Grandparents' Breakfast

This week has been very exciting.  Wednesday morning children and their grandparents came to Cold Spring School for breakfast, crafts and the book fair.  It was a pleasure for me to meet so many of my students' grandparents.  There is nothing like the relationship between a child and his or her grandparent.

I found the following poem online.  It made me stop and smile.

Grandma hold me

a little longer,

Rock me a little more.

Tell me another story...

(you've only told me four!)

Let me sleep

on your shoulder.

I love your happy smile.

I'll always love you Grandma

so stay with me a while.

These words also spoke to me:

I like to walk

with Grandpa…

He takes his

time you see

His steps are

little just

like mine;

He stops and

waits for me.

He lets me ask

him questions

He lets me hold

his hand.

He makes me

feel 10 feet tall

And I think that

he is grand.

He says there’s

no one like me

And gold is

what I’m worth.

When I get to

walk with

Grandpa

I’m the luckiest

kid on earth!

Patsy Gaut

Thanks to all the grandparents who took the time to visit this week.  

Until next time...

The Wonder of Reading

"At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book-that string of confused, alien ciphers-shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader."  

 Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading

This is by far one of the best part of my job!  Every day I see the wonder of reading in the eyes of the full day kindergarten children.  They are all on the path to reading reading sentences independently and each will reach this goal in his or her own time.  Witnessing the sparkle in a child's eyes when he or she says, "I read the words!"  is priceless.  

Exposure to a wide variety of reading every day is essential as children learn to read.  They should hear and see stories, poems, rhyming books, informational books and other types of texts all around them.  Immersion in  a literacy rich environment coupled with balanced literacy instruction moves children toward the goal of reading words independently.  

Every child is already a reader in our class.  Children read pictures, popcorn words and retell old favorite stories.  Reading widens children's worlds each and every day.  I look forward to seeing all the reading children are doing at home for our incentive reading program at school.  Read, read and read some more.  

Until next time!    

Twin Day Pictures!

Until next time...

Twin Day!

We had fun dressing alike today!  There was great class spirit.  The children were thrilled to come into school and see everyone dressed in blue.  I was happy that everyone felt included.  On top of that I was thankful not to have another surprise fire drill.

I took pictures but have to bring my camera home to get them up onto the blog. Stay tuned.

Oh and in case you didn't know I love teaching your children.  They are learning so much every day.

My favorite quote of the day is this:

"Mrs. Pagnotti, you make my heart warm."

Until next time...

Guest Reader

Each week we welcome Grandpa Turtle into our classroom to share stories.  Grandpa Turtle has a long history with our school.  He spends time in several early childhood classrooms each week.  It is a pleasure to listen to him share favorite stories with the children.  They are always happy to see him return to our classroom.

Until next time...

Scientists Observe

We have talked about the importance of using our senses to make observations.  Students know that scientists observe and then record their findings.  Yesterday we took a field trip outside.  I asked the children to look carefully at the large oak tree next to the playground.  We talked about the colors and textures we noticed and then returned to the classroom to record our observations.

October Begins

It is hard to believe that October is here and we are beginning our second month of school!  The children are enjoying each other every day and feeling more comfortable in their classroom environment.  If you were to walk into our classroom at any time of the day you would see busy workers spread throughout the room.  We use the workshop model in both reading and math.  The workshop models allows for the children to work in small groups on either individual learning tasks or collaborative learning activities.  While the children are working in their groups I am able to meet with a small group to teach concepts, assess students' understanding or review what we have already worked on together.  It is a productive and fun way to learn and teach!

Our class has support in the morning and in the afternoon.  Mrs. Goodman is with us each morning for about forty minutes and helps the children gain independence in their workshop groups.  Mrs. Whitehouse also joins us most mornings.  She typically works with small groups to reinforce literacy skills.   Mrs. Williamson (Mrs. W) works with us on Monday and Tuesday during our math workshop after lunch. She also fosters independence in workshop groups. Four afternoons a week we are joined by Mrs. Blauss.  She has been working with students on oral story telling this week.  As we move forward she will work with small groups of children to reinforce skills they are learning in both reading and math.  We are fortunate to have so much help in our classroom.  

I found myself thinking about how much the children have already learned this year.  It is amazing how quickly children acclimate themselves to new situations.  While we have enjoyed  a relatively smooth transition to the school year, I know there will be bumps along the way.  I have an art piece in my classroom that states "Mistakes mean you are trying."  We will all make mistakes along the way.  Fostering a positive classroom community allows children to feel safe so that they will take risks, make mistakes and learn.  We are all on this journey together.  I am so happy to be learning with all of you this year!  

Until next time...