September+5,+2008

Dear Families, Our turtle, Bob has returned to the classroom and the full class of 18 Kinderkids welcomed him on Thursday. Our class is now complete! The children are beginning to make friends and renew old friendships. They are working hard to learn their classmate’s names. You can refer to the snack schedule for the names of your child’s classmates. Help reinforce learning the names by talking to your child about their classmates. We are watching our monarch caterpillars change. We have several chrysalis and we are eager to have our first butterfly emerge. Some of our classroom work involves learning about monarchs. We have several projects connected to the life cycle of the monarch. The children made caterpillar bracelets and hats and are working on chrysallis necklaces. Ask your child to tell you about the chrysalis we have in the room.. Classroom Activities When arriving, your child fixes the check-in board to indicate, “I am here” and goes to the book area to explore books on their own. Several stories are read to the class before we begin our morning meeting. Each day, at the beginning of our meeting, your child hears his/her name spoken by a classmate in a friendly and cheerful manner in the form of a greeting that gets passed around the circle. After the greeting, the class reads the morning message and we read a book together. We will be trying a new work time routine next week and I will let you know more about it once the daily schedule is set. This year, the full day kindergarten will have art, music and gym classes. We have had a gym class already and art and music will begin next week. Our schedule is as follows • Gym with Mrs. Campelia- Mondays 8:05-8:50 and Thursdays 1:10-1:50. Mrs. Daigle’s class goes to the gym with us. • Art with Ms. Dickey- Mondays and Tuesdays - 9:50-10:35 • Music with Mrs. Gallant– Fridays 9:00-9:40 In addition to these classes, we will visit the library for a story and book selection on Wednesdays from 10-10:30. Our lunchtime is from 11:55-12:20. We eat in the cafeteria and 2 round tables. At least one kindergarten adult is with the children. After lunch is quiet time. Children are expected to rest quietly for 10 15 minutes and then we gather for cozy reading in the book area. as the year progresses, we will eliminate quiet time. If you sent a blanket to school with your child, I am asking that a towel be sent in instead. We do not have room for the blankets. Snack will be served around 9:30. On Thursdays it will be around 10:15. Recess will follow snack. During our morning work time we will have math workshop and writing workshop. After cozy reading, our work time includes projects and self-selected activities such as blocks, sand/water table, painting and classroom projects. We will soon begin a Deerfield Fair project connected to the Very Hungry Caterpillar book. We have been reading several stories by Eric Carle. At the end of the day, we gather together in a circle to say goodbye.

Routines & Expectations During these first couple of weeks, we are working to establish a classroom community where we can work within a circle of trust. This is a time for the children to come to know us better and we in turn, learn about them. It is essential to future growth that this positive environment be established from the beginning. In the short time that we've been together, we've observed children supporting one another and assuming responsibility for things in the room. We're off to a great start! The children are learning the limits of the classroom - what is appropriate behavior and how to use the materials. We use music to signal clean up time and chimes or hand signal to get everyone's attention. When coming in from outside, we “circle up” to be sure that everyone is ready to go back to the classroom When children know the limits and expectations adults have for them, they are better able to work independently and responsibly. Book Club Orders Several book club flyers are attached to this memo. The book clubs provide an excellent way for you to purchase books for your child at reasonable prices. It takes about 2 weeks for the books to arrive after the order is placed. We receive bonus points, based on our order, to use for classroom purchases. The books will be sent home with your child when they arrive. If you do not want your child to know about the purchases, just let us know and we will “secretly” get them to you. Please write one check for all the flyers payable to Scholastic Book Club. I have also included information about ordering the books online. This is a new service from Scholastic and you may find it more convenient. Orders are due Friday, September 12.

I will update the classroom blog this weekend. The address for the blog is mariaknee.com or you can find the link to the Mrs. Knee’s Kindergarten blog on [|the DCS website]. Thank you for allowing me to use classroom pictures of your child to share what is happening in the room. You can also find this newletter online once you have found the blog. Look for Classroom Information in the Related Links.

Lastly,I have scheduled our first field trip –Thursday, September 25. It’s apple picking at AppleView Orchard in Pittsfield. We will travel by car and I will need volunteers who can drive and supervise the children. Please write me a note if you could assist and let me know how many children you could transport.

Other Items..... • Please return the emergency forms. • Sneakers/gym shoes Mondays and Thursdays • Wednesday September 10 - Picture Day • Our library day is Wednesday. Beginning next week, child will bring home 2 books.

Have a good weekend!

=****Kindergarten News****=