Kindergarten Doings

2009-2010 Module 9

2010-04-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

There were a lot of exciting things going on in Kindergarten during Module 9! In Language Arts we continue to write a story each day, and the children are really exploding into literacy! Not only are they getting the idea of plot and characters, but their mechanics of writing have really progressed, too. Their papers include appropriate use of punctuation including commas, question marks, apostrophes, and quotation marks. Quite remarkable for Kindergarten students!

In Math we focused on measurement during Module 9. We learned to use rulers to measure length, a scale to measure weight, and a clock to measure time. We compared and contrasted and made predictions based on data available. Everyone did a great job with these new and difficult concepts!

Our Science units centered around Spring. We studied plant and insect life cycles, and then we planted some seeds to watch them develop, and ordered some caterpillars to watch the life cycle of butterflies unfold in our classroom.

Whew! We really have been "busy bees" in the weeks since Spring Break.

Physical Education with Krista Moll

The students continue to come to class with enthusiasm and eagerness to learn, which is fantastic! Usually I see a little bit of frustration in students with the striking unit, but that certainly wasn't the case for this class. They caught on quickly and seemed to enjoy it. We talked about batting stance, swinging that bat, follow through, and basic catching with two hands (all with the use of a beach ball). Gloves were not used, but I may introduce catching with gloves in the near future.

Music with Daniel Raimi

This module has seen us continue singing some of our favorite songs, drawing to great music, and playing a number of movement and music games. We've been singing variations on "This Land is Your Land" to start off each class, and students add in the places that they want to travel to. Once we've collected the info on where they want to go (frequent destinations include Candy Land, Popsicle Land, Ice Cream Land, and the Smoky Mountains), I add new words into the traditional melody and we all sing along. The past couple of weeks have seen us working on our presentation for Evening of the Arts. We'll be performing two short songs that should be a lot of fun for everyone!

Drama/Clay with Roni Peterson

During this module we continued with clay projects using Model Magic. Staying with the theme of Spring, the students used their imaginations and creative talents making beautiful butterflies. Since the students had learned about rainbows, we discussed what they had learned about the order of the colors and each child made his or her very own rainbow out of clay. We ended the module with creating a keepsake box. During Module 10, we will continue with a few more clay projects and perhaps time remaining, will do some acting as well.

Art with Brittain Peck

Going back to our developing origami skills, we made our own envelopes, letters, and stamps in a lesson where we also learned how to properly address and post a letter. The students created numerous beautiful envelopes and letters and I was thoroughly impressed with the creative stamp designs which adorned the children's envelopes. Continuing our series of step-by-step lessons to reinforce the need for structure and order in the art making process we undertook another guided drawing lesson, similar to the bird and flower drawing we created earlier. The students were introduced to "Geovanis", a Spanish speaking cartoon character whom they were not only able to draw, but were also invited to color and give a Spanish speaking voice to.

Spanish with Brittain Peck

Using a map for an imaginary city complete with intersecting streets and avenues, river, a beachfront island, and a variety of points of interest, the students were invited to engage with a list of city-related vocabulary. While the city already contained numerous buildings and prominent landmarks for the students to learn about in Spanish, there were also numerous empty buildings and city blocks for the students to use their imaginations to add their own buildings, houses, and other places that only young minds may be able to imagine. As the students added life and color to the city maps, we continued to discuss various aspects of the city in Spanish.

2009-2010 Module 8

2010-04-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

Module 8 was filled with lots of fun surprises and new challenges for our Kindergarten students! St.Patrick's Day was the theme for this module, and our science lessons included the study of rainbows, prisms, and the spectrum. The children literally danced on rainbows as prisms in the windows cast huge vivid rainbows on the floor of the classroom! We learned all about color and how rainbows are created.

In Social Studies, we learned all about Ireland and the legend of St. Patrick. We studied the topography, weather, culture, and customs of this beautiful country. We especially enjoyed learning about the legend of leprechauns, and decided to set a trap to catch one of the little rascals. Trick was on us, however, as the trap we set up was not secure enough to hold him, and he got away. (He did drop a good bit of his gold as he beat a hasty retreat, however, so we at least got a bit richer!)

Of course, our topic for writing each day included something about our work with rainbows and leprechauns. The children were excited to share their ideas about what three wishes they would ask for, or what grand purchases they would make with their leprechaun gold. They used their imaginations to describe life "over the rainbow", too. They are really becoming good little writers and illustrators!

And of course, there was plenty of reading, phonics, and math each day, too!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

We continued to work on throwing and catching these last few weeks and as always, the students did a fantastic job! I had them try out different sizes, weights, and shapes of balls including the beach ball and playground ball. I believe the beach ball was by far the favorite of the bunch! This last week we started our striking unit and will be working on how to hit a ball with your hands and with an object. There is no need to worry! We'll be using either hollow plastic or foam objects!

Music with Daniel Raimi

Kindergarten has had a very exciting few weeks. The highlight of this module was a special visit from the Zimbabwean musician Cosmas Magaya. Cosmas taught us about the music and culture from his home country, and played several beautiful songs for the students. We all had the opportunity to touch his home-made instruments, called mbiras, which are the most widely played traditional Zimbabwean instrument. It's basically a version of the Southern African thumb piano, and Cosmas is a true master in his field. We were so very lucky to have his company this past week. Along with Cosmas' visit, students have been singing our regular songs, and will soon be taking up a project for Evening of the Arts.

Drama/Clay with Roni Peterson

We have continued to work with Model Magic Clay during this module. The theme has been Spring. We made flowers, and birds, but took a side-track when the children kept asking to make "crazy cars", so that's just what we did. They turned out fantastic! We have a few more spring projects to make, such as a butterfly, and a rainbow. The imaginations and creativity are endless when working with clay.

Art with Brittain Peck

In conjunction with our puppet lessons in Spanish, we have learned to make origami pets to accompany our paper bag puppets. We also took advantage of an opportunity to go outside and have the children direct and pose for their own photos, taken by their specifications of location, composition, and accompanying friends and objects.

Spanish with Brittain Peck

We have concluded our lesson involving the interactions between our own paper bag puppets and the class puppet, Timoteo. The students have had a great time learning introductory phrases as the basis of Spanish conversation. We have also reiterated our vocabulary of the parts of the face, colors, and parts of the body through games with the puppets and activities such as "head, shoulders, knees, and toes."

2009-2010 Module 7

2010-03-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

We have had a lot of fun exploring new concepts, doing a lot of creative work, and making some tasty treats during Module 7! In math, we have been busy exploring fractions. We began by folding paper and cutting fancy shapes to create a line of symmetry when the paper was unfolded. From there we moved on to learning about "equal parts" and how to identify halves, thirds, quarters, and fifths. By the end of the module, the children were able to write fractions for shaded figures, and color fractional parts of circles and squares. Good work!

In Language Arts we had some fun celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. We read several of his books, created some of our own Dr. Seuss-type poetry (rhyming), wrote opinions about his stories for our journals, and "cooked" up a tasty green eggs and ham treat with white chocolate and green m&m's....Yum!

In Science we have been hard at work learning about our solar system. We learned a song about the planets that helps us remember them in order from the sun, we read books about each planet and about the moon, and we tasted some real freeze-dried astronaut food (yuck!). We each chose a planet to learn more about, and then created a model of our planet by spooning colored sand onto clear contact paper and mounting the planet onto a painted paper sky. Cool! We are busy planning a field trip to the Morehead Planetarium to cap off our unit.

Physical Education with Krista Moll

Kindergarten worked on throwing and catching these last few weeks. We went over the underhand throw, overhead throw with both hands, overhand throw, catching with two hands, and catching with one hand. Specific cues I had the students focus on during throwing are having their eyes on the target, holding the ball at the base of their fingers, and arm extension/follow through towards the target (their partners). Most of the students were able to communicate their understanding of how to throw. Now, all it takes is practice and that is something we will continue to work on during this next module.

Music with Daniel Raimi

Kindergarten was a lot of fun these past few weeks. We played a lot of musical "Simon Says," sang a lot of our favorite songs, and started watching one in a series of amazing videos that we'll be diving into more deeply in the weeks ahead. The video series is from the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, and features Leonard Bernstein, the great composer and conductor. In these videos, he talks about the work of the orchestra, its different sounds, and how it can play different styles. All of this discussion is accompanied by live performance, brief demonstrations on a variety of instruments, and great shots of kids in the audience sitting in rapt attention. We'll be exploring the sound of the orchestra, play some musical games with Leonard Bernstein, and continue doing our own work singing songs, playing marimba, percussion instruments, and moving around a lot!

Drama/Clay with Roni Peterson

We spent this module using Model Magic Clay, creating "masterpieces" if I do say so myself! The imaginations and creativity that this class exhibits is wonderful. We worked on the use of the coiling method to design and create a little holder, or small bowl. Another project was using a stick to create a puppet. The students were given the Model Magic Clay in different colors and asked to create a character. Feathers, pipe cleaners and beads were given to them upon request to add to their masterpieces. We will be creating beautiful flowers during Module 8.

Art with Brittain Peck

After introducing the puppet "Timoteo" into our Spanish classes, we have found a great opportunity to invent and create our own puppets for the students to introduce to the class puppet. The students have created their own puppets using paper bags decorated with construction paper and markers. This has also provided the students a great opportunity to review the Spanish vocabulary for parts of the body and names of colors. We also returned to our collage exercise although this time with the specific purpose of incorporating scissors into our picture making. The students cut apart different colors of paper and arranged and glued them onto paper to create original compositions and designs.

Spanish with Brittain Peck

Our Spanish class was once again visited by the class puppet "Timoteo", and he helped us review the Spanish numbers and learn new vocabulary relating to animals and household objects.

2009-2010 Module 6

2010-02-24T18:00:00.001-08:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

In Language Arts we have been busy learning to read, write, and identify short vowels sounds in the middles of words. Vowels are tricky letters, especially telling the /e/ sound from the /i/ sound, but we are making some very nice progress. Practicing this skill has really helped with our spelling, too! We also have put some time into learning contractions and have become adept at "crashing" two words together to create one contraction. As always, we read stories and write sentences every day, too!

In Math, we have been busy learning to read, write, and count numerals to 100. We have also been busy working on creating and interpreting data on all kinds of graphs and tables. We can create tally charts, bar graphs, pie charts, and the like, and we can use these tables to compare data! We are so smart!

We did two units in Module 6: Reptiles and Groundhog day. We enjoyed learning all about reptiles and were especially excited to examine a real snake skin, turtle shell, and crocodile head. Our work with Groundhog day was fun too. We learned all about the legend of the groundhog, and we explored the scientific concept of light and shadow. Most fun of all was making silhouettes of everybody in the class. Come into our classroom and see if you can tell who is who!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

Kindergarten has been working hard! We finished up our jump roping unit this module. Most of the students picked it up rather quickly. We talked about how to hold, swing, and jump over the jump rope. By the end of the unit, everybody was able to get in at least five "continuous" jumps!

Music with Daniel Raimi

Kindergarten has worked through our regular patterns of singing our favorite syllable songs, playing musical "Simon Says," drawing pictures to describe certain kinds of music, and performing on marimbas. In the coming module, we're going to introduce students to a series of amazing videos made in the 1970's by the great conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. He made a series of "children's concert" television programs, where he discusses the different instruments in the orchestra and performs classic pieces like "Peter and the Wolf" and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. I'm really looking forward to that, and I think that the students will get a ton out of these great videos.

Drama/Clay with Roni Peterson

We spent the time reading, listening, and acting out the characters in a story as we had done in Module 5. I introduce Model Magic Clay to the children by having them create a "Special Valentine". The students were given red clay, and then a heart was created with a cookie cutter that formed the heart. They were then given different colors of clay to use in their designs on the heart. Feathers, and pipe cleaners of different colors were offered to them as well for embellishments. I will continue with clay projects during Module 7.

Art with Brittain Peck

Module 6 began with a lesson in order and sequencing in which we built paper snowmen using large, medium, and small sized paper circles, completing the snowmen with line art drawing using Sharpie markers. We continued with a drawing lesson in which we created a picture of a bird and flower on a tree branch. The students were led through an ordered step-by-step process to draw the branch, flower, and bird starting first with basic shapes and working to more specific details. The students completed the drawing by adding color. We concluded Module 6 with a lesson in paper collage using no scissors, but lots of glue. The students had a great time ripping and wrinkling pieces of colored paper into smaller pieces of various shapes and sizes. We then used our imaginations to reorganize these various shapes into compositions and pictures.

Spanish with Brittain Peck

In Module 6 we continued our story-time experience with the number and counting book "Buenas Noches, Luna". We also re-learned the game "Simon Says" in Spanish under the translated name "Simín Dice". We learned a variety of commands including "sit down", "stand up", "dance", "jump", and "touch your head". We were also introduced to a new classmate, a green Spanish-speaking puppet, who helped us review colors and learn the names of the parts of our face.

2009-2010 Module 5

2010-01-21T03:44:00.001-08:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

We covered a lot of ground in Module 5, and didn't let the upcoming holidays provide an excuse for "slacking off"! In Language Arts, we set a goal of finishing all of the letters of the alphabet before winter break, which meant we had to cover three letters per week in each of the weeks between Thanksgiving and break. Whew! Letters, sounds, letter formation (handwriting), and sight words for all of those letters really gave us a work-out but we met the challenge!

In math, we concentrated on addition concepts and story problems. We solved some pretty complicated story problems using our new addition skills, and learned how to record our answers to vertical and horizontal addition problems on paper. We even combined a couple of skills by adding sets of 10's or 5's to arrive at an answer. Good work!

Our unit for Module 5 was Winter Holidays Around the World. We explored Christmas traditions in the United States and Europe, the story of Hanukkah and all of the customs and traditions of the Jewish Festival of Lights, and the meaning of Kwanzaa. It was fun to listen to the guest speakers in Morning Meeting share their family traditions and find out more about some of the things we were learning in class!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

Kindergarten class has been absolutely fantastic! I love it how happy they are when I walk into the classroom. They are always up to having some fun, which is great. Before break, I decided to try and have them complete some fitness exercises. I timed them during a 1/4 of a mile and had them do some sit-ups and semi push-ups. Generally, it went very well! I hope to continue to try to implement some basic fitness exercises throughout this next semester.

Music with Daniel Raimi

Music has continued along, and they're really enjoying our set of syllable songs. Some of the favorites include "Rat a Tat Cat," "Nine Fine Swine," and "Moose on the Loose." We sing each of these songs a couple of times in class, and have continued with our rituals of singing "This Land is Your Land" and "Che Che Kule" in most class sessions. The students are becoming more sophisticated in their senses of rhythm and melody, so we'll probably be returning to the marimbas for some more challenging exercises in the coming weeks and months.

Drama with Roni Peterson

The class truly enjoyed listening to Mother Goose Rhymes and then taking turns becoming the characters and acting out the rhymes as I read them. Everyone got a turn to become his or her favorite character, so we sometimes got to hear a rhyme at four or five times! I will be bringing in stories that lend themselves to characterizations for the children to then act out. They really love to do this and act out their interpretations of how their characters should behave, it challenges their imaginations and creativity. We will be starting to work with Clay Art, using Model Magic brand clay, toward the end of Module 6.

Art with Brittain Peck

In Module 5 we began to combine our Spanish and art classes in order to give the students more varieties of opportunities to engage with Spanish and also to infuse their Spanish education with the enjoyment that they experience in their art activities. We began with by drawing family portraits, in which the students first drew and colored to show the members of their families. Once the portraits were completed visually, we learned Spanish vocabulary for the different members of our family with words such as "madre" (mother) and "hermano" (brother). In our next lesson the students created holiday cards which they addressed and filled with Spanish holiday greetings. In our last lesson before the break, we created hanging, white, felt, snowball ornaments for trees or windows. The students had a great time working with glue and glitter to create different patterns and images.

Spanish with Brittain Peck

As mentioned earlier, Module 5 saw the integration of our Art and Spanish goals in many of our lessons. In addition to the family portraits and holiday greeting cards, we also had a lesson dedicated to further developing the students' Spanish vocabulary with colors. The students took great enjoyment in working in teams to identify the colors of building blocks in a structure that I had built with blocks. The students then searched for the color blocks they needed, asking each other questions like "¿Tienes rojo?" (Do you have red?) until they acquired the color blocks needed to build a structure similar to the model I had provided.

2009-2010 Module 4

2009-12-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

Whew! We had a busy and productive Module 4! In Language Arts, we continue to master reading material at an impressive rate. Every child reads several pages of a story every day, and all are improving their fluency and comprehension! Our phonics lessons are progressing nicely, too, and all children answer comprehension questions about their stories each day. I am very impressed with how quickly their ability to express themselves in writing has progressed!

In math, we have been busy doing some basic geometry. We have learned basic geometric solids: cube, cone, cylinder, pyramid, sphere, hemisphere, and a whole lot of prisms (square, rectangular, triangular, hexagonal, and octagonal). We have compared and contrasted the solids to plane shapes, learned to identify faces, curves, and angles, and described common objects using the math vocabulary.

In social studies, we learned all about the first Thanksgiving. We listened to the story of the Pilgrims' voyage, and the challenges that faced them when they arrived in America. We learned of the Indians' role in the Pilgrims' survival. We explored the lifestyles of both Pilgrims and Indians, and enjoyed exploring all of the interesting things that represent that time in our history (beeswax candles, rabbit fur pelt, deerskin moccasins, a spear, an Indian musical instrument, mortar and pestle, Indian baby in a back board, a beaded dress, etc.)

Our science unit was Under the Sea, and the work we did in this unit was the basis for our Academic Fair project. The students learned a lot about life under the sea, and did a great job presenting their projects at the Academic Fair. I was very proud of them!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I counted my blessings, most especially how blessed I am to have the chance to spend my days in Kindergarten with nine wonderful children. Thank you for sharing your children with me!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

We have continued to play some more parachute games at Orchard Park in this module. The students seem to really enjoy these activities. I've been really impressed with their level of engagement. They also watched The Magic School Bus on a rainy class day, which talked about muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, and how they help the body move.

Music with Daniel Raimi

Module 4 has seen Kindergarten continue down the path we've started in previous weeks. We've learned songs that help with syllabic development ("There was a cat named rat-a-tat..."), sung some of our classic favorites ("Yellow Submarine," "This Land is Your Land"), and of course worked on our performance for Academic Fair ("You Better Wash Your Hands"). In the weeks leading up to winter break, we'll continue singing some of our favorite songs, learning new ones from our big book of syllable songs, and doing a lot of movement to music.

Drama with Roni Peterson

During Module 4 the children had a chance to create a Haunted House. We lined up and each child got a chance to be the leader. We got out our pretend flashlights (of course some needed new batteries), we had our pretend light sabers, and stepped into the Haunted House. What we saw inside was what each leader told us was there. Many spiders, bats, witches. This is a great exercise that challenges their imaginations. We spent time having each child tell about their costumes, and their experiences while trick or treating. I have the children do exercises like these to allow them to express themselves and also to teach the other children how to be a good audience. I read the children the book, Where the Wild Things Are, and then we acted out the story. Each child got to pick which character he or she wanted to be. They did a really great job. We have read other stories and acted them out as well. During Module 5, we will be reading and learning original Mother Goose Rhymes. I will start to give prompt words or sentences to the children in pairs to begin learning how to do improvisations.

Art with Brittain Peck

In celebration of the changing fall leaves, we took our art class outside to find and collect leaves of varying shape, size and color. We then brought these leaves back inside to work further with them in creating color leaf rubbings with paper and crayons. Many students experimented with the ability to make their rubbings different colors from the actual leaves, treating the rest of us to pink, purple, silver, and turquoise leaves. Other students took the opportunity to make rubbings more closely related in color the actual leaves they had found. These results were more reminiscent of attempts to preserve, study, and categorize leaves based on their naturally occurring characteristics.

Spanish with Brittain Peck

Kindergarten Spanish has been both fun and challenging in Module 4. As a review of Spanish numbers, the children learned to play "Go Fish!" or "¡Pesca!" in Spanish. The children were not only able to refer to the cards by number in Spanish, but also took great joy in exclaiming "¡Pesca!" to their classmates when they did not have the card their classmates were looking for. We also had quite a good time learning how to say different emotions and feelings, such as "bien", "triste", and "feliz". The biggest challenge of this module was the Spanish alphabet. The students took great curiosity in asking about the new letters that were learning that are not in the English alphabet. I was more than impressed with each student's efforts to pronounce each new letter sound.

2009-2010 Module 3

2009-11-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

Module 3 has been a very busy time for Kindergarten. We are really working hard every minute of the day, and I am very impressed with the progress the class is making.

In Language Arts we have mastered several new letters, learned to read several new sight words, and are moving quickly through our leveled readers. All students are reading now, and as always, every child reads one-on-one with me every day. Spelling is improving rapidly as children learn sight words, and become proficient at "doing the word stretch" to identify all of the sounds within new words, and then spell with felt letters on a flannel board. I am most excited by the progress I see in handwriting. What a big difference just in this module! The students are writing from top to bottom, left to right, and are sizing and spacing letters beautifully.

In Math, we continue to learn new numerals, count and create large sets, graph, and pattern. In Module 3 students were introduced to ordinals (1st–10th), and measurement with non-standard units. As always, we not only learn the basic skill, but then we apply the information and the skill to real-world situations so that the children become proficient in using math in everyday life.

Science and Social Studies lessons in Module 3 were guided by the season, and included Fall changes, Farm life, and Skeletons. We will take our first field trip next week to see a real farm and experience first-hand what we learned in our Farm unit.

Physical Education with Krista Moll

This module we have taken the step of going off campus to Orchard Park for some of our physical education classes. So far, everything has been going smoothly and the students seem to enjoy going. At the park, we played a few games of Maze Tag and have now moved onto some parachute games, which we will continue with for this next module. One of the parachute games we played is called Cat and Mouse. While the class is making waves with the parachute, one student is the mouse traveling underneath the parachute, while another student is the cat chasing after the mouse. We will definitely play that game again so that everybody gets a chance to be both the mouse and cat!

Music with Daniel Raimi

Module 3 has seen the Kindergarten class review some of our favorite songs, and get started on a few new projects. We've been playing a lot of marimba music, mostly concentrating on simple quarter-note melodies. We've also reinforced our concept of rhythm by using small percussion instruments to tap out patterns in a call and response format. The class has also continued to perform a few of our favorite songs, including "Yellow Submarine," "Che Che Kule," and "This Land is Your Land." Alongside these older songs, the class has begun learning a new set of songs written for children that help us understand and pronounce certain syllabic formations, such as "-at," "-ay," and "-ace." We'll be learning some of these new songs in the coming weeks, and continuing to develop our skills in other areas. A final activity that we've been doing in class is listening to music and drawing our impressions of the pieces. We've listened and drawn to music by Miles Davis, J.S. Bach, and Bob Dylan. This is a favorite activity in the class, and we'll probably be sending home a new drawing every few weeks!

Drama with Roni Peterson

During Module 3, the class has been working on being a great audience while their classmates perform. I am very proud of how well they are doing with their abilities to sit attentively. We have been using props to help with improvisation exercises. I have also read stories, and have had the children act out the characters from the book. We have just begun using prompt words and lines of dialogue to have the students use in an improvisation. The children are becoming much more comfortable while performing in front of their peers. I can see that they are better understanding what is expected of them in drama class.

Art with Brittain Peck

In Module 3 we focused on art that would help familiarize the students with their new teacher, and help their new teacher get to better know the students' imaginations. We began with character design, where the students worked with basic shapes and colors to invent and develop original characters. Once these characters were drawn, we learned more about them through sharing their names, their stories, and how they knew the other characters. Some students even began mixing the characters into the words of the stories themselves as they found the same basic shapes that the characters were based on also in the letters that told the characters' stories. As their teacher, I was more than impressed at the imaginative characters they created, the original stories that they told about them, and overall, the vast diversity of style, design, and narrative that the students used in describing the characters both visually and verbally.

Spanish with Brittain Peck

We began Module 3 with counting, focusing on the numbers 1 through 10. We then used flash cards to practice recognizing solitary numbers out of numerical order. After reviewing the sounds and spellings of the numbers, the students used actual money to get a feel for what it is like to share and trade money in Spanish. I was most impressed with the students' abilities to quickly recognize the numbers when they were taken out of sequence.

2009-2010 Module 2

2009-10-20T12:03:00.001-07:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

Module 2 has seen the Kindergarten class moving ahead at a steady clip in all of our subject areas. In Language Arts we have mastered several new letters and sounds, including two vowels! We have also learned to read a half dozen new sight words, which improves our fluency in reading.

In Math, we have finished learning how to write numerals 0-9 correctly and have used our new skill to record data on graphs, count sets, create patterns, and begin work on a 100's board. We have also begun to read and solve a "story problem" each day to get our brains charged up!

We began our Social Studies work in Module 2 with a look at basic geography. We used maps and globes to learn the names of the continents and oceans, and then to focus in on our little spot in the world. We learned to locate the USA within North America, and then North Carolina with the USA. We made models of our state flag, our state bird, and our state flower. We learned what a community is, and then we explored the work that is done in communities (by "community helpers"). We are off to a great start in Social Studies!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

In P.E. class we continued to work on personal space and change of direction through various tag games. One tag game they played a lot is called Shark Attack. I added some obstacles in the game to force them to choose another direction to run, skip, or gallop without getting caught. They did a very good job and had a great time!

Music with Daniel Raimi

Kindergarten has made some real progress in the last few weeks—we've had successful hour-long sessions, which is a bit of an achievement in and of itself! Students have been working in pairs playing the marimba, and have successfully been able to perform simple melodies with the notes C-G. We've also been doing a lot of call-and-response rhythmic exercises with everybody's favorite blue rhythm sticks, and also some rhythmic exercises on the marimba.

A second area of exploration that parents have probably seen is our exploration into interpreting music through art. First, we listened to a recording of Miles Davis' beautiful recording of "All of You." I asked students to draw a picture of Miles Davis playing his trumpet, the music coming out of the trumpet, and the audience enjoying it. This was probably as much fun for me as it was the students, and they really liked it! In the coming weeks, we'll be listening to music from every end of the musical spectrum, and drawing to explore our reactions to the music.

Drama with Roni Peterson

During Module 2, I read aloud stories and then we acted out the characters. Props were introduced and now we will begin to use the props in little scenes. A telephone prop was used to make imaginary phone calls. We will be exploring a make believe haunted house, a favorite exercise from last year's kindergarten class. I know that the children in this class will enjoy it as well.

2009-2010 Module 1

2009-09-29T10:48:00.001-07:00

Classroom Report with Ms. Denise

What a wonderful start to the school year! This amazing group of kids has taken Kindergarten by storm. They are friendly, smart, witty, talented, and I am enjoying every minute of my time with them!

In Module 1 we have done a lot of reviewing and fine tuning of skills. We have reviewed letters Tt, Mm, and Oo, and have learned to read and write several sight words. In math we have reviewed numerals and sets to 10. We have spent a lot of time practicing how to write the numerals from top to bottom. We have also begun to learn about graphs and patterns.

We have completed two science units in Module 1. The first unit was on apples, and we had a lot of fun exploring apples with all of our senses. We tasted apples and apple products, we labeled apple parts, we learned an apple poem, and we painted apple tree pictures. We also did a science unit on magnets, and this was especially fun for the kids. They had a ball exploring the classroom for magnetic objects with wand magnets, playing with magnetized blocks, feeling the magnets attract and repel, and using magnets to pull iron beads through paper, boards, water, and shaving cream. They learned how to magnetize a needle, and used it to create a compass. Magnets are awesome!

Kindergarten is a busy and happy place! I feel blessed to be able to spend my days with this amazing group of kids!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

It's been fun learning the group dynamics in Kindergarten so far. They are an energetic group! In Module One, all classes did fitness testing. I evaluate the students' physical fitness by looking at their endurance, balance, flexibility, coordination, and other fitness components. Our main focus in P.E. class remains learning about personal space.

Music with Daniel Raimi

The Kindergarten class has done a lot of exploring in our first couple of weeks. We've learned the song and dance "Che, Che, Kule," a traditional Ghanaian children's dance song, and the students have quickly become "Che, Che, Kule" experts. We've learned a few other songs including "This Land is Your Land," "Yellow Submarine," and recently began exploring the marimba. Students worked in pairs to perform specific melodies specified by Mr. Dan, and they did an excellent job.

The main focus with all of this work is to establish a strong sense of beat in each student. The earlier children can steadily and accurately "count" along with a song, the more chances they'll have to build on that foundation, exploring more complex musical concepts like rhythm, melody, harmony, and pitch. Once we've established a strong sense of beat in each student, I'm hoping to begin reading traditional music notation on the marimba.

It's been a wild first couple of weeks, but the students are enjoying themselves, and we're building a strong foundation!

Drama with Roni Peterson

In drama class we got to know one another by playing improvisational games that helped the children get used to performing before each other. I stressed games that relied on memory. I also introduced the art of pantomime and acting without words. In the coming weeks we will continue doing improvisational work and pantomime. I am planning to take them on a pretend adventure in Module Two.

2008-09 Module 7

2009-03-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

Classroom Report with Miss Denise

Kindergarten students spent most of Module 7 learning about the Solar System. This has been a popular unit for classes in the past, and this year was no exception. Our students were very enthusiastic learners! The children explored planets in general and then each chose a planet to explore in depth. After doing some research, each child completed his/her first big project, which included creating a model of the planet and doing a written piece of work describing two facts they had learned. The projects were "jigsawed" into one big model of the planets in our solar system, and is on display in the Big Hall. I was especially proud of them for being able to name the planets, in order from the sun, during Morning Meeting one day! Way to go, Kindergarten!

Art with Heather Cramer

We have begun a wonderful new series called "Serendipity Art." Using Stephen Cosgrove's "Serendipity" books, we read a story each class and do an art project based on that. These teach good life lessons with silly characters to tell the story. Our work is being gathered in folder books with a synopsis of each story. When I spread the 15 books I'd chosen to use out on the floor the first day, the children literally fell all over them! We review their growing books before we begin a new story, then follow with another Serendipity Art Adventure... lots of new art processes!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

We continue to work on basketball skills, especially dribbling. Skill progressions addressed include dribbling stationary (two hands, dominant hand, non-dominant hand) to dribbling in movement. I'm pleased to say many of the students are doing well with the stationary dribbling. However, ball control in movement (slow movement that is) and the ability to stop without losing the ball are skills we need to work on. So far so good though!

Clay Arts with Roni Peterson

We have worked with Model Magic Clay. The students have made hand puppets to be used in creating a puppet show that they will perform in class. Many new clay projects will be introduced this module.

Spanish with Rita Glynn and Molly Williams

Hi from Rita (Grade 12) and Molly (Grade 11). We have enjoyed working with your children on elementary Spanish. Last semester we focused on basic Spanish vocabulary such as: colors, animals, action verbs, the alphabet, and clothing. This semester we will focus on Spanish culture in the Spanish speaking countries of Mexico, Cuba, and Spain. For each country we will introduce different phrases, dances, food, and holidays that they might need to know about if they were to travel to that country. We will incorporate music, food, videos, and books to help make the lessons more stimulating. We are working very closely with both Denise and Liz to make our lessons successful. In the past few weeks we made maracas to play, quesadillas to eat and necklaces to wear at Immersion Day!

2008-09 Module 6

2009-02-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Miss Denise

Module 6 started with a bang as we got to enjoy several inches of snow and learn for ourselves what a "snow day" is! When we finally came back to school we finished up our work on things having to do with winter. We enjoyed exploring Antarctica and learning about penguins, seals, and whales. We learned about Groundhog Day and resigned ourselves to six more weeks of winter... and then enjoyed several days of temperatures that were very spring-ish. So much for legends! The project that most intrigued our Kindergartners during Mod 6 was a sundial we created from a paper plate and a pencil. We carefully marked the shadow every hour that we were at school, 9 am to 3 pm. Kudos to Evan MacDonald, who replicated the activity at home with the goal of creating a 24 hour sundial. (Lack of sunshine overnight forced him to "estimate" where those shadows might fall on the sundial.) We are looking forward to Module 7 and something besides wintry activities to engage in!

Art with Heather Cramer

We continued learning about texture with crayon rubbings over many different items that I brought in... and even found some things in the room to try. Then we made mosaics, placing many different beans, grains, and even tiny pine cones inside little pools of glue. I took them home to spray gold and the children were delighted with their shiny art! With just one color, the different textures are more obvious. The whole school enjoyed their exhibit in the hall gallery.

Next we did "juicy" texture, making drawings on paper with crayons over warming trays... warm, but not dangerous! The crayon melted as we drew and got very slippery and transparent.

We moved from texture to printing, "etching" designs into Styrofoam circles, then printing them. They got a bit enthusiastic with the paint, so some of the pages of the books that came home may be stuck together! For our last printing lesson, we made designs using raised matt board pieces that I rolled paint over and they printed. Very cool!

For our final class of the module, I showed them an art easel with one of my paintings standing on it. I gave each a mini easel made out of Popsicle sticks and each created a series of works on little cards using fabulous gel pens. They placed them on the easels to display. Ms. Denise even received some for Valentine's Day.

Physical Education with Krista Moll

I have been very pleased with how well the students have been moving from one unit to another. Throughout the year we have covered personal space concepts, locomotor/non-locomotor skills, tempo, throwing & catching, and kicking skills. The last few weeks we have reviewed a lot of these skills, but I have also begun to teach them ball skills such as rolling, bouncing, and dribbling.

Clay Arts with Roni Peterson

We have been having a great time during Module 6 working with Crayola Model Magic Clay. The children seem to really love working on the projects. I will be keeping the amazing stick puppets the class made, to use them in class doing puppet shows. They will be bringing them home after the shows have been performed. I have different projects in mind that I know the children will have fun participating in and I'm certain you will be as excited as I was to see the talent and creativity exhibited in their work. I am looking forward to Module 7 and continued clay wonders.

2008-09 Module 5

2009-01-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Miss Denise

Module 5 was a fun and exciting time in Kindergarten! We learned about winter holidays around the world, and got to experience many of the customs and celebrations, too. We woke up from our rest time on December 5th (St. Nicholas Day) to find that our shoes were filled with candy, just like children in Europe. We also had a St. Lucia celebration, planted a pickle on our Christmas tree, played the Dreidel game, and used beads to make a Kwanzaa necklace.

We also benefited from other people in our school community helping us to learn about their holidays and customs. Ms. Roni gave us a special lesson on Hanukkah, while other families shared their holiday customs with us during Morning Meeting. It was fun to learn about so many interesting traditions.

Art with Heather Cramer

We continued our series on "colors" with a tissue collage fire for warm colors, and a crayon resist with white oil crayons and blue/purple washes over them for cool colors (a winter scene). Next we did a monochromatic painting, with white and black at each end, a color in the middle, and then mixing to find lighter and darker shades between. We used a print out of "paper dolls" to fill in. Then we borrowed a popular story and filled our books with illustrations of many different colored animals. Our last lesson before winter break was a paper plate Santa face with cotton balls and jingle bell noses!

Now we are back, and have begun learning about texture. We examined many items of different textures, then made a little book using sandpaper to draw on... seeing how crayon looks on that rough surface.

Physical Education with Krista Moll

This module we covered how to kick a ball. Tate and Jung, two Upper School students who take turns helping me out with Kindergarten, did a fantastic job leading certain group activities. There were days when we were able to do these activities at Orchard Park and when the students behaved well, I let them play on the playground at the end of class. This may be somewhat off topic, but it happened to snow one day while we were at Orchard Park! The kids had a blast running around and trying to catch the snowflakes! Needless to say, it was a lot of fun.

Dramatic Arts with Roni Peterson

During this module, we continued with improvisational work. Even though Halloween has been over for some time, going through the haunted house, continues to be the students' favorite improv. Each child takes a turn at leading us through the house, pointing out various things they see in the house. The creativity of what they "see," continues to impress me. For Module 6, we will begin with Clay Art classes, taking the place of Dramatic Arts.

2008-09 Module 4

2008-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Miss Denise

We were very busy during Module 4 discovering all there is to know about Thanksgiving. I am very fortunate to have grown up in the Plymouth, Mass. area and to still have family there. I have been to Plymouth Plantation many times and have gathered all sorts of interesting things to share with my students. The children enjoyed looking at photographs of houses and workshops, explored beeswax candles, rabbit fur, deer skin, beaded goods, Native American weapons and musical instruments, and other treasures. Of course, using chocolate icing, pretzels, crackers, and other goodies made the project work a lot of fun, too!

One of the concepts we explored in this unit was what it means to be thankful. When I was sure the children understood, I asked each of them what they were thankful for. I was touched when they became very serious and very thoughtful. Each child very carefully gave me their answer: My family, my baby brother/sister/, my home, playing with my dad, etc. Not one child mentioned a toy or a selfish desire. Every single child very deliberately told me that they truly love their families, and they are very grateful to have them!

Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving!

Art with Heather Cramer

We continued learning about SHAPES and I read them a pop-up book about shapes. We talked about all the different shapes that were in the book, and then drew pictures using many shapes.

Next we made a "Shapes in Shapes" book. Starting with a tiny shape like a diamond, we kept drawing bigger and bigger ones around that - like ripples of shapes moving out. They filled many pages of their books with rippling designs of shapes, then painted them with watercolors. You will find a pop-up shape inside, too!

We made our pine cone turkeys to add to the table decorations for Academic Fair feast - very cute!

Then we moved on to COLOR and painted a simple color wheel. We filled in the primary colors, and then mixed those to create the secondary colors. Beautiful! We made rainbow fish using lots of colors and painted over those with magic sparkling paint—just like the "Rainbow Fish" books we looked at!

Physical Education with Krista Moll

We did a little of everything the last few weeks. We continued to play some Frisbee in addition to playing lots of various games (some of which the kids knew from last year and some of which they learned this year). One of the main activities that they enjoyed the most was, of course, working with the parachute. We will definitely be playing with the parachute more this year!

We also had a lesson on the body and talked about bones, muscles, joints, and how the combination of those things allow for movement.

Dramatic Arts with Roni Peterson

During this Module 4 period, the children did Reader's Theater pieces with the theme of the Fall Season. We also made clay marbles and painted them for their Academic Fair project. A Thanksgiving poem was read and the picture colored for the students to take home. Improvisational walks through an imaginary forest were enjoyed by all, especially when Miss Roni became a big bear that the children decided was hiding in the forest.

2008-09 Module 3

2008-11-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Miss Denise

Wow! It's hard to believe that October is over and we are at the end of Module 3. Kindergarten was busy and productive in Mod 3, and we enjoyed lots of "firsts", too. We packed up our lunches, loaded up the bus, and went off on our first field trip. Ganyard Farm was a lot of fun, and we were able to experience some of what happens on a real farm.

We also started reading our first books! I am so proud of how well all of the children did with their very first reading work. There were a few tears from children who were quite sure that this whole reading thing was a bad idea, but the tears evolved into smiles when the same children looked at the pages and saw words that they recognized from daily practice!

And of course, Fall Festival was a first for us, too. The children had a great time with the costume parade through Upper School, and the Upper School kids handed out candy with enthusiasm! The games and activities were lots of fun also.

All of our "firsts" required parent support and assistance, and you all did a terrific job in making our activities a success. I can't thank you enough for driving/chaperoning our field trip, for listening to your child read and signing his/her book, and for supplying all of the ingredients for a wonderful Fall Festival! It is great to have such a supportive parent base! These children are very lucky!

Art with Heather Cramer

We have been exploring "shapes" in Module 3. We made mosaic pictures using lots of little matt board shapes. Then we saw how shapes can be cut out of a folded piece of paper - and how the empty space became a shape when we glued the outside beside the inside - positive and negative shapes. We hope you enjoyed the shape mobiles that came home in your child's backpack! It is exciting to see the children watch me demonstrate an idea, and then branch out into doing it themselves with their own ideas for shapes. "I can't do it" quickly becomes "I did it!" These children are really growing with Ms. Denise's patience and love.

Physical Education with Krista Moll

Kindergarten continued to work on movement concepts and we took a few days to cover throwing and catching a Frisbee. We used the flimsy Frisbees, and for the most part, everything went well. A few students were more interested in throwing it far, rather than to their partner, which made it more difficult at times, but we still had fun.

I have an Upper School helper with every kindergarten class. Tate and Jung do a fantastic job of helping me teach specific skills as well as keeping the kids in a particular area. Tate helps me on Tuesday and Jung helps me on Thursday.

The Fit for Life program has been going well. If you have time, be sure to check out the rising thermometer! I'm so proud of all the students and their enthusiasm about being active. I've heard students talk about their parents working out with them and getting sore as well. Excellent!

Just a reminder: make sure your kid's log has the total amount of physical activity calculated in minutes at the bottom of the sheet where it says "total." If I have to do all the totaling, it becomes very time consuming. Thanks!

Also, thank you for those who have made equipment donations! It's a big help!

Dramatic Arts with Roni Peterson

The class has been having a great time with make believe! We have been taking turns being the leader of the class and pretending to see all kinds of "scary" things. The imaginations of these children are wonderful to experience. Please ask them to tell you how we check our flashlights, our magic sticks, and the magic words Miss Roni says to put the magic back into those sticks!

2008-09 Module 2

2008-10-17T09:41:00.001-07:00

Classroom Report with Miss Denise

We have been very busy in Module 2. In Language Arts we covered several new letter sounds and learned a half dozen new sight words. In Math we have been busy trying to master those tricky teen numerals and find "two ways" to solve word problems. We also tackled our first Social Studies unit: Geography.

I am pleased to see some wonderful "student behaviors" emerging. More and more we are remembering to raise hands to say something, put away work materials, and wait patiently for a turn. Most importantly, though, is that everybody is slowing down and putting more time and effort into classwork. I am so impressed by these children!

Art with Heather Cramer

We continued our "Learning About Lines" art projects during Module 2, and our portfolios are filling fast! These children are prolific artists! Along with markers and crayons, we have used chalk on black paper, and watercolors. We have used lines to tell stories with pictures, show different feelings with different types of lines, and played with "Wandering Lines." We are ready to move on to "Building With Shapes."

Physical Education with Krista Moll

In P.E. class we continued to work on personal space and change of direction through various tag games and a modified version of kickball. They mastered the games and had a good time.

As most of you know, our Fit for Life program started September 29th and has been doing well. Every Monday the children should bring in their signed activity log for the previous week, while Denise distributes a new one for the week ahead. The Fit for Life thermometer is now hanging up in the Big Hall and will be updated every week or so. Thanks for helping make this program work.

Dramatic Arts with Roni Peterson

The students are still working on impulse control and "being a good audience" while a classmate is performing. I have video taped a recent session and will be playing it back for their benefit. The children have been working in pairs, and using props to come up with a "story" which they act out. We will continue to work with props in future exercises.

2008-09 Module 1

2008-09-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Classroom Report with Miss Denise

What a great start to the school year we have had! Already the children have made friends with each other, learned the daily schedule and classroom routines, and are busy and productive learners! They are a great team and I am enjoying my days with them.

Kindergarten has been a very busy place during the first module. We spent a few days doing activities designed to get to know each other, and assessments to see what everybody knows. We learned about the importance of good manners and we practiced using them. We learned about Respect (our school's focus for the year) and talked about how manners and respect go together. Then we moved on to our regular lessons and have been busy learning lots of new things. In Language Arts we have learned a poem, mastered a few letters and sounds, learned to read a half dozen sight words and practiced our handwriting. In math we have been working on counting up and down, writing numerals, creating sets, and graphing information. We have also had fun with patterns and shapes. Science units have introduced us to apples and magnets and all of the wonders of exploration, making predictions, testing hypotheses, and finding out WHY... And we even had a tea party!

Ask any Kindergartner what his favorite part of our day is, though, and he will tell you it is Music & Movement! For a half hour each day we learn phonics, math, science, and social studies set to music. We sing, dance, move, and do finger-plays to reinforce concepts and skills in the various subject areas, and we finish it all off with a "freeze dance"! Learning doesn't get much better than this!

Art with Heather Cramer

It has been a delight to meet the new Kindergarten class. We have begun the year with some simple art projects which allow me to learn their names, personalities, and skill levels. We did their "graffiti names" and also a hand mandala. Each child has his/her own portfolio which we glued these to, but we have not filled them yet since it seems more important for them to take work home right away!

We each made a book about different styles of lines and used those to draw a funny snake. In another class, I read them a story about "What Peace Looks Like" and we did a group mural with the images that we put in our brains to remember. As the class becomes more settled with following directions and staying focused, our lessons and the materials we use will advance with them.

Physical Education with Krista Moll

I've been very pleased with the amount of energy and motivation the students bring to each class. It makes working them hard easy to do! In Module One, all classes did fitness testing. Collectively, I evaluate the students physical fitness by looking at their endurance, balance, flexibility, coordination, and other fitness components. More specifically, our main focus throughout P.E. class was and still is learning about personal space.

Dramatic Arts with Roni Peterson

The children are learning impulse control and how to be a good audience. I will be videotaping the students while they perform, allowing them to see themselves as others do. Children at this age do very well with visual prompts. During the second module, the introduction of props will give the children a new way to use their imaginations and creativity. Below are examples of activities covered in the first module. Since most of the children do not read yet, dialogue will be memorized and exercises to improve memories will continue.

Getting to know each other through improvisational games and exercises
Specific exercises to improve memory
Specific exercises used to explore emotions
Specific exercises to challenge creativity and imagination

Module 10

2008-05-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

Classroom Report with Beth Klonowski

Kindergarten finished their inquiry unit on weather and started one on plants. We have watched our baby bean plants grow from seeds into a “toddler" plants. Our observations of the changes, from embryo to a bean sprout - complete with roots and leaves - have been recorded in our baby seeds albums. Unfortunately, like many living things, our beans are subject to unpredictable forces of nature - like squirrels - and many will not reach maturity. We will continue our unit with the study of the biggest plants of all, trees.

Our math studies had us grappling with fractions and subtraction. We understood the dividing of a whole unit well enough to name the smaller pieces. We learned halves, thirds and quarters. After learning to count up we started to mix the skills of addition and subtraction. Being able to perform the two operations interchangeably is a skill that will be worked on and reviewed for the rest of the school year.

Phonics lessons have progressed to long vowel sounds. Attributing a second phoneme to each of the five vowels is a little confusing to some, after spending months on the short vowel sounds. We have practiced picking the new sounds out of words and deciding which of our new spelling rules apply; the vowel ending a word or the pattern of “vowel-consonant-e”. With continued practice we will be fluent, or near fluent, by the end of the school year.

Physical Education with Paige Passavant

The classes are finishing the Student-Led unit. I have been most impressed with this class and their dedication in taking their "teaching" to a level I've not experienced with any other Kindergarten class. I'm extremely proud of their efforts.

Art with Heather Cramer

Our Earth Circle is almost complete! Our books are bursting with all of the wonderful projects we have created to honor the earth and all beings. A few of those were on display at "Evening of the Arts". Ask your child to tell you about each page and how the projects were done - and to sing the songs for you!

Spanish with Celia Battle

Kindergartners are doing a wonderful job paying attention to classroom related commands in Spanish and responding appropriately. They are playing listening comprehension games to increase their classroom vocabulary and their auditory comprehension.

Module 9

2008-04-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

Classroom Report with Beth Klonowski

In Module 9 we finished our math unit on measurement. We measured and compared lengths using standard units, such as centimeters and inches, as well as nonstandard units such as our hands, feet and plastic train cars. Weight and volume were studied using only the standard units of pounds, cups and tea/tablespoons.

The grand finale for our inquiry unit on medieval times was a school day from beginning to end spent in our “Camelot castle” seeing, touching and learning about artifacts and clothing from the Dark Ages. Our presenters taught us games and dances from the era. We finished the day with a Medieval-type luncheon, eating with our hands was required.

We have started a unit on weather. With satisfaction we noted that March was predominantly a month of lamb weather. We will continue to track the change of the season measuring temperatures, rainfall and wind intensity.

The Upper School ended the module with standardized testing. The need for quiet in the building suggested a series of field trips. We were out of the building expanding our understanding of cycles; from water to life cycles, and having a good time.

Physical Education with Paige Passavant

The Kindergarten and Jr. MAPP class has been enjoying our unit "Student-Led Teaching". This unit puts your child in the role of teacher, equipment manager and referee. When it is their "turn" they plan their lesson, gather and set up the equipment, organize teams and explain rules, handle classroom behavior and fairly referee games. The process aids me in their final evaluation of skills/techniques learned throughout the school year. It is amazing to watch the seriousness with which they take their teaching responsibilities. We will continue this unit next module then conclude our year with post-testing. This is my favorite unit as each student "shines" in his or her own way. To witness this yourself, have your child "teach" a game to you and your family...

Art with Heather Cramer

"Earth Circle" continues with our books growing bigger as we add new art with each lesson. We have offered "greetings and thanks" to fish, beans and berries, herbs and bees, animals, and trees. We are enjoying a great variety of art techniques and materials as we honor the Earth, and the children are extremely enthusiastic!

Spanish with Celia Battle

Kindergartners are enthusiastically participating in Spanish class. They are learning classroom vocabulary and are using familiar words to communicate in Spanish: colors, numbers, animals, etc. They are also learning to listen attentively and follow basic Spanish commands.

Module 8

2008-03-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

Classroom Report with Beth Klonowski

Module 8 began with my favorite childhood holiday: 100th Day. We counted various collections of items each numbering 100. We also tried to be silent for 100 seconds (Very much the challenge for some of us). We also made shoes for a 100-footed (of course) centipede. The apex of activities was the appearance of the 100 Day Man, the super hero that makes all school children gleeful on the 100th Day.

We welcomed the month of March in with the old wives’ tale of “In like a lion and out like a lamb”. Discussing what lion weather and lamb weather are has allowed us to daily assess the animal/weather status for the day. I believe that so far we seem to be labeling most days as lambs. Next module we shall see if the Old Wife is right and the month exits lamb-like.

Our inquiry unit was on the medieval era. We started by holding a mock election for president of “Kinderland” with platforms built by student candidates. Shortly after our election we experienced government by a pair of monarchs. The contrast was stark even by five year olds’ standards. We learned the structure and function of a typical castle as well as the benefit of living in the shadow of such a castle. Castles that we built in class may not be similar to those seen in the books we used, but they contain all the functional aspects that we investigated in more classical structures.

Physical Education with Paige Passavant

During Module 8 students in PE enjoyed learning about rhythm and dance. As part of a dance project originating in the Upper School dance class, students in the Lower School have had (and will continue to have) the opportunity to create a cooperative dance montage for presentation at "Evening of the Arts." We are trying to be "hush-hush" about what we are doing as we want our presentation to be a loving (surprise) gift to the parents and other students.

Art with Heather Cramer

Our first class was drawing and painting abstract faces. We looked at images of faces done by master painters from the Mona Lisa to the very abstract Paul Klee. After placing the basic features proportionately on a face, students were invited to add creative shapes using oil crayons. Then we filled in the various spaces created with watercolors. A beautiful gallery of work was the result!

Next class we created a color wheel - mixing secondary colors from primary colors. Then we used colored paper on black paper to make a mosaic color wheel fish ... a rainbow trout! Following this, we created designs and pictures by gluing colored shapes of matte board on a page. We then placed another paper over that and did crayon rubbing prints. The next session we began our "Earth Circle" series. We will be working from a poem on a poster that offers greetings and thanks to the earth and all of her elements and inhabitants. We are creating art work for each part of the poem, and adding those to a big book which will be taken home at the end of the series. We are learning songs and sitting in circle around an earth globe with a candle... taking time to share our wishes and love for the earth. The children are responding wonderfully to this experience!

Spanish with Celia Battle

We have started Spanish class on Monday afternoons. My primary focus has been to introduce Spanish as a fun activity. Students have learned a name/introduction song and have played color and animal games. The class is taught orally and our emphasis is to listen and repeat and to learn correct Spanish pronunciation in a comfortable and relaxed setting.

Module 7

2008-02-27T05:09:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Beth Klonowski

The Second Semester daily schedule went home this module. Several things in our weekly schedule have changed. Miss Celia is teaching Spanish to the Lower School students. The Kindergarten class was disappointed the first week when she came to our room to conduct class. They thought that having an Upper School teacher meant sitting in the High School class in the “big kid” desks. Celia was kind enough to grant them their wish. They now stand outside of her room at class change time and nod to all of the Upper School students as they leave. Rather than music we now have art with Miss Heather and computers with Miss Paige. Also, our matured stamina has allowed Inquiry to be moved to the afternoon allowing us more time in the mornings for reading and writing.

Journal writing has become a daily event. To help the children monitor their own work they now have a weekly writing ticket that they try to fill. The objectives for each student’s ticket differ from each other, helping individuals to keep their own goals in mind while working. Right now the reward for a day’s fulfillment is a sticker, and a week of hard work is evident with a full ticket on Friday.

February is a month of celebrations. Puxatawny Paul, brother to the more famous groundhog we all know, made his annual visit to Camelot. His visit prompted discussion of groundhog habitats, hibernation and the tradition of Groundhog’s Day. We celebrated Chinese New Year with our own version of the Lion-Dragon Dance and a luncheon of Chinese food. The more familiar holiday of Valentine's Day was celebrated with the traditional exchanging of cards.

Our Mathematics unit has been one of counting money. The names and values of coins were new to most of the students. More challenging has been counting the value of the coins; we are so tempted to count the number of coins rather than the cents involved. Currency is a system of symbols that is very foreign to the children. It requires a lot of practice and patience to learn, although getting to handle such “large” sums has them very excited.

Physical Education with Paige Passavant

We spent Module 7 finishing our unit in Gymnastics. Both classes watched and evaluated the Jr. MAPP class routines. This process enables the students to see what they did/didn't do and how they will modify their performance next time. The Kindergartners got to perform for the Jr. MAPP students. They were fabulous!!

Art with Heather Cramer

My first two weeks at Camelot as the new art teacher were delightful. We are spending these first weeks getting to know each other with several projects. Our first was "Freeing Our Creative Spirit." We talked about all of the different ways we absorb our life experiences - eyes, ears, touch - and then to our hearts. In our hearts, we create our own response - and this "flows" out our arms to our hands which become our tools to create an image expressing this experience. We drew around our hands to make an image on paper, then tissue collaged them for a burst of color, and the following week painted black around the background to make the colors pop! These are on display beside the first floor staircase.

Our next project was called "What's In a Name?" This was a simple "graffiti name" that I lettered out for them and they drew patterns inside and then added colors. This helped me learn their names as well as honoring their individuality.

We began the third project called "Let's Face It!" I showed them many prints of paintings of faces - from the Mona Lisa to the highly abstracted Paul Klee. We noticed how the painters' styles changed and became looser and freer. They did a drawing as I showed them the simple placement of features on a face and we will be completing those this week using oil crayons and watercolors.

Module 6

2008-02-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

Classroom Report with Beth Klonowski Returning from Winter Break, the children enjoyed the unusual tempo offered by Special Session. Typical school subjects were delayed for four days while we concentrated on the process of putting on a play. The children worked hard at their lines as well as creating their own costumes and scenery. The end product was adorable and well done. We returned to “real school”, as one family calls it, the second week back. Our readers continue to grow in their phonics knowledge as well as their fluency. This is starting to play out in journal writing as the students’ writing is beginning to show the use phonics rules. As they sound out the words that they want to use, they become more decipherable to others (although one student felt that I was reading the journal writing with more ease due to my improvement as a reader). A unit in telling time to the o’clock was enthralling and made the children feel quite worldly. Our inquiry unit explored both the good and bad aspects of the microscopic world around us. To bring a close to this unit, the class grew yeast and used it to bake bread. Physical Education with Paige Passavant This module our students practiced their gymnastic skills as we delved into our Educational Gymnastics unit. This year we have incorporated (the Camelot version of) the balance beam. This new addition will add some flair to their routines. Taping of their routines will start within the next week. Specials with....??? Module 6 was spent selecting our "Specials" teachers for the Second Semester. We look forward to welcoming Miss Paige for computer instruction, Miss Heather Cramer for art instruction and Miss Celia for Spanish instruction.

Module 5

2007-12-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Classroom Update from Beth Klonowski The module sandwiched between two holiday breaks always flies because we are well rested from the first and giddy waiting for the second. The children came back from Thanksgiving break well rested and ready to get down to the business of learning. After much practice with counting to twenty and recognizing all of the numbers when we read them, we moved on to the patterns that govern our number system. Counting by tens and fives proves to be tricky at times but it is very fun to zip right to one hundred when we get it right. Our phonic lessons have started to include more and more difficult blends allowing our readers to move past a limited vocabulary of three letter words to more interesting stories. A nightly reader continues to go home and needs to be returned when your student can read it with ease. This module we were able to familiarize ourselves with the Spanish vocabulary that goes hand in hand with our inquiry unit on the five senses. As we investigated the meaning and our use of sight, sound, hearing, taste and touch we made our first use of “scientific notebooks”. A central part of the notebook was the children’s work on providing details, not an easy thing to do for some of the people in the class. Their new understanding of the definition and importance of details is already proving useful in our creative writing journals. I look forward to our return in the new year, well rested and ready to go again.

Performing Arts with Matthew Etherington The Kindergarten class did very well at Academic Fair - I was impressed! We were lucky enough to be able to watch a parent video of our performance, which enthralled the students - watching themselves on stage in front of the whole school. This was a great way for the students to feel some positive reinforcement. They were able to evaluate their performance and discuss the experience with each other. We then revisited a song from earlier in the year (There Once Was A Frog) and listened to a festive "Frog Chorus" by Paul McCartney. The kids were soon singing along. It's been great to see this group grow (both musically, and in height!) this semester. Physical Education with Paige Passavant The students in Kindergarten spent this module learning the different aspects that incorporate wellness. We explored "what it means to be me", the five senses, the doctors in our lives and the food pyramid. Students are excited about next module and the start of our Gymnastics unit. Computer Technology with Matthew Etherington We have spent some time creating original images in KidPix this semester. This module, we manipulated images in a different way: taking a variety of festive clip-art images and resizing them by dragging the corner tab out. The children soon figured out this feature and were able to create a Holiday-themed collage. These were then printed as PDF files and loaded as desktop wallpaper on the Music Room computers, much to the delight of the older students who also use these computers!

Module 4

2007-11-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Classroom Update from Beth Klonowski Module 4 was very festive. We started with Fall Festival, ended with Academic Fair and had a field trip to see fossils in between. Despite the way it sounds we also had regular class days. In mathematics we discussed symmetry. We also took opinion polls and compiled our data as tally marks and bar graphs. Readers are now going home with everyone on a nightly basis. The readers will reinforce the phonics we do in class. (Each student reads the booklet with prompting from the supervising adult only as needed.) Our continued inquiry into dinosaurs required individual investigations as well as group work and culminated with our Academic Fair boards. Performing Arts with Matthew Etherington The Kindergarten class has being practicing hard this module for the Academic Fair. Our song has taken many practice sessions to perfect, requiring excellent listening and collaborative skills. Combining the children's singing with other instruments (supplied by Jr. and Sr. MAPP) has been an exciting challenge. The children have also enjoyed seeing their older peers performing more complex pieces during rehearsals, and this has helped them to understand some of the basic performance skills, such as standing in formation, singing together, and working as a group. Physical Education with Paige Passavant This short module allowed the students to continue with our Target Games unit. We practiced throwing to a specific area and examined what it entails to do this successfully. Computer Technology with Matthew Etherington We spent a little extra time on our musical performance this module, so computer did not meet for the usual number of sessions. However, we did spend some more time looking at dinosaurs (for the last time!) with some interactive online games. The children are now becoming very fluid with the mouse, and they are learning how to interact with the screen by using the keyboard.

Module 3

2007-11-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

Classroom Update from Beth Klonowski Module 3 was a very short module and seemed even more so because I was out for a full week of it. We had enough time to consider the differences and similarities between two and three dimensional figures. Our classroom collection of solid figures was fun to assemble, although we found cones to be very difficult to locate in our everyday environment. Our unit on dinosaurs began at the start of this module but will continue on through the next module culminating with the Academic Fair on November 16th. Our phonics lessons have progressed to the point that we all have readers to work on in class as well as to take home to practice in the evening. (Only the readers that arrive in the left side of the folder need to be returned to school after they have been read.) Reports on the children’s conduct in my absence were complimentary and made me quite proud, as we all should be. Performing Arts with Matthew Etherington This module, the Kindergarten class worked on songs that incorporated movement. We began with "Shoo Fly" which challenged the children to work together in circles whilst singing. This was difficult the first time, but upon revisiting the movement the children were able to master both the singing and the coordination of their bodies. "Old King Glory" was the next song, which we put to movement. The children took turns being the leader, walking around the circle and tapping each other on the shoulder to the words "the first one, the second one, the third follow me." We had just enough time to make a head start on our song for Academic Fair which is going to be all about dinosaurs! The children are already excited about performing for their parents and I look forward to seeing you there. Physical Education with Paige Passavant Students in Jr. MAPP have enjoyed our unit "Target Games and Skills." This unit involves practice in directional throwing (aiming). This unit falls during the State Fair time frame as a lot of the "games" at the fair involve aiming at a specific target. Computer Technology with Matthew Etherington In computer this module we continued the theme of dinosaurs in an activity from the Enchanted Learning website. We were able to color the dinosaur outlines by clicking on the web page, one section at a time. The results are now posted on our school website under "Student Work." For our second class, we returned to Kid Pix for a more freehand approach to drawing dinosaurs. We learned about how to use the pencil and brush tools effectively, in an effort to further develop control of the mouse.

Module 2

2007-10-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Classroom Update from Beth Klonowski Module 2 has found us settling into post pre-testing routines. The children work well as a group. They are beginning to appreciate and understand the differences in each others' personalities. I often find the children being patient and helping each other when it is most needed. Watching friendships form and grow is a lot of fun for me. The module started with a grand set of field trips to finish our unit on communities. Our student behavior on these trips was exemplary, and several of our tour guides commented on our group's respectful conduct. Our work in phonics has progressed enough that readers have started to go home in the folders. In mathematics, we have been looking at “less than” and greater than." In groups we have started the year-long process of learning to decipher story problems and creating the number sentences that illustrate them. Our Spanish studies started with learning basic colors, next we will learn the names of some animals to turn into those colors. The book fair that resided in the hall for a short while was very exciting; we are still sharing the books given to the class by the Kindergarten families as we read them one by one. We are very thankful for the many thoughtful gifts given to us from the book fair. Performing Arts with Matthew Etherington Music pretesting lasted a little longer than expected, so much of this module was spent finishing up these assessments in time for conferences. We did get on to the xylophones, however, and practiced singing and playing to the song Itsy Bitsy Spider. The students learned a repeating bass line as an accompaniment, then they took turns echoing each other using the same notes. The results were impressive and the children listened well to each other. Next module we will begin some music and movement activities. Physical Education with Paige Passavant Students in Kindergarten worked on developing skills related to invasion games. During our unit, Invasion Games and Skills, we practiced offensive and defensive techniques that were disguised as fun games. Computer Technology with Matthew Etherington The children continued their explorations with the visual art program Kid Pix. We started to narrow down the focus and chose the color green as our color of the day. The challenge was to ONLY use this color in a picture, which proved more challenging than you might think!