Wishing you ALL, a New Year that is full of love, hope, good health, family, friends, books, and anything and everything that may bring you joy and peace. Looking forward to seeing you in 2016 💫
Before I tell you about Mrs. Hausman's visit today, I want to briefly share some information about special books called, "Kindergarten Star Books". Star books are books that are chosen because of their strong narrative story elements (characters, setting, problem, events, and solution), simply put, they are GREAT stories to listen to and to "read". The books are introduced to the children one at a time. Beginning the first day of school, star books are shared with the children during read aloud time. The same story is shared at least 4 times over a 2 week period, introducing about 4 new books in a month. This process allows the children to become very familiar with each story. Careful attention is given to reading each story intonation and lots of enthusiasm and, before very long, the students are reading along with the teacher for much of the book! Once the children have heard a star book several times and are very familiar with the stories, they get to choose to "read" the stories during our beginning sessions of Reading Workshop... a real treat for children who are not yet reading conventionally. So, that brings me back to Mrs. Hausman. Today she shared several stories about "Gingerbread Cookies". Well, "The Gingerbread Man" happens to be one of our kindergarten "Star" books, so, as you can imagine, they were very familiar with how the story "typically" goes and REALLY enjoyed the variety (and similarities) in the stories that were shared today! When she was finished she gave each student a gingerbread decorated pencil... THANK YOU Mrs. Hausman! As you may have heard, our class is participating in a physical Education and Nutrition program called PE-Nut. Miss Kate, a trained educator from the National Kidney Foundation, will visit our classroom 6 times throughout the school year. She will help us to learn how to make healthy choices and that making healthy choices can be lots of fun! The program incorporates a planned curriculum, food sampling, structured physical activity, books, take home bags, daily health messages, and even school-wide events. More information can be found here:
http://www.nkfm.org/kids-teens/early-childhood-elementary-education-programs/pe-nut-elementary-school-program |
AuthorMy name is Charlene Sipe and I'm the teacher in room #166 at Einstein Elementary School. Archives
May 2016
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