Mr. Donner's Class

Police Presentation this Friday

2009-12-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

This Friday, December 11th, an officer from the Detroit Police Department's Central Division will give a presentation on 'Good Touch, Bad Touch' to the Kindergarten and First Grade students. The presentation will give an overview of 'stranger danger,' and review what constitutes inappropriate touching. The presentation also includes the fact that incidences of inappropriate touching often involve persons that the child knows. The officer will speak to the children about how to react and who to tell if they have been inappropriately touched or were in a situation that they felt threatened.

Discovery Village Thanksgiving Feast

2009-11-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday all of the Kindergarten and First Grade classes (the 'Discovery Village') gathered together for a potluck feast. Everyone enjoyed trying some homemade food brought in by our families. There were lots of good dishes like turkey, stuffing, mac and cheese, greens, salad, chicken, and spaghetti. My favorite dish was some Chinese fried dumplings that a family from Ms. Keane's class brought in. I thought it was really cool to see each family representing their own cultural traditions in our potluck.

Learning Plans, Rubrics, and Exhibitions ... Oh My!

2009-11-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

By the time you're reading this you should already have your child's Exhibition rubric and a draft of their Learning Plan (for those students that have yet to select a topic for their next Interest Project, please see me ASAP). I'm busy working on students' Narrative report cards, and those will be sent home on Wednesday, December 2nd.

Remember, there is no school this Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.

Our First Exhibition Week

2009-11-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

Our first Exhibition week was a great success. All of our students did remarkably well considering this was, for many of them, their very first time speaking in front of friends, family, and guests.

We learned how to tie shoes, do hair, grow plants, and make crayons (see Sydney S.'s picture on the side). We also learned about dogs, cats, hornets (see Jaron's picture with nest), firefighters, and baseball. We were even treated to two songs.

Not only did all of our students do a fantastic job, but all of our families made sure to show up promptly and help us stick to our schedule. This can be a very long week for young students who have to remain focused and busy on a task while I conduct Learning Team Meetings in the back.

Good job!

Camp Chair Progress

2009-11-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Ms. Rosman and I picked up all the lumber we'll need for our camp chair project. It was a longer ordeal at the Home Depot than we had anticipated, but we did get the wood cut down to manageable proportions for free.

Ms. Rosman's Fourth Grade students have been working on measuring and marking the cuts that will have to be made to the chairs. We visited Ms. Rosman's class today to see their progress and even lend a hand. Her students are busy applying their math skills to the project, and we got to see them model those skills in a real-world context.

Ailay enjoyed trying out a prototype of the camp chair (see the picture on left). All of our students have been assigned partners in Ms. Rosman's class to work with. When we visited their classroom, these Fourth Graders showed us how they were measuring and marking the wood. When it comes time to sand the chairs, paint our names on them, and seal them with Linseed Oil, our partners will help us do all of that. Our students seemed very pleased to work with the Fourth Graders, and the Fourth Graders were all very helpful.

If you have not yet submitted payment ($6.00) for your child's chair, you can do so with me at anytime. We will hopefully have them all finished sometime in early December.

Field Trip to Ann Arbor

2009-11-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful day for a field trip on Friday. We headed to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium for a performance by Keith Terry and the Slammin' All-Body Band. If you closed your eyes you wouldn't even realize that they were a non-traditional band that doesn't use any instruments other than their voices and bodies. They did original compositions as well as covering Miles Davis, Toots & the Maytals, and others (I think my favorite was their rendition of Pressure Drop). I've attached a link so you can check out some video of Keith Terry and the Slammin' All-Body Band covering Nat King Cole's Nature Boy. (Listen and watch closely and remember there are no instruments other than their bodies.)

Perhaps just as entertaining as the actual performance was taking a bus ride out of the city, past the airport, and into Ann Arbor. We saw planes landing and taking off, bridges, trucks, and big buildings. It was a gorgeous sunny fall day, and there was a pleasant bustle of University students on campus.

Once we were inside the auditorium we had to climb up to the very top to find our seats. I spoke to one of the volunteer ushers and found out that there were more than 4,000 school children from all over southeastern Michigan in attendance. All of the Kindergarten and First Grade classes from our campus were there, as were the Kindergarten and First Grade classes from the Ellen Thompson campus. The Sixth Graders from University Prep Academy's Middle School were there too. There was a sea of red, black, and white uniforms in our section.

Jambalaya and Jazz Night

2009-11-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

At UPA we try to give our students enriching cultural experiences both inside and outside of the school environment. Over the past year we've brought in children's authors, local musicians, fire fighters, police officers, and others. We've also gone on a variety of field trips throughout the area. We plan to continue all of this programming, and one of the ways that we pay for it (or, in the case of field trips, offset the parental contribution) is through fundraising. Our big fall fundraiser this year was 'Jambalaya and Jazz Night.'

It was a festive night with families and staff gathering in the gymnasium to eat Jambalaya, sweet treats, and listen to the mellow jazz stylings of a high school trio. The highlight of the evening for most was the basket raffle. Our class' contribution, 'Cooking with Children,' was a highly sought-after prize. We were able to include a children's cook book, oven mitt, adult and child-size aprons, colorful mixing bowls and measuring cups, wooden mixing spoons, cupcake tins, decorations, cake mixes, and more (see picture above).

Two students from our class won baskets of their own -- congratulations Marvin and Jaron!

Singing in Kindergarten

2009-10-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

A big part of the early elementary (and especially Kindergarten) day revolves around songs, music, and movement. There was a time when you couldn't be a Kindergarten teacher unless you at least played the piano. Well, not only do I not play any instruments, I'm also fairly challenged with carrying a tune or just clapping in time. So I rely on help from CDs and the students themselves. We sing everyday, and the students don't seem to pass too much judgement. A rare few adults have had the great (mis)fortune of hearing me belt out a few tunes. Below you'll find a sample of our singing. This is our rendition of the classic, If You're Happy and You Know It ... Enjoy.

Garlic Planting

2009-10-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we met at Birdtown Community Garden on Cass Avenue. Our mission was to plant garlic for next year. Even though it was cold, we had a good time and enjoyed the sun when it did come out.

Our first task was to unwrap the heads of garlic and pull out individual cloves. Each clove that we plant will grow into a whole head of garlic. Adults and students worked together to dig holes and place one clove in each hole, and then carefully push the soil back over the clove.

After all the garlic cloves were planted we watered the whole bed, and then covered it with straw. Now the garlic will start growing just a little this fall, it will be dormant over the winter, and will start growing early next spring. The straw helps protect the young garlic from freezing or being damaged by frost. The garlic will be ready to harvest next July.

After we were finished planting the garlic, we celebrated with donuts (from Dutch Girl Donuts -- mmmm), cider, and coffee (for the adults). We wandered around the garden looking at the beehives, chickens, and trees. We were careful not to step on any of the vegetable beds as we played tag and soccer too.

Next spring we will come back to the garden and work together to plant other vegetables and fruits for us to eat next year. I'm looking forward to it! Thank you to all the families and friends that joined us on Saturday.

New Blog Feature

2009-10-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

On the left side of the page you will find some links of interest. I've included both the general AMPP blog (Arts, Music, Physical Education, and Performing Arts) for UPA Elementary, and the blog run by our Music teacher, Ms. Ginger. Our students will have Ms. Ginger's Music class for the first time on Tuesday, October 20th. These blogs are a good way for you to keep up on some of the content being taught in our AMPP classes.

Also included in the link list are two educational sites. Starfall.com and PBS Kids are both sites that we use in the classroom during computer activities. I encourage you to preview these sites and determine what best suits your child. Starfall.com is easy to navigate, but may be limiting as students advance beyond basic reading skills. The PBS site is vast and easy to get lost in -- but offers a huge variety of activities. Sample them both, and let me know what you think. Let me know what else you find that you think I should share with the class.

Some thoughts on the prevalence of technology in our children's lives: Unsupervised computer time is like any other time your child is unsupervised -- things outside of your control can happen. At the same time, you're not always able to monitor your child's computer usage, nor does your constant monitoring allow them to achieve true independence. I encourage you to preview all materials your child will work with, discuss your expectations for how they interact with the computer (time limits, appropriate sites, etc.), and take the time to understand some of the basic parental controls you can adjust on your computer. There is no denying that computers and all manner of technology constitute an essential part of our day to day life. Children need to be taught how to interact with technology in a safe, effective, and beneficial way.

Walking to the WSU Farmers Market

2009-10-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 7th was National Walk to School Day. Most of our students aren't able to walk to school so we decided to take a walking field trip instead. We walked down to the Wayne State University Farmers Market on Cass Avenue. Our school has been awarded a grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield that encourages healthy living and behaviors, and we were able to use money from that grant to purchase fresh produce at the market.

We surveyed our options and decided to get a mix of fruits, vegetables, and bread. All of the produce was grown in Michigan, some of it in the city of Detroit, and the bread was baked at Avalon bakery just down the street. We ate Jonagold apples (I'm slicing one in the picture on the left), pears, carrots, salad mix, and whole-wheat bread.

In keeping with our class rule, "Try New Things," everyone sampled all the food we bought. (They didn't need to finish it, but they did have to try it.) Pears and apples were big hits, many wanted seconds on the carrots, and everyone at least sampled the purple lettuce, beet greens, and dark brown bread. (A little ranch dressing helped the skeptical amongst us try the salad greens.)

We're looking forward to more healthy eating and physical activity through the school year.

Welcome!

2009-10-04T05:33:00.000-07:00

The objective of this blog is to give the parents and families of my Kindergarten students a small glimpse into the daily activities in our room, as well some highlights from special events. My promise is to update this blog at least once a week -- by Sunday evening. I welcome your comments and suggestions about how to best use this tool to keep you connected to our classroom. Enjoy!

Snack Time!

2009-09-26T06:01:00.001-07:00

One of our favorite events in the school day is snack time. After our morning literacy activities and centers time, we pause for a few minutes to refuel before beginning writing time.

During the first two weeks of school our snacks focused on healthy, whole fruits and vegetables, as well as creating some basic dishes together. We ate bananas (Max is showing you his on the left), apples, pears, grapes, and tomatoes.

One of the dishes that we made together was guacamole. When we need to assemble the ingredients for a snack, we gather around the large table in our classroom and sample each ingredient as I add it to the dish. One of our classroom rules is to try new things, and this certainly applies during snack. No one has to eat something they don't like, but they have to at least taste it once. As we made the guacamole everyone tried a little piece of avacado, onion, lime, and cilantro. We talked about the different textures, tastes, smells, and sights that we experienced as we ate each ingredient.