Ms. Jen's Blog

Parents,

Here is the information for the schools literacy night.

2018 Literacy Flyer (1)

MAPA Board  is currently looking for a VP for the remainder of the year who will then become the president for the 2108-2019 school year. Please contact heidibradley81@gmail.com if you or you know someone who would be interested.

Parents,

I know several of you have had difficulty with registering for the new track it forward.  I spoke with Heidi Bradley the MAPA president about this issue.  The confirmation that needs to happen takes about 24 hours to complete.  This means that once you fill out your registration you need to wait about 24 hours before you sign up for anything.  Hopefully this helps with any frustration you migh have had.  Let me know if your still having trouble.

Ms. Jen

Parents,

This week is parent teacher conferences.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are early out.  This means the morning class will be from 8:30 am  to 10:30 am and the afternoon class will be from 11 am to 1 pm.  If you have not had a chance to sign up here is the link https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/events

This week we will be talking about the different layers of the rain forest and the plants and animals that live there.  We will  learn about the different types of amphibians that there are as well as the different types of roots.  We will also look at the art work of Vincent Van Gogh.

Wednesday will be our formal Valentine snack and the kids will hand out their Valentines to their classmates.  We have 25 students in both the morning and afternoon classes.  Your child does not need to make a valentine box we will be making those in class.

There will be no school on Monday February 19th for president’s day.

Ms. Martha and I look forward to seeing each of you at PTC.  Have a great week.

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

This Wednesday is the 100th day of school!! I cannot believe its already here.  We will have several activities that center around the idea of 100.  One of the activities we have for the kids is to come and count with me out in the hall.  We use this as one of our assessments.  A standard for kindergarten is that students will be able to count to 100 by 1’s and 10’s.  We have been practicing in class but it wouldn’t hurt to do a little practice at home as well.  Some of our junior high peer mentors will be helping us with our activities.

This week we will begin our study of South America and the Tropical Forest biome.  In botany we will begin our study of roots, in zoology we will be learning about amphibians, in science we will be focusing on measurement and in art we will talk about the element of texture.

I know that valentines is not until next week but I wanted to give you an heads up on how that day will look for our class.  Over the years I have done many different activities to celebrate this holiday.  One day some of my students were asking me how I celebrate Valentines day.  It got me thinking about what most adults do, go out for a nice dinner.  As a result of this and trying to incorporate Montessori grace and courtesy we have a formal snack on this day.  The students help set the tables with cloth table cloths.  They set the tables, arrange the flowers for the center of the table and serve each other.  We talk about what kind of manners people use at a restaurant like putting their napkins on their laps and not talking with their mouth full.  Every year that I have done this the kids have loved it.  We will be having a waffles with fruit and whipped cream. We will have each child make a Valentine bag at school so you do not need to worry about making one at home.  If you are sending your child with Valentines to deliver please just address them by who they are from not designating who they are going to (this makes delivery much easier 😉  Both classes have 25 students.

If you missed the link to sign up to help with our valentine snack or sign up for parent teacher conferences here is the link https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/events

Let me know if you have questions.  Instead of posting a volunteer sign up each week please just send me an email if you would like to come in.  We welcome volunteers anytime!

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

I have made the Parent teacher conference sign up sheet.  The school is asking us to use a new website than we have in the past.  Here is the link https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/events

Once you are there you will look for the PTC sheet that says Ms. Jen.  We ask that this be a parent and teacher  only confernce.  We will have the students come to the last conference of the year.

I have also made a sign up for our Valentine party.  You can find it on the same link.

Thank you for all of your support

Ms. Jen

Parents,

I cannot believe it is the last week of January.  Time is going way too fast.  This week we will be doing a close read on the book Under the Ocean by Fiona Patchett.  We will begin by reading the entire book and then each day after that we will focus on a different page of the book.  The students will be making their own informative books based on what we read each day.

We will also talk about the life cycle of fish and explore buoyancy using tin foil boats.  We will end the week by making some string art to go along with Picasso’s line drawings.

Typically as the year progresses the students become more like siblings.  They know each other very well and sometimes contention occurs in class.  In the book Children who are not yet peaceful, Donna Goertz quotes  Daniel Goleman, who has studied emotional literacy in schools.  He said “Some. . . infiltrate their (emotional literacy) lessons into the very fabric of school life.  The assumption is that such moments (strife among children) are ripe opportunities to teach children skills . . .and that there are better ways to discipline than coercion. . .The immediate lesson is that there are impartial, fair ways to settle  . . .disputes, while the deeper teaching is that disputes can be negotiated and children can apply skills such as these throughout life.  It has a more positive message than the ubiquitous, authoritarian ‘Stop that’, that too often slips, unbidden, from our mouths”.  We try to use any moments of strife as teaching opportunities and encourage you to try the same approach at home.  I know it takes more effort and patience (which can be in short supply at the end of a long day) but the outcome is worth the effort.

Have a great week.

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

This week we will continue talking about win win situations.  We will discuss the parts of a fish as well as talk about what other animals live in the ocean.  The students will be making ocean creatures to add to our ocean biome in the hallway.  We will also talk about salt water buoyancy. We will talk about Pablo Picasso and look specifically at some of his line drawings.  On Friday we will have the opportunity to work with some of our junior high mentors on how to catch and throw.  This week Ms. Martha and I will increase the expectation for our kindergarten students to complete 2 challenging works each day.  They can choose from reading, writing and math.  We will be working with them so that each child can be successful in this.

Here is the link to volunteer https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/nxvfy

Have a great week.

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

This week we will be talking about Steven Covey’s 4th Habit of Happy Kids which is “Think Win-Win”.  In this habit we will be moving from the private victory to the public victory.  Our first 3 habits were all about bettering ourselves and improving our own lives.  With “Think win-win”  we will learn about 4 outcomes that are available when you interact with someone else; win-win, win-loose, loose-win, and loose-loose.

Win-Win-  “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us.” People who search for solutions that make them happy and at the same time make others happy. People in this category have both the courage to say what they want and the consideration to work toward mutual benefit.

Win-Loose- “I am going to beat you no matter what”  People who fit in this category are only concerned with themselves they want to win and make others loose. They have the courage to say what they want, but are low on consideration. With win-loose you think of competition, comparison, power, and position.  This is actually a very common interaction in our society.  As parents we naturally have position over our children and sometimes put our agenda over theirs.  We must remind ourselves to constantly be on guard for situations in which we can change a win-loose to a win-win when interacting with children.

Loose-Win- “I always get stepped on”  People in this category have lots of consideration of others but they lack the courage to express and act on their own feelings and beliefs.  Too much time in this category creates the victim mentality and people who just follow the crowd.  They may bury a lot of their feelings, have no demands or expectations of others, and they are quick to please others even at the expense of themselves.

Loose-Loose- “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.”  People in this category are low on courage and consideration they envy and criticize others.  They put themselves and others down.  This situation can be the long term result of a win-lose.

In class we will talk about ways to make situations win-win, we will think of cooperation, communication, and seek for mutual benefit.

This week we will be learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and will listen to a portion of his “I have a dream speech”.  We will also be reading the story of Ruby Bridges and how as a kindergarten student she was brave, kind, and helped to make education available for everyone.

We will introduce our next class of vertebrates, Fish.  We will discuss the different characteristics of a fish: they lay eggs, they are cold blooded, they have fins and breath with gills.  We will also be identifying the different layers of the ocean and will be creating an ocean mural throughout the month.  If I remember I will take a picture of it when we are finished.  We will be studying stems this week and will talk about what they do for plants.

FRIDAY NO SCHOOL for professional development.

Parents,

One of our new practical life works is juicing an orange to make orange juice.  We could a few donations of whole oranges.  Thank you in advance for your support.
Ms. Jen