Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Reminders!

Hello Parents,

Just a few reminders:

- Please return the conference appointment slips signed. It is confirmation for the appointment time.
- Tomorrow is Halloween and students may dress in their costumes for the day! If it is an uncomfortable costume, please send the uniform as well.
- Thursday is Sports Day. Please send your child to school in the color shirt of his or her team. ** To proceed with the normal school day, the children will be changing into their uniform after the event. Please pack the uniform on Thursday.

Here is the list of teams again:
Red- Ali, Amina
Blue- Amr, Clara
Pink- Fayrouz, Jaida, Mariam
Yellow- Mostafa, Nour, Yahia
Green- Yassin M, Yaseen Shams
White- Youssef, Zeina, Zeina M.

Thank you for all your help. There is a lot going on this week!

Ms. Victoria 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Week 7 Update

Reading week was a lot of fun! We reached our '100 book' goal! The Dress as a Book Character Parade was nice and it was very special to wear a fun costumes to school. Buddy reading was also a success and the children enjoyed reading and being read to by the "big kids".




In Language Arts, we reviewed the last three letters in the alphabet-X, Y, and Z. We practice writing the letters and the sounds they make. We have also been practicing our sight words by reading simple sentences and finding our sight words in all the books we have been reading this week.

In Math, we are continuing to work on place prepositions. The children learned a song to help them learn the words in, on, under, over, in front, and behind. They use their hands to show each position as they sing.

In Science, we are continuing our plant unit and the students learned about the four things plants need to grow. They made mini books showing the four things- water, sunlight, soil, space- and we will use these books next week as we learn more about plants.

We will be celebrating Halloween next week by allowing the children to wear their costumes to school. If their costume is uncomfortable in any way, please send the uniform for them to change into if needed.

Please make sure your child brings his/her blue file and Arabic file to school every day.

Also, many children have been eating all of their packed food before lunch. Please assure that there is plenty of food in your child's lunchbox and that it is healthy food!

Thank you for the extra help at home this week with the reading logs and for preparing the costumes for Dress as a Book Character Day! It was a very fun week at school.  

Happy Eid to all,
Ms. Victoria and Ms. Mariam

Monday, October 22, 2012

Parent Teacher Conferences

We will be holding Parent Teacher Conferences on Sunday, November 4th. I will send out appointment slips on Wednesday. They will be in your child's blue file. The appointments will be scheduled between 8:15 and 2:45 and are about 15 minutes at max. If you have a time preference, please write me a note in your child's channel book as soon as possible so that I can accommodate it. Also, if you cannot make the conference, I would appreciate a note in the channel book as well. It will help me plan for the day.

Please note that the children are off on this day.

Thank you so much,
Ms.Victoria and Ms. Mariam

Sports Day

We will be celebrating Sports Day on November 1st. It will be a fun-filled day that aims to teach children about sportsmanship.
There will be teams and each team has its own color. Today I sent home a class list with the team colors listed so there is plenty of time to prepare a shirt for the day. 

I also sent home blue files for children who have not been bringing their files in. Please make sure they come back to school everyday. 

Thank you Parents,
Ms. Victoria and Ms. Mariam

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Reading Week!

Hello Parents,

As many of you may already know, we have a new full-time assistant in the classroom, Ms. Mariam. She will be with us for the remainder of the school year. We are thrilled to have her join us and I look forward to working with her to provide the children with a lot of support in the classroom. Ms. Karen will be assisting in the KG office. 

Today was the start of Reading Week. I explained to the children that our goal is to read 100 books by the end of the week. That's a lot of books! To reach our goal, the children must read some books at home. I sent home a reading log today and would love if each child could read 1-2 books a night at home this week to add to our tally. We have a thermometer posted outside our classroom that tracks the number of books we read and it will be filled in daily. 


To conclude Reading Week, we will have a Dress as a Book Character day on Wednesday. The children don't have to participate (and must come in uniform) but we will have a small parade and I would not want any child feeling left out. It if preferred that the costumes are simple, homemade, and creative rather than store bought Halloween costumes. We may have a Halloween parade and those costumes can be saved for that occasion. 

Here are some ideas so you can prepare:
Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss (great for twins)
Cat in the Hat
Any animal from Brown Bear, Brown Bear (Yellow duck, Purple Cat, Green Frog, Blue Horse, etc. )
Little Red Riding Hood
Curious George
Disney Princesses

It does not have to be a well-known book. If your child's favorite book is about a dinosaur, he can dress as a dinosaur. It would be nice if they can bring in the book on Wednesday to show their friends. 

This week is about teaching kids that reading is fun, not a chore! Let's have a great week!

-Ms. Victoria and Ms. Mariam

Friday, October 19, 2012

Our 'And' Song

The children love inviting people into our room to listen to our 'and' song. They have begged me to invite Mr. Youssef, Ms. Ashley (who teaches art next door), and Ms. Marwa to come to our class (and they all did!). You have probably heard it already from your own child but here is the class singing it together.


Week 6 Update


Hello Parents and Families,

We are up to week 6 already. Time is flying! The kids are into a routine and we are learning something new every day. I was feeling ill and was out on Tuesday but the kids were in great hands with Ms. Karen, who knows all of our routines and class rules.

It was great to have Sunday back in our schedule. If you have walked past our classroom, you may have seen the nighttime pumpkins the children created in Art. We started with learning about pumpkins. What do they look like? What do they feel like? What do they smell like? What can you do with a pumpkin? They learned pumpkins come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. They drew their own pumpkin and mixed yellow and red to paint it orange. When it dried, we made a nighttime background with chalk and black paper. We have gotten many compliments on the artwork and the children loved that we had an actual pumpkin in our classroom to observe.




In Language Arts this week, we practiced our four sight words by making flashcards and playing teacher with a friend. They were allowed to sit anywhere in the classroom with a friend and teach each other how to read! I walked around the room to listen and observe.  The children bought their flashcards home to practice during the weekend. Next week, we will be adding the word ‘see’ to our vocabulary.




Show and tell on Wednesday went great. It was brief but the children were very engaged and excited all day about it. It was a great activity to practice speaking and listening to our friends. We saw and learned about our friends’ photographs, little toys and stuffed animals. Some children forgot to bring their item. I told them not to worry; I forgot my special item too! We will do show and tell every week so they will have another opportunity to bring it in.

In Math, we are adding prepositions to our vocabulary: over, beneath, next to, between, beside, etc. We will continue to work on them next week. They were only introduced to them this week and I plan to teach them a song soon that will help them remember what each word means.

In Social Studies, we talked about problems and solutions. I gave each table a problem such as being lost, spilling juice, and fighting over a toy. Each table thought of things they could do to solve their problem and shared them with the class.

In Science, we are starting to learn about plants. We talked about different type of plants, such as trees, shrubs, and grasses. Each child drew an example of each type of plant and we will be planting our own plants very soon!

Please send your children to school with their blue files and channel books every day. I may need to write a note home and prefer to write it in the channel book. Also, please remove the papers from the files every day so that I can confirm that notices have been received. This would be greatly appreciated.

Next week is Reading Week at GP School! Every classroom will be keeping track of the number of books they read during the week. I will send home a reading log on Sunday. Please encourage your children to read a book every night.
I will keep everyone updated on our Reading Week activities on this blog. Please check it often next week!

Have a great weekend,
Ms.Victoria

Monday, October 15, 2012

Permission Slip and Fees due tomorrow!

Just a friendly reminder that permission slip and fees are due tomorrow for the Dora the Explorer trip on November 8th. The cost is 185 EGP per child. No money will be accepted after tomorrow. Children who do not attend the trip can be absent from school because all KG teachers will be accompanying their students.

Thank you,
Ms.Victoria

Show and Tell

On Wednesday, we will be doing show and tell during one of our Language Art periods. I told the children about it today and they are very excited. I told them they can bring in something small that is special to them. It can be a photograph, a small stuffed animal, a favorite small toy...just no pets please! Also, please do not allow the children to bring any electronics or valuable items (jewelery, irreplaceable things). 

We have been practicing asking the questions: What did you bring? Why is it special?


If it goes well, this is something we will do more of. It is nice to have the children practice speaking and listening by bringing in something that is important to them! Thank you for your help at home.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Week 5 Update

I’m so excited to officially announce that Ms. Karen will join us as a full time assistant for the rest of the school year!  The children and I alike are thrilled to have her in the classroom with us. She knows the children well from working with several of them in KG1. We are so happy to have her part of our KG2B family. J

In Language Arts, we are continuing to practice our sight words. I know how excited they are when they are able to read a simple sentence. We will be reviewing all of our sight words so far next week (I, like, the, and). We will practice reading sentences such as “I like the (picture of a park) and the (picture of the zoo)”. They can no longer say they can't read!

In Math, we are reviewing numbers from 0-5. While the children all know how to count to 5, we are really working on how to write the numbers. Many children write the 3, 4 and 5 backwards or from bottom to top. We are working on identifying numbers that are written correctly and that are written backwards. 

In Science, we learned about the four things animals need to live: air, water, food, and a home. We drew water, a home, and food onto a three piece puzzle and cut and pasted it onto colored paper. They are displayed in our classroom and look great. 


In Social Studies, we are discussing the importance of taking responsibility. It is a big word but the children understand after some examples they could relate to! For example, when you spill something, it is your responsibility to clean it up. We also talked about being responsibility for taking care of our environment and what it is to recycle. We added a recycling bin to our classroom this week and the children love putting plastic and paper in it.


Like last week, we managed to squeeze Art into our agenda with some simple paper hand puppets. The children loved them! They decorated their puppets as different animals and had fun using silly voices for them. They were so easy to make that some children decided to make two for their siblings and themselves. If you would like to make some at home, they are a fun and easy weekend craft. They’re great for the kids because they can practice their oral and motor skills.
Here’s the link for instructions:  http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/paper-puppets-909092/

Some of the children probably came home yesterday very excited to show you their blue folder because I told them there was a permission slip inside for a trip to see Dora the Explorer! The trip will take place on November 8th. The cost is 185EGP per child and the fees are due by October 16th (Tuesday). If you need another permission slip or if your child did not come home with one (I saw one got left behind on Thursday), please let me know as soon as possible and I will send one home.


We are slowly moving into having the children pack up their book bags independently. I assist them by drawing a book bag checklist in the board with pictures. They need to check if they have their lunchboxes, water bottles, blue folder and sweaters before they leave. This will become our afternoon pack up routine.  I still prepare their blue folder by putting all of their papers inside but it is a big step up from having their book bags packed up for them!

I hope everyone has a great, relaxing weekend,
Ms. Victoria 

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Change of clothes

Today was a day of spills and accidents. This is normal (and expected) in kindergarten! Please make sure though that your child has a full change of clothes at school. If your child came home today in his/her spare clothing, please send an outfit to school tomorrow to replace it.

Thank you so much,
Ms.Victoria

Monday, October 8, 2012

Sight word of the week and homework

Hello Parents and Families,

Today the children were introduced to a new sight word: "and"

We will be working with this word all week so do not be alarmed if your children cannot read this word yet. Today, we learned a song to help us remember how to spell "and".

I thought it might be helpful to post the lyrics so you can sing it at home with your child.

Oh, I can spell "and".
A-N-D "and"!
"And" is the word that I write with my hand!
A-N-D , A-N-D
Nicky, Nicky Noo!
That's what I learned in my school,
Mama!

There are body movements to go with the song. Songs and movement are very helpful for young children to remember new information. This YouTube video will show you how the song goes and what movements go with the song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tNmvu_MSqU  It is a fun song to sing and dance to!

Also, a note about the homework. I have been told by some parents that they prefer the weekly homework as opposed to the monthly. I have to agree. I will revert back to the weekly homework in November and will not be assigning the same homework as KG2A. I know this makes more work for parents with children in both classes but it will help most families stay better organized and allow me to track progress more efficiently. I want to thank the parents who provided feedback. I love it when we can make decisions together!

Today, last week's homework was returned to the students in a green plastic folder. This folder can stay at home until the homework is due. I still have some drawings that will be returned shortly. 

Thank you Parents,
Ms. Victoria 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Week 4 Update


It was a high-energy week. We got a lot done despite it being a short week for the children!

In Language Arts, we added the sight word "the" to our vocabulary. I have added a new sight word tab on our blog so parents can keep up with our sight word of the week and practice them at home! In school, we practice by writing the word, finding the word in books, and cutting, unscrambling, and pasting letters to spell our word. We have also been discussing nouns as they relate to people- specifically, people in our family (mother, father, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather).

In Math, we have been working on one-to-one correspondence which just means equal sets. For example, for each child, there must be one pencil. We also worked on making simple graphs. The children are building their math vocabulary every week.

In Science, we reviewed the similarities and differences of animals through discussion, picture cards, and a game called animal charades. The children had to act out animals without speaking while their classmates guessed what animal they were. They loved it and some were very creative. Someone was a porcupine and rolled back and forth!

In Social Studies, we discussed sharing, taking turns and helping each other. These skills are essential in the classroom. To practice these skills, we made puppets. The students had to share materials and take turns using the scissors. They also helped each other draw the puppets. I attached a pencil to each puppet and the students used them to talk to each other about sharing and caring about each other. The students were so excited to bring their puppets home on Thursday to show their parents!

Although Art was on Sunday, we found time to relax and be creative with some painting, drawing, and coloring during the week. This month, our school is promoting art through literature. Our class read the book Birds and I taught the children how to draw a bird. The result was 15 unique and beautiful birds. We also painted some birds using sponges. The children were only provided with the primary colors and were encouraged to mix them to make more colors.




I hope everyone is enjoying this long weekend with their family. I will be asking the children about their weekend on Monday. J

I have started to send out Family of the Month notices. Each month, one or two families will be sent notices. I am requesting 1 pack of tissues, 2 packs of wet wipes, and 2 bottles of hand soap. We do not need paper towels (as originally noted) since we use hand towels in class (environmentally friendly!).  Thank you to those 
who sent in some of the hand towels.

As always, thank you for all the help at home! It is so appreciated.

-Ms.Victoria

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Happy Birthday Karma and Zeina!

Today we celebrated Karma and Zeina's 5th birthday with cake and juice in the garden. It was lovely! We sang Happy Birthday and the girls blew out their candles. The children were treated to goodie bags that they took home with them today. Pictures have been added to the photo album tab where I will be adding pictures throughout the year.

Happy Birthday girls!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Quick Update

Hi Parents,

Thank you so much to those who came out yesterday for our Open House! I hope you walked away from it with a better understanding of what your child's day is like and what the learning looks like in our classroom.

For those who could not make it, I gave out two class photos to every family that your child will be bringing home today.

I also sent home the new homework schedule today. This is a monthly schedule and it is due at the end of the month. It does not need to come to school with the children everyday. If you have any questions about the homework, please relay it via channel book or e-mail.

A reminder that Thursday is a half day for the students and dismissal is at 12pm. Also, next Sunday is a day off in honor of Armed Forces Day. An elementary newsletter was sent home today with the children. Please take a look at it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend,
Ms.Victoria