St. Patrick's Day During COVID 19

With schools closed here in Virginia, I am now homeschooling my grandson. 

To begin, we watched a video on YouTube about the origins of St. Patrick's Day, focusing on the symbols of Ireland and St. Patrick's Day such as the shamrock. 

Then, because the city library is closed, we watched a video of the children's book, Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato:  

Potato block printing of a shamrock

My grandson added a rainbow after we discussed the colors of the rainbow and how to remember the order: ROY G. BIV.

St. Patrick's Day Math: Sorting Lucky Charms' marshmallows, counting , and comparing groups.

Roy: Red, Orange, Yellow

G.: Green

Big: Blue, Indigo, Violet

Trivia:  Did you know that when you see a double rainbow the other rainbow is the inverse of the first rainbow?

Ten Frames were used to my grandson could add up the total number of marshmallows in his bowl of Lucky Charms.

With the other half of the potato from our potato block printing, we will experiment to see if anything will grow from the potato EYE if put in water.

Starting a potato journal and using a portable Word Wall to help with the spelling of subject-specific words.

Day 1

Day 2

We watched another video on YouTube of the storybook, How to Catch a Leprechaun.  Afterwards we did a directed drawing of a leprechaun.  Then my grandson wrote how he would catch a leprechaun.

When all school work was finished, we made St. Patrick's Day cupcakes.  (They were pretty ugly, but they tasted good!). Both of us were exhausted at the end of the day! 

Homeschooling During the Coronavirus

If you find yourself in the position as I have, that you need to homeschool your child or grandchildren, these are some resources that other educators have recommended: 

Epic
Looks

Vooks

ABCya

Phonics Hero

 Spelling and Vocabulary Activity

 Starfall ABC's

 Starfall  #1

ABC Mouse

Storyline Online

ABC Phonics Song - Video How-to

Starfall Sign Language: ABC's

Literactive 

 Illuminations Five Frames
Illuminations Ten Frames

 Concentration

 Starfall Calendar  

 How Tall?

 IXL Math

Cool Math Games
Math Games Using Dominoes
Math Games Using Dice
Math Games Using Playing Cards

Brainpop 

Mystery Doug 

Science 24/7 from Lawrence Hall of Science

Weather Wiz Kids

PBS: The Science Kid

Movement: 

Go Noodle

Miscellaneous:

Scholastic Learn at Home

Learning A-Z

PBS Learning Media

Nat Geo 4 Kids

Fun Brain

Dreamscape - (Gr 2-8)

Switcheroo Zoo

Highlights Kids

Boom Learning

PBS Kids

Kids Discover

Time for Kids

Wonderopolis

Epic

Vooks

ABCya

Phonics Hero

 Spelling and Vocabulary Activity

 Starfall ABC's

 Starfall  #1

ABC Mouse

Storyline Online

ABC Phonics Song - Video How-to

Starfall Sign Language: ABC's

Literactive 

I'm BACK!

It's been three years since I posted on my blog.  That's because my husband was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2017 and I was unable to finish the school year.  I took early retirement to care for him.  Then he passed away in March of 2018.  So I've been retired since then, getting my life back together and discovering what I'd like to do in the next season of my life.  I've missed many things about teaching, but not everything. Teachers, you know what those things are.  No need to spell it out.  

Now I have the best of both worlds.  A silver lining for me with the Coronavirus is that I  get to put my teacher hat back on to teach my grandson who is in kindergarten!  Today was our first day. Having only one student is quite different than a full classroom of 18 by yourself!  But what fun!  He told his mom after I left to go home, "Grandma is the best teacher because she was a teacher."  Hahahaha!  I guess that means I had a successful first day back!  

It's amazing how you can feel like you've really fallen behind in the field of education after three years.  So I welcome any suggestions of resources for teaching my kindergarten grandson.  Please just comment below!  I hope all of you are standing strong in this worldwide crisis.  Together we will come out of this better than we ever were!

St. Patrick's Day

If you ever want to feel what it feels like to be young again, all you have to do is be around a five or six year old on a holiday that involves any creature such as an elf!  Whether it's the Gingerbread Man, Elf on the Shelf, or the wee creatures known as Leprechauns, kids LOVE them!  

The day started with the leprechaun creating some havoc in the classroom: pencil boxes were spilled, chairs were tipped over, and the wee thing even brought some gold and tattoos before skeddadling out the window, leaving behind green footprints!

He brought gold!

Ewwww!  Green pee?!

That's just silly!

He's got to be out here somewhere!

We are wee folk, too

Some of our Directed Drawings

Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham

Our class celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday and Dr. Seuss week with tasting green eggs and ham.  First we PREDICTED whether we would like them or not.  (Some had already tasted green eggs and ham.) Then we tasted them, and finally we moved our vote if we had changed our minds. (Transition words that we are working on in writing are in italics.)

Space Center Fieldtrip

Our class will visit the Space Center on Thursday.  Please don't forget to send your child's lunch in a paper or plastic bag.  Be sure to label your child's lunch and drink.  Your child should dress as he/she does for school, being sure to wear comfortable shoes.  It wouldn't hurt to check the weather report before selecting the clothes for the trip.  You know this Florida weather!

Last week, we learned about snow and about snowmen.  We read Snowmen at Night and made our own snowmen.  We wonder, "What will our snowmen do this weekend?!" Stay tuned!

The students also generated an EETCHY chart about SNOW.  (Photo coming tomorrow!)

Springtime Has Sprung Digital Storybook

My first technology project with kindergarteners: http://bookmaker.apphb.com/r/MqhZS. (You will need an iPad to view/listen.)  Springtime Has Sprung in Our Neighborhoods

The students WANT to write for this app!  ChatterPIX

Tomorrow, Wednesday October 15th

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness!  Are the children hyper fired up about our FunRun or what?!  It started with the Pep Rally on Monday and then the Huddle today at Activity time, and ended with the distribution of prizes.  On top of that, they saw a BIG dump truck of mulch being delivered to our playground, right behind our classroom!  On the calendar they saw that tomorrow we have a birthday in our room, it's a shortened day AND they have a holiday on Friday!  Oh, and we mustn't forget the fieldtrip next week on Tuesday and the FunRun on Wednesday!  So many exciting things coming up!  These are some very excited kiddos.  Moms and Dads, please encourage your children to try to stay focused this week, as I still have much testing to complete and I need their full attention when I am doing the assessments!  

Thank you to those of you who've already donated.  For those of you who haven't, you have until the Fun Run to get some pledges from family and friends.  If you are unable to get any pledges, don't worry, each child will get a prize.  

An Apple a Day

An Apple a Day helps us learn our A!

Thank you so much to all the parents who sent in the following items for our apple tasting and voting activities:  apple cider, apple juice, Apple Jacks cereal, apple butter, caramel for dipping our apples into, apple pie, and your child's favorite apple.  Funny story:  The moms who were helping on Friday said, "Um, Mrs. Berry, we aren't so sure you want to taste-test this pie because it's not an apple pie."  Me: "What??? It says 'Apple Pie' on it."  "Yes, but it isn't.  Publix put the wrong label on it!  Oh well.....But we certainly did appreciate S.Q.'s parents sending it in!  

American Symbols

PROUD to be AN AMERICAN!

Students spent Constitution Week learning about some American Symbols.  They really seemed to enjoy the projects and learning about them!  Ask your student what the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, the flag, and the eagle stand for.  (Hint, hint: this will be on a Social Studies test sometime!)

Next Week is Color Week!

Monday, September 8:  Red Day

Tuesday, September 9: Purple Day

Wednesday, September 10: Yellow Day; Early Release Day

Thursday, September 11: Green Day

Friday, September 12: Blue Day

Other notes:

Please check the Newsletter tab above to see the latest class newsletter.

We will begin using our primary composition books next week.  The primary composition books have the lines that are blue, then dashed, and then red. 

Peacebreakers and Peacemakers

All week the students have been learning the Lifelong Guidelines and about being "Peacemakers and Peacebreakers" in the classroom.  These are the ideas the children generated after reading the book, No David!

LIFELONG GUIDELINES

Truthfulness

Trustworthiness

No Putdowns

Active Listening

Personal Best

Meet-n-Greet

It was so nice to see you at the Meet-n-Greet this afternoon.  I have a really great feeling about our class!  We are going to have a wonderful year  as our Beach Buddies journey on our "voyage of discovery"!

Thanks so much for all your help getting the supplies where they needed to be.  You don't know how much I appreciate your help.  You saved me hours of work this afternoon since I didn't have to sort out everything by myself.  Way to go, parents!  That's teamwork.

I will see you all tomorrow!

Mrs. Susan Berry

Activity Schedule

Parents, at Lewis Carroll, our students are on a 5-Day Rotation Schedule for Activity Classes.  Holidays do not count. The 5 day count just resumes after the holiday.  Therefore, even though there are five school days, the students will not always have the same Activity on the same day of the week.  Also, every nine weeks our class will have one of the Activity classes two times during the 5-day Rotation.  This nine weeks our class will go to Music two times.   I will include Activity Schedules on my weekly newsletters and on this blog.

Activity Schedule for the next two days and the following week:
Thursday - Day 4: P.E. with Coach Hutton
Friday - Day 5:  Music with Mrs. Dodson
Monday - Day 1:  Music with Mrs. Dodson
Tuesday - Day 2:  Art with Mrs. Delorey
Wednesday - Day 3:  Media Center with Ms. Bosley
Thursday - Day 4:  P.E. with Coach Hutton
Friday - Day 5:  Music with Mrs. Dodson

School Supplies

Hello Kindergarten Parents,

It's getting to be time for the stores to start stocking their shelves with school supplies and little ones start getting excited about buying their supplies!  While we won't know who your child's teacher will be until after we do the individual assessments on each child during your scheduled appointment time, my list is very close to the "generic" kindergarten supply list at Lewis Carroll. The main difference may be in the Mead Primary Journals which I will use for a Math Journal and a Reading Interactive Notebook.  Also, I would like students to have a 1/2" white binder for their poetry/word work notebook. The other teachers may also include a few items I don't include on my list.  But if you want to get started, my list is below.  (Sorry I don't have a copy of the "generic list" at home.)

Have a Great Summer!

Another year has come and gone and it's hard to believe how much the children have grown and how much they've learned.  It is such a rewarding experience to watch these little ones grow!  Thank you for sharing them with me and entrusting their care to me.  I hope all of you have a wonderful summer break.  Please don't forget to have your child continue practicing all of their skills this summer.  Try to keep it fun! Please remember your child has access to Studyladder and to Lymboo Math.  If you have lost the passwords during vacation and need them, please email me! berry.susan@brevardschools.org 

I'll see you all in August!,
Mrs. Berry

Hello Everyone!

How many of you have been reading throughout the summer?  WHAT?!  You HAVEN'T been reading a little bit every day?!  Well, it's not too late to get started so you don't have a "summer slide".  You don't want to struggle next year, do you?  

Besides Studyladder that you still have access to, try out this website which has great weekly ideas for a "Summer Reading Camp": http://www.education.com/summer-reading/ 

Have fun!

Mrs. Berry

Digital Kindergarten: Using Blooms Taxonomy with Technology

Parents, here's a great website which talks about levels of questioning. Our school wide improvement plan is to increase our use of higher level questions with students. This site shows how to do that with kindergarteners.

Digital Kindergarten: Using Blooms Taxonomy with Technology: Great site to read over: http://langwitches.org/blog/category/ipad /

If you have an iPad, there is a great chart which show apps that address the different levels of questioning so the iPad isn't just being used for rote learning or gaming.