Read-a-Thon!


Our Read-a-thon is Monday, March 13th. Students may wear pajamas and bring a small blanket. I hope they will also bring a favorite book to share. Our goal is to garner a class total of 100 minutes enjoying great stories. I think we can do that and more! We LOVE reading in TK!

Please make a pledge at pledgestar.com/carroll/elkgrove by Friday (March 17th). Send friends and families a link to this post and ask them to pledge, too. Our PTA has wonderful plans to use the funds to benefit our entire school. We all would appreciate your support.

Joyfully,
Mrs. P

PS: You can also end in a labeled pledge envelope, if you prefer.

See You Soon!

Dear TK Families,

We have just one more weekend of vacation. I hope you have had a wonderful time while we’ve been off-track. I was very busy packing up my house and getting ready to move. Don’t worry! I am not going far; I will still be your child’s teacher. I did get to visit my three grandkids in Atlanta, but that was anything but restful!

Please go to our Shutterfly site (click on “Volunteer” tab above) and update when you will be able to help in class. Your participation is essential to making our TK experience the best it can be. (And I am sincerely appreciative!)

Since our classmate Emily is spending an extended time in China, we get to welcome a new friend on Monday. His name is Ameer and he is five years old just like the rest of the class. I’m sure he is excited to meet us, too.

I am looking forward to hugging all my munchkins on Monday. We have many more learning adventures to explore together!

Joyfully,
Mrs. P

Virtual Trip to Alaska!


I have checked and rechecked all connections. On Monday we should be able to participate in our first videoconference with a park ranger from Denali National Park in Alaska. We will extend our knowledge about arctic animals with an in-person lesson from an expert in the field. We will connect via Skype so we can see and talk to the ranger in real time. We will be talking about animals that live in the park today and also those that lived there long, long ago. We are all looking forward to this unique opportunity!

Here’s a link to their website in case you are curious about Denali National Park.

I have been unable to solve the connectivity problem with the Glacier Bay ranger program, so I have not rescheduled that virtual trip.

Jump into January!

As I was looking over my photos and Seesaw posts for this month, I was a bit surprised at how much we have explored in just a couple of weeks. We focused on a snow theme at first and got to build a snowman with fake snow we made in class. Just stir together three cups of baking soda and one cup of white hair conditioner and you get a mixture that has the consistency of packable snow without the freezing hands. We also made artistic snowmen in a variety of ways. They are currently decorating our room.

We read and retold The Mitten by Jan Brett many times. The children love to act out the part when the bear sneezes and all the animals go flying in the air! Retelling a familiar story builds stronger comprehension skills and gives much needed verbal practice.

I introduced an ice cube challenge that got their brains thinking with determination. How can you pick up an ice cube using just a string? No hands on the ice cube either! We had a few successes once I provided some salt. I love how engaged and creative the students get when presented with an interesting problem to solve.

We also grew beautiful crystals using a super saturated solution of Borax in hot water. Here’s how we did it: start with three cups of very hot water and add 1/2 cup Borax laundry booster. Stir in more Borax until no more will dissolve. Twist and shape a pipe-cleaner and hang it from a stick so it doesn’t touch the sides or bottom of a clear jar. Pour in the solution. Don’t disturb the jar! In about an hour you will see crystals begin to form. The longer you leave it, the more crystals form on the pipe-cleaner.

This month has been made special with guest teachers helping us learn. Mrs. Stark has been providing music lessons. She has introduced us to different styles of musical compositions and use of voice. Beethoven’s Moonlight Serenade had an impressive and immediate calming effect on the whole class!

Mrs. Tweedt has been teaching us about arctic animals. We get to draw the animals as we make our own book. We couldn’t secure a connection for our videoconference with the park rangers in Alaska but we have explored mini icebergs in the classroom. I’ll keep trying to find a solution the the connectivity issue so we can reschedule that virtual fieldtrip.

I hope you are enjoying the photos and videos on our Seesaw blog. Be sure to leave a few comments for your child. It makes quite an impression when we read them in class.

December Busy-ness

After a well-deserved month off-track, we certainly packed December with learning and laughter. The December birthdays were combined with the November dates for a rollicking party. There are plenty of photos on our Shutterfly Site to prove it. Thank you to our terrific volunteers! I couldn’t do it without you.

Speaking of volunteers, Miss Starla made it back from her injury. No one was happier than I to see her smiling face and capable hands at our door. She also bought everyone a knit hat to stay warm on chilly recess days.

We celebrated the Hour of Code with many experiences related to computer programming. Be sure to check out our videos called Hour of Code, We Love Bee-bots, and Ozobots in TK. Just click on the Class Video tab and scroll down to find those titles.

We read and compared several versions of the story of the Gingerbread Man. The students also got really good at retelling the story. They used puppets, small animals, and flannel board characters. They even got to act it out in small groups.

We were surprised when The Gingerbread Man showed up in our classroom. He was very interested in what we were doing, but one day he suddenly disappeared! It didn’t take long before we started receiving texts and photo clues from him. So we became detectives and set out to search for him. You can check out the video of this adventure here.

Other special guests brought us beautiful music. Mr. Seifert, his guitar, and his fourth graders came by to sing holiday songs with us. It was a bit intimidating because we didn’t know many of the words and they were so big, but it was still a good time. Another treat was when Athena’s mom played her harp for us. It was enchanting! You can view a short video of it here. She promised to come again, too.

Wishing blessings and peace to you and your families.

Mrs. P.

The Hour of Code

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Have you heard of The Hour of Code? It began just three years ago as a small event to introduce students to computer programming. Hadi Partovi, a computer programmer and businessman, noticed that most students have no opportunity to learn computer science (CS) before college, especially girls and minorities. So he started Code.org and launched the first Hour of Code in December 2013. It has grown immensely with over 311,000,000 students participating worldwide, including President Obama. More importantly, nearly half a million teachers have been trained, 120 school districts now offer CS courses, and 20 states have changed policies to support CS.

I have had my classes participate each year since the beginning. The Code.org training and support materials are likely the best professional development I have ever received. I am able to weave these important skills into our lessons throughout the year, so your child gets much more than just one hour of computer science instruction. Soon each student will be using the code.org website to build even more skills. You can do it, too! It is my hope that you and your child will continue learning CS together at home. I bet you never imagined that your TK student would have such an opportunity! #futurereadynow

Think Like a Scientist

Yesterday was a bit misty and almost rainy, but being the first day back after a long break we needed some time outside. There was just one not-to-deep puddle that was very popular very quickly. Many students wore rain boots and they had a delightful time. A few students noticed that the playground bark looked different, darker than usual and they went to explore. I love a good mystery, so I followed.

Me: What do you think happened?
Aliyah: I think it got so cold the bark froze. That’s why it’s white.
Me: Think like a scientist. Find out more.
Claudia: I touched it. It’s not cold so it’s not frozen.
Me: Think like a scientist. Compare it with the dark bark.
Claudia: That bark is wet. The white bark is dry.
Me: Hmm. Why do you think they are different?
Athena: The slide protected the white bark and it didn’t get wet!
Me: I love learning with you.

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Important Requests

Dear TK Families,

Welcome back to school! I am excited to start our second trimester, how about you?

I have a couple of important requests. First, I have been unable to come up with coat racks for our class so I am solving the storage problem in a different way:

From now on, please do NOT send a backpack with your child. Just send a labeled snack bag daily. For occasional toileting accidents, send a change of clothes in a labeled Ziploc bag which will stay at school.

Also, our class is in need of additional volunteers. We have been so fortunate to have Miss Starla (Jalisia’s mom) as a daily helper for the entire first trimester. Unfortunately, she was injured in a fall and will be unable to participate for several weeks. Please check your schedule and let me know when you can volunteer. Click on the Volunteer link above to add yourself our Weekly Helpers or Special Guest Helper lists on Shutterfly. The most important times that need coverage are 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM.

Don’t Forget!
Fog Willow Farm Field Trip
Monday, October 31st

Class Time: 10:15 AM – 1:46 PM
Bring a sack lunch with drink. Labeled!
NO backpacks needed
Dress for the weather
Bus Departs: 10:45 AM
Bus Returns: 1:45 PM
Chaperones must carpool are drive on their own

Joyfully,
Mrs. P

More Pumpkin Projects

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We had such a fun week with our pumpkins. We estimated the number of seeds and counted every one of them! We will wait a little longer before we tell you the exact number. You really need to submit your guess. Be bold and post it in a comment below.

We had a BLAST with the Mini Pumpkin Challenge. We each had to build a block structure as tall as we could but, it had to support a mini pumpkin on top. Lots of pictures are posted on our Shutterfly Site. I hope you are inspired to try this as a family challenge at home. If you don’t have small wooden blocks, try using something else. But everyone has to use the same type of materials. Have fun! Post a few pics so we can enjoy it with you.

Happy Vacation!

Congratulations on a productive first trimester! We have all earned a well-deserved break. I hope you enjoy many relaxed days with family and friends. Many scientific studies clearly show how important play time is for children and adults, too! We learn best and grow most during the time we have for joyful explorations. I encourage you to check out our Twitter feed for more information.

The October Activity Calendar was sent home on Thursday. It is also linked under the TK Homework tab. As always, the most important ways to become a great student is to read and be read to daily and DO SOME CHORES!

This vacation time would also be a great opportunity to workout those small finger muscles. Most of the students are finding it very tiring to write and draw and cut. That’s because their finger muscles are still developing and need some time in the “Finger Gym”. Click HERE to find a list of fun ways to exercise those muscles.

If your child spends some time online, check out the tabs above for links to some good sites. You can also try these free, high quality websites:
starfall.com
abcya.com
pbskids.org

Several of you have asked for a list of exceptional apps. I will work on that and post it soon. So check back here.

I’ll be starting my vacation with a technology conference and then jury duty. Later, I’ll fly to Atlanta to spoil my grandchildren and both of my sons. At the end of the month, I get to enjoy time with my daughter. It looks to be a very lucky month for me. What will you be doing?

See you back at school on Wednesday, October 26th at 11:04 AM – 2:35 PM.
Joyfully,
Mrs. P