The MItten

Hello Families,

Last week we read the book "The Mitten" by Jan Brett.  We did quite a bit of writing with it and some projects.

We made a class book, wrote about what we would do if we only had one mitten and wrote about what animals would fit in our mitten!

We are really starting to focus on writing.  That includes a capital letter at the beginning, 2-finger spaces in between words, ending punctuation and sound spelling.  They are doing fantastic with it!

On Friday we made a sequencing activity using a paper bag and pictures of the animals.  Your student enjoyed making it and being able to put the animals in the glove in the same order as the book!

We also visited the computer lab for the first time! It was a big stressful as they were all trying to log in.  However, we will keep practicing in our classroom and at the computer lab.  We will be going every other Friday at the end of the day!

There aren't a lot of pictures because I was doing a million things at once this week! I will try to take more next week!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Mrs. Leopold

Learning Dynamics

Happy Tuesday!

As you know, our school is piloting a program for our district called Learning Dynamics.  I am so excited for this program because it was created by teachers over a 17 year period.  It is age appropriate and the students LOVE it! :)  There are quite a few parts with it and I wanted to take time to let you know what all the pieces are and what is expected of students and families.

This program relies quite a deal on family help.  :)

If your student is have a little trouble remembering letter names and sounds then they will be bringing home this sheet:

One they have mastered all the letter names and sounds then they will be bringing home books.  The amazing thing about this program is that the students get to keep the books! They will end up with a whole set of books by the end of the year!!! :) The books look like this:

With the book they will be bringing home a sheet that looks like this:

They are to read the book 1 time a night as part of their homework.  Every time they read a book they get to color 1 picture in.  When all the pictures are colored in (they read the book 5 times) they can return it to me for a special prize. 

I will meet with them once a week (I am still figuring out my times) and I will read the previous book with them.  If they pass the book, they will get a new book.  If they struggled with the words or blending in the book they will get a new sheet and work on the same book for another week.

On top of all this, they will also be bringing home a CD! The students LOVE the songs and will beg you play the songs.  Please play it as often as you can! This will help them remember the sounds the letters make! I will apologize ahead of time because these songs WILL GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD! I know! :) But, the kids truly love them! The CD looks like this:

Let me know if you have any questions! I am so excited to see how the programs helps our students.  It once again does rely an awful lot on parent/family involvement.  Please take 2 minutes to read the book with your student each night! It will make a HUGE difference!

Have a fantastic evening,

Mrs. Leopold

Catching up....

Hello families!!!

I must once again apologize for the space between all my posts!!! December was crazy but it was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of the fun we had.... 

We used our Gingerbread Men to show a way to make 5!

We had some parent volunteers come in and help us make Reindeer Cupcakes!!! 

 

The Grinch Day was a success! They thoroughly enjoyed all the green grinchy things we did!

I hope you guys were able to enjoy the break with you kiddos! I am sure you were plenty busy, but I truly hope you able to spend some quality time with your family and friends!

I had a blast on my break! Here are some of my pictures...  

       

I got to feed a giraffe!!! I was so excited!

 

        

My friend Adrienne (a teacher in Yuma)  came and spent the holidays with me and my husband.

                 

I climbed a mountain! It was quite amazing!

 

I am going try and post once a week again! Hopefully with the crazy holiday season over life won't be so hectic! 

Have a great week,

Mrs. Leopold

Picture Overload!

Hello families,

Here are quite a few pictures of the things we have been doing! Enjoy!



In early October we hosted an event called
"Read A Book, Get A Cookie".  We
paired up with an 8th grade class.  It was
fun to see how the "big kids" interact with
our Kinders.  They loved reading to them
and listening to stories.  

They were able to get to know their 8th grade buddies,
and even got switch and meet different buddies. 

We also had our Perfect Attendance Assembly.  We were also able to recognize some of our "Character Counts" kids.  It was hard to pick just 2 students...but I will have 3 more chances to pick several more students.







I had a few parents willing to try out "Group Conferences".  I only had one group conference, but it was fun!
















Finally, we did our Pumpkin Unit! We explored pumpkins, did math with pumpkins and had fun! (I forgot to take pictures of friends that were dressed up for Halloween.  It was a crazy day!)

Sorry it took me so long to get these up! I have been taking lots of pictures still.  I will be sharing more soon!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Leopold

Long Overdue!

Hello families!

I am so sorry that I have let the Blog go on the back burner over the past few weeks.  I am writing this last minute to let you know about what is happening tomorrow/this week! I will be updating with pictures (I have a lot to share) this coming week. Look for posts!

Tomorrow is RED, WHITE, and BLUE day! Please send your student to school wearing all or some of these colors to pay tribute to Veterans. 

NO SCHOOL on Tuesday  in honor of Veteran's Day. 

Veteran's Day is very important to me as I have many Veterans in my family. We will be writing thank you notes to Veteran's on Monday and also making a craft to do with Veteran's Day.

Once again...look for more posts over the week. :)

Have a good week,

Shannon Leopold

Conferences

Hello families,

Conferences are going to be here before you know it.  I wanted to get the sign up list out before Thursday, but I was not able to because I had to finalize everything going on that week.

I am going to be trying something new this year.  I got this idea from a fellow teacher (who happened to be teacher of the year at our school last year) and fell in love with it!  Instead of doing individual conferences-I am going to do group conferences.  Don't panic...it will be awesome!  :)

During our conferences I will NOT speak specifically about your child in front of other parents.  Instead, I will group your students with other students who are at their same level. I will have a folder with your students name on it.  In that folder will be data on your child.  I will go over what the data means, and averages for the data.  This will really help you understand exactly what I test, what I expect and where your student stands in school.

After we go over the data, I will have a "make and take" portion.  Where you and your student can make a game(s) or activities to do at home that will help them in specific areas. Of course, if you have any further questions I will be available to discuss them with you afterwards.

The sessions will be schedule for 45 minutes.  If we get done before that-then by all means, you are able to leave.  However, I will be there for the complete time.  I will send home a sign up sheet tomorrow (Thursday) with your student.  The sooner I get them back the sooner I will be able to schedule and let you know when your conference is. I will available on email throughout Fall Break if you have any questions after Friday.

If you are uncomfortable with this method please don't hesitate to talk to me.  I am more than willing to do independent conferences.  I just want to build a community within our classroom among parents as well as students. Once again, if you have any further questions or concerns just give me a call, or an email or stop in to talk.

Have a great evening,

Shannon Leopold

Apples, BBQs, and puppets

Hello Families,

This week was a fun week learning about apples! We got to make an apple puppet, taste test apple items and learn about Johnny Appleseed!

On Friday we had a Western BBQ.  The students ate outside around the planter and some parents were able to come spend time with their student! Here are some pictures of them enjoying their BBQ lunches.

We also got to make Apple Puppets! The students had a blast making this and a few of them even told me that it was "the best day ever!"  Which of course was adorable and I loved hearing it! :)  They are getting very good at cutting and came to show me how well they had improved with cutting on the line.

We also had our 2nd grade reading buddies come down and read with us! They love being able to spend time with their reading buddies and show them our room.  It is so fun to see the 2nd graders helping them with reading and sounding out words.  They are like little teachers when they are in our room.

Last but not least, we had our apple taste testing snack! You were so generous with all your apple donations that we will be eating healthy apple snacks for the next week!

We had a great week learning about apples! :)

This week in Kindergarten...

We will be learning about the Fall/Autumn season.  I have to be honest-my favorite time of year is October-January! I love everything about fall and winter.  I love the holidays and the fun stuff we get to do with it.  

I will also be sending home the first scholastic reading order from home.  It will be due in 2 weeks! If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Library is on Monday.  Please make sure your child's library book is in their bag so they can get a new book this week!

I am still assessing for report cards.  I hope to have it all done before fall break.  Please make sure your student is at school every day so they can be assessed.

Next week (October 6-10) is fall break.  

Have a great Sunday!

Shannon Leopold

Western BBQ and more

The Western BBQ is tomorrow! Kindergarten lunch is from 10:30-11:00.  You are invited to come spend time with them and eat lunch! An adult meal is only $3.00. When you come you have to come through the office.

Pictures are in! I will be sending them home today.  I will discuss how important it is to NOT bend them and to put them in their BEE Binder.  :)

Report cards are coming up, along with Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences! I will be assessing students for their grades! Please make sure your child is here every day so that I can assess them.

Library! Our Library time is on Mondays.  Please make sure your student return the books on time.  If it is not returned they will not be permitted to get a new book.

I think that is all! Have a great Thursday!

Mrs. Leopold

Apples, Apples, Apples

Hello!

Sadly, I don't have any pictures this week.  I forgot to bring my camera with me during the Poetry in Motion and the Bus Safety event.  However, we will continue to do apples next week and we will get to do plenty of things that I can take pictures of!

We did learn about Johnny Appleseed this week.  We have two more books to read about Johnny Appleseed and we are going to compare and contrast the books.  For, science we are learning about the parts of an apple, apple trees, apple orchards and picking apples.  We are also going to taste test apples, apple juice, and applesauce!

We also got to see Poetry in Motion. It is a dance group that shoes how poetry and dance are types of art.  We read the book "Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss to prepare for the show.  They did a mini-ballet to that book. The students loved it.

We also learned about how to be safe on a bus.  We got to watch movie about bus safety and then go on a bus and meet the bus driver.  The students had a lot of fun on the bus!

This week in Kindergarten...

Homework: I am adding a math sheet of homework for every day.  I will put the day on there to do it because it will be corresponding with what we learned in class that day. If you would like even extra practice or more worksheets for you student then please let me know. I don't want to overwhelm them, but I had a lot of parents ask for extra practice. 

Donations: In order to do our taste tests of apples we need the following

• Apples (Green, red and yellow.  Each child will just get a slice of apple)
• Apple Juice (If you get a big container we also need cups. Or you can get the apple juice  boxes.)
• Apple sauce without cinnamon (If you get a big container we also need plates)
• Spoons (for the applesauce)

Remember, we don't have school on Wednesday because it is Professional Development for us teachers.

I think that is all for now!  I hope you have had a good weekend.

Mrs. Leopold

Farming and Centers

Happy Sunday!

I hope you have found your weekend to be relaxing and energizing!

This last week, we were learning about Farms and farm animals! We read the book "A Farm" in our reading group which slowly getting underway.  It is a lot to learn just learning how to do a reading group! We practiced "Partner Reading" this week.  The students sit knee to knee and elbow to elbow and take turns reading the pages.  Here are a few of our students practicing...

We also practice writing, even if that meant scribble writing.  They were told to write about their S picture. For example, I modeled drawing a snowman and wrote "A snowman."  Here are some examples of our friends writing!

We also practiced working in centers during our scheduled intervention time.  This is used to pull small groups so students get extra needed attention. If they are not in a small group they are working in centers with a partner.  Right now, all of our centers are letter naming games or putting the alphabet in order.  As they master letter names and putting the letters in order we will add different centers.

As you can tell, they LOVE to play in centers and with their partners! 

Coming up this week in Kindergarten...

 APPLES! I love the fall and enjoy doing all the units that come along with it! :)

Also, coming home tomorrow (Monday) is a progress report! It has a part on the bottom that you need to write your child's name, sign it, and comment anything if you wish.  It must be turned into me by the 24th!! Thank you for helping your child be successful in school!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let me know! All of my information is sent home on my Newsletters!

Enjoy your Sunday Night!

Shannon Leopold

Pete the Cat

Happy Monday!

I hope that the "Rain Day" did not cause you much frustration! Here are some pictures of what we did last week....

We are practicing Daily 5 for reading and writing! :) I have seen several teachers use Daily 5 successfully in their classrooms and was eager to start it with your students! The goal of Daily 5 is to have each student working at their own personal level which allows me to pull small groups or work individually with students.  The first few months of Daily 5 is rough with such a young age group. We are practicing "Read to Self" right now.  Students are given book(s) and they choose a spot and read.  They can read the pictures, read the words (if able), and retell the story.  My goal is to get them up to 15 minutes before we move on to another skill.  Right now, we are at 2 minutes and 21 seconds after just 3 days!!! I am so proud of your students for being such good learners!

We also did a cut and paste activity for the letter Cc! We tried a new gluing technique that helps not get everything covered in glue and/or ruin the glue sticks.  So far, it has worked beautifully! Your student was to cut out the pictures and glue on the ones that started with C.  I am proud to say that EVERY student completed the assignment correctly!!! :)

Overall, it was a great week! I see your child improving and learning EVERY DAY in school whether it be just remembering routines to seeing them understand a new concept.  That is one of the many reasons I love teaching Kindergarten!

This week we will be learning about FARMS! We will be making some arts and crafts and reading about real life farms along with stories about farms. 

As always, I hope you enjoyed your weekend and "Rain Day"!

Mrs Leopold.