We are (almost) off to First Grade!

Wow! What an exciting year! We have learned so much over the course of this year.  Your children have worked hard to become independent readers and writers.  Now it's time to celebrate! We hope you will join us on Wednesday for the Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony.  We will begin at 8:30 am in the gym.  Afterwards, I will bring our class outside by the gym so that you can take pictures of your child with his/her friends.  We hope to see you all there! 

We are still working hard and learning this week!  We will be learning about insects and investigating how insects are different from other bugs.  We started talking about insects a little bit when learning about the rainforest, but we were not able to devote as much time to the topic then as we will now.  Here are some fun samples of our rainforest work:

 A rainforest scene

 

 We created our own vipers!

I will be sending home some summer work for your children to do.  It is very important to keep their skills sharp so that they are ready to learn when school starts back in August.

Thank you all for a wonderful year!  This class has worked so hard together, and it really shows in their learning.  I am so thankful that your children came into our room this year.   Each one has been such a shining star in Mrs. Steele's and my lives.  We will enjoy this last week with them and hope that your families have wonderful summer experiences!

Ms. Bruner's Visit

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! The children were so excited to bring home their homemade gifts for their moms.  They were so tickled to make a "secret surprise" gift for the ones they love.  
We had a special visitor on Friday.  I'm sure all of you heard about Ms. Bruner and her sister, Miss Elizabeth, coming to visit.  They brought Meredith, the ball python, to meet our class.  

  

The children had the opportunity to touch her and observe her scales up close.  They asked some great questions about the snake's eating habits and home.  Miss Elizabeth shared how often Meredith eats and told us about her love of swimming!  Ms. Beller was excited to have a chance to hold Meredith!

We have an exciting event coming up! The whole kindergarten will be performing "Go Fish!" on Friday, May 25th.  This is a musical about fish and other sea creatures learning to become friends despite their differences.The performance will be at 8:15 in the gym.  After our performance, we invite all of you to join us on the big playground and field (where the carnival was held) to participate in our annual Kindergarten Beach Day! This is our grade level's culminating experience for our Sharing the Planet unit.  You will find a letter about this event in the Monday folder this week.  We will be asking for volunteers to send in items to use during Beach Day.  We appreciate anything and everything you send in!  Have a great week!

North Carolina's NEW Curriculum

Yes, it's true!  North Carolina is adopting a new curriculum.  If you have had children already go through public schools, you will notice some changes in what your child is learning in 1st grade next year. The NCPTA has created a brochure that explains this change.  You can download it here.  Most of what is being taught in schools now will remain a part of the curriculum but may be moved to a different grade level for instruction.  You will also notice a shift in how students will be expected to justify and explain their predictions and judgments about a topic.  Students will be expected to demonstrate a deeper understanding of concepts and read more non-fiction texts. 

Click on picture for more information

Don't forget that our Spring Carnival is this Friday! We are so excited to have all of you come out and join in the fun! The event begins at 5:00pm.  Don't miss out on a chance to dunk a favorite teacher or administrator in a tub of water, color your hair or visit our popular "Emergency Room."   See you all there!

Sharing the Planet

We are so very excited to be starting a new unit! We have started learning about animals and their needs, and our students are so engaged in this topic! We have talked a lot over the last week about non-fiction texts and how we can use them to get information about animals.  Your children have really taken an interest in non-fiction, so don't be surprised if you see more of them coming home in reading folders or from the media center.  What a great way to inspire more reading! We will also be using photographs and video to help bring to life what animals are like.  If your family has visited the zoo or has had other experiences with animals that are not found commonly in homes, please feel free to send in photos or come to class to share with the students! Click here for a video we watched that helped us remember what animals need to survive.

www.clipartheaven.com

Please remember that next Friday is our Spring Carnival! Kindergarten is collecting any items related to Legos or blocks to use in creating a basket for the raffle. Please send in donations by Friday, May 4th so that our PTA can put the basket together for the carnival.  We hope to see you there! The Spring Carnival is always so much fun! 

                                                                        

Today was bittersweet in Room 1213.  Ms. Bruner celebrated her last day of student teaching with us.  We will miss her greatly, but she has promised to come back and visit us!  Our class is excited that she will soon have her own classroom because we know what a fabulous teacher she has become!

Ms. Bruner reads us The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.

We are beginning our Sharing the Planet unit which is all about how the survival of all living things is affected by how they interact with each other.  We will begin this unit by learning about habitats and more specifically pond animals.    

We are also beginning to learn about measurement.  Today we used a line of ladybugs to practice our measuring skills.  We really tried hard to make sure we were lining the ladybugs up correctly with the objects being measured.  

 We are learning to measure accurately by lining up our tools!

Please remember that Friday is an Early Release Day, so we will dismiss at 11:45! Have a great week!

Educationally yours,

Ms. Beller

Marbles Kids Museum!

Hi, everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and took advantage of the beautiful weather!  As you all know, last week we took a field trip to Marbles Kids Museum, and we all had an absolute blast.  The kids enjoyed playing on the submarine and pirate ship in the museum’s Splash! exhibit, designing and building structures in the IdeaWorks exhibit, playing basketball and hockey in the Power2Play exhibit; and, learning all about money in the museum’s Moneypalooza gallery.

While we were at Marbles, the kids also got to participate in the fabulous Dollars & Sense Magic Show.  This magic show taught the kids that making smart money choices isn’t magic at all – it’s dollars and sense!  In this interactive show, your students learned how to earn, save and spend money responsibly. 

The kids are fascinated by the Dollars & Sense Magic Show!  

We all certainly had quite an exciting adventure while visiting the museum.  In fact, many of the kids had so much fun that they required a nap on the bus ride home!  Also, a special thank you must be given to our fantastic field trip volunteers.  Ms. Beller, Mrs. Steele and I truly appreciate your time and energy, and we couldn’t have done it without all your help. 

As always, I would like to thank each of you for your continued support.  I hope you all have a great start to your week!

Educationally yours,

Ms. Bruner 

Happy Spring Break!

Hi, all!

Happy Spring Break!  I hope your Spring Break is off to a fabulous start and that all of you have been enjoying this beautiful weather!  As always, we had another busy yet exciting week in Ms. Beller's room.  First off, we continued our discussion of needs and wants.  The kids spent some time reflecting on exactly what are needs and wants by sorting pictures into one of those two categories.  This activity sparked such a great discussion among your students, especially when it came to food.  We spent a lot of time talking about what kinds of food and drinks you need to live and what kinds you don't need.  I absolutely loved listening to their thoughts and hearing them defend why they placed a picture in a certain category.  It truly was a great discussion!  When we come back from Spring Break, we will start discussing goods and services.  Ms. Beller has lots of fun activities planned that I am sure the kids will really enjoy.

Here is a picture of the needs and wants sort!

We have also been quite busy in math.  Your students have been learning all about graphs - how to create them as well as how to use them to interpret information.   We have been studying subtraction as well, and, after Spring Break, your students will creating their own subtraction story problems. 

Just a reminder, on Thursday, April 12, we will be going to Marbles Museum for our field trip.  The kids have been talking about this trip for weeks, and they all can't wait to go!  Tuesday afternoon (April 10) Ms. Beller will be arranging for students without their permission slip and money to spend the day in another classroom.  Please be sure to send in these items with your child by Tuesday, April 10, so that no one misses out on this exciting opportunity.

As always, thank you so much for all your support at home.  Enjoy your Spring Break, and I look forward to seeing everyone in April! 

Educationally Yours,
Ms. Bruner

Needs & Wants

Hi, all! 

I hope everyone had a fantastic and restful weekend despite the rather dreary weather.  What a way to kick off spring!  As always, last week certainly proved to be quite a busy and fun-filled week.  For starters, we began our study of needs and wants and how families and communities work together to satisfy both.  First, we read A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams.  A Chair For My Mother is a heartwarming story about a little girl whose family loses everything they own in a devastating fire.  Not only does an entire community rally behind them, but the little girl and her family also work together to buy the most perfect, comfy chair for all to enjoy by saving all their spare change.  This story sparked a fantastic discussion among the kids.  Afterwards, each of them drew a picture of something they would like to have given the little girl if they had known her and identified whether the item they drew fulfilled a need or a want.  Then, we assembled each of their drawings together to make a “quilt” of needs and wants for the little girl in the story. 

Here is a picture of our quilt! 

We also read Berenstain Bears’ Trouble with Money.  In this story, Papa Bear grows tried of Brother and Sister Bear’s spendthrift ways, so he decides to teach them all about saving.  After reading the story, the kids got to make their very own piggy banks.  For the next several weeks, your student will earn “money” for completing in-class assignments in the time allotted and also for good behavior.  After earning enough money, they will then be able to purchase an item from the treasure box.  The kids are really excited about this and cannot wait to start earning their own money!  

Just a reminder that this Friday (March 30) is a teacher workday, and the following week is Spring Break.  I hope you are all able to enjoy some time off with your child!  As always, thanks so much for all of your support, and I hope each of you has a wonderful week! 

Educationally Yours,

Ms. Bruner 

Thank You!

Hi, all!

Great news!  In just under 24 hours, our second project with Donors Choose was funded, which means we have an additional tablet coming to our classroom soon!  Ms. Beller and I are beyond thrilled, and the kids are so excited to start using these new learning tools. Elizabeth, Penny, Michael & Niamh, Lauren Beller, Heidi Ecklor, Robert Bruner, Ciera haynes-Brodowski; and, Andra Lurie, your support is truly a testament to all the wonderful people in our lives who care about enhancing the education of every child.  Words simply cannot express just how appreciative we all are of your kindness and generosity.  Our first tablet actually arrived Friday afternoon, and we cannot wait to see it action this upcoming week!  Also, if any of you know of some great apps we should download for the kids, please be sure to share. 

This past week we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day.  Your students had a blast learning about the many St. Patrick’s Day traditions as well as creating their rainbow mobiles.  We also had a visit from Lucky the leprechaun.  Apparently, Lucky snuck into our classroom one night.  He left shamrocks for the kids to color, a rainbow on the back door; and, Lucky also managed to somehow lose his gold.  Fortunately, we were able to help him find it!  Lucky was so grateful for our help that he decided to share his treasure with all of us.  He certainly proved to be a sweet, little leprechaun!

This week, we will begin a brand new unit called How We Organize Ourselves.  Your students will learn all about wants and needs and how our families and communities work together to satisfy them both.  Ms. Beller and I have some fun activities planned, and we are looking forward to sharing them with your students in the coming weeks.   

Again, thank you all so much for your support!  Have a fantastic week! 

Educationally Yours,

Ms. Bruner  

Donors Choose

Good morning, everyone!  First off, we hope you all had a wonderful time with your student last night at student led conferences.  As I am sure you can tell, your child has been quite busy in Ms. Beller's room!  As many of you are aware, Ms. Beller and I had posted a project with Donors Choose that was fully funded last week.  We are so excited about the tablet that will be coming to our classroom soon, and we cannot wait to start using it with the kids.  Since that project was funded so quickly, we decided to post another in an effort to get a second tablet for our classroom.  This week, Donors Choose is matching every donation given, and Ms. Beller and I wanted to take advantage of this amazing opportunity.  Below is the link to our Web site with Donors Choose.  Please feel free to share it with your family, friends and colleagues.  The match code is: BLOOM.

Click here to go to Donors Choose!

Thanks again for coming last night.  We look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Educationally Yours,
Ms. Bruner

Great News!

Hi, all! 

Great news!  Our project on Donors Choose has been fully funded!  YAY!  Ms. Beller and I are so excited about getting a tablet for our classroom, and we cannot wait for the kids to start using it to help them become better readers, writers and mathematicians.  Specifically, we must thank our two donors, Nicole and Audrey.  Your generosity is truly overwhelming, and words cannot even begin to describe how much your kindness is appreciated!  We would also like to express our sincerest thanks to SAS for matching Audrey’s donation.

Once again, it was another busy week in Ms. Beller’s room!  For starters, we were so blessed to have Congressman Brad Miller, Representative Grier Martin, Vice President of Wake NCAE Larry Nilles, Coach Mike Cody from Sanderson High School, Mr. Jimmy from right here at Millbrook Elementary, my sister, Elizabeth, Ms. Beller’s sister, Lauren; and, musical guest, Dave Binanay all stop by to read as we continued to celebrate Read Across America week.  The kids had an absolute blast with each of our guests, and we cannot thank them enough for their time and efforts.  We hope they all will come back again soon! 

The kids also finished writing their fairy tales this past week.  There are stories of damsels in distress, brave knights, fearless princes, dragons, horrifying witches, flying foxes, talking pigs and even one where Humpy Dumpty saves the day!  Clearly, their fairy tales are quite imaginative, and your students are very excited to share them with all of you this Wednesday (March 14) during student lead conferences. 

As always, thank you all so much for your support and encouragement.  I hope everyone has a fabulous start to their week, and I am looking forward to seeing each of you Wednesday night for student lead conferences. 

Educationally Yours,

Ms. Bruner 

Read Across America Week

Wow!  It certainly was a fantastic week!  First off, I would like to thank all the parents who came to read to us in celebration of Read Across America week.  The kids loved having you, and we hope that you all will come back to read again soon.  Also, a big thanks goes out to all the parents who brought in food and came to our Fairy Tale Parade.  It was a huge success!  The kids looked positively adorable dressed as their favorite fairy tale character.  Let’s see, we had Rumpelstiltskin, many Princesses, Prince Charming, several Knights, Humpty Dumpty, Mary from Mary Had a Little Lamb, a couple of Kings, Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, a Kitten, and many, many more fairy characters who marched in our parade.  We certainly put on quite a show!    

This past week, we were busy little bees in the classroom.  In celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, we read Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  This classic Dr. Seuss tale is about a king who has grown tried of the sunshine, the rain, the snow and the fog falling down from his sky, so he commissions his magicians to whip up something new – oobleck, of course!  Naturally, utter chaos ensues, and the king ultimately learns a very available lesson.   Afterwards, we made our very own oobleck, which the kids absolutely loved doing!  And, why wouldn’t they?  After all, it was messy!  We spent some time discussing whether oobleck was a solid or a liquid.  Our class came to a conclusion.  What did you all decide at home?  We also have been working on writing our own fairy tales, and we will finish those up this week.  Your students have come up with some very creative fairy tales, and I cannot wait for them to read their finished stories to each of you!

I would also like to share with all of you a project Ms. Beller and I have posted on Donors Choose, which is an online charity were public school teachers can post classroom project requests.  Specifically, we are trying to raise money for a Samsung Galaxy Tablet to use in the classroom with the kids.  I encourage you to check out our site, and please feel free to share our project with your friends, family and co-workers.  On March 12, Donors Choose will be matching every donation given.  We will post the match code here for those of you interested in donating to this project.

Click here to go to our Donors Choose site!    

Again, thank you all so much for your continued support!  I hope you have a fabulous week!  

 

Educationally Yours,

Ms. Bruner  

Storybird

Hi, all!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and is ready for another exciting week.  Last week, our class wrote and published our very own fairytale!  Together, they created a story about a ghost princess, a ghost prince and an evil sorcerer who all lived in the spooky woods.  After writing our fairy tale, we used Storybird (http://storybird.com) to illustrate and publish our work.  For those of you unfamiliar with Storybird, it is a Web site that grants people access to all sorts of pictures that can be used to illustrate their writing and then publish online.  The kids had an absolute blast working on Storybird!  When you have some time, I encourage you to check out the Web site with your child.  Also, be sure to read our class fairy tale by clicking the link below.

Click here to read our class fairy tale!    

As a reminder, we will be having the Kindergarten Fairy Tale Parade on Friday, March 2 at 8:30 a.m., and I hope you all are having loads of fun preparing your costumes.  Immediately following the parade, we will enjoy sharing snacks related to a nursery rhyme or fairy tale.  Some examples could include: a pie from the Three Little Kittens, muffins from The Muffin Man, bread from The Little Read Hen, apples from Snow White, etc.  Please let Ms. Beller or I know if you are able to send in a snack.  Also, please be sure to label your snack with the nursery rhyme or fairy tale that it represents.  We would like to have all snacks by Thursday, March 1, so we will have time to set-up.  Thank you for helping to make this a special day for our kindergarteners, and we look forward to seeing on March 2 at 8:30 a.m. 

Educationally Yours,

Ms. Bruner

Nursery Rhymes & Fairytales

Dear Parents, 

I am beyond thrilled to be launching this blog!  It will certainly be a great way for us to keep in touch and let you know about all the exciting things happening in Ms. Beller’s room.  First off, I would again like to express just how much I love being in your child’s classroom.  Your children’s smiles and enthusiasm for learning remind me daily why I chose to be a part of this rewarding profession. 

As many of you are aware, our class has been exploring nursery rhymes and fairytales for the past several weeks.  Last week was all about the princesses!  We read several versions of Cinderella and Rapunzel including Cinderella Skeleton by Robert D. San Souci, Smokey Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella by Alan Schroeder, Rapunzel retold by Paul O. Zelinsky, and Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox.  The class favorites definitely seemed to be Cinderella Skeleton and Falling for Rapunzel.  The kids just laughed and laughed!  Be sure to ask them about these fairytales because I know they would love to share with you. 

Over the next couple of weeks, our class will begin writing our very own fairytales.  First, we will write one collaboratively as an entire class, and then your students will have the opportunity to write their own.  I am sure that they will come up with some imaginative fairytales, and I cannot wait for them to read their stories to you once they are completed. 

Just as a reminder, we will have the Kindergarten Fairytale Parade on Friday, March 2 at 8:30 a.m.  This is an opportunity for the children to demonstrate their knowledge of characters from nursery rhymes and fairytales that we have studied.  Listed below you will find some suggestions for characters that could be used for costumes.  Please note that we do not expect you to try and buy a costume.  Most of the fun is in finding a creative way to use things you already have to make the costume!  Have fun creating, and we hope you will be able to join us on Friday, March 2 at 8:30 a.m.

1. Prince, princess, queen, king, woodsmen and knights – Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Princess and the Pea
2. Wolf – Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood
3. Pig – Three Little Pigs
4. Hen – The Little Red Hen
5. Cat – The Little Red Hen, Three Little Kittens
6. Dog – Hey, Diddle, Diddle
7. Cow – Hey, Diddle, Diddle
8. Spider – Little Miss Muffet, Insy Weensy Spider
9. Egg – Humpty Dumpty
10. Knight – Humpty Dumpty and other fairytales
11. Mouse – Hickory, Dickory Dock
12. Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker – Rub-a-dub-dub
13. Star – Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
14. Any of the story characters…Red Riding Hood, Miss Muffet, Bo Beep, Little Boy Blue, Willie Winkie, etc.

Please make sure your child knows who they are if someone should ask!  Also, we ask that your student not dress up like any superheroes for the parade.  As we have discussed with the students, no fairytales or nursery rhymes have Batman or Superman in them. 

As always, thank you for your continued support!  Hope you all have a fabulous week!

Educationally Yours,

Ms. Bruner  

Our class' Venn diagram comparing the two versions of Rapunzel we read.