Incoming Kindergarten meet-ups/playdates

Hello families,
     If you are interested in meeting other future Peirce kindergartners and their families please check out the Arlington Family Connection website. This group arranges meet-ups at different playgrounds throughout the summer and sometimes even playdates

*NEW* Class Schedule

This is our latest class schedule as of 9/12/17.

Welcome Class of 2030!!

Welcome Alice, Amy, August, Aurelia, Claire, Dani, Declan, Devin, Edwin, Emmy, Geoffrey, Holden, Jack, Jay, Jeremiah, Johan, Kilian, Leila, Matt, Maya, Naomi, Shae and Violet!! I am so excited to start school in just a couple weeks!! In your mailing that you should have received by now from the school it listed your half hour time slot to come visit the classroom on Tuesday, September 5th. It also included whether your child is scheduled to come to school on Wednesday, September 6th or Thursday, September 7th. (The town started kindergarten a little differently starting last year as a way to ease the kindergarten students into the new school year with half of the class at first and then the full class. Half of the class will come on Wednesday for a full day of school 8:10-2:30 then those kids will NOT come on Thursday and start back for good on Friday with the whole class together for the first time. The other half of the class will come to school on Thursday 8:10-2:30 and NOT Wednesday and come again on Friday.) If you have any questions please feel free to email me at clloyd@arlington.k12.ma.us

25 Days until Kindergarten!!

Today marks the start to our "Kindergarten Countdown" check out the calendar above for a fun activity for your child to do each day up until our first day of school (the visitation day on Tuesday, September 5th). Can't wait to see you all in just a few weeks!! 

Japanese Tea Ceremony

We have been learning all kind of facts about Ancient Japan, Ninjas and Japanese Tea Ceremonies this week. Last week, when we came back inside from recess the students had to prepare to enter our "tea room" (classroom) We learned all of the rules for the Japanese Tea Ceremony; Rule #1: All guests must wash their hands before entering the tea room. Rule #2: All guests must take off their shoes before entering the tea room, since everyone sits on the floor it is important to have a clean space. Rule #3: All guests must bow to the host to show respect. Rule #4: Only the host makes the tea. No one touches anything until the host gives them their tea cup!

We had some mixed reviews about the green tea (decaffeinated of course!) We learned that the guests ALWAYS had to say that the tea was delicious, even if they didn't like it because it was the polite thing to do!

Scaffolded Writing Codes

A lot of parents are wondering what the little letters at the top right hand corner of their childs writing means. That is a way for the teacher to assess and scaffold each childs writing.

I will circle the level that your child is able to do all on their own with no help and I will "x" the next level where I helped challenge them to try and practice getting more sounds to get to the next level, which they aren't  quite consistently doing independently yet. The "P" means if your child can draw a picture about the given topic, "M is if your child can verbally tell the teacher their message (not yet ready to write themselves), "L" is if they can draw one line for every word in their message. "IS" is if they can write down the initial sounds in the words in their message. "ES" is if they can write down the ending sounds for the words in their message. "MS" is if they can write down the middle sounds for the words in their message. "AP" is if they have the alphabetic principle- they are writing more than the beginning, middle and ending sounds in the words in their messages and "WP" means is they can write words patterns in their words in their message (like -ing, -oat, -er, -ow, -ee, etc.)

Childrens writing will go in this sequential order, by the end of the year we would like them to be closer to the right hand side at "AP" and "WP"

Flexible Seating

I am trying out a new type of seating in the classroom. We are trying "flexible seating" which means I have a variety of different seating options available for the students to choose from. Research shows that this type of seating is great for creativity, "...using up excess energy, increased motivation and engagement, creating a better oxygen flow to the brain and improved core strength and overall posture."

We have the traditional tables and chairs...

wobble stools...

bean bag chairs and a pea pod (looks like a blow up canoe sort of)...

I have a table that I lowered to the ground where the students can sit on a cushion or a small rug to work on...

yoga balls...

and I have a crate full of small rugs that the students can use to lay or sit on if they want to work on the floor somewhere...