What are you grateful for?

What are you grateful for?

 Please add your thoughts and pictures of what you are grateful for when you click on the + sign and start typing.Please feel free to add pictures of the things you are grateful for.   Any questions, please let me know! We will share all of your answers in class!

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The children put on a wonderful concert Thursday, November 16th and Friday, November 17th with the help of Mrs. Alvardo, the music teacher. Family and friends were treated to a special treat by all of the Kindergarten students. The children sang the song "Gratitude Attitude" and selected students shared their thoughts and feelings.  Next, we heard "5 Little Turkeys" and "Singing and Signing Thanks" which the children learned and sang using sign language.  It was quite special!

Then, the children sang a beautiful song called "Leaves are Changing" and the adorable "Have You Ever Seen a Turkey?" 

Finally, they finished the concert with "Turkey Woogie" which was so fun to watch and got everyone clapping and moving!

It was such a great concert!

2017-2018 Welcome

Dear Parents,

  We wanted to let you know that the beginning of the kindergarten year 2017- 2018 has been a success!!!

  The children have transitioned very well to the school routine.  All of the children seem to be adjusting well to coming to school whether on the bus or being dropped off.  On Monday, the children began the regular morning routine with the first and second graders.  They are all doing super getting ready for dismissal at the end of the school day.

  Lunches have also been a smooth transition for the children.  They are becoming very familiar with purchasing their school lunches as well as ordering their food in the morning.

The daily schedule is very predictable and the children already know what is going to happen next.  They have all enjoyed art, gym, computer lab, library and music.

  We will be discussing much more at Open House tonight on Tuesday, September 12th at 6:00 p.m., so I hope you’ll be able to attend.  

Please feel free to contact me via email or phone or note.

Again, we are so thrilled with the success of the new kindergarten year.  We look forward to the many adventures this year will take us on!

Mrs. Newton and Mrs. Fromhagen

knewton@middletonps.org

kfromhagen@middletonps.org

mrsknewton@blogspot.com
@mrsknewtonrm121

978.750.4756

Kindergarten Picnic

After days of rain, the sun finally made an appearance just in time for our Kindergarten Picnic.  It was a beautiful day for our little ones to be with their families. We hope you enjoyed a little lunch with your cuties!

Thank you all so much for making time to come and share in this fun day!

Masconomet Senior Interns

Introducing the Masconomet Senior Interns:

Courtney Finochiarro and Lauren Morneweck

I am so pleased to introduce these 2 amazing interns.  They are both graduating from Masconomet in June with a bright future in Elementary Education.  They both want to be teachers!

I couldn't be more excited to have these 2 remarkable students in the class as they are my former Kindergarten students. Courtney will be attending Lesley University and Lauren will be attending Salem State University. 

The children have gravitated to each of the interns very eager to please and spend time with them. Courtney and Lauren have been playing educational games during Daily 5, helping the children complete their work and reading stories.   

We are enjoying and having so much fun with Miss Courtney and Miss Lauren!

My April Vacation

Kahoot

Today was an exciting day in Room 121! 

 Mrs. Baker, the Digital Specialist for Fuller Meadow and Howe-Manning, came into class today to share this exciting game with us! 

What is Kahoot?

"Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn – any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!"

Source 

Since this week is Color Week and we have been learning and sharing about healthy snacks and foods, we decided to Kahoot! about Healthy Foods.  The children worked together on Ipads with a partner.  They have used QR codes before, but got to use them to link them on the Ipad.  Together with their partners, they choose a Team Name.  

Then, the game began! 

 On the SmartBoard, the question is asked and the children answer on the Ipad.  This game had a choice of "healthy" or "unhealthy".  

It was a super fun game that went along with this weeks Color Week!

Check out Mrs. Baker's blog post: http://digitallearninginmiddleton.blogspot.com/2017/04/kahoot-in-kindergarten.html

We cannot wait to Kahoot again with Mrs. Baker!

Read Across America Celebration

March was a fun filled month celebrating Read Across America!

 We celebrated reading with our classroom connection in Mrs. Mulligan's second grade classroom.  The children had turns showing off their reading skills to the second graders!  They were impressed!

 We got to read with our first grade classroom connections in Mrs. Scharffenberg's class.  The children were excited to visit another class and see a first grade classroom.

Then we got an exciting visit from the author, Maryann Cocca-Leffler.  She is a wonderful author who shares inspirational messages of kindness.  Check out her website! 

Click the picture for her website.

We got a chance to read many different Dr. Seuss books. During one week, we read one book each day and at the end we voted for our classroom favorite. 

First, we read Green Eggs and Ham.

Second, The Lorax.

Third, we read Oh, the Places You'll Go!

On the fourth day, we read Horton Hears a Who.

Finally, we read And To Think That I  Saw It on Mulberry Street.

 Click on each book title to watch a reading of each story. 

At the end of the week, the children in class got to vote for their favorite story.  

The winner was ... The Lorax!

In the comments below, please share your favorite Dr. Seuss book!

Look at our all of Things in Kindergarten!!!

Nonfiction Text

The children have completed a unit of study on Nonfiction Texts.  

We began by asking the question "What is nonfiction?"

We learned that nonfiction texts are books that teach us something new with true information and facts.

Using the anchor chart, the children began to understand about nonfiction authors and why they write these types of books. 

 In learning about what nonfiction authors do, we were able to look at different types of nonfiction texts to connect the information on the anchor charts.  It was exciting to see the connection the children were able to make between the Table of Contents and the headings, or the bold words to the glossary, and the special features authors use to highlight important information like captions with the photographs, fun facts, and cut-aways.

We even made Twitter when we were discovering and sharing in a turn and talk with our buddies.

 Then, the children used their new knowledge about nonfiction texts to compare the roles of authors and illustrators.  Together we made this chart describing the different roles.

Then the children got to make their own!

We used nonfiction texts to learn about polar bears.  

Please watch this adorable imovie we made using the app Explain Everything!

We hope you enjoy and learn some new facts about polar bears!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!
We had a great day celebrating friendship, kindness, and love.

 The children made a great craft project using contact paper and tissue paper.  They had a blast and were very creative!  Then, they got a Hoodsie sundae cup.  Finally, a dance party began and it was so fun!

Wishing you all lots of love and happiness!

100th Day of School

We celebrated the 100th Day of School! What an exciting day!   We read the story, Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of School , by Joseph Slate, (click on the book to hear a read aloud of the story) and counted by 10's to 100! Then we read 100th Day Worries.  The children really enjoyed this story.  

We then made our 100 year old selves and even stepped into the "aging booth".  Check these 5 and 6 year old children looking much older!

We created an art project of what we would look like at 100 years old.

Then we wrote about how much smarter we are after 100 days of school!

During math, we explored 4 different math stations to explore 100.  First, ice cream cones to 100 by 10's, The second station was Race to 100 using 2 dice to add up.  The first one to reach one hundred wins! Third math station was counting 100 hearts to 100.  The children had to fill in the blank hearts to 100.  Great job indeed!  The 4th stations was building with 100 plastic cups!  This was by far the favorite of all!  The children had a great time building, cooperating,sharing ideas and work together as a team.    So much fun!!

Check out our Book Creator video!

Thank you to all of the families who donated items to the Middleton Food Pantry.  We were very successful and collected 192 items!  It feels so good to donate to the community and we are so grateful for your help and support!

WingMasters

The children got to experience WingMasters which is a presentation all about Birds of Prey.  They included 3 different owl and a falcon.  The children were enthralled with the animals and their attention was remarkable.  

EASTERN SCREECH OWL

First, an Eastern Screech Owl was introduced weighing only 5 ounces. She is nocturnal and has feathers on her eye lids.  She is a beauty. 

FALCON

Next a falcon was introduced to the children.  The children were asked how this bird of prey and the owl were the same and different.  She is a diurnal bird of prey hunting and active during the day. 

BARRED OWL

Then, the second largest owl in the area: the Barred Owl.

This Barred Owl weighs only 1.5 pounces and has over 10,000 feathers.  The feathers over her body even cover her toes.

He compared a turkey feather with the Barred Owl.  Look at how close they are!

To show what great ears this owl has he showed us this photo.  The owl heard a mouse under the snow, so the owl did a face plant into the snow and used its long, strong talons to grab the mouse for dinner.  How incredible!

GREAT HORNED OWL

The last owl he presented was the Great Horned Owl.  He was magnificent to look at!  This owl has over 100 bones in its neck to be able to turn its head almost 180 degrees because its eyes cannot move.  

Thank you to the MPTO for bringing this amazing show to the children today!