October has kicked off our study of the planet Earth. We are talking about what makes our Earth special—in particular, land, air, and water. Thinking about what animals and vehicles occupy those spaces is so interesting, and we are having a lot of fun categorizing them all. We are exploring land and water forms as well. Do you know the opposite of a system of lakes? No? It’s an archipelago—a cluster of islands!

Here are other land and water forms we’ve talked about:

• Isthmus and Strait
• Island and Lake
• Cape and Bay
• Peninsula and Gulf

It is so fitting that we are talking so much about our planet because we are celebrating our first class birthday this week! The birthday child walks around the sun while holding the globe, representing the passing of a year and turning another year older.

Our Kindergarteners are leaning into their roles as class leaders. They are willingly and enthusiastically giving lessons, guiding others, and being the best role models for our younger students.

The poem we began practicing this week is:

In October I’ll be host
To witches, goblins and a ghost!
I’ll serve them chicken soup on toast.
Whoopy once,
Whoopy twice,
Whoopy chicken soup with rice!

-Maurice Sendak

Warmly,

Marissa & Sue

 

Now that we have been in the classroom for many weeks, returning students are finding their rhythm and picking up right where they left off! Our new Kindergarteners are settling into their new roles as classroom leaders, and they all take it very seriously! Our new students are internalizing our rhythms and routines and looking forward to many parts of our day.

We continue our study of the Solar System. We have learned some interesting facts about our solar system. Did you know that the sun is the ONLY star in our solar system? We were amazed! All the other stars we see at night are far far away, not in our solar system.

Try to recite this poem we have been practicing with your child:

“Mr. Moon, Mr. Moon,

You’re out too soon, the sun is still in the sky!

Go back to bed and cover your head

And wait for the day to pass by.”

Next month, we will zoom closer into life and change our focus from the Solar System to planet Earth!

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We look forward to seeing you at Parent-Teacher Conferences on October 25. Please sign up for your conference here.

We know it takes time for the new rhythm of school days to become familiar. So, while taking one step at a time, we are slowly building the foundations for a smooth, exciting school year.

In just a few short days, we as a class are learning:

• how to navigate our way around the environment
• how to wait for a lesson
• the routines of our school day
• how to prepare for snack and lunch independently
• about being part of a large group meeting by listening and sharing
• care of self and care of the environment

Our returning friends have been role models for our new friends. It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to be a leader. It wasn’t so long ago that they were new to the classroom themselves, and they accepted this new responsibility with excitement and confidence.

A question we frequently hear from parents is, “What can I do at home to help my child be successful at school?” One way to do so is to guide your child to become as independent as possible. Your child’s age and ability guide this independence so there are no hard and fast rules to follow. A few important areas to focus on are setting up and cleaning up their lunch, putting on and taking off coats and shoes, toileting themselves, packing and unpacking their backpacks, and carefully putting their toys away when they are done. This process is also one step at a time.

Here’s to new beginnings and a peaceful, fun school year for everyone!

Warmly,

Marissa & Sue

…Of roses all begin to droop

I pepped them up with chicken soup!

Sprinkle once,

Sprinkle twice,

Sprinkle chicken soup with rice!

Well, another year has gone by! Each and every child has grown so much right before our eyes, and we consider ourselves so lucky to have watched it all happen. We ended our last work cycle of the year watching Carole King’s rendition of Maurice Sendak’s Chicken Soup With Rice, which we have been reading and learning all year long!

The children were overjoyed to see all the drawings animated and were singing along to the words!

Thank you for a wonderful first year at FWM.

Have a wonderful summer,

Marissa & Sue

With the school year winding down, we have been reflecting on our past year. A new teacher, a new classroom for some, new friends, exciting work, responsibilities, and routines. We are feeling emotional about saying goodbye to our Kindergarten friends who are all moving up to Lower Elementary! They have been such wonderful role models in our classroom, always there to help teach a lesson, show a friend something, help each other out, and lead our classroom! How much we’ve all grown!

We have also talked about our second-year children moving up to Kindergarten and how we will welcome new three-year-olds into our classroom next year. So many exciting things in our future!

We have been talking about the United States and where we are in this big, wide universe! We look at the Solar System, our planet, our continent, our country, our state, our town, and finally, ourselves!

Have a lovely weekend,

Marissa & Sue

On Wednesday, the Kindergarten children spent time at Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury. We began by taking a hike through the woods to the Botany Pond. The children then had the opportunity to catch and identify amphibians, reptiles, and insects. We found tadpoles, beetles, newts, giant water bugs, and salamanders. We observed turtles resting on a rock, fish swimming, and even found one of those elusive frogs. When we were done, we released any living thing we had collected and climbed aboard for a tractor ride. We were able to get up close to a beaver lodge and get a peek at a nest with three-day-old baby birds. It was informative and impressive to speak with a Flanders volunteer, who explained how and why the beavers dam up a culvert each night. Walking back, several children shared what a great day it was! Flanders is open to the public, and we encourage you to take advantage of this amazingly beautiful nature center. They also offer several summer programs. You can find more information on their website.

Wishing you all a week filled with much peace and love.

Marissa & Sue

We have so enjoyed watching our caterpillars transform into butterflies over the last couple of weeks! We set them free, and the children were able to see them fly out into nature. After learning about butterflies, we became interested in knowing more about pollination and other animals that help. Kindergarteners had the chance to hand-pollinate cucumber plants in Makerspace and told us how that experience was! We learned that hummingbirds, honey bees and even bats are also pollinators!

As we are enjoying our last few weeks together in the classroom we are appreciating our time together and getting excited for what is ahead! The Kindergarteners had an opportunity to visit Lower Elementary last week and we started the discussion of what “moving up” looks like. The children are all excited to move up to their next step in the year ahead.

Have a wonderful weekend, and keep a lookout for our classroom butterflies flying around town!

Marissa & Sue