Daily Jobs

Everyone loves to do the special jobs of the day, especially answering the telephone. Being the morning director has many responsibilities throughout the day: line leader, special helper, calendar, as well as running morning meeting and using the Smartboard to lead everyone in the morning message and daily question results.

Matthew - Sharpening pencils is fun.

Cole - I can't wait to be morning director again because you get to run the Smartboard and be line leader.

Charlotte - I like to be the telephone person because we didn't have that job last year.

Maggie - I like doing the pencils because we got to be in charge of where the pencils went.

Guntaas - I'm excited to answer the phone.

Cyrus - I would like to be the pencil person because you get to sharpen a lot of pencils and you can make them really sharp.

Sunthoshini - I can't wait to be the telephone person and I hope we get lots of calls.

Working Together

Our class is coming together quite nicely. The children have stopped asking when they are going to have "choice time" which I imagine was free play time in kindergarten. We have set up a behavior system that encourages good listening skills (I know many adults that could benefit from this), taking turns speaking, and following directions. Each time the class works together to achieve one of these skills a balloon is popped on a page on the Smartboard. Under each balloon is a letter which is part of a hidden message (their reward). When all the balloons are popped the surprise is revealed and we are able to celebrate. They also worked feverishly trying to decode the hidden message each time a clue was revealed and were quite successful. Last weeks hidden message was "video party" which turned out to be a youtube video of Really Rosie singing Chicken Soup With Rice (we've been singing the September song from the book by Maurice Sendak each morning) and lollipops for everyone! We'll have a new hidden message this week! I'm going to have to up the anti with a more difficult message.
The children also very much enjoy our weekly Kiva meetings with the other 3 classrooms in Vista. We have done a mixture of singing and sharing quality work. We are looking forward to sharing our own work next week.
I hope to see everyone this Thursday evening at our Vista Parent Information Night.

5th Day of School

Here we are on the 5th day of school and already we have many routines in place. Everyone is excited about their daily jobs and are waiting patiently for their turn to be in charge of the telephone! We are all enjoying exploring the math tools and are beginning to use them much more constructively. Without a doubt the favorite times during our day are the social events! Here is what several of the children had to say about today:
Charlotte - We went to the technology lab and we made our dots bigger.
Guntaas - I liked playing soccer outside for recess.
Jessica - I liked doing the monkey bars at recess.
Cole - I liked sitting with my friends at lunch.
Isaac - I liked lunch, it was very yummy.
Hailey - I am having a drawing contest with my friends.
Colby - I liked drawing with circles.
Michael - I like to color and make dots.
Matthew - I liked it when Pumsy came out with Ms. Sumner.
Sunthoshini - I like doing Writers Workshop because I like writing stories.
Maggie - I like writing during Writers Workshop.
Cyrus - I like to do Readers Workshop and I read Fly Guy, it was really funny.
Aidan - I like Writers Workshop because I wrote a story about my cats and I like them very much.

Our Smartboard is here . . . sort of!

I have spent the entire summer wondering about my new flock, gathering materials, and creating activities for us to do together. Finally meeting most of you today and feeling your creative spirits has made the wait all worth while. I have a really good feeling about this school year and all the possibilities that lie in store for us. The work crew showed up shortly after everyone left to install our new Smartboard. Within minutes our beautiful room was filled with large boxes, bubble wrap, wads of tape, power tools, hand tools, carts, ladders, screws, wires, and piles of dust. Not to mention furniture moved everywhere around the room. It looks like a very messy construction site and they won't be finished until tomorrow! As I always say, "Things get worse before they get better." Expect to see some changes when you arrive on the first day of school! Click HERE if you would like to see a demonstration of our new Smartboard.
Thanks again for coming in and sharing a story and snack with me. I can hardly wait for next Wednesday. Oh yeah, your dots look amazing on the computer.

Pets

Do you have pets at home? We have 3 cats who are more like family than they are pets. Our oldest cat is Eleanor Roosevelt. She loves to be with her people and is the "lap cat" of the bunch. Stella Luna is our mighty hunter who presents us with "gifts" almost every day; voles, moles, mice, rats, frogs, and snakes. Ginger Rogers was a rescued kitten who is afraid of her own shadow. She eats every meal as if it were going to be her last which is why she is as wide as she is long. They provide me with great stories which I then turn into books. Can you guess which cat is which?

Keepin' Cool

The summer heat is on and it sure feels good. That is if you can find a way to stay cool! Here's a Flip video movie of how we stay cool on a hot summer day. The Flip movie making software has a couple of "cool" effects. Enjoy :)

Happy Birthday

August 1st was my birthday and I had a fabulous day. The sun was shining bright all day long. I played with my new camera and learned a few tricks from my son who knows a lot about photography. My favorite picture is this one of me creating a heart out of light. I just love playing with technology and learning new things!!