This Week in the Green Room

Well, we survived our first full week!

I would just like to take a moment to say this now, before I get long-winded and lose you. :-) PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help your child remember to wear their transportation necklace to school EVERY DAY. We've already had one student get on the wrong bus because she didn't have her necklace, and I didn't have my list with me at the time. If you need a new one, please let me know.

And one other note of business: please also help your child remember to bring their Parent Pack (green folder) to school every day. It is extremely important that all notes, money, etc. be placed in their folder for me to see. Sometimes students are told to give their note directly to me, but as you might expect, sometimes five-year-olds lay things down, and forget what they're supposed to do with those things! I do check every folder every day, so anything that's in the folder will be found by me. However, I do not check bookbags, so if it is in the bookbag but not in the folder, I will not receive it.

OK. On to our classroom happenings for this week!

We had an adventure with that rascal the Gingerbread Man. He kept running away from us!

image from MyCuteGraphics

First, we read the story

The Gingerbread Man

Then we made our own Gingerbread Man.

But of course, that naughty guy escaped from Mrs. Ritter's oven when she peeked in on him!

To find him, we went on a tour of Nicklin School. We found several clues, but couldn't find him at all. We made "Missing" signs and posted them around the school, in case anyone else saw him. Guess who found him for us? Mrs. Henderson, our Principal! She came running into our classroom that afternoon, all covered in flour and carrying our gingerbread man! She said she was working hard in her office, and he came running by, so she reached out and grabbed him for us! After she returned him to us, we did what everyone does to naughty little gingerbread boys ... we ate him up! He was super yummy.

Whew! What a ride he took us on this week! During all this hullabaloo, we:

• learned about the title, author, illustrator, and characters of a book
• compared different versions of the same story
• made and brought home a story retelling activity
• completed an activity that had us following directions
• found color words in our very own little gingerbread "readers"
• practiced the correct way to use scissors
• Mrs. K. gave us each a gingerbread cookie - we took one bite - then we graphed which part we bit off first. It was tied - 9 of us bit the head and 9 of us bit the leg, while 3 bit the arm. Then we got to eat the rest of our cookie!
• and we even made our own class book, which you will get to read when you come to Parent-Teacher Conferences in November!

This week we also learned about our classroom rules. We have several "people" who help us remember the rules:

• Poky Pink helps us to remember Rule #1: Follow directions quickly.
• Butt-in Brown and Rudy Red help us to remember Rule #2: Raise your hand to speak.
• Betty Blue helps us to remember Rule #3: Hands and Eyes and Rule #4: Criss-cross Applesauce.
• Yelling Yellow and Whispering White help us to remember Rule #5: Bubble in your mouth.
• Tattletale Tan and Greedy Green help us to remember Rule #6: Make smart choices.
• And finally, Pouty Purple and Alright Orange help us to remember Rule #7: No Pouty Purples, just Alright Oranges!

We also play a game with Mrs. Krouskop-Smith every day. We work together as a class to get points ("smilies") by following the rules, but Mrs. K. gets points ("frownies") when we're not making good choices. Because we're still learning how to work together appropriately, Mrs. K. is in the lead right now. We're sure that will change soon, though! Hopefully this gives you an idea of the expectations we have for behavior at Nicklin.

We met Mrs. Fair for music, and she taught us some really cool songs. We will visit her every Monday. We also met Mrs. Hopkins in the library. She read us a neat story, and taught us a little about using the library. We will visit her every Wednesday for storytime and book checkout, and every Friday for checkout only.

The rest of the time each day was spent learning how to work in small groups. This week's focus was on exploring our math manipulatives. Soon, we will be moving toward actual work in these "stations". This is the time that Mrs. Krouskop-Smith will be meeting with us in small groups or individually. Here are some pictures from this time in our day:

What's up for next week? Testing, testing, and more testing. We will begin our first round of standardized computer testing of each student in both language arts and math. We will also complete an initial reading fluency test on your child. The results of this test will help Mrs. K. place the students into groups based on their individual needs in reading. Following this, each student will receive instruction based on their reading level. This is in accordance with Ohio's Third Grade Reading Guarantee, which states that every child will read on-grade-level in the third grade. Those who aren't on level at that time must be retained. Gone are the days of playtime-snacktime-naps in kindergarten! :-)

We will also (when there's time!) read and do activities based on the book

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

<3 Mrs. Krouskop-Smith

Happy Birthday, Dietrich!

Happy Birthday, Dietrich!

Love, Mrs. K.

First Day a Success! (mostly...)

Good evening! I hope your child came home today with good stories about their first day of kindergarten.

The day started off well as we said goodbye to the parents who came in, and got started sorting out all of our important papers and school supplies.

We learned that when Mrs. K. says, "OK, OK!", we respond with a quick, "OK!", then put a bubble in our mouths (this is to help us remember to not talk - don't worry, we can still breathe through our noses!) We practiced this a few times. Then we learned that "Bodies Up!" means to stand behind our chair with hands on the back of it, and wait for directions. Next we learned how to line up quietly. Mrs. K. gave a fascinating rendition of how NOT to line up, screaming, running, and touching everything in sight! We all laughed at her craziness.

We learned how to use the restroom appropriately (flush, 1 squirt of soap, 1 paper towel, put it in the trash, get a drink, sit down and wait for the rest of the class).

Next we learned about the rules of the playground, then we had a few minutes to play. When we came in, it was time to practice going through the lunch line. After we practiced, it was time to do it for real! The tacos were definitely yummy!

After lunch and recess, we checked transportation necklaces to make sure everyone had the same necklace as Mrs. K. thought they should. By now it was time to practice getting in the correct transportation line.

This is where the day got a little hairy for some children. This was a very loud, hectic time where many students must switch to a different room, and some students where overwhelmed and confused. (Some of the teachers were, as well!). We will practice again on Monday, and hopefully by the end of next week, we will have the kinks worked out. If your child was one that was upset, I apologize, and the teachers will work hard to make the process smoother.

Just a couple of reminders:

1. Please send your child's Parent Pack Folder to school every day so he or she can bring things home safely.

2. Please have your child wear their transportation necklace every day until further notice, so that I don't have to keep making new ones! :-)

3. If you send money to the school for any reason (breakfast/lunch, school fees, library books, etc.), please put it in an envelope with the child's name, teacher's name, and reason for the money. You wouldn't believe how much money I find on the floor every year, and five year olds can not be trusted to remember if they did or did not bring money that day, and if so, why!

Finally, have a great weekend! Make sure your child gets lots of rest, and we will be ready to have lots of fun on Monday! I can't wait!

Mrs. Krouskop-Smith

Happy Birthday, Karlie!

Happy Birthday, Karlie!

Love, Mrs. K.