Orpheum Theatre in Foxboro. The kindergarten through third grade students enjoyed the play Harry the Dirty Dog, based on the book by Gene Zion.  Harry is tired of following so many rules, especially taking baths! He decides to take a day off to explore the world without his family’s rules. While out and about Harry gets very, very dirty. When he realizes there is “no place like home” and returns to the family that loves and misses him, they do not recognize him. After a much needed bath, the family realizes that the mystery dog is really their lost Harry. This was an amazing production put on by four talented performers. We enjoyed our time at the theater very much!

The Last Day of School 2010

Our class has been practicing every day for the Spring Program, which will take place on June 4^th at 10:00 AM.  We hope you can join us for our version of The Great Kapok Tree.

In Language Arts, the kindergarten group has begun the theme appropriately called Spring Is Here.  During the next several weeks we will be meeting many objectives as we read a wonderful collection of stories related to spring.  The first grade group’s theme is Special Friends, with a genre focus on folktales. Both the kindergarten and first grade students have been enjoying Poetry Month. We have spent time outdoors observing and writing about the changes that happen with the arrival of spring.  Spending beautiful spring afternoons outdoors has inspired wonderful acrostic poems, an alphabet book and a poem in honor of Earth Day.

 We have been studying our planet earth since January with a goal of becoming familiar with the physical geography of our planet.

 Where in the world is Stanley?  Who is Stanley, you ask?

As part of our Reading, Writing, Social Studies, and Mathematics programs, we read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. This book is about a young boy named Stanley who is accidentally squished “as flat as a pancake” when a bulletin board falls on him. Stanley is very, very flat but otherwise fine. Stanley discovers some real advantages to being flat. He can slide under doors, go down into sidewalk grates and even fold himself up small enough to fit into an envelope and be mailed to California for an exciting vacation.

We created and mailed our own paper Flat Stanleys to host families all over America and the world. We are anxiously awaiting the Stanleys’ arrival back at Pinecroft so we can read all about their many adventures. 

We are very proud of our first graders who have been working on various writing projects over the last several weeks and have done an excellent job presenting their projects to our school community. These projects include famous African Americans, important inventors, women in history, and a science report on mammals.

Looking forward to the remaining weeks of school, we will begin preparations for our Spring Program at the Wheaton College chapel. The children will perform a play based on a special children’s book we have read as part of our science/social studies unit this semester. We are all very excited to perform for an audience and hope that you can come see how much fun we have learning at Pinecroft!

It is October 6, 2009. We are just about four weeks into the school year already!

So, what’s going on in your child’s classroom? Read on and find out about more than recess!

The kindergarten group began Theme 2 called Colors All Around in the Houghton Mifflin Language Arts Program this week. Below is an outline of the objectives for this theme.

Phonemic Awareness: beginning sounds and words in oral sentences

Phonics: sounds for S, s; M, m; and R, r

High Frequency words: I, see

Reading Strategies: predict/infer; summarize

Comprehension Skills: sequence of events; inferences; making predictions

Vocabulary: describing words; exact naming words; singular/plural naming words

Fluency: build reading fluency

Concepts of Print: capital letters; end punctuation

Writing: description; journals; graphic organizer; class story

Listening/Speaking/Viewing: support vocabulary and writing

The first grade group also began Theme 2 called Surprise!. The objectives for this theme are as follows:

Phonemic Awareness: blending phonemes

Phonics: consonants d, w, l, x, y, k, v, q, j, z; blending short o words, short e words and short u words

Reading Strategies: phonics/decoding, question, monitor/clarify; summarize

Comprehension: noting details, fantasy and realism, story structure

High Frequency Words: recognize high frequency words

Fluency: build reading fluency

Grammar: capitalizing names, using naming words, using action words

Writing: a class letter, using alliteration, a class message, writing about animals, a class diary, a diary, writing about bugs, writing a story

Spelling and Phonics: write words with d, l, y, v, j, z, short a, short e, and short u

Vocabulary: review kindergarten pattern words, number words, fun things, opposites, foods, days of the week, homographs

Listening/Speaking/Viewing: sharing information, compare and contrast, main idea and details, conflict resolution, retell/summarize, readers’ theatre, retelling a story

Information and Study Skills: following instructions

In addition to the Houghton Mifflin reading program we are beginning leveled guided reading groups. The reading program is also supplemented with many teacher made materials.

In kindergarten math we have explored many concepts including, patterns, shapes, sizes, more, fewer and positional words. We are learning to identify and correctly form our numbers 1 through 20.

In first grade math we are learning the number to 100 using place value. We are ordering numbers and comparing numbers using the greater than and less than signs. We will learn fact families this month and talk about odd and even numbers.

In Social Studies we began with a unit on families. We created a family tree which will be going home shortly. We will be expanding on this unit by talking about our community then on to the helpers in our communities.

In science we have begun to learn all about bats and how useful and good these mammals are. We are now convinced that there is no such thing as vampires! We will continue learning about other nocturnal animals throughout this month as well as other animals that will soon be migrating and hiberating.

The top book pick of the month has been The Black Lagoon series by Mike Thaler. They make for a great read aloud and the kids are wild about them. Check them out at your local library!

While on the topic of books, a new book club order was sent home this week. If you have any trouble ordering on line or just don’t have the time to do so, please send in your order to me and I’ll order them for you. Just send in a check made out to Scholastic. I will try to send out a new flyer each month.

The children are enjoying the weekly specials with Mrs. Arcand (Spanish), Andy (Music), Miss Anne (Art) and gym with the Wheaton College students, Chris and James.

We have several wonderful Wheaton College students that assist daily in the classroom. You may hear the names Zack, Emily, Glorisel, Kate, Sasha, Jimmy or Ashley mentioned from time to time. It truly puts a smile on my face when I turn and see students gathered around an assistant in each corner of the room enjoying a good book together.

Before you know it, Halloween will be here. That is always a favorite holiday in our classroom. I may be asking for some assistance for our annual Halloween party which will take place on Friday, October 30. Stay tuned for more details as the date approaches.

Welcome back to what’s sure to be another fantastic school year in the K/1 classroom at Pinecroft. We have 14 eager beavers ready to learn!

I’d like to get some housecleaning out of the way so we will be ready and good to go.

We have a set schedule of “specials” that we have each and every week. The specials are Spanish, Gym, Music and Art.

On Tuesdays we have Senora Arcand visiting our classroom from 8:30 to 9:00 to teach the kindergarten Spanish class. From 9:00 to 9:30 she teaches the first graders. She will be handing out yellow or red folders for each student to place the handouts in that go along with her lessons. These folders should go home to review and practice the skills that your child is working on. Please be sure the folder gets put back into the backpack to have in school each Tuesday.

On Wednesdays, enthusiastic Wheaton College students Chris and James come to the school for a fun-filled 45 minutes of structured gym class.  Both are Wheaton athletes (lacrosse/tennis) with experience in camps and other programs with school-aged kids.   Please remember to have your child wear sneakers every Wednesday or send sneakers to change into.

On Thursday afternoons we are once again enjoying the presence of our talented music teacher, Andy Solberg. He works with the kindergarten group for 30 minutes, followed by the first graders for the same amount of time.

On Friday mornings we get very creative with our art teacher, Anne West. She also divides the class by grade and gives each group a full 45 minutes to create beautiful artwork.

We enjoy two recesses per day. One recess follows morning snack and the other follows lunch. They are about 20 minutes long and just enough time to get the wiggles out.

Snack is approximately 15 minutes and begins at 10:00am. The school will supply juice or water. We would appreciate you sending your child to school with a nutritious snack that will hold them over until our 12:30 lunch break. At lunch the school offers 1% white milk or water. Water is available throughout the day at any time.

Once per week we allow a “heat-up”: a lunch that can be heated in the microwave oven in one minute or less. Please send the lunch in an appropriate container that can go directly into the microwave. Also, please supply your own silverware/plasticware from home.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to e-mail the school and I will respond to you as soon as I am able.  Thanks!

Mrs. Goulder