You're Invited!

Our first full week flew by! We had so much fun and managed to do so many things. This afternoon we created beautiful melted crayon art, but I think the students are most proud of their reading accomplishment. We are launching The Daily 5 which is the structure for our Language Arts curriculum. Basically right now I am teaching the students routines and expectations. We are building our reading stamina and today we set a new record for independent reading; 20 minutes and 26 seconds! Please be sure to congratulate your child and celebrate their success, we're very proud. I'm sure they would also love to tell you about the three ways to read a book and what good reading looks like.

As the title of this post suggests, you are invited to several upcoming occasions.

First, Adventist Hinsdale Hospital is hosting their annual Ice Cream Social Sunday afternoon from 3:00-6:00 pm at Burlington Park in Hinsdale. You can learn more about AHH and the ice cream social here.

On Thursday night HAA is hosting a Welcome Back to School night. Back to School Night Flyer PDF

Finally, you are invited to become a volunteer for our classroom! I am looking for parents who are willing to become familiar faces and those who might be more comfortable helping behind the scenes. There are a number of ways to get involved, here are just a few;

- Guest Artist, we do art projects on Friday afternoons and I would love to have some of you come lead out in a project with the kids.

- Guest Speaker, on Friday mornings we have a joint worship time with First and Second grade. The students love it when guest speakers share the devotional story (by the end of the week I think they are getting tired of hearing their teachers' voices) you can read a story, tell a story or share an object lesson. Extended families are welcome to do worships too, one of our favorite guest speakers was someone's grandpa.

- Special Events, throughout the year we have several field trips and special parties (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's, 100th Day, etc). I need chaperones for the trips and coordinators for our parties.

- Handyman/woman, a behind-the-scenes job, I would love to have our chairs painted this year. Currently we have a hodge-podge of orange, yellow, brown and one green chairs in our room. I would like to spray paint all the chairs the same color.

- Celebration Chef, another behind-the-scenes job, from time to time we have celebrations in our classroom, such as when we've finished a learning unit or mastered certain skills, I like to give the kids treats correlating with what we are celebrating and I need some help with the preparation.

There are many other ways to be involved in our room, and I will be making event-specific calls as we continue through the year. If you are interested in volunteering please make sure you have filled out the volunteer paperwork in the office and email me to schedule times.

First Day of School & Classroom Tour

I can hardly believe our first day of school is over! This morning flew by so quickly that we didn't even make it through everything I had planned. The kids did such a good job today, we should all be very proud of them! For those of you who didn't get a chance to look around today (or maybe you just want to take a closer look) here are pictures of our classroom from this morning.

Here's a view of our group instruction area. The wooden cabinet at the front houses our projector, document camera, Interwrite Notepad and a few other tech goodies I'm really excited to use this year. In the far corner, in front of the curtain, is our block/LEGO area, always a favorite center.

Our bulletin board is still blank because the kids and I are going to do something really fun with it very soon! This space is our computer center (we have two desktops and three brand-new netbooks). We store our COLOR Books right next to our mailboxes near the door. You can also see our daily schedule hanging up.

This is one of our spaces that I am most excited about! Mr. Jason (my husband) created this great pegboard wall for me this summer and we are using it as our writing center. I'm really looking forward to what this new group of authors will create this year. Our art easel and sink area are also in this space.

There's a lot going on in this photo. First, the large turquoise table is our sensory table, we'll fill it with all kinds of items throughout the school year to help us extend our theme learning and explore science concepts. Next to the sensory table is our felt board which we use a lot in conjunction with our Bible lessons and for storytelling. Beyond the sensory table is the dramatic play area, one of our most popular learning centers. On the left, there are drawers where we store various craft and school supplies. I will explain more about the "Reading CAFE" board on the closet doors soon,it will support our language arts curriculum. You can also see the blue pocket chart we will use for learning center rotations.

This is our circle time or gathering area. We have worship here and meet together in this space during the day share and discuss what we are learning. On the left closet door is our "Bucket Filler" space. We will use these buckets as object lessons for character development, be prepared to hear a lot more about this concept. Next to our buckets is our calendar wall and our birthdays are posted on the last door. The green chair is very special because it is where authors sit when they share their work with the class (we might use it for a few other special events as well)!

Our library is a place that makes me wish I was one of the students! I would love to be able to to snuggle with a stuffed animal or relax on a big pillow and just read for awhile here. Under the windows we have a counter with shelves underneath. We keep resources, manipulatives, games, puzzles, books, and our math and science center activities on the shelves.

Last, we have a view of my workspace and our textbook storage. The file on the end of my desk is where we store our iPads, another great tool we are blessed to have. The rainbow chart on the end of our shelf is a clip-chart for individual behavior management. You can see the door to our bathroom, TV/VCR/DVD player, phonics drawers, our small refrigerator, and microwave all in the corner of the room. Our "Brownie Points" tray is on the whiteboard, this is our whole class incentive system (if we fill the pan with brownies we get a party).

I'm looking forward to having more time with my friends tomorrow so we can do some really fun activities together! Please keep checking the blog and your child's COLOR Book for more information about our school, classroom, procedures, and routines.

ABCs of Kindergarten

As we gear up for school on Wednesday I know many of you have a number of questions. I will do my best to answer your questions over the first few weeks of school. Feel free to look through the following document to find answers to the most frequently asked questions.



See you soon!

Welcome News

There is so much to do before school starts and so much I want to share with you! There are a number of documents and news items I think it is important for you to know about. Here are a few items for you to check out.



I also want to invite you to church at Burr Ridge this week to celebrate education Sabbath.


Keep checking the blog for school information, pictures of our classroom and other developments!

Welcome!

I am so excited to be starting this blog and a new school year with all of you! It is my hope that we will use this blog as a communication tool so you as parents can see and experience what we are doing in class. This blog will be a place where you will be able to find resources and keep up with what we are doing in our classroom. Please check our blog frequently so you are informed about everything we are doing!