Picture
Day! The Relatives Came!
This is a reminder that tomorrow is our school picture day. Our photos will be
taken tomorrow morning. All orders for photo packages must be turned in at that
time. I doubt the company will accept late orders since their headquarters is
not here in N.C. If you want your child to wear something spiffy for the photo
and then change into their regular school clothing afterwards, just let me know
in the morning. Thank you!
Also, this Friday
at 1:00 is our “Relatives Came” event. Please,
come prepared with a favorite picture book to read to a small group of children
including your child. If you would also like to provide a small snack for the
children in your group that is fine. Some people go the WAY extra mile and try
to connect the snack to the story. For example, on your child’s screening day
we read them a story about a dog named Spot and then gave the children “Scooby
Snack” graham crackers that are shaped like dog treats. You do not have to do
that. Fruit snacks, graham crackers, Goldfish crackers, and popcorn are usually
safe snacks even for our children with food allergies. See you Friday!
IB Learner Profile
Over the past two weeks, our class has
been talking about what it means to be an IB learner. There are certain traits
that we try to instill in each child here at Joyner that will make them
life-long learners and achievers. We refer to this list of traits as the IB
Learner Profile. We expect our students to be: Inquirers,
Thinkers, Knowledgeable, Communicators,
Principled, Open-Minded,
Caring, Risk-Takers,
Balanced, and Reflective.
Each day I have read a book that illustrates one of these traits. After reading
the children then think about ways that they can exhibit these traits either at
school or at home. I ask them to draw a picture of themselves and tell me how
they would be these things. I have been extremely impressed with the amount of
thought that the children have put into their drawings and their sentences.
Once we have finished all 10 traits on Monday, I will display the children’s
work in the hallway. Please, look for their IB Learner Profiles soon.
Math Skills and Centers
We have been working diligently these
past few weeks on number sense, one-to-one correspondence, numeral recognition,
and the concepts of “less”, “more”, and “equal”. We have started with amounts
from 0 to 10, but we will gradually increase that amount over time. It is
important to start with lower amounts to build foundational skills, even for
children who have been accurately counting to ten for quite some time.
Number sense
is about having a basic understanding of what numbers are and how they work.
This goes beyond rote counting or saying the words “one, two, three…ten” in the
correct sequence. When you hear the word “number” you should think of an
amount. Developing this skill means a kindergartner can look at two numbers
like 4 and 7
and quickly be able to tell someone which of the amounts
would be more or less. It also means that your child is
primarily working with sets of objects and not forced to magically do
everything in his/her head.
One-to-one
correspondence refers to a child’s ability to accurately and consistently count to a particular
number. For instance, if I ask children to show me 17 plastic cubes, some
children may say the right words in the correct order but not match their
counting of objects to the words they are saying. The child may actually make a
group of 20 cubes or 15 cubes instead. We start with smaller amounts to make
sure children have one-to-one correspondence strategies in place before we tackle
larger amounts.
Numeral
recognition is the ability to see the symbols 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and 9 and know what they are called. This is not the same thing as number sense. For example, numeral recognition means that later on they know that twelve
is written using the numeral “1” followed by the numeral “2”. Number sense means the child understands that “12”
and “twelve” are the same thing and that a set of twelve objects would be made
of a group of ten and two more. While it may seem that we are working with
simple ideas, your child is actually dealing with some very abstract concepts.
On a related note, we typically work in
math centers from 11:00 – 12:00 each day. Then, we clean up; go to the
bathroom; wash hands; and then, go to lunch at 12:15. If you would be willing
to volunteer during this time, be on the look out for a sign-up sheet in
Monday’s O.T.I.S. folder. Don’t worry. Most of the volunteering requires you to
play a game with a group of 2-5 children. Thank you!
Field Trip to Ganyard Hill Farm
I
also just wanted to thank all of the parents who have signed and returned their
permission form, and those who have paid for their child to go. We do have some
children in our class who cannot afford to go so if you would be willing to
donate an extra $15 for another child to go, I would greatly appreciate it! You
can simply put it in an envelope in your child’s O.T.I.S. folder marked “Field
Trip Donation”.
I
would also like to thank the parents and grandparents who have graciously
agreed to chaperone our trip on Thursday, October 16. I will send this
information home to chaperones the day before the trip, but for those of you who would rather not try to keep up with an
incredibly slow school bus on busy Raleigh streets and short stoplights, you
can check out driving directions (and what the farm is like) at www.pumpkincountry.com. If you have any questions about being a
chaperone or the trip, feel free to contact me.
