Jogathon

Tomorrow is our jogathon and I would love to have some parents come out and help! The AM class will be running from 9:35-10:05 and should wear green. This helps the volunteers know who they can check off as the kiddos run laps. The PM class is running from 1:30-2:00 and should wear blue.

Each child will receive a water bottle that was purchased by the PSO. I have written names on all of the bottles and they will be filled up for the children when they arrive at school. The bottles are a little tricky to open, so I would love to have help from parents to make sure kids can get their water. I will also need helpers to keep tally of laps each time the children pass on the field. If you are interested in helping, just show up!

Sight Word Songs

I forgot to mention about our sight words songs, so I wanted to add to the info in the post below. Each week, we will focus on one sight word and starting next week, we will add a letter of the week as well. I have some great Cd's from Heidi's Songs with cute songs to go along with almost all of our sight words. Each week, we will learn a new song and sing it throughout the week. When the kiddos get more advanced in their writing, these songs are wonderful in helping them remember how to spell very common and important sight words.

Last week, "I" was our word. The lyrics to the I song are:

I, I, I, I
I is a word with one letter.

Short and sweet.

This week our word of the week is "can." The lyrics to our song this week are:

I can spell can. I can spell can.
c-a-n, c-a-n
I can write the letters, always getting better.
c-a-n, c-a-n.

The lyrics repeat twice. Each time we spell out the world we do a motion like clapping, stomping our feet, or tapping our heads. So far the children have loved singing along and experimenting with different voices as we sing.

September 19-23rd

Now that we have our brand new rug in our learning area, I am going to incorporate some different lessons and activities in that area of the classroom. Each child is assigned a particular color square on the carpet, which is where he/she will sit each time we do activities on that carpet. We have practiced transitioning from our alphabet carpet, where we start our day, to the new carpet for our letter lessons.

Here is a look at our daily schedule:

AM

8:10-8:20 Morning Work

8:20-Announcements (children arriving after announcements are counted as tardy)

8:25-Greeting Circle with daily share (I greet each child by name and they say hello to me, then I ask a daily question and each child gets a turn to answer)

8:30-9:00-Fast Track Phonics (daily letter lesson)

9:00-9:30-Math (we start with a daily math routine, then have a math lesson)

9:30-10:00 English Language Development (ELD) for some students, others remain in class with me

10:00-10:30 Science/Sight Word Activities

10:30-10:40 Story/Star of the Week

10:40 Dismissal

PM 

11:55-12:05 Morning Work

12:10-Morning Greeting

12:15-12:45-Fast Track Phonics 

12:45-1:15-Math

1:15-1:40 Science/Sight Word Activities

1:40-1:50 Story/Star of the Week

1:50-2:20 ELD

2:20 Dismissal (I bring the Kinders out 5 minutes early to make sure they get on buses before the older children)

Reading & Writing
We  started our Fast Track Phonics Program today and have will cover the the sounds /m/ and /a/ and most likely /s/ this week. Starting next week, we will also have a letter of the week that we will focus on, but our phonics program introduces several sounds each week so that the children can learn the sounds and letters at a faster pace. The phonics program incorporates some video elements which both classes loved. Our letter of the week activities will review the letters that we have already done in Fast Track Phonics and will involve other skills and projects.

Each sound card has a picture that incorporates the formation of the letter. There is an "animated alphabet" video clip where we see that picture in action. This is meant to help the children connect the image on the cards (which are posted in the classroom) and the sound that the letter makes. So far this week we have done the /m/ card for which we say The man marches on mountains and the /a/ card for which we say Alphie asks for apples.

Alphie the Alligator is a puppet that is used with the program and the kids learned some "games" that we play with Alphie to help them become readers. We Say It Fast (Alphie uses his special Alphie Talk to say each individual sound in a word and the children say the word fast) and we also Break It Down (I say a word and the children say each sound in the word). Both of these skills are very important for reading and spelling/writing. Another aspect of the Fast Track Phonics (FTP) program is learning how to write the letters. Some students are tracing letters and others are writing them independently. As I monitor progress, I am looking at how each child is holding his/her pencil, whether or not the can write their name, and how much support they need to write letters.

Both groups are doing a great job remembering their morning routines. When they arrive at school they hang up their backpacks, check in with the attendance chart by turning over their picture, and then sit down at their tables for seat work. You will see a lot of coloring pages coming home in the Friday folders, but please don't think all we do is color! I use coloring activities in the morning because the children can work on them independently which makes me available to talk with parents, collect bus notes etc. As we continue to build skills, morning work will probably start to look different.

Math:

We are continuing to work on Rainbow Numbers this week. You should have seen several examples come home in your child's Friday folder along with groups of stamps to show the particular number on the page. Take a look at your child's sheets to see if he/she is stamping the correct number of times for that particular day. We are working on stopping when we get to the number of the day, circling the group, and writing the number next to the group of stamps. Most of the kiddos are doing a great job, but some are still struggling to match the number of the day with the same number of stamps. It's great to practice counting out loud and counting particular objects while saying the numbers at home as well as practicing to write numbers.

 Stories:

This week our stories will focus on different kinds of friends. Today we read Let's Be Enemies and we will also read My Friend is Sad, Little Red Hen, Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale, and Bear Feels Scared. Each of these stories touches on how friends treat each other and we will connect this to the "Bucket Book" and talk about how we should treat other people and qualities of a good friend. Starting next week, we won't have a daily story because we need to make time for our Star of the Week activities, but I will of course try to fit them in as often as I can.

ELD Time:

Some children receive ELD instruction for 30 minutes outside the classroom each day. Children who participate in this are children who speak a language besides English at home. During this time, children who do not participate stay in the classroom and we will do a rotation of activities throughout the week. Our activity rotation will be...


Monday Math-math tile games for extra practice and enrichment
Travel Tuesday-children get their very own passport and "travel" to different stations where they earn stamps upon competing work. Stations will involve reading, sight word practice, science, and learning games.
Words on Wednesday-I will use a program called Words Their Way which includes picture, letter, and sound sorts.
Thoughtful Thursdays-Time for stories or projects that focus on thoughtfulness and being kind to/helping others
Flexible Fridays-a chance to catch up or do something different

Helpers:

We have three students from Tigard High helping us in the classroom this year. These students are all participating in a class geared towards working with young children, so they come and help in classrooms to learn and gain experience. It is wonderful to have the additional hands and help. In the morning class we are sharing Miss Emily and Miss Zaineh (Zay-nuh) with Mrs. McLean's class so they will come once a week to help for an hour each. In the afternoon, Miss Taylor comes for an hour each day.
I have a few parents starting to come in and volunteer this week for jobs that I need help with every week, but other parents who are interested in coming in to help are also more than welcome.

Activities/Special Events:

This Thursday every child at Durham will take the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills DIBELS) reading assessment. This is a screening measure to help the Kindergarten teachers and our Literacy Specialist know which students may need additional support in reading. Students in Kindergarten will do the Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency portions of this assessment.



On Friday we will have our Jog-a-thon. I have water bottles for each student which will be filled and labeled with their name. If your child is in the AM class, please have him/her wear a green shirt on Friday if possible. If your child is in the PM class, please have him/her wear a blue shirt on Friday if possible. AM kiddos will run from 9:35-10:05. PM kiddos will run from 1:30-2:00. Parents are more than welcome to come and watch or participate with the children. PSO usually provides a treat after we run.


Next Thursday is Picture Day
AM 10:10
PM 12:50

Back to School Night

Thanks to all of the parents who made it to Back to School Night. It was great to see all of you and I hope you felt like you came away from the evening with some helpful information about what to expect this year in Kindergarten. I have never worked with a translator before, so my presentation went on a little longer than I planned for. If you have any questions that were not answered last night, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I want to make sure all of your questions are answered! If you couldn't make it last night, I am sending home your folder of information on Friday in the Friday Folder. There is a permission slip to participate in my literacy bag program and a personal alphabet in there, which are both important papers we talked about.

Math:

This week we have been working on "rainbow numbers" during math time. This exercise involves a lot of practice in listening and following directions, but also provides practice in writing the numbers. Each day we focus on one number (1 on Monday, 2 today and so on). We start with a red crayon and trace the number, then continue to trace the number with each color of the rainbow. We practice "my turn" and "your turn" so the kids know that when it's my turn they need to watch what I am doing and listen so they know what to do when it's their turn. After we have traced the number in all of the colors, we have been using stamping markers to show that number in different groups. Once we have stamped the correct number of times, we draw a circle around it and write the number of the day. When you see these papers come home on Friday, you can check to see if it looks like your child was getting the idea and following the directions. I think the kiddos have been doing a great job. We have also been using our math trays to show the number of the day. The children start by putting their math tiles in order from 1-5 and then we put the number of the day in the center of the tray. Today, the kids use many different objects to show me how many two are. They put two pennies, two connecting cubes, two little letters, and two counting fruits next to the number two on their tray. I was really impressed with how well most kids did (not so much that they can count to 2, but that they followed the directions really well and didn't go ahead of me or play with the items.)

We will continue these activities with a new number each day. 

Reading:

I also introduced our creepy fingers today which we will use for reading. It's really important for children to practice pointing to the words as they read, so I gave each child a  green plastic witch fingers with long red fingernails to help them point to each word as we read. We worked on our first sight word book, which was on the word "I." The children had to write the word "I" where it was missing and circle the letter I in a word search. We will continue to use our funky fingers when we read our paper books.

I introduced Alfie to both groups today and we started to do some Fast Track Phonics exercises. We talked about the letter m and how it makes the /m/ sound like when mom bakes fresh cookies and we say mmmmmmmmm. I also introduced the alphabet chant. Once the kiddos learn it better, I would like to take a video and post it on the blog so you can see and hear it in action! 

Stories:

Yesterday we read The Worst Day of My Life Ever & Froggy Goes to School. Today we read Big Wolf & Little Wolf and On The Way To Kindergarten. Each time we read a story I am including practice with comprehension skills such as making predictions and comparing different stories. Yesterday when we read The Worst Day of My Life Ever, we looked at the illustration on the cover and made predictions about what might happen that would make it the worst day ever for the boy. We talked about using picture clues and the kids did a great job making guesses. As we read, we reviewed all of the different things in the story that made it a bad day. Today when we read Big Wolf & Little Wolf, we talked about other stories we know with wolves in them like The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. The Wolves in our story today were good and kind, so we talked a bit about how that was different than the Big Bad Wolf in The Three Little Pigs and the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. So far many kids are making great connections during the stories and they have been very successful at telling me what happened in the stories after we have read them.

Science:
We also talked a little bit about science yesterday and the children will get a chance to use magnifying glasses (aka hand lenses) to observe some items during a science station later this week. We talked about the word "observe" and how it means to look at something very carefully. I know the children are looking forward to getting their first crack at science in the classroom.

Heads Up:

• Tomorrow we are going to have our first Fire Drill during the AM session. I will read a story about fire drills and practice with both classes because we will have a monthly evacuation practice and I want both groups to be prepared. Most of the time, I will tell the kids in advance when we are having a fire drill so they are not scared. We will line up and exit through the door in the back of the room. We don't have to be in the classroom with the alarm for long, so hopefully no one is too bothered by it. 

• Next Friday September 23 is our Jogathon!

• Scholastic Book Club orders are due Monday Sept 19th. You can send in the completed order form or order online. When you order online we automatically get a free book for the classroom, so thanks to the parents who have already done that. I love books and so do the kids!
  

Wednesday

Another great day! We are continuing to practice our transition from table work to the alphabet carpet in the morning. After our good morning greeting, both groups got a chance to share something about themselves. In the morning class each child got to share about their brothers/sisters and in the afternoon class each child got to share about something they like to eat and their brothers/sisters. I like to make sure each child is recognized as an individual and has the opportunity to take the floor and share with his/her classmates. We are of course working on being quiet listeners when someone else is talking.

We read two great stories today. Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen and Hands Off, Harry! (from a new series called Kindergators by Rosemary Wells). Both stories featured characters who had a tough time making good choices at first, but both Harry and Howard learned to make better choices and get along better with their classmates in the end. We related both stories and characters to our goal of keeping all three of our sticks each day.

 Did you spy a sticker on your child today after school? A smiley sticker means he/she kept all three sticks!

The kiddos also got to do some exploration with the math tiles that are part of our math curriculum, which is called Expressions. Each child got a baggie with tiles numbered 1-10. They got a chance to put the numbers in order and show me particular numbers when I called them out. They did a great job listening and stopping each time I rang the bell to give directions or call out a different number. Our math program uses a lot of different manipulatives throughout the year, so the children get to do many hands on activities.

Finally, in order to practice listening and following the directions, the kiddos each made a stop sign. They had to watch and listen in order to put the red, yellow, and green circles in the right spot. This also gave them a chance to practice using glue.

My phone is still "out of order" so please email me with any questions/concerns you might have. Or, if you leave a message with the office, they will make sure I get it. I am typically in the classroom after school and check my email frequently (even from home in the evenings sometimes).

I think the children are adjusting very well to being in Kindergarten and I have had several students tell me just how thrilled they are to being going to school now. :0)

We made it!

Today was a great first day in both classes! We went over some of our classroom routines including how to clean up tables, push in chairs, put morning work in the blue or green baskets, and find a spot on the alphabet carpet when the Good Morning song starts playing. We will start each day with a Good Morning greeting once we are all settled on the carpet. I say good morning to each child by name and ask that they say good morning Mrs. Toppel in return. As we learn about some different countries this year, we will also learn how to say hello or good morning in different languages.

We read The Kissing Hand, which is my favorite story for the first day of Kindergarten. Some of the children were familiar with the story already (probably from preschool) and they impressed me with their knowledge of nocturnal animals. I love the big vocabularies they have! Nocturnal--wow! After we read the story and talked about it, the kiddos did a little project which you will see hanging on our bulletin boards sometime this week. They had to complete the sentence, "On the first day of Kindergarten I felt _________." Most said they felt happy or good, but there were a few that said they felt nervous or shy.

We also did some practice with my quiet signal, which is a red bell named Buddy Bell. When I ring the bell I expect everyone to stop, look, and listen. Both classes did a great job with that. Impressive!

The other important thing we talked about today, which you may have already heard about is "the sticks." To introduce the system, I am starting over each day, so each child has three sticks at the beginning of each day to "protect" by following classroom rules and expectations. We talked about ways to keep sticks and also talked about choices that result in me having to take a stick away. For now, anyone who has all three sticks at the end of the day gets a sticker. In October, we transition to three sticks for the entire week earning a choice time on Friday, but we need time for them to get used to what things lose sticks before they have to keep three all week. Some kids will test and try out different behaviors, but for the most part they seemed to really get the idea and do well with the system today. Please ask your child when he/she gets home if he/she got a sticker and kept all sticks. It's a big deal and they should be really proud of doing so! If your child has lost a stick, it's a great idea to have a brief conversation about why and make sure they understand a different choice that could be made next time.

We had a few conversations today about what we do in school and I told the kiddos that we don't have a daily recess and we don't have a snack at school (until we start Star of the Week and then we'll have snack once a week on Wednesdays). They may be a bit disappointed and feel like we're not doing anything fun, but it does take us awhile before we can get into some real learning. The first few weeks include a lot of instruction of routines and practice to make sure we have them down. This makes for a much better school year once we do take off with reading and math (and science this year too!). It is really important to build the foundation for good listening and boundaries in the classroom now so they are used to the expectations when we kick it into high gear.

As we start a new year there are always some kinks to work out with bus stops and routes, so I appreciate your patience and understanding if there are any mix-ups with departure routines. Occasionally children are returned to school on the bus if an adult is not waiting for them at their stop, so please know that if for some reason your child does not get off the bus, they are safe and are probably being brought back to school. It is a good idea to be at the stop early and to arrive early if you are picking up as well, especially in the PM because the parking lot gets very busy and crowded.

Please make sure your child brings his/her yellow bus tag to school all this week and next week. When we have our bus routines down and the drivers know the kids, I will collect them and keep them at school. Until then, it is imperative that they have those tags so the bus drivers have their information. If you are picking your child up, it's not as important, but it does help me group the kids in the line, so until I have everyone's schedule down pat, I would appreciate all kids having them every day. Also, in the event any child gets separated from me at the end of the school day, another teacher will know to return them to me! And, speaking of kids getting separated, I told children who get picked up not to leave with a parent until they look at me and I look at them and see they are with a parent. Sometimes kids see mom or dad and disappear so quickly, which makes me nervous. I need to see you before you take your child.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for Back to School Night on Monday September 12th! I will giving more detailed explanations of our reading and math programs as well as info about homework, literacy bags, and much more! I am looking forward to getting to know all of your families better!

It was wonderful to meet many of you last night at our supply drop. I could tell that there were many very excited Kindergartners! I hope that you have read through the information I passed out and that you will use this blog as a way to check in frequently with what we are doing in the classroom. I try to post at least once a week and I often post photos to give you an idea of what we have been working on. I had great feedback from parents last year who really enjoyed the blog and felt that it helped them talk to their kids about school because they already had a lot of information about what we had done.

I also want to let you know that my phone in the classroom is not working right now. The cord was removed during the summer and our custodian, Mr. Z, has been searching for a new one with no luck. If you need to get in touch with me, please use my email.

ktoppel@ttsd.k12.or.us

Next week I will introducing the children to the routines and rules in the classroom and we'll spend a lot of time practicing different procedures like cleaning up, transitioning from the tables to the carpet, and lining up. I will also make sure to give the kiddos a tour of the bathrooms so they know where to go if they need to go.

I will be using a behavior management program this year, which I will also introduce next week. I prefer to focus on what kids are doing well, so my system allows children who are following the classroom rules and expectations to earn some choice time on Fridays. Both of my classes last year LOVED having choice time, so it is a great motivation for them. I will send home detailed information about "the sticks" that are used and I will explain it at Back to School Night as well.

As you prepare to send your treasures off to Kindergarten, please remember that although they may be feeling nervous or unsure, they will quickly adjust and will have a great year! It's normal to have some crying on the first day or during the first week (sometimes longer), but they will quickly feel at home in their new classroom. I know it can be tempting to stay, especially if your child is feeling upset, but I encourage to give them a big hug and tell them you'll see them later so they can get used to being here without a parent.

If you have any questions/concerns/information that you would like to discuss with me, please don't hesitate to get in touch. (email is best for now but hopefully my phone will be working soon!). I am looking forward to getting to know both you and your kiddos better!