Dear Parents & Families,


Let me begin by saying Welcome an how very excited I am to start off the 2010-2011 school year! I am just thrilled to begin watching your child learn and grow this year in 2nd grade! The start of any new school year brings many changes and adjustments which can be a bit overwhelming. Please review the information below in order to better understand our classroom routines. I look forward to working with your family throughout the year and welcome your child to second grade!!!

Communication
Each day your child will bring home his/her planner. Please be sure to check this daily as important forms/assignments will be sent home in here. You will also see your child’s daily behavior update. Make sure to sign the planner every night.

The quality of your child’s education depends on our communication! I encourage you to contact me as soon as a question or concern arises! Here is how to contact me:

Write a note: Planners are checked every morning, first thing. You can place a note in it or write in it. I will get back to
you that same day, unless I am absent.

Email me: By far the best way to contact me! Email is checked throughout the school day. My email address is
tsengask@ducalschools.org

Leave a message: The main office will not connect you directly to the classroom during the school day, so you will have
to leave a message on my voicemail. I will not have time to check this during the day so if what you are calling about is
important please leave the message with the front office and they will pass it along.

Class Website: Check out our class website at www.katherinetsengas.blogspot.com. I update it often so visit regularly. I love your comments and feedback!

Homework
Every Monday, a homework folder will be send home with your child. The activities are not due back until Friday. Look inside the homework folder this week for a note explaining the assignments.
Snack Time
I allow students a snack mid-morning to hold them over until lunch. Students are allowed to bring in a healthy snack (example: crackers, fruit, veggies, etc.) Thank you for helping support healthy eating habits!

Behavior and Incentives
At Chaffee Trail we have a school-wide discipline plan. Each day students start on green and have the opportunity to move their clips up and down throughout the day to different colors based on their behavior. The list of daily behaviors and colors are located on the first page of each child’s planner. At the end of the day, students record their color. It is extremely important to sign the planner EACH day! Students who do not get below green at all during a months time will be rewarded LUNCH BUNCH. Lunch Bunch is the last day of each month. The student get to eat lunch in the classroom with their teacher!

Supplies
Thank you to everyone that has purchased and sent in supplies. These items will provide the students with most things they need. However, there are a few additional items that are on our class wish list. If your are able to help supply these items in our classroom, it would be greatly appreciated.
-Composition Notebooks - Bean Bag Chairs
-Hand Sanitizer - Post-it-notes
-Old books/ board games -Dry-Erase Markers

Again, thank you so much for your help in preparation for the beginning of this school year! It is a busy and exciting time and I look forward to the year ahead!

Happy Holidays!

    As you all can see,  Jacey and  I are back in America! We have been back for a week now and have been very busy readjusting to being home.   The 5 hour time difference has been difficult.

    On Friday I graduated from the University of North Florida with a degree in Early Childhood Education!! Here are some pictures of the big day!!!

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I want to send a huge thank you out to Mrs.Maxwell and the entire 1st grade class for making my experience at Abess Park Elementary so amazing! You all have taught me more than I ever thought possible!  I can’t wait to come in on Wednesday to see you all!

12/2/09

On the way to school today, Shree and I got off at different stop to go into a shop to get thank you cards for our directing teachers. They have been amazing. I got Shree’s teacher a baby outfit and I am getting Ms. Bryant flowers.

Ms. Bryant’s Car:

 

Right when the students came in and the attendance was taken, I pulled three students at a time to work in a small group with me. Last week they built their houses out of boxes and put tissue paper to represent the fire of London that they are learning about. Today they were making a simple electrical circuit in order to make a light bulb light up to put inside their house. This makes it look as if the house is on fire. All of the students except three of them completed the task with no problem. Then they had to explain what they did to make it work. If it didn’t work they had to explain why and try to fix it. Check out the pictures of the children hard at work.

 

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In math they were working on dividing by grouping and finding remainders. One of the students at my table was struggling but everyone else picked up on it quickly.

For lunch today I decided to eat a school dinner. I ordered roast and potatoes.  The best thing I have eaten all week for sure! 

 

Sorry I haven’t updated in a few days! As you can see we have been very busy! Can’t wait to come home and see everyone :)

12/1/09

Headline: Temperatures are set to plummet to well below zero in parts of northern England over the coming two days with freezing weather following a weekend of flooding and storms. Forecasters warned night- time temperatures could fall as low as -5c on high ground over the next two days, with snow expected to hit England later in the week.

Frost on the way to the bus stop:

Ahhhh!!! Its freezing. My jacket is working over time along with my boots. For the first two hours of the school day, all of the year 2 children went into the hall for play practice. They all did a wonderful job singing and speaking. Ms.Bryant works so hard on everything she puts together.

After lunch, Ms. Bryant had a supply teacher (substitute) so that she could take the school choir to a nursing home. We took 39 students. It was amazing to me that the school allows teachers to take people on trips like these and walk 2 miles to get there. For other trips, parents, volunteer and drive the students personally in their cars. This is unheard of in the states. It was quite a long walk but it gave me a chance to talk to the older kids and answer their questions about America.

The school choir sounded wonderful. The people at the nursing home absolutely loved the performance. During one of the songs, a girl fainted. It was shocking when it first happened. I was actually filming the choir so the incident ended up on the camera. She was fine after she sat down and got some water. It was pretty hot with all of those bodies being in such a small room. On the walk back to the school it was raining so by the time we got back we were dripping.

 

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Ms. Bryant picked me up at Marjon at 6:45 pm to go to our teaching assistant, Hailey’s birthday. The restaurant we went to was called Fish Bone. There were 20 people at the dinner all of whom work at our school. It was nice to get to interact with the faculty members that I see everyday but never get a chance to talk to. The food was alright but not the best. It was a pretty posh restaurant. Ms. Bryant dropped me back off at Marjon around 9:00. She has been more than helpful while I have been here in her classroom.

 

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11/30/09

I can’t believe this is our last week already! This has been a great experience. The girls had gone into the hospital bakery last week so I decided to stop in with them today. The doughnuts I got we amazing!

Here are some pictures of our walk to the bus stop:

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The bus was early picking us up so we had to wait for a while. The bus driver was really friendly. He kept asking me questions about America and how my experience was going here in Plymouth. When the students arrived at school, they all kept coming up to me asking me where I was on Friday since I didn’t come in because I was sick.

For 3 hours this morning, the students worked on building their burning houses and making Diva lamps for the Hindu religion. It was a crazy zoo in the classroom but we had a lot of fun. The children worked really hard on their houses.

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After lunch, they all went immediately to singing practice. There has been no formal instruction at all today.While they were at singing practice, I went through each child’s reading logs to see if they needed new take home books.

The rest of the afternoon, the children had physical education. The coach came in to get them all dressed and he also dismissed them for the day.

Dr. Batey and Keith Jones came by to talk to all of us at the house this evening. She said that she will stop by my school on Thursday morning for my observation.

11/28/09

Our day of rest!

Today we decided we would sleep in and have a relaxing day on campus. First thing this morning I did some laundry and hung it all up to dry since we do not have a dryer. For lunch, we went American for the first time and went to McDonalds. Yes it tastes the same here as it does in America. They charge 5p for each pack of ketchup which stinks because I love ketchup (or as they call it here, tomato sauce).

Lauren bought the rest of the Twangers from the shop! Only £2.60!!

Dr. Batey arrived this evening and stopped by to check on us. At 8 we all went to quiz night just like the previous 2 weeks. It was a pretty early evening since we have school in the morning.

11/27/09

Finally finished the book I have been reading. It was called Songs of a Humpback Whale by my favorite author Jodi Picoult. I was stuck in bed sick all day which had carried over from the day before. Around 2 i was feeling better so I went to check my emails and inform Dr. Lupi of my being sick .

Once everyone had gotten home from their schools, we talked about what we wanted to do that evening. We decided to go to a dance at Marjon. Keith, Lauren, Katie, Fallon and I went and we had such a fun time. They kept calling us “The Americans” and surrounded us with questions all night. Our friend Luke was bartending so we got to hangout with him a little bit. We had such a fun night. I’m really glad we went and met some of the college students at Marjon.

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I am debating whether or not I am going to go to the Moors with Keith, Lauren, and Fallon. The weather isn’t supposed to be very nice so that is holding me back from going. The other girls are going to City Centre. Hmm....What to do! What to do!

11/26/09

Thanksgiving England Style

When I checked my email yesterday evening, I had a message about a doctor’s appointment. The problem was, it was scheduled for that morning at 11:30. I have called this morning to reschedule and now have an appointment at 2:30 today. Jenny Jones, Shree’s teacher, is going to drive me to the bus stop because I have no clue how to get there. They are amazingly helpful and kind here at the school. We really have been lucky. My Thanksgiving lesson for this afternoon is going to be postponed until tomorrow.

This morning Ms. Bryant had a religion lesson to teach the students. Since this is a public school, I was shocked that they were supposed to cover different religions in their classrooms. Over the course of the school year they will learn about seven different types of religions. Back in American schools, this would be unheard of since we have such a huge debate between church and state. It is amazing that this part of the curriculum in British schools. Today they were learning about different festivals of lights focusing on the Divali in Hinduism. They also made a candle that Christians make at the beginning of Advent.

After lunch, Mrs. Jones dropped Shree and me off at the bus stop to go to Elm Surgery. The building was right next to ASADA. The receptionist had me fill out paper work since I am not from the United Kingdom. We had to wait for nearly an hour before being seen. Once I got to speak with the doctor, he prescribed me the same patches that I had just run out of. The Boots pharmacy was right next door. While we were in Boots, it started hailing outside. The ground was covered. I have never seen anything like it. Shree went over to ASADA to pick up groceries while I waited for the medicine. When I went to ASADA to find her after I was done, I couldn’t. The lady at customer service did an all call for her to come to the front of the store. Ten minutes later we were reunited!!

The trip home was interesting. We got on the wrong bus and only realized it 30 minutes later. By the time we got on the correct bus we still had an hour ride home. Yes I did end up getting sick again on the bus but I had a plastic trash bag with me this time. The patch takes 4 hours to kick in so it hadn’t started working yet unfortunately.

Since today is Liz’s birthday, well all decided to go out to dinner plus it is Thanksgiving. We ended up going to a restaurant called Arribas where they serve Mexican food at the Barbican. We had no clue where it was located so we had to walk at least 2 miles until we found it. We kept laughing because 8 of us Americans were going out to a Mexican restaurant in England on Thanksgiving. Just doesn’t sound right!

The food tasted great and we had fun hanging out together. The chocolate cake for dessert was the best part of the night. We took a bus home. Some of the girls took a taxi but it would have cost a fortune.

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11/25/09

Today has to be the coldest day yet. It was raining again today so I wore my pj’s to school and changed once I got there so I wouldn’t be wet all day. When Shree and I got situated we went to the IT center to work on our lessons. I was finishing up a PowerPoint on America and one about Thanksgiving. I was also looking for a craft for the children to do tomorrow after the presentation.

Mr. Mash, the headmaster, came in this morning to talk to the class about school safety. The school has special tags that are magnetic and they unlock the doors in order for faculty and students to get in. Recently students have been holding the doors open so people can get in which obviously is not safe. Mr. Marsh wanted to make sure they realize how dangerous this could potentially be if they let the wrong person in.

The classroom was pretty crowded this morning. Ms. Bryant, myself, the two teacher assistants, and two tutors were all working with the children today. WOW! That’s a lot of adult in one classroom. It was actually overwhelming.

During break, I was busy preparing a turkey activity for my Thanksgiving lesson tomorrow. I wanted the activity to be as independent for the students as possible so I created templates for them to trace and cut out.

One thing I would like to get a chance to do next week is to observe other classes and teachers in Widey Court Primary. It would be a great experience to see other teaching strategies and other year levels at work.

The entire afternoon was lead by me today. I began by showing the students the PowerPoint about where I am from. The children loved it. I had pictures of the zoo, the Jaguars, American money, our cars, Disney World, and other American things that they would be interested in seeing. After my presentation we created a list of things in England that Americans would like to see pictures of. Then they chose one thing that they wished to draw a picture of for our book about England that I wanted to put together. They worked very hard and the pictures turned out really cute! I can’t wait to take it back to Jacksonville and show my first graders about England.

I had a very hard time managing the volume in the classroom, although Ms. Bryant said I did an amazing job. I think it’s just the fact that I am not used to having 30 students in the class at a time. The volume is always loud even when Ms. Bryant is leading. Also, since the students are encouraged to think out loud, it makes the atmosphere something that they call “organized chaos” if there is such a thing.

11-24-09

    We made it to school dry today! I went into the IT center to work on a PowerPoint of America that I am teaching the class on Wednesday.     At 9 I came back to the classroom to work with the IEP students on phonics.  They have a very hard time sitting still and following directions.  This makes instruction very hard.

    At 10 we all went outside for a football match.  Four of our students were chosen to play.  It was absolutely adorable watching them play.  Since it was wet outside, they played on the pavement.  Here are some pictures:

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   One of my students, Charlotte, has been constantly clearing her throat.  Ms. Byrant says that it is a recent thing.  Everytime she does it, I make a point of drawing her attention to it.  She says that she has tried to stop but she can’t.  Ms. Byrant wants to call her parents but I told her that I would work with Charlotte first to stop the behavior.   I told Charlotte that I am going to bring in a bag of chocolates for her.  Everytime she does it, I am going to take one away.  She will get what is left at the end of the day.  This will make her more conscience of what she is doing.

     In numeracy the children were learning multiplication.  This is fascinating to me because they are only 6 years old.   They are much more advanced in England.  Each year they are introduced all topics and they continue to build on each throughout their schooling. 

     When working with a small group during independent work time, I filled out a progress monitoring sheet on the students I was working with.  There were three levels of achievement for the objective: Achieved and is able to apply, achieved and needs further consolidation, and needs support.  There is also a place to leave comments and things we have noticed. 

    During assembly this afternoon, Mr. Marsh, the headmaster, introduced me to the whole Year 1 and 2.   He called me up to the front and asked me to describe three things that I have noticed that are different from here and America.    Then he had me present the awards for the month.  I was slightly nervous because I had no idea I was going to be called up there.     

     Again today we are having singing practice.  There has been very little educational time as usual in the classroom.  Yet these students are incredibly smart.      

     Tonight, Shree and I are going to dinner with our directing teachers at Mrs. Jones’ house!  Ms. Byrant is picking us up from Marjon and driving us there!   Miss you all!

11-23-09

      This morning has been awful. It was pouring rain and freezing cold outside. By the time we walked to the bus, my shoes, socks, and pants were dripping wet. Hopefully I wont get sick sitting around wet all day. From now on, I am bringing an extra change of clothes and a pair of shoes to school with me.

   First thing this morning, once the school day started we had literacy.  Since the country has a national curriculum and they don’t use textbooks, the teachers have much more freedom and leniency in the classroom.  They are able to come up with their own ways to teach the objective.   Right now she is using James and the Giant Peach to teach literacy.  I really like how they can use their own lessons to cover objectives.  They don’t have a script from a textbook to follow like many of our teachers in America tend to do.

      The students are really encouraged to use their voices and think out loud.   They are constantly told to turn and talk to their neighbor about the topic they are learning.

    Ms. Byrant is always making charts during whole group instruction.  This is something that I need to do more in my teaching.  It is important for the students to have a visual to look back on.  

    During work time, I worked with a small group creating sentences using speech marks which we call quotation marks.  Ms. Byrant used a really cool website called Educationcity to get extra practice with the students during the closing meeting.  She put it up on the smart board so that the students could come up and move the marks where they belonged.   This interaction and movement is great for the students, and Ms. Byrant could see if they students understood the topic or not.

      For fruit time today the students were supplied apples.   I think it is wonderful that they don’t have to bring their own snack.  When two of the girls went to throw their trash away I noticed that they had eaten the entire apple including the seeds leaving only the stem.  I couldn’t help but laugh.  I guess that is how they eat apples here.

      Jessica is back for the first time today.   She is the young girl who broke her collar bone last week.   I let her have snack with Jacey since she had not met her yet.

        This afternoon the students worked on their All About Me book for my students in America.  It is turning out really cute!

      Keith Jones, our supervisor in England, came over to debrief with us at 5:45 this evening.  He is going to set up a doctors appointment for me!

11-22-09

   The goal for today was to find the Greek Orthodox Church of Saints Demetrius and Nikitas in Plymouth.  I took a taxi there since I had absolutely no clue where I was going.  It was only about a 15 minute ride.  Liturgy started at 9:30 and ended around noon.  It was very long! The church was very small but it was beautiful. I definitely stood out as a new comer.   

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On the way home I decided to walk and not spend money on a taxi which ended up being a huge mistake!   I had no idea where I was but I walked about a mile and ended up finding the City Centre so I figured out where I was.  At that point I found a bus stop for a bus that would take me home.  Problem was, on Sundays  there are fewer buses.  I had to wait at the stop for nearly an hour.   Once I was finally on the bus, I got sick thanks to my motion sickness issue.  It was so embarrassing.  I was in a horrible mood by the time I arrived home nearly 3 hours later to say the least.

     That evening all eight of us went to Quiz Night in the Marjon dinning hall.  There were quite a few people there.  We met a group of students at the table next to us that we talked to for most of the night.  We went to bed pretty early though since we had a long week ahead of us.

11-21-09

      Today was the first time in weeks that we were able to sleep in.   Lauren and I woke up around 9 and went to dry laundry.  While we waited we went to the library to use the computers.

       Keith met up with us a short while later.  We had talked about going to the Moors but the weather was not cooperating.  We all decided to make a trip to the mall instead.  The weather was awful and we got soaked.  Fallon and I decided to go see New Moon at the theatre since staying inside was the best idea.   It was nice hanging out and getting to know one another more.

    When we got back to Marjon we all made and ate dinner.  All 8 of us hung out and played cards while listening to the radio which is our only electronic in the house.  There is a TV but it doesn't work.  Hopefully next Saturday will be more exciting.

* I called the phone number to the Greek Orthodox Church that I found in Plymouth to find out what time liturgy starts.  I was told to be there at 9:30!

11-20-09

      First thing this morning we attended a school wide assembly. Each Friday all 600+ students squeeze into the tiny hall. It is hilarious actually. It was packed but it worked. The year 6 students put on a skit today. Each week a different class is in charge of this. The skit was amazing. I wish I had it on tape! 
       Dr. White came today to observe us in the classroom. While he was there, I was working with a small group during literacy time. We were working on retelling the story of events in James and the Giant Peach. The students were trying to use connectives in their sentences. I had them write the sentences on a white board first and then into their journals.

      During break time the teachers aide and I stayed inside to work on a memory box with Courtney. Courtney's one year old sister passed away on Tuesday from Leukaemia. She has been pretty upset throughout the week so we all came up with the idea of a memory box that she can carry with her. Courtney brought in things that reminded her of her sister such as pictures, letters, and even a little mitten. She is handling it wonderfully but it is so sad.
         The use of the same white boards that I used in literacy, is a common occurrence in Ms. Byrant's classroom. This allows all students to work out their own solutions during whole group instruction. It is more hands on and keeps all students engaged. As a teacher you can see who is understanding the topic and who is not using the white boards. 
          In Numeracy, the students were working on addition and subtraction word problems. This is what my students back in the states were working on when I left. So this is a similarity in the learning schedules of the two schools. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.
          Today is Keith's birthday so we will all be going out tonight to dinner for his and Lauren's celebration! Tomorrow we are going to the aquarium! Hope you all are doing well! I miss everyone!

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PS. One of the students asked me if I was from Africa. I think they have their geography mixed up a little bit :)