Newsletter - August 25

Newsletter - August 18

Picture Module

     

"Picture Module" is a somewhat "old-school" Language Arts activity that Kindergartners just love! We did several of these charts last week and the kids really enjoyed describing the pictures and searching for the mystery word. This activity is something easy you can do at home with your child. It can take many forms and be used to target various skills. Read on for how we do it and ideas for taking it further.

General Picture Module: For picture module, I take a vivid, detail-rich picture and glue it to chart paper. Magazine pictures work great, but I took the ones above from a calendar. We always start picture module by giving the picture a title. I take suggestions from students. Sometimes we vote as a class on the titles and other times we work together to combine/mix several titles. Then we get to work on the picture. Before calling students up, I have a mystery word in mind. The student that guesses the mystery word receives a small treat. we mark the mystery word with a star, so students will remember it has been guessed already. I allow students to point out what they see in the picture and then I label it in their words. When students begin to run out of words, we draw a line and begin analysis of our words. Often we will count the number of words. Other times we will count the number of letters in the title. As we progress through the year, I might ask students to find how many Bs we used or to count the vowels. The possibilities are endless. After analyzing in the chosen manner, we will write a sentence together about the picture and practice reading it as a class.

Ideas for Taking it Further
These suggestions can help push picture module beyond the Kindergarten level if your child is ready for the challenge.

• Have your child analyze what types of words they used (adjectives, nouns, etc.)
• Challenge your child to only label adjectives or nouns
• After labeling, help your child think of synonyms for their words (Use a thesaurus if you want to take it even further!)
• Write more than a sentence at the bottom of the chart!
• Turn the module into a research project! help your child learn more about the content of the picture through books, internet research, or some type of activity.

Our Behavior Chart

Have you wondered what all of this "Smooth Sailing" or "A Day at the Beach" business is about? Would you like to understand why your child might tell you they went to the "Lighthouse" when you know we didn't have a field trip? Check out this previous blog post (http://smithssailors.blogspot.com/2013/08/our-behavior-system.html) on our behavior chart.

Updates:
* A Day at the Beach = a trip to the treasure chest!
* Smooth Sailing = a small treat such as one jelly bean, M&M, or sticker. I will slowly wean the kids off of Smooth Sailing treats over the course of the year as an encouragement for good behavior regardless of the presence of a reward. (This will better prepare them for First Grade.)
*"Think Time" - Lighthouse = 5 minutes at recess; On the Rocks = 10 minutes
*I may not always find the the time to report Beach and Rock days in the communicator. I will always have an open line of communication about behavior though.

A Great Start!

The 2014 - 2015 school year is off to a great start at TIMA! A huge THANKS goes out to all staff, parents, and community members who have helped make this possible. Thursday and Friday were great days for my new group of Mrs. Smith's Sailors! Everyone is excited to set sail on this journey of learning. We were so excited on the first day, that we neglected to take an official photo, but below you can find a couple of shots we snapped on our second day. Our first class photo! Check out this amazing group!

 On our first two days, we completed many fun back-to-school and get to know you activities. We also read several great books. I am so impressed by how brave this group has been about starting Kindergarten! Even when a few tears have been shed, new friends have stepped in to comfort their classmates! This makes my heart smile to see these kids forming bonds so quickly! In celebration of being brave we read a great book on the topic - My Brave Year of Firsts. The kids love it and I recommend it to all parents to re-read throughout the year.

After reading this book, the class shared about brave firsts in their own lives. I'll send these home so you can see your child's drawing! Students drew everything from the first time they ate collard greens to the first time they saw a jellyfish. It was a fun time for sharing!

I hope you will check back on the blog frequently for new posts. I'll post newsletters, updates, class activities and other information of interest on here! Let me know what type of content you would like to see.

Mrs. Smith

Newsletter - August 11