Not accounting for windchill factor:
Children will eat outdoors and may make the choice about coats, etc.: 41°F and above
Teachers will require the wearing of coats (for activity time of recess): 40°F and below
Teachers will require the wearing of a hat and gloves/mittens (students without will not participate in the activity): 35°F
Eating (snack and lunch) will occur indoors with outdoor recess following one of the below guidelines: 40°F and below
Normal outdoor recess: 26°F and above
Shortened outdoor recess (5 to 10 minutes): 18°F-25°F
Indoor recess: 18°F and below
What you can do to ensure your child's comfort and health with the above policy:
Send them to school with a coat, hat, mittens/gloves, and scarf. If you need assistance in getting these items please let me know.
Tell them they must wear the coat, hat, mittens/gloves, and scarf. Please let them know that they are required to wear the cold weather clothes. I have a few students who sneak in to "use the bathroom" but take off and leave their coats inside while they go back to play. I tell them they have many choices throughout the day (I let them vote and choose as a majority for a lot of things) but wearing coats, hats and mitten/gloves is NOT a choice.
Some other students have been complaining of cold legs (where the coat doesn't reach) I have been telling them to let you know that they have cold legs and to wear leggings under their pants. I wear two pairs of leggings under my uniform pants!
Send them with plenty of quality-calorie food for snack and lunch, as well as fresh water
Tell them about the children in Fairbanks, AK, who go out to recess like normal unless it's colder than -20°F!).
Teach them how to zip or button their coats (and put on). I know that it's faster to help your child do it. There is only one of me :) on our first coat, hat, gloves/mittens day it took us 20 minutes to get bundled up and ready. Most needed help. We're now at 10 minutes. Even if they can't do it yet, practicing with them helps them to digest that this is something they are going to have to learn how to do. If you want tips/tricks for putting on coats quick and how to teach your child how to zip I'd love to share. We use them in class too.
This was a wonderful first week back from break. All three days I heard at various points of the day "I love my new desk.", "We're doing planners like the big kids." and "We're lining up near the big kids." On Thursday we got to visit 5th grade in the gym while they told us about the Civil War, performed songs from that time and even showed us dances from that time (Virginia Reel line dancing and the waltz. We also got to watch a little bit of our 8th grade buddies 12th Night play.
Riggs:
- This week for Riggs we learned the phonograms eu, oy and oi.
- For our Riggs tests from the request of the students I have been doing "secret words" (before I had been pulling popsicle sticks and having them tell us their favorite phonogram). I made this change because they seem to be thoroughly interested in phonograms and have been finding phonograms in our classroom. So much so they chose to underline phonograms instead of doing water play (to explore capacity) on Wednesday. I tell them the phonograms that make up simple words and they try to read it and then they tell me which phonograms are in it so I can write it to check out work.
Saxon Math:
- Subtracting a number from itself (always equals zero)
- Subtracting zero from a number (always is the number)
- Exploring 1 cup measures. What 1 cup looks like in a pint, quart, half gallon and gallon and how many cups it takes to fill each measure.
Core Knowledge:
- We've been learning aspects of poems. While reading Mother Goose and other nursery rhymes we've explored: who, what, when, where, why, characters, dialogue, rhyme, rhythm, repetition and alliteration.
Dates to remember:
- Monday, January 16th is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There is no school.
- Friday, January 20th there is a school field trip day. K, 1 and 2 are going to see "Fly Guy" in Portland.
- Monday January 30th, Wednesday February 1st and Thursday February 2nd are the days that Kindergarten is signed up for MAPS testing. The week before if you have access to a computer either via your personal one or one at the library feel free to explore how to navigate a mouse. Our lab computers are not touch screen :D. It was quite cute to see many try.
- Friday, February 3rd and Friday February 10th are conferences. Sign ups to go live soon.
- Monday, February 20th is Presidents Day. There is no school.
- Friday, February 24th is a school field trip day. I am waiting to hear back from one place but if all goes according to plan Kindergarten's field trip will be all in house. Because it is in house we can accommodate more chaperones. Just let me know if you're interested. So far we have Zoo School and Reptile Man coming.
