December

                        

Enjoy watching the fun we had in December.  Then click here to leave a picture or a message about what you and your child did over the holiday break!  See you very soon!

Reminders

Just a few reminders - 

Please bring in a WRAPPED $3.00 or less book to school

by Wednesday, December 18th for our book exchange.

  Please have your child write his/her name on the inside 

cover.  Please try to have the book be gender neutral.

Polar Express Day is Friday, December 20th.  Please have

 your child wear their pajamas.  We will be watching the 

book being read on the Smart Board as we drink hot 

chocolate and eat popcorn.

Your child will be getting a Holiday Homework packet sent 

home.  If they return this when we resume classes after 

break, they will receive a special surprise.

Merry Christmas!

Reindeer Games

http://reindeercam.com/

Celebrate our School!

          Today we had a wonderful School of Excellence Celebration.  Thank you to those who could make it!!  Here is the video featuring our Kindergarteners!  

                 
                    Kindergarten School of Excellence Video from Patchwork Pals on Vimeo.

Little Readers!

Q: What should I do when I see one of these come home?

A: Be excited!  Your child is becoming a reader!  If you are visibly excited to practice these words with your child at home, he/she will feel excited about it, too.  

Have your child cut out the larger version of the words.  These can be used as practice cards.  Make this fun in any way you can.  A suggestion is to set aside the words your child already knows well, then focus on the more difficult words.  Bring them out for short practice sessions, and often.  An example would be - "before we eat a snack, let's see how many of your words you can get!"

Be sure to bring back the "easier" words at times for review - and to allow your child to feel the success of being able to read some words easily.

When there are words that are difficult, begin by holding up the word and saying it to your child.  A few seconds later, hold it up again and see if your child can say the word.  If there are "tricks" such as sounding it out, offer those as help.  

When your child knows all the words quickly, sign the first (smaller) page and send it back to school.  If he/she is able to read them to me, we add a sticker to a chart in the classroom.  They beam with pride!  If the student attempts to read the words but is not able, I will star the difficult words and send it back home for more practice.  

I suggest practicing your child's current list with him/her every day.  Please let me know if you have misplaced a list and need a replacement.

Thank you for your support in helping your child become a reader!

Weeks 11, 12, 13

The last three weeks have flown by!  I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving break!

What have we been up to?

Here are some pictures of a giant Turkey that visited our classroom last week!

The students have been learning about story elements such as characters, setting, problem, and solution.  It can be fun to mention one or two of these things at home when reading with your child.  If he/she doesn't remember what the term means, that is a great opportunity for review.  No story is too simple - we even used a wordless story (pictures only) and were able to identify all four!

The Patchwork Pals Kindergarteners have begun meeting with me for small reading groups.  While most of the class immerses themselves in Daily 5 stations, I meet with a small group of children and work with them on reading strategies.  These can include letter recognition, practicing letter sounds, and/or reading short books with repetitive text and sight words.  Watch for your child to bring home a book he/she has read in reading group.  Please enjoy reading the book with your child at home, and return it to school the next day.  This is the beginning of a lifelong love for reading - be sure to make this time positive and enjoyable for your child!  

Students have been building their own names into block towers and comparing with others.  They have also practiced observing details about our classroom and school in order to find patterns.  

* Deck the Halls!  

Monday (Dec 2) the Kindergarteners will adorn the hallway with holiday decorations galore!  The children will be making projects with all the Kindergarten teachers - that's four projects!  

Mrs. Tongen - Paper Garland

Mrs. Jost - Glitter Ornament

Miss Poppen - Stocking

Mrs. Haglin - Christmas Tree

* Please return your Club's Choice Fundraising Envelope on Monday if you haven't already.

* Various health issues have kept me under the weather these last few weeks.  This is a great reminder for us all to make sure we are washing our hands regularly!

* Please send Trash to Cash on Tuesday!

* Our students will visit Santa's Secret Shop on Monday afternoon before we begin to Deck the Halls.  If your child brings a Santa's Secret Shop Envelope (these came home in the Wednesday Envelope) with money, he/she will be helped by a shopping guide to make sure the correct items are purchased.

October Fun!

I compiled a video of pictures from October.  Enjoy!

                               

The Green Zone

Think about how you feel when you arrive at work.  Is it a calm feeling?  Rushed?  Anxious?  Excited?

Your child has many emotions as he/she enters the school day and progresses through their learning time at school.  Leah Kuypers, an occupational therapist, has developed a way to help children visualize and regulate their emotions, called The Zones.

Mrs. Nies visited our classroom to help us learn about the first Zone - a great zone for our bodies to be in - the Green Zone.  A person in the green zone is in "a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone.  This is the Zone students predominately need to be in the classroom."

A few of our students demonstrated how our bodies look when we are in the Green Zone:

There is no "wrong" Zone to be in, as all people experience different emotions from day to day.  Knowing and recognizing a person's own emotional Zone can help them to identify how they are feeling.  Students can then learn strategies to move into the Green Zone and be ready for learning.  

Mrs. Nies will be coming to our classroom each Wednesday to teach us more about The Zones.

~Your child will be bringing home a fundraiser packet from Club's Choice today. If you are willing or able, thank you in advance for helping raise funds for our school!

Veterans' Day and School Cancellation Information

                          Thank you to SW1 Sean Nies who came to our classroom to teach us about Veterans.  It was an honor to have you with us!  Click here to watch a video about his visit:

                            

* There will be no afternoon Kindergarten on Thursday, November 14th.  The rest of the students in our school will be dismissed at 11:50 that day.  The Maple Lake High School football team will play a state tournament semifinal game in the Metrodome at 2:00 pm.  Parents needing childcare may call Kidville at 963-6415 to make arrangements.

* Ticket and fan bus information may be obtained by calling the high school office at 963-3171 or going to our web site at www.maplelake.k12.mn.us .

           

Adult Tickets   $12.00

Student Tickets  $8.00

         Fan Bus   $5.00

_______________________________________

Global Read Aloud - Book 5

          

 We enjoyed a special guest reader for our fifth Global Read Aloud book!  Thank you to Michael's mom, Meagan, for sending us this video of you reading the book Hello Red Fox.  

The students were delighted to watch you read on our big Smart Board screen!  Watch the video here:

                   
                       Michael's mom reading Hello Red Fox from Patchwork Pals on Vimeo.

Week 10

*Students should wear their Irish Pride T-shirts on Tuesday!

All students have had the chance to try the Listening to Reading Center.  We are now practicing a small group format for Daily 5, where students rotate between the four centers.  They are enjoying the variety.  Soon we will introduce our fifth part of Daily 5 - individualized reading groups.

This week we built towers with blocks that equaled the number of letters in our names.  Then we compared with others - is my friend's name longer, shorter or the same as mine?

Congratulations to the Maple Lake Volleyball and Football teams who each went to the State Tournament this week.  We lined the hallways to send them off - they ran through and we gave them high fives!

Pile on the Birthdays!

Last week we celebrated 3 birthdays in our class!  Happy birthday to Dylan, Mia, and Mack, who all turned 6 last week!

They each got a crown on their special day.  They also got to talk about their birthday and answer questions from their classmates using the Birthday Microphone.  Big smiles all around!

Tuesday, November 12th is Bingo Fun Night at Maple Lake Elementary.  Come at 6:30 pm for food, Bingo, and fun!

Fall Party

Thank you to all the parent volunteers and other adults throughout the school that made our Fall Party so much fun!  The costumes were great, the food was spooky, and the games were great!

Enjoy some pictures sent in by parents: