Happy New Year! 恭喜发财 Gong Xi Fa Cai

First, Monday morning we wished you Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon!

Lauryn was our Star of the week!  She loved to say the Good Line rubric as fast as possible.  Mr. Welsh had to slow her down.  No one heard her she was so fast!  You drew a colorful picture for her which she took home with all the good and true things we said about her.

Mr. Welsh had you do all kinds of counting and reading and other “stuff” so he could write a letter to your parents telling what you are good at, what you know and what you are working to get better at.

That letter for your parents is called your report card.  You talk with Mr. Welsh about what you are good at and what you are learning everyday.

working with Mr Welsh

Your parents need to hear about it too.  So the report card will come home after Mr. Cebrzynski sees what Mr. Welsh wrote.

You have started learning a new poem “Winter Moon” by Langston Hughes.

‘How thin and sharp is the moon tonight.

How thin and sharp and ghostly white

is the slim, curved, crook of the moon tonight.’

Mr. Welsh really likes the way Mr. Hughes used his words in this poem.

Mr. Welsh was home Tuesday, so Mr. Rope was the substitute teacher.  He showed you the beautiful book Cathedral.  We will go to the Cathedral on February 8th by bus.  Mr. Welsh will lead the tour.  You will see the stained glass windows, arches and much more that the class has talked about in the Architecture unit.  Do you remember who came to the cathedral to speak?  Mr. Welsh showed you a picture of him shaking hands with Mr. Welsh’s dad.

You will see where Dr. King stood when he spoke to the many people who came to hear him.

You saw that the cathedral is made mostly of stone.  It has a strong foundation.  The architect was very wise.  He was ready for rain, floods, snow and winds.  But he did not plan for….  ( an earthquake.). You will see how the repairs are going.  We talked about why the builders used stone.  We talked about strength and beauty.

You looked at or “built” or read words this week with Mr. Welsh.  The sound /sh/ is one you are trying to remember.  There are also words you are learning to remember.  Like, this and she are words that seem to be in books often.  See if you can find them in books this week end.

In Art you worked with watercolors:

your work

In P.E. You are using scarves to help you dance and play:  Here is a link to Mrs Marcus’ flickr page with a short video!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ernamarcus/6782610715/in/photostream

Homework for the week of January 30, 2012.

Monday Who is Star? New Sharing groups have been emailed.

Tuesday Play with a ball.

Wednesday Write a sentence with words you know how to write, and bring it to school Thursday.

Thursday Recite a poem and/or sing a song for an adult.

Friday See the blog sometime this weekend.

Note: There is no school on Friday February 3, for students. The teachers and aides are attending professional development. On Monday February 6 , citywide DCPS Parent-Teacher conferences take place and there is no school for students. Here is the link to find the sign-up online:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0B4DA4AA2C7-parent

Wise Men Build their House on…..

…you are correct: a solid foundation. They need to do that, because otherwise their building won’t stand up for very long, will it? Look here in the block corner what will happen when you forget that foundation!

you have to make a solid foundation!!

No Star?  This was a short week as we celebrated the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday ( see last week’s blog in the homework section for a link to his very famous ‘I have a dream speech’) and teachers had meetings on Friday afternoon.  You will hear more about Dr. King in the weeks ahead as we discuss great Americans.

You have been learning about architecture.  You know an architect designs or plans a building.  Diego asked what a “blueprint” is.  It is a name for the drawing or plan for a building. A real ‘blueprint’ is printed in blue ink!

a blueprint of a house can you find the dining room? the toilet?

The construction workers build according to the plan.  You designed buildings this week.  Some of the class used flat tracing shapes and some used pattern blocks or the big wooden ones.  Another name for those is unit blocks.  You decided what your building would be as you used simple shapes to make bigger, more complicated shapes.  Thursday you designed cool houses.  Connor and Dora wanted tall towers.  There were houses with domes, pools  and even one with a hidden secret basement. Tell an adult what was interesting about the house you designed.

Mr. Cebrzynski visited the class and he saw you listening, raising hands, speaking politely and working cooperatively.  It is hard to remember to wait to speak until you are called on.  All of us have agreed to listen to our classmates and teachers.  You are also remembering or trying to remember not to tease other children.  If you are laughing but the other child is unhappy, then you are teasing.  No one wants to have their feelings hurt.

You can count to 100 by 1’s and tens.  Counting by 5’s is harder.  Practice with an adult.   You also were asked to tell us your address and phone number.  Many of you already know this, but if you do not yet, please practice it with an adult. By the way, if you know your parent’s cell phone number it is great too. Any phone number that will reach a member of your family will do!   We also went to google maps with some of you and after typing in your address we could find a street view photo with your street, and house(or yard) right there on the internet. Cool! Try that at home. Here is an example of a downtown street in Washington DC.

washington dc street view

Mr. Welsh has been calling each of you over to him to count and do other activities so he knows what to write to your parents about what you have learned and what you still are learning.  Listen during the lessons and do the games, activities or writing, and you will learn so much!

You have been word building and writing funny sentences with Mr. Welsh and at Writing Workshop.  You know that if you change a letter in a word, you make or build a new word.  Mr. Welsh wrote “hut” on the chalkboard because Eleanor had made a hut in her house drawing.  He changed hut to hit by taking away the u and putting an i in its place.  You read, “A man hit a hut” and other silly sentences.  Can you do some funny word building with an adult?

In Art you experimented with watercolors and special, thicker paper. Ms Cutelis explained that you need thicker paper when you paint with wet materials. You could see it was smaller and fatter than regular drawing paper. She said it contains more ‘pulp,’ and therefore it is also heavier and more expensive. You watched the different colors blend into each other and used caution mixing colors.

she shows the thickness

Jasper's mother

blending colors

Jasper’s mother,  came to help you and she noticed you worked calmly and with much concentration to do your work in the Art class.

Homework for the week of January 23, 2012.

Monday (Library)  There is a new Star; is it a boy or a girl?  You need to learn your address and a phone number by heart. Group 1 may share.

Tuesday (Music)  Play with several different size balls. Does that change how you control the balls?  Use some of the new tricks you learned with the PE teachers. Practice your address and phone number. Group 2  may share.

Wednesday  (Art) Write your phone number on a piece of paper and bring it to school tomorrow.. Practice your address and phone number. Group 3 may share.

Thursday  (Sports/P.E.) Where will we travel on February 8^th? Practice your address and phone number Group 4 may share.

Friday (Sports/P.E.) Recite a favorite poem for a parent. Read the new blog sometime this weekend, at http://murchkindergarten2.wordpress.com/ with a parent. We hope you will have a good time remembering what happened in class when you read it again on the blog. Did you notice the new Poll (question) at the bottom?

Snack Please send a small snack with your child each day.

Remarks:  Please do not send any toys from home with your child in the backpack, except when your child is sharing. We do not allow any toy weapons in school.