The Diener School is closed for winter vacation starting Monday, December 22nd. School will reopen, Monday, January 5th.
Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19th 2008
The Magic Trains:
Today the Magic Trains…
1.) Completed a wonderful hands-on craft with Trevor’s mom, Ms. Carol. Each boy stenciled a t-shirt with his favorite animals, wet the shirt with water and helped apply the color to the shirt. Our students used their fine motor skills and listened with care to the instructions given. Ms. Debbie, Ms. Seena and Ms. Ginny want to extend a special thanks to Ms. Carol for her efforts, generosity and exuberance.
2.) Spent their morning in the company of our own Ms. Brook (O.T.). She brought a terrific board game called “Franklin Goes to School”, which allowed our students to skill-build in the areas of shape recognition, basic addition, turn taking, and use of prior knowledge. She also assisted the class in completion of holiday cards for their family.
3.) Sang their hearts out with Ms. Deanna, saluting every holiday song we could think of, including “Up On The Rooftop”, “The Dreidle Song”, “Jingle Bells” and “The Hanukah Song”. Please ask you children to give you a musical concert of their Diener School favorites. A warm and wonderful holiday season to all our students and family members from the Kindergarten staff!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a fantastic Friday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs...
1.) Read 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' and then watched the movie to see how it differed from the book!
2.) Played another game of snowflake bingo, this time using letters and sight words!
3.) Finished our fantastic gingerbread house! It's actually more of a town - it has 6 houses, a stream with a bridge, sleighs, people, and trees. Everyone worked so hard on it!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) Today we read the story of the Gingerbread Man and went on a hunt for our own lost Gingerbread Man!
2.) We made a Gingerbread Man glyph which tells all about us.
3.) In art we learned how to draw a pattern. We worked very hard on them. We also came up with a pattern for stringing FrootLoops. We only ate a few! Yummy, yummy!
See you in 2009!
The Golden Owls:
1.) Mrs Gilbertson came in with her son Justin and provided the kids with an awesome hands on ornament activity.
2.) We continued with the work on our sleds, holiday pictures, and finished watching the movie winn Dixie.
3.) Our trip to Benihana’s was a blast. The kids experienced the fine cuisine of the Japanese culture.
Upcoming Dates At A Glance:
Winter Holiday through January 2nd – See you in 2009!!
Today the Magic Trains…
1.) Completed a wonderful hands-on craft with Trevor’s mom, Ms. Carol. Each boy stenciled a t-shirt with his favorite animals, wet the shirt with water and helped apply the color to the shirt. Our students used their fine motor skills and listened with care to the instructions given. Ms. Debbie, Ms. Seena and Ms. Ginny want to extend a special thanks to Ms. Carol for her efforts, generosity and exuberance.
2.) Spent their morning in the company of our own Ms. Brook (O.T.). She brought a terrific board game called “Franklin Goes to School”, which allowed our students to skill-build in the areas of shape recognition, basic addition, turn taking, and use of prior knowledge. She also assisted the class in completion of holiday cards for their family.
3.) Sang their hearts out with Ms. Deanna, saluting every holiday song we could think of, including “Up On The Rooftop”, “The Dreidle Song”, “Jingle Bells” and “The Hanukah Song”. Please ask you children to give you a musical concert of their Diener School favorites. A warm and wonderful holiday season to all our students and family members from the Kindergarten staff!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a fantastic Friday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs...
1.) Read 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' and then watched the movie to see how it differed from the book!
2.) Played another game of snowflake bingo, this time using letters and sight words!
3.) Finished our fantastic gingerbread house! It's actually more of a town - it has 6 houses, a stream with a bridge, sleighs, people, and trees. Everyone worked so hard on it!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) Today we read the story of the Gingerbread Man and went on a hunt for our own lost Gingerbread Man!
2.) We made a Gingerbread Man glyph which tells all about us.
3.) In art we learned how to draw a pattern. We worked very hard on them. We also came up with a pattern for stringing FrootLoops. We only ate a few! Yummy, yummy!
See you in 2009!
The Golden Owls:
1.) Mrs Gilbertson came in with her son Justin and provided the kids with an awesome hands on ornament activity.
2.) We continued with the work on our sleds, holiday pictures, and finished watching the movie winn Dixie.
3.) Our trip to Benihana’s was a blast. The kids experienced the fine cuisine of the Japanese culture.
Upcoming Dates At A Glance:
Winter Holiday through January 2nd – See you in 2009!!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thursday, December 18th, 2008
The Magic Trains:
1.) Learned about dreamcatchers and made them using “gimp”, beads and a feather. It tied in nicely with theme of “Cultures” for December. We are sending home a story that is called “A Story of The Dreamcatcher”. If your child does not bring his home today, he will bring it home tomorrow.
2.) Learned about place value during Math using the base-ten blocks. Trevor did some addition and subtraction using a giant number line on the floor.
3.) Sang our holiday songs with Ms. Deanna. The songs we sang were “Jingle Bells”, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and two other songs (one related to Kwanzaa and the other related to Hanukah).
The Diener Dinosaurs:
We had a fantastic day with Ms. Lynn who was covering for Ms. Kate today.
1.) We had drama with Mr. Jim and played an awesome game of magic walk.
2.) During OT, our students had a wonderful time making snowmen and snowmen clothing!
3.) In Language Arts, we continued to study, Horton Hears a Who. We watched a video of the book and compared the new video to the original book and movie. It was a very busy day!
The Mighty Dieners:
What a thrilling Thursday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read a ‘The Gingerbread Man’ together and then made our very own gingerbread men!
2.) Cut out circles, rectangles, triangles, and squares to create snowman holiday cards!
3.) Sang holiday songs with Miss Deanna and played Red Light, Green Light, What time is it?, and Parachute in fitness with Mr. Dan.
The Golden Owls:
1.) With Ms Jen we discussed Hanukah and its origin. She read a book about its history and we also played a group dreidel game.
2.) Ms. Maisie modeled the art of the sled. Working on our fine motor skills we created a sled using popsicle sticks and other crafty material.
3.) In addition to reading Winn Dixie we began watching the movie, comparing and contrasting the two.
1.) Learned about dreamcatchers and made them using “gimp”, beads and a feather. It tied in nicely with theme of “Cultures” for December. We are sending home a story that is called “A Story of The Dreamcatcher”. If your child does not bring his home today, he will bring it home tomorrow.
2.) Learned about place value during Math using the base-ten blocks. Trevor did some addition and subtraction using a giant number line on the floor.
3.) Sang our holiday songs with Ms. Deanna. The songs we sang were “Jingle Bells”, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and two other songs (one related to Kwanzaa and the other related to Hanukah).
The Diener Dinosaurs:
We had a fantastic day with Ms. Lynn who was covering for Ms. Kate today.
1.) We had drama with Mr. Jim and played an awesome game of magic walk.
2.) During OT, our students had a wonderful time making snowmen and snowmen clothing!
3.) In Language Arts, we continued to study, Horton Hears a Who. We watched a video of the book and compared the new video to the original book and movie. It was a very busy day!
The Mighty Dieners:
What a thrilling Thursday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read a ‘The Gingerbread Man’ together and then made our very own gingerbread men!
2.) Cut out circles, rectangles, triangles, and squares to create snowman holiday cards!
3.) Sang holiday songs with Miss Deanna and played Red Light, Green Light, What time is it?, and Parachute in fitness with Mr. Dan.
The Golden Owls:
1.) With Ms Jen we discussed Hanukah and its origin. She read a book about its history and we also played a group dreidel game.
2.) Ms. Maisie modeled the art of the sled. Working on our fine motor skills we created a sled using popsicle sticks and other crafty material.
3.) In addition to reading Winn Dixie we began watching the movie, comparing and contrasting the two.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wednesday, December 17th 2008
The Magic Trains:
1.) Listened while Teddy’s mom read a book called, “The Night Before Christmas.”
2.) Worked with Ms. Jen and read a book about clothes that we wear for the cold weather.
3.) Went for a hike, were explorers, went in an elevator, and drove somewhere in a taxi – during drama with Md. Jim.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a wacky Wednesday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read a book together called ‘Nothing in the Mailbox’ and then played a game! We pretended we were mailmen and we delivered word family letters to each other! Then we sat together and read our letters to each other.
2.) Began building our gingerbread house!! We constructed the house, decorated the roof and walls, and made beautiful pine trees!
3.) Practiced story sequencing with Miss Kim! We read a story together, then we drew the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
The Mighty Dieners:
Today we had an awesome fiesta!! Our fiesta included a lot of fine motor and social activities! We also learned about 3 different holidays that are celebrated this month!
1.) Ms. Jen helped us to make Dreidels! We glued a piece of paper that has the Dreidel squares on it onto a piece of construction paper. Then, we colored in the different squares that are on the Dreidel. When we finished coloring, we cut out the Dreidel so that we could fold it and glue the sides together!
2.) Ms. Ginny told us about Kwanza. She read us a story as we colored in our Kwanza coloring books!
3.) We painted our own Christmas ornaments! We were each given a plain white Christmas ornament to decorate both sides with paint, glitter glue and stickers!
4.) We then got to make potato Latkes! Each student got a potato to shred using a grater. Once the potatoes were in shredded pieces, we mixed them in a bowl with onions, flour and eggs. Ms. Jen cooked them on a hot plate so we could eat them! You can eat them plain or dip them in applesauce or sour cream! They were so yummy!!
5.) After we ate lunch, we broke the piñata we made last week and got all the toys and chocolates that fell out!
6.) We finished our fiesta with Mexican Hot Chocolate and the Mexican Hat Dance!!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In Math we are continuing adding in doubles, using manipulatives, and playing a few fun games.
2.) We worked on movement, rhythm, and crossing our midline in dance with Mr. Aaron.
3.) In Social Skills with Ms. Melissa we talked about feelings. We went through different magazines and matched pictures to the feelings. Some of the feelings we talked about were confused, happy, sad, excited, worried, and jealous. We will continue to talk about feelings and how to work out how we feel and use our words to describe our feelings when we return from winter break.
1.) Listened while Teddy’s mom read a book called, “The Night Before Christmas.”
2.) Worked with Ms. Jen and read a book about clothes that we wear for the cold weather.
3.) Went for a hike, were explorers, went in an elevator, and drove somewhere in a taxi – during drama with Md. Jim.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a wacky Wednesday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read a book together called ‘Nothing in the Mailbox’ and then played a game! We pretended we were mailmen and we delivered word family letters to each other! Then we sat together and read our letters to each other.
2.) Began building our gingerbread house!! We constructed the house, decorated the roof and walls, and made beautiful pine trees!
3.) Practiced story sequencing with Miss Kim! We read a story together, then we drew the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
The Mighty Dieners:
Today we had an awesome fiesta!! Our fiesta included a lot of fine motor and social activities! We also learned about 3 different holidays that are celebrated this month!
1.) Ms. Jen helped us to make Dreidels! We glued a piece of paper that has the Dreidel squares on it onto a piece of construction paper. Then, we colored in the different squares that are on the Dreidel. When we finished coloring, we cut out the Dreidel so that we could fold it and glue the sides together!
2.) Ms. Ginny told us about Kwanza. She read us a story as we colored in our Kwanza coloring books!
3.) We painted our own Christmas ornaments! We were each given a plain white Christmas ornament to decorate both sides with paint, glitter glue and stickers!
4.) We then got to make potato Latkes! Each student got a potato to shred using a grater. Once the potatoes were in shredded pieces, we mixed them in a bowl with onions, flour and eggs. Ms. Jen cooked them on a hot plate so we could eat them! You can eat them plain or dip them in applesauce or sour cream! They were so yummy!!
5.) After we ate lunch, we broke the piñata we made last week and got all the toys and chocolates that fell out!
6.) We finished our fiesta with Mexican Hot Chocolate and the Mexican Hat Dance!!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In Math we are continuing adding in doubles, using manipulatives, and playing a few fun games.
2.) We worked on movement, rhythm, and crossing our midline in dance with Mr. Aaron.
3.) In Social Skills with Ms. Melissa we talked about feelings. We went through different magazines and matched pictures to the feelings. Some of the feelings we talked about were confused, happy, sad, excited, worried, and jealous. We will continue to talk about feelings and how to work out how we feel and use our words to describe our feelings when we return from winter break.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, December 16th
From the Office:
There is a winter weather advisory in effect for Montgomery County tonight from 6PM until 11AM. Please make sure to watch the news in the event that there are school closures or delays tomorrow morning. The Diener School follows Montgomery County School District’s closure/delay schedule.
The Magic Trains:
1.) Learned about beginning, middle and end after reading the story “It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny”. Each student used pictures and put them in the correct order to tell the story over again.
2.) Got tested by Mr. Chris in Fitness. Each student tried really hard and did a great job listening and following directions.
3.) Went on an “s” hunt and found words that start with that letter around the school. Each students found stars as well and gave them to the teachers.
4.) Made ornaments out of cinnamon and apple sauce in Science and they smell delicious.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
It was a terrific Tuesday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Had a great time with Miss Brook! We played beanbag games, did fine motor circuits, and worked on our handwriting skills!
2.) Colored and cut out ‘Gingerbread House’ books!
3.) Had science with Miss LLacey and art with Mrs. Feinberg! In science we made fantastic ornaments out of applesauce and cinnamon and in art we used Q-tips and our hands to make beautiful paintings!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Math, we added a cloudy picture to our weather calendar. Then we worked in small groups using our Calvert Math books. Some worked on continuing patterns, while some worked on number formations and identifying the number of objects in a group.
2.) This morning we worked on our fine motor rotations. Some rotations included using rubber bands to make given shapes on a peg board, placing pegs in a foam peg board and lacing the pegs together, while some kids made Ms. Ginny spaghetti with Play-Doh!
3.) In Science, we made applesauce cinnamon ornaments!!! We took a cup of applesauce and a cup of cinnamon and mixed it into a dough. Then we made shapes with the dough. It has to dry for a day, but then we can take them home!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In writing we are finalizing our top secret writing projects. Our brainstorming, webbing, and drafting are becoming more fluent and efficient.
2.) In Social Studies we are continuing to increase our knowledge of cultures. We began a movie, which brought us back to the time of the Greeks. It is focusing on their civilization, their golden age, and their architectural empire.
3.) In L. A. we are continuing with our comprehension strategies, use of the dictionary, and fluency. Today we read books with the Kurzweil system!
There is a winter weather advisory in effect for Montgomery County tonight from 6PM until 11AM. Please make sure to watch the news in the event that there are school closures or delays tomorrow morning. The Diener School follows Montgomery County School District’s closure/delay schedule.
The Magic Trains:
1.) Learned about beginning, middle and end after reading the story “It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny”. Each student used pictures and put them in the correct order to tell the story over again.
2.) Got tested by Mr. Chris in Fitness. Each student tried really hard and did a great job listening and following directions.
3.) Went on an “s” hunt and found words that start with that letter around the school. Each students found stars as well and gave them to the teachers.
4.) Made ornaments out of cinnamon and apple sauce in Science and they smell delicious.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
It was a terrific Tuesday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Had a great time with Miss Brook! We played beanbag games, did fine motor circuits, and worked on our handwriting skills!
2.) Colored and cut out ‘Gingerbread House’ books!
3.) Had science with Miss LLacey and art with Mrs. Feinberg! In science we made fantastic ornaments out of applesauce and cinnamon and in art we used Q-tips and our hands to make beautiful paintings!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Math, we added a cloudy picture to our weather calendar. Then we worked in small groups using our Calvert Math books. Some worked on continuing patterns, while some worked on number formations and identifying the number of objects in a group.
2.) This morning we worked on our fine motor rotations. Some rotations included using rubber bands to make given shapes on a peg board, placing pegs in a foam peg board and lacing the pegs together, while some kids made Ms. Ginny spaghetti with Play-Doh!
3.) In Science, we made applesauce cinnamon ornaments!!! We took a cup of applesauce and a cup of cinnamon and mixed it into a dough. Then we made shapes with the dough. It has to dry for a day, but then we can take them home!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In writing we are finalizing our top secret writing projects. Our brainstorming, webbing, and drafting are becoming more fluent and efficient.
2.) In Social Studies we are continuing to increase our knowledge of cultures. We began a movie, which brought us back to the time of the Greeks. It is focusing on their civilization, their golden age, and their architectural empire.
3.) In L. A. we are continuing with our comprehension strategies, use of the dictionary, and fluency. Today we read books with the Kurzweil system!
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Magic Trains:
1.) Put a mini book together called “A Birthday Bash Hat” and read the book with the teachers. 2.) Reviewed feeling words with Ms. Melissa by looking through magazines to find pictures of people feeling happy, sad, excited or mad. Then the students glued the pictures on to their paper, making sure to match each picture with the correct word.
3.) During Math they played an academic game that dealt with counting skills and they learned about the words “over, under and on”.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a magnificent Monday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Played a very fun game with Miss Jen! It was called ‘Go Feelings’ – it was very similar to Go Fish, only we used feelings cards. We practiced taking turns, looking at our friends when we talk to them, and using full sentences.
2.) Worked on story sequencing! We colored, cut out, and sequenced pictures for a story and then told the story to our friends.
3.) Took our final trip around the world – today we went to China! We looked at pictures from Miss Courtney’s trip to China, talked about the food, language, and music there, talked about and smelled different Chinese teas, and each practiced using chopsticks! We had a great time touring the world in the Diener Airplane!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Language Arts groups, we worked on our Explode the Code books.
2.) In Math, we added the weekend and today’s weather pictures to our weather calendars and graphed our weather charts from last week.
3.) Ms. Ginny started reading, Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who. We will be finishing the book this week. Then, we will watch the movie this week and compare the book and the movie. We also have some fun word puzzles and handwriting activities to work on this week about Horton Hears a Who!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In math we are focusing on addition strategies, and adding in doubles using manipulatives.
2.) We had our fitness assessment which focused on dribbling, throwing, running, and leaping.
3.) In O.T. we worked on visual and fine motor skills cutting, pasting, and coloring with Mrs. Kathy.
1.) Put a mini book together called “A Birthday Bash Hat” and read the book with the teachers. 2.) Reviewed feeling words with Ms. Melissa by looking through magazines to find pictures of people feeling happy, sad, excited or mad. Then the students glued the pictures on to their paper, making sure to match each picture with the correct word.
3.) During Math they played an academic game that dealt with counting skills and they learned about the words “over, under and on”.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a magnificent Monday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Played a very fun game with Miss Jen! It was called ‘Go Feelings’ – it was very similar to Go Fish, only we used feelings cards. We practiced taking turns, looking at our friends when we talk to them, and using full sentences.
2.) Worked on story sequencing! We colored, cut out, and sequenced pictures for a story and then told the story to our friends.
3.) Took our final trip around the world – today we went to China! We looked at pictures from Miss Courtney’s trip to China, talked about the food, language, and music there, talked about and smelled different Chinese teas, and each practiced using chopsticks! We had a great time touring the world in the Diener Airplane!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Language Arts groups, we worked on our Explode the Code books.
2.) In Math, we added the weekend and today’s weather pictures to our weather calendars and graphed our weather charts from last week.
3.) Ms. Ginny started reading, Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who. We will be finishing the book this week. Then, we will watch the movie this week and compare the book and the movie. We also have some fun word puzzles and handwriting activities to work on this week about Horton Hears a Who!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In math we are focusing on addition strategies, and adding in doubles using manipulatives.
2.) We had our fitness assessment which focused on dribbling, throwing, running, and leaping.
3.) In O.T. we worked on visual and fine motor skills cutting, pasting, and coloring with Mrs. Kathy.
Friday, December 12th
The Magic Trains:
1.) Asked questions to Lieutenant John Branson such as “what made you want to be a soldier”? and “Do you have to get up early in the morning”?
2.) Put sentence strips in order based on their leveled readers. They also read picture words such as “nose”, “ear” and “eye”.
3.) Read a story called “Mrs. Greenberg’s Latkes”.
4.) Reviewed patterns and subtraction facts during Math.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a FANTASTIC Friday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Had an amazing time with our dads at our Diener Assembly and Dads Breakfast! We sang ‘God Bless America’ beautifully, asked John Branson our classroom questions, and then had bagels and donuts with the dads in our classroom! We showed our dads our ‘All About Me’ books, our favorite cars, and some of the things we’ve been working on in school. It was so much fun!
2.) Worked on adding new words to our word wall and made letter ‘F’ puzzles in Language Arts!3.) Colored maps of China in preparation for our trip on Monday!
Parents, thank you SO much for the delicious staff lunch – it was wonderful and VERY much appreciated!!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) This morning we had a great assembly and asked Ms. Kate’s brother John a lot of great questions and sang him the song, “God Bless America”. John was so happy to meet all of you!
2.) We had such a yummy breakfast with our dads! Then we made a piñata for our fiesta next week! Our dads helped us rip newspaper into long strips. Then we measured the flour and salt we needed and added it to water. Some of us mixed the paste with our hands, while others dipped the newspaper strips in the paste! Mr. Aaron blew up some balloons and we covered the balloons in newspaper strips, pink, yellow, green and blue colored tissue paper! It has to dry over the weekend and then we will decorate it on Monday!!
3.) In Art, we drew lines from a starting point, drew triangles and then drew pictures inside the triangles!
**Thank you all for coming to the assembly this morning for John. The whole family, especially John was so touched. It truly was an amazing gift to see everyone there and having the kids singing “God Bless America”. –The Bransons
The Golden Owls:
1.) We loved celebrating Lt. John Branson and having our Dads here. We made clementine snowmen with them, played the rope game and did centers with them.
2.) During our presentations of our projects, we worked on posture, practiced standing up straight, and speaking in a loud and clear voice as well as working on eye contact.
3.) We had our first experience of Kosher Chinese food and also perogies from Russia with love.
Happy weekend!
1.) Asked questions to Lieutenant John Branson such as “what made you want to be a soldier”? and “Do you have to get up early in the morning”?
2.) Put sentence strips in order based on their leveled readers. They also read picture words such as “nose”, “ear” and “eye”.
3.) Read a story called “Mrs. Greenberg’s Latkes”.
4.) Reviewed patterns and subtraction facts during Math.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a FANTASTIC Friday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Had an amazing time with our dads at our Diener Assembly and Dads Breakfast! We sang ‘God Bless America’ beautifully, asked John Branson our classroom questions, and then had bagels and donuts with the dads in our classroom! We showed our dads our ‘All About Me’ books, our favorite cars, and some of the things we’ve been working on in school. It was so much fun!
2.) Worked on adding new words to our word wall and made letter ‘F’ puzzles in Language Arts!3.) Colored maps of China in preparation for our trip on Monday!
Parents, thank you SO much for the delicious staff lunch – it was wonderful and VERY much appreciated!!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) This morning we had a great assembly and asked Ms. Kate’s brother John a lot of great questions and sang him the song, “God Bless America”. John was so happy to meet all of you!
2.) We had such a yummy breakfast with our dads! Then we made a piñata for our fiesta next week! Our dads helped us rip newspaper into long strips. Then we measured the flour and salt we needed and added it to water. Some of us mixed the paste with our hands, while others dipped the newspaper strips in the paste! Mr. Aaron blew up some balloons and we covered the balloons in newspaper strips, pink, yellow, green and blue colored tissue paper! It has to dry over the weekend and then we will decorate it on Monday!!
3.) In Art, we drew lines from a starting point, drew triangles and then drew pictures inside the triangles!
**Thank you all for coming to the assembly this morning for John. The whole family, especially John was so touched. It truly was an amazing gift to see everyone there and having the kids singing “God Bless America”. –The Bransons
The Golden Owls:
1.) We loved celebrating Lt. John Branson and having our Dads here. We made clementine snowmen with them, played the rope game and did centers with them.
2.) During our presentations of our projects, we worked on posture, practiced standing up straight, and speaking in a loud and clear voice as well as working on eye contact.
3.) We had our first experience of Kosher Chinese food and also perogies from Russia with love.
Happy weekend!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
The Magic Trains:
1.) Started the day by decorating Christmas trees and doing other sensory activities at the table before morning meeting.
2.) Participated in a relay race during Fitness. It was the yellow team versus the green team and each player tried to put different colored balls in the correct hoola-hoop.
3.) Sang songs sang such as “Jingle Bells” and other holiday songs in Music class with Ms. Deanna.
Homework: Please read “The Three Bears” with your child. Thanks and have a great night!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a terrific Thursday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Worked on story sequencing, matching word family and sight words, and concepts of beginning, middle, and end in Language Arts!
2.) Played snowflake bingo in math – we matched the written words to the numbers on our snowflakes!
3.) Visited France and learned about the culture there ~ we talked about French foods, the French language, and the beautiful Eiffel Tower! Then we colored French flags and our passport stamps.
4.) Had music with Miss Deanna! We sang songs about Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa and took turns playing different instruments!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) This morning we started our Fitness testing. Mr. Dan pulled us to see how we are progressing in Fitness and find out areas that we still need to have fun working on!
2.) We learned the Mexican Hat dance! We watched a couple videos showing us the upbeat music, beautiful costumes and how they danced around a hat! After we learned to do it ourselves, we watched other dances from other cultures: China, Africa and Native Americans. At the end we compared the similarities in the dances. It was so neat when we all told which dancing we liked the most and we all liked a different dance! That is why cultures are so interesting to learn about! We decided we wanted to create our own Mighty Dieners “cultural” dance! We will work on it and let you know when we are ready to publicly perform it!!
3.) In Music, we practiced “God Bless America” for our assembly tomorrow. In Drama, we learned to march like Marines for our assembly tomorrow!
4.) Due to the rain, the girls had a fashion show during Recess and the boys loved finding Waldo in the “Where’s Waldo?” books.
The Golden Owls:
1.) In writing we are beginning revisions. We are reading our drafts while making necessary corrections and edits.
2.) For Multi-sensory we took breaks such as yoga, brain gym, and also teambuilding activities. 3.) We worked on sequencing using the book How to Make Sock Puppets. Students then followed the steps to create their very own unique Bag Puppet. We were lacking socks so brown paper bags were used as substitutes :)
Upcoming Dates At A Glance:
Friday, December 12th: School Assembly @ 9AM • Dad’s Breakfast immediately following Monday, December 15th: Karate w/Master Moon until 3:45PM • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Thursday, December 18th: Ms. Kathy’s Birthday! • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Friday, December 19th: Mr. Paul’s class trip to Benihana
Monday, December 22nd: Winter Holiday through January 2nd – See you in 2009!!
1.) Started the day by decorating Christmas trees and doing other sensory activities at the table before morning meeting.
2.) Participated in a relay race during Fitness. It was the yellow team versus the green team and each player tried to put different colored balls in the correct hoola-hoop.
3.) Sang songs sang such as “Jingle Bells” and other holiday songs in Music class with Ms. Deanna.
Homework: Please read “The Three Bears” with your child. Thanks and have a great night!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a terrific Thursday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Worked on story sequencing, matching word family and sight words, and concepts of beginning, middle, and end in Language Arts!
2.) Played snowflake bingo in math – we matched the written words to the numbers on our snowflakes!
3.) Visited France and learned about the culture there ~ we talked about French foods, the French language, and the beautiful Eiffel Tower! Then we colored French flags and our passport stamps.
4.) Had music with Miss Deanna! We sang songs about Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa and took turns playing different instruments!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) This morning we started our Fitness testing. Mr. Dan pulled us to see how we are progressing in Fitness and find out areas that we still need to have fun working on!
2.) We learned the Mexican Hat dance! We watched a couple videos showing us the upbeat music, beautiful costumes and how they danced around a hat! After we learned to do it ourselves, we watched other dances from other cultures: China, Africa and Native Americans. At the end we compared the similarities in the dances. It was so neat when we all told which dancing we liked the most and we all liked a different dance! That is why cultures are so interesting to learn about! We decided we wanted to create our own Mighty Dieners “cultural” dance! We will work on it and let you know when we are ready to publicly perform it!!
3.) In Music, we practiced “God Bless America” for our assembly tomorrow. In Drama, we learned to march like Marines for our assembly tomorrow!
4.) Due to the rain, the girls had a fashion show during Recess and the boys loved finding Waldo in the “Where’s Waldo?” books.
The Golden Owls:
1.) In writing we are beginning revisions. We are reading our drafts while making necessary corrections and edits.
2.) For Multi-sensory we took breaks such as yoga, brain gym, and also teambuilding activities. 3.) We worked on sequencing using the book How to Make Sock Puppets. Students then followed the steps to create their very own unique Bag Puppet. We were lacking socks so brown paper bags were used as substitutes :)
Upcoming Dates At A Glance:
Friday, December 12th: School Assembly @ 9AM • Dad’s Breakfast immediately following Monday, December 15th: Karate w/Master Moon until 3:45PM • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Thursday, December 18th: Ms. Kathy’s Birthday! • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Friday, December 19th: Mr. Paul’s class trip to Benihana
Monday, December 22nd: Winter Holiday through January 2nd – See you in 2009!!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tuesday, December 9th
The Magic Trains:
1.) Read our leveled readers “Dan” and “The Picnic” one last time to demonstrate comprehension and short term memory. We had to make lists of things that were mentioned in the story and drew a picture of it if we chose to. Then we reviewed the letter “M”. Some of us cut out pictures of mice with mittens and placed them in our magic mansion (A three-dimensional standing village). Other students cut and glued “M” words to a giant letter M.
2.) Learned more about the 7 continents in a fabulous game with multi-step instructions during Fitness Class with Mr. Chris and Ms. Julie. The boys took glow-in-the-dark animals, lights were turned off, and they had to place their animal in the correct continent ring once Mr. Chris called out the continent.
3.) Had a wonderful sensory break where we went down the hall and bowled with Ms. Seena and Ms. Debbie.
4.) Explored volcano action, water pressure and cultural facts during a hands-on Science class with Ms. Llacey. The volcano was made in a glass filled 1/3 of the way with ordinary tap water and 2/3 of the way with vegetable oil. Red food coloring was added and then salt was dropped in. The oil weighed more as the salt was added and sunk to the bottom and floated up again. We learned that Hawaiians sing songs to the volcanoes in Hawaii, to keep them from erupting. Ms. Llacey performed two other cool experiments. Tell your parents about the pencil in the plastic bag- water experiment and the magic spinning balloon!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a terrific Tuesday! We:
1.) Built snowmen with funny faces, did the Hokey Pokey, and worked on our handwriting with Miss Brook!
2.) Played very cool games in Fitness – we helped glow in the dark animals and stuffed animals find their home continents! We also chased Mr. Chris and his scary dragon tail around the room!3.) Got on our plane and flew around the globe to visit the continent of Africa! We watched videos of African animals, saw examples of African art and masks, and watched really cool African dancing! Then we each made an African flag and a stamp for our Diener Passports.
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In our Fine Motor rotations, we worked at different stations including sticking pegs into a foam board in patterns and lacing a shoe string through the pegs, creating patterns out of different shaped/colored blocks, and finding small gems in a ball of Thera Putty.
2.) In Science we made volcanoes using oil, water and salt!
3.) In our Large Motor Class, we went outside and learned how to play tag. We then played a game of follow the leader where we had to pay attention to what the leader was doing whether they were skipping, hopping, climbing up a slide or walking backwards!
4.) In Math, we added today’s weather picture to our weather graph. Then, we finished working on our Thanksgiving Food graphs and compared the results.
The Golden Owls:
1.) Collected different objects around the room and then converted our picture graphs into a bar graph independently.
2.) Drafted and revised our stories during our writing block making sure we include lots of detail.
3.) Continued to work on connecting, predicting and introduced the main idea during our reading time
1.) Read our leveled readers “Dan” and “The Picnic” one last time to demonstrate comprehension and short term memory. We had to make lists of things that were mentioned in the story and drew a picture of it if we chose to. Then we reviewed the letter “M”. Some of us cut out pictures of mice with mittens and placed them in our magic mansion (A three-dimensional standing village). Other students cut and glued “M” words to a giant letter M.
2.) Learned more about the 7 continents in a fabulous game with multi-step instructions during Fitness Class with Mr. Chris and Ms. Julie. The boys took glow-in-the-dark animals, lights were turned off, and they had to place their animal in the correct continent ring once Mr. Chris called out the continent.
3.) Had a wonderful sensory break where we went down the hall and bowled with Ms. Seena and Ms. Debbie.
4.) Explored volcano action, water pressure and cultural facts during a hands-on Science class with Ms. Llacey. The volcano was made in a glass filled 1/3 of the way with ordinary tap water and 2/3 of the way with vegetable oil. Red food coloring was added and then salt was dropped in. The oil weighed more as the salt was added and sunk to the bottom and floated up again. We learned that Hawaiians sing songs to the volcanoes in Hawaii, to keep them from erupting. Ms. Llacey performed two other cool experiments. Tell your parents about the pencil in the plastic bag- water experiment and the magic spinning balloon!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a terrific Tuesday! We:
1.) Built snowmen with funny faces, did the Hokey Pokey, and worked on our handwriting with Miss Brook!
2.) Played very cool games in Fitness – we helped glow in the dark animals and stuffed animals find their home continents! We also chased Mr. Chris and his scary dragon tail around the room!3.) Got on our plane and flew around the globe to visit the continent of Africa! We watched videos of African animals, saw examples of African art and masks, and watched really cool African dancing! Then we each made an African flag and a stamp for our Diener Passports.
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In our Fine Motor rotations, we worked at different stations including sticking pegs into a foam board in patterns and lacing a shoe string through the pegs, creating patterns out of different shaped/colored blocks, and finding small gems in a ball of Thera Putty.
2.) In Science we made volcanoes using oil, water and salt!
3.) In our Large Motor Class, we went outside and learned how to play tag. We then played a game of follow the leader where we had to pay attention to what the leader was doing whether they were skipping, hopping, climbing up a slide or walking backwards!
4.) In Math, we added today’s weather picture to our weather graph. Then, we finished working on our Thanksgiving Food graphs and compared the results.
The Golden Owls:
1.) Collected different objects around the room and then converted our picture graphs into a bar graph independently.
2.) Drafted and revised our stories during our writing block making sure we include lots of detail.
3.) Continued to work on connecting, predicting and introduced the main idea during our reading time
Monday, December 8th 2008
The Magic Trains:
1.) Played two awesome games with Ms. Kathy (Speech Pathologist). We rotated two-by-two through Alphabet Lotto, which helps with letter recognition, letter sounds, and word retrieval and played Uno which requires good listening skills, multiple-step directions, color recognition and number recognition.
2.) Began work with the letter “M”. We opened our tool box and pulled out a variety of items and matched them to picture/word cards and spelled each new word. We used some of our “m” word objects throughout the day, carrying them around and incorporating them into imaginary play.
3.) Explored the concepts of inside-outside and object recognition (square, circle, and triangle) in Math class. Example: Is the blue square inside the circle or outside the circle? Is Ms. Debbie inside the school building or outside the school building? Then a “follow the directions” game was introduced to help cement the newly introduced concepts with one and two-step directions applied.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a marvelous Monday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read a book called ‘I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today’. Then we went on a scavenger hunt for ‘F’ words and started Letter F books!
2.) Did a project with Miss Jen about cultures. We drew a picture using one color of crayon, then we drew the same picture using many beautiful colors. We talked about how the pictures with different colors were much more interesting to look at and then talked about how other cultures are different and interesting, too!
3.) Made Diener School Passports! We are going to use these passports to ‘visit’ and learn about different cultures throughout the week.
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Fitness, after our warm-ups we crab-crawled around the room, did a pattern where we had to skip than hop around the room and finally we got to go through a really fun maze Mr. Dan made! We jumped off the mini-trampoline onto a mat, crawled through the tunnel, two-feet hopped through 5 hula-hoops, sat on a scooter and slid to the next tunnel, crawled through the tunnel and ended by kicking a ball into a goal!
2.) In Math, we began our weather calendars and worked on our regular Monday Calendar Math. Our weather calendars are when each student decides what they think the weather is for the day. They cut out the weather picture and glue it to the correct day on the blank weather calendar. They will do this during the beginning of every math period. At the end of the week, we will graph the weekly weather. At the end of the month, we will graph the month’s weather.
3.) In Language Arts (full class hand-on) we finished working on our Goldilocks sequencing story!! We are almost done!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In L.A. we have begun two new books called Puppets and The Shepard and the Ferry. We are building comprehension and our use of the dictionary.
2.) In Math we cut up magazines with partners and created picture graphs. We then transformed the picture graphs into bar graphs.
3.) In Social Studies we have started learning about cultures. We have been watching a few movies on the Egyptian empire and life in Tibet.
Upcoming Dates At A Glance:
Thursday, December 11th: Ms. Kim’s Birthday! • Fitness Testing for Mr. Paul & Ms. Kate’s classes • Open House @ 10AM • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Friday, December 12th: School Assembly @ 9AM • Dad’s Breakfast immediately following Monday, December 15th: Karate w/Master Moon until 3:45PM • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Thursday, December 18th: Ms. Kathy’s Birthday! • Afterschool Social Club until 4PMMonday, December 22nd: Winter Holiday through January 2nd – See you in 2009!!
1.) Played two awesome games with Ms. Kathy (Speech Pathologist). We rotated two-by-two through Alphabet Lotto, which helps with letter recognition, letter sounds, and word retrieval and played Uno which requires good listening skills, multiple-step directions, color recognition and number recognition.
2.) Began work with the letter “M”. We opened our tool box and pulled out a variety of items and matched them to picture/word cards and spelled each new word. We used some of our “m” word objects throughout the day, carrying them around and incorporating them into imaginary play.
3.) Explored the concepts of inside-outside and object recognition (square, circle, and triangle) in Math class. Example: Is the blue square inside the circle or outside the circle? Is Ms. Debbie inside the school building or outside the school building? Then a “follow the directions” game was introduced to help cement the newly introduced concepts with one and two-step directions applied.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a marvelous Monday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read a book called ‘I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today’. Then we went on a scavenger hunt for ‘F’ words and started Letter F books!
2.) Did a project with Miss Jen about cultures. We drew a picture using one color of crayon, then we drew the same picture using many beautiful colors. We talked about how the pictures with different colors were much more interesting to look at and then talked about how other cultures are different and interesting, too!
3.) Made Diener School Passports! We are going to use these passports to ‘visit’ and learn about different cultures throughout the week.
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Fitness, after our warm-ups we crab-crawled around the room, did a pattern where we had to skip than hop around the room and finally we got to go through a really fun maze Mr. Dan made! We jumped off the mini-trampoline onto a mat, crawled through the tunnel, two-feet hopped through 5 hula-hoops, sat on a scooter and slid to the next tunnel, crawled through the tunnel and ended by kicking a ball into a goal!
2.) In Math, we began our weather calendars and worked on our regular Monday Calendar Math. Our weather calendars are when each student decides what they think the weather is for the day. They cut out the weather picture and glue it to the correct day on the blank weather calendar. They will do this during the beginning of every math period. At the end of the week, we will graph the weekly weather. At the end of the month, we will graph the month’s weather.
3.) In Language Arts (full class hand-on) we finished working on our Goldilocks sequencing story!! We are almost done!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In L.A. we have begun two new books called Puppets and The Shepard and the Ferry. We are building comprehension and our use of the dictionary.
2.) In Math we cut up magazines with partners and created picture graphs. We then transformed the picture graphs into bar graphs.
3.) In Social Studies we have started learning about cultures. We have been watching a few movies on the Egyptian empire and life in Tibet.
Upcoming Dates At A Glance:
Thursday, December 11th: Ms. Kim’s Birthday! • Fitness Testing for Mr. Paul & Ms. Kate’s classes • Open House @ 10AM • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Friday, December 12th: School Assembly @ 9AM • Dad’s Breakfast immediately following Monday, December 15th: Karate w/Master Moon until 3:45PM • Afterschool Social Club until 4PM
Thursday, December 18th: Ms. Kathy’s Birthday! • Afterschool Social Club until 4PMMonday, December 22nd: Winter Holiday through January 2nd – See you in 2009!!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Another great week at Diener!! Friday, December 5th
The Magic Trains:
1.) Worked individually with Ms. Brook (O.T.), in the sensory room. Our students also spent time in a group motor activity involving a musical recording that sang out funny directions. Ms. Brook assisted the boys with listening skills and movement during the activity with staff joining in to increase the fun and support.
2.) Used their math skills while playing a rousing group game of Uno. Everyone learned to respond to 2- step questions, i.e. “do you have either a 2 or a green card?” All our students loved the game and used their understanding of “patience” while waiting for others to take a turn. Three students did this. Teddy worked on patterns with Ms. Debbie and did a great job naming them.
3.) Opened up the tool box, during language arts. There they found many interesting objects which began with the letter of the week, “h”. They had a great time talking about the objects, playing with them, and telling staff other words they know of that begin with “h”. The boys searched the room looking for other objects and practiced writing the letter “h”.
Have a great weekend!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a fantastic Friday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read our word family and leveled reader books in Language Arts and worked together to move and update our word wall!
2.) Created beautiful holiday patterns out of cool penguin and snowflake stickers!
3.) Built marshmallow igloos and created an Arctic tundra out of posterboard and coconut flakes. We made a lovely snowy scene!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Language Arts groups we worked on our Explode the Code workbooks. We also brainstormed words that described yesterdays field trip, such as: trees, Christmas, White House, nutcracker, etc.
2.) In Math, we counted the tally marks from when we interviewed our friends about their favorite foods. Then we graphed our results using a different color for each food. At the end we discussed what our graph looked like. We discovered that two foods had the same results. We highlighted those two food words.
3.) In our Friday afternoon, hands-on Language Arts activity, Ms. Kate read a story about Goldilocks. We had to find a picture that represented what she just read. Then, we colored the picture, cut it out and glued it on a piece of paper in sequential order.
4.) We surprised Ms. Maisie with birthday cards! WE HOPE MS. MAISIE HAS A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!
Have a great weekend!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In math we took a trip outside working in partners. We tallied the amount of cars, vans, suv's which were in the parking lot. We then came back in and as a class created a bar graph.
2.) In language arts we began with explode the code. We are also continuing to utilize and master comprehension strategies.
3.) In the afternoon we Celebrated the Blessed birth of Mrs. Maisie with cake, cards, singing, and good times.
1.) Worked individually with Ms. Brook (O.T.), in the sensory room. Our students also spent time in a group motor activity involving a musical recording that sang out funny directions. Ms. Brook assisted the boys with listening skills and movement during the activity with staff joining in to increase the fun and support.
2.) Used their math skills while playing a rousing group game of Uno. Everyone learned to respond to 2- step questions, i.e. “do you have either a 2 or a green card?” All our students loved the game and used their understanding of “patience” while waiting for others to take a turn. Three students did this. Teddy worked on patterns with Ms. Debbie and did a great job naming them.
3.) Opened up the tool box, during language arts. There they found many interesting objects which began with the letter of the week, “h”. They had a great time talking about the objects, playing with them, and telling staff other words they know of that begin with “h”. The boys searched the room looking for other objects and practiced writing the letter “h”.
Have a great weekend!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a fantastic Friday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read our word family and leveled reader books in Language Arts and worked together to move and update our word wall!
2.) Created beautiful holiday patterns out of cool penguin and snowflake stickers!
3.) Built marshmallow igloos and created an Arctic tundra out of posterboard and coconut flakes. We made a lovely snowy scene!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Language Arts groups we worked on our Explode the Code workbooks. We also brainstormed words that described yesterdays field trip, such as: trees, Christmas, White House, nutcracker, etc.
2.) In Math, we counted the tally marks from when we interviewed our friends about their favorite foods. Then we graphed our results using a different color for each food. At the end we discussed what our graph looked like. We discovered that two foods had the same results. We highlighted those two food words.
3.) In our Friday afternoon, hands-on Language Arts activity, Ms. Kate read a story about Goldilocks. We had to find a picture that represented what she just read. Then, we colored the picture, cut it out and glued it on a piece of paper in sequential order.
4.) We surprised Ms. Maisie with birthday cards! WE HOPE MS. MAISIE HAS A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!
Have a great weekend!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In math we took a trip outside working in partners. We tallied the amount of cars, vans, suv's which were in the parking lot. We then came back in and as a class created a bar graph.
2.) In language arts we began with explode the code. We are also continuing to utilize and master comprehension strategies.
3.) In the afternoon we Celebrated the Blessed birth of Mrs. Maisie with cake, cards, singing, and good times.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thursday, December 4th
The Magic Trains:
1.) Worked more on our box project of the desert habitat. We molded animals and plants out of clay and painted the sky blue.
2.) Used the scooters again in Fitness and followed directions such as “put the red ball in the same colored hoola hoop”.
3.) Used manipulatives during Math to work more on subtraction skills. Some students did coin rubbings of a penny and had to describe the penny.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a terrific Thursday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read ‘Big Bear, Little Bear’ during Language Arts. Then we worked in our ‘Explode the Code’ workbooks, played word family memory, and practiced sequencing and retelling stories.
2.) Finished our holiday pattern pictures and built AAB and ABC patterns out of unifix cubes in Math.
3.) Made a numbers book about arctic animals!
4.) Had music class with Miss Deanna – we sang ‘Jingle Bells’ and other winter songs!
The Mighty Dieners:
We had such a great day! A Secret Service agent met us outside the White House! His name was Terence and he gave us a GREAT tour! We entered the White House right outside the First Lady’s office, so we had to be a little quiet. We learned that the photographs in the hallway are changed every couple of weeks as the president travels around to new events. We learned the White House burned down during the War of 1812, but they were able to save the portrait of President George Washington, and we saw it hanging in the East Room. We were so lucky, as today was the first day they were displaying the holiday decorations. This year the theme is “A Red, White and Blue Christmas”. We learned so many things about the White House: it has 132 rooms, 3 elevators, a pool, tennis courts, a movie theatre (where the president watches movies and also practices his speeches), a bowling alley and the president’s helicopter lands on his front yard! Outside, we saw them building the stage for the Innaguration of President-elect Obama and saw the house he will be staying in before he is president. It is called the Blair House. We were given really neat books to take home that tell you all about the holiday decorations!
After such a fun morning, we had Music and Drama in the afternoon! In Drama we got to relive our trip to the White House! We acted out the different things we saw and even pretending to have an election!
The Golden Owls:
1.) The White house trip was memorable and historical. Every room is decorated with ornaments, wreathes, and President paintings. One of our favorite rooms was the blue room, which had a tree connected to the ceiling.
2.) As a class, we wanted to thank our secret service agent Terence and Ms Kate for giving us such an unforgettable Field Trip.
3.) In the afternoon we continued to build teamwork and communication in Drama with Mr. Jim.
From the Office:
1.) Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by TOMORROW, Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th
2.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16 - Please RSVP with Leah and indicate whether you will attend or not.
3.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
1.) Worked more on our box project of the desert habitat. We molded animals and plants out of clay and painted the sky blue.
2.) Used the scooters again in Fitness and followed directions such as “put the red ball in the same colored hoola hoop”.
3.) Used manipulatives during Math to work more on subtraction skills. Some students did coin rubbings of a penny and had to describe the penny.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a terrific Thursday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Read ‘Big Bear, Little Bear’ during Language Arts. Then we worked in our ‘Explode the Code’ workbooks, played word family memory, and practiced sequencing and retelling stories.
2.) Finished our holiday pattern pictures and built AAB and ABC patterns out of unifix cubes in Math.
3.) Made a numbers book about arctic animals!
4.) Had music class with Miss Deanna – we sang ‘Jingle Bells’ and other winter songs!
The Mighty Dieners:
We had such a great day! A Secret Service agent met us outside the White House! His name was Terence and he gave us a GREAT tour! We entered the White House right outside the First Lady’s office, so we had to be a little quiet. We learned that the photographs in the hallway are changed every couple of weeks as the president travels around to new events. We learned the White House burned down during the War of 1812, but they were able to save the portrait of President George Washington, and we saw it hanging in the East Room. We were so lucky, as today was the first day they were displaying the holiday decorations. This year the theme is “A Red, White and Blue Christmas”. We learned so many things about the White House: it has 132 rooms, 3 elevators, a pool, tennis courts, a movie theatre (where the president watches movies and also practices his speeches), a bowling alley and the president’s helicopter lands on his front yard! Outside, we saw them building the stage for the Innaguration of President-elect Obama and saw the house he will be staying in before he is president. It is called the Blair House. We were given really neat books to take home that tell you all about the holiday decorations!
After such a fun morning, we had Music and Drama in the afternoon! In Drama we got to relive our trip to the White House! We acted out the different things we saw and even pretending to have an election!
The Golden Owls:
1.) The White house trip was memorable and historical. Every room is decorated with ornaments, wreathes, and President paintings. One of our favorite rooms was the blue room, which had a tree connected to the ceiling.
2.) As a class, we wanted to thank our secret service agent Terence and Ms Kate for giving us such an unforgettable Field Trip.
3.) In the afternoon we continued to build teamwork and communication in Drama with Mr. Jim.
From the Office:
1.) Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by TOMORROW, Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th
2.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16 - Please RSVP with Leah and indicate whether you will attend or not.
3.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday, December 3rd 2008
The Magic Trains:
1.) Read the book “Froggy Gets Dressed for Winter” and helped dress a cute frog made out of felt as we spoke about the story.
2.) Met a snake named “Smelly” who belongs to Ms. Deanna. The boys asked her some good questions about his habitat and diet.
3.) Two students learned about pennies and nickels while the other two students worked on addition, subtraction and even some basic multiplication!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a wacky Wednesday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Worked on our handwriting in Language Arts and had a great time playing fun letter games with Miss Kim!
2.) Completed and cut out holiday patterns in Math and worked on our Fine Motor Circuits during motor time!
3.) Had a special visitor – a real live snake!!! Miss Deanna brought her friend, Smelly the Snake, into our classroom for a visit. We talked all about snakes and their habitats and everyone took a turn petting him – he was SO friendly! It was a great way to finish our unit on rainforests.
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Speech, we talked about pronouns (boy-he, him; girl-she, her)and when you use them.
2.) In Social Skills, Ms. Melissa talked to us about feelings. We each drew pictures of what feelings (happy, sad, angry, etc) looked like.
3.) In Yoga, we practiced the tree pose and played the freeze game!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In Science we have been studying about different cultures and where certain foods come from. For example, we learned that chickens originally came from China, milk from India and taco sauce from Mexico.
2.) In Math we are continuing to work on our bar and picture graphs. For homework we are going to reinforce what we are learning in school by graphing candy and fruit on both graphs!
3.) In writing we have been brainstorming and using our webs while drafting about Chanukah, Christmas and the winter time!
From the Office:
PLEASE make sure to read your emails as pertinent, time sensitive information is often sent this way – Thank you!
1.) Please make sure to return the Family & Friends Contact Information form that was sent home a few weeks ago. This form will be used for communication regarding special events such as Grandparent’s Day, the Auction, and other informative mailings and programs throughout the year.
2.) Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th
3.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16 - Please RSVP with Leah and indicate whether you will attend or not.
4.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
1.) Read the book “Froggy Gets Dressed for Winter” and helped dress a cute frog made out of felt as we spoke about the story.
2.) Met a snake named “Smelly” who belongs to Ms. Deanna. The boys asked her some good questions about his habitat and diet.
3.) Two students learned about pennies and nickels while the other two students worked on addition, subtraction and even some basic multiplication!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
What a wacky Wednesday! Today the Diener Dinosaurs…
1.) Worked on our handwriting in Language Arts and had a great time playing fun letter games with Miss Kim!
2.) Completed and cut out holiday patterns in Math and worked on our Fine Motor Circuits during motor time!
3.) Had a special visitor – a real live snake!!! Miss Deanna brought her friend, Smelly the Snake, into our classroom for a visit. We talked all about snakes and their habitats and everyone took a turn petting him – he was SO friendly! It was a great way to finish our unit on rainforests.
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Speech, we talked about pronouns (boy-he, him; girl-she, her)and when you use them.
2.) In Social Skills, Ms. Melissa talked to us about feelings. We each drew pictures of what feelings (happy, sad, angry, etc) looked like.
3.) In Yoga, we practiced the tree pose and played the freeze game!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In Science we have been studying about different cultures and where certain foods come from. For example, we learned that chickens originally came from China, milk from India and taco sauce from Mexico.
2.) In Math we are continuing to work on our bar and picture graphs. For homework we are going to reinforce what we are learning in school by graphing candy and fruit on both graphs!
3.) In writing we have been brainstorming and using our webs while drafting about Chanukah, Christmas and the winter time!
From the Office:
PLEASE make sure to read your emails as pertinent, time sensitive information is often sent this way – Thank you!
1.) Please make sure to return the Family & Friends Contact Information form that was sent home a few weeks ago. This form will be used for communication regarding special events such as Grandparent’s Day, the Auction, and other informative mailings and programs throughout the year.
2.) Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th
3.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16 - Please RSVP with Leah and indicate whether you will attend or not.
4.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tuesday, December 2nd
The Magic Trains:
Today we:
1.) Read a book called “Playful Puppy” and answered questions about what the puppy in the story saw. The other book that some students read was called “Dan”. Students practiced several “an” words.
2.) Rode scooters in Fitness in order to put together a map of the USA.
3.) Did two experiments in Science. We used the acid from taco sauce to clean a penny and we poured milk and some soap in a dish and dropped food coloring in the dish using a q-tip. The soap made the molecules in the milk separate and the colors began to spin!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
The Diener Dinosaurs had a terrific Tuesday! Today we…
1.) Used a clothesline and clothespins to make our word family words! We also broke into our reading groups and read our word family books and leveled readers.
2.) Finished our number books! We drew different shapes and wrote out the numbers from one to ten.
3.) Had science with Miss Llacey! We made eggs float using salt, created swirls of colors in milk, and cleaned a copper penny with taco sauce – it was so fun!
4.) Read a book called ‘”Slowly, Slowly, Slowly”, said the Sloth’ and then created the trees for our rainforest!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) Today we read a book about the White House and discussed who lives and works in the White House. We also discovered who the first president to live in the White House was, and that it was once burned down!!
2.) We had a special treat and got to watch a movie for doing such a great job this morning!
3.) In Science, we learned three experiments that showed us how we can find differences in cultures!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In Math we traveled far and wide outside collecting different objects. With those objects we first created a picture graph then transformed it into a bar graph.
2.) In Social Studies we are finishing up mapping. Also we are beginning to learn about The White House in preparation for our Thursday Field Trip.
3.) In Language Arts we are continuing to work on our comprehension strategies (picturing, predicting, connecting, think aloud.). We also are learning to utilize the dictionary for words we are unfamiliar with.
From the Office:
PLEASE make sure to read your emails as pertinent, time sensitive information is often sent this way – Thank you!
1.) Please make sure to check your child’s hair for nits and lice as we have had a couple of cases appear here at school. Jillian has sent an informative email regarding the process, and additional resources for lice prevention and elimination. Please stop by the office should you have any questions or concerns. Thanks for your help & cooperation! 2.) Please make sure to return the Family & Friends Contact Information form that was sent home a few weeks ago. This form will be used for communication regarding special events such as Grandparent’s Day, the Auction, and other informative mailings and programs throughout the year.3.) A week ago Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th 4.) Please let Leah know if you will be available for helping with stuffing and stamping for a mass mailing, Thursday, December 4th @ 1:15PM5.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16 - Please RSVP with Leah and indicate whether you will attend or not. 6.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
Today we:
1.) Read a book called “Playful Puppy” and answered questions about what the puppy in the story saw. The other book that some students read was called “Dan”. Students practiced several “an” words.
2.) Rode scooters in Fitness in order to put together a map of the USA.
3.) Did two experiments in Science. We used the acid from taco sauce to clean a penny and we poured milk and some soap in a dish and dropped food coloring in the dish using a q-tip. The soap made the molecules in the milk separate and the colors began to spin!
The Diener Dinosaurs:
The Diener Dinosaurs had a terrific Tuesday! Today we…
1.) Used a clothesline and clothespins to make our word family words! We also broke into our reading groups and read our word family books and leveled readers.
2.) Finished our number books! We drew different shapes and wrote out the numbers from one to ten.
3.) Had science with Miss Llacey! We made eggs float using salt, created swirls of colors in milk, and cleaned a copper penny with taco sauce – it was so fun!
4.) Read a book called ‘”Slowly, Slowly, Slowly”, said the Sloth’ and then created the trees for our rainforest!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) Today we read a book about the White House and discussed who lives and works in the White House. We also discovered who the first president to live in the White House was, and that it was once burned down!!
2.) We had a special treat and got to watch a movie for doing such a great job this morning!
3.) In Science, we learned three experiments that showed us how we can find differences in cultures!
The Golden Owls:
1.) In Math we traveled far and wide outside collecting different objects. With those objects we first created a picture graph then transformed it into a bar graph.
2.) In Social Studies we are finishing up mapping. Also we are beginning to learn about The White House in preparation for our Thursday Field Trip.
3.) In Language Arts we are continuing to work on our comprehension strategies (picturing, predicting, connecting, think aloud.). We also are learning to utilize the dictionary for words we are unfamiliar with.
From the Office:
PLEASE make sure to read your emails as pertinent, time sensitive information is often sent this way – Thank you!
1.) Please make sure to check your child’s hair for nits and lice as we have had a couple of cases appear here at school. Jillian has sent an informative email regarding the process, and additional resources for lice prevention and elimination. Please stop by the office should you have any questions or concerns. Thanks for your help & cooperation! 2.) Please make sure to return the Family & Friends Contact Information form that was sent home a few weeks ago. This form will be used for communication regarding special events such as Grandparent’s Day, the Auction, and other informative mailings and programs throughout the year.3.) A week ago Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th 4.) Please let Leah know if you will be available for helping with stuffing and stamping for a mass mailing, Thursday, December 4th @ 1:15PM5.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16 - Please RSVP with Leah and indicate whether you will attend or not. 6.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
Monday, December 1st Update
The Magic Trains:
1.) Played “Go Fish” in language arts as they learned new blend sounds. They were introduced to the letter “h”, which they will study all this week.
2.) Worked hard in Math class. Our students completed several pages, reviewing the concepts of thick-thin and near-far. Then they began work on left-right by playing with a left-hand, right-hand puzzle, and a follow-up workbook activity.
3.) Worked on a box project of a desert habitat. Students made different 3-D animals (camel and salamander) out of clay.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
1.) Went on a scavenger hunt for words containing the digraph ‘th’! Tomorrow we will graph the results of our search.
2.) Read ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ and then worked in our new ‘Explode the Code’ workbooks! We also created miniature letter books to take home.
3.) Did fine motor circuits – we screwed nuts and bolts together, played with Play-Doh, used tweezers to make piles of pom poms, created letters out of rubber bands, and had a treasure hunt in Theraputty!
4.) Practiced taking turns and sharing materials while we played a game of Kerplunk!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Math, we started our December calendar math! We discussed that December started on a Monday and that it had 31 days! We filled in the dates on our December calendars and colored our December picture!
2.) At Recess, we started structured game time! After 15 minutes of free play, we learned to play outdoor games with the other classes!
3.) In Social Studies, we talked about the White House! We discussed who lived there and where it was! We found it on a map!
The Golden Owls:
Today in the Golden Owls we had a great day!
1.) During our Social Studies time, we are completing our map unit and finishing our illustrations about different countries.
2.) In math we are wrapping up our word problem and number sentences units, and beginning our graphing and time units.
3.) In LA we are beginning a new book and learning about our feelings while mastering the comprehension strategies!
4.) We are wishing Ava a very Happy Birthday today too!
From the Office:
1.) Please make sure to return the Family & Friends Contact Information form that was sent home a few weeks ago. This form will be used for communication regarding special events such as Grandparent’s Day, the Auction, and other informative mailings and programs throughout the year.
2.) A week ago Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th
3.) Please let us know if you will be available for helping with stuffing and stamping for a mass mailing, Thursday, December 4th @ 1:15PM
4.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16
5.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
1.) Played “Go Fish” in language arts as they learned new blend sounds. They were introduced to the letter “h”, which they will study all this week.
2.) Worked hard in Math class. Our students completed several pages, reviewing the concepts of thick-thin and near-far. Then they began work on left-right by playing with a left-hand, right-hand puzzle, and a follow-up workbook activity.
3.) Worked on a box project of a desert habitat. Students made different 3-D animals (camel and salamander) out of clay.
The Diener Dinosaurs:
1.) Went on a scavenger hunt for words containing the digraph ‘th’! Tomorrow we will graph the results of our search.
2.) Read ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ and then worked in our new ‘Explode the Code’ workbooks! We also created miniature letter books to take home.
3.) Did fine motor circuits – we screwed nuts and bolts together, played with Play-Doh, used tweezers to make piles of pom poms, created letters out of rubber bands, and had a treasure hunt in Theraputty!
4.) Practiced taking turns and sharing materials while we played a game of Kerplunk!
The Mighty Dieners:
1.) In Math, we started our December calendar math! We discussed that December started on a Monday and that it had 31 days! We filled in the dates on our December calendars and colored our December picture!
2.) At Recess, we started structured game time! After 15 minutes of free play, we learned to play outdoor games with the other classes!
3.) In Social Studies, we talked about the White House! We discussed who lived there and where it was! We found it on a map!
The Golden Owls:
Today in the Golden Owls we had a great day!
1.) During our Social Studies time, we are completing our map unit and finishing our illustrations about different countries.
2.) In math we are wrapping up our word problem and number sentences units, and beginning our graphing and time units.
3.) In LA we are beginning a new book and learning about our feelings while mastering the comprehension strategies!
4.) We are wishing Ava a very Happy Birthday today too!
From the Office:
1.) Please make sure to return the Family & Friends Contact Information form that was sent home a few weeks ago. This form will be used for communication regarding special events such as Grandparent’s Day, the Auction, and other informative mailings and programs throughout the year.
2.) A week ago Scholastic Book order forms were sent home in your child’s folder. If you are interested in ordering, please make sure to return the order, and payment by Friday, December 5th to ensure delivery by December 19th
3.) Please let us know if you will be available for helping with stuffing and stamping for a mass mailing, Thursday, December 4th @ 1:15PM
4.) Mark your calendars: Math & Language Arts training on Monday, December 8th @ 10AM in Room 16
5.) There are only a few days left for the 10% discount and donation shopping promotion at Tree Top Kids! Mention The Diener School now through the 7th.
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