Ms. Yamazaki’s Kindergarten News Issue 1 September 12, 2008 Dear Parents, We have been in kindergarten for 20 days, including our first week of half days! In this time, we have learned many of the routines that we will continue throughout the year. We begin the day by signing in, graphing our after-school plan, and graphing our lunch choices. At 8:00, our VIP and back- line captain lead us in doing our lunch math and our morning calendar activities. We count the days in kindergarten and read the morning message, We have been to our Mandarin, art, P.E., computer, and music specials. We’ve checked books out from the beautiful lower school library, and we’re learning lots of chants and songs! Welcome K Class of T.A.S. Corduroy By Don Freeman In math, we are learning about A-B patterns, lunch equations, number writing and number poems, counting forwards and backward, sorting by attributes, and exploring Pattern Block shapes. It has been a busy beginning to a new school year. At present, we have 16 eager kindergartners in our class. I am pleased to have your child in our classroom community and look forward to our time together. I would like to take this opportunity to say how happy I am with how you parents are allowing your children to gain responsibility for doing their own morning jobs. I have witnessed nothing but positive interactions between parents and children. I was so pleased to see many of you at our Back-to-School Open House last on the 3rd. I hope that you take time to look over the Open House packet, and that you will find it useful over the next months. Happy Moon Festival to you and your family!

Ms. Yamazaki’s Kindergarten News Page 2 We are learning this song: We are Zoo-Phonics kids; From twenty-six animals we learn to read. We are Zoo-Phonics kids, From twenty-six animals, yes, indeed. We are Zoo-Phonics kids; Our animal friends all live at the zoo. We are Zoo-Phonics kids; Now we’ll introduce them all to you: Allie, Bubba, Catina Cat, Deedee Deer and Elephant; Francie Fish and Gordo, too, They all live at the zoo. Honey Horse and Inny, too; Jellyfish and Kangaroo, Lizzie, Missy, Nigel, too, They all live at the zoo. Olive Octopus is sweet; Peewee Penguin’s tux is neat. Queenie Quail, her babies, too, They all live at the zoo. Robbie Rabbit’s in no stew. Sammy Snake and Timmy, too. Umber, Vincent, what a crew, They all live at the zoo. Willie Weasel, Xavier Fox, Yancy Yak just talks and talks, Zeke the Zebra welcomes you, Come meet us at the zoo. Zeke the Zebra welcomes you, Come meet us at the zoo. We Are Zoo-Phonics Kids! “We are Zoo-Phonics kids. From 26 animals we learn to read…” This is the first line of our Zoo-Phonics song. During the year, we will learn about the twenty-six animals who make up the Zoo-Phonics menagerie, from Allie Alligator to Zeke the Zebra. Last week, we did our second draw Catina Cat and this week we drew Deedee Deer! During our draw along lessons, the students first watched, then listened, then followed along as we drew the shapes that made Bubba Bear, Catina Cat and DeeDee Deer. We are learning to follow visual and auditory directions during draw along sessions. We will also use our draw along books to do word work which helps with spelling and reading. Bubba Bear is a brown bear. We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr. and Corduroy by Don Freeman. Catina Cat is a calico cat. She is white, black, and orange. We read Cookie’s Week.

Ms. Yamazaki’s Kindergarten News Page 3 Ms. Y’s Book Corner Bread and Jam for Frances By Lillian and Russell Hoban Introducing our E-book: Our first class E-book is online. You can access it from our Kindergarten website, just as you did this newsletter. E-books are meant to be read again and again by your child. Our class E-books will have simple, predictable text that is usually supported by the photos. Our first E- book is a chant we learned during our first week of school. Your child brought home his own copy of Jelly on a Cracker the first day. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. It is my hope that we can make your child’s kindergarten experiences visible to you through our monthly online newsletters, photo galleries, and E-books! We also made a class book based on Jelly on a Cracker but with different things we like on crackers. Jelly on a Cracker Frances is a little girl badger who lives with her mother, father, and baby sister, Gloria. In this delightful book, Frances doesn’t like to eat anything but her favorites: bread and jam. She refuses eggs for breakfast or meat and vegetables for dinner. At lunch, she trades her lunch with best friend Albert for his bread and jam sandwich. She makes up little songs about foods, and continues to eat bread and jam until her wise mother figures out a way for Frances to change her eating habits. I read this book aloud to the class, however, it is one that the children really like. This book can be checked out from our class and the lower school library. It is an old favorite that is enjoyed time and time again. by Ms. Yamazaki’s Kindergarten Class

Ms. Yamazaki’s Kindergarten News Page 4 You’ve all heard all about our adventures with the Gingerbread Man by now. We mixed and we baked. He ran away, and we chased him all over the school. He left clues for us to different places: the kindergarten kitchen, the lower school office, the nurses’ office, the library, lost and found, the swimming pool, and finally at the guard house gate. He even left cookies and a note for us in the classroom. What fun we had chasing him around TAS. Those of you who attended Open House were able to meet him and pose for photos (see this month’s photo gallery). Activities like this are more than just a lot of fun. They are highly engaging, literacy events. First we read the story of The Gingerbread Man. We read the recipe, we measured and counted when we made him. We read and memorized the chant, “Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!” In the days following the chase, we read many other versions of this well-known tale. Please check our library catalogue for other versions that you may checkout to read at home. Reading and re-reading a story over and over is an excellent strategy to use in learning to read. Children learn to recognize some words after reading a story, especially a predictable pattern story, over and over. So when your child brings you a favorite book that you’ve read what feels like a million times, remember the value in repeated readings of a familiar book. Reading on the Pocket Chart Lucas and Nicky are reading an interactive chant with the refrain from the Gingerbread Man story.

Ms. Yamazaki’s Kindergarten News Page 5 Mark your PTA calendars: Monday, September 15 is Day 3 Monday, September 22 is a Professional Day for Teacher ~ no school for TAS students Tuesday, September 23 is Day 8 Monday, September 29 is Day 2 Monday, October 6 is Day 7 (providing we do not have any typhoon days) Remember sport shoes for PE on days 2, 4, 5, 8, 10! Writing Workshop At Open House, Mr. Jacob presented a bit of our writing curriculum to parents. We view even our youngest students as writers, long before they can even write recognizable letters or words. When they are ready, we encourage students to “have a go” and attempt to write using phonetic or temporary spelling that we call “kidwriting.” As we teach our students to put their stories and experiences on paper, we conference with them, and we teach them ‘what writers do.’ In our class, our writing workshop is in the morning, right after our morning circle routines and before recess. Please refer to your Open House packet for developmental stages of writing---from strings of letters to standard spelling. Writers Sharing Their Work Integrated Studies Marvelous Me - A Thematic Unit All About ME Over the course of six weeks, students will come to understand that people are alike and different, that people have different families and that while everyone has a body, we all look different. REQUEST***Family Photo Please! Send in by Sept. 23rd Please send in a photo of your family. I will make a copy on the photo copy machine and send you back your original. Thanks!