Happy Holidays!

Dear Families!

I want to wish everyone a happy and wonderful holiday break! Today, I sent home with each child an updated word wall with words we have learned, a book for your child to keep and a DVD with photos taken from our class and a short video of your child's story. We hope you enjoy it! Remember to continue reading with your child every night! :) Also check out Ms. Kim's website: http://sites.google.com/site/mskimonline/
for some fun and educational activities for your child to do while indoors.

I can't wait to see everyone in the new year!

Ms. Esther

Storytelling

Hi Families! I am so excited to announce that our class will be working on storytelling for the next two weeks! Today, we started by telling partners a story from our lives. I was so excited listening to stories about the children going to the playground, going to Target, playing, decorating Christmas trees and more! We will be recording the stories at the end of the unit through voice recorders.

I also want to connect this with an art project in creating a diorama. Please bring in any spare shoeboxes you may have! :)

Also, this Friday is our concert. The students will be singing! Please come join us as we celebrate the season through song!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's almost the end of October. The kindergartners have been super busy learning so much! I will update with a new post soon. But I want to remind everyone that today I will be sending home the note to make an appointment for parent teacher conferences! Please send these back as soon as possible! I can't wait to meet with everyone!

September-We're all different and special!

I can't believe we've all been in school for a month already. We have done some exciting things this last month! We have been working on learning each others' names and learning all about our classroom and school.

One thing we did was to draw self-portraits. We noticed how we're all different because we all look different but we are also similar because we all have a nose, two eyes, a mouth! Check out our art work:


We've also been writing stories about things that are important and special to us. We learned we all have unique experiences!


In math, we also looked for things that are the same and things that are different. We even added the words to our math word wall.


Practice using the words same and different at home!

Welcome to our classroom!

our classroom!

one of our morning meeting greetings

dramatic play center
our classroom library

First Days of School

Hi everyone! I was super excited to meet everyone on Wednesday and I can't wait for our first full week of school! I loved learning everyone's names. On Wednesday, we learned some important things about being school. On Monday, we'll be learning more about what we need to do at school and creating our classroom rules. We're also going to start learning more about each others' names! I can't wait!

Getting Ready

I can't believe school is starting soon! I am so excited to meet all the new faces coming to our classroom!! I am incredibly excited about all the learning and exploring we are going to be doing this year!

I will be sending out detailed supply lists on the first day of school! If you have any extra empty boxes such as cereal boxes or any other food type boxes, please save them and donate them to our classroom! We will be using them in our dramatic play center.

Remember, the first day of school is September 8th 2010!! While, you're waiting--work on the alphabet with your child! www.starfall.com offers some really good alphabet practice!!

If you have any questions, please email me at esthertales@gmail.com

Taking care of animals

Hi everyone! Sorry its been awhile since I have updated the blog! I can't believe its almost June!! We have been working hard in getting ready for first grade! A couple of updates:

-Today, we went on a trip to the Green Meadows Farm! Everyone saw animals up close such as chickens, a pig, rabbits, mice, peacocks, and we even got to ride a pony. It got me thinking more about how we need to take good care of animals because they are living things too and have feelings! Check out this website to learn more about how to take care of animals: http://www.kindnews.org/

-Speaking of animals, we counted the money donated for Heifer and our class has raised up to $67!!! Thank you families of donating! Our class has voted and we decided on getting a share of a cow to give!

-For our end of year, kindergarten celebration our class will be singing two songs. We started practicing one of them---if you want a copy of the song-I can email it to you to have your child practice at home. On Tuesday, I will send home copies of the song!

Have a beautiful Memorial day weekend! :)

Plants!!

Thank you to all the families that came on Friday to celebrate mother's day with us! Our class always enjoys visitors! :) We hope all the moms/grandmas/aunts loved the roses! For anyone who would like a video of the song "My Mom" sung to the tune of the Temptations "My Girl," please email me and I will email it to you!

Do you know roses are plants? All flowers are plants! But there's more to plants than flowers! This month, we're learning all about plants! At the Queens County Farm, we all planted radish seeds! They're going tall and strong on our windowsill! We even started a plant journal to write about how much its changing! Later on this month, we will be growing other vegetables too!

Until then, watch this video from National Geographic for Kids about plants:
http://video.kids.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/green-kids/plants-kids.html

Also when you go to the library, try looking in the nonfiction section for books about real things! They are great books to read and also to learn more about our world!

Mother's Day Celebration

All mothers are invited to join our class this Friday at 2:15 pm to come celebrate Mother's Day! Our class will be doing a little song followed by a slideshow and share from our class about what we have been doing and learning in school! We will have juice provided. If you want to bring any other healthy snacks, please feel free but remember to bring for our whole class to share! We're so excited! We hope to see you there!

Mothers Day Clipart by Mothers Day Central

Counting Money helps us buy things!

Exciting news! K-205 is proud to present our class MARKET!

From K205 2009-2010

From K205 2009-2010

From K205 2009-2010

We turned our dramatic play center into a market to help us practice using money!

Here are some websites we used to practice counting money:

Nickels: http://www.numbernut.com/advanced/activities/money_quiz_nickelcount.shtml

Dimes: http://alexandria-es10.lausd.k12.ca.us/Staff_pages/Henry_Anker/Mr_Anker_Tests_New/Math/Money/Coin_Counting/10_Coin_Counting.swf

Help Ed save money by putting it in his piggy bank! http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/games/ed_bank/index.html

Eating Healthy!

Hi families! Have you heard that our lunch room is now serving healthy food? :) We have been getting to try lots of new healthy recipes. One of them was black eyed peas! YUMMY!



Some of the healthiest foods we can get are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds! Try some new healthy food this month!

Also all this talk about eating healthy makes me think about what we will be learning this month: Planting! A lot of the healthy food we eat comes from healthy plants! When we went to the Queens County Farm, we saw a bit of the vegetables that they were growing!

April showers bring May flowers and now it's MAY! :D As we learn all about nonfiction books and how to write nonfiction writing-we will explore all about plants-the different parts, the different kinds--I am SO excited!! We also get to use some of the compost that our worms have been making to help our plants grow! Thank you to all the families that have been bringing in their leftovers to help feed our worms:

From K205 2009-2010

From K205 2009-2010

Composting!!

Hi families! Have you heard that our class has been learning all about chickens and worms and how they help our planet!!

Today, we learned about how to put together a compost bin to get it ready for our worms!!! We watched this video from a gardener who teaches us how to make a compost bin:

How to Make a Worm Bin -- powered by eHow.com



Ask your child what they learned about worms!

We will post photos of our worms soon!

Our visit to the farm

We went to the Queens County Farm last Friday and we saw lots of exciting things! Not only that but we got to try out some things that farmers do too!

Here are some things we saw:

From K205 2009-2010

Chickens running around!

From K205 2009-2010

Cows that we get milk from and sheeps we get wool from

From K205 2009-2010

Chicken coop!!

From K205 2009-2010

We were super excited to see chickens!

From K205 2009-2010

This farm used natural compost from WORMS to help their veggies grow! Check out the healthy beets, lettuce and other vegetables they are growing

To see more photos, check out the album I emailed to parents! :) There's lots of photos of us and everyone taking a turn to churn butter!


Listen and watch this story about the farm: http://www.shuifeng.net/Dic/LittleFox/LittleFoxShow.asp?id=702285481

What can you buy for 1 dollar?

Hi families! Thank you for coming out to our show and share! It was wonderful to see so many family members there! The class was so proud and happy to show off their musical talents! I mentioned to everyone during parent teacher meetings that our class is working on learning to use and exchange coins. Money is important because we can use it to buy things we need! Keep practicing at home how to exchange! Also below are some fun things that can help you practice how to use money:

http://arcytech.org/java/money/money.html

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/CoinsForCandy/money002a.htm

Reminder, tomorrow is our trip to the Queens County Farm. Dress for the weather! I will be taking photos and uploading it onto our class photo site. If any parent wants to view them, just email me at esther.tales@gmail.com and I will send you an invite! :)

Show and Share

Hi families! Our class has been super excited about every Tuesday and sometimes Thursday because we get to visit Ms. Best and learn music! Everyone has been working really hard on learning new music words like largo and allegro! On April 20th, you are invited to come to our school and hear us sing! Our class will go at 9:00-9:40am. Please see the note I sent home for more information! We can't wait to show and share what we've learned. Until then, you can practice the song, Dona Nobia Pacem:
http://www.ssmrocks.com/kimnovak/mt/songs/archives/dona_nobis_pacem.php
at home (click on the stream link).

P.S Dona Nobis Pacem means Give us peace

3D Shapes

In math, we've been looking at 3D shapes. 3D shapes are everywhere! There are all different kinds too! At the Hall of Science we saw some:

From msesthertales

From msesthertales

We tried making our own with mini marshmallows and toothpicks. Have a look:

From msesthertales

From msesthertales

Look for some 3D shapes at home!

Also for some added fun, go to this website and see if you can guess what 3D shape it is! Press the eye to find out! http://www.ictgames.com/Y2shape.html

Watch a video about worm farms!

Hi everyone! Our class is growing more and more excited about worms! Hopefully, we can start out worm farm in our class soon! Until then, watch this video about how worms can help our environment:


http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/show/wormfarm.html

Also, if you want to watch a fictional (not-real) story about worms go to bookflix and watch the Diary of a worm!

Cherry Blossoms!

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having during your spring break! Today is the first day of April and I notice that the sun is coming out! This makes me so excited because I cannot wait to go outside and run around and watch the plants grow!
Last weekend, I went to see the Cherry Blossom in Washington D.C! I saw that the buds became blossoms!

From msesthertales

From msesthertales

From msesthertales

What have you noticed growing outside?

Donald Crews

Hi everyone! Happy spring vacation! I hope that you get to spend a lot of time doing fun things whether that's inside (reading, writing, making things!) or outside (going to a new place, going to a place you go to a lot-the playground or the library, EXERCISING!!). Whatever you do-you can write about it in a FUN way just like Donald Crews!

We have been writing books just like Donald Crews. We read:



We used these books to INSPIRE us when we wrote our stories. Our class wrote stories about going to the library, going to the museum, going to a restaurant with our family, going on the 7 train and even going to the Six Flags Safari!

You can use this chart to help:

From msesthertales

This spring vacation, do something fun and then write about it just like Donald Crews would!

Hall of Science

We've been to a history museum and an art museum. Tomorrow we are going to the science museum-The Hall of Science, to be exact!

Go here to find out more: http://www.nysci.org/home


We can't wait to explore!!

Class photos

Hi families!
I was going through my photos and I realized-I have lots of photos taken from this year! There are many in classroom and a few from our most recent trip to the Queens Museum of Art. If you would like to view these photos and also download them online--please email me at esthertales@gmail.com and I will send you the link to you!

Helping others!

Hi families!! We are so happy the weather is getting so much nicer. We have been going out for recess nearly everyday! We just started learning about helping others and how others help us for social studies! We learned about chickens and worms and how they help us! Ask your child how chickens and worms help our planet! Below are some useful links so your child can learn more:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/KidsFarm/InTheBarn/Chickens/atthezoo.cfm

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/

We will begin to talk about this organization heifer.org soon and how we as a class can help others who need it!

Springing Forward

Hi everyone! I know it's been awhile since the last post, but we have all been busy at K-205! Spring is in the air and we are all so excited for everything we have planned.
First, we have lots of wonderful trips planned for this spring! Below is a list:

March 25th - Hall of Science
April 23rd - Queens Farm Museum
May 14th - Swedish Cottage Marionettes
May 28th - Green Meadows Farm
June 4th - Queens Zoo

This month we have been talking a lot about making connections and explaining why! When you read, try to talk more about how the story reminds you of something you did, a place you've been to or maybe a person.

Finally, next Tuesday, March 16th is Parent Teacher Conferences. I can't wait to see everyone there!

Measuring!

Today in math workshop, we talked about measuring with different things. A couple months ago, we measured things using the unifix cubes. Today we played this game:

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/length_strength1_clips/

and measured things with paper clips!!

We also traced our partner's feet and we will be using them the cutouts to measure things tomorrow! We're all so excited to measure!

Try to see what things you can use to measure at home!

Bead patterns

Patterns is something we have been learning a lot about since September and we practice making them all the time! We have been learning to make different kinds of patterns-not just with the pattern blocks. We used this website today to make different patterns with beads:

http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/ety0102e.shtml

Looking at art

Hi boys and girls! Last Friday, we started working with Ms. Rachel. She works at the Queens Museum of Art and has been coming to teach us new things about art. We are working on telling stories through art. We started making dioramas that tell our stories! The Queens Museum of Art is really close to our school and is a great place to go to learn more about art.

Go to this website to find out more about the free art workshops for families: http://www.queensmuseum.org/events/families/art-workshops-for-families

If you want to go, I have a few family passes that allow you to go to the museum for free so let me know if you want to have one! Have a great art-filled weekend!

Also, here is a fun website to start doing art on the computer: http://www.kids.albrightknox.org/index_launched.html

Making Connections

In reading, we have been working on making connections! A connection is when something in the story makes us think of something in our lives! Try to make connections when you are at home reading!

Try this too-listen to this fun story about Arthur and his family going on vacation and see if you can think of any connections to your life. I know the story made me think a lot about the vacations I go on!

http://www.speakaboos.com/story/arthur_family_vacation

The vowels of the alphabet! I know them all by name, oh!

We just started learning about vowels in school! Vowels are special letters in the alphabet. We learned this vowel song. You can sing at home with your family. (Note to parents: the song is sung to the bingo tune)

The vowels of the alphabet
I know them all by name, oh!
a-e-i-o-u
a-e-i-o-u
a-e-i-o-u
I know them all by name, oh!

The vowels of the alphabet
I know them all by name, oh!
[clap]-e-i-o-u
[clap]-e-i-o-u
[clap]-e-i-o-u
I know them all by name, oh!

The vowels of the alphabet
I know them all by name, oh!
[clap]-[clap]-i-o-u
[clap]-[clap]-i-o-u
[clap]-[clap]-i-o-u
I know them all by name, oh!

The vowels of the alphabet
I know them all by name, oh!
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-o-u
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-o-u
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-o-u
I know them all by name, oh!

The vowels of the alphabet
I know them all by name, oh!
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-[clap]-u
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-[clap]-u
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-[clap]-u
I know them all by name, oh!

The vowels of the alphabet
I know them all by name, oh!
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-[clap]-[clap]
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-[clap]-[clap]
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-[clap]-[clap]
[clap]-[clap]-[clap}-[clap]-[clap]

The vowels of the alphabet
I know their short sounds too, oh.
(sing as short vowels)
a-e-i-o-u
a-e-i-o-u
a-e-i-o-u
I know their short sounds too, oh.


Here's a game you can play to help with vowels: http://www.starfall.com/n/matching/short-vowels/play.htm?f

End Sounds

Today, in word study we looked at end sounds! It is important to read the end sounds in the words we read too! Here is a website for a game that helps with end sounds! We played it in class today!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/words/dg1.shtml

Follow my pattern!

Today we played a really fun game with pattern blocks! We learned about patterns in September but we got even more practice with longer patterns today! We worked with partners and took turns making patterns and finishing out partner's patterns!

We also used this website to finish the patterns I made!

To parents: You can create any pattern on this website and then have your child follow/finish the pattern!

http://gingerbooth.com/flash/patblocks/patblocks.php

Start off the new year by sounding out words!

Happy new year everyone! It's now 2010! I am so excited for all the things this year will bring!! I am even more excited that I get to see all of you at school! I noticed today that we are all getting much better with stretching out our words and listening for the beginning sounds.

Here's another game that will help you with stretching out sounds in words!

http://www.professorgarfield.org/Phonemics/pumpkin_patch/pumpkin_patch.html