Little Green Thumbs

Yesterday we did some planting. The kids enjoyed planting sunflower seeds and grass seed. We will watch them grow in class and chart their growth. The AM class enjoyed an assembly put on by the Waubonsie Valley Drama Class. The high school kids acted out stories written by our very own Brookdale first and second graders! I'm eager for the PM class to see these performances when they are first graders. Meanwhile, our PM class had a tornado drill this afternoon. I was very impressed by their growing maturity and ability to know "serious time." Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow at Anderson's Book Store to meet Mo Willems (11:00)!

April is Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month- and hey, it's still April! :) We will have a special focus on poetry all week, as we discuss what makes a poem and read many (mostly funny) poems. My goal is for students to be excited about poetry, as it is a major focus in the upper grades. Today we talked about the poet, Jack Prelutsky. We also got new journals today (look for winter journals to come home tomorrow)!

It was great to see so many familiar faces last Friday at Spring Fling. Thanks for supporting your PTA!

We are writers

Today we worked HARD on our ecology reports. Each student wrote a paragraph about how he/she can help the Earth. I was impressed by their ability to recall so much information about our learning over the past few days. Remember, at this point of kindergarten most students are able to write multiple sentences using a capital, period (or appropriate ending mark), spaces, and beginning/medial/ending sounds for each sentence. They are beginning to understand the concept of an opening sentence, support sentences, and closing sentence. Their finished products will be made into a class book that will circulate through homes in the month of May. The AM class visited the computer lab today and worked further on www.starfall.com activities. (word families, "when 2 vowels go walking" rule, earth day) This is a GREAT, free site to keep your kiddos busy at home!

Tomorrow is Spring Fling! This PTA sponsored activity is a fun evening for Brookdale families. It runs from 6-9 in the gym. Children can purchase tickets to play games and enjoy food. Look for me as I work with Ms. Tancredi at the obstacle course! I hope to see you there!

Earth Day!

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post. Today was very exciting for us as we celebrated Earth Day. We discussed the 3R's (reduce, reuse, recycle), brainstormed ways to help take care of our planet, and made/ate DIRT! (Don't worry moms! It's just pudding, oreo, and gummy worms) Your child is coming home with a tally sheet to record the number of times they remember to turn off a switch of their choice (bedroom light, for example). We discussed the importance of conservation, especially in terms of water and energy. We also enjoyed the free educational clips temporarily available on www.brainpop.com. This is a great site for those questioning minds and advanced thinkers! (KEA will see this site on Thursday during their assigned computer lab time)

Both classes are enjoying a fun activity during P.E. class where Mr. Tabisz sets up an obstacle course in the gym that illustrates the heart. He is going over the importance of exercise for a healthy heart. The kids come from P.E. with HUGE smiles and sweaty faces! Be sure to ask them about it!

Recess!

We filled up our warm fuzzie jar in both classes after weeks of great behavior! It was a great day to earn a reward recess! We also did an outdoor math activity where we investigated the amount of time (counts) it took to cross the blacktop in different ways (walk, tiptoe, gallop, etc.) and compared our findings. "Me" is the word of the week, and E is the letter of the week. Thanks to Edjon, who did a great job sharing the letter bag this morning. KEP had art awareness today. Thanks to Mrs. Marshall for her great presentation of Georges Rouault's "The Old King. " We had fun making our own "stained glass." (olive oil brushed over cray pas drawing)

Please remember to bring in any old, used books that you would like to donate to the book swap. All Brookdale students will be allowed to pick a used book to bring home next week to celebrate Earth Day. Thanks for helping us illustrate the concept of "reuse."

Legend of Tooth Kingdom

Today we talked a lot about teeth and how to keep them healthy. Your child is bringing home a toothbrush, book, and tooth log to record their brushing habits. After one month of perfect brushing, your child can bring the log back to school for a special surprise!

We also introduced counting by 2's. Although this is not a skill that will be tested on the fourth quarter assessment (like counting by 5's and 10's), it's important for them to become familiar with it. We cheered "2, 4, 6, 8, Who do we appreciate?" (MANY cheered out MOM!) ;)

The PM class went to the computer lab and learned a new game called Word Build and Bank. We will begin a more focused study of word families ("chunks" at the end of a word, like "at" in cat). This fun game is available online for FREE! Visit http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/wordbuild/ ! The AM class will learn this game on Thursday.

Don't forget to visit Max and Erma's tonight for our PTA fundraiser! 20% of purchases go to our school... just remember to mention Brookdale to your server. Hope to see you there!

Cube and Cone and Cylinder... OH MY!

Today we enjoyed sharing our shape museum filled with different 3-dimensional objects. Thanks to all children who participated by bringing in objects! We also learned A TON about jaguars, as J is the letter of the week. Look for beautifully written jaguar reports today in folders. I love to see those capitals, spaces, and periods in our writing. We are also focusing on a topic "focus" sentence, supporting detail sentences (facts), and a closing "wrap up" sentence. Did you know jaguars go "fishing" with their tails? (Ask your kindergartner for details!)

Remember: No school Monday due to conferences. See you Tuesday!

Pigeon!

A special delivery came this afternoon to our classroom. Mo Willems has finished his new pigeon book! It's called "Pigeon Wants A Puppy!" It arrived at Brookdale today and Mrs. Ory was nice enough to drop it off for KEA and KEP to read FIRST because we are so crazy about Mo! (It hasn't even been bar coded yet.)
I also got word that Mo Willems will be at Anderson's Bookstore in Downtown Naperville on Saturday, May 3 at 11:00 for a book signing. I plan to attend, and I'm sure there are many kids out there who would love to meet this author in person as well. Hope to see you there!

Germs, Germs, Germs!

Today our focus was on GERMS! This ties in beautifully with our Marvelous Me unit in Science. We read books about germs, problem solved using germs, took a group quiz about germs, wrote about germs, and even did a germs experiment. To illustrate how germs pass from one to another, we used Vaseline mixed with red glitter. The first child got some on his/her hand then gave their neighbor a high five to pass the "germs." After everyone was "germy" we learned that the only way to get it off is with water AND soap. SO FUN!

Note: Tomorrow morning I will be at a meeting in the building. There will be a substitute for the A.M. class.

Tuesday, April 8th

April showers bring May flowers! On this rainy day we had a wonderful time learning our new word wall word (for), working on Time For Kids, and playing food group BINGO. The PM class visited the computer lab and our AM class enjoyed P.E. Thanks for checking in!