K-C Weekly News
June 19, 2015.
What you really need to know.
- On this day last year, school was already over. Sigh.
- This week was a rousing success and a very proud time for me as your child's teacher! Every student put a huge amount of energy, time, patience and creativity into our talent show. Thank you so much for your support in our efforts to show how talented and cooperative our group is.
- As our final week of school draws to a close, we will finish our alphabet count down with X, Y and Z. No parent prep necessary. No homework. Nada. So things are finally going to slow down just a bit!
- Happy Father's day to all who are celebrating this weekend!
Our last special event will be on Monday, June 22 at 8:45 in the classroom. Kindergarten families are invited to come view their child's collective work samples from the year and to see a brief "year in review" slide show. I hope to see many of you then.
Mark your calendar.
Monday, 6/22 - Portfolio Day and Slide Show 8:45-9:10 in the Kindergarten classroom
Tuesday, 6/23 - Step up day for students! We will have a brief visit with the first grade teaching team together and ask questions about first grade.
Wednesday, 6/24 - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, All School Early Release at 12:15
Thursday, 6/25 - Summer vacation. See you in September :)
What we've been up to.
- We have finished our memory books and can't wait to share them with you.
- We talked about three dimensional solid shapes and have worked on identifying them in common objects like balls, cans and blocks. Look for cylinders, spheres, cones, and cubes at home.
- Our Kindergarten treasure bags are filling up with a year's worth of souvenirs. Everyone will receive a few classroom artifacts that we've made together (charts, calendars, murals, books, etc.) at our Everything Must Go Kindergarten Auction next week.
- On Thank You day we took the time to write thank you notes to our KASE teachers, literacy specialist and custodian who do so much to help us every day :)
- On Ww day we made predictions about a water experiment. What do you think will happen to sugar water if we leave it uncovered with a wooden chopstick suspended in it for a few days? We'll find out on Monday!
- We celebrated Hartman's 6th Birthday, our last birthday of the year!
- We stopped rehearsing for our talent show and suddenly seemed to have plenty of time on our hands to enjoy free choice and PLAYING with each other!
Links of the week.
Tips for Summer Reading and Writing from PBS:
Fun activities for lazy summer days:
http://www.education.com/slideshow/preschoolactivities/
First Grade math practice:
Story time with Wes and Micah!
Under our tables on UNDER day!
Playing with moon sand!
The things kids say. For real.
Here's my favorite response to my annual memory book query, "What would you do if you were the teacher?"
Student 1: I would have gray hair.
Mrs. Cohen: I hear you sistah.
But really my ultimate favorite student comment of the week came during choice time on Thursday. There is lots of dissension among early childhood educators about the importance and/or necessity of using our limited time with our students to let them experience open ended play where kids get to choose partners, set goals, solve problems, and figure things out for themselves. I think it's an imperative part of their developmental path and part of my job to give them opportunities for independent learning through play with interesting materials and various partners.
After rehearsals and book fairs and workbooks and writing assignments were done, the choice sign went back on the schedule. The math center was open, all of the materials were fair game. A group of students took out the giant basket of connecting cubes and got to work. And then I had this exchange with a student:
Student: I made a bridge with these. And a tower. And this is how you get across. These pieces go together.
Mrs. Cohen: That's an awesome. I didn't even know you could bend those into a curved shape to make a bridge.
Student: There's so much ways to make something! (I wrote that down so I would remember it.)
And then he quietly gifted his construction to me by leaving it on my desk and moved on to make another.
Kindergarten 101 :)