The winter winds and cool temperatures came just in time for our kindergarten classes to bundle up and head out for some holiday caroling. Today we continued the season of giving with getting to know our neighbors at Winston Park, who welcomed us with applause and smiles.
In the classroom we are continuing our writing unit on pattern stories. Who is...has become a popular lead that has offered many different versions. Titles such as, Who's Playing with My Toys?, It's Christmas Time, and My Arctic were shared today. In the author's chair, the writer first reads his or her story and then calls upon classmates who offer a compliment or ask a question. We added a shelf of baskets for our completed books and look forward to a writing celebration after the winter break.

Here's our homework for the two week winter break: Have fun! Be safe! Don't get sick!

Happy Holidays!

Generosity-Life Skill of the Month

Earlier today the kindergarten classes enjoyed a tour of St. Petersburg's Main Library. The activities included an interactive story and a puppet presentation of The Rainbow Fish, performed by members of the Junior League.
There were opportunities to meet the cast, their puppets, and explore the instruments used. The moral of today's story was that those who share can become friends. This month's character trait is generosity, and we are encouraging the children to be generous with both their belongings and their selves. The gift of time is very precious and can mean so much to others in need.

In class we are also connecting generosity to the story of "The Little Engine that Could" who gave her best effort to the toys and good food so they could get a ride to the city. Holiday time is a great time for us to think of others who are not as fortunate as we are. Remember, this Friday is the last day for the gift drive for our needy family. Our pile of presents is somewhat skimpy at this point! If you have not yet sent in your gifts, we only have few days remaining. We want our class to be proud of our generous donations of gifts to our needy family.

Reading and Writing List (Pattern) Books

Between now and the winter break our class will be learning to read and write many list or pattern books. These are books that repeat a certain phase related to a specific theme. We will be using the lists we generated in October and learn how to turn these ideas into our own personal books.

First the teachers will model pattern books by reading several to the class. We will examine the picture on the front cover with the title covered to predict what each book will probably be about.

This will involve the skill of thinking about catagories and how groups are related. Next we will read the title to check our predictions. Then we will brainstorm what may be on the pages inside the book. Reading the book will further confirm our predictions. Baskets of other books written with a pattern will be read frequently privately, with partners, and with the teachers throughout the month of December. The most common of these books is the all time favorite, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

We will be relating our reading experiences with these patterns books to our work in the writing workshop lessons. We will begin our first books today around the assigned topic of school activities. Each student will design their front cover picture and create a title. Tomorrow we will begin to create the pages. The children will each decide what activities they want to include in the five pages of their personal booket. Related pictures will be draw, and sentences in the pattern each child chose will be written. Following this, everyday or two new books will be made around the topics each child selected.

Learning to Read!

Yes, all our kindergarten children enjoy books and are learning to read. By taking home nightly the many class books we have made in school, the children are able to read each others names and many of the titles, labels, and sentences included in these books. The children shop for five books each Monday from baskets of books on each child's reading level. These books are read in a variety of ways all week, and then are replaced by self-selected books next Monday.

In addition, Mrs. Kiernan and I meet with the children individually and in small groups to work on reading skills. Learning to be a successful reader is so much more than just being able to read words from memory. We are practicing word decoding skills by sounding out the letters and by deciding what word would make sense in this sentence. We are looking at picture clues to help with unfamiliar words, too.

Successful reading also includes predicting outcomes, being able to remember the story, and retelling the story in your own words. We will also be practicing reading silently to ourselves, reading orally with expression, and observing punctuation. We read from a variety of materials, including fiction and non-fiction.

Yes, much is involved in being a successful reader, and our class is well on their way to begin their exciting journey into the wide world of reading. One of the key factors is enjoying a variety a reading experiences and incorporating reading into one's daily life. As adults, our modeling of this will assist our children to become life-long readers.

On a different note, I returned Sunday from Detroit where I was taking care of my grandson, Jaxon. He is doing very well, and now weighs 6 lbs 11ozs. We are thrilled with his progress; however, he is still very small for his age. We continue to feed him every three hours around the clock. He likes to be held a lot! I return to Michigan after school Friday for the week of Thanksgiving. Fortunately, I will not be missing school until after the New Year. Thank you to everyone for your interest, concern, and patience while I have been out. A special thanks to Mrs. Kiernan for carrying out our plans in my absence. I return to a well-run classroom!

Savory Vegetables

It's harvest time, so we put away the pumpkins and made room for other savory vegetables of the season. A dab of dressing and a few minutes of blanching made for a hearty snack. Healthy foods come in great colors and make for a lovely plate. In the kitchen we will explore adding vegetables to some all time favorites.
The Scholastic Book Fair is underway. Our class is scheduled to shop for titles tomorrow from 10:15 - 10:45. Be sure to read today's letter for additional buying times and instructions.
We look forward to seeing a proud group of parents at Poetry in the Park.

November Math

This month in math we will be focusing on reading, writing, and using the numbers to 20. Earlier the children made number cards to 10 and worked on putting them in order from left to right. (Rather than from right to left!) Then they told the teacher what number comes before or after a given number, or what is one more or one less than that number. (This also was an introduction to addition and subtraction.) The children will be making number cards now for the numbers above 10 all the way to 20, and will be using these for similar activities.

We will continue using our individual calendar folders each day to record the date, the number of days we have been in school, the weather, and who lost a tooth that day. Ask your child to explain to you the work we do in these folders.

We will continue to work with patterns each day, first emphasizing simple patterns, called AB, using colors, shapes, numbers, letters, size, objects, and position. Later we will construct patterns that are more complicated, such as AABB, AAB, ABB, and ABC.

We will explore the various attributes of shapes, and where shapes can be found in the world. In addition, we will begin to talk about measuring: why we measure, the various way to measure, and the tools that are used.

October Fun

For this last week of October we will be integrating lots of high interest activities into our curriculum. Just this morning the children formed partnerships to create a class Halloween counting book. First we introduced the idea of a Halloween counting book and predicted what characters might appear in such a book. Next, two examples of these books were read to the class as they checked on their predictions. The children were very pleased when some of their predictions of spiders, cats, and mummies were accurate. Our class book starts out with, "On Halloween night there was 1 haunted house, 2 witches, etc. all the way to include 12 ghosts. The partners agreed on what character they wanted for their page and what their number would be. Once the partners had a plan that they both agreed on, they worked together to draw and color their page for our class book.
Further Halloween activities this week will include making a class book about the Colors of Halloween. Again we will first predict what might be included in the trade book. Then we will check our predictions as the book is read. The children will then worked on the various pages to complete our own class book about Halloween colors. Later this week we will create a Halloween Alphabet Book for our class.
Our students will each make personal books that are shaped like ghosts which will include reading and writing Halloween words, and then drawing the pictures to match. We will also make jack-o-lantern books including different kinds of pumpkins. First we will talk about words that could be used to describe pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns. A pumpkin could be small, tiny, big, or maybe huge. A Jack-o-lantern could be happy, mean, scared, or maybe sleepy.
We will also create Halloween stories on the computer. These stories will include characters, an action, and a setting. We will introduce the concept of "when" our stories take place, such as, One Halloween night...

Small Moment Writing

Today we begin a new unit of Writer's Workshop. Our focus is small moment writing. We will be zooming in and writing about one event rather than a long period of time. A nice example is a trip to Disney World. There are so many things to see and do, but we will be writing about just one special ride, show, or attraction. The lists that were compiled last week will now serve as a bank of ideas. Our last unit drafts will be arriving home today.
This week we are exploring the concept of more and less with several activities, including coins. Our letters this week are Dd and the -at family of rhymes. The fall mural is up and as Halloween approaches we will be adding to a bulletin board of Boooo. This Friday we will be visiting the Pumpkin Patch and returning to school for a pep rally.
Thank you to all who responded to the online survey, your input is much appreciated. Be sure to congratulate your child on being recognized at Town Meeting today. Our class took 2nd place for decorating our Cash For Trash container.

Phonetic Spelling

Our Writer's Workshop focus has us using phonetic spelling to stretch our words and record the sounds we hear. We have been generating lists of our favorite sports, foods, animals, colors, and games. These special lists will help the children with small moment story ideas as we move into our next unit of writing.
This week we are focusing on letter "a" and the -at family of words that can be built by adding an initial consonant. We will learn to read and spell words like bat, rat, and that.
Today's performance of This Land is Your Land was a proud moment for all. The children did a wonderful job.

A Week at a Glance

We can't even begin to talk about this week until we highlight our first field trip. The pet shop visit was fun for all. A class book filled with photos will be circulating tomorrow.
Today we began rehearsing for our Town Meeting presentation of This Land is Your Land. We will perform around the flag pole on Monday, October 11th at 8:15 am. We would love to have you join us.
The Leo club kicked off their annual Halloween costume drive. Outside the Lower Division office you will find a container to donate your used costumes. Contributions will be organized by Upper Division students, who will be working with children at the YWCA to get them ready for Trick or Treating.
We have two weeks remaining in the Box Tops for Education classroom challenge. Keep those labels coming!
In Writer's Workshop this week we will be focusing on category lists to generate details for our upcoming stories. During reading, students will be conferencing with the teachers and selecting "Just Right Books" from the classroom leveled library. Our Everyday Math focus is patterns and measurement. We will also be revisiting sorting, numbers 1-20, and pattern block use. Our handwriting continues with "Frog Jump Letters". This week capital letters P, B, and R will be in our lessons. In science we will be reviewing our senses and recording our observations.
This week Mrs. Mirza will be substituting for Mrs. Minke, while she is in Michigan with her grandson and family. As a going away treat, Mrs. Minke transformed the loft into a hat shop. The children are very excited to explore and pretend in the new environment.

Independent Writing

We have daily lessons to help the children take their good writing and make it even better. Each writing piece is a true story from the author's own experiences. This week we will focus on including details in our pictures to tell the whole story. This should include characters, setting, and action. Up until this point, the children have mostly been labeling their pictures. Now we will include adding a sentence to further enhance our stories. The words are written using the children's own phonetic spelling.
The children are enjoying exploring "Just Right Books" which are neither too difficult nor too easy for them to read. This offers the child an opportunity to grow as a reader. The children read privately, with partners, and to the teachers from their self-selected books.
Thank you for all your loving thoughts and prayers for my family at this difficult time. I will be returning to Detroit next week to take care of my infant grandson, Jaxon, who will be coming home soon. For the next seven weeks I will be in for one week and then out for the next week. Mrs. Kiernan along with a substitute teacher will continue with my plans while I am away. We are very proud of how well the class did last week in my absence. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Friday's favorite color day was a big hit. We graphed our results and added pages to a class book. Today we entered data into our Birthday and How Old Are You graphs. Beginning with the Months of the Year Macarena dance, and finishing with comparing which months have the least and greatest birthday celebrations. In addition we are sorting, introducing patterns, and continuing with sets of 6-10 items. Encourage your child to demonstrate an A/B pattern, so far the hum clap has been a favorite. Tuesday we will honor International Peace Day with a symbolic dove at a ceremony surrounding the courtyard. Wednesday marks the beginning of fall, so look for the summertime beach pictures to be coming home. Be sure to wear your green and gold, Friday the 24th is Spirit Day.
In Writer's Workshop we have been adding additional details to include characters, setting, and action. We encourage the children to write down the sounds they hear within a word and move on to the next word. This week's science focus continues with our senses. In the kitchen we will be baking apple grahams in honor of Johnny Appleseed's upcoming birthday.
Thank you for your outpouring of support and kind words regarding Mrs. Minke's loss. Today the children created welcome pages for Mrs. Minke's grandson Jaxon. A family friend will be delivering them on Friday.

Sad News

Dear Families,

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to you today. As many of you may already know, Mrs. Minke’s daughter past away suddenly late last night after prematurely giving birth to a baby boy. Mr. and Mrs. Minke have traveled to Michigan to be with their family at this time.

Today I explained that Mrs. Minke was spending time with family, and she will return to us as soon as she is able. Ms. Cynthia Apter and I continued with Mrs. Minke’s lesson plans and classroom routines. The kindergarten team is ensuring that our classroom has all the materials and support necessary to continue our learning endeavors.

In lieu of flowers, it is my understanding that an account is being established for those wishing to contribute to deferring the costs of funeral services. That information will be shared when it becomes available.

Please know that myself, and your child’s substitute teacher are dedicated to keeping this sad time as consistent as if Mrs. Minke where here.

Sincerely,

Darla Kiernan

Building Community Spirit

The life skill for this month is friendship. The crayon puppets have been giving us tips on what it takes to be good friend. It is so evident that the children in our class are embracing these lessons. Mrs. Kiernan and I see a great community spirit developing with our students. Friday afternoon was a perfect example of the harmonious atmosphere in our classroom. A large group of children spent about 45 minutes working together calmly, sharing, and taking turns to use ALL the blocks in the Lego table to construct a marvelous city. They were so proud of their finished product, and the teachers were so proud of their cooperative spirit. At no time was there a need for us to interven, and no one came to tattle. Our play time on Friday afternoon was a plesant experience for all of us.

The Crayon Puppets

The class has really enjoyed meeting the ten crayon puppets and learning about their difficulties. Several favorites are Greedy Green, Tan Tattle, and Yelling Yellow. Some of these may sounds familiar to you. Ask your child to name some of the other puppets that we have met. We have been talking about ways that we can help the puppets remember the rules by being good examples both here at school and at home.
One of our life skills this month is being a good friend. The children will be brainstorming what that means as we work and play with our classmates.

Calendar Folders

Starting Wednesday, September 1, each day the children will record calendar information in their personal calendar folders. They will record the day of school (September 1 will be day 10) along with the day of the month (both in numbers and tally marks.) They will also record the weather, who lost a tooth, and any birthdays.
The calendar folders will be accumulative, adding new sheets for each month as we move through the school year. The calendar folders will help create a greater awareness of both calendar and number concepts.
Every now and then, ask your child a calendar question, such as:
How many days have you been in school?
What month is it?
What day of the week is it?
What year is it?
What is the season?

We are enjoying making new friends and reconnecting with old ones during these early days of kindergarten. So that we will get to know each other better, we will begin today with the "Child of the Day." Each day a student's name will be drawn to select whose special day it is. We will all practice reading and spelling that student's name before it is added to Our Class Word Wall, where it will serve as a model whenever someone needs to write that name.
Next we will interview that day's special child to find out many things about them. Encourage your child to think of interesting questions to ask each other. Some examples could be:

Do you have any pets?
Do you have brothers and sisters?
Where do you like to go on vacation?
What is your favorite season?
What is your favorite sport?

Following the interview, everyone will draw a picture of that child and include one piece of information about them. These will all be assembled into a book about that child.
We will begin with me serving as a model. Tomorrow one of the students will be selected randomly. We will continue each day until everyone has had a turn. We are looking forward to learning lots about each of our classmates.

Our Kindergarten Classes Make Quilts for the Homeless

As part of our quilt making project, each child in kindergarten created a quilt square on fabric as part of a class activity. These squares were sewn together with other colorful blocks to complete three bed size quilts. Several parents volunteered their time to finish each quilt. A special thanks goes out to Mrs. Jodie Gayoso, Mrs. Marcia Johnston, and Mrs. Michelle Rau for donating their time and expertise to complete these beautiful quilts for us.

At the lower division town meeting this Monday these lovely quilts will be displayed. Later this month, the quilts will be donated to the homeless shelter that is run by the Salvation Army here in St. Petersburg.

Town Meeting Monday

This coming Monday our class will be making a presentation at Town Meeting at 8:15. In honor of Cino de Mayo, which is Wednesday, we will be dancing the Mexican Hat Dance wearing sombreros. We have been practicing in Spanish class and are doing a great job. Come by and see how cute we are!

Our Plant Nature Walk

In science our three kindergarten classes are learning about plants and what they need to grow. We have named the parts of plants and what the job is of each plant part. This Wednesday our students went on a nature walk around the kindergarten area looking for plants to draw and label. We were surprised at the great variety that we found.

Opening Day for the Rays!

This Tuesday, April 6, is opening day for our Tampa Bay Rays. Students are encouraged to wear their Rays shirts with their uniform pants/shorts to help support our team.

We Need Sewers on Quilting Day

The kindergarten annual quilting day will be Thursday, April 22, from 8:00 until 11:30. We are in desperate need of people to help sew the quilts. If you have a sewing machine and can come help sew, please contact kindergarten teacher Joanne Minke. Mrs. Minke states that only basic sewing ability is needed and that she can help all volunteers learn very quickly how to finish the quilts. All are welcome-parents, friends, neighbors, grandparents, etc! It's really lots of fun and a very rewarding experience.

Field Day Is April 2

This Friday will be field day. This is the make-up from the rainy day before spring break. The children are to wear the colored shirt assigned to them. I will remind everyone of their color.

Geometry in Kindergarten?

Yes, our kindergarten students are busy learning about solid shapes--those that are 3 dimensional. Tuesday evening found our children searching their homes with the families for examples of spheres, cylinders, rectangular prisms, cubes, and a variety of other solid shape items. Each student brought is one or more examples to show their class. These are now part of our classroom Solid Shape Museums. We sure do learn a lot in kindergarten!

Important Message from Our Nurse

Dear Kindergarten and First grade parents,

I hope you enjoyed the spring break with your family. I am writing to request a change of uniforms including underwear with your child to be kept in their cubbyholes. This week, I’ve experienced an increase in students having accidents and the clinic is being depleted of its extras.
I do appreciate and thank you for returning the change of clothes provided to your child in his or her time of need. I will gladly keep your child’s extra uniform/underwear in the clinic labeled with his or her name. If you have any questions, you can always reach me at 456-7523 or email me at mconfident@shorecrest.org.
Thank you.
Marie Confident, RN
Shorecrest school nurse

Please Note!

Dear Parents,

The Lower School administration uses Online Community to communicate with our families. Dr. Bianco and Mrs. Weinman's letters and Lower Division reminders are posted on a Lower Division blog. This is the school administration's main form of communication, so EVERYONE should subscribe. In order to have access, you will need to subscribe to the Lower Division blog.

Directions:
First log into the Online Community. After logging into the Online Community, go to Community > Groups > Lower Division Group from the green menu bar. First, click on the icon "Join Group." Next, scroll down the page and click on the Subscribe button. This will send you e-mail alerts whenever I write a new blog post.

Dr. Seuss'es Birthday, the Zoo, and a Full Marble Jar

Our class had a ball enjoying all the great books by Dr. Seuss that our class brought in for his birthday. They loved filling out the Dr. Seuss Alphabet chart by finding words in his books. It was fun watching them help each other. The snack of green eggs and ham that Mr. Hutton made was also very popular, too. Of course, the our favorite book is The Cat in the Hat! Here is what 18 Cats in the Hats look like!

The zoo trip was an exciting and enjoyable event. We sure were lucky for the lovely cool (but not COLD) weather. A special thank you to all the parents who joined us: Hannah's, Ashli's, and Emma's fathers, and Matthieu's, Sabrina's, Vinh's, Genesis', and Micheal's mothers. WOW! What great support for our class!

We filled our "Do the Right Thing" marble jar on Tuesday. The total count for the year is 342 marbles. To celebrate this special accomplishment, Mr. Hutton treated us to ice cream dixie cups. We are now moving on the individual piggy banks. Ask you child how they can earn pennies to go shopping at the kindergarten store at the end of the school year.

Please let me kow if you read my Blogs. I would love to have some feedback.

Reading 100 Books on Day 100!

Reading on Day 100!

This Friday, January 29, is Day 100 of school. Our class will be doing a variety of activities revolving around this theme. Here are a few examples:

What would you do with 100 dollars?

I could eat 100 _______.

I do not want 100 ________.

In 100 days of kindergarten I learned ________.

I am challenging the class to read 100 or more books on Day 100. All our parents are invited to come to school on Friday from 10:00-11:00 to help us meet this challenge. Come here lots of stories and cheer us on!

Many thanks for your support!

Joanne Minke

Earning Marbles!

Daily, when someone in our class does the "right thing," we add another marble to the "Do the Right Thing" jar. Last week the class suggested that we count all the marbles we have earned so far this year.
Each child counted out 10 marbles to put into a cup. When all the marbles had been placed into cups, we counted the cups by tens. The class was amazed that we had already earned 217 marbles!
Since then, there has been a great deal of interest in our class with earning more marbles. As of 2:00 today, January 13, we have 250 in the jar! Keep up the great work, class!