Our Holiday Breakfast was fun!

We loved all of our yummy food - pancakes, sausage, fruit and snowmen donuts! Miss Qonja joined us for our breakfast and was able to visit with all of the kids. We LOVE wearing our pajamas too! Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the time with all our your families!

Santa Snacks and Feelings

Yesterday, we made a yummy Santa snack. We had to watch and listen to the directions, and then we each worked on making our own cute Santa.

We began a new social skills unit about empathy. This week we are learning how to identify happy and sad faces and feelings. We've learned that we feel calmer and more comfortable when we are happy, and we usually will feel uncomfortable when we are sad. These are important skills for life - research shows that students who accurately identify emotions tend to be less aggressive and are more accepted by peers. Students who have high emotional understanding at age five are more likely than other children to show academic gains by nine. There is a home link for this lesson, but I will most likely send it home in January.

Don't forget... our Holiday Breakfast will be this Friday. It is also pajama day at Loon Lake, so your child may wear his/her pajamas if he/she wishes. I'd like to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season - it is exciting to see the gains your children have been making this year!

Being Assertive and More Holiday Fun!

This week we read, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and then wrote about how we would make a grinch grin. We discussed feeling grumpy and grinchy and what we can do when we feel that way. We also made some wonderful elves - we'll be sure to send our art projects home before the winter break.
Our Skill for Learning concept this week was being assertive. We learned that we need to stand up and use a calm, respectful voice. This is the best way to ask for help when we need it. It is an important skill for school - research shows that students who are too passive are at higher risk for being bullied, and students who are too aggressive in their interactions have fewer friends. Every day we put to use our new Skills for Learning - we see a wonderful improvement in behavior and work skills in ALL of the children. Your great follow through at home has been very helpful!
As we have gained new learning and behavior skills, I have begun to raise our expectations of our students (this is a great thing!) The children ALL understand that we will give a direction ONE time, we will give ONE verbal prompt/reminder, and then we expect them to follow through with the request. If they do not, the children understand that we will give a check mark and they will pay a 5 minute time out during Center Time. The time out is paid at their desk, with their head down, and with their body quiet and in control. ALL of them are able to do this easily now. This is huge progress, and really has allowed us to begin to teach new and important skills and curriculum. And more importantly, your children are so happy and proud of their improved behavior too! I hope you will also join me in raising your expectations for your children - they are wonderful little people, and they have so much potential!

Gingerbread Stories and Houses

We have had such a fun week at school! Our classroom elf, Ginger, has left us little notes and treats this week. He also brought us a can of snow - all we had to do was add water, and then we had our own bowl of snow in our classroom. Of course, we wrote him thank you notes!

We enjoyed playing outside for block recess on Wednesday because there was snow on the ground. Getting in and out of all of our snowpants and boots takes patience - many children need to practice this a little more at home so that it is less frustrating. We are also learning how to hang up our winter coats and snowpants, and how to put our boots on the boot mats in the hall. It is a little tricky to pack everything up at the end of the day, but this is good organizing practice for us.

All week long we've been reading different gingerbread stories. We read "The Gingerbread Boy", the "Gingerbread Girl", "The Gingerbread Baby", and "Gingerbread Friends". Today we each got to build and decorate our own gingerbread houses. They look yummy and sweet in our lighted display! We'll send them home before the Winter Break.

Holiday Breakfast and Snowy Weather

It is hard to believe that we're into December! It certainly is getting colder outside, and so children will need to bring gloves/mittens and hats for recess. They'll also need boots and snowpants for snowy weather. We all go out for a longer Block Recess on Wednesday afternoons. Your child may leave his/her snowpants here if you would like. It is important to put your child's name inside his/her boots and snowpants - many children will have the same pair and mix-ups are frequent! It is also a good idea to send an extra pair of socks and pants to keep here at school - often children get wet feet on snowy days, and they like to change into a dry pair of socks. Our classroom gets cold in the winter, so many children like to keep an extra sweatshirt or hoodie here to put on if they wish to.


This week we finished up our winter animal unit. In addition to migration and hibernation, we've learned that some animals "get ready" by storing food, and some animals adapt by growing thicker fur coats.


We'll make our gingerbread houses here on Friday - we'll be sure to put some pictures on our blog for you. Your child will bring his/her house home before our winter break.


Mrs. Aldrich, Mrs. Kerrigan and I will be cooking breakfast for the class on Friday December 16. This is a tradition in our room, and it is our gift to our students. You might want to send your child to school a little hungry that morning - we love to cook for them! Our Holiday Breakfast will be our classroom holiday party.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week we learned about "self-talk for staying on task". This is a strategy that students can use to help themselves listen, follow directions, and stay on task. I am so pleased that with our regular practice, our students have really improved their ability to listen, focus and follow directions. Their ability to watch and listen quietly during group discussions and lessons has made them more able to take in new information, which is critical for learning! Thank you for helping your children with the home links - I love our home-school partnership!

We have continued our study of animals in winter and we have learned about hibernation and migration. We'll finish this unit up after the Thanksgiving break when we return on Tuesday, November 29. I hope you all have a wonderful break and Thanksgiving time with family!

Headbands and Hibernation

We read many Native American legends and tales this month and we also have talked a lot about the Pilgrims and their difficult voyage on the Mayflower. We learned that the trip took 63 days, and there was no fresh food, running water, or TV! We were surprised to learn that the Pilgrim children had to help their parents with work because they didn't have a school built yet. Some Pilgrim children could not even write their own names, and there weren't many books to read or paper to write on.

This week we made Native American headbands and chose Native American names. Be sure to ask your child what his/her name is! Each day we will have the opportunity to EARN feathers for our headbands. One feather will be earned for participating in group each morning. The other feather will be earned for safe, cooperative behavior. We will do this for several days.

We have also begun a science unit about animal adaptations in the winter. This week we read about bears and made hibernating bears. We'll also learn about migration and how other animals get ready for winter or adjust to our colder winter climate.

Brain Builder Games

Last week we continued to work on our Skills for Learning and practiced focusing attention. We need to be able to ignore distractions while focusing our attention. We practiced this with our Puppy and Snail puppets and a Brain Builder Game called Follow Follow. Snail would give us a direction and we had to follow that direction. Puppy would try to distract us and trick us by giving us directions too - we had to remind ourselves to focus on Snail. We practiced this game for several days, and by Thursday we were great at it!

This week we learned that we can repeat directions to help remember them better. We added this step into our Follow Follow Brain Builder game. Mrs. Ellis would give us some directions, and we had to repeat them before we could do them. We'll practice this game more this week.

Thank you so much for helping your children with the Home Links - I have noticed quite a difference in many of the children already, and we are practicing taking these skills into other settings such as PE.

Remember that there is no school on Thursday, November 17. I will see most of you that day for your parent teacher conference.

Farmer Schmidt and Roy

Farmer Schmidt came to visit our classroom today with her turkey. Her turkey is a tom turkey and his name was Roy. Roy was a great gobbler. We were able to see his snood and wattle change color. He had a black beard and beautiful white feathers.

We all were able to play one of Farmer Schmitdt's farm instruments. We were a fantastic farm band and enjoyed playing music with her. Best of all, all of the kids used their "Ready to Learn" skills during her visit. We were all able to sit and listen and watch with quiet mouths and bodies in control! This is great progress!

November

This week we began to read and talk about Pilgrims and Native Americans. We've begun to learn about the voyage that the Pilgrims took on the Mayflower, and the hardships they faced when they arrived in America. We've read several Native American legends and made loons and rainbow crows to go along with them. Next week, Farmer Schmidt will visit our classroom with her turkey - we'll be sure to take many pictures for you to see!
We have practiced our rules for learning - what a difference it makes when your children are able to look, listen, have quiet mouths and bodies in control during a lesson! We practiced a brain builder game called "Follow, follow" and we helped teach a very wild puppy puppet our rules for learning. Today we showed our PE teacher, Mr. Olack, how we could use our rules for learning in the gym. Thank you for your help with the home links - I enjoyed seeing the pictures your children drew! Next we'll learn how to focus our attention, and I'll send home a new home link.
Friday is the end of this first marking period. I will be sending home a paper report card on November 16 so that we may discuss it at Parent Teacher Conferences on November 17. Our report card will not be available on line. I look forward to meeting with you on Conference Day!

Learning to Listen

We are going to begin a new program, called "Second Step". This week we will begin the Skills for Learning unit. Listening is a fundamental skill for learning that helps children focus and pay attention. Following the Listening Rules helps children listen to their teacher and improve their ability to listen and pay attention during class discussions.

Many children struggle to be successful in the structured learning environment of school, especially children still working to develop competence in the basic skills of paying attention, following directions, and inhibiting inappropriate behavior. Research shows that children who start school lacking these skills for learning have poorer academic achievement and more problems with peers.

The Second Step program includes Brain Builder games, stories, puppets (you'll hear more about them soon!) and music. About once a week, I will also send home a Home Link that will explain the skill that we've learned and give you a follow up activity to do at home with your child. I would love your help and involvement with this and I believe that you'll find these skills helpful at home too. The first Home Link will come home this week. There will usually be an activity to complete with your child, and a place to sign and return it to me.

Other units in this program include Empathy, Emotion Management and Problem Solving. I am excited to begin this new program with our students because I have seen how much they have struggled in all of these areas. Thank you for your help and support with this!

The Fun Run was Fun!!!

We had a perfect morning for our Loon Lake Fun Run! We wore our cool checkered scarves and everyone ran laps in the sunshine. Afterwards, we counted our wrist rubber bands and had water and apple slices. Everyone did a fantastic job! Thanks to all the parents who were there to help lend a hand!

Room 113's Big Pumpkin Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Monster Toast

Today we "painted" monsters on bread and popped it into the toaster. It was a lot of fun, and we loved seeing all the bright colors on our toast.

Math Games and Friendships

We love it when we're able to teach a math skill and a social skill together! Math games are a wonderful way to practice turn taking and good sportsmanship, while practicing a skill such as counting coins. Speaking of coins and money... have your child count or sort your change at home. We also count coins and make trades with coins during our morning calendar time.

The Social Work Table

Mrs. Schnieders (our social worker) and her intern, Mrs. Alt, work with small groups of children at the Social Work Table. This work might include reading a book about a social skill, completing a task together cooperatively, or talking about and practicing a coping skill. Just as we do during academic tasks or Group Time, we practice sitting, listening and paying attention. These are the learning skills we need in order to be able to acquire new information. The social work session often ends with a game that provides another opportunity to practice a social skill.

Changes

September has been a big month for the children in our room. Some of our older students have embarked on more inclusion and participation in general education classrooms. They have been given more responsibility in our classroom and they have often served as role models and leaders. These older students have been great examples to younger, newer students while being able to reflect back on some of the behaviors they may have had in their beginning year with us.
Our newer, younger students are beginning to have an understanding of cause and effect in terms of their behavior. Many are beginning to modify their behavior in order to obtain a desired consequence. They are learning that we are a cooperative group, and that rules exist so that we are safe and can all learn at school. School has many new demands and expectations that may not exist at home. This may be the first time your child has had to work as a part of a group of people doing things that may be new and frustrating, within a time frame and with a series of transitions! It is HARD work! But this hard work is what leads to CHANGE, and this potential for change is a wonderful gift and opportunity for your child. This kind of change does not happen overnight...it takes time, patience and teamwork. Please know that we love your children before they change, and we celebrate each baby step toward change that they make.

Mr.Stearns

Mr. Stearns is our media specialist. He comes into our classroom on Friday afternoon and reads us a wonderful book. We are practicing how to sit and listen while he reads to us. We love the great voices he makes when he reads different parts! Later in the year, when we are ready, we'll begin to go into the Media Center and we'll hear our story there. Right now, this is a great start for us!

Our class play

We have been hard at work on a class play, called "Big Pumpkin". We practice every day so that we'll know how to say our lines, where to stand, and what to do with the props. This is really giving us a lot of opportunity to practice those important learning skills - listening, following directions and cooperating. The kids are doing a wonderful job, and we're very excited about it!

We plan to do our play for all of our family and friends on Tuesday October 25th at 2:00. I hope that many of you will be able to come - we'll have a little reception afterwards too. If you are at work that day, or unable to come, maybe a grandparent or other person who is important to your child would like to come. All are welcome! I think you will feel very proud of your child and the progress she/he has made this fall!

Making Yummy Applesauce!

First, we cooked some apples. Then, we used a grinder to smash them all up. Next, we added sugar and spice.

Finally, it was time to eat our wonderful applesauce!

Officer McKaig Visits

Officer McKaig visited our classroom today to talk about safe school behavior. He told the boys and girls that it was important to listen to the teachers and follow their directions so that they would be safe and would be able to learn new things. Officer McKaig is our school-police liason officer, and will probably stop in to visit other times as well. He is a wonderful resource for our students, but he is very clear and firm about rules and wants school to be a safe and productive place for all students. You can support our work here at school by expecting and reinforcing safe and compliant behavior at home. This is so important for learning, and we have many wonderful things to learn this year! Much thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing you Thursday night at the Ice-Cream Social!

Ice-Cream Social

I hope that all of you will be able to stop in at the Loon Lake Ice-Cream Social on Thursday evening. I plan to be there from about 6:20-7:30, and will be scooping ice-cream from 7:00-7:20. The ice-cream is free and the event is held outside on the playground. The whole family is welcome!

Center Time

Center Time is an important time for building social skills, learning how to share and take turns and learning how to put toys away when the clean up bell rings.

Little Steps...

The first days of school are challenging for many of our students, especially little ones who may be new to a full day of school. It is hard work for everyone, but we are beginning to see some progress! I've noticed that most of the students are now able to come in to the room quietly in the morning, put their folders in the yellow basket, put their lunches in the purple basket, hang up their backpacks, sit down and look at a book basket for 20 minutes! This is a wonderful start to our day. We have learned how to clean up our centers when I ring the clean up bell, and after we put our toys away, we've learned that we need to sit back down and wait for the next direction. I was impressed with the way our students were able to pack up at the end of the day too - and walk quietly down the hall to our buses! These little steps all add up to big steps in learning - being able to listen, follow directions and cooperate are the important foundation skills that children need in order to learn academic tasks like reading and writing and addition. We expect your child to struggle with some of these things, but we'll be there to help support, guide and teach him or her. I have big dreams for your children - I know you do too!

The Ladies Who Love Working With Your Children

Mrs. Kerrigan, Mrs. Ellis and Mrs. Aldrich

Mrs. Brown is our speech teacher, Mrs. Schnieders is our social worker, and Mrs. Alt is our social work intern this year.

First day was exciting!

Our first day of school was a very busy one. We are just getting to know one another and we're learning about the rules and expectations of our classroom. This can be a very challenging time of year for many children as they begin to adjust to a full day of school, new teachers and the many transitions of the school day. We know and plan for this - we know that our students need many opportunities to learn and practice our routines and behavioral expectations, and we understand that this is not easy for them. Please remember that we will always help and support your children as they learn these new skills, and trust us when we say that although the process is challenging, you will celebrate the outcome! I loved working with each of your children today, and look forward to a wonderful year of learning and change with them!

Welcome to School!

Grab hold of a magic pencil
Open your eyes and mind
For now begins a journey
Of the most exciting kind.
A journey into learning
A step . . . a start . . . a glow,
And we will be there with you
To help and watch you grow.

I'm excited to see each and every one of you in the morning!

Breakfast and morning snack

We have a mid morning snack break every day. Children may bring a snack from home to eat. Loon Lake WILL continue to offer a breakfast program this year. (I incorrectly wrote that it was not available in my letter.) It is available at no cost to eligible free students, $.30 to eligible reduced price students, and for $1.25 to all other students. The breakfast may be used for the mid morning snack.

Welcome Back!

I am looking forward to working with you and your children this year! Blogging is new to me, but I am hoping that this will be another way that I am able to communicate classroom news to you.