K-1 Happy Talk - January 7, 2011

The children completed their first week of school after Winter Break.  It seemed a long time to be away from school. Besides showing an eagerness to learn, they were thrilled to see their pals again.

Students grow and learn, curriculum shift, ideas and methods evolve and return. Education is always seeking what’s next, especially in  our 21st century learning and technology.  As a result, a Promethean Board was just installed in K-1.  The Interactive Whiteboard or IWB is a large display that combines a whiteboard, power of a computer and front projection. Promethean interactive whiteboards will engage the students with vivid images, video, and audio.

The interactive whiteboard enables anything that can be seen or done on a computer screen to be projected onto  the Promethean whiteboard – bringing every classroom to life. Your children  will be inspired and learning will be brought to the next level. Instruction will begin using the IWB soon.

Hoonko Services, to be held  at the Temple, is scheduled for Wednesday, January 12th.  It is the memorial service of our founder, Shinran Shonin. Please dress your child appropriately. Therefore, Buddhist Education class on Monday is cancelled.

The '100th Day of School' is Tuesday, January 25th.  I am sure you and your child have been brainstorming what 100 items they would like to collect for their project board. After making a decision, s/he should count, arrange and display the items in an interesting way. Your child should write the title and the numbers from 1-100 near each item. Displays can be brought in anytime before January 25th.
The Kindergarten  grade level will also celebrate this monumental day with a snack party.  More  information will be given within the next week.

View our slideshow of some  learning activities and fun times they shared.

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K-1 Happy Talk

Our Winter Program is just around the corner.  Please let me know if you will be walking to our classroom afterwards to work with your child on the Gingerbread House Picture Craft. Kindly refer to the invite on this blog.

The schedule for Friday, December 10th is as follows:

7:50 - Classroom doors will be opened
8:00 - Please bring your child to school early as they need to prepare for their performance
8:15 - Students will leave class for the Social Hall
8:30-9:30 - Preschool and Kindergarten  Winter Program
9:30-10:15 - Gingerbread House Picture Craft Activity in K-1

All elves should come dressed in red shirts and dark colored shorts.
All trees should wear green shirts and dark colored long pants.
Each child is wearing a headband of  Christmas garlands made in class.

If your child would like to share goodie bags with the other students in K-1, please bring them in by Thursday, December 16th.  They'll be placed in the Long's recyclable  bags and distributed on Friday, December 17th. 

All the children have been most cooperative and so busy with holiday projects.  Besides listening and responding to Christmas stories written by popular authors Jan Brett and Dr. Seuss,  they created snowflakes, and wrote  about what made them happy (for Bodhi Day). 

For Math, molding play dough into solid shapes such as cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres was a fun activity.  They learned which solid shapes could slide, roll, and stack.

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K-1 Happy Talk

On Friday, December 3rd,  Bodhi Day services will be held in the Temple.   This is to honor the enlightment of Siddhartha Gautama  when he became the Buddha, the fully awakened one. Please have your child dressed appropriately for the occasion.

Congratulations to our two students who received certificates of recognition for their fine creative writing that were displayed on the bulletin board outside of the Library.  Other students will have the opportunity to share their work in the future.

Everyone has been busy working on numbers: ordinals, even and odd, and skip counting.   Their practice  counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's at home and school has made them quite comfortable with it.

Show and Tell is always a favorite time to share new or old items.  Encourage your child to participate. It's a good way to practice public speaking.

There are always smiley faces when  stories are read, followed by artwork with writing.  I hear only positive comments about these assignments, which pleases me to the utmost. They are doing a super job with their innocent, spontaneous responses.

Our Winter Program, scheduled for Friday, December 10th in the Social Hall will be delightful.  The Kindergarten classes will perform their play at 8:30am. until approximately 8:50am.  Parking will be tight, so please plan accordingly.

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K-1 Happy Talk

Hi Parents,
Thank you for submitting the Sea Life Park Parent Consent Form with payment.  The children will be thrilled to visit the Park  in about 2 weeks to observe the Penguin Habitat, the colony of California Sea Lions  waiting for herring handouts, the talented cast of bottlenose dolphins and sea lions at the Hawaiian Ocean Theater, and other amazing creatures which are part of the Park's Educational Program.

We are completing our Math chapter on  Number 10-30 and will begin Math Patterns.Some of the goals for this chapter include:
  Count orally to 100 using a number chart
  Skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s
  Recognize even and odd numbers
It would be helpful if you could find some time at home to practice with your child .

In Science, the focus will be on Earth and Space.  We'll discuss and learn facts about the planets, as well as complete a  floor puzzle with graphics showing the whole solar system.

K-1 Skyped with our Massachusetts buddies on Thursday.  Our students learned that many families in Massachusetts have their own swimming pool, have fun playing in the Autumn leaves, and running around outside for recess, despite the cold weather, is essential  for their physical fitness.

Reminders:
Wednesday, November 10: Career Day: Your child could come to school dressed in the the attire of the career s/he career chooses, i.e. policeman, fireman, nurse, dentist, etc.

Thursday, November 11: Veteran's Day: No School

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K-1 Happy Talk

Hi Parents,

Everyone received a Pizza Hut coupon which is valid until November 31^st as a reward for completing their October reading requirement.  However, at this young age, I’d prefer to encourage ‘reading for pleasure’. The children are developing their personalities as they involve themselves in an imaginary world.  Books are great at doing this. So, instead of the Book Logs and Report, I’d like you and your child to just have fun together reading and sharing thoughts and feelings about books.

Everyone had a blast on Friday, celebrating Halloween. Many thanks for your generosity and thoughfulness in sharing treats with the children.  A special arigato to Shohtaro and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nunomura, who left goodie bags for everyone before his return trip to Japan 2 weeks ago.  We all miss him and wished he was here to join us in the fun.  We are waiting for  his return  to HMS in about 2 weeks.

Kindly return the Longs green recyclable  bag by Monday, November 1^st.  They will come in handy in a few weeks.

Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire.  ~William Butler Yeats

K-1 Happy Talk

 Dear Parents,

Tomorrow is Picture Retake Day.  If you wish to have your child retake their individual pictures, complete a picture retake form from the office and return the original picture packet.

Kindly RSVP if you plan to attend our Presentation of Learning on Thursday, October 28^th. Your child would love to see you there.

Book Logs and one Book Report are due Thursday, October 28^th.  Continue to read to them, or vice versa as this will improve their reading and writing skills.

HMS is celebrating Halloween with a school wide parade on Friday, October 29^th at 5:30pm. Your child may bring his/her costume to school or you may bring it when you come in the late afternoon.  My classroom will be available for you to help them change into their delightful, charming, or captivating outfit after 4:45pm.  All children must be dressed and ready to leave my classroom by 5:20pm.  I will be leading them to the parade route.  We will follow the parade route one time, then file back to K-1 classroom, where you  may pick up your child.

Remember to log on to  http://k-1happytalk.blogspot.com/ for all the latest important news about our class. Your child would also enjoy viewing it, so please consider listing it under ‘Favorites’ for easy access for them.

Ciao,
Mrs. Lee

K-1 Happy Talk

Dear Parents,

The children had another opportunity to Skype with our friends in Mrs. Poulin's Kindergarten class in Massachusetts. It was such a wonderful experience for both classes. They showed us some huge pumpkins that they brought back from their field trip to a pumpkin patch earlier that day. And both classes had questions and answers about life in Hawaii and Massachusetts. The children are so spontaneous with their responses. It would make anyone smile.

Later in the day, a streaming video was viewed about the life cycle of a pumpkin from seeds to harvesting. The children were impressed since we don't get to experience the seasons, nor see a pumpkin patch too often.

Several educational websites, as resources for children, are available so we have the opportunity to view and discuss them. Various resources are designed to motivate children to read with phonics, or to learn about various topics in Science , Social Studies, Health, etc. What a wonderful and engaging way to share and absorb new information.

Next Tuesday, October 26th, is Grandparent's Day. Attire is whatever suits their fancy. Headbands, created in class will be worn. The program begins at 8:30am and will be in the Social Hall. Parking is tight, so please make arrangements to arrive early.

On Friday, October 29th,  the Kindergarten  students are encouraged to dress in orange and black. The Student Council has a game planned for class representatives  in the morning.  After morning recess, K-1 celebrates Halloween with games and a cookie creation activity.  At the end of the day, each child will be  given a 'Longs' recyclable bag with his/her name tag  filled with goodie bags from their classmates. We hope that they don't eat all the goodies by the time you pick them up from school!

These 'Longs' recyclable bags will be used throughout the year for special holiday goodie bag  treasures, so kindly have your child return the bag to me on Monday, November 1st. Thank you.

Please note:
Monday, October 25th - Fire Safety  Guide Pledge due.  Please discuss fire safety with your child. Return the last page of the Fire Safety Guide, signed by you and your child.

Wednesday, October 27th - Picture Retake Day.  Please complete a Picture Retake Form (from the office) and return the pictures taken, before or on Wednesday.

Thursday, October 28th - Book Log and 1(one) Book Report due. Your child should reflect on one book s/he read. Drawing and coloring a picture of a character, setting or anything about that book, then writing freely about that picture would be a perfect  voice with a choice.

Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.
-- George Evans

Much aloha,
Mrs. Lee

K-1 Happy Talk

Hi Parents,
The days have just been whizzing by.  Before we know it, Christmas will soon be  here. All the children have been busy having fun and learning through group and individual hands-on projects, etc.

We started a 'Weather and Seasons' Science Unit.  The children started to explore the  types of weather, such as: windy, rainy, snowy, and sunny.  We had discussions about activities that they would do and clothing they would need to wear for each kind of weather.  They shared their wish for snow on Oahu, but alas, the only islands that would experience the white stuff are the Big Island or Maui.  The art activity today was to create a scene they'd enjoy when it was a sunny day.  The results were fabulous.

The students will begin counting, recognizing and  writing numbers 10-30.  Counting forward and backward on a number line is another learning concept that must be mastered and applied to real-life situations. You could ask your child to count or write the number of cars, people, toys, etc.  to practice  the skill of counting.


 I know many of you might be concerned since there isn't any blue Japanese folder in their Homework Folder. But..... there will no Japanese homework this weekend, October 14-17.


Shohtaro returned to Japan until mid November. We hope him well while he attends an International School  in Tokyo.

                           

K-1 Happy Talk

Many thanks to:
>Mrs. Nagamine for creating and updating the Family Contact list.
>Families who donated books to the class from the Book Fair
>Everyone who submitted the Halloween RSVP  and the Grandparent's Day Program
>Mimi Paule and family who will donate 2- 5 pound pumpkins for our pumpkin seed counting activity.

Just a few reminders for the upcoming weeks:
> My Bedroom Map  - due Wednesday, October 13
> Fire Safety Booklet - due Monday, October 25- Please discuss and submit only the last page
> Book Log and 1 Book Report - due Thursday, October 28