Miss Bailey's Kindergarten

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Reminder

Reminder***

Our March Book Order is due Friday March 10th!
You can turn in orders in person or online at scholastic.com/readingclub
Don't forget to enter our classroom code LB8M8. Every book purchased gives our classroom points for free classroom books!

Welcome Back from Vacation!

I hope everyone had a wonderful vacation!!!

This week at school is Read Across America Week! Below are some of the activities that's will be taking place!
* Wednesday: Drop Everything and Read (15 minutes of reading twice)
* Thursday: Author Visit @9:15
* Friday: School-wide Pajama Day/ Community Readers

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Thank You

I just wanted to take a minute to say THANK YOU! To everyone who donated and brought in treats for our Valentine's Day celebration. It was so nice to see how happy and excited the children were to celebrate their friendship! They were so appreciative of all the lovely Valentine's as well! So again thank you for helping to make this all possible!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Reading Log

Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read with your children every night! This is such a critical piece of early reading, language development and success in school.

I have had several questions about the reading log. The log is meant as a tool to track reading at home. This can include your child reading to you and you reading to your child. As a class we track how many books we have read. For each filled reading log (10 slots), we add one token to our 100's chart. Our goal is to fill our chart with tokens. We will have a celebration when we get to 50 or 500 books read and if we fill it, again at 100! The students are excited and it is a fun way to encourage reading!

I hope this helps to clarify!

Pictures from the assembly!

Monday, January 30, 2017

Assembly

Congratulations to Ava and Caroline for receiving kindness awards at our assembly! So proud of these two children and their compassion for their peers! Looking forward to my next nominees! Pictures to follow- once they upload!

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone had a great holiday season! I have made it my new years resolution to be better about posting on our blog-- starting now!

This Friday marks the end of quarter 2. I have been assessing the students and checking in on their learning. It is amazing to see the progress they have made since the beginning of the year! With the end of the quarter comes a new U-Arts schedule. It is as follows:

Monday - PE
Tuesday (am) - Art
Tuesday (pm) - PE
Wednesday - Adventure
Thursday - Music
Friday - Guidance

Students will be bringing home reading bags - some have begun. You will notice that this will be an almost nightly occurrence. Please read with your child every night. I will no longer be sending home HW packets because the focus will be on reading. At this time students should be using the pictures to help read the words and understand what they are reading. They should be pointing under each word as they read and should begin matching the first sound of an unknown word with the picture. As reading progresses, students will move beyond the first sound in the word and begin decoding the middle and ending sounds as well.

Our 100th day of school as well as Valentine's day are fast approaching! Stay tuned to hear more about these activities!

Classroom Information

.::Academic Structures::.

First and foremost, I believe that students learn best through play. My kindergarteners get at least 45 minutes/day of free play in the classroom. This does not include recess or U-Arts. In addition, I try my best to make learning fun, engaging and interactive. I also believe that students need to talk and share and communicate their ideas and thinking. Their voices matter!

Literacy

In kindergarten, your students will be participating in a literacy structure called the Daily 5. In this structure students gain access to many important skills such as:

* Independence

* Routines

* Choice over learning

* Stamina

* Engagement in hands on learning

* Reading, writing and working with words

Students will also participate in daily phonics lessons that support students learning around letters, sounds and making words. As the year progresses and foundational skills and routines have been established, students will participate in guided reading groups.

Math

In math, students will participate in hands on learning through the support of the Engage NY/Eureka curriculum. Students will begin with numbers 0-5 to build a foundation of structures and routines that will support their work with larger numbers and more complex concepts.

Writing

Students will take part in writing each and every day through the structure of the writing workshop. Writing is critical in early development. It allows students to express themselves, communicate ideas and thinking, and make connections with their learning throughout the other practices.

Science/Social Studies

Students will also learn about and explore several hands on engaging concepts in science and social studies based on the Vermont Early Learning Standards. These activities will include expansion of vocabulary and understanding, projects, field-trips and a lot of fun! Some topics include:

* Apples and Pumpkins

* Classroom Community

* Friendship and Kindness

* Community Helpers

* Maps

* Animals in Winter

* Seasons/Weather

* Force and Motion

* Earth Day

* Plants

.:: Classroom Management::.

Responsive Classroom

The St. Johnsbury School is working under a consistent structure called Responsive Classroom. Responsive Classroom supports natural/logical consequences (ie. something spills, you clean it up). We work to build trust and relationships with one another. We do not all need to be friends, but we do all need to be friendly and respectful. Responsive Classroom supports a proactive approach of understanding children and their development, making learning fun, taking body/mind breaks, movement, singing, dancing and putting children first. It believes in explicitly teaching skills and expectations so students understand what is expected of them and there are no surprises. This model can be described as a "go slow, to go fast". I have been using this structure for 4 years now and I believe that it supports the needs of students.

"Safe Space"

This year, I will be implementing a "safe space" in the classroom. This safe space will be a designated place in the classroom students can use for several purposes. Students may use it to calm down if they are having a strong emotion, or if they are having a hard time focusing. It is a proactive, sensory based space that supports students needs. It is not a punishment and will be accessible to all students. Stay tuned for more information later on this year!