Simply Kindergarten

GRIFFIN GAZETTE: Friday sharing begins

2012-01-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

READING this week:
The family times that I send home will be covering the letter of the week and the snap words, but no longer the books. They don't always align with our new KINDERGARTEN reading maps! Please keep doing them, but know that the story isn't always are weekly story.
Letter this week: R
Snap words: with, she, was, me
Comparing fiction and nonfiction during reading and writer's workshop.
Learning about VERBS.
ASKING questions: What kinds of questions do readers ask themselves before they read...while they read and after they finish a book? What makes a good question?
Today we learned about question dice (some kids will be bringing them home tonight for homework)...
Kids practiced rolling the dice while we read and used what word it landed on to help us make a question about what we were reading...
SOME GOOD QUESTION WORDS:
How, What, Why, Which, Where, When, Is...etc.

WRITING:
Begin learning about GOOD LEADS! What makes you want to keep going? What is a good lead? Why? We will be reading lots of GREAT books like:
Owl Moon, Where the Wild Things are, Night Driving, Grandpa Loved, Blue Moon Tortilla...and many more.

Wednesday, January 25th we will be leaving our school heading to the PUBLIC library for story-time led by Ms. Crista Pentz. We are so excited that we got invited.

Math stuff:
Probability and the probability tray
Shape ART and craft stick patterns
Train games (addition and subtraction)
Number writing practice
Graphing

Some things to know:

Monday was NATIONAL HANDWRITING DAY! WE celebrated by writing handwritten letters to someone we care about with the middle room. Please bring in any handwritten letters that you have at home from grandparents. If you have a grandparent that might be interested in writing our class a letter, let me know.

The middle room visits us to write letters too

Heading to the stationary and envelopes...gotta seal this puppy up!

Best printing!

Room full of 22 kids! :)

Some parents have contacted me about setting up a meeting time between now and our March conference time. If you would like to do that as well, let me know please. I am more than happy to meet with you about any concerns that you might have.

Friday sharing begins this Friday. If your child would like to bring something to share we will begin a more formal sharing process. Kids seem to be very interested in sharing stuff all the time right now. So FRIDAY is our new day!

TO MY VOLUNTEERS THIS WEEK: I need your help with a FABRIC project coming in February so if you are volunteering in my classroom this week I am hoping it's okay if you can help me with cutting BURLAP and FLEECE. Please let me know if you are not okay with this so that I can find some more volunteers. I am working with the Art teacher Ms. Farrier on a big FABRIC project. We cover FABRIC in science....and will begin in February!

Yes...we can get dressed in under 3 minutes...

2012-01-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

WE earned a BANANA Split party!!!!!

Short week: Martin Luther King, Jr.

2012-01-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

I hope you enjoyed your day off if you had one...and I hope there was talk of MLK. I challenged the kindergartners to do something nice for anyone today. We will be learning more about Martin Luther King this week. To do or learn more...click here.

Reading this week...
We will be reading Little Panda (non-fiction) to carry over last weeks' unit on Asking Questions before, during and after reading a text. We will be comparing both fiction and non-fiction during reading and writing. We will be completing Martin Luther King journals during class this week too. Our journals will focus on ourselves, our dreams, and our goals.
Letters of the week: Nn and Bb
Snap words this week include: was, with, me, she
Practice nonsense words as home such has: jip, zep, nez, lek, etc....to develop phonemic awareness.

We got our DIBELS results back from Ms. O'Brian. The Kindergarten class as a whole looks great. I am more than happy to discuss the results with you after school if you wish. Otherwise I will be sharing the results with your at our March conferences. Since March is so far away, please let me know if you would like to just do a quick catch up sometime between now and the end of the month. I am happy to sit down with you.

Math this week...
Number writing practice
Number card games (example: top it, it's like WAR with cards...you can play it at home.)
Count by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's...Count backwards from 20.
Probability stories (introducing language of probability)
Probability tray (develop understanding of probability)
Pan Balance: Level 2 Heavier versus lighter

Writer's workshop...
We will continue to plan, map and create our SMALL moment stories.
This week will focus on setting, plot, and GOOD LEADS...
Try reading stories at home and notice what makes a story good...try reading books like the following:
My Mama Had a Dancing heart
Owl Moon
Too Many Tamales
STrong to the hoop
Mud
Alexander and the TErrible, Horrible, No good, very bad day

Other things...
I am working on my ABC tubs at school. I am filling them up with tiny little objects...for example for
B-button, black fabric, baby, bear
I am looking for little objects to add to my ABC tubs...let me know if you have junk or things lying around that you want to donate.

Friday, January 20th we will be taking pictures around the school of ALTA kids doing the four B's!
BE SAFE
BE RESPECTFUL
BE RESPONSIBLE
BE FRIENDLY
We will be trying to capture images of the kids doing the right thing. We are making POSITIVE BEHAVIOR posters for our school. We are very excited about this project at our school.

NATIONAL handwriting day is Monday, January 23rd and we are still looking for STATIONARY, note cards, postcards, fun paper...envelopes so please send it in my this Friday. I have a white bucket by the door that you can drop it right in. THANKS! Remember we will be celebrating by writing handwritten letters to friends, family or someone who just might appreciate it.

Check back later this week for some pictures!! And some video!

From Mrs. Poduska's desk....

2012-01-11T11:09:00.001-08:00

From Principal Poduska….

Communication Improvements

We are pleased to announce the launching of School Messenger at Alta School! This dynamic program has the ability to send electronic messages to all parents, which will improve our communication and school safety efforts. School Messenger will be used to notify you via phone, email, and/or text with important reminders or in emergency situations. We’ll send our first reminder phone call to you the night before next week’s Winter Sports day.

Take Home Flyers

Alta School is now allowing “approved” flyers to go home with students. Only flyers that advertise opportunities for students are allowed, and all will be pre-approved by me or a designee. If you do not want your student to bring home these types of flyers, please contact his/her teacher. Thank you!

Kindergarten snow bunnies!

2012-01-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had our first SKI day at Targhee! It couldn't of been more perfect. It was sunny, warm and amazing. We never took a break in doors..we even enjoyed our snack outside in the sunny weather. For the next 5 weeks Mondays will a tiring way to begin our week. Please make every effort that your little K's get plenty of rest on Monday after a big ski day.

This week in READING...
We are focused on the comprehension strategy: Back up and reread
Our letter this week is still /Ii/!!! When we learn a vowel, we usually concentrate on it for 2 weeks so we can really master the sound.
Snap words: for, he
We are reading Whose Garden is it?
The text is Realistic Fantasy and we are learning more about text like that. We talk about how the things could all happen, but that animals don't wear clothing or actually talk to each other.
Today we will use the same text to begin learning more about about ASKING QUESTIONS before, during and after reading. We will be practicing this skill whole group and learning why readers even ask questions.

This week during writing we will be taking our PLAN of our small moment story and really focusing on the CHARACTER in our book. We will be doing a thoughts and feelings survey for our character so that we can really understand them so that they can really develop in their story.

During Math this week:
Measurement with objects and measuring the BLUE whale...
More Pocket problems (understanding addition and subtraction)
Number card games (sequencing and number recognition)
Continue using Math workbook (to practice skills and writing numbers)

Other things:
Way to go PARENTS for remembering all of your child's ski stuff....checks and snacks and/or snack money! You deserve a HUGE pat on the back! I am so fortunate!!!!

Wednesday, January 11th is our BANANA split day. We have been working hard on our goal of getting dressed in under 3 minutes...and we have consistently met it now for weeks. Wahoo!

Thursday I will be out. Heather Dolman is my substitute. I am headed to Idaho Falls to check on my eyes after my lasik surgery last year. No worries...just a follow-up.

Monday, January 16 is Martin Luther King's birthday. There is no school for students.

Monday, January 23 is National Handwriting Day. Please help me by donating between now and then stationary, envelopes, pens, little notes...cards...etc. We will be celebrating by taking time out of our day to write handwritten notes, letters, cards to people that might need it in our school or in our community. This will be during handwriting/Writing time. Feel free to stop in and deliver your child a handwritten note or send one in their folder. Or you could just stop by and write with us.

A special visit...

2012-01-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

Before Holiday break we had 2 special visitors come to our classroom. It was Bob and Laurie (Cecilia's grandparents from California)! They asked to come in and play guitar and ukulele and sing Christmas carols...well, no one in their right mind would turn that down right?!

It worked out perfectly because Kindergartners had just finished their Writer's celebration with the Big room!

The BIG room helped us out cause they know a lot of the songs.

Not to mention that Bob and Laurie brought us donuts! Yum!

They were so cute. It's so fun to have grandparents in the classroom.

Thanks you two! You are welcome back anytime!

Welcome back y'all!

2012-01-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

You might notice that I sound more southern....well, that happens when I spend 10 days with my mom and dad. We had a blast hunkering down...cooking...baking...EATING...and just being together. I hope you had a nice break too!
It was nice to be back in a routine today as all settled in at school. I missed your little love-bugs and was happy to receive hugs, touches, smiles and snuggles! What a sweet little crew!

WE are are back at it here in Kindergarten!
This week in reading we will be learning the letter: /Ii/
Snap words this week include: for, he
This week we will focused on the plot of a story. We will be reading many texts as we discover what the sequence of events is. This is perfect too for writing as we will begin our "personal narratives" this week. Today we began by looking at our heart maps from the beginning of the year to make a list of ideas that we might want to STREEEETTTTCCCCHHHH out into a story. This will be our YOUNG AUTHOR's focus this year. I look forward to teaching this unit and having it highlighted in the Spring at our YOUNG AUTHOR's celebration.

Math this week includes:
Number practice
Domino concentration
Pan balance review
Measurement
Pocket Problems (simple addition and subtraction)

Other things to know about:
Skiing begins next MONDAY. Remember to dress your child accordingly and bring all appropriate equipment to school. Stay tuned for more about skiing later in the week.

Tardy note came home today. Please know that on 8 tardies your child will spend lunch/recess in my classroom. On the 10th, they have to stay after school. Yikes. Give your BEST effort to have your child here to school on time.

Classroom shoes are a must. Wet boots aren't allowed in the classroom. Please pack or leave a pair of shoes here for the classroom.

Classroom goal WAS to DRESS for RECESS in 2 minutes or less....we have spent 3 weeks in training and as a class we haven't met it...after spending some time today studying our goal...we decided that everyone is under 3 minutes so maybe we should change the goal...we did!
WE also said that if we can continue to dress in 3 minutes or less until next Tuesday then on Wednesday we will be REWARDED with BANANA splits...cause January the 11th is National Banana Split day....:)

Volunteers begin the week of the 9th...here is what I have:
Wednesday 9:15-10:00 Crista 10:45:11:20 Liz
Thursday 9:15-10:00 Kurt or Becky (I still have the 10:45 slot open...let me know if you are interested)

WANTED: Snowboarding instructor for the next six Mondays...let me know if you are INTERESTED...

ANNOUNCEMENTS and little things...

2011-12-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

Parents...tomorrow night is the SCHOOL play! Wahoo! Have your child dressed and fed and dropped off at the Alta school by 6:15pm. We will take care of the rest. Entertainment will be provided beginning at 6:45 by Mr. Starks and other students.

Have your child wear their pajamas to school on Wednesday for MOVIE MORNING. Please make sure they wear warm socks because at 1:15 we are headed out into the elements on a sleigh guided by Meredith Wilson and his team of horses. Please keep this part a secret as I haven't told the kids yet! I am so excited to do this with them.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Holiday break with their family. I am looking forward to the time off to spend with little Whitty, Jordy and my parents.

'tis the season!!!!
falalalalalala-Mrs. Griffin

Welcome Winter! We've been waiting!!!

2011-12-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

Room happenings...

2011-12-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Last week we celebrated Ms. Vancie's birthday! Mrs. Beard made the whole school cupcakes.


Happy Birthday Ms. Vancie

ARE YOU WONDERING ABOUT this week?

It will not be your typical week at the Alta School. We are in FULL blown play practice mode. We practice everyday and by Friday we might even practice twice. Whoa!

This week in Reading we will be reviewing the things we have learned...
Letters: M,A,T,S,P,C
Snap words: am,a,I,is,little,like,my,the,to,we...student names...colors...easy decodables: pan, mat, Tam..etc.
We will be learning three new spelling games: BANG! Word WALL rockstar! and SPARKLE!
How to help at home: Make index cards with snap words on them and decodables and play a matching game...or just learn to read them!
Some new skills to use when reading....IF I GET STUCK...
Accuracy-Use the beginning and ending sounds
Accuracy-Do the words and pictures match?
Accuarcy-Skip the word then come back.
Accuracy-Trade a word/Guess a word that makes sense
Comprehension-Back up and reread!
Comprehension-CROSS checking: Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?

We have pretty much finished our first "ALL about" book and will be celebrating with the BIG roomers as our Thursday guests! We can't wait to read to them and have cake and candy canes! Wahoo!

Kids were introduced to their FREE writing journals two weeks ago and they have enjoyed coming in and writing in them to share their weekends. Sometimes there is a prompt on the board for them to follow and sometimes it's all student lead. I am excited about them writing words, sentences and even filling whole pages!

Yesterday we made REINDEER puppets...it's the little things right? I had made little reindeer cookies at home and brought them in for the kids. They seemed to enjoy that surprise.

We are working on some surprises for you that may come home this Friday or next week wrapped. Please stick it under the tree...

SPEAKING of FRIDAY...Kindergarten will be having TACKY CHRISTMAS day! WEar all of you Christmas stuff...mix and match...have fun getting dressed...and please mark down that next Wednesday we wear our pajamas to school. It's the day after the play...kids are tired (exhausted) and we also have a VERY SPECIAL surprise planned! At 1:15 I have arranged for a horse drawn sleigh to pick us up outside the Alta School. The kids have no idea. We will have a hot cocoa bar with sugar cookies...and load up the sleigh to go caroling around Targhee town! Please keep it a secret!!!

We have a full sleigh of kids and volunteers. Even my parents are going to join us!

Back on this week and the tiny bit of next...we will be REVIEWING....CRAFTING...CREATING...WRITING...PRINTING...celebrating...practicing...and REPEATING all the above....maybe...just maybe...there might be a CHRISTMAS movie!!! Maybe!?!


WE have been reading a bunch! Reading to someone is so fun!

Cross checking to make meaning out of the text.

EEKK! Elbow...Elbow...knee to knee!

Little love bugs after tootie fruiti pattern necklas

Walking in a winter wonderland!

2011-12-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

Oh man! I am in our classroom 2 days this week! I didn't really plan on it going like that...but...it is. Tuesday and Wednesday I will be Curriculum mapping in Jackson for Kindergarten. Friday I am taking a personal day to head to Lander, Wyoming. Our great friends live there and we are off for a little visit!

Back in the classroom during reading:
We will be reading Bear snores on. Monday we will begin to focus on plot and predictions as a whole group and as I read.
Kids are starting to get stuck more often during independent time while reading. This week we will continue to focus on what to do when a reader gets stuck. We will be using the HANDY reading strategies! I sent this home with you during your parent/teacher conference. I hope it comes in handy at home too. :)
See the family times for more information.

During Writing we will continue on our EXPERT book. Kids are wrapping up their first book. We learned all about making spaces when we write last week. We are trying to make spaces between our words every time we write. You can help your child at home with this too by reminding them of the 2 finger rule or making a spaceman like we did. We just decorated a tongue depresser with a little guy and our name and called it spaceman. He reminds us to make spaces when we write!
We will read ANIMAL babies during writing again this week. We will begin to brainstorm a list of what our EXPERT book has to have.
Things like:
titles, bold words, table of contents, labels, pictures...
We will review NONfiction and it's features. I hope to be publishing by this week or next. That will leave our PUBLISHING party before Christmas. The Kindergartners have invited the BIG roomers to this one. They are so excited about it!

During math we are...
Continuing to work in our NEW math books. Kids are pumped about a MATH book! We have just started writing our numbers. Kids are practicing estimating every other day. They are getting better at being educated guessers. Try this at home too. It's fun!
Review Roll and record where we practice our number counting and writing
You should be counting at home by: 1's, 5's, 10's and 2's and even backwards from 10.
Learning something new: THE PAN BALANCE (comparing weights of objects)
Domino concentration game
Monster squeeze

Other news:

Christmas play practice is underway. Last week we had SONG practice everyday, but this week we actually start to tackle the play. Kindergarten is only involved on Wednesday. As it gets closer we go to practice more, but for this week...just once.

I had my formal observation last Thursday with Mrs. P in our classroom. I was so excited to get observed....yet really NERVOUS too. It was the first time in 3 years since I had been observed. It went really well...I think. I will let you know if they will be asking me to leave anytime soon. :)

Happy DECEMBER!!!

Mrs. G

BAck at it!

2011-11-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

Welcome back! I had 5 kids show up on time. That's 50% of the class...yikes. I guess everyone is feeling like this guy pictured above. I felt like him for a whole day. Bleck! The Griffin's had a blast visiting both Chico and Bozeman. Whityn swam everyday and we ate way too much! It's good to be back! Hope to see everyone by Friday!

This week we are transitioning from November to December! During reading we are focused on READING all of Laura Numeroff's books such as "If you give a mouse a cookie"...and there are tons of others. Your family times says: Animal Babies which we will be reading (but during writing time as we continue to focus on non-fiction). The skills are the same but I am using books that better help to teach the comprehension skills and reading strategies. This week we will focus on: Cause and Effect, reviewing sequencing a story, begin to make predictions, and learn about a story circle.
Letter of the week: /Pp/
See the family times for more.
Kids will begin to learn about the HANDY reading strategies this week. Please refer to it at home if needed.

In writing we will continue on in our "EXPERT book"! Aren't you glad to know that kindergartners are experts?

During math we will focus on the following skills:
Symmetry by making CHRISTMAS trees
Teen numbers (follow the leader)
Number books (practice writing and representing numbers)
Macaroni or fruit loop necklaces ( creating and describing patterns)
Roll and Record (review counting and number recognition through a graphing activity)

During Science:
I guess we will discuss death (as 2 fish died)
Observe what happens with guppies and goldfish when a tunnel is added into the tank.
Compare and Contrast both fish.
Read Animals Two by Two

Other news:
Christmas auditions were today...too bad Kindergartners can't be leads huh?
However they are in the play. We begin SONG practice tomorrow everyday until the play. We will be singing from 10:00 until 10:30. With that being said...I am going to go ahead and cancel all volunteers this week which means no more volunteers until January 9th. Please email me if you are still interested in volunteering. The needs of the class have changed and that means that my schedule will look differently so let me know if you are still available. I will send out a more formal sign up later in the week.
Looking ahead to next week: I am out Tuesday and Wednesday for mapping reading for Kindergarten over in Jackson. I am also out of Friday due to a personal day.
Stay tuned!
Mrs. Griffin

Mini Griffin Gazette - a few happenings

2011-11-21T12:01:00.000-08:00

So I was busy over the weekend with lots of organizing, crafting, cleaning and PACKING! I got 4 boxes packed up nice and tight for our soldier buddies over the ocean. Thank you so much for helping me make it a success by donating something...I have so much stuff...that I will send another 4 boxes in 6 weeks.

It was so fun to pack them all up. I felt like a little elf. I really appreciate you helping me fill the boxes. What a great service we did!

Last week in Kindergarten...we mastered the ART of the daily 5. This picture on the right is a group of kids who chose WORD WORK. They are working with tiles to make 2,3, and 4 letter words. Then they read them and write them down.

This great pair chose READ TO SOMEONE. They took turns retelling books, reading words and pictures and discussing them.

This crew of 4 chose LISTENING to READING. They plugged into storyonline.com and listened without looking because they were working on visualizing. They drew pictures instead in their minds and on their paper!

Last week we celebrated THANKSGIVING at school. We had our annual TURKEY lunch and our parents came. It was delicious!

Even Virgil made it.

Some sibling snuggles.

Excited about TURKEY!

Excited to be here!

This week in Kindergarten...

We are going to focus on giving THANKS...by writing, reading and learning about THANKSGIVING..THANKFUL...and what it means. We are going to immerse ourselves in TURKEY CRAFTS...like the one coming home today. If you like my turkey projects...check out http://pinterest.com/ and if you don't become obsessed...then well, you don't...but I am. We even have turkey math...:)

Kindergartners will have 2 fun-filled days! Wahoo! I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am leaving Wednesday to go to Chico Hot Springs. Wherever you travels bring you...I hope that you arrive safely. Have fun and eat a lot!

See you on the 28th! Wednesday the 30th is my last VOLUNTEER day until I re-evaluate the schedule for January.

Griffin Gazette {sub for Monday and possibly Tuesday}

2011-11-14T21:38:00.000-08:00

Kindergartners are having some mature conversations around reading. It's been neat to be a part of it. I am so proud of how far these little guys have come in just 50 days!

This week in our classroom...
We are reading Armadillo's Orange. Our letter of the week is /Ss/. Our snap words are review this week: have, is
Our comprehension skill this week is VISUALIZATION. We are going to be working hard to make pictures in our minds while we read stories...while Mrs. Griffin reads to us and when people talk to us. You can practice this at home too. Read to your child a poem...or a book without showing pictures. Have them make a movie in their mind. Have them share with you what they saw. Then read again and show the pictures to them.
Review comprehension skill: Setting
For more information see the FAMILY times.
Essential questions:
What is visualizing? How do you visualize? How does visualization help readers understand a story? What is setting? What clues and/or details are in the picture that show what the setting is? How does knowing the setting help you understand the story....ahhh the things we will discover over the next few weeks.

In math we will...
Review number stories
Begin Symmetry (by painting) look for them hanging later in the hallway.
Finding symmetry in nature (leaves...butterflies...ladybugs...etc)
This Wraps un Unit 2 this week. I may spend some extra time with NUMBER stories since the kids are WAY eager to begin adding and subtracting...and then toward the end of the week we are going to being some of MRS. GRIFFIN's favorite THANKSGIVING projects...:)

or the one I do every year...Apple turkey...

In Writing we are focused on our "ALL about book" We have begun brainstorming for our book. We had to choose an animal (since Kindergarten studies animals) and we had to write down 3 facts about it. This week we will work to draft a practice page about our animal. Kids will watch as I model this practice. Thursday we have a visiting writing teacher (Mrs. Hultman) from Wilson. She is a writing expert. She is likely to jump right in and teach. She will be meeting with all the teachers to see if they need help...and/or resources. I am excited to pick her brain because she has done the WRITING institute at Columbia University a BUNCH of times.

In Science...we will continue to compare and contrast Goldfish and Guppies...feed our animals...learn to care for them and observe and talk about them

Other news:
Please try and have any items for our Soldier here by Friday. I plan to mail boxes after school or Saturday morning. Thanks for helping with this one. It's dear to my heart.

Spirit day is FRIDAY. Wear your RED shirts.

Remember to keep classroom shoes at school. Wet boots make our carpet soggy and smelly AND the kids are supposed to have on shoes throughout the day.

Hope this finds you all doing well and healthy...I hope to return Wednesday...as I am still having a hard time talking.
Until then...Happy Almost THANKSGIVING!!!!

Report card week {Griffin Gazette}

2011-11-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

LOOK in your child's red folder tonight for their REPORT card! I slaved hard on them and am finally finished! Please look it over and bring it to your parent/teacher conference if you have any questions. I am very excited to meet with you this week.

This week in READING...

We are continuing on the letter /Aa/ and UNDER the sea. Since the 4 day week and Halloween stole some of my teaching time. I am going to hang out UNDER the SEA until Thursday. We will spend the week reviewing and mastering.

Kindergartners are working hard to make connections.

Text to self

Text to text

Text to movie (some have claimed it)

Kindergartners are mastering the DAILY 5. Kindergartners are learning all about NON-fiction books. Check in with your child on non-fiction books. Next time you are at the library explore the nonfiction section too!

I have some great hand-outs for you to use at home when you read with your child that I will hand out on conference night. If you are chomping at the bit. Look HERE!

This week in MATH...

TEEN partners (more teen practice) Look here for song!

Arranging objects by length

Paper chains with teen practice

Estimation jars

BEGIN number stories (stage 1) addition and subtraction

This week in writing...

We begin TRIMESTER 2...

NON-fiction (Expert books)

Kindergartners will start to brainstorm an animal that they know a lot about (2 or 3 facts)...

We will write down our facts.

We will be introduce to a sample expert book.

We will do practice pages and make transfers.

Students will work on individual goals with teacher during conferences.

SCIENCE this week includes...

Caring for and observing our guppies and goldfish....hmmm, a guppy is pregnant. uh-oh!

Other news:

1. Veterans day assembly is Thursday at 2:00. Grant Wilson will speak to the kids about Veteran's day. I will also be speaking with the Alta school about my friend who is a pilot in Afghanistan. We will work to send 4 boxes over in the next few weeks. Be on the look out for a list of things the soldiers have requested Thursday night. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. They will greatly appreciate it.

2. PICTURE RETAKES are Tuesday...come dressed and ready. This is for our school and individual pictures.

3. Parent/teacher conferences are this week. Please let me know if you won't make it. I am planning on 100% attendance.

4. No school on FRIDAY due to P/T conference week. Have another great 3-day weekend!

5. November 17th at 11:20 is our THANKSGIVING day lunch. Visitors are welcome. Let Ms. Rose know in advance if you are coming.
6. Your children were taught today how to dress in under 2 minutes in their snow clothing. Our classroom goal is 2 minutes or less! Watch here for tricks and tips. *Just scroll down to the video of the little boy getting dressed. He's 5 and he's fast!

A little Halloween...a little learning...

2011-11-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Halloween day!

Mrs. Crista reads a spooky story.

Cecilia delivers popcorn pumpkins to her friends.

Tristan examines his popcorn pumpkin.

A little Halloween game action...it was pretty hard!

The mummy game was easy...and funny!

Wrap those mummies!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

With a smile now.

Mrs. Farrier does a nice face painting job.

Another guest reader....can you tell who it is?

Is it a bear or a lion?

Look at these Halloween treats that Deb made...hands with yummy treats inside.

A little learning...

Meet Ben and Jerry...our new goldfish.

The kids began their first science investigation by observing the goldfish...and drawing and labeling what they saw.

Meet John, Paul, George, Ringo and Yoko....the guppies.

1 to 1 correspondence....0-10

With buttons and beans....

Perfecting our names...Big letter...followed by little letters.

Working on first and last names.

Griffin Gazette and a short week reminder!

2011-10-31T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yes...it's me...the APG {aka- Alta Pumpkin girl} to the rescue...saving kids from turning into pumpkins! Or something like that! Happy Halloween! I am taking lots of pictures..so hold on for updates later in the week of the kids and our party!

This week in K....
We are reading Life in an ocean by Carol K Lindeen. This will be the first time that I refer to a non-fiction book as non-fiction. We will start to sort books non-fiction and fiction in reading and in writing.
Letter of the week: Aa
Snap words: have, is (and review: the, a, to, little, I, am)
Comprehension skills- Compare and Contrast AND non-fiction features
See the family times for more! *Coming home today...but you might not see it because of the HALLOWEEN madness...right!?

Writing this week: We are going to publish one more time Tuesday or Wednesday. We hope to celebrate on Thursday. This will be a party where we will share our writing using the promethean board and eat some popcorn.
Kids will concentrate on the following skills:
How to fix and fancy up.
Editor's checklist
How to share and be an audience when others are sharing.

Math this week: Click the link below to watch THE BIG NUMBERS SONG...it's calming and the kids love it! You will too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0dJWfQHF8Y
Tricky teens - introduce and practice with counting and recognizing teen numbers.
Sorting objects (review)
Playing oral counting games: give the next number (review)
Listen and Do (reinforce oral counting and recognizing teen numbers through a movement study)
Teen Partners (To introduce the concept that teen numbers represent "10 and some more"
Arranging objects by length and paper chains (10 links same color...and 11-19 are a different color to show the teens)

November brings on our first Science official Science unit: Animals two by two
which provides the students with close and personal interaction with some common land and water animals.
Expectations:
-develop a growing curiosity and interest in the living world around them
-observe and describe the structures of a variety of common animals (fish, snails, earthworms, isopods, and chicks)
-Compare structures and behaviors of different pairs of animals.
-Observe interactions of animals
-Communicate observations and comparisons
-Acquire new vocabulary
-Handle animals carefully, and participate in the are and feeding of classroom animals.

Other news:

No school Friday for kids...teachers will be participating in professional development and getting report cards ready.
Your SCHEDULED conference sheet should come home Tuesday after school. Please sign it and send it back to school filled out. Please let me know ASAP if your scheduled time does not work for you.
November volunteers are the same as OCTOBER...and all volunteers are cancelled for Christmas except my book orders and my To-do volunteer. Sign-up for January will be hanging outside soon!
Until then....let the night begin!

Happy Halloween!

Whole brain teaching conference and us trying!

2011-10-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

4th annual Poppas and Pumpkins and a recipe

2011-10-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

FINISHED PRODUCTS!

The following pictures are in random order for you and your family to enjoy. I will post a few more tomorrow. We had so much fun! The weather was great. We ate pumpkin seeds (thanks to Heather Dolman), pumpkin dip with apples and vanilla wafers(thanks to Mrs. G), and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (thanks to Ms. Vancie). The kids had a blast. The parents had fun and did pretty well handing over control of the pumpkin! :)

Ingredients for the pumpkin dip (if you were interested)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon frozen orange juice concentrate

Directions

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in the pumpkin. Stir in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and orange juice until smooth and well blended. Chill until serving. Serve in a small cute little pumpkin for fun. I did and it was such a fun surprise!

Week 9 {Griffin Gazette} and some news!

2011-10-23T11:00:00.000-07:00


FALL IS AWESOME!

Greetings fellow blog readers! Hope this finds your weekend going well! Kindergartners have been working hard...so hard that FRIDAY afternoon they earned some free time to go outside and just PLAY. ‎ "My mother taught me how to read before I got to school and so when I got there I really just wanted to do two things. I wanted to read books because I loved reading books and I wanted to go outside and chase butterflies. You know, do the things that five year olds like to do." ~Steve Jobs CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE!

We have about 2 more weeks until our first PARENT/TEACHER conferences. I am getting excited to share some AWESOME news about your little ones. I am so impressed with how much growth they have made!

Can you believe kids are writing...letters...words...sentences...and even booklets now!

They are building up lots of tools needed for writing and to know what writer's do!

Check out that pencil grip? Mom and dad are driving....kids are in the back!

Oh...did I mention the JACKSON HOLE fire fighters came over? Kids were excited to see them dressed up and more excited that they got to spray with the hose.

Kathy Clay always does the inside lecture part of the visit and she was awesome with the kids. They watched in wonder as two WOMEN firefighters dressed in gear, talked about cool tools like an axe, and addressed FIRE SAFETY.

This week in Kindergarten...
READING WORKSHOP: We wrap up UNIT 1 with reading Goldilocks and the three bears. Please know the family times will say that we are reading DIG DIG DIGGING. We are working on all the same skills but have found that Goldilocks works better for reviewing character and setting and teaching sequencing and retelling.
Kids will work hard this week on retelling stories that they know. We will practice this a lot in class. You can practice at home too. Retelling and memorizing are BIG things that READERS do!
Letter of the week: Tt
Snap words: to, a
Comprehension skills: sequencing and retell...classify and categorize
DAILY FIVE: Readers know 4 of the daily 5 and will be learning # 5 this week.

LISTEN TO READING

urgency-

helps up become better readers

helps us learn and understand new words and stories

it is fun

STUDENTS WILL: TEACHER WILL:

1. Get our materials 1. Work with the students

2. Listen to the whole story

3. May listen to another story if time

4. Follow along with pictures and/or words

5. Stay in one spot

6. Listen quietly

7. Get started quickly

8. Put materials away neatly

*Note: You could set this up at home if you have a cd player with books on tape or visit here or here for stories online that you can use at home.

Writer's workshop this week will focus on:
Reviewing "If you hear a sound, WRITE it down!" and Silent writing versus Quiet writing...
New skills-
1. What to do when a writer makes a mistake.
2. How to share writing and how to be part of the audience
3. Adding on to a piece (PICTURE-MATCHING WORDS)
4. Introducing a rubric

Math skills:
1. Preparation for writing (laying groundwork for number writing through kinesthetic and tactile stroke formation activities...paper practice, sand practice, shaving cream practice and finger painting...
2. Matching coin game (Be on the lookout for homework with this one)
3. Number board (reinforcing the meaning of numbers by constructing a class number board)
4.Tricky Teens (introduce and provide practice with counting and recognizing teen numbers

Other things:
POppas and PUmpkins is TUESDAY...at 1:15...we will meet outside at the picnic tables...please remember your sCOOPED out pumpkin and carving tool and anything else you might want to participate...
Friday is SPIRIT day...wear RED or your ALTA SHIRT.
Monday is Halloween. Come in costume..please no weapons or accessories with costume that may cause a problem. Use your best judgement!

Week 8 {A whirlwind weekend and the Griffin Gazette}

2011-10-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here is me, Chris Biffle {the WBT founder}, and Rachel Freundlich {my best teacher friend} in Palm Springs, Ca!

What an inspirational few days away. Not only did I learn a WHOLE bunch about WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING...but I got to be with one of my favorite teacher friends {Rachel Freundlich} and we were a dynamic duo in California.
Below is a little letter about my classroom happenings...please read.

Dear Parents,
As the year progresses, you may notice that our classroom doesn’t run like other classrooms. We will be learning through Whole Brain Teaching, a research based system that utilizes all areas of the brain, keeps children engaged throughout their lessons, and helps them retain much more information than the standard lecture-discussion model.
Whole Brain Teaching is a highly interactive form of instruction that delivers information to students in short “chunks.” Kids then teach what they have just learned to their partners, using hand-gestures to help remember specific vocabulary. While students teach each other, the teacher walks around the room to discover who understands the lesson and who needs more instruction.
Research shows that children retain more information when they have an opportunity to put it into their own words and use gestures to emphasize key instructional units …plus, it’s amazingly fun! For more information about Whole Brain Teaching please contact me, come by for a classroom visit and/or go to www.WholeBrainTeaching.com.
Thanks! -Lauryn Griffin

I am so excited that I had the opportunity to travel to California to learn more about this teaching REVOLUTION! WOW!

On another note:
This week in Reading...
We read Julius by Angela Johnson. We are working on characters, setting, retell and making connections. Today readers worked in their RESPONSE journals to connect to the character in Julius. We tried something new that I learned at my conference. Before we left the carpet, kids had to come up with what they were going to write. I modeled first: Julius and I are the same because we both like to have fun. While I spoke my words I used my hands to demonstrate a BIG letter and then squished them down to make them little and when my sentence was done I demonstrated with my hand a car coming to a screeching halt with the sound: errrrrr!! This is called DOOZY...the oral writing game. Kids practice with gestures capital letters and punctuation so that they learn to write it down. It really helped our brains!
Letter of the week: Mm
Snap words to learn: to, a
See the family times for more.

This week in Writer's workshop...
Writers put their PUBLISHED WORK in the hallway. Be sure to check it out if you are in the school.
This week we will hone some techniques we have learned like: using the WORD WALL {word woods}, using the ABC sound board to help us when we hear a sound then to WRITE IT DOWN, and oral story telling and trying it out on paper.
Writers will be introduced to booklets this week too. We are looking forward to publishing again before PARENT/TEACHER conferences.

Math Workshop...
Students are learning:
Spin a number game - reinforcing counting and reading numbers 1-10 {also practicing our GOOD game etiquette...please play a game at home and work on taking turns, how to chose who goes first, how to roll the dice versus throwing the dice...how to play by the rules...etc.
Reviewing visual patterns
Patterns all around - reinforce recognition of patterns through a pattern search activity.
Oral counting games - oral counting skills through movement activities
Preparation for number writing - groundwork for number writing through kinesthetic and tactile stroke-formation activities

Other things in our classroom:
Reteaching has begun. In our classroom we have an UH-OH spot where I document your child's behavior based on our 4 b's:
Be Safe
Be Respectful
Be Responsible
Be Friendly
Students have a chance to be reminded once and then I document. Once it's document 3 times, they go in for a RE-TEACH in Mrs. Blackburn's room during 10AM recess.

Friday, October 21st is SPIRIT day...kids should wear their ALTA shirts or RED!

Thursday, October 28th at 1:15 is POPPAS and PUMPKINS...more on this next week.


KINDERGARTNERS learned about READ to SOMEONE

You have to remember EEKK-elbow,elbow...knee to knee body language

READ THE whole time...I read, you read, I read, you read

Stay in 1 spot

Read quietly

Check for understanding

November 8th and 9th are PARENT/TEACHER conference days. Let me know ASAP if a day is better for you.

SMILE!

2011-10-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

Ending our Apple week...

How about a smile?

Take apple slickes...spread on the peanut butter and stick on mini marshmallows...and top it with another apple slice and you have apple smiles...

Week 7 {Griffin Gazette}

2011-10-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! I hope you enjoyed your 3-day weekend. I did. The Griffins went to the UPICK Red Barn in Idaho Falls. We picked out 4 great pumpkins for 20 dollars. Have you ever been to the Pumpkin patch in Idaho Falls...if you haven't it's awesome....check it out across from the zoo.

In Reader's workshop this week...

Readers will listen to an interactive READ aloud of Miss Bindergarten takes a field trip. We will focus on Classifying and categorizing information in our stories so that we better understand them.
This is our last week of letter recognition: T-Z
Snap word review: the, little, I and am
Last week we focused on SELF to TEXT connections. We learned that good readers use their schema and prior knowledge in order to take more meaning from the text. This week we will build upon that skill by making more meaningful connections to our self and other text.

READING is THINKING!

See the family times for more information on reading. Please complete the family times with your child. There is no need to send it back.

Please note that Tuesday - Thursday your child will bring a book home to read. The book can be read 3 ways:1.READ pictures 2.READ words 3. RETELL a story

Please make every effort to read with your child and send the book back the following day. You can work this week on making connections while reading a book at home too. It might sound something like this...

Parent: while you are reading to your child...wow, that reminds me of the time that I......Does that story, picture or sentence remind you of anything?

Child: Yes, it reminds me of the time that....

Parent: WOW< that's called making a connection..that's what a good reader does to better understand the text.

In Writer's worskhop....

WRITER's will:
Revisit how to draw people and heart mapping from last week.
Learn about the ABC chart and add it to their writer's folder.
Learn how to spell the best you can and move on.
Publish a piece of writing.

WE START UNIT 2 in Math...it includes:
*Finishing up our "WHERE WE LIVE MURAL" Look for that in the hallway. Kindergartners have a goal of learning their address and phone number by Halloween. We made a huge mural to help us out.
Shape Collages-introducing and reviewing cirlces, triangles, squares and rectangles
Shapes by feel- develop understanding of shapes using the sense of touch
Which way do I go? - reviewing spatial vocabulary and concepts
Spin a number game- reinforce counting and reading numbers 1-10
Reviewing patterns, numbers 1-9, number sense, address and phone numbers.

Other things you should know...

BAG of leaves due this week by WEDNESDAY.

Health screening is Thursday. Our nurse will be in house screening the students' eyes, ears, and getting some stats like height and weight.

Remember I am out of the building Thursday and Friday. My sub will be Heather Dolman. I can be reached by phone or email. I am so excited to try out my new skills when I return.

THURSDAY October 28th- Poppas and Pumpkins...1:15 outside by the Aspen trees. Please bring a pumpkin all scraped out and ready to carve. This is for Dads and kids. However, exceptions can be made if needed.

Week 6 {Griffin Gazette} and other THINGS...

2011-10-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

1st Alta School Camp-out in Teton Canyon...so fun!

Late night by the fire...

Ms. Amy came to our school on Friday. She led us through a review first about what we had learned at the ART museum and then she taught us something new using the pattern wheel.

Center sneak peek: This is ART!

Depending on the medium, this center is forever changing.

Cecilia and Tristan make patterns with apple stamps.

STUDENT of the MONTH! Alta school began a new tradition on Friday. At the end of every month a student from every class will be honored as the student of the month. Students can be nominated because of academics or behavior. This month in Kindergarten Cecilia has shown her enthusiasm for learning, follows the classroom rules, tries hard everyday and has exemplifies good citizenship. Thank you Cecilia!

During Math workshop, we sorted our coins into buckets based on color, size and name.

Last week Kindergartners set their individual goals and class goals. You will learn more about goal setting during Parent/Teacher conference time. For now, see the BIG SUPER CRITTER on the WALL... well, your little super critter is trying to chase that critter down by learning all they can. As the year progresses so does the critter! FOLLOW THAT CRITTER!

Here is where the Kindergartners start...they are working hard to move forward!

AND NOW for this week...

READING workshop-
Essential question: How do families cooperate?
Story of the week: Plaidypus Lost
We will be story mapping, sequencing, learning to make TEXT to SELF connections, and reviewing characters and setting.
Snap words-the, little
Letter recognition- O, P, Q, R, S
Please read and complete the family times with your child this week.
Take note that TUESDAY-THURSDAY your child will be bringing home a book to read. Remember the 3 ways to read a book are:
1. Read the pictures.
2. Read the words.
3. Retell a story that you know.
Your child might have special directions on the front of the book!
This week we get # 3 and # 4 of the DAILY FIVE!
WORD WORK and READ TO SOMEONE...stay tuned for more!
Kids also get to start shopping for books this week.
Learn more about IPICK later this week with our IPICK movie!!! Stay tuned!
READING VOLUNTEERS BEGIN THIS WEEK!

This week in WRITING...
We are working on functional writing pieces such as lists, labels, step by step...etc!
Keeping our materials organized...
Adding to a piece...
Oral storytelling...
More with heart mapping (brainstorming ideas so that we always can have a place to refer to when we are fresh out of ideas)
Writing VOLUNTEERS begin this week! :)

THIS WEEK in math...**WE ARE WRAPPING up UNIT 1**
We are working on our APPLE math books.
Learning GIVE THE NEXT NUMBER game
Body Height comparisons
GEtting to know numbers 0-9
Finger counting fun
Sand and water table (volume and measurement)
PARENTS-please let me know what PHONE number you want your child to learn!

Other news:
Please have your child bring in a bag of leaves (different colors, sizes and shapes) by Friday!
OCTOBER 5th - Tracy Poduska here all day.
OCTOBER 10th - No school for kids (Columbus day)
OCTOBER 13th and 14th...I will be out. Heather Dolman will be my sub. I am attending a WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING conference in Palm Springs, California. Learn more about whole brain teaching here!
OCTOBER 31st - Halloween party (Kids wear costumes all day) ROOM MOMS can post the sign up sheets outside the classroom and start recruiting parents for help!

Field trip and center sneak peek!

2011-09-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we rode the bus over Teton pass to the Wildlife Art museum. We got there and had lunch first at the new amphitheater. The kids soaked up the sunshine and got probably a dozen compliments from tourists walking by. I was so proud and impressed by them. Someone would stop to talk to me and say how how polite they were. Way to go Kindergarten!

We made our way indoors to meet Ms. Amy for our museum tour and Native American design and decoration class. We enjoyed spotting patterns, shapes and colors in the artwork. Then we got to make a parfleche out of paper.

The kids did a nice job of incorporating patterns onto their parfleche. They wanted to put treasures inside. We talked a lot about what the Native Americans might've put inside.

We walked outside to the bus to hop on and guess who we saw!

....the big roomers...who had just gotten picked up from Teton Science school in Kelly. I worked it so that we came back on the bus and it was a BIG surprise. The kindergartners were so happy and excited. Some even fell right to sleep when they got on the bus!

PROMETHEAN BOARD center:

I can...

1. play a reading game

2. play a math game

3. work with a friend

4. build my hand strength

5. work as a team

6. practice taking turns

7. pretend to be the teacher

8. use technology

Below Carson and Cecilia are playing Monkey business. They are trying to put the numbers back in order. It takes a lot of fine motor strength to use the pen, drag the object and write on the board. We are learning how to operate this very cool piece of technology.

Centers SNEAK PEEK!

2011-09-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

gideon and madeline chose play-place last friday.

At Play-Place

I can...

1. Clean the kitchen

2. Dress up

3. Care for the babies

4. Pretend with friends

5. Sing songs

6. Make a menu

7. Cook meals

And more...

I usually keep an ear out on play-place because the conversations can be HILARIOUS...here Madeline was holding the baby...and I asked her if she wanted me to sling her baby up for her. She agreed and now it's the new way to hold your baby in playplace. So cute!

Week 5{Griffin Gazette}

2011-09-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

This week in Kindergarten...
Well, First and foremost it's Johnny Appleseed's birthday on Monday. We will work this into our curriculum throughout the week. Some things you might hear about are:
apple patterns, applesauce, graphing apple colors, graphing our favorite apple, apple crafts and let's not forget caramel apples.

During Reading workshop:We begin week 2 of Unit 1.
Our story this week: Fix it Duck
Letter recognition: F-N
Comprehension skill: Setting and character review
Your child is part of a workshop structure during reading, writing, math and themework (science and social studies). This is what that looks like:
Teacher teaches (mini lesson)
Students practice (independent time)
Students come back to share (Share time)
Other skills we are working on include:
Beginning to read habits, routines and procedures
Reviewing and practice read to self (we are up to 10 minutes)
Daily 5 skills-
Writing about reading and word work
Stay tuned for more on this.
PLEASE READ and COMPLETE the family times (coming home tonight) with your little one for review.
Handwriting-Students begin working in their printing books this week. We start will all capital letters. We call them Frog jump capitals. The first letter is F. We will begin tomorrow. Remember when you see your child writing, remind them to ALWAYS start at the top.
WRITING:
More "list" practice
Focus on "CLEAN OUT" of their writing folder
Practicing "share out" at the end of writer's workshop
How to organize our materials
Watch what I do when I write (lots of teaching modeling)
Heart mapping (brainstorming a place to keep all our great ideas)
MATH
Sound and motion patterns (apple patterns too)
Patterns with color
Getting to know our numbers 0-9
Coin comparisons
Give the next number game
Learning how to navigate on the computer (math games)
Graphing apple colors and favorite apples
THEMEwork (science and social studies)
Our focus is FALL: apples, Johnny Appleseed, seasons
Wednesday we will be traveling to Jackson, Wyoming to the National museum of wildlife art. Kindergartners will be studying NATIVE AMERICAN decoration and design. Of course I wanted to do this closer to Thanksgiving, but didn't want to risk riding the bus over the pass then. We are so excited to be invited by Amy Goicoechea (Associate curator of Education).
This is a two part program that provides support for our math curriculum too. During the first 60 minute session at the museum students will view artifacts and paintings depicting Native Americans. The focus is on shapes, colors and patterns found in Native American art. The 2nd session which will be held in our classroom on Friday is focused on making a medicine shield that emphasizes the simple mathematical shapes used by Native Americans in their design.
I am so excited to be a part of this with your children. Please let me know if you are interested in coming with us.
FUN FACT:We are coming back from Jackson at 12:45 and guess who will be on our same bus....the ALTA big room (heading home from the science school)....FUN..huh?

OTHER NEWS:
Monday - Wednesday (5th grade heads to science school)
Wednesday, September 28th is our field trip to the Art Museum.
Friday, September 30th is the ALTA camp out. See the handout for details or email me.
VOLUNTEERS start next week: October 3rd! (Please know that the volunteer schedule will change after November. You won't be locked into that day and time. As our needs change, so does our volunteer schedule.

Griffin Gazette {Week 4}

2011-09-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

This week during Reading:

We are reading The little school bus by Carol Roth.
Letter recognition-ABCDE
Snap words (words students should learn and know in a snap) - I, am
Comprehension skills- Character
Every Monday Carol Ogle (PEAK teacher) will be in our classroom to help me differentiate for all learners.
Please see the FAMILY TIMES that will come home today in your child's folder for more information on our story and skills this week.
DAILY FIVE- We are reviewing and practicing
"READ to self"
Students are to do the following things:
1. Stay in one spot
2. Read the whole time
3. Read quietly
4. Work on Stamina
5. Get started right away.
Teacher:
1. Works with students
Kindergartners are learning about the 3 ways to read a book:
1. Read the pictures.
2. Read the words.
3. Retell a story you know.
This week we will learn how to CHOOSE JUST RIGHT BOOKS. For more information on the DAILY FIVE...go here!

This week in Writing...
We are working on filling the page, growing as artist, oral story telling, making lists, and making charts. Some kids are working on adding labels, writing the first letter in a word, touching the paper where the words will go, and/or if they hear a sound then they WRITE it DOWN!

DURING handwriting...
We are mastering the PERFECT grip and working on starting our letters at the top. See folder tonight for information on the perfect grip and letter formation.

This week in Math...
Review the concept of zero (counting down)
Introducing numbers 1-9 in a variety of activities
Introducing sorting
Sand and water play
Introducing bar graphs

Other news:
HAVE you checked out our school website lately?

Monday, September 19th - Jason from Teton Raptor Center is coming out to the Alta School to introduce us to GUS the eagle (who appeared on our vision banner from last year). He will be flying some birds outside in our big field. This is a kick-off for the ALTA EAGLES and for our new PBS (positive behavior support) program.

Wednesday and Thursday - I am at the school, but will be out of the classroom due to professional development called CEL. My sub will either be Lacy Arnold or Joe Lindsay.

Thursday, September 22nd - OPEN HOUSE at 6pm (Gym)

Friday - Last day for Molly. Please join me in saying goodbye to this GREAT family. We are going to miss them so much!
Alta t-shirts arrive. When your child comes home with their t-shirt on, please know that order forms will come home for additional shirts.

Playdoh, swimming and centers...oh my!

2011-09-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

Friday we wrapped up our WEEK long swim unit and I must admit, it was a huge success. I didn't know how it would look being that for the past 100 years Alta has been traveling up to Green Canyon and the Targhee pool was brand new. But I have to say, it worked out beautifully. The kids seem to love it and so did the TEACHERS. Below is a picture of us FRIDAY hot-tubbing it during the rain! It was SO.MUCH.FUN!

My guppies and goldfish warmed up in the BIG pool on FRIDAY with their ABC chest jumps. Then we played the bobber game where 1's go under the water and when they pop up, the 2's go under! We had 9 out of 11 go under! We had 6 floating backwards with kicks.
We had 3 using BIG arms. We sent 2 up into the TROUT group. So, I would say there were many successes!

Getting dressed and waiting!

Dang. They are so cute huh?

Other than swimming Kindergartners have been becoming quite familiar with the routines of our classroom. They do love their center time. This year I have a crew that loves building science. Here are a few of them...

And then there is the MATH crew...

And the READING/ABC center...

And some kids love love love going to PLAYPLACE...where you can dress up, work in the kitchen and care for the babies.

Friday morning when my students go to school, they had a ball of green homemade doh on there table. They had to roll it into as many worms as they could. They had been working on this skill all week, so I was hoping for quickness and quality. Then they take the worms and form them into letters of their names. They did beautifully. They also had a little fun making some creatures too.

Week 3 {Griffin Gazette}

2011-09-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

We ended our week last Friday by celebrating all the SUMMER birthdays...there were 4! Wow!
We had enough snacks for an army. It was delicious. Thanks for supporting this fun afternoon!

THIS week in Kindergarten:
We are learning about the DAILY FIVE during Literacy. It consists of the following:
{Read to Self}
{Read to Someone}
{Listen to reading}
{Word Work}
{Writing}
Kindergarteners will master READING to SELF this week. We are choosing our READING spots in our room. We are getting our own book box and we are learning about the 3 ways to read a book...
THEY ARE:
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell a story you know
You can work on these skills at home too. Let your child choose a cozy nook somewhere in the house.
We will also learn that READING is THINKING while reading BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR.

This week in Writing...
We are heart mapping (writing and drawing things we know and love for our tool belt in writer's workshop)
We are practicing our structure (MINI-lesson, WRITE, SHARE)
We are learning about RED and GREEN light pieces of writing.
We are writing everyday!
WRITER's Workshop steps: THINK, DRAW, WRITE, READ...

Other news:
Our swim unit is this whole week. We leave for Targhee at 11:30. Please remember your child's suit, towel, goggles and snack all week.
My volunteers are:
Monday and Tuesday-Crista
Wednesday - Liz
Thursday - Patricia
Friday - Crista

I will be assessing your child's reading, math and spelling skills this week. Help them eat a good breakfast and get plenty of rest. Thanks for your help!

VOLUNTEERS begin OCTOBER 3rd!!!!
Below are OUR summer B-days!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Week 2 {Griffin Gazette}

2011-09-06T14:17:00.000-07:00


Mrs. Poduska came for a visit last Friday! She got to see us eating our s'mores!

This week in Kindergarten:
We are working on rules, routines and procedures. Today kids worked on a class mission.
Our class mission is: HOLD HANDS, STICK TOGETHER, HAVE FUN, LEARN!
We are starting our pre-launch unit this week for reading. We read Chrysanthemum today and filled out our name BINGO sheets. We will play BINGO on Wednesday using our classmate's names. We will also read CHICK, CHICKA boom, boom tomorrow and begin letter recognition. The rest of the week will be focused around Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and letters.

During Handwriting and Writer's workshop we are working on our routines, songs, letter pieces and workshop structure.
This week we are decorating writing folders, learning how to use them and practicing our story telling skills.

During math we are working on:
1. Introducing measurement comparisons through a partner activity. (TODAY)
2. Introducing pattern blocks
3. Introducing counting and one to one correspondence through multisensory activities.
4. Introducing the concept of zero, the word and the number "0".

During Themework (Science/Social studies)
We are focused on getting along in a group (social skills)-Miss Nial our school counselor came today to read us a book about BUCKET FILLING.

We are also learning about temperature.

Upcoming dates:
ALL ABOUT ME TEE's are DUE this week!
PARENT night, Thursday 8th, 6pm (Plan for half an hour)
SWIMMING UNIT, September 12-16th (every afternoon for 5 days at TARGHEE) More information to come!
OPEN house, Thursday 22nd, 6pm (Plan for an hour)

Kindergartners are quickly figuring out that CENTER time is an AWESOME time!

Introducing the 2011-12 Happy Campers!

First day snack (GOING FISHING)

2011-08-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

This year in Kindergarten we have a camping theme with the room. Today the kids had a fishing snack.
Here is what you do:
1. Hand out blue napkins (for the pond)
2. Hand out goldfish (for the fishies in your pond)
3. Hand out skinny pretzel sticks
4. Add a spoonful of peanut butter
And challenge the kids to go fishing by taking a pretzel stick, dipping it in PB and then sticking it to fish.

They had a blast!

First day letter!

2011-08-31T12:05:00.003-07:00

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

Welcome back to school and welcome to Mrs. Griffin’s Kindergarten. I hope you received my “welcome” letter via the blog. We have 11 Happy Campers in our classroom this year.

Be sure to take a moment to go through the Alta Kindergarten folder folder for classroom and school wide information. The folder is a great way to transport information between school and home. Please keep it in your child’s backpack and check it daily.

Here’s some important classroom information:

Weekly Specials Schedule:

Monday: Computer @ 12:10-1:00

Tuesday: PE @ 12:10-1:00

Wednesday: Library @ 12:10-1:00

Thursday: Music @ 12:10-1:00

Friday: Art @ 10:20-11:10

REMEMBER TO WEAR Tennis shoes ON Tuesday FOR PE. Gym shoes may be left in your child’s cubby so they’re always here if you’d like.

***Return library books every TUESDAY!

“VIP of the WEEK” (sharing)

We will begin having the “VIP” in the next few weeks. Everyone will get a chance to be the “VIP” (name will be drawn). The VIP will have lots of RESPONSIBILITIES such as taking care of the class mascot (a monkey named Virgil) for the week at home and writing about his adventures, sitting in a camping chair with a stuffed animal and most importantly bringing in the special journal on Friday to share about the adventures with Virgil. All week we will be learning different things about the VIP (through their ALL about me poster). After 11 full weeks of VIP, we will begin MYSTERY bag sharing (more info to come on this later). Sharing is an important time to build speaking and listening skills and get to know each other better. Please try to avoid toys and knickknacks. We want to see and hear about pictures, nature, pets, trips, crafts, books, science collections, something related to class theme, etc.

BOOK ORDERS:

Each month (or so), I’ll send home 3 orders from Scholastic Book Club: See Saw books, Lucky books, and CLICK. These clubs provide great, inexpensive books and materials. Also every order helps build bonus points that I use to order books to build our classroom library. If you place an order, please make check payable to Scholastic Books, not to the school or me. I’ll keep you posted on due dates in the weekly newsletter. The first book order will come home in the next few weeks. **PLEASE let me know if you are interested in handling the book order. It is a great way to volunteer and help me out.

TIMES:

School begins at 8:00 and ends at 2:30. Children shouldn’t arrive at school before 7:50. Please make every effort to have your child here on time so we can have as few classroom disruptions as possible. We encourage you to send your child to school on the school bus. The bus is always on time and it saves gas.

HOMEWORK:

For the first few weeks of school there will be no official homework (except our ALL about ME project) *Comes home Wednesday night. We’ll get that started later. I encourage you to read to your child every night. Reading to your child is important for building literacy and sharing the joy of reading.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT:

We have several things going on in our classroom to support positive behavior. We will be using “Behave your Beans”, which is a system I have established to support good behavior. There are 3 jars in the room with a big bowl of dried beans next to them. Individual children can earn the class a bean by demonstrating good behavior. Example: Doing exactly what is asked of them or remembering their rules and setting an example. The class as a whole can also earn a bean for good behavior. Example: working quietly, nice line, and good reports from other teachers. Once one jar is full, then we have extra recess time or choice time, two jars full will reward the whole class with a special treat from Mrs. Griffin’s house, three jars full will reward the class with the most magnificent surprise so work hard to see what that is.

NOTE: I will explain more about Positive Behavior support during our PARENT night.

SCHOOL WIDE/CLASSROOM RULES are:

BE SAFE, BE RESPECTFUL, BE RESPONSIBLE and BE FRIENDLY

**Please talk about these at home too! **

VOLUNTEERS:

I love having volunteers in the room. I would like to set up a schedule on PARENT night. Right now the children and I need to spend time building our relationship and become comfortable with routines and expectations. This is all part of building a strong classroom community. I will begin using classroom volunteers in October.

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER:

I will be posting a newsletter on the BLOG every Monday updating you with news in our classroom, explaining upcoming events and as communication from me to you so please read the BLOG, as it will have IMPORTANT information. I will be sending this via email unless you request a paper copy.

UPCOMING Events:

**PARENT Night is Thursday, September 8^th at 6:00 – 6:30PM**

This is a time for us to discuss important Kindergarten information, learn about curriculum, and get to know each other. No children please. This is all for now. Please feel free to email or call if you have any questions or just want to say HI! I am looking forward to a great year together.

Email: lgriffin@teton1k12.wy.us

Welcome letter...can you believe it's almost time?

2011-08-17T16:44:00.001-07:00

Dear Kindergarten Family,

Hello! My name is Mrs. Griffin, and I want to welcome you as members of our Kindergarten classroom community. I am excited to be your child’s teacher and look forward to exploring and learning with them this year. Beginning August 31^st, we will start getting to know each other as we build our classroom community and establish routines. This is my eighth year in the school district and my fourth year at Alta Elementary.

Now you might be wondering, “Who is this Mrs. Griffin?” So I will tell you! I grew up in a small town in Alabama, just ten minutes from the Florida line. I attended college at Troy University in Troy, Alabama, where I studied Elementary Education and played on a basketball scholarship. I moved to Wyoming after graduating in 2002. I originally came to see what winter was like because I had never seen snow before. I fell in love with the mountains and met the man of my dreams on my first night in the valley. That man is now my husband Jordy. He has been teaching for the past eight years at Jackson Middle School, but will now be the BIG room teacher. We moved to Victor, Idaho seven years ago and have a great cabin in Pole Canyon that we share with our two-year-old son, Whityn, two cow dogs, two crazy laying hens and one kitty that loves to hunt.

I enjoy snowboarding, skiing, and a good workout in the winter months. In the summer I enjoy anything outdoors, including riding my new mountain bike, hiking, climbing, canoe camping, horseback riding, playing softball, and running. I am happiest in the mountains. My husband and I spent a lot of time adventuring with our little boy Whityn this summer. Some highlights include traveling back east to Vermont, New York and Canada…canoe-camping on Elk island…wakeboarding on the Palisades…jumping up and down during the Michael Franti concert…and celebrating Whityn’s 2^nd birthday. I hate to see summer come to an end, but am excited to see a new year begin with you.

Now that I have shared a little about myself I would like to learn more about you. Parents, please write a letter that will help me get to know you and your child. Include interests, strengths, challenges, allergies, and any other information that you think will help me provide a comfortable learning environment for your child. Please send the letter with your child during the first week of school.

I am delighted to have you as part of our classroom community, and look forward to a fun and exciting year.

Last week madness.

2011-06-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? You are about to have a first grader....whoa!

But first...they must go skating!

Disco kindergartner!

A seasoned 2nd grader

Too cute for words.

Someone won a prize!

cheese.

roller disco class.

Love this bunch!

Short Week!

2011-05-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hope you had a wonderful long weekend. I am glad to be back in the saddle. Being sick is not fun at all. Over the long weekend, Mrs. Stitt and I went to Dillon, Montana to hit the big "PATAGONIA" sale. We scored a few items apiece. I also just enjoyed some downtime with my family. I hope you did too.

This week looks like this:
Lots of review and practice in all subjects!
Have fun! Clean up!
Enjoy being in Kindergarten for a few more days!

Kindergarten Checkout-
1. Kids have to clean their space in the classroom (bookbox, cubby, and other areas)
2. Pay Mrs. Rose any debts.
3. Return all overdue Library books (see the note that went home today from Mr. Eastman.
4. Clean out hallway cubby for Mrs. Beard.
We will be working on this all week, so be prepared to see lots of stuff coming home.

TEST RESULTS:
Today I sent home MAP and DIBELS scores. Please check the RED folder and look for a white envelope. If you have any questions, please see me.

SUMMER BIRTHDAYs-
Henry, Logan and Avery have June and July Birthdays. We would love to celebrate you guys on Friday, June 3rd of this week.
It would be great to have 3 different treats. Please email or call me to coordinate this day.

Autobiography shares this Friday at 1:45. Please come to hear your child read their story to you. We will celebrate summer birthdays right afterwards.

Next week includes:
2 full days...
Monday-Skating Rink party (see ORANGE invite in folders today)
Tuesday-
8-9 class time
9-9:30 - book signing in the library
9:30-11:30 - Field day events (come and see)
11:30-12:15 - Lunch and Recess
12:15-1:00 - Kickball game (6th grade vs Teachers)
1-1:30- Classrooms
1:30-2:30 Awards and Ceremonies (Come and see)

Griffin Gazette

2011-05-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

Our SUPER CRITTERS are going UP...UP...UP! We are meeting out goal! Today Alta kids took the DIBEL test. After checking the results, we get to watch SUPER CRITTERS fly out the DOOR! Only 11 more days of Kindergarten...and then your little one is officially a first grader!!! Wowie, Wow! Wow! I can't believe it. I am so proud of this group. They have accomplished a lot. They are writing a ton. I can't wait for them to read their Autobiographies with you next Friday. They have included a personal narrative as their final writing project.

I am in NEED of magazines to refill my stash for next year. Please send them in!

Thursday, May 26th 7pm - 8pm is the WILD in WYOMING GALLERY walk at the Driggs community center. Please let me know if your child won't be there so that I can make plans.

This week in Reading-
We are in the REVIEW ZONE now. We are reading Homes around the world.
Concept question: What kinds of homes do people around the world build and why?
Snap words- REVIEW!!!!
Skills-Review all vowel sounds concentrating on a and i.
Comprehension skill-Compare and Contrast
See the Family times for more.

This week in Writing-
We are wrapping up our last unit by writing our Autobios...which include a personal narrative. The kids also worked hard to complete a "ME" collage that they will be sharing with you next Friday.

This week in Math-
Name collection posters (working on giving equivalent names for numbers)
What's my rule? Identify function rules and generate numbers that follow those rules.
Hour hand and Minute hand story (introducing the minute hand)
Games include-Top it, Money exchange, Base 10 block exchange, Roll for 1oo, and Time Match

Special events:
Wednesday at 11:00, we will be going to the Alta Library for the 3rd and 4th grader's performance. We will be eating lunch there too. Mrs. Rose is switching Wednesday and Thursday lunches, so make a note.

Monday- May 30th is Memorial day...NO SCHOOL!
Have a wonderful week!
See you soon!

Griffin Gazette

2011-05-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! This was my "ROSE" over the weekend. I drove through Yellowstone with my lady friends and we got a real treat coming home.

Can you believe that there is 16 school days left?

This week in READING:
We wrap up UNIT 5 with reading This is the way we go to school (A book about children around the world)
Concept Question: How do children around the world get to school?
We learned that some take helicopters, skis, trolleys, and even a cab.
Comprehension skill-Draw conclusions
Snap word-Review where and come
See the FAMILY times for more.
This will be my last week sending home books. Please try to send back any books that you have at home. I am missing a few from sets.
Even though I am not sending home books, please read with your child, to your child and by your child nightly.

This week in Writing:
Kindergartners are working hard on their AUTO-biographies. We all have to include a personal narrative in our bio. They are focused and on task.
Our POST OFFICE is still an on-going Writer's workshop element until the end of the year. We will continue to write letters. Feel free to write us.

This week in Math:
Monday-Function Machine review and learn a new math game called "Clock Memory"
Tuesday-Number gymnastics (develop number sense and ability to manipulate numbers through mental math and SCROLL practice *Please donate a paper towel roll if you haven't yet!
Wednesday-Dollar bill, money exchange and paper practice
Thursday-Dollar game (1's, 10's and 100's)
Friday-Name collection posters and FRIDAY finish

SCIENCE-
Ongoing observations of the Ant and Worm farms.
We are reading Animals Two by Two this week and comparing animals. We will be doing some worm experiments and hunting for more of course.
Stay tuned!

Dates to write down:
May 20th 1:45 - PTO idea meeting
May 20th 2:30-5:30 is the SLIDE-A-THON!
May 26th Gallery Walk in Driggs at the Community Center (Time is TBA)
May 30th Memorial Day (No school)
June 3rd Author's Chair (Time is TBA)
June 6th End of the year field trip to Starlight Skating rink in Idaho Falls
June 7th Field Day and last day of school

ZUMBA

2011-05-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

We live in a world where it's NOT okay to MOVE your body in all directions at the same time.....

So...I scheduled a time last Friday for an hour to give kids, teachers and MOMS time to shake every part of them.

I was sweating.


But I wasn't the only one. Thanks Patricia for leading a ZUMBA dance afternoon!

21 days left...and 3 more griffin gazettes...

2011-05-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's day to all of you!. I hope that you got pampered and spoiled and loved on!

Thank you PARENTS for all you did last week during our DUTIES and all the food deliveries...I think I gained 10 lbs....

Reading this week:

How do people in different parts of the world travel?

BIG BOOK- On the Move (informational text)

Phonics- Vv and Zz

Comprehension skill- Main Idea

When you read this week, talk about the main idea of the book or the chapter. You can even talk about the main idea of activities that you do.

Books will come home Tuesday-Thursday. Please help me by returning all books that are sent home. If you have any books from this year, please return them ASAP. Thanks!

New Snap words-where and come

See the FAMILY times for more.

This week in MATH:

We will be reinforcing skills through Everyday Math games this week. If you haven't brought in your dimes, nickels and quarters please do so by Tuesday!!!! We will be having paper practice with our number writing as well.

Skills to be covered-

8.3 - The Hour-Hand Clock (introducing the analog clock, focusing on the hour hand)

8.4 - High Roller Game (addition strategy game)

8.5 - Introduction to Function machines (See homework on Wednesday for extra practice)

8.6 - Number gymnastics game (number sense and ability to manipulate numbers through a mental math game)

Lots of review and assessments this week as well for END of the year REPORT CARDS. Look for these to come home the last day of school with your child.

This week in Writer's Workshop:

We will continue our letter writing frenzy. We got about 4 letters out last week and hope to continue on with this while also reviewing PERSONAL narratives and beginning our autobiography.

Did you get your MOTHER'S day letter? How cute were they? I cried reading many of them.

This week marks the end of our WILD in WYOMING 3-D project with Joe and Dondi. They will be here on Thursday to photograph us in our animal masks.

Gallery is scheduled for May 26th in Driggs. Stay tuned for more!

More Kindergarten visitors this week. Let me know if your child will be missing school. Our ANT FARM and WORM kits arrived....and if anyone is in Victor...let me know...I need to pick them up at the post office.

Have a great week!

mrs. g

A math movie and more

2011-05-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

This week in READING:
Concept question-What does a train need to get over the mountain?
Interactive READ ALOUD of The Little engine that could
Review the Uu
Snap word review-was, what and said
Comprehension skill-PLOT
SEE the FAMILY times for more.
In reading groups we have been working on reading with a focus. At home, please follow this same routine. Most books come home with a sticky note of reminders for you and your child.
This week we will be brainstorming some questions around reading like...What do you know about reading? Who Reads? What is reading? Why be a reader?

This week in WRITING:
We will have 2 units running at the same time.
We will put some focus on letter writing and begin our UNIT tomorrow by writing authentic "THANK-YOU" letters to our Promethean board donors. Our classroom MAILBOX will be set up beginning Tuesday. Feel free to write us letters and we will write you back.
Kindergarten students have one last writing UNIT and that is Personal Narrative. Your child will be writing their AUTO-biography with a personal narrative included.
We will have an Author's Chair on June 3rd. Stay tuned for more info.

This week in MATH:
Teaching points include the following-
1. Revisiting the Quarter (Explore and discuss) Learning EXCHANGE with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters...
PLEASE bring in 4 nickels, dimes and quarters for our math kits
2. Dice addition games with 3 dice, polyhedral dice and counting on dice (reinforcing our addition skills)
3. Late in the year counting (reinforce and extend children's oral counting skills
4. Name collections with craft sticks (explore equivalent names for numbers)
5. Number scrolls (reinforcing number patterns and place value and to provide number writing practice.
PLEASE donate 1 paper towel roll for our scrolls...we hope to make it past 100!!!

Other news-
Just found out that we won't have the opportunity for LOVE and LOGIC at the Alta school this Spring. Budget cuts!

THURDSAY-We will be heading to Lucy Gillett's house for Cinco De Mayo and a birthday celebration. Please don't pack a lunch.

Kindergarten will have many visitors over the next few weeks. All 18 kids planning on attending will be spending the afternoons with us in groups of 3 beginning on Tuesday.

Mother's Day Zumba on Friday from 1:15-2:15...COME IF YOU CAN!

Is it SPRING yet?

2011-04-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is behind. It's been non-stop around here and with me being out for 5 days things have gotten a little crazy. I learned a ton in my CEL training in Kelly Wyoming. That was the last of 8 days this year. My LASIK went well. I can see. Weird. Kindergarten screening went GREAT too. It was on Tuesday. Looks like we might have 17 kids coming. Very exciting. They will be visiting our classroom in the next two weeks in groups of 3's. We are working to LEAD by example.

2 weeks ago we attended MINI-mall which is a 1st and 2nd grade MATH tradition. The kids make or bring things to sell to other kids and parents. They set up the gym to look like a mini-mall and make OPEN/CLOSE signs and everything. We got invited this year and made out like bandits.

It was a great afternoon for us to practice counting our money. We brought 2 dimes, a nickel and 5 pennies.

This week in READING:
STORY of the week: MESSENGER, MESSENGER
Comprehension skill: Compare and Contrast
Letter of the week: /Uu/
Snap words: was, what, said
Kids are working on their UPPER and lowercase letters. We have been practicing writing complete sentences. When we are done we COP our sentences: C-stands for capital, O-stands for organization, and P stands for period. Have your child try it at home.
We are reading with a focus these days. You may have noticed last week that a laminated book mark made it home. Hopefully it made it back to school too. Those bookmarks have your child's reading goal on them. Here are some things Kindergartners are working on:
-Reading Smooth (like talking)
-Reading with expression
-When I read, I have to think and not daydream.
-When I read, I ask questions and wonder
-When I read, I ask myself if it made sense?

MATH this week:
Money cubes (intro to the quarter)
Class number story book (deepen understanding of mathematical symbols and language)
Marshmallow and toothpick shapes (providing experiences with building 2-D and 3-D shapes)

Writing this week:
We are wrapping up poetry MONTH with one last poem about someone very special....
Next up on the writing docket is letter writing (mini unit) and personal narratives.

Science and Social studies:
Holidays coming up...Mother's day...LOOK for your invite to a ZUMBA dance party at the Alta school with your favorite Alta kid.
Cinco de Mayo is next Thursday and we will spend it at Lucy's house for a Mexican fiesta...and a birthday celebration.
We have started studying LIFE cycles of animals. Yesterday we watched the life cycles of a frog, crayfish, and a butterfly. We then thought of our own animal and gave it a try on the Promethean board. Next we tried it on paper. Look for our LIFE cycles in the hallway.
AND...our ant farm is on the way via MAIL and so are our worms...fun SPRING investigations.

OTHER News:
Friday May 6th at 1:15-2:15 is our MOTHER's DAY ZUMBA dance party in the gym

Thursday May 12th we wrap up our Wild in WYOMING 3-D project with Joe and Dondi by taking pictures of animal masks on our face.

May 26th- GALLERY NIGHT for WILD in WYOMING for the Alta kids at the Community Center in DRIGGS...our ART will be hanging...and we have a MOVING surprise for you....

JUNE 6th-End of the year field trip to STARLIGHT skating rink in Idaho Falls.

JUNE 7th-LAST student day of school.
See you soon.

2 for 1 Griffin Gazette

2011-04-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

This is how we are all feeling about WINTER...enough said!

This newsletter will cover the next two weeks as this one is a bit delinquent and next week I am out Monday and Tuesday for professional development and again on Thursday and Friday for Lasik on my eyes.

Reading this week and next:

Interactive readaloud with MAX TAKES the TRAIN and MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

Letters to be covered: J, W, and X

Snap words: yellow, green, blue and have

Comprehension skills: Realism and Fantasy & Cause and Effect

See the FAMILY times for more.

Leveled books will be sent home Tuesday - Thursday (please read them with your child and send back to school)

K readers are focusing on inferring while reading and asking questions. Take time to model this with your child at home as you read (the paper, a sign, the menu etc)

Math skills to be covered:

Coin review (Penny, nickel and dime)

Coin Exchange game

MINI mall is on FRIDAY in 1st and 2nd grade. The kids should bring 2 dimes, a nickel and five pennies to shop with.

Comparison number stories

Reviewing counting by 2's

Dividing groups in half

Reviewing Attributes and learning a group game called READ MY MIND

TOOLS for measuring TIME

SKIP counting with calculators

Symbolic Representations of patterns

LOOK FOR a FEW HOMELINKS with math (you don't have to send them back, but please complete them at home)

WRITING:

AHHHH, it's POETRY month.

Kindergarten just finished a HUGE project with their ANIMAL "expert books" and shared them with residents at the Renaissance center. It was a success!

Our SPRING poems are hanging in our hallway and our animal poems are in the making...look for them to be READ in MAY during our GALLERY night for WILD in WYOMING 3-D.

Other news:

THURSDAY is YOUNG AUTHOR'S night at 7pm at the ALTA gym. This year we are breaking the TRADITION a little and showing a movie of our writers in action. Please dress up like you are going to a MOVIE premier. Your child will be HONORED as a writer! We are so excited to celebrate them as young authors.

Heather Dolman will be my sub April 18th, 19th, 21st and 22nd.

April 16th is OPEN HOUSE at the JUDO dojo if anyone is interested.

Happy Spring! I think it's here!

And we're back! some of us.

2011-04-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

Glad we had a nice week off to enjoy our family. I sure did. I had some crazy adventures...

Reading this week:
Kindergartners will read Abuela (a fiction story) by Arthur Dorros and discuss setting.
Question of the week: What kind of adventures can you have in a city?
Phonics skill: Ee
Snap words:
here, go and from
Reading books will come home Tuesday thru Thursday. Please help your child read them and send them back the following day.
Family times will be sent home Tuesday.

Math this week:
Counts to measure time
Surveys and Graphs
I spy with Shapes
Intro to the Dime
Coin Exchanges
*Help out at home by counting by 5's then stopping and counting by 1's from where you left off.
*Do the same with counting by 10's then ones...
WE are still collecting objects for our shapes museum (cones, cylinders and cubes)
Mystery Bag sharing starts this Friday. Kids bring in their sharing in a canvas bag with 3-4 clues about what it is. Your child will read the clues to everyone and we will have to guess. Then your child will have a 5 step sharing process:
1. Name their mystery object
2. Tell a detail
3. Tell a detail
4. Tell a detail
5. I brought it because.... or it's special because...
You might want to practice at home before bringing it in.

Writing this week:
We are wrapping up our EXPERT books on Wyoming Animal and getting ready to start poetry. The month of April is National Poetry Month and we will be kicking off that Friday afternoon with Joe and Dondi (Wild in Wyoming Project coordinators). Speaking of Friday it's a BIG day. We will be leaving school around 10:30 and heading up to Pendls for lunch. Do not pack a lunch and do not bring money. I got a grant for our class. :) After lunch we will be headed to 460 bread for a tour, break-making and shaping (into our animal of course), then off to the Renaissance center to READ our books to the residents and deliver some bread. We will be back around 1:45 for POETRY fun. Whew! A big day.

*Just a little note: if you head on over to the Teton County School District website (it's on my sidebar)...you will see that next year's calendar has been approved if you are making plans....ps-we will have a 2 week SPRING break!

Other big news: Our Promethean boards have been installed. There is one in every classroom. Come check it out!

Week before break.

2011-03-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I am looking forward to next week as are the kids. I hope everyone has a wonderful travel week or some nice relaxing time at home. We will be headed to Panama City Beach. See below our condo. :)

Our week looks like this:

READING-

If you could go to Antartica (Interactive Readaloud)

Letter of the week: /Ee/

Snap word soup: go, here, from

See the family times for more.

Books will come home Tuesday-Thursday so please help by reading them and sending them back the following day.

WRITING-

We will be working on a WRITING PROMPT taking a little break from our EXPERT "Animal" books. We will pick back up with our Expert books on Thursday and Friday. The kids and I expect to be finished by next Friday. We hope to have an Author's Chair too. More information on that to come.

MATH-

Penny and Nickel review (Exchange game)

Shape Museum: We are learning about cubes, spheres and cylinders. Please bring in some if you have some around your house.

Reviewing Symmetry

Counts to measure time

Reviewing graphs and surveys

Spanish this week:

Goldilocks and the three bears (Salsa video)

So many hearts this little boy touched. We will be thinking of him and his family this week.

It's my party...and I will cry if I want too!

2011-03-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

This week in Reading:
We are reading Goldilocks and the three bears. We will be studying character and taking a closer look at the characters in the books we read. We will also be talking about where our adventures will take us.
Letter of the week: /Gg/
Comprehension skill: Character
Snap word review: one, two, three, four and five
See the FAMILY times for more.

This week in Writing:
We are continuing our EXPERT books on our Wyoming animals. All of our research is complete. Our books look great so far. The kids are enjoying the FLIP book and are making the smooth transfer from lines to no lines. Today we worked on capital VS lowercase. I told the kids that we are working really hard to turn our letters little and lowercase. They did a nice job today and will be working on that this week.

This week in Math:
Craft stick patterns (making and extending)
Measuring objects with standard units (see homework sheet)
Snack number stories
Number grid games
Review of Penny and Nickel (Penny Exchange)
Shape museum (cubes, spheres, cylinders)

Other news:
Thursday is St. Patrick's day. Kindergarten will hopefully outDRESS the school with fun assortments of green. Be creative if your child wants to participate. We will be parading through the school before lunch. They may wear hats, necklaces, sunglasses or anything fun in the SPIRIT of St. Patrick's day. The kids will learn more about Ireland and the luck of eloquence. And you never know...Loulou-the leprechaun might show up...you never know!

Friday is my birthday and I will be bringing cupcakes to share. YUM.

Please let me know if you plan on being out in the next 2 weeks.
Only 12 more days 'til Spring break...where are you headed?

Coming up!!!!

2011-03-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

A big "thanks" to all the parents out there doing a GREAT job with their kindergartners. Thanks for meeting with me. I am looking forward to catching up with a few more of you this week or next. It was great to share all the learning and growing that your little one is doing. I am so excited about this group and where they are at.

Monday ended our AWESOME ski program AND...
Tuesday concluded our last CROSS COUNTRY ski day with PE. A big thanks for Mr. Hoffman for heading this up.

Coming up:
Thursday, March 10th Joe and Dondi (2 community members) will be at our school doing an Introduction powerpoint and presentation after lunch about our big project coming up. You may be wondering about this BIG project. Well, the Alta school is doing a 3-D Wild Wyoming Spring project. Each grade is covering parts of their science, social studies, writing and reading curriculums and incorporating an ART project that will be made 3-D for our LIVE gallery coming in May. Until then, we will be researching our Wyoming animal and writing an EXPERT flip book about it. Our WYOMING ANIMAL masks are up in our classroom already for your viewing pleasure. In April during Poetry month we will be writing poems about our animals...and not to mention the ANIMAL MOVEMENT study we are doing with Mrs. Tebay on Wednesdays. Stay tuned!!!

Menu change: Wednesday is meatball sub and Thursday is Trout treasures...from the kitchen of Ms. Rose

This week in Reading:
We are back in our Scott Foresman Reading program onto Unit 4: Let's Explore!
Where will our adventures take us?
Reading One Little Mouse by Dori Chaconas and discussing SEQUENCING. This week while you listen to your child read. Stop and have them tell you what happened first, next and then last. This is an important comprehension skill that we should master.
PHONICS: consonant blends
Check your child's folder Tuesday - Thursday for nightly reading. Always send the books back to school the following day.
This week all kindergartners will practice their book talks. Everyone brought a book from home or chose a book our of their book box. I will be looking for the following:
Correct sounds
Posture
good voice
eye contact
telling and not reading
A book talk includes:
Say your name
Say the title of the book
Say the Author of the book
Tell about the characters in your book
Tell about why it is a book that others should read
Book and practice sheet will come home Thursday for you TO PRACTICE AT HOME and Friday I will test the kids for their SPEAKING/LISTENING goals. Thanks for your help with this.

This week in Math:
Tools for measuring length (ruler, feet, tape measurer, blocks, cubes)
Practicing EXCHANGE (exchanging five pennies for a nickel in a math game called exchange)
Reviewing graphs
Attribute trains/sorting
Tally marks
Intro to the Number Grid

Writing this week includes the BIG PROJECT from above and a BIG HANDWRITING FOCUS!!!

Have a wonderful week.
:) Mrs. Griffin

Another short week.

2011-02-27T19:08:00.000-08:00

Attention parents!!! Check your child's RED folder Tuesday night for their report card. Please look it over before we meet this week and bring it in if you have any questions.

SKI DAY/RACE day on Monday! Head on up to the mountain to check out your little one fly down the hill.

This week is READ ACROSS AMERICA WEEK. Have you child bring in their favorite Seuss books.
We will be READING up a storm! We will be practicing daily to READ for 20 minutes on WEDNESDAY with the REST of America. Beginning on Wednesday we will celebrate DR. Seuss's birthday by wearing our CRAZY mix and match socks and on Thursday our mix and match clothes. Get your child excited about this GREAT author.

No REGULAR reading this week due to R.A.A week.

I look forward to seeing all of you on Wednesday and Thursday and catching you up on your child's progress. Remember that there will be no SCHOOL on Friday.

Short week.

2011-02-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

I bet if they were alive...they would be out skiing. Hmmmm.

Short week this week...hope you enjoyed your 4-day weekend with your little ones...I did. We had friends in town with little ones...so our house was complete with snacks, naps and fast-paced little ones.

WEDNESDAY night from 3-5pm in the LIBRARY is our YOUNG AUTHOR's judging night. If you would like to be a part of this, please come on in. You will be judging stories from other grades and not your own child's grade. We could use the help and snacks will be provided.

Thursday- We will have a variety of visitors in our building including the superintendent Pam Shea, Kathy Milburn (Math facilitator) and Karen Edwards (specialist that checks in with teachers on their continuous classroom improvement). We will have a rotating sub through the whole school while she observes and offers feedback to the teachers.

Friday- I will be out of the building due to appointments in Idaho Falls.

We will have a RECESS REFRESHER class for the whole school. Please help your child to remember the BIG 5.

This week in READING:
We will be reading My Lucky Day and learning about cause and effect.
Letter of the week: Ll
Snap words: do, are, that
See the FAMILY times for more.

This week in MATH:
5.8 - Count by 5's, Graphing sums of dice throws, reviewing the nickel, addition games
5.9 - Tally Marks, making equivalent names for numbers
5.10 - The Raft game (reinforce counting by 5's and introduce exchanges through a game)

Beginning this week in Writer's Workshop...AND SCIENCE
We start yet another BIG PROJECT. WE are embarking upon another EXPERT book about Wyoming Animals. This time we will conduct the research. Stay tuned for more updates on this.
Happy Short week.
Mrs. G

oops, my news is TARDY.

2011-02-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

Oops! Sorry I'm late. Happy Valentine's day!!!

I apologize for my LATE-ness! But, better late than NEVER right?
This week in Reading:
We read Bunny Day and worked on SEQUENCING. We wrote about our FAVORITE time of day in our reading response journals. Our letter of the week is /Hh/ and our new snap words are that, do and are. See the FAMILY times that came home yesterday for more.

This week in Writing:
We are FINISHED with our YOUNG AUTHORS UNIT. :) Insert BIG applause here. Thanks to my INCREDIBLE writing volunteers Deb and Martha. The kids should be very proud of themselves and their books. They look great. They leave our school to travel to the DISTRICT competition February 23rd. Look to your ALTA calendar for an APRIL YOUNG author's night. Should be exciting. This week we are keeping it simple and writing to a prompt. I read Snowflake Bentley. It's about this man loving snow so much that he photographs it and becomes known as the snowflake man. WE talked about how we are unique..and we wrote about it. We are doing our SELF portraits tomorrow and it will hang in the hallway on Friday. Check it out!

This week in Math:
HOW big is a FOOT? Homework tonight on this.
MORE counting: 2's, 5's and backwards
Intro to tally marks and LOTS of new games (like top it "war" and addition TOP it)

This week we began brainstorming WYOMING animals for OUR next BIG project. WE are involved in a school wide 3-D project called "Alive in Wyoming". Kindergarten will be
-Choosing a Wyoming animal to research
-Creating a mask representing that animal
-Writing an ALL ABOUT book and poetry about their animal
-Learning movement, tracks and DANCE representing that animal
-participating in a SERVICE project using our books and the bakery (stay tuned for more)
-PRESENTING to the community

PHew...that's a lot...thank goodness for FUN FRIDAYS!

And reading to a buddy.
Happy ALMOST LONG WEEKEND!!!!
OH..breaking news...
Next week is our last cross country SKI day. Come on out to join us....and after that we will be having 45 minutes of PE as opposed to 30 minutes. This was requested...and I asked...and WE RECEIVED. :)

Cozy cave and 100's day CELEBRATIONS!

2011-02-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

Kindergarten filled their 3rd bean jar...so we had a COZY CAVE DAY.

WE brought our blanket, a headlamp, and a stuffed animal.

We got to do our WORD WORK in our cozy cave.

Some of our caves...

Can you believe that this past Tuesday was the 100th day of school?

We lined up our 100 pieces to OUR TRAIL MIX!

WE TOOK A PICTURE.

Again!!!!

Then we ate our 100's day trail mix. YUMMY. It was a great day.

100th day WEEK!!!

2011-02-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

Monday: Our 3rd Ski day...REMEMBER to bring all of your ski stuff! Parents feel free to stop in around 2:30 to FREE ski with your child or help be another pair of eyes.

TUESDAY is a BIG day...it's the 100th day of school!
We need your help. Please bring a ziplock bag with 100 of your choice of the following items:
marshmallows
m&m's
pretzels
cereal pieces
peanuts
raisins
chocolate morsels
OR any ideas you have.

We will be making this.....100th day trail mix snack! During Math we will estimate which bag is heaviest and lightest and check to see using the PAN balance. We will be using the items for some measuring too. THEN, we will enjoy in our snack!!!!

We have several fun activities planned, so stay tuned to see pictures. Tuesday is also the KICK-off day of our CROSS country ski unit during PE. Please bring your stuff if you have it and if not, we have plenty. Feel free to come on Tuesdays for 4 weeks at 9:30-10:15 to help out on the track. It should be a ton of fun. It's always nice to have kids bring a pair of gloves for CC skiing and a pair for RECESS...just a thought.

*Bring in a shoebox, oatmeal can or something that we can decorate as our VALENTINES box.

Reading this week:

READ aloud book is Hide Clyde and we will working on Visualizing the MAIN IDEA when we read.

Letter is /Oo/ again because we do VOWELS for 2 weeks. See the FAMILY times for more and please READ books that are sent home Tuesday-Thursday and ALWAYS send back to school. We reread them during READING groups!!!

Math this week:

Count with Calculators

100th day activities

Measurement with Children's feet

How big is a foot?

Count by 5's

Writing this week:

Finishing up our YOUNG authors and buddy editing. I will begin to type the stories and hope to finish. Kids will also work hard on the ART for their books which include:

Setting picture, Action or Problem picture and their COVER.

YOUNG author's deadline is February 16th. Your child's book will be entered into a DISTRICT level contest. Stay tuned for results in April.

Last day in January and here comes FEBRUARY!!!!

2011-01-30T12:44:00.000-08:00


January has been busy....Friday was filled with painting paper for our Young Author's books.

We had the BEST volunteers working hard.

We also got to pretend to be HAROLD....and decided what to do with our purple crayon.

More paper making for our books.


Paint...paint and more paint...

Can you believe it's almost February? Yikes. I am out of the building until Wednesday. I have "TEACHER training" in Kelly, Wyoming. I am bummed to be gone, but Ms. Cammy Lawson is my sub. The kids know her well now.
Monday is our SKI day. Be sure to be prepared. Please send your child with a snack or a dollar for the general store. Please do not send more than 2 dollars so that your little one doesn't load up on sugar. WE would love to have more FREE ski VOLUNTEERS that show up around 2:30 and ski until 4pm. If it works for you, just show up. THANKS.

Reading this week:
We will read SEEDS by Ken Robbins. WE are talking about how people, plants and animals grow and change this week. While we read, we are working on drawing conclusions. Remember that when your child reads to you at home.

Letter of the week: /Oo/
Comprehension skill: Draw conclusions
See the FAMILY times for more.
Folders come home Monday.

Writing this week:
We will take a YOUNG AUTHOR's break while I am gone on Monday and Tuesday. Kindergartners will be working on WRITING about READING. They will write about what they learned in SEEDS and also get to do some "FREE time" writing where they can write about what they want to write about in their ANYTIME journals.
Wednesday we will resume with YOUNG Author's workshop. Kids are in the middle of "WRITING the WORDS" in their practice books. WE talked about how this book will be different because I am typing the words when they are all done. They are very excited about that.
Kindergartners will also be working on the ART that goes with their books this week. They will be making a CLOSE-up of their character, an action scene, the setting and a COVER page all using the CUT and PASTE method with their "MADE paper"...it should be fun.

MAth this week:

*Using slates to practice 2 digit number writing
*Guess my number ( a game used to develop awareness of equivalent names for numbers)
*Review the pan balance
*Subtraction on the number line
*Count with Calculators
*Measurement with Children's feet

Have a wonderful week.
Mrs. Griffin

BEST "1st" ski day EVER

2011-01-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

ON our way to the PERFECT ski day!!!!

FREE ski with the 2nd graders

Sun and Smiles

Nothing like a groomer


Kindergarten boys...

2011-01-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

SKI DAY today...GREAT way to start a week.
TODAY in Computer class your child will be taking the MAP test. I will share these results with you during the first week of March at our CONFERENCE.

Friday: Allison and Martha will be volunteering in our class from 10:15-11:15 for PAPER making. This is part of the YOUNG author's project, so stay tuned to see the final products.
This week conferences:
Wednesday: MacMillans and Gilletts
Thursday: Arnolds and Daytons
Friday: Heberts
Looking forward to catching up with you.

This week in Reading:
We are reading Farfallina and Marcel today. We will be discussing how friendships change.
Phonics: Ff
Comprehension skill: plot
See the FAMILY times for more.
READING homework comes home Tuesday - Thursday. Please read the book with your child and SEND it back to the FOLLOWING day. We reread these books in our reading groups so it's important that they come back each day. Thank you for your help with this.

This week in Math:
What's my rule? (a game that helps children think about sorting rules)
Number stories (develop more understanding of mathematical symbols and language for addition and subtraction)
Two digit numbers (practice reading, writing and representation of these numbers)
Order of Events (increase awareness of the passage of time)
*On Wednesdays Jodeen Tebay (PEAK teacher) has been visiting our Kindergarten room to help enrich some students' math skills. She is working along side me at times and pulling out during others.

This week in Writing:
We are continuing on with our YOUNG AUTHOR's planning.
Some mini lessons include:
*How to have a good beginning
*Conventions
*Telling the story across your hand, touching the page, then WRITING it down.
*Author's craft

Have a wonderful week.
mrs. g

MLK week

2011-01-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the FREEDOM MARCH is an hour from Mrs. Griffin's hometown? Today...this week...DO SOMETHING KIND for someone just because. Hope you enjoy your day off it you have it...and if not...consider it a DAY ON...and Pay it forward.

This week will be a short week at the ALTA school. We will resume WINTER SPORTS January 24th so be READY!

January 24th is also C.R's last day in Kindergarten at the Alta school. We will be celebrating her BIRTHDAY and having a "going away" party on Friday the 21st at lunch. DO NOT PACK LUNCH for your child because we will have a PIZZA party in my classroom. We will enjoy cupcakes at the end of the day for her b-day. I am so sad to see this family leave. We love the "R" family.

Another person we are sad to see go is Melissa Christensen...our AWESOME janitor. Her last day will be Tuesday. Another Christensen is in training and will start Wednesday. Her name is Sheena. Be sure to say hello.

This week I will begin my mini-conferences during SPECIALS and after school...please be prompt as I am taking my planning time to meet with you. This will be a more informal meeting just to catch you up and talk about your little one. See you then.

LET me know if you can volunteer next Friday, January 28th from 10:15 - lunch for PAPER making.

Reading:

We are reading "SEE HOW WE GROW" by Katacha Diaz

Genre: Biography

We will be talking about how we have grown and changed since we were a baby. Please send a baby picture, toddler picture and a RECENT picture in to school. We will be sharing them this week.

PHONICS: Dd/Kk

Comprehension: Cause and Effect

Snap words: see and look

See the FAMILY times that comes home Tuesday night for more.

ANNOUNCEMENT: SUPER CRITTERS MOVED...THEY ARE ALL IN THE SUN'S RAYS...COME SEE FOR YOURSELF ON OUR BULLETIN BOARD!

Writing:

We will pick up where we left off with our character development. Last week kids chose a character that they want in their story, molded it out of clay, drew it, wrote about it....AND THEN added other characters too. Kids also began the brainstorming process for their story idea....there are some good ones this year. Stay tuned.

This week we will talk about settings and create one for our story and also begin story mapping.

MATH:

This week we will be engaging in the following activities

*Shape comparisons

*The Subtraction symbol

*Slate activities

*Introduction to attribute blocks

**THINGS you can do at home include:

counting by 1's, 2's 5's and 10's backwards from 20...and by 1's from any number...

Addition with snack or with toys...

Continuing to practice # and address

Hope this post finds you well...and I look forward to catching up with you soon.

Mrs. Griffin

Celebrations

2011-01-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

Last week we had some celebrating to do....BECAUSE...we EARNED 20 PIRATE SHIP points. Kids worked for an INDOOR ICE-skating party. We had sooooo much fun.

Moving to the music

FREEZE skating...when the music stops....so do you.

Then we celebrated BEING AUTHORS with our parents.

Reading our EXPERT books to our family.

Celebrating TODAY!!!!! Just because!!Scroll on down to the next post to view our VIDEO surprise for our parents.

Experts.m4v

2011-01-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

Griffin Gazette

2011-01-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

It's cold outside...great day to kick off our ANNUAL ski program. :)
VOLUNTEERS will resume this week. Please let me know if you are unsure of the schedule.

This week in Reading:
Concept question- What new things can you do as you grow and change?
Book-Little Quack
Letter of the week-R
Comprehension skill-Plot
See the Family times for more or CLICK here!

This week in Math:
Interrupted Counts (introduce interrupted counting)
Graphing Dice Rolls
Meet the Calculator (practice reading and entering numbers)
Revisit TEENS and two digit number reading
Roll and Record with 2 dice (practice adding, graphing outcomes, and probability)
Body and Rope Shapes
Symmetrical snowflakes

This week in Writing:
A big congratulations is in order for KINDERGARTEN's first EXPERT book publish....they look great and will be on display in the Library for a week or two. This week we begin our LONG road down YOUNG AUTHOR's. The entire school is working to create a story of their very own beginning with character development, brainstorming and setting and a problem for their story. We will be PAPER-making at the end of the month. *Think Eric Carle's style like in THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. Stay tuned about VOLUNTEERing for this annual and fun event. This project is HUGE and kids and teachers put a lot into it. You will be invited to the school-wide celebration in April.

Next Monday is Martin Luther King day and there is no school for kids. Therefore, we won't be skiing.
Please help your child remember classroom shoes everyday.
Tuesday is PE day and your child needs tennis shoes or gym shoes. Thanks.

2 FOR 1 DEAL

2011-01-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

LG packing up her entire cubby before leaving for Christmas break.

HM sipping hot cocoa post sleigh ride

Nothing like a little Christmas story to seal the deal....

And that was all 2010....

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2011! I hope your Winter break was relaxing, enjoyable and adventurous. Mine sure was. I will spare you the details...and spill them all to your "little critter" tomorrow morning.

Griffin Gazette First post '11

This week in Reading...

We will be reading Little Panda from Unit 3 *WATCH ME CHANGE* on Monday morning and honing our comparing and contrasting skills.

Letter(S) of the week- B and N

Snap words- me, with, she

Comprehension skill- Comparing and Contrasting

A few new routines will fall into place this week:

1. After lunch instead of NAP time...Kindergarten students will now focus on their independent reading time while I float around conferring with kids. If your child needs a rest, it will be offered as a choice during CENTER time later in the afternoon.

2. Students are practicing their daily 5 (FIVE days a week)

The Daily Five Consists of:

Reading to self

Reading to a friend

Writing about reading

Word work

Listening to books being read

3. Books will begin coming home again Tuesday - Thursday. Please help by listening to your child read and SENDING the book BACK the FOLLOWING day even if you forgot to read it. This is our reading routine and we use the book during our small group time.

This week in Writing...

We WRAP up our first "Nonfiction EXPERT BOOK" unit and would like to invite you to our Writing Celebration on Friday at 1:45 in the Kindergarten room. We will be having a MUSEUM-type share with a FUN little activity. Hope you can make it.

This week in Math...

We start Unit 4 and it includes the following areas of study this week:

Number line (addition and subtraction strategies)

Top it (introduce a game that reinforces number recognition)

Pattern block template

Addition symbol

Follow my pattern

*Ways to help at home

1. Count by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's

2. Count backwards

3. Ask your child the NEXT number...if you say 44, ask them what the next number will be.

This week's DETAILS...

BE PREPARED for the TARDY letter that is coming home Monday from Mr. Starkey. We are enforcing this so to be aligned with the rest of the district.

WINTER sports begins MONDAY, January 11th...stay tuned for more on this.

ALL children must have CLASSROOM shoes besides their WINTER boots. Please help me with this as it keeps our carpets warm and toasty.

Library books are DUE every Wednesday.

PE shoes should be left at school for TUESDAYS. Mr. Hoffman appreciates your cooperation.

I will be out of the building on WEDNESDAY, January the 5th. I am taking a personal day. Ms. Lawson will be my sub. She is awesome!!!!

Welcome back. I've missed you.

See all my VOLUNTEERS the week of January the 10th!!!! Is everyone good on the schedule?

Mrs. Griffin

Griffin Gazette

2010-12-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a nice and relaxing weekend. I did. We got our tree up and house decorated! Did you?

This week will be a short week for me. I will be out Friday due to a doctor's appointment in Idaho Falls. I will also be out Monday the 13th and Tuesday the 14th for Professional Development with all K-1 teachers. I am looking forward to learning lots and implementing as much as I can. I have cancelled all December volunteers due to play practice and our EVER-changing schedule this month. I hope to see you all back in January.

This week in READING:

Interactive Readaloud of A bed for the Winter by Karen Wallace

Snap words: he, for

Phonics: Ii

Other skills: adjectives, forming and writing sentences, sequencing

See the FAMILY times that comes home today for more

This week in WRITING:

We will continue to work on our "EXPERT" books. We are over half-way through. We plan to have a publishing party on the 17th. You will be invited to this one. Stay tuned for more on this.

This week in MATH:

Probability

Review the PAN balance

Play and Practice the Dreidel game with pennies

Train games (concrete addition and subtraction)

Themework:

Holidays that include Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanza

Snow

Winter is coming

Remember that the "SUPER CRITTER-BUCKET FILLER CHRISTMAS TREE" is out in our hallway. WE are working hard to decorate it. We have 2 ornaments! Encourage your little one to fill buckets and write them down on their ornament. I hope our tree is decorated by Christmas!

Mrs. G

2010-11-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I ate my share of turkey...did you? We ended up not going to Denver due to road conditions. We were bummed, but had fun with Mrs. Stitt and her family in Victor. What did you do?

This week in Kindergarten we will be getting back into the swing of things.
Reading:
Concept question- Where does a bear hibernate?
Book-Bear Snores on *Your child will listen and participate in an INTERACTIVE readaloud
Letter of the week: Cc /k/ *hard c sound
Snap words: reteaching WE,MY,LIKE
Comprehension skill: Realism and Fantasy
Look for your child to bring home a book to read Tuesday-Thursday. Please help by reading and SENDING back to school.
Amazing words: hibernate, lair, winter, cave, woods, blustery

Writing:
We will keep pushing forward on our "Expert" books. We left off last week learning how writers sometimes "try it or draft" a practice page first, then copy it to make it better.

Math Skills include:
*Measurement with objects (interlocking cubes or other nonstandard measuring devices) and measuring the BLUE WHALE with body measures
*Pocket problems (addition and subtraction using concrete experiences)
*Number card games (sequencing numbers 0-20, top-it *war-type card game)
*Probability stories (introducing basic language of probability)
*Probability tray (developing understanding)

Science and Social Studies:
Holidays and Animals in the late Fall

*Parents...PLEASE help your child bring back their WATER bottle. I sent them home on Tuesday to take a trip through your dishwasher.
*Please help your child remember his/her classroom shoes. We cannot be without shoes in the rooms. Bring snow boots and indoor shoes. THANKS.
Have a wonderful week back.

Bear Snores On

2010-11-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

November's on it's way out....RATS!

2010-11-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

On our way to the ALTA school's Thanksgiving Thursday.....yum yum

Hallway in October

Beginning our APPLE "Tom" turkeys

The fine-motor challenge

success

thank goodness for parent volunteers

Almost done

I just wanna eat it....

Yeah, I did it.

ME too!!!!
Happy Turkey Day...safe travels everyone! See you Monday, November 29th !!!!

2010 Class singing Jellyfish

2010-11-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

A Jellyfish...A Jellyfish....A griffin gazette

2010-11-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

This week in Kindergarten:

READING-

We are reading Animal babies in grasslands

Question: Who lives in the grasslands? *Ask your child this question

Phonics skill: /Pp/

Comprehension skill: Main Idea and Author's purpose

Your child will be bringing home a book to practice Tuesday - Thursday. Please help me by reading with your child and making sure the book comes back to school (even if it's a paper book) because often times we re-read the book in reading groups. Thanks.

NEW skill: RESPONDING to Reading with our new READING response journals. Today we wrote about our favorite GRASSLAND animal baby after reading from ANIMAL babies in grasslands.

Below you will find pictures of us with our JELLYfish from last week after studying the ocean...stay tuned for a video of the jellyfish song.

WRITING:
More non-fiction....planning our "EXPERT" book.
*Generating facts
*Choosing a layout
*visiting AUTHOR's purpose
*Learning about table of contents and FACT boxes

MATH:
Practice writing numbers
Creating and describing patterns with macaroni necklaces
Estimation
Review counting and number recognition through a graphing activity
Introducing the pan balance as a tool to compare the weights of objects

SCIENCE and SOCIAL STUDIES:
Turkeys, Animal babies, FOOD CHAINS, Native Americans, Pilgrims, and Thanksgiving

BIG ART PROJECT:
APPLE turkeys this Friday...LET ME KNOW if you would like to help with the project or buy supplies. THANKS.