HOOT#3

Homework:
DO on Monday (Due on Tuesday): Bring an item to school that starts with the sound N makes.
DO on Tuesday (Due on Wednesday): Find letters that are in your first name (especially your very first letter!) in newspapers/magazines. Cut the letters out and make a collage.
DO on Wednesday (Due on Thursday): Find your favorite color around the house. Draw the objects that have your favorite color. Label your picture (ask your family to help you write the name of the color/objects).

Please remember to read 20 minutes a day with your family. Ask me for a reading log if you don't have one yet.

Have a colorful week!

Electronic Portfolios Online

We have such a vibrant learning community in TISA kinder. Every student is an artist, a singer, an actor and a dancer. Reading, writing and math are taught using arts integration.

Every student in TISA kinder has a personal folder to record their work on Google Drive. It is a private folder that is only shared within school staff and the individual student's family. This week (Aug 24) each of you is receiving an invite via email to view your child's electronic portfolio online. Please let me know if you are having trouble accessing your child's folder.

Enjoy celebrating your child's amazing creativity.

Working with letter Tt

ART CLUB

The art club had a lustrous kick-off last week. 

Club members took on the beautification of the Salazar entrance.

This week students continued to explore stained glass

SPECIALTY CLASSES IN ACTION

DRAMA WITH JOHN BISCELLO

DANCE WITH AMBER VASQUEZ

MUSIC WITH ASHLEIGH GRYNCER

"RUN, RUN, Catch Me If You Can, I am the Gingerbread Man" -- a fun way to learn about TISA

We chased the gingerbread boy all around school the first few days. His clues helped us learn about different parts of our campus and class (aftercare room, playground, class library, lab, etc.) It was such a sweet surprise to gobble him up at the end! Thank you, Siri, for that tasty treat!

Storytellers and the gingerbread boy

The last clue was hiding in the treasure chest -- along with a bunch of gingerbread cookies!

Now, which body part to eat first?

Miss Wally loves stories

Miss Wally shares her love of reading and traditional stories every day.

During library time the children might be having interactive reading or listen to audio books with Miss Wally.

During quiet time Miss Wally reads traditional stories with no pictures. The children get to make up their own pictures using their imagination.

And she takes us all around the world during story time...

Hoot#2 -- Kinder News and Homework

I have enjoyed getting to know the children the last 6 days. Here are some fun conversation "nuggets" overheard in class.

"So, you two girls like each other? It's great to have a new friend, right? (Miss Jutka)
"We are cousins!" (girls)
So it turns out, they are not cousins...

"What an amazing butterfly you drew, XY! It has a bunch of legs!" (Miss Jutka)
"Yes. It's an African butterfly. Butterflies in Africa have more than six legs." (XY)
"Amazing! How do you know so much about African butterflies?" (Miss Jutka)
"I used to live in Africa." (XY)
I'd be interested to find out...

"Here is how to tell that the bug you are looking at is an insect. Every insect has 6 legs. (Miss Jutka)
"Not every insect does." (ZW)
"???" (Miss Jutka)
"Centipedes have a hundred!" (ZW)
Great entomologist in the making!

CURRICULUM update: how to be a TISA student, "Me," our class pet "Tickles", nursery rhymes and traditional stories, art/elements of design: self-portraits, lines, literacy: Tt, math: counting up, sorting and classifying

SHARE-WARE
I hope you have a chance to explore our class blog at least once a week. I will be emailing you links to each student's individual electronic portfolio so that you can watch them grow and celebrate their learning at home this year.

HOMEWORK
I am usually assigning homework Monday through Wednesday. There will be no homework assigned Thursday through Sunday. I ask that you keep reading with your child at least 20 minutes each day on those days as well.
DO on Monday (due on Tuesday): bring an object that starts with a T
DO on Tuesday (due on Wednesday): draw a picture of your family and label each member with their first name
DO on Wednesday (due on Thursday): draw a picture of your room. This time instead of labeling with words, label with numbers (e.g. 1 -- if you have 1 window, 3 - for 3 stuffies, 5 - for 5 socks, etc.)
Weekend -- no homework (continue with daily reading)

FIELD TRIP FORM
We will be going on walking field trips to Filemon Sanchez Park (by softball field) and the Eco Park.
Please stop by our room to sign the form in class

VOLUNTEERS
Welcoming volunteers for our reading activities between 9 and 10 am. Please let me know if you are interested.

HEALTH
We have had a few questions about sickness. Here is what I recommend.

Students should not be sent to school if they are showing signs of illness, such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, constant coughing, sore throat or untreated infected skin patches / rashes.  It is advisable that students with a fever are kept home until he/she is fever free for 24 hours, without benefit from a fever-reducing agent.

Parents should notify the school whenever their child is going to be absent from school due to illness or injury.

During school hours if your child feels ill or is injured, the teacher will determine if your child needs to be taken home by checking the following signs or symptoms:

• Temperature of 99.7°F or above with complaints of moderate to severe illness or pain

• Difficult or rapid breathing 

• Severe coughing

• Eyes that are red, swollen and draining

• Vomiting / diarrhea

• Severe pain

If any of these conditions exist, the office staff or teacher will notify the parents.  Parents are responsible to pick up your child or arrange for a designated person to pick up the child promptly. 

If your child has a long-term medical condition (such as asthma, severe allergies or anaphylaxis, diabetes, seizures, etc.) please make sure it is noted on the Emergency Information Card and Health Survey Form.  In addition, please check with the office manager to obtain other forms that may need to be filled out.

HELP
please bring in extra clothes for your child in a Ziploc bag (many children need them)
prize box items (our prize box needs some fresh goodies)
Tickles (Our gecko eats 12 crickets or 1 container of meal worms. They can be bought at Taos Blue pet supply store, across from McDonalds. Please let me know if you can help with that.)

Emerging reading and writing -- Letter Bb emerges from B=Butterfly

Butterfly studies: habitat and life cycle

Meet Met-a-mor-pho-sis in Kinder!

"Waken sleepy butterfly

Leave your tiny dark prison.

Spread your dazzling wings and fly

For the sun has risen."

It's hard work to be patiently waiting until it's time to emerge from a crhysalis!

Butterflies and moths try out their brand new wings

LUNCH PACKED FOR SUCCESS

Since you asked...
Here is what I packed for my 4 year old's first day at school. Included are all food groups (as far as I can tell at this time of night...) utensils, napkin, water bottle and shiny apple for the teacher. NOT included: cookies, chocolate milk, and processed foods. (I'd include dairy, but he is sensitive to lactose.) He can open and close every container independently. And note, there is no zipping to do -- it's all in a washable basket that has a canopy if needed. Voila!

TISA ART CLUB

TISA ART CLUB

TUESDAY and THURSDAY 3:50-4:50pm

Salazar campus
Kindergarten room

Teacher: Miss Jutka

Club members:

1 Vera (G1)     TorR

2 Jasper (K)

3. Angelina (K)  R

4. Vincent (K)     T

5. Asher (K)       T

6. Demitri (K)    T

7. Archer (K)     T

8. Rivers (G2)

9. Keenoh (K)  T

10. Isla (G1)    TorR

Waiting list:

12. India Buchanan

13. Kaylyn (K)   R

14. Flora (G2)      R

15. Anais (G2)   T

16. Noah (G3)

17. Sol (G3)

WELCOME TO DIFFENDOOFER CLASS!

A brave kindergartner and a brand new director shaking hands on the first day of school. 

Looking forward to a bright year at TISA!

Testing - Information on Short Cycle Assessment (DIBELS)

I put together this information for you to better understand the testing process and expectations for kindergartners. My goal is that we, as a team, can work together all year long so that the children feel at ease and capable when it comes to being successful in testing. Your part will be to please practice letter naming, sounding out words, reading short words with your child as part of their homework (you will be prompted with specific information in time). Testing happens three times a year in kindergarten (in 3 short cycles). 

Session 1: August, Session 2: January
Session 3: May 

I will be administering the test myself. Generally a session runs about 10 minutes per child. While I am testing, the children will be with Miss Wally, our kinder aide.

The name of the short cycle assessment TISA uses is DIBELS. The acronym stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. It is a reading assessment that can be used from kindergarten through 6th grade. TISA uses it in kinder, first and second grades.t is commonly used in schools with the goal of getting a snapshot measure of fluency. It was developed by the University of O

The DIBELS comprise a developmental sequence of one-minute measures:
KINDERGARTEN
recognizing initial sounds (phonemic awareness),
naming the letters of the alphabet (alphabetic principle),
segmenting words into phonemes (phonemic awareness),
reading nonsense words (alphabetic principle)
FIRST GRADE
oral reading of a passage (accuracy and fluency),
retelling (comprehension), and word use (vocabulary).
HHere is a detailed description of the components that pertain to kindergarten (compiled from the Internet). Each section takes 60 seconds. The test is administered 3 times a year (fall, winter and spring) by the class teacher (Miss Jutka in kinder). If you have any questions, please ask me.

Kindergarten DIBELS Section1:  
First Sound Fluency:  “Tell me the first sound of the word ____.”
Students listen to an adult say a list of words, and then they give the beginning sound of each word as it is said.  The children have 60 seconds to give as many first sounds as they can.  They must focus, cooperate, and follow directions.  There are no pictures to look at.  The hardest part is that the child must try to listen for ONLY the beginning sound, and so if the word starts with two consonants, as in the word “sleep,” the children often want to give the sounds of both the S and the L.  They need to give the sound of the S only.  If the tester says a word such as “sheep,” then the child would give the “sh” sound.  The children have to give the sounds, not the letter names.  These tests can be hard for children that have poor auditory discrimination skills.  That means that they can’t seem to listen to sounds and tell the difference between one and another very easily.  For example, some children have a hard time telling the difference between the P and the B sound.  They are made in the same way with the lips in the same position, but they sound slightly different.  For the P sound, the vocal cords do not vibrate, but when we make the B sound, they do! 

Kindergarten DIBELS Test 2:  
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency “Tell me all of the sounds you hear in the word ____.”
This is the name of the second section of the test that kindergarten children take.  This is again a listening only test.  The tester says a word, and the children must tell them all of the sounds that they hear in that word.  So if the tester says “mud,” then the child must try to say “/m/ /u/ /d/.”  (The slashes indicate the sounds of each letters are said, rather than the letter names.)  If the tester says “hush,” then the child must say “/h/ /u/ /sh/.”  (The child would give the sound of the “sh” not the letters S and H that make the /sh/ sound.)

The words on the list get pretty hard, such as “grabbed,” “clunk,” and “pretty,” so it can be quite a challenge to give all of the sounds in the word. 

The best thing to do is to practice with your child and make sure that telling the sounds that he or she hears in a word becomes commonplace.  The children are not penalized if they forget to name a sound in a word. They just need to keep going and tell as many sounds as they can in the sixty seconds that they have.  Start with beginning and ending sounds.  Once your child has mastered these, start trying to pick out any middle sounds that your child can hear.  If you practice doing this even for just four or five minutes every day, your child will surely improve.


Kindergarten DIBELS Section 3:  
Letter Sound Fluency/ Whole Words Read  “Read these words.  These are pretend words.  If you can’t read the words yet, just say the letter sounds.”
In this test, the children are given short nonsense words to sound out and read, such as “mip,” “sev,” “bis.”  They get a point for giving the letter sounds of each letter, but if they can read the whole word without sounding them out at all, then they are also given a point on a different test, called “Whole Words Read.” 
To get better at giving letter sounds fast, get a set of letter flash cards and a timer.  Have your child give the letter sounds as fast as he or she can.  Now try to beat your time.  Make a game out of it!  With daily practice, you should start to see your child’s time decrease.  Letter sound fluency is a vitally important part of learning to read, so it is well worth your investment of time.

If you have questions, please ask Miss Jutka.
If you'd like to explore more online, here is a site to look at: http://www.heidisongs.com/blog/2012/04/helping-kids-conquer-dibels.html

HOOT#1 Kinder News and Homework (Aug 17)

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN!
   
HOOT! is the kindergarten newsletter I publish weekly on this blog. Please request a paper copy if you need one.

COMMUNICATION
The fastest way to reach me is via email.

WHAT TO BRING ON MONDAY
school supplies (we will be using our crayons and sketchbook often)
extra clothes (a set of 2, if you anticipate needing it)
paperwork (please return the income form and the last page of the parent handbook)
photos (1 portrait of your child and 1 family photo)
drinks (for the Welcome Back Potluck -- see below)

PARENT FOLDER
You have a folder by your child's cubby. Please check it daily.

UPCOMING EVENTS
TISA welcome back-to-school potluck (4:30, Monday, Aug 17 -- Filemon Sanchez Park=almost across from the Eco Park) -- KINDERGARTEN parents, please bring DRINKS
Walking field trip to Filemon Sanchez Park (softball field one block from TISA) and to Eco Park (across the street from TISA) are scheduled twice a month (dates to be announced)
Gingerbread man (The hunt goes on! Thanks to Demitri's family for the surprise treat! Shhh! Don't tell your child!)
Short cycle literacy assessment (DIBELS testing) on Tuesday (Aug. 18)

CONVERSATION SEEDS (= hints that may help you connect with your child and find out more about the wonderful days they have at school) 
Did you meet a new friend at school? Do you know their name?
What do you do when Miss Jutka rings the bell?
What do you do with bean bags in class?How is a moth different from a butterfly?
How many more butterflies are we raising in class?
What's the name of our four-legged pet?
What does he eat?
Do you know the names of the children who sit next to you in circle? at the table?
Do you know where to put your lunch box?
Were you able to open your food containers?
How do you know that it's time to line up at the end of recess?
What type of plants grow on the kindergarten playground?
What character (animal, person) would you like to be in the story of the Gingerbread Man?
Was there anything that happened at school today that upset you? Does Miss Jutka know?
Do you know your teacher's name? 

PARENTS -- we need your help with the following projects: mounting projector screen or white sheet on wall, putting up curtain holders, making curtains. Please let me know if you can help.

CURRICULUM: learning about TISA, how to be a TISA student, "Me," life cycle of a butterfly, nursery rhymes and traditional stories, art/elements of design: self-portraits, lines, literacy: Bb, math: sorting and comparison

QUESTIONS:
If you sent a set of 24 color crayons, please let me know your preference: if you'd like the extra 12 to come home or to be shared in class

HOMEWORK: 
Read 20 minutes with family every day/evening. (Start working on a reading response sheet/reading log and bring it back when done. Reading sheets are on the door.)
Practice: opening/closing lunch containers, water bottles, putting on/taking off shoes, counting up (I would love to know how far you can count up without help from your family!)

See you on Monday!
Miss Jutka  (say: you-t-kah)

Meet our four-legged pal -- Tickles

From caterpillar to butterfly... 
as from cradle to kindergarten.

The children are experiencing the magical metamorphosis in their own lives as well as nature's laboratory. Our first butterfly hatched on the first day of school.