Ms. Spang

Picture retakes are scheduled for Friday, November 21.  Please return the entire package on Friday if you wish to have your child's picture retaken.

Our class has connected with Miss Milburn's class for Book Buddies.  We met on Friday for the first time.  The second graders made their book buddy a bookmark.  We were very pleased to get such a personalized bookmark!  We made a door hanger for our book buddy to hang on their door while they read.  We will try to meet twice a month to share in this great activity.  Our original plan was to plant bulbs with our book buddy, but the weather didn't cooperate.  Hopefully we'll get the bulbs in the ground before the ground freezes. 

Have a great week.

~ Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 12:54 PM | Permalink

The leaves are really falling down all over the place!  It really looks like November now that the leaves have fallen.  Please remember to help your child dress for our early morning recess.  I know it is difficult with our changing temperatures!  We are all checking our outside thermometer often these days!

There will be no school on Tuesday, November 11th - Veteran's Day.  I hope you can enjoy this day with your family.  Also, Wednesday, November 12th is our Early Release Wednesday for November.  The children will be dismissed at 12:00 and will have lunch at school.

Thank you all for returning your preference for our conference time.  I am looking forward to sharing your child's progress with you.  Report cards will go home in early December as well.  It still amazes me how quickly the school year goes.  I hope this has nothing to do with my age

We have been focusing on respect at KES.  Mrs. Zito shared a book and discussed respect last Monday at our whole school assembly.  We have also discussed respect in our classroom.  The children really seem to have a sense of what this core value means.  We will continue to discuss and show respect throughout our day. 

~Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 2:04 PM | Permalink

 It is time to begin scheduling Parent Teacher Conferences.  Please look in your child's backpack tomorrow for a notice with times and dates.  Sign up for your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices.  I will send you a confirmation of the conference date and time.  It's hard to believe that it is that time already.  The days are just flying by!

We continue to study weather.  We have discussed rain and have placed our rain gauge outside our window.  The children are anxious to watch the rain gauge move up.  We know it will take a considerable amount of rain to make a change in the gauge.  We also discussed clouds and made several different types out of cotton. 

This week we will travel to York Historical Society.  It will be fun to go back in time and to participate in activities of long ago.  This is a great trip and we will have many discussions based on what we experience.

Wednesday is an Early Release Day.  Remember to let me know if your child's routine is different for that day.  The children are really doing well with their many routines.  The morning "working snack" seems to be a plus also!

We have completed Unit 2 in Everyday Math.  On Monday we will begin Unit 3.  I hope you are finding the family letter that I send home prior to beginning a unit helpful.  In the family letter you will find explanations along with answers to some of the Home Links.  Please keep these for your reference.  The children are doing well remembering to pass in their Home Link each morning.  Thank you for your help with this.

This will be an exciting week for the children with Halloween on Friday.  Several children have asked if they can wear their costumes to school.  We don't wear our costumes to school, but I hope they have a safe, happy Halloween!

All for now,

~Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 12:03 PM | Permalink

In science we are back to studying weather.  This week we hope to find a spot for our rain gauge and to discuss several different types of clouds.  Although it will be fun to measure the rain, we hope it doesn't rain too often!  The weather has become much cooler.  Please send your child with a jacket or sweatshirt to school.  Our recess is at 9:30 in the morning and it is sometimes very cool at that time.  As the weather gets colder your child will be bringing more items to wear.  Please label as many items that you can with your child's name.  The Lost and Found at KES continues to grow.  

Our word study activities have been focused around digraphs.  A digraph is when two letters make one sound.  Some of the digraphs we know are:  wh, ch, th, sh, and ck.  The children are also trying to remember to spell their trick words correctly in their writing.  The new trick words for this week are:  as, his, has, play, I   Bonus words:  harvest, family

Wednesday, October 22 is an Early Release Day.  If  your child is going some place other than their usual stop, please send in a note stating where they are to go.

Our Volunteer programs began last week.  Thank you to all who are able to come in and help out with reading and handwriting. 

We continue to learn new vocabulary and to review the vocabulary already learned in spanish.  I am having so much fun learning a new language too!

Veo (I see)

Ayuda (Help)

Formen una línea (Form a line)

Formen un círculo (Form a circle)

Otoño  (fall)

Manzana (apple)

Calabaza (Pumpkin)

Murciélago (Bat)

Colors

Rojo (Red)

Amarillo (Yellow)

Verde (Green)

Marrón/ Café (Brown)

Blanco (White)

Naranja/ Anaranjado (Orange)

Negro (Black)

Azul (Blue)

Gris (Gray)

Morado (Purple)

Uno (1)

Dos (2)

Tres (3)

Cuatro (4)

Cinco (5)

Seis (6)

Siete (7)

Ocho (8)

Nueve (9)

Diez (10)

Have a wonderful week!

~Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 2:08 PM | Permalink

Tomorrow, Friday, October 17th is Team Spirit Day at KES!  Students are asked to support their favorite team by wearing clothing, hats etc. with team emblems or team colors.  It is sure to be a fun day!

Posted by Ms Spang at 6:57 PM | Permalink

For the next several weeks, K.E.S. will be collecting NEW TOYS to donate to the Maine Children's Cancer Program and their Owie Box.  Due to health and safety standards, all toys must be NEW and UNUSED.  This precaution is necessary for the children in treatment whose immune systems may be weakened and are susceptible to germs and infection.  If you would like to contribute to this project, please have your child bring a new, unwrapped toy to K.E.S.  Any new toys would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by Ms Spang at 5:46 PM | Permalink

On Tuesday, October 7th, there will be a volunteer training directly after school in our room.  I will go over the procedures and schedule for our volunteer programs.  These programs will begin the following week after the Columbus Day weekend.

This week Guided Reading will begin in the classroom.  The children are doing well with our schedule and are beginning to be independent enough during centers for me to begin our reading groups.  Your child will be bringing home a blue "bookbag" each night.  The books in the bag should be either books we have read together or books they should be able to read.  Each night I will ask you to listen to your child read and fill out the form in their bookbag.  There is a note in  your child's bookbag explaining this process.  Please help your child remember to pack his bookbag every day.  Bookbags will not go home on the weekend.

We have begun our 2nd year long unit in the Science Companion program.  This unit is called Collecting and Examining Life.  We began by using magnifying glasses to try to determine two different substances.  We then placed each substance in water and observed for several days.  One of the substances was alive!  The children were so excited to see the brine shrimp in their containers.  We learned that one criteria of something that is alive is that it can move.

We also had two exciting days watching our butterflies come out of their chrysalis.  Two came out on Monday and the other two on Tuesday!  Thank you again to the Aker family for supplying the monarch caterpillars.

Mrs. Kugler took us outside for a spanish class this week.  We were able to go on a color hunt outside.  She took pictures of each of us pointing to a specific color.  She will make it into a book for our classroom!

This week is also Fire Safety Week.  We will discuss fire safety at home and at school.  Wednesday is an Early Release Day.  Remember to send me a note if your child is to do something other than their regular routine!

All for now

Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 1:51 PM | Permalink

 Friday, October 3rd is Picture Day at KES!  Please send in your envelope to school this week.  Let me know if you need an additional form.

I am also collecting money and permission slips for our field trip to "Backstage at the Nutcracker".  The money and permission slips are due by Wednesday, October 1st in order for us to reserve our space at the Merrill Auditorium.

Every Wednesday during the month of October is an Early Release Day.  This will begin on Wednesday, October 1st.  If your child is to go some place other than their usual stop, please send in a note indicating where they will be going.

Several children have asked me to send another notice about their "Sharing Day".  I am listing the children and their day of the week below to help with this matter.

Monday - Anastasia, Avis, Charlie, Derrick

Tuesday - Dylan, Emily H., Emily L., Emma

Wednesday - Ethan, Isabel, Isabelle, Jared

Thursday - John, Joshua, Lily, Ricky

Friday - Owen, Rory, Sam, Sean, William

We have completed Unit 1 in our math program and have begun Unit 2.    Some of the concepts in Unit 2 will be using number grids to count up and back using numbers 0-100, telling time to the hour and counting pennies and nickels.  If the Home Link asks you to send in coins for your child's tool kit, please disregard.  I have the coins in the classroom that they will add to their tool kit.  I try to cross out the request when it comes up, but sometimes it does slip by me!

Trick Words will be added to our Word Wall this week.  These are words for the most part that cannot be tapped out to spell.  The words for this week are:

a, the, of, and, bear

Bonus Words:  fall, mammal

The goal is for the children to use and spell these words correctly in their everyday writing.  We will be adding 5 words each week along with 2 bonus words.  You will find a letter going home on Monday explaining "Trick Words".

This week I will be introducing Metacognition and Schema to the children.  They will be bringing home a bookmark later in the week with the words to 2 songs explaining metacognition and schema.  I hope the children will be able to explain these to you.

In spanish we are expanding our knowledge to color words -

Rojo - Red

Amarillo - Yellow 

Verde - Green

Marron - Brown

Blanco - White

Naranja - Orange

Negro - Black

Azul - Blue

Gris - Gray

 Morado - Purple

Keep your fingers crossed that we will witness a metamorphosis this week!  We are hoping the butterflies will come out of their chrysalis either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Have a wonderful week,

~Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 2:08 PM | Permalink

 The October Book Orders are due Monday, September 22nd.

Our trip to Harris Farm was a great kick off to our Harvest study.  As soon as we got off the bus we took a hayride to the potato field.  Here we had to dig in the ground for a potato to make sure we didn't get a green potato.  A potato turns green if it gets too much sun!  We then got back on the hayride to go to another field.  At this field we picked green beans, peppers and corn.  We could pick one ear of corn for our bag and another to eat right there in the field.  It was so juicy and sweet!  Our last item to pick was a pumpkin for our bag.  It was a great trip.  Many thanks to our wonderful volunteers - Ricky and Lily's dad, Rory's mom, Emily L's mom, Emily H's mom, Isabel's mom, Sean's mom, and Mrs. Dixon!  On Friday we had fun doing Pumpkin Math with the pumpkins we picked!

We have 4 new additions to our class.  Thanks to Avis' family we have 4 monarch caterpillars that made their chrysalis this week.  We hope to have 4 monarch butterflies in 2 weeks!  This week we will learn the characteristics of insects.  We will add a few vocabulary words while introducing insects (head, thorax, abdomen, wing, antenna)  In November we will go into more depth with our study of insects.

We are close to finishing our first Unit in math.  Practice counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's.  The practice is essential for the children to master these skills.  Thank you again for your help in returning the math home links each day.

Mark your calendars for this Thursday, September 25th.  KES is having their annual Ice Cream Social.  This event is fun for the whole family.  You can come for dinner (hot dogs) or just for dessert (ice cream).  Whatever your pleasure I hope to see you there!

Have a great week,

~Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 10:59 AM | Permalink

Our first field trip is scheduled for Thursday, September 18th.  We will be visiting the farm in the morning, so please dress your child for the cool morning temperatures.  Thank you for sending in the permission slips along with the money for the trip.  If you haven't returned your slip yet, please send it to school soon.

Our Teddy Bear Parade was a great success.  Thank you to all who were able to come and watch us.  The children really enjoyed having their bears at school.  Now that Teddy Bear Week is over, the bears and stuffed animals are to stay home.

Our math program is off and running.  We will begin our Home Links on Monday. (Look for the pink paper)  Please send them back to school the next day.  We are learning basic routines that we will incorporate into our program all year.  Some of the math concepts we will be working with are listed here - (calendar, thermometer, money, time, weather, tally marks, number line, counting by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's.)

We have begun our science unit on weather.  The children were very excited to have a Science Home Link last week.  Look for a science Home Link on Monday. (green paper)  We have been talking about weather words, meteorologist, and thermometers.  The science thermometer study correlates with our math study of thermometers and temperature.

We all have been enjoying our spanish classes.  The children are so excited about learning spanish!  I am amazed at how easily they pick up what has been taught so far.  I have listed the greetings and directions we have learned so far.

Greetings

Hola (Hello)

Buenos dias / Buenas tardes (Good morning / Good afternoon)

Adois (Goodbye)

Como te llamas? (What is your name?)

Me llamo...(My name is...)

Se llamo...(His/Her name is...)

Directions

Levantense (Stand up)

Sientense (Sit down)

Levanten la mano (Raise you hand)

Bajen la mano (Put down/lower your hand)

On Monday we will begin Guidance with Ms. Roux.  Ms. Roux will meet with us four times over the next two weeks. 

I will be setting a date soon for our Volunteer training.  Thank you for returning the volunteer sign up sheets.  We will begin our volunteer programs in October.

Thank you all for subscribing to my blog.  We are off to a good start!

~ Dee

Posted by Ms Spang at 3:34 PM | Permalink