Greetings Families! I hope that everyone is having a fun and relaxing day off from school. I am currently at school right now staring at 5 empty tables, and yes, it sure is quiet here, but I do miss those faces!

 Teaching the children writing is something I am very passionate about. I love how excited they get and how much they look forward to writers workshop. I have been helping the children persevere in the face of difficulty. They have been working on spelling as well as on drawing with detail, and I am teaching them that it is a sad day when a writer doesn't write what he or she wants to say because of worry that something is hard to draw or spell.  Writing bravery and perseverance are qualities that are not learned overnight; many students will take longer than a day to internalize them. Little by little, as both you and I offer support and encouragement, the students will begin to take more risks. They will be able to keep trying, rather then quitting on their writing. I am really trying to get the children to tell stories through their illustrations, and not just looking at it as "drawing a picture." When at home, use language such as "what story are you writing today?" or "what is an easy way to let your readers know what this is?"

In language arts, the children have been working on re-telling a story by pulling out the important parts from the beginning, middle, and end. I like to use a hamburger to help children visualize this. The top bun is the beginning, the meat and cheese are the middle, and the bottom bun is the end! A hamburger would no be a hamburger without all those parts, and that is the same with stories! All good stories have a beginning, middle, and end, and as good readers, it is our job to decide what the important parts are of the story. During this upcoming week, the children will be making their own puppets to re-tell the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." The children have also been learning about characters in stories. They created their own characters out of art and recycled materials. Before they
got started, they made a plan of their characters and how they want it to look. Then, they collected all their materials in their character bags. In the next coming weeks, they will be writing their story using the character they created as the main character. Here are some examples of the characters that will be in their stories:

Sam: Jack the Alligator
Avery: Repunzel
Sophia: A magical mermaid
Gabriel: A ninja
Drew: A one-spotted ladybug
Riley: A lion
Mackenzie: A princess
Evan: A boy (who will driving a car)
CJ: An alligator
Kaiden: Ninja Kaiden
Aurora: A girl
Lucia: A lady bug
Nina: Herself
Rook: Pete the Cat
Issac: A ladybug
Sarah: A unicorn
Jadon: A ladybug
Luke: A unicorn

In math, the children learned about comparing heights and finding hidden numbers within numbers. This is a concept that I could use your help with! It is a very vital concept for the children to understand. Hidden numbers are two numbers that make up a number. For example, if I have 5 cubes
 linked together, I can pull the cubes apart to find the hidden partners. The numbers might be 2 and 3 or 4 and 1. This concept gets the children to understand that when two numbers are put together, it makes a new number. The students who understand this concept are ready to dig deeper with addition!

We are very fortunate, for we have three University of Akron student teachers involved in our classroom! Miss Liz teaches us Spanish once a week, and Miss Huddle and Miss Jeffrey are engaged with our learning twice a week. They even taught their first lesson to us the other day! Miss Jeffrey introduced the children to coins, and Miss Huddle took us on a leaf hunt, and then we came back and graphed the different leaves that we found. The children are responding very well to the new teachers, and get very excited when one walks through the door.

Last week, the children showed the school how truly talented they are! They had their first performing arts show, and it went amazing! They LOVED being on stage and performing for the entire school. It gave them something to be proud of, which is something that I hope they feel everyday at school. I am providing the video for you to watch. Enjoy!

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Last note: Parent/teachers conferences are next week! Your conference is either scheduled for Thursday, October 24th or Friday,  October 25th. Please let me know if you need a reminder of when your conference is scheduled.  Friday, October 25th is the second online school day. The children do not report to school, however there will be something on Edmoto for them to complete.

Enjoy this beautiful, fall weekend with your families! The children have been telling me many stories of apple and pumpkin picking, drinking apple cider, and even traveling to different cities to visit family!  Each week, I will be giving you an idea to do with your family over the weekend. Of course it is not mandatory, but it is just a suggestion! This weekend, why don't you make pumpkin play dough with your little one? Here is a link to the recipe:

http://www.theidearoom.net/2009/11/pumpkin-spice-playdough.html

Have fun!

Calling All Chefs!

 Dear Families,
 Thank you to all the families who came to the Fall Harvest Festival! It is one of the most magical evenings for the children, and they continue to look forward to it year after year. The Kindergarteners had a lot of fun preparing for the festival. They decided they wanted to make corn muffins to share. That was the first cooking project we had, and it went great! They got to wear real aprons which they loved. Before we started cooking, we looked at the recipe and talked about what recipes are, what they include, and why it was so important to follow directions when they are cooking. The children also wanted to decorate our classroom with pumpkins and leaves. I value their thinking and eagerness to create, so they did just that! Sam wanted to hang the leaves on string so it looked like they were "falling." Take a look at the pictures below to see our chefs in action!

 The students are learning what strategies are and how they can make us better readers, writers, and mathematicians. They are "reading closely" and trying to pick out the most important part of the book. We read the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. We talked about how it wasn't very important to know what kind of food he was eating, but it was more important to know that caterpillars (and all animals and insects) need food in order to grow! In this case, the caterpillar needed to eat so it can turn into a beautiful butterfly! The students also had a very special afternoon on Friday, for the first graders came over to our room and read with them. They were SO excited and they got along great with the other children. Now, because the first graders filled our buckets, the students want to do something nice for them!

The students have been busy learning the skills needed to have neat handwriting. Correct pencil grip is something that I have been working on with the children, so please encourage them to hold their pencil the correct way at home. Please see the link below if you need a reminder as well! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_dia8QGr0

The children have been showing me a deep interest in puppets, for they love to make puppets and they love to watch puppets! Next week, the children will be engaging in puppet projects, all while learning Kindergarten curriculum standards such as retelling stories and comparing and contrasting the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories. I can't wait to see where this project leads next! I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

- Mrs. Bowen :) 

Hi Students and Families! I hope your child enjoyed their online school day today. I attended a professional development session today where I learned how to incorporate digital writing into the classroom. My brain is on overload with information but I couldn't be more excited to try the new programs and applications I learned today to enhance your child's writing skills. I am really excited to incorporate more QR codes into the classroom, as well as introduce the children to applications on the Ipad where they can write through webs, stories, and photographs.

This week, the children enjoyed preparing for the Fall Harvest Festival. We made a brainstorming web of all the ideas we could make for the festival that involved corn. Aurora came up with the idea of making corn muffins. Luke came up with the idea of making a salad and putting corn kernels on top. Jadon thought we could serve corn and peas mixed together. Sam loved the thought of making corn cookies! Before the children brainstormed ideas, we explored how corn grows, the different ways corn can me prepared, and the different parts of the corn. What better way to explore then by going out into our own garden? The children worked hard at shucking the corn, which required much coordination on their part.

 The children are learning to be independent problem solvers. It is hard to overemphasize the importance of establishing clear structures and routine so children can carry on with independence during writing time. My vision is that children will start, work on, and complete their writing as best as they are able, moving from one text to another with verve and confidence. The message that I am teaching to the children is that they are their own best resource during a writer's workshop. At home, encourage your child to add more to their picture even when they think they have finished. A strategy that I teach them is to point to each thing or object they drew on their page, as ask themselves "How can I make this better?" We are also beginning to label our pictures! Help your child write down the sounds they hear in the word.

I would like to remind you that the Fall Harvest Festival will be on Thursday, October 3rd from 5:00-7:00 here at SCOPE Academy. Come for fun, games, and food! It is an event that you won't want to miss! I am looking forward to another eventful and rigorous week!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hello Kindergarten Families!

We are off to a great start in Kindergarten this year! It has been a busy few weeks as children make new friends, learn classroom routines and expectations, and curriculum material. I want students to expect school to be a dynamic and safe place to learn, and an objective that is realized immediately by involvement in purposeful and meaningful action. The first four weeks of school are always tiring and challenging for kindergarten students. I am amazed at the progress each child has made as they transitioned from the summer months to the full and rigorous days of school.

In math, the children have been participating in classification activities that allow them to analyze and observe their world and articulate their observations.  “These balloons are exactly the same”  and “These are the same but a different size”  are examples of the type of language they have been using. The students are recognizing numbers as yet one more lens for classification. Language such as  “I put a pencil, a book, and an eraser, 3 things, in my backpack for school" or " I put 5 toys in the closet to keep home” would be examples of this type of classification.  From the moment students enter school, they practice the counting sequence so that when counting a set of objects, their attention can be on matching one count to one object, rather than on retrieving the number words. My goal is for children to realize that math is EVERYWHERE in the world around them, but it takes a mathematician to notice it.

From day one, the children have learned that they are readers and writers. The most foundational lesson when teaching a child to read is that there are three ways to read a book. These ways are reading the pictures, reading the words, and re-telling the story. So you know when you walk past your child's room and they have a book in their lap and are talking to themselves? Well, they are actually reading the pictures, which is the first step to reading! The children's stamina for read-to-self is 6 minutes! Of course, they need to make sure they stay in one spot, read the whole time, and not talk to anyone, which are certainly learned skills and will build over time.

As young writers, the students are learning that they think of something that they know about and use pictures and words to put their ideas on paper. Writer's workshop is one of their most favorite parts of the day. The children have also been busy exploring our garden. They have collected nature and made their self portraits, participated in a letter scavenger hunt, measured different vegetable plants and flowers using cubes and blocks, painted with vegetables, and so much more! The children are also fascinated with the toads and insects that roam the gardens, which I can foresee being a curriculum focus and interest among all the children.

Below: Evan is using his sense of hearing to observe the world around him. Rook is painting with vegetables! The children loved seeing the different shapes vegetables made. Isaac is measuring out in the garden using nonstandard units--- linking cubes!

Here are a few beginning of the year reminders and updates:
1. Please make sure that your child's snack is in a different place other than their lunch box. It takes them a lot of time to get their lunch box out and choose their snack. Often, they do not know which food is their snack, or they are taking more out then necessary. I would also encourage to provide your child with a healthy snack, for nutrition is a big part of our daily curriculum.
2. On Wednesday, I sent home an important form explaining a new text messaging service I am applying this year as a new way to communicate with parents. It is called "Remind 101" and is a completely closed system, which means your phone number remains private and I cannot respond to any messages that are sent. I will be using this service to notify you of any school closings or delays, class or school events, materials needed for the classroom, and much more! If you need another form, please let me know and I would be happy to send home another one.
3. The blog will be updated every week. I will notify you when the blog is updated via remind 101 (the text message application that was introduced to you on Wednesday.) The blog can be used to prompt your child about what is happening in school. They love seeing their pictures on the computer!
4. The blue take home folder should be returned everyday. If you have a note for me, you may put the note in the folder, for I check all folders in the morning.
5. Library is on Wednesday! Please double check that your child's book is sent back so that he or she may check out another book.

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to be teaching your children. How lucky am I to have a job that I can't wait to get to every morning? I hope you have fun watching your child soar this year! I appreciate and welcome all comments, concerns, and questions regarding your child's education and success.

Pictures below: Sophia and Lucia are busy exploring the different features of their faces. The faces they made were then hung around  "Our Class Rules" chart. Gabriel is focused on practicing his letters at the light table.

The Eggs are Here! The Eggs are Here!

Being a first grade teacher is so very special! It is just magical to see the students'

faces light up each and every time they learn something new! New learning experiences are apart of our classroom everyday, but something as extraordinary as hatching chickens will be an experience that is unforgettable. Seven chicken eggs arrived in our classroom last Wednesday, and were donated by a local farmer. You can only imagine how excited the children are. There is a lot to remember when hatching chicks, so the children are practicing a different kind of responsibility in the classroom rather than being responsible for their actions and for belongings. A few of these responsibilities include changing the water for humidity, checking both the room and the incubator temperature, and keeping track when the eggs are turned. We have developed a class Incubator Data Chart to help us keep track of these factors which the chicks are so dependent upon. Even though we have only had the chicks for 4 days, we have already learned so much! Through a web quest (a blog I made for the children that is designed for safe, child friendly research,) the children have investigated life cycles, oviparous animals, sequence, temperature, and the basic needs of living things. Along with the class generated data chart, the children are also keeping their own logs in a scientific journal given to them. I am anticipating the children going deeper into their interest with baby animals!

Above: Kaydence and Isabella are researching in both fiction and non fiction books for information about chicks! They are recording their new learning in their journals using specific headings to organize their research. They have pages for "What I think I know," "What I wonder," "New Learning," and "Yes, I was right!" The children love when they confirm that what they thought was right was actually true. Also above, Alexis and Marlo are building models of chickens.

We also have lady bugs in our classroom (contained, of course!) They were donated by Isabella and her grandmother. Wow, did they sure fill our bucket! It is neat to compare the life cycle of the lady bug with the chicken. We got the lady bugs when they were just tiny eggs, and have watched them grow into beautiful, spotted lady bugs!

Parents, you are more than welcome to come see our chicken eggs or the hatchlings at any time. Your child would love to show and tell you everything they are learning about! If your child is interested in researching more at home, here is the link to the webquest: http://thewonderfulworldofchicks.blogspot.com/

Happy snow day, friends!

Here is a joke to for you to start this snowy day with:

Question: How do you keep the snow from giving your feet a cold?
Answer: Don't walk around BRRRfooted!

For your online snow day assignment, here are a few things I would like you to do:

1. Pretend you were talking to someone who has never tasted hot chocolate. Write 5-10 sentences trying to persuade them to try or not try it, depending on whether you like hot chocolate or not. Remember to use as many detailed, or "juicy," words as you can think of and also give reasons for your opinions. Maybe if you have any hot chocolate at home, you can ask an adult to have some so you can use all your senses while writing! Remember to use your manners when asking!

2. Please write the fact families for these numbers:

7 and 1

8 and 2

10 and 5

6 and 3

9 and 2

*Remember, all fact families have two addition and two subtraction number models. Always start with the largest number (the sum of both numbers) when subtracting.

Please bring your short persuasive text as well as your finished fact families to school tomorrow so you can get credit for them

Enjoy your day, everyone!

Miss Leslie

Welcome to America, Delphine Bourgoin!

Bonjour! It is with great pleasure for me to introduce to you Delphine Bourgoin, the newest and most dearest addition to our first grade class. Delphine is from France where she is studying to be a teacher. She has been given an educational opportunity to travel to America and gain a unique cultural experience while seeking a global viewpoint, international teaching experience, and the understanding of other cultures and people. She arrived at our school on February 25th, and she will be placed at our school until March 22nd. She will be immersed in our first grade classroom everyday, as well as teaching in other classes periodically to gain as much teaching experience as possible. The students and teachers have  grown very fond of Miss Delphine, not only for her expertise of French culture, but also because of her warm personality and friendly nature. We recently Skyped with Delphine's family, and the children were so interested to learn that her daughter enjoys dancing and her son enjoys video games and basketball! We will be Skyping with Delphine's daughter's class as well.  Mrs. Adams' first grade class is also lucky to have Anais Jusserand in their classroom, who is also seeking to experience the academic system of our country. 

In the picture above, Anais is on the left and Delphine is on the right.

Above: A group of students enjoy Skyping with Miss Delphine's family! Miss Delphine is also working with Sophia, incorporating the French language into Sophia's writing.

Read below to get to know Miss Delphine better!

• Family: She has a husband, a son (13,) a daughter (8,) and a cat back home in France.
• This is her third time visiting the United States. Previously she has visited New York City.
• She plays the saxophone and owns a motorcycle, or a  "motor bike."
• Her favorite foods that she has tried here so far are the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies and chocolate brownies.
• She is shocked to be able to go out to dinner, and then go shopping afterwards (stores in France close at 7:00 pm!)
• She has noticed that Americans are "quiet drivers." She hasn't heard one honk and she said she is surprised to see no one sticking their head out the window yelling at the car next to them.
• She visited Amish Country over the weekend and absolutely loved it.
• She is overwhelmed with how friendly Americans are and how we have made it so easy for her to transition into the American culture. Thank you to anyone who has reached out to our guests!

Thank you to Mrs. Orsini, Claire's mom, for being Delphine's "social coordinator" and helping coordinate special events and activities for Delphine to experience while she is here with us in Ohio.