We're
heading into the final week before Winter Break, and it's beginning to
feel like Winter is coming.
We've
had the normal holiday excitement which seems to increase daily -- and
some days, by the hour -- and we've also had several Fog Delay days in
the past two weeks, which put us behind schedule on academics and special
projects.
Because
of the Fog Delays (when the school buses run two hours late), it became
unreasonable to complete the TLC Make-A-Book called A Christmas Week,
which was going to be my students' holiday gift to their families.
I adapted the first page of the book -- On Sunday, I saw one Santa
-- and made it into a quilt square for our December quilt, which you'll
see below.
Two
students left our class to join the new Kindergarten-First Grade combination
class we formed by transferring students from four first grade and four
kindergarten classes. My class welcomed a new student last week,
and one of my KinderKids moved, so I currently have 18 students, with room
for 2 more.
Mrs.
Randall's new K-1 class got some newly enrolled students, so she's up to
18 or 19 already, with an enrollment cap of 20. Several of our other
kindergarten and first grade classes also got one or two new students each,
so our enrollment is continuing to grow, bringing the challenges of assessing
new students at a very busy time of year, and working to build community
with all the changes in our classrooms.
Despite
fog delays and shortened days, classroom changes, holiday excitement, a
state-mandated Earthquake Drill, and the four-day absence of my Instructional
Aide, we still managed to get a lot of things done In My Room, as you'll
see from the photos below. This coming week, we'll spend the last
day before Winter Break having a Pajama Party to celebrate reading in our
classroom. It's going to be a terrific day -- and week -- for all
of us, and we'll come back in January refreshed and ready to grow.
Have
a great week!
~
Victoria
Reminder:
If you're shopping for books, toys, software, or music -- for yourself,
your classroom, or holiday gifts -- Amazon.com
offers excellent prices and service, along with the time-saving convenience
of shopping from home. Most items are available for delivery on or
before December 22, at standard shipping rates.
You
don't pay sales tax when shopping at Amazon.com
... in California, that's an additional savings of over 7%, plus the great
Amazon.com discounts on books. Buying my books and music at Amazon.com
usually saves between 25% and 40% of the total cost of buying the same
item at the teacher store or Target, and it's convenient, easy, and secure.
Buying through Amazon.com also helps support the KinderKorner Website and
KinderKorner listserv, and your support is greatly appreciated!
Gingerbread
This
was week two of our G is for Gingerbread Unit,
and we're having a wonderful time. We revisited all the stories we
read last week, discussed the characters and story elements of each, and
introduced some new versions of the story, including those shown below.
A contemporary version of a traditional tale, this runaway cookie
is chased all over New York City by subway musicians, construction workers,
a rat, and other delightful characters. A fun addition to your class
library. New for 2000 ~ Now available in an inexpensive paperback
edition.
As
with last week's stories, we charted the sequence of events and discussed
the characters the Gingerbread Boy meets in each story. We also talked
about which of the versions we've read so far is each child's favorite,
and why.
All
of the Gingerbread stories we've read so far are in our Gingerbread Literacy
Centers, along with some other activities shown in last
week's photos. I've set up two separate Literacy Center tubs
so that the KinderKids will get lots of opportunities to read the various
versions of the story and work with the workjob activities I've designed.
Each of my Gingerbread tubs has a cuddly Gingerbread Baby reading buddy
that the kids adore.
The Perfect Reading Buddy! 20% off List Price $7.99
I'll
be adding a lot more activities (and possibly a third Gingerbread Literacy
Center tub) when I get my terrific materials from Carol Gossett's Gingerbread
Man unit back from the printer -- I'll have alphabet cards, bingo games,
and many other new activities to add in January.
On Thursday, l introduced Jan Brett's Gingerbread
Baby, to launch my Jan Brett Author Study. This is already a
class favorite, as I knew it would be, and the KinderKids really enjoy
Brett's rich illustrations and the sidebars that show what Mattie is doing
while the rest of the village is chasing the Gingerbread Baby.
They
especially liked speculating on whether or not Mattie will eat the Gingerbread
Baby after he's kept him in the Gingerbread House for a while. I
think that we'll write our own ending to the story in late January, when
we finish up the unit.
Stir a bowl of gingerbread, Smooth and spicy brown. Roll it with a rolling pin, Up and up and down. With a cookie cutter, Make some little men. Put them in the oven Till half past ten!
For more terrific Gingerbread Man
activities and resources, visit my
This is a close up of
my December Quilt. The Evergreen Tree is shown below, next to the
Pieced Star Patch shown last week, both of which I've used in previous
years.
Here's a close up of the
Santa head I used this year, adapted from the TLC Make-A-Book called A
Christmas Week. I used the pieces cut according to their directions,
substituting a 9" x 9" square for the background and using cotton balls
for the fur on Santa's hat. This was a fairly easy directed art project.
To learn more about TLC
-- Teaching Little Children -- projects, visit their website at http://www.tlcart.com
~~~
Our finished December
Quilt.
~~~
This is the Santa Handprint
I talked about last week. To make the handprint, paint the the thumb
and upper part of the palm red, the center of the palm pink, and the fingers
white. Facial features and a cotton ball are added after the paint
is dry.
~~~
Mrs.
Landucci's class made a quilt using the Santa Handprint and Evergreen Tree
patches.
~~~
Mrs.
Landucci's finished quilt.
More December Big Books
You
can make your own Big Books from any small blackline master that you use
with your students, by enlarging the page on the photocopier. I often
use smaller copies of the illustrations to make a pocket chart set of the
stories the students have in their book boxes, many of which are also in
my Big Book center.
Children
need mulitiple opportunities to interact with familiar text, in order to
acquire and reinforce Concepts About Print (CAP), and to build fluency
and comprehension along with a sight word vocabulary.
The two books shown below
are made from a blackline master that's actually 4 pages on one side of
an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper, that gets folded twice to make the student
book. I don't know who made the original blacklines, as they were
given to me by another teacher.
I enlarged the pictures
to 8 1/2" x 11" size, colored them, and mounted them on 12" x 18" construction
paper to make a Big Book for Shared Reading. I cropped the photos
to make them fit in the tables below, so you're not seeing most of the
background page.
One
of the things I like best about these books -- which are simple innovations
on Brown Bear, Brown Bear -- is that they have the corresponding
text for each picture on the same page as the picture. With these
books, the children don't have to peek ahead to see what the text says,
as is the case in many Brown Bear innovations.
Earthquake Drill
California
law mandates a yearly earthquake drill in public schools. While it
appears to be only a regular fire drill with the addition of a "duck
and cover" exercise at the beginning, it requires MUCH more preparation
and participation on the part of key staff members.
The
drill begins in the classroom, where the students and staff have to "duck,
cover, and hold" beneath tables, for safety. During a real earthquake,
it's important to hold onto the legs of the table or chair you are beneath,
as the shaking could cause the furniture to move across the floor, exposing
you and those around you to injury.
We
stress the importance of not talking or giggling during this practice,
because in a real emergency we need to be able to hear instrutions.
Between 2 and 5 minutes later, we hear our regular fire drill bell, which
is our signal to evacuate the buildings and report to our fire drill stations
on the track, where the students are always impressively quiet.
Head
Start students evacuating the classroom next to mine.
More
than a dozen staff members -- myself included -- have special jobs during
an earthquake drill or any real emergency. In the case of an earthquake,
all doors are left open to facilitate checking rooms for damage and injuries
to students and staff. The water, gas, and electricity must be turned
off, and missing students and staff must be accounted for.
A
really poor picture of me and my principal, Mr. Buckner, looking like we've
been through a real emergency :o)
All
emergency supplies -- including food, water, emergency contact cards, cell
phones, blankets and warm clothing, first aid materials, student medications
kept in the office, wheelchairs and stretchers -- must be brought outside.
Emergency
food and water supplies, one barrel per grade level.
During
this week's drill, we "treated" an "injured" student, went through all
the motions of a real emergency, and were unable to locate the "missing"
student, who hid much better than we had anticipated. That was the
only mishap of the entire exercise, and we did extremely well in all other
areas.
Some
of our KinderKids, walking back to class when the Earthquake
Drill was over.
I just got this one myself, and the KinderKids adore
it! "Alphabet lessons have never been so slimy, ugly, nasty, or just plain
weird, and Gerstein's illustrations strike just the right tone."
A perfect alphabet book to add to your collection.
While their parents paint the house, three siblings
take up residence in four exotic locales ~ tree, pond, cave, and ocean
~ before conceding a house's advantages. Brand new illustrations
to this thirty-something year-old story add to it's timeless appeal.
Lots of wonderful things to talk about every time you read it.
Published in 1999, this splendid rhyming picture book
zeroes in on the most important things about being one, two, three, four,
five, and six years old. From Margaret Wise Brown, author of The
Important Book and Goodnight
Moon.
Published over 30 years ago, Nine Days to Christmas
remains fresh and relevant. Ceci's first Christmas posada party and pinata
have made her Mexican town come alive for generations of readers.
Employing her mastery of repetition and rhythm, Brown
conveys the classic sensory images of the Christmas season. Mortimer's
realistic, richly hued watercolors depict curious Pussycat as she recognizes
traditional holiday trappings -- sparkling Christmas-tree lights, forest-green
holly, orange tangerines, and brown walnuts.
A classic book from Margaret Wise Brown, filled with
wonderful rhymes and phrases while teaching all about colors. Many
of us grew up with this book and have shared it with our own children.
A must-have for your classroom library.
Close
up of the ornaments the KinderKids colored for our Thematic
Wall Christmas Tree.
~~~
This
was my week for taking lousy photos :o) This is the fireplace and
Christmas tree (without a trunk, yikes!) on the December Thematic Wall.
~~~
Thanks
to a LOT of parent help, we were able to make the Santa quilt squares and
Christmas stockings on Friday. I hung them up to take a quick picture
for the website, and then took them down so I can add student names in
glitter paint on Monday. When we come back in January, I'll replace
the fireplace with a large gingerbread house (not yet made) and a snowman,
both designed for interactive reading.
~~~
These
are my wonderful mom helpers, whose assistance allows me to do so many
extra things with the KinderKids!
This Week's Thematic Word Families
Introducing
Word Families Through Literature: Using a variety of literature to
study over 50 word families is the title
of a terrific book from Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company. It's not
available from Amazon.com or regular bookstores. To find out more
about the book, visit my pictures page dated 11-17-00.
Each
word family has a featured book, along with alternate/additional titles
you can use. There are several thematic activities suggested for
each story/word family, and blackline masters are provided when appropriate.
This
book really got me thinking about new ways I can work word family studies
into my thematic units, so I'm now including one or two word families on
my weekly In My Room updates.
ar
family
This
Is The Star Story by Joyce Dunbar Illustrations by Gary Blythe
"A cumulative rhyme that
simply and gracefully tells the Nativity story, with intensely dramatic
full-bleed oil paintings to illustrate each element -- star, shepherds,
angel, stable, Christ child, wise men, and all the rest. Blythe's effects
are riveting, from the pointillist shimmer of starlight to the rough textures
of the shepherds' cloaks to the gigantic phosphorescent apparitions of
angels. He and Dunbar (Seven Sillies, 1994, etc.) do full justice both
to the glory and to the simple humanity of the Christmas story." (Kirkus
Reviews)
This is an absolutely gorgeous
book! Click here
to see a larger cover photo ... the illustrations in this book are outstanding,
and this cover photo of the Nativity Scene in the stable is too small to
see. Also available in a softcover
edition.
A delightful story about a young boy's
trip to the North Pole, where he receives the First Gift of Christmas directly
from Santa. One of my all time favorites. Also available in
paperback
and in Spanish as El
Expreso Polar.
Special Deluxe
Gift Package includes the hardcover book, a CD and an audio tape, plus
a bronze ornament.
Bear wants to help trim the Christmas
tree, but whatever he tries to do, Papa says he's too small. When
Papa can't reach the top of the tree to hang the star, he realizes Bear
is just the right size! My KinderKids ask for this new Christmas
story over and over. Published Fall 2000.
A magical holiday journey that includes
all the verses to this favorite children's rhyme. Trapani's delightful
illustrations make this book extra special. Also available in hardcover
and paperback
editions.
My KinderKids love all of Trapani's
books, so be sure to check them out if you haven't seen these wonderful
stories before:
Brand
new for this holiday season, from Austrian Kindergarten Teacher and author
Brigitte Weninger.
Oliver
has never had a visit from Santa Claus. Wasn't I good? wonders Oliver.
Or maybe Santa never brought him a present because Oliver never wished
for anything. When his friend brings him a red balloon from the fair, Oliver
decides to let the wonderful balloon fly away, hoping it will carry his
letter to Santa. Poor Oliver! The balloon never reaches the North Pole.
It lands in grumpy old Nicholas's garden, which leads to a surprising,
deeply satisfying outcome.
Tingle the Elf falls into a Christmas
gift by mistake, and wakes up as the best part of a young boy's Christmas
gift. Great illustrations and an entertaining story.
A stranger comes to town and opens a
candy store, then explains the religious origins of the candy cane to a
little girl. A lovely story filled with Christmas spirit of a more
religious sort.
In this classic story, Margaret Wise
Brown shows the beauty in ordinary things, while emphasizing the importance
of being a unique individual. Under $6.
Favorite childrens' author and illustrator
Eric Carle delights readers with this story that reminds one of The
Little Red Hen ... there's so much to DO to make pancakes! Under
$6.
An outstanding story about ethics and
peer pressure ... to squish or not to squish! Told
in delightful rhyme that helps develop phonemic awareness and build word
family knowledge.
The rhyming text and bold illustrations
do more than name the eyes, ears, nose, and toes. By featuring children
of many different backgrounds, the book quietly celebrates the commonality
of people around the world. Sturdy boardbook edition. Under
$6.
Grandpa simply cannot resist the urge
to dress up in clothes left over from his vaudeville days -- complete with
top hat and gold-headed cane -- and to perform tricks, play banjo and tell
jokes. A well-loved story in my classroom.
The artwork for our December
homework calendar is sponge paintings sprinkled with silver glitter.
Victoria's Calendar Blackline
Master sets include the homework calendar page for all 12 months of 2001
(365 simple standards-based activities, with no religious holiday references)
plus directions for suggested artwork for each month. There are separate
sets for Kindergarten and First Grade, and they cost $10 per set, including
shipping. To order, specify grade level(s) wanted and send payment
to:
Victoria Smith 1904 Mountain Oak Road Bakersfield, CA
93311
