December 3rd-7th

Reminders/News

Hopefully you all received the info about our Gingerbread House Decorating party which will take place on Friday December 21st starting at 9:30. Please send in the item you were assigned to by December 14th. If you are in charge of icing, please send that in the day of the party (in the morning so it can be portioned out and ready when the party starts). If you are unable to provide the item you were assigned please let me know asap.

Family Tradition collages are due Monday December 10th.

Scholastic Book Club orders were due today. If you'd like to order and have not done so already please have your order submitted online by the end of the day today. I will submit it tomorrow.

We welcomed a new student to our class today. His name is Reimundo. And sadly, our friend Xander and his family moved to Germany so last Thursday was his last day with us.

This week in class....

Reading/Writing
We are finishing up our second Fast Track unit which means I will be assessing the students at the end of the week to check in on their progress. We will be covering the /ng/ sound this week and that can be a tricky one, so I will spend more time on that sound than I do with other letter sounds.

We are starting a 3 week study of transportation. Today we read a big book story called The Bus For Us. While listening to the story students made predictions using the clues in the illustrations and then when the story was over they talked with their partners to see how many different vehicles from the story they could recall and what those different vehicles do. Our vocabulary words this week are transportation and vehicle. The new Common Core State Standards that Oregon has adopted place a lot of emphasis on reading non-fiction texts and responding to questions that require students to use information found in the text. We are also starting a unit on informational/non-fiction writing which will be informed by the information we learn in the stories we read. Students will still be writing in a narrative style for "Weekend News" on Monday mornings, but they will also be learning how to write in a way that explains or gives information about our topic of study. Later this week they will use the sentence frame A ______ is a vehicle to write about one of the vehicles in the story. The goal is for them to write a topic sentence and then provide two details.

Math
We are focusing on five groups and seeing five groups in the numbers 6-10. We have been practicing some different hand games to get students comfortable and fluent with recognizing the five group and extras in those numbers. Student will also be using their math trays and number tiles as well as a new app called Doodle Buddy to demonstrate how to visually show the numbers 6-10 as a group of five and then extras. Using five groups is a great segue into seeing that quantities can be grouped in different ways and that builds foundational knowledge for addition.

We also started using math stories today. Following my model, students were asked to use some props (napkins, spoons, cups, and "marshmallows" (pom poms)) to tell a math story having to do with eating dinner or having a snack or drinking cocoa. One student in each group told the math story and the other students had to write the equation that goes along with that story on their whiteboard app. We will revisit the concept of math stories throughout the year so that the kids can see that we use math in our everyday lives and practice writing equations based on those stories.

Science
We don't have a lot of time for Science but we have begun talking about tools we use for observation in Science and I have introduced a few hands on science/observation activities during choice time. They were very popular and the kiddos had fun examining objects with magnifying glasses.

November 5th-8th

Thank you for all the hard work you put into the Turkey Family Projects. They look great decorating our bulletin board in the hallway. 

Reminders: There is no school tomorrow, Friday November 9th because it is a teacher workday. We are preparing the progress reports that will go home next week. 

There is no school Monday November 12th because it is Veteran's Day. 

I am still collecting hair conditioner for the hygiene drive

Reading and Writing:

This week we worked on the sounds /b/ and /f/. I introduced a new activity in our letter lessons called "quick erase" in which I write a word on the board and then change one sound a time. For example I might start with sun and say what happens when the /s/ becomes a /b/. Then the kids say bun! Then I'd say okay what happens if the /u/ becomes an /i/ and the kids say bin! It's meant to be a quick practice in sound manipulation and focusing more on listening to the word and what sound will change than actually sounding the words out. I also introduced a new app called I Speak Word Wizard on which we practiced quick erase together. This app has all the letters displayed like a keyboard and we practiced spelling the words and then changing one sound at a time. 

In writing this week we continued working on the narrative stories about the pumpkin patch and when the kiddos finished they did a new story about something they did over the weekend. When writing or dictating I am looking for kids to produce the following:

1. The topic-what they did/where they went

2. Two details about the topic-what happened, who was there etc.

3. A feeling-how they felt about what they did (and more than just "it was fun" which can be a very popular Kindergarten way to end a story)

We have been using StoryKit to practice including these important parts of a narrative and today the kiddos were asked to do the same exercise only this time trying to actually write it out on paper. We started with just writing the topic because at this point it is still hard work for Kinders to sound out all the words and get the topic written down. We are not at the point yet, where they can easily write out their entire story which is why we use StoryKit and dictation as well. This allows me to determine if they know what elements to include in the story and if they can do so in an order that makes sense even though they're not ready to write all of that. As they continue to practice writing they will be able to write more in their stories. 

Math:

This week we finished up our first math unit with a graph predicting who would win the presidential election. We talked about who the main candidates were (names only) and the kiddos drew a picture of who they thought would win. I created a graph Monday after school and on Tuesday we looked at the graph to compare how many votes each candidate got. I gave the first assessment yesterday and overall the results were really good. The only thing that I want to review is shapes as there is still some confusion between triangle, square, and rectangle. Next week we'll do some activities to promote shape recognition. 

Enjoy the long weekend! 

October 29th-November 2nd

Wow! I can't believe it's November already. I realized in posting this that I missed a few weeks of posting, so I apologize and I will fill you in on what we've been up to in the classroom. We had a fun week with our field trip to Baggenstos and our Halloween celebration. I managed to get pictures in the rain at the pumpkin patch which I emailed out, but didn't get any during the business of our Halloween activities. 

Here are a few of Halloween at the Toppel house :)

Reading & Writing
In the past two weeks we have covered the letter/sounds /c/, /k/, /ck/, /u/, and /r/. The kiddos are making great progress in remembering their sounds and many students are already able or starting to be able to sound out words. We have also been practicing the sight words "a," "my," and "see." I've started to do some simple writing activities in class once a week where we being by writing a sentence starter together such as "I like my ..."  or "I am a..." (on Halloween). When I model writing I am showing the class where the letters go on the lines and how we use a "finger space"in between words when we write them. I remind them of the sight word songs we have learned because I expect the children to spell sight words correctly in their writing. I also remind them that a sentence starts with an uppercase letter and ends with a period. Then we write the sight words together (I on my paper and them on their paper). After that, they choose how they want to complete the sentence and try sounding out the word(s) they want to write. This is where the children are using the "break it down" skill to hear the different sounds in the word in order to write down the corresponding letters.

Today we did a pre-writing activity where students were asked to draw a picture of one part of our field trip to the pumpkin patch on Sketchio and then record where we went, two details about what we did there, and then a feeling about the field trip. That activity was done so students could practice retelling a personal narrative which is one of our writing standards. As they become more competent in writing, they will also write words to go along with their dictation. Some students did not finish yet, but if your child finished I forwarded you the email with their story.

Math
We have been continuing to focus on numbers 1-10. In class, do several finger games to show different numbers and we've been using our number cards to practice line em up. We do this in two ways. First, I give out one number card each to a group of students and ask them to line themselves up so their number cards are in order from one to ten. We do this a few times with different groups to practice putting the numbers in order but also to practice teamwork. Then students get their own set of number cards from 1-10 and have to put the numbers in order. Once the cards are in order we do a series of activities to help the children practice identifying, counting out, and arranging tiles to show a specific number as well as comparing different numbers. The extensive focus on numbers 1-10 is to build automatic recognition not only of the numbers themselves but of quantities of those numbers and different amounts that make those numbers when put together.

Science
Before visiting the Pumpkin Patch we read a book called From Seed to Pumpkin to learn about how pumpkins grow and what they look like as they are growing. We are continuing to practice making observations of what we see in the world around us.

Social Studies
We talked a little bit yesterday about the upcoming presidential election and the two main candidates. I read a book called Grace for president which talked a lot about what presidential candidates do, but in the context of a little girl running for class president.

Other Stuff
Thank you to the parents who were able to come with us to the Pumpkin Patch. It's always great to have parents with us and it was great to talk with so many of you last week during conferences.

Our Hygiene drive is starting up. Our class item is hair conditioner, so please contribute some if you can.

Have a great weekend!

October 8th-12th

Reading & Writing
This week we finished up our first section of phonics and then reviewed our first ten letter/sound combinations. Yesterday and today I spent some time assessing the class one child at time so I can determine which letters need a bit more practice before we move on. Today the students did a whole group writing assessment during which I said a sound and they needed to write the letter that corresponds with the sound I said. I just went through and scored those assessments and I was really impressed with the letter formation that I saw. I can tell that practice with the Letter School app has contributed to neat writing!

Our letter of the week was "S" and our sight word was "like." Our country this week was Switzerland and the kiddos learned how to say hello, goodbye, and thank you in German which is one of the languages spoken there.

During small groups this week I introduced a game called the Alphabet Mystery Box. The kiddos had to read into the mystery box and pull out one of the objects. Then they had to identify the initial sound and the letter the item starts with. We had a lot of fun with it!

Math
This week we worked a bit on graphing and comparing numbers. First I introduced what a vertical graph looks with two bars and talked about how we can look at the graph and determine which side shows more and which side shows less. Then I asked the kiddos to create their own graph by asking 7 classmates whether they are five years old or six years old. They had to color a square on their graph for each response and then determine which answer had more responses and which answer had fewer responses. They enjoyed interacting with one another and "interviewing" each other. Today we talked about the words "same" and "different" and the kiddos drew pictures of two things that were the same and two things that were different to demonstrate their understanding of the words.

Coming Up
Monday is the first day of Extended Day Kindergarten. If your child will be participating, a new bus schedule was sent home in his/her Friday folder today.

Next week we will start Science! We don't do Science as often as we do Reading, Writing, and Math, but it's a lot of fun when we do! Our first objective in science is for the kiddos to understand what "science" is and to understand how they can observe the world using their senses. On Thursday, they will make observations about pumpkins and use StoryKit to photograph a real pumpkin and record their observations.

Reminders
Don't forget to save your empty pop cans and water bottles for the Drive By Can Drive.

Please sign and return the permission slip for our field trip to the Pumpkin Patch on October 30th.

Have a great weekend! 

Choice Time

I just wanted to share a few pictures from Choice Time today. It's always a great day when everyone has earned their choice time and gets to enjoy a fun activity of their own choosing.

building with magnets

exploring magnets (attraction and repelling)

initial letter sound recognition game

listening station

counting cakes

coloring

Each week I set out different activities that give the kiddos a variety of options that typically include educational games to practice literacy and math skills, science exploration trays, books on CD with headphones, blocks or magnets for building, markers and paper for coloring. 

Coming Up:

Next week our letter of the week is S and our word of the week is like. We will complete our first series of sound lessons with the letter o on Monday and then I will review our first 10 sounds [m, a, s, d, t, n, p, o, g] and assess the kiddos one on one. In Math we will begin learning about graphing so that we can compare numbers and determine which is bigger/more and which is smaller/less next week and we will also talk about the math words same and different. Additionally, the children will begin to practice number writing, which will be reinforced with Letter School on the iPad because that offers number practice as well as letter practice.

Our Star and Co-Star of the week are Mackenzie and Jena! 

The homework that went home today includes two sheets of math homework. Each sheet is double sided. Please help your child do a little bit of the homework each night instead of attempting it all at once. 

Helpful hint for math homework==> You will often see one side of sheet has an empty box without any directions. The directions are actually on the bottom of the previous page....look carefully! 

Have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather! 

Can Drive

Durham's Drive-By Can Drive will be Wednesday October 24th. Please start collecting your empty pop cans and water bottles because the grade that collects the most cans wins a popcorn party! Wouldn't that be FUN!

Cans will be collected in the parking lot on October 24th at the following times:

before school

after school

5:45-6:15 pm

Please do not send cans/bottles to school prior to that date as I do no have any room in the classroom to store them. 

The money raised by collecting cans will help the Caring Closet buy new shoes and other items for families who need them.

Let's go Kindergarten! Collect those cans and bottles!!

In other news, the Literacy Bags are all ready to go for Friday! I bought some new games and activities and refreshed all the bags so they are new and improved for the kiddos this year. If you have not signed up and would like to--you still can! I have 23 bags which is an entire class set, so everyone is encouraged to participate provided you promised to take super good care of all the books, activities, and materials so everyone can enjoy complete bags with all the materials intact. 

October 1st-5th

 My family and I were off to a wedding in California right after school on Friday and we were away all weekend, so I am catching up from last week and giving a sneak peek into what we'll be doing this week.

Reading & Writing
Last week we did the letter sounds for /d/, /t/, and /i/. Now that the kiddos know a good number of sounds, we are beginning to practice sounding out words. Our phonics program introduces one letter at a time for students who are just learning sounds, yet it moves quickly so that children who already know their sounds are still engaged. It offers a lot of opportunities for review for kiddos who need to see and hear the sounds/letter multiple times before they "stick." Review often entails games, coming up with ideas, and sharing/talking with a partner, so there are many skills being practiced besides just the letter sounds. I want the children to be communicating as much as possible and using the words/sounds/letters we learn in context. In an effort to have as many kids engaged as possible, I am trying to move away from having just one child answer or demonstrate in exchange for activities where all kids respond and all kids are asked to share with their partners while I rotate and listen. This week we will cover /n/, /p/, and /o/. After 10 lessons, I will stop and assess students to see if we need to go back and practice any particular sounds before we move on to the next set of 10 lessons.

 We are also continuing to use our iPads to assist with our letter writing practice. I introduced an app called Letter School and it was a huge hit. Letter School is an app for practicing letter and number formation that corrects for letters that are not written properly. The students have learned that we always start our letters from the top so Letter School helps to ensure that is being done. Letter School requires the use of individual headphones, so we started using those last week and the kiddos have been doing a fantastic job using them, taking care of them, and recognizing when it's a time to take them off and listen to directions.

Math
In math the children have been practicing putting their number parade in order and counting out and/or drawing sets of different numbers. We have been creating "scenes" with the Sketchio app that model different numbers which will be made into a book using the app StoryKit. StoryKit is the app I demonstrated at Back to School Night which allows the kiddos to import their pictures from their photo album, record their voice to describe their photo/scene, and then eventually write the words to go along with what they say about their photo/scene. Initially, our math lessons have a slower pace and emphasize follow the directions and using the materials/manipulatives according to the directions. We do a lot of practice with number 1-10 to develop number sense and a deeper understanding of the numbers and their "number partners" which is a precursor to addition. It may seem like it's repetitive, yet our math program emphasizes depth over breadth. "Math Talk" is a huge part of our math curriculum because being able to explain math concept and mathematical thinking is both important and challenging!

Apps We're Using
Sketchio
StoryKit
Line Em Up
Letter School

Other Stuff
We have started our Star of the Week rotation and the kids are getting the hang of listening when a peer is sharing and are beginning to ask questions. Working on recognizing the different between asking a question and telling something about their own life is definitely something that we will talk about and think about when we have our Star of the Week presentations.

Our school Can Drive is beginning. I don't have the exact info with collection dates in front of me, but start saving your empty pop cans and water bottles. The class to collect the most wins a popcorn party! I will post more specific details another day.

September 17th-21st

A big thank you to all the of the parents who came to Durham for the Jog-a-thon today! The kiddos had a great time and were definitely tired out when we were done! It's wonderful to have so many families involved in special activities like that. 

Reading and Writing

We  started our Fast Track Phonics Program this week and covered the the sounds /m/ and /a/ and  /s/. 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.

I introduced a new app called "Letter School" this morning that was a HUGE hit. The kiddos did not get a chance to do it themselves because we were busy with the jog-a-thon, but they will get a chance to try it out next week. The app helps children practice letter and number writing with cues for where to start and how to correctly form the letter.

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, Tuesday, & Wednesday: Small group work rotation including iPad time, math tile games, and literacy activities. 

Thursday: sound sort which involves identifying which pictures show words that begin with each sound, sorting the pictures, then gluing them on a large sheet. 

Friday: chapter book read aloud (Our first book is called The Magician's Boy by Susan Cooper)

Activities/Special Events:

This Thursday every child at Durham took 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 did Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency portions of this assessment. They also did a short math exercise as well. These assessments give us information that helps us know where kiddos are in their skills so that we can plan instruction accordingly.

Next Thursday is Picture Day!

September 10th-14th

We are continuing to practice routines and expectations this week. As I mentioned before these first few weeks are all about learning to follow directions and learning all the procedures that we have in the classroom. We've been working on our morning routine and then practicing getting to assigned carpet spots on the rainbow carpet that we'll use for phonics and math instruction. We've also been doing a daily project that involves using glue and/or scissors.

This week we had our first word of the week, which was I. Each week we will have  word of the week and most weeks we will also have a letter of the week. Many of our activities throughout the week relate to our word/letter of the week. I teach the kiddos a song for the word of the week which we sing daily and we always create the word using die cut letters so they have practice spelling the word correctly. The words of the week are Kindergarten sight words that we expect the kiddos to be able to read and spell as we continue on in the year.

Today was a super exciting day because the kiddos finally got their hands on their very own iPads. We started with an app called Sketchio, which is basically a whiteboard app, that allows you to choose the color and thickness of the line you draw/write with. We practiced selected particular colors and line thickness, then drawing shapes, writing names, and at the end they got time for a free draw. Each time we use the iPads the directions will be very step by step until the kiddos really get the hang of using them. We talked a lot about doing only what is demonstrated and then stopping. They did a really great job listening and following the directions. I can tell they are really excited about having iPads this year and I am too! In the future, I will use Sketchio for letter and number writing practice, name writing practice, and shape identification. Additionally, once we are a little ways into our phonics program I will use Sketchio for the writing part of our Fast Track Phonics assessment when the students are asked to write words that I sound out.

A few reminders:
Scholastic Book Club orders are due Monday. You can send in a check/order form or order online.
Next Friday is the Jog-a-thon.

First Week

I hope that your children have been coming home and telling you all about what we've been up to in Kindergarten this week, but I know that kiddos don't necessarily have a knack for sharing all the details. My goal is to post on here at least once a week to keep you updated on what we've been doing and give you a glimpse into the classroom! I am finding that working half time means taking a lot of projects and work home, so between juggling that and a new baby, I will do my best to keep you informed! 

I want to start by saying that Kindergarten is not what it used to be...I always feel bad when my new kiddos ask me when we are going to the playground or when we are going to play or have recess because the answer is--we don't. In our short day, we focus mainly on academics with phonics, math and writing being the big subjects that we cover. When most people think of Kindergarten they think of finger painting, the housekeeping corner, and lots of arts and crafts, but if you visit our classroom, you will see something very different. Our schedule is jam-packed with lots of learning activities and the expectations are very high in terms of what we hope children will learn/be able to do, but we do make sure to have a lot of fun as we go! I would not call myself a good singer by any means, but I use a LOT of music in the classroom and we make sure that our activities are engaging and age appropriate for young learners.  (When I say "we" I mean the other Kinder teachers and myself because we work together to make sure our Kinder program at Durham is consistent between classrooms). 

The first few weeks of school are filled with a lot of instruction about rules and expectations. Setting up routines and procedures is a very important part of creating a classroom that runs smoothly and allows for maximum time dedicated to learning. I use a classroom management system where each child starts of the week with three popsicle sticks that I keep in a pocket chart. Their job is to "protect" their sticks by following the rules and directions in the classroom. Sticks can be lost for misbehavior/not following directions. Students are rewarded for keeping their sticks with a "choice time" on Friday. Choice time isn't exactly recess but it is a chance for the kiddos to choose what they would like to do out of the activities that I put out during that time. Students who have at least one stick left by Friday will get to participate in choice time. Students who lose all three sticks during the week do not earn choice time. I send home a "refocus form" when all three sticks are lost in order to communicate with you why that occurred. Students who keep all three sticks for the entire week receive a special certificate on Friday. At the outset of the year, I replace sticks daily until the kiddos get used to the system. In addition to that I will use a "warning system" of sorts that comes from a book we read this week called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? 

This is a great book for reminding children to be nice and kind (bucket fillers) rather than bucket dippers. I have my own "bucket" in the classroom which I fill with pom poms as they follow the rules, listen, etc. Each time my bucket is completely filled the class earns a dance party! I remove a pom pom as a warning prior to taking a stick away. That way a child gets a reminder prior to a consequence. 

We also read a story on the first day called Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes. If your child has been singing about loving shoes and you have no idea why--this is why...

The book came with a CD that we listened to and I got requests every single day to read it/play it again. They have already pretty much memorized the entire story. And good news--you can purchase this book and another one about Pete the Cat in the September Scholastic Book Club that I sent home on Friday. 

In addition to a lot of stories, we also did a few projects this week that allowed me to get a sense of how the kiddos are doing with cutting, gluing, and writing their names. 

Like I mentioned before, the activities in the first few weeks are mainly ways to teach and practice the classroom expectations and rules. We will definitely kick it up a few notches when we start our phonics and math lessons. I will share more about the particular curricula we use at Back to School Night. Don't forget to mark your calendar, Back to School Night is Wednesday September 19th from 6:00-7:30. 

Since this post is already long enough, I will end by saying that your child received a Friday Folder on Friday. This folder will come home every Friday and should be returned to school on Monday. The folder will be used to send home classroom work, homework, and information from me. Please use the folder to return papers that need to be signed, anything that should be submitted to the office, and returning homework.

If you have any questions so far, please email me! Most likely I will return your email in the afternoon while my daughter is napping or in the evening. Since I am sharing a classroom this year with Mrs. Duncan who teaches the PM session, I spend most of my time after the children leave cleaning up and making sure the room is ready for her students. I don't always get to check email before I leave for the day. 

Meet Mrs. Toppel

This will be my eighth year of teaching and I am so excited to be teaching Kindergarten again! This year brings a few changes for me the first of which is that my husband and I now have a beautiful baby girl Grace who was born April 7, 2012. I was on maternity leave from spring break until the end of last school year and now that I am back, another change is that I will only be teaching morning Kindergarten so I can be at home in the afternoons with this little cutie! 

A Little Bit About Me: I moved to Portland in 2005 and taught preschool in a bilingual Head Start program until I started working for Tigard Tualatin School District in 2006 at Tualatin Elementary. I taught First Grade at Tualatin for three years during which time, I also got married. In the summer of 2009, my husband and I moved to Germany where I worked as a K-12 Support Services teacher at an international school. It was a fantastic experience to work in an environment where the students and families come from all over the world. While living in Europe we traveled to Ireland, Prague, Austria, and, Spain, Italy, London, and Amsterdam in addition to some fun cities in Germany. My husband also got to visit Madrid and Paris on business (lucky man!) I learned quite a bit about different cultures and strive to create a classroom and learning environment where all cultures, language, and differences are valued.  After moving back to the US, I joined the staff at Durham and have been teaching Kindergarten since then! 

Berlin, Germany--December, 2009

Ireland (Cliffs of Moher)--March 2010

Austria--August 2010

Wearing a traditional German Dirndl

 I graduated from Villanova University in Pennsylvania (this is one Oregonian who is neither a Duck nor a Beaver!) and I received my master's degree in Special Education and endorsements to teach English to Speakers of Other Languages and special education from Portland State University. I speak Spanish and learned a little bit of German while I was living in Europe. I am also currently working on my Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction because I never want to stop trying to improve my skills and learning how to be a more effective educator. I am hoping to finish my dissertation this school year, so who knows, maybe I will be Dr. Toppel before the year is out! 

(No, I will not ask you or your children to call me Dr. Toppel!)

I love to read, workout, cook, travel, do crafty things and write. And, of course, I love nothing more than to play with Grace and spend time with my family. 

I grew up in Connecticut with a wonderful family and an older brother who now has three little girls...

My mom and dad

My nieces

Alyssa (3.5 years old) and Aubrey (2 years old), and Adrianna (7 months old).

Feb 21st-24th

Today we celebrated the 100th day of Kindergarten! The kids enjoyed a special 100th Day Snack which included:

10 skittles
10 jelly beans
10 pieces of popcorn
10 corn nuts
10 oyster crackers
10 goldfish
10 marshmallows
10 chocolate chips
10 fruit loops
10 cheerios

They collected the different items for their snack mix 1 at a time in an egg carton that had 10 compartments. Then they laid each type of snack out on a 100 board until they had a total of 100 pieces. We also counted to 100, clapped 100 times, jumped 100 times, stayed silent for 100 seconds, and read some 100th day stories.

Reading & Writing

This week we worked on the i_e sound (another super e spelling pattern) and the kids are getting better and better at reading super e words. I have incorporated some new picture/word matching games with our new sounds and they are really enjoying playing those games and reading the words with our tricky sounds. We did not have a letter of the week this week so that means there will not be a blue letter sheet coming home on Friday. Our word of the week is "do."

The children are continuing to write in their journals about twice a week and they are doing a great job sounding out the words they want to write. The more they begin to read, the more they will start to recognize and remember the conventional spellings for words. Some examples of words they have seen and know how to spell despite the tricky spellings are baby and day. Much of their writing will contain words that have missing letters, but students at this age are sounding out words and writing the sounds that they hear. They often don't hear all the sounds, but that is very developmentally appropriate for writers at this stage.

Math

We are continuing to practice teen numbers and focusing on how teen numbers contain a group of ten. We will also start working on number partners, which builds the foundation for addition. We will start using a "break apart stick" to show how any number of items can be broken into two different groups by separating the objects with the stick. We will focus on remembering the different number partners that can be formed by the numbers 2-10. For example, the number 3 has the number partners 1&2. The number 5 has the number partners 2&3 as well as 4&1.

Coming Up

Spring conferences are coming up in March. Our designated day for conferences is Friday March 16th, but I may add some time slots on Thursday the 15th so that parents who need to come in the evening have slots more convenient to their schedules. Spring conferences are different than they were in the fall and are student-led. This means that several different stations are set up in the classroom and your child will demonstrate skills and activities for you. I will be sending more information about conferences home so that you are aware of how to sign up for a time slot. I have several families sign up for each time slot.

February 13th-17th

Thanks to the parents who helped out with our Valentine parties today and provided snacks. I really appreciate your help! The kiddos were very excited to open their Valentine cards and take home all their candy and loot! Thanks also for all of the wonderful volunteers who have been helping with bears. We are ahead of the game in both classes, but that works for me because I am totally okay with getting them done early. Usually the project takes 6 weeks, but we may finish by the end of February. I am so very happy to have so many helpful volunteers because it makes a world of difference in being able to manage the Teddy Bear project. I couldn't do it without all the help and the kids are LOVING it.

Reading

We have started working on "First Grade Sounds" in reading, which is very sophisticated and grown up :0) Last week we covered a_e and the kids really enjoyed learning about "super e" who helps the letter a say its name in words like game, tape, and name. We watched a video about super e and they just can't stop singing about it! This week we are working on /ee/. Now that we are starting to cover some of these more challenging sound spelling combinations, the kids will be able to read more and more words and refine their spelling as well.

Our letter of the week this week is B and our sight word is "what." Our country of the week is Brazil so we have been doing our good morning greeting in Portuguese. Olá!

Writing

We are beginning to write in journals twice a week. On Mondays we do weekend news. Each child gets a chance to share one thing they did over the weekend. I write in my journal to model sounding out words and to remind them of their goals for writing which are:

• write the date at the top of the page
• start the sentence with an uppercase letter
• use spaces in between words
• end the sentence with a period
• draw a picture to go with the sentence

After I write, they get a chance to write their sentence about what they did over the weekend. We start with the words This weekend I... and then they complete the sentence. At this point, I am asking for one sentence, but many kiddos will soon be ready to write more than one sentence on their topic or idea. When they write I ask that they sound out the words they want to say. They may not spell words correctly at this point and that is okay. I do, however, expect sight words to be spelled correctly. The sight words we have learned so far are all posted in the classroom and we find ourselves singing many of our sight word songs as we write because they are a great way to remember how the words are spelled.

Math

We are continuing to focus on teen numbers and recognizing that each teen number contains a group of ten plus some ones. We have added a second verse to our teen number song that goes like this:

Come on everybody let's sing it again
Numbers in the teens have a group of ten

Then we go through the teen numbers and sing..

11 is a 10 and a 1
12 is a 10 and a 2
13 is a 10 and a 3

and so on.

Coming up

Next week we will celebrate the 100th day of school. We haven't really been counting down to it, so the kiddos probably don't even really know it's coming up. We'll do some fun 100 activities and the kids will get to make a 100 snack consisting of 10 pieces each of 10 different kind of snacks like jelly beans, chocolate chips and Goldfish. The 100th day is not exactly the halfway mark because we're already beyond that point, but it's hard to believe that the school year is already more than halfway over!
  
Maternity Leave
I am still planning to be in the classroom until spring break. My last *planned* day is March 23rd, which is the last day prior to spring break. If for any reason the baby comes earlier, then Ms. Solheim will take over as soon as I need her, but I am hopeful that I will make it to the 23rd. My official due date is March 31st, but one never knows when babies will make their appearance, especially for the first one. I am trying to arrange for Ms. Solheim to be with me for the next round of parent teacher conferences in March, so that you can all have a chance to meet her. She and I taught together in Germany. I actually started out as her Third Grade classroom assistant and then I took a different position in the Special Education department. I spent a good amount of time supporting some of her students in her classroom, so I know first hand what a fabulous teacher she is. She and I will be in close contact for the remainder of the school year once I leave and I hope to visit the classroom with the baby so the kids can see her.

January 23rd-27th

Reading & Writing

This week we are focusing on the letter D and our sight word is "are." Today we did an Art Literacy project on dragons, which was really great timing because dragon is a D word. Today is also Chinese New Year and it is the year of the dragon! We learned that in the Chinese culture it is considered good luck to be born in the year of the dragon and many Chinese families plan to have babies during the year of the dragon. The kids were excited to realize that my baby will be born in the year of the dragon!

At this point, we have gone through the whole alphabet and learned sounds for each letter. We have also been working on the "tricky sounds" which are /ch/, /sh/, /ng/, /ck/, and /th/. We finished up our third unit of Fast Track Phonics and last week I assessed both classes to see how they are doing with remembering the sounds. Most kiddos know pretty much all the sounds which is great! I am continuing to check back with kiddos to see how they are doing with the "say it fast" and "break it down" skills as well because these are essential pre-skills for reading and writing. It is amazing how those skills come together all of a sudden for some kids. I will continue to introduce more sounds which I call the "first grade sounds" such as the long vowel a_e combinations and other long vowel combinations, but since these are more difficult and part of the first grade Fast Track curriculum, I only introduce about 1 new sound a week instead of several.

As we move in 2012 we are beginning to focus more on using the letter sound combinations we have learned so far to write. Last week we started a few new activities that we will continue doing in the upcoming months. One is called I Spy Writing. I have a few I Spy books and I projected a page onto the whiteboard. The kids got to take turns telling the class what objects they spied and then we sounded out the words and wrote them down. I also had the children draw a quick picture of each word to help you know what word they intended to write. At this stage, I am looking for kids to write down the sounds they hear in words. That means often letters are missing and words are not spelled the conventional way. That's okay! When you help your child with his/her homework or help them write something, encourage them to sound out the word and write down the sounds they hear. It is much more beneficial for kids at this age to work on sounds words out than for them to be told how to spell a word correctly.

We also started working with partner practice books which provide children the opportunity to work with a partner and take turns being the teacher and the student. This is a different way of practicing letters sounds and reading words that gives each child their own turn to go through each letter and word and read them. Typically our practice is in a whole group format, but this way, kids are more accountable for knowing the words and sounds on their own. We have practiced how to offer help to a partner who is not sure and how to give encouragement and compliments for a partner's hard work.

Finally we did a word building activity where each child gets an envelope and some letter cards. I tell them a word to make and they use the letter cards to build the word. With each consecutive word they have to change letters or rearrange letters in order to make the new word. At the end there is a secret word that uses all of the letters they have. They did great with this activity!

Soon enough each child will get his/her own journal to practice writing sentences and telling about their lives and what they do outside of school.

Math

In Math we are continuing to practice our numbers that contain 5 groups and we are beginning to move on to teen numbers. I showed the kids a video last week with a catchy little song about teen numbers to help them remember that all teen numbers start with a 1.

C'mon everybody let's get this done...numbers in the teens they start with a 1...

Sound familiar?

Here is the video in case you'd like to watch it too or watch it with your child.

If you have a child in the AM class, you might have heard that I was out this morning and Ms. Solheim was subbing. I was actually at school, but only in the classroom with the kiddos for about 15 minutes. The Kindergarten team has been participating in a training series called CARE which focuses on culturally responsive instruction. Today, we had the opportunity to watch each other teach along with Ms. Woods and the CARE facilitator. We met this morning to talk about our mini lessons, then I taught the class for about 15 minutes, then we traveled on to the other Kinder classrooms and met for the rest of the morning to talk about our activities and how they went. The kids did a fabulous job with the activities that I wanted all of those observers to watch. I was really proud of how much knowledge and mastery they showed. Our observation schedule came together late last week, so I didn't know I would be out until after I sent home the monthly calendar. I will be out all day on Thursday as well because we have another training with the larger group of CARE teachers from all of the schools in the district. The work we are doing as part of the training is really important to me and overlaps a lot with the work I will be doing for my dissertation in the coming year. Becoming a mommy and doing a dissertation...am I crazy!?

 As we get closer to February, I am starting to plan for our Teddy Bear project. Each child will sew his/her own Teddy Bear and this requires a lot of parent helpers! If you are interested in helping please let me know a good day of the week for you and I will add you to the helper calendar. You do not need any sewing experience to help with this project! I usually have 1-2 parents each day of the week for 6 weeks (Feb-mid March) and parents work with 1 or 2 students at a time.

January 9-13

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing winter break. I apologize for not posting last week so here is a recap of what we've been working on...

Reading

Last week we covered the sounds /y/, /q/, and /th/. We've been continuing to review all of the sounds we've learned so far with emphasis on sounding words out in order to read them. Today we finished up the alphabet with the letter x and the kiddos were very excited to see the last letter card go up on the wall. I will be conducting assessments this week in order to check in with each child and see their progress. Now that we have finished the first three Fast Track units, we will move on to some "tricky sounds" like long vowels and other vowel combinations. Since these can be more challenging for Kindergarten students, I will typically introduce one new sound each week going forward and incorporate additional activities to practice reading and writing. 

This week our letter of the week is F and our word of the week is play. On Friday we will culminate our F week with "Fancy Friday." Students are invited to wear their fanciest clothes for a fancy day at school. Please make sure that children can still participate in regular school activities while wearing their fancy attire!

Math

We are continuing to focus on "five-groups" and noticing how the numbers 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 each include a five-group plus extra ones. The children are working on recognizing five-groups in dot patterns on our number cards. They are also using the math manipulatives (number tiles, square inch tiles, tile five-groups, pennies, and penny five-groups to show numbers 6-10 with a five-group and extra ones. We are building automaticity in number recognition as well.

Don't forget to work on your January snowman and send it in by Friday the 13th!