Friday, November 12th

A BIG thank you to everyone who came to Parent-Teacher Conferences yesterday! Conferences are a great time to sit down and reflect on the first 10 weeks of school and celebrate all of the success our kids have had in Kindergarten thus far. I hope that you found the folder of ideas both informative and helpful.



Reader’s Workshop: Guided Reading Groups began this week in Reader’s Workshop. Each group is comprised of 3-5 like-ability readers. With many of our kids being at a similar level, the groups have also been structured to help students who have similar abilities (one-to-one matching of words, recognition of sight words, etc.) develop further. Please look for a colored “book bag” to come home many times during the week. There is info inside the bag telling you when the bag needs to be returned. Please make sure to return these prior or on the due date!


Writer’s Workshop: This week we spent more time stretching out the sounds that letters make within a word so that we can begin to write more words with our story illustrations. It has been impressive to see the growth in all of our writers and boy do they LOVE Writer’s Workshop!


Math: This week in math we have been working on skip counting. We introduced the concept of counting by two by using the days on our calendar. We have also been counting by 10s and are going to start counting by 5s next week! We will also begin doing some measuring next week.


Important News: Snack Leaders: Monday: Nick; Tuesday: Carly; Wednesday: Ava; Thursday: Thomas.


*As you may have heard, our kids have filled the “Big Catch”! I am still deciding on a date for this party, either next Friday, the 19th or Wednesday afternoon on the 24th. I will let you know as soon as I have info!


*Just a reminder to please begin sending in your child’s outfit for the Pow Wow on the morning of Wednesday, November 24th.

November 5, 2010

It has been a busy, busy week in Room 301!

Reading: This week we practiced talking about books with our partners! We have been learning to tell about our favorite part of a book. The kids have enjoyed reading a book one time through to learn the story and then re-reading the book to pick out their favorite parts. Mrs. W. finished assessments this week for reading levels and is eager to begin Guided Reading Groups next week. Please look for a colored “book bag” to come home with your child. There will be instructions in the bag for reading activities at home. It will also tell you inside when the bag needs to be returned to school for our next group meeting day!

Writing & Word Study: This week students have been learning to put words down after illustrating a picture. We have been practicing writing a story to go with our illustrations. We have looked at photos and made up stories about the photos to help us warm-up our minds for writing stories down in our Writing folders. To help build our letter-sound associations, we spent time doing an activity where we had to trace the letters of our name and put small punched out shapes on top of the letters. We also had a workstation where the kids used play dough or stamps to make letters and put them into words.

Math: This week we have done all sorts of things with math! Our calendar on the Smartboard has taught us about using unifix cubes to count. We have been working with cubes (each cube represents 1) and longs (each long represents 10 and is made of 10 cubes). We have tried counting different numbers and have been using these longs and cubes to count the days of school. Today was our 41st day of Kindergarten!

Important Announcements: Snack Leaders for next week include: Monday: Gabby; Tuesday: Emma; Wednesday: Hannah; Thursday: NO SCHOOL; Friday: Robby


**Please remember to return ALL October Reading Logs to school!!**


Important Upcoming Dates: (Make sure to set your clock back on Saturday night!!)


*Wednesday, November 10th – 9:30am “Buster the Bus” Bus Safety Assembly
*Wednesday, November 10th – 1:00-3:00pm Picture Retakes
*Thursday, November 11th – Parent/Teacher Conferences at Dublin
*Friday, November 12th – Spirit Day at Dublin – Hat Day

We are also collecting Box Tops for Education and Campbell Soup Labels in Room 301! If you have these at home on food, kleenex, zip loc bags, soups, etc. please send them in with your child. We have yearly contests at Dublin to see which class can collect the most. Be sure to check with cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, etc.! Let's see if Room 301 can collect the most! We are currently in 4th place of all of the classes at Dublin with 156 box tops turned in!


Have a fabulous weekend!! :-) Jen W.

Monday, November 1st

We had a spooktacular week last week in Room 301! A special thank you goes out to all of our Party Planner Extraordinaire Parents; Room 301’s party was one of the best around! It was fantastic to see everyone out on the parade route and at our party on Friday afternoon. Look for pictures to be posted onto the blog soon from our Halloween celebrations!

Reader’s Workshop In Reader’s Workshop this week we worked on our “D” and “E” books. Students have been practicing reading with their partners. We have really spent a lot of time modeling and practicing sitting “side by side” with the book in the “middle”. We’ve brainstormed ways the kids can share the job of picking the first book as well as topics partners can discuss with one another. Please make sure that you have sent in your Reading Log from October as new logs for November will come home on Wednesday!

Writer’s Workshop: This week we did our writing assessment. Each child was asked to draw a picture of a real or imaginary story that had to have an animal in it. We had some pretty creative illustrations! Then each child had to write a few words about their story. For some this was a very hard task (despite that many forget that they do know letters and their sounds) and simply have to put the sounds down to form the words. Please know that this is something we will be practicing ALL year long! I reinforced with many of the students the idea of simply putting down the beginning sound to each word and found that many instantly gained confidence in their writing abilities.

Math: In math this week we did many different counting activities. Our goal for the first quarter is for all students to be counting to 30 and many are well on their way past 30! We spend time daily counting different things in the room (calendar, days of school, kids in our class, etc.) and its becoming easier and easier for most of our kids to count this high.

Important Reminders: October Reading Logs need to be returned by Friday, November 5^th for your child to qualify for a special surprise. Please make sure you have returned your log to school. If you have lost your log but are certain your child has been read to, or been reading to you nightly, please feel free to drop me a note or an email.

Snack Leader’s for the week include: Monday: Skylar, Tuesday : NO SCHOOL, Wednesday: Narek, Thursdsay: Mrs. Weckstein, Friday: Geneva

Please remember there is no school on  Tuesday, November 2^nd due to Election Day. We simply do not want the kids in the building on the days the general public are all over the building for voting purposes!

Halloween Day Info

Hello 301 Parents!!

 I hope everyone enjoyed our first day OFF this school year!! It was definitely a surprise to me this morning, as I was on my way to Dublin when the fan out called from Dublin. I had a note that was going to go home with the kids today reminding everyone about our schedule for the day on Friday.

 All students should BRING their costumes to school for our party but come to school in regular clothes. If you have not sent in your $3 yet for the party, please do so tomorrow as well.

 From about 9:20-10:00am we will be in the Old Gym for a Magician Assembly. The rest of our morning will look as usual, and if possible, please have Nolan still bring in his snack and show-and-tell tomorrow for our Snack Leader. If you are not able, we do have a pretty good stash of leftovers! :-) The rest of our morning and lunch will look pretty normal (we have a lot of Halloween projects to finish up).

At 1:20pm the kids will come inside from recess and have a short bathroom and drink break. At 1:30 the kids will go to Art for a shortened 30 minute period. At 1:30pm it will be safe for parents who are helping with the party to come in and start setting up. At 2:00pm the kids will return to the room and ALL will be putting on their costumes. We are conveniently located right next to the restrooms, so that will help, but I anticipate they will be busy! If your child has a costume that needs extra attention, please plan on being at school around 2:00pm. At 2:30pm the Parade begins throughout the entire school. Our hallway is the last to join the parade route (that way we get to see everyone's costumes) and we will travel from our classroom down the main hallway towards the bus doors. We will come out of Dublin, and cross the street by the Nursing Home. Then we come back to school via the soccer fields and parade around the field. It is advised that all parents wait on the black-top to get photos, videos, etc. as we cross by the blacktop last.

We anticipate being back in our classroom around 3:00pm. Before we start the party, the kids of 301 have a special "something" to show! Then it'll be time to party!

If this is your first Halloween at Dublin there are a few things you will want to know! 1) Parking will be CRAZY. I would suggest coming to school early or plan on walking from the nearby neighborhood to the school. 2) There will be lots of commotion prior to the parade. If you plan on bringing little ones, just know that it will be BUSY. 3) If for some reason the weather is uncooperative, the Parade will still happen, but it will be led throughout the building.

I hope that helps clarify EVERYTHING! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me back, give the room a call tomorrow or stop by in the morning.

We're looking forward to an AWESOME day in 301!! :-) Jen

Friday, October 22nd

It has been a FANTASTIC week in Room 301! The great news is…. The Smartboard is up and running!! YES, our kids have all used the board and they are LOVING it! I’m pretty sure many of our parents have used the board too! We are able to do our attendance in the morning on the board as well as our daily calendar. We have done several math lessons with patterns on the board as well. It is incredible to see how engaging this tool is and how excited it has made our students about learning. Feel free to come watch attendance in the morning or check it out at the end of the day! We would not have this board without a very generous grant approval from Walled Lake Schools’ Foundation for Excellence.


Reader’s Workshop: This week students worked on their “Bb” and “Cc” books! We have been practicing reading these books fluently with and without the pictures to help us. These books will be coming home with your child today. Your child also brought home a silver or gold box today! These special boxes are for your reader to use to keep their little books in at home. Please pick a special place with them to keep this box so that it stays safe and in one piece.


Writer’s Workshop: This week in Writer’s Workshop students began adding color to their labeled illustrations. They are using the color to show emotions, details and more about their story. By adding color, we are helping the students to expand orally when they talk about their illustrations. Next week we will be doing our Developmental Writing Assessment (DWA), where each child will be given a prompt to illustrate a story about and be asked to write letters or words to tell their short story. I am eager to see what they can come up with.


Math: This week in math we have completed Number 9 in our counting and shapes book. We also spent time working with all sorts of patterns (check out the photo slide show to see us in action on Wednesday). Our mathematicians had time to explore with patterns on the Smartboard as well as with manipulatives at their seats. You should point out patterns in your house or out and about with your child, so they see that we are surrounded by patterns. We looked for patterns in our room and found a whole bunch!

Snack Leaders: Monday: Mason B; Tuesday: Evan C; Wednesday: Alycia Y; Thursay: Nolan C.
Top Dog: Emma K.

NEXT FRIDAY… Next Friday is a BIG deal in Kindergarten and across ALL of Dublin! We will have a magician assembly in the morning to begin our Halloween Day. In the afternoon our parents who have graciously volunteered to help with the party, will be meeting in our classroom around 1:30pm to start setting up. At 2:00pm ALL of our kids will be putting on their costumes. If your child has a complicated costume, please plan on coming in to help! At 2:30pm there is a school-wide parade! Kindergarten tends to lead the parade that travels through the building, out the doors by the bus loop, across the street to the Nursing Home and back to Dublin (around the soccer field) and onto the blacktop of the playground. Parents and extended families can come and watch the parade outdoors on the blacktop. It is advised that you come to Dublin early, as the parking lot will be VERY busy all day long. After the parade, around 2:45 or so, we will begin our classroom party. Our students have been working on a surprise to kick off our celebration! Our party will run from approximately 2:45-3:45pm.

If you have any questions about Friday, please feel free to contact me!
Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Jen W.

A digital scrapbook by Smilebox

Friday, October 15th

What a fantastic week we have had in Kindergarten!! Each day has been busy with something new…


Reader’s Workshop: This week we continued working with partners to read books! Students created their “Bb” books and have been practicing reading with their partners. We have also been reading a new big book, Mrs. Wishy Washy. Next Friday we will be decorating our little book boxes that the kids will be bringing home. If you can send in any donations of stickers or adhesive foam shapes that would be great! :-)

 Writer’s Workshop: Stories, stories and more stories! In Writer’s Workshop we have been writing stories by drawing pictures and adding labels to the important parts. Our writers’ have shown great improvements in their drawing and even began adding color to their drawings today to show more details of their story.


Math: In math this week we talked about patterns! We took a look at patterns we can make with counters, wooden beads and chain links that snap together. We continued working on our shape counting books too! This week we covered the numbers six, seven and eight! We are hoping to have these books done and home in the next week.


Science: This week we began our Science Unit! We talked about trees, seeds, and tree parts (roots, trunk, branches and leaves). On Tuesday we even planted a REAL maple tree! Be sure to ask your child about Mr. Maple! A special thank you to our two Dad’s who just happened to be helping in our room that day (they ended up digging us a giant hole and lifting the new Dublin kindergarten tree into the hole)!


Classroom Blog: Today you are reading our newsletter on the “News Blog”. We also have a “Kids Blog”. This week we went to the computer lab to type our first Blog article. Our little Bloggers were very excited to learn that they have their own Web Site where we will visit and post all kinds of neat things! You can visit the blog at: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=118873 .


**SmartBoard Update!! Yes, we are still waiting for an installation. There has been a problem with the mount that was delivered with the board. If we use the mount that was delivered, we would need to have our old white board removed from the wall. This poses a major problem. We are looking for an alternate way to mount the board as soon as possible with the minimal amount of damage!

Snack Leaders! Monday - Matthew, Tuesday - Kelsey, Thursday - Kaylee

Have a fantastic weekend!!! And by the way… GO GREEN!!!

Friday, October 8th

"The truck was the BEST part of the assembly. They even turned on their hose!" Anonymous 301 Kindergartner

It’s been a fabulous  week here in Room 301! Our kids have been busy learning all about fire safety as it was Fire Prevention Week at Dublin. We had our first assembly on Thursday with the White Lake Fire Department. They talked to the kids about the importance of “Stop, Drop and Roll” as well as having a plan in your house for what to do if you wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of a fire alarm. This would be a great time to review your plan with your child at home.

Reader’s Workshop: This week in Workshop we spent time with a new little book, “A Fireman”. We practiced reading this book on sentence strips, as a whole group and in the little books many times! An important part of Reader’s Workshop is the Independent Reading time. While many of our kids cannot fully “read” just yet, they are getting better and better at the routine. Our kids’ ability to recognize words in the little books is getting more and more frequent and they are starting to notice letters, sounds and how we blend the sounds together to make words. Our focus word this week was “the”.

Writer’s Workshop: In Writer’s Workshop we are working on adding words to the drawings we have created the past couple of weeks. By creating a drawing to represent stories, each child has now added labels onto important parts of their illustrations. Be sure to ask your child what they have been drawings on their pages for Writer’s Workshop.

Math: In Math we have been playing with numbers! We have been counting objects, counting on the calendar, counting on the hundreds chart and even counting the number of holes in buttons! We have read a couple of stories that have involved counting including: Ten Black Dots and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. With the Five Little Monkeys book we even learned the song and had volunteers act out the parts of the monkeys with monkey stuffed animals, the mom had a phone and the doctor had a stethoscope of course!

Science: We also began talking about our upcoming Science kit this week! Our kit will teach us about plants and trees. In a few weeks we will even be planting a maple tree as a grade level at Dublin! Look for our new tree, Mr. Maple, to be outside by the bus driveway soon. We began talking about trees by reading Eric Carle’s Tiny Little Seed book. We talked about the voyage the little seed made before becoming a large flower! Students worked on a painting project this week were they used their hands and fingerprints to create the fall colors of an autumn tree!

Important News: Snack Leader’s next week include: Monday – Thomas; Tuesday – Lily; Wednesday – Ben; Thursday – Kasey

Next Week’s Top Dog is…  (to be determined in class on Friday!)

A big THANK YOU to all that came out to help with the Dublin Fun Run on Friday! Look for pictures to be posted to the blog soon! :-) 

We took this picture after we received a gift of new books from Mrs. Weckstein's Grandparents!!!