Hello Families!
Our first two days were fantastic! It was so lovely to meet all of you and to start forming our classroom community. Our class is completely lovely and I am so excited for a great year! I will be sending out a newsletter every Sunday unless we are having a holiday, in which case I will send it out on the last day of the holiday. So, here is the upcoming news for this first full week...
A VERY SHORT BIO: I have been teaching since (gulp) 1994. I've always been in District 3 - spent 5 years at PS 149 in Harlem and then came to MSC in 1999 when we were still a very small school. I took a 6&1/2 year break from teaching starting with the birth of my oldest son Auden in 2003, and in 2007 I also had twin sons, Seamus and Wyatt. I came back to MSC in 2010 (a much bigger school by then) and my sons came with me (eventually all of them.) Now Seamus and Wyatt are in 7th grade and Auden is at Beacon High School. My husband Bud and I and our boys live in the neighborhood so I'm sure I'll be bumping into many of you outside of school!
CLASS PARENTS: Every class at MSC has "Class Parents." These are parents who are willing to do things like form a class google page (or some way for families to communicate with one another), sometimes be the go-between for me and the class if there is an urgent message or a request - things like that. I put up a sign up sheet outside the classroom for 2 or 3 parents.
SNACK: There is a calendar outside the classroom for families to sign up for bringing snack. Families should sign up to bring snack for one week. Whatever is convenient for you is fine, whether you bring a snack each day or bring it in bulk for the week. We do have a child with severe nut and egg allergies so please keep that in mind when choosing snacks. We also try to keep things healthy and the only snacks I ask you not to buy are popcorn and rice cakes - too messy! Also, I cannot peel oranges or wash fruit as I am the only teacher in the room so please bring things prepared to give out. Bags of food are fine - I can pour out piles of pretzels, goldfish - things like that for the kids to share. Otherwise here are some ideas: fruit, cut up veggies, nut free granola bars, any kind of crackers/snack food in bags, yogurt squeezers, cheese sticks. We have 24 kids in our class. *Nobody has signed up for this week so please let me know if you can do it and I will let the class know. Thank you!!!!
WATER: The most efficient, least disruptive way for kindergartners to get water whenever they are thirsty is to have water inside the classroom. We already have a water dispenser and just need somebody to take on collecting money and then securing a water delivery for us. Is anybody happy to do this? If so, please let me know and I can fill you in on how parents have done it in the past. Thank you! Also, there are 2 ways we can "do" drinking water - we can have permanent plastic/tin cups with the kids' names and each Friday a different parent takes them home to wash them for Monday, OR kids can just bring a water bottle and fill it. Both ways work (if the washing happens.) So how about for this week kids bring a water bottle since we have no cups yet and you can let me know your opinion about cups during the week and we'll go with what the majority wants.
FAMILY PHOTOS: Please send in a small family photo by Friday. It is so comforting and beneficial for your child to see his/her family every day in the classroom! Now, if you're like my family and there is usually one person who is missing from every photo, you can always collage a face or body in! It would be best if it were not too big - like around a 5 x 7 but I will be thankful for whatever you give me!
FAMILY SING/KINDERGARTEN SING/HOOTENANNIES: I play piano and our class will be learning many songs this year! We will be singing every day. Once a week we will also be inviting Julia's class into our room to learn songs and sing with us. Every first Friday of the month from 8:25 - 8:55 you are invited to stay and sing with your child for Family Sing. In the beginning it won't be that long because we won't know that many songs, so for example in October, our first sing will maybe last 15 minutes. Please don't be upset if you can't manage to stay (and btw - siblings are welcome!), all the families who can come will scoop up your child and sing with/love them.
Gerri and Lindsey - the kindergarten teachers in room 506 also play instruments, so they invite Kysha's class to come learn songs once a week too. Then, usually in December we have a whole kindergarten Hootenanny! We all come together and invite kindergarten grown ups who play instruments to play with us and we sing all the songs we have learned so far! Then we have another one in June. So fun!
OUR SPECIALS SCHEDULE:
Monday: Greenhouse with Shakira
Tuesday: Gym with Dinko (kids should wear shoes they can run in)
Wednesday: Dance with Nadia (This will switch in the spring to Art. * Kids have to take their shoes and socks off to be in the dance room so on these days please make sure your child is wearing shoes that either can be slipped on/off or wear shoes that your child can take on and off themselves, and no tights. Thanks!)
Thursday: Gym with Dinko
Friday: Dance with Nadia
We have recess every day from 9:55- 10:35. All the kindergarten classes and teachers are at recess together every day.
LUNCH: I am not with the class at lunch. Shelley, the music teacher is the lunch teacher in our room. Besides "doing" lunch, she will also be teaching them music after they finish! Also, school lunch is free. If you would like your child to eat school lunch there is a sign up sheet outside the classroom where you can sign them up. They can have it every day or just on "Pizza Fridays!"
FIELD TRIP FRIDAYS: Also, the first Friday of every month, every class in the entire school goes on a field trip. If you have any great ideas about trips please let me know!
WHAT WE ARE UP TO:
We are all getting to know each other, our classroom, our school and the routines of the day. This week we will continue to get comfortable and will start a few special projects. We will read some awesome books including Elephants Cannot Dance by Mo Willems. After reading that book we will have a discussion about what it means to say "I can" and to give things our best TRY. I let the kids know that we love mistakes in kindergarten because of course we all make them and they always help us learn. The more mistakes the better! We will brainstorm a list of things that we want to try this year in kindergarten and then create pictures of ourselves doing our "try." This will become a visualization of what our hopes and dreams are for kindergarten this year.
We will learn new greetings and routines for our Morning Meeting, learn new games, dances, songs, and make friends with one another. Last week we started to learn the lyrics to This Land is Your Land, and learned the Chicken Dance! This week we will continue to learn those songs and learn new ones as well. By the way, ask your kids about what an "Interrupting Chicken" is!
This week we are also going to start some extremely important work around developing our Classroom Agreement - or class rules. Once we have figured out and decided upon our agreement, I will share it with you.
We will also be creating self portraits as part of our "Myself and Others" social studies work, taking tours of the floors of school, having guided discoveries of tools we will be using in math and starting some phonics work using our names.
This is going to be a very fun but possibly a tiring week for your little ones. Sometimes when kids realize they have to pull it together for school day after day they fall apart a bit in the morning before the day starts. Most often, you bear the brunt of this and they may cry a little at separating when they day starts. I can assure you - once you leave they are fine. It usually takes a minute or two and then they are busy and content. It's all good!
Please don't hesitate to reach out to me via email if you have any questions or concerns. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
Love,
Lynn