Friday, December 16

We had a very special visitor this morning!  Check out the pictures in the slideshow of our visitor as well as pictures from our Holiday Sing yesterday.  What a fun week!

Next week, we will finish up our winter holiday unit.  On Monday we will learn about Las Posadas and on Tuesday Divali.  We will also be joining the other kindergarten classes for some fun Polar Express activities in the morning on Monday.

Take a look at the January/February snack calendar and another reminder below!

Have a great weekend!

Reminder:

Our school day begins at 7:55. 

Please be sure your child is here before 7:55 so we are ready to get started right away!

Thanks!

January

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
2 Jacob	3 Hailey	4 Wyatt	5 Brooklyn	6 Morgann
9 JaMaine	10 Lacey	11 Nicholas	12 Zach	13 Alex
16 no school	17 Anna	18 Bella	19 Sam	20 Alexis
23 Cloey	24 Brady	25 Ellen	26 Danny	27 Calvin
30 Jacob	31 Hailey

February

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
		1 Wyatt	2 Brooklyn	3 Morgann
6 Jamaine	7 Lacey	8 Nicholas	9 Zach	10 Alex
13 Anna	14 Bella	15 Sam	16 Alexis	17 Cloey
20 Brady	21 Ellen	22 Danny	23 Calvin	24 no school
27Jacob	28 Hailey	29 Wyatt	1 Brooklyn	2 Morgann

Pictures from this week

Gingerbread Houses and Strings of Lights

Playing the dreidel game

Green Pepper Wreath

Menorah

Key for Gingerbread Glyphs

Gingerbread Glyphs

Christmas Tree

A comparison of many gingerbread stories

Tuesday, December 13

This week we have been talking about holidays in December.  On Monday, we discussed Christmas and made Christmas trees and stamped wreaths using green peppers.  Our new sight word is IT, so we made a class book using the word it.  We made a paper "present" and hid a toy beneath.  Then we wrote clues so that our classmates could try and guess what was inside the present.  It was a lot of fun!

Today we have been learning about Hanukkah.  We read a book and watched a short video clip about the history of Hanukkah.  Then, we made a menorah and played the dreidel game.  We also made a book for our book bin drawers about socks!

Later this week, we will be learning about Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Divali, and Ramadan.  We will be making projects for each holiday, so be sure to check them out when your child brings them home!

Our new sight word for this week is IT.  Please review all our sight words with your child at home!

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, Dec. 15^th at 1:30

K-2 Holiday Sing at the EPAC

Arrive early to get seated before the show starts!

Friday, Dec. 16^th

Pajama Day!!!

**Just remember that your child will still be playing outside for recess, so dress appropriately!

Monday, Dec. 19^th

Polar Express Activity Day!

Staff will also be participating in “Festive Sweater” Day,

so your child is welcome to wear festive clothing as well! J

Wednesday, Dec. 21

Last Day Before Break!

We will be having a small party in the classroom to celebrate the holidays. 

Please let me know if you are interested in sending treats or hot chocolate for the party!

Stamping with green peppers

Making Christmas Trees

Brooklyn's finished Christmas tree

A wreath!

Tuesday, December 6

We have been very busy in kindergarten since my last post!  We have been reading many different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  We have started making a journal about the different gingerbread stories we have read.  We compare the characters, setting, and ending of each story.  It has been a fun unit!  Other gingerbread activities that we have done include measuring our jumps and our height using gingerbread cut-outs, measuring the perimeter and area of a gingerbread, tasting gingerbread and doing 5 senses activities, making a class graph, making a book bin book, making a gingerbread glyph, and doing simple addition problems using a pan and "gingerbread" cookies.  We have also bee practicing the words you and can over the last two weeks.  We have done a lot more writing in the last couple of weeks and I have been so impressed with the way that everyone is sounding out words and using kindergarten spelling!!!  We are going to continue to practice leaving spaces between words.

Later this week, we will be doing a science experiment about things that dissolve in water and will be making our own gingerbread houses (from lunch bags) and doing several math activities with these.  I hope we have a great time!

Next week we will be studying winter holidays around the world.  We hope to see you and your friends and family at the Holiday Sing next Thursday at 1:30 at the EPAC!

Reminders:
*Return your library book every Tuesday!
****Please be sure to send a hat and mittens with your child every day as well as a warm, winter coat.  We go out for two long recesses every day and it can be very cold and windy on the playground.  Snow pants and boots are also good for warmth and will be necessary once it snows. 

Check out the new pictures in the slide show!  These are from some of our activities in the last couple of weeks!

Wednesday, November 16

This week we have been practicing the words the and is.  Our centers this week included reading sight word books, making a sight word poem, doing a Pilgrim puzzle, a die-roll turkey, word work, and stamping words.  Other literacy activities this week included shared reading poems, read alouds, making a page in a class book, and writing in our I Am Thankful book.  We also made feathers for a class turkey about things that we are thankful for. 

In math this week, we have been working on graphing and writing numbers 0-5.  We also did a fun noodle activity in math and made a class graph of our favorite Thanksgiving foods. 

Later this week we will be writing in our journals and reading a new Let's Find Out magazine about Thanksgiving.  We have finished putting our recipe book together, so watch for it to come home later in the week.  We hope you enjoy our recipes!

Next week we will review all our sight words and finish up the rest of our Thanksgiving activities.  We will also be visiting the Edgerton Hospital on Tuesday morning and meeting with our fourth grade buddies on Tuesday afternoon.

Reminders:  Please send in your field trip money if you haven't already.  The cost is 25 cents. 
No school next week Wednesday-Friday.

Pictures from the week:

Hailey making a scarecrow with pattern blocks

Morgann recording the length of her turkey feather

Lacey measuring her turkey feather

Sam putting his scarecrows in order from smallest to biggest

Wednesday, November 9

This week we have been working on learning the words to and go.  We have done word work and visited literacy centers in the mornings.  Some of our centers included making words with play dough or magnetic letters, making a predictable book for our book bin drawers, rainbow words, and a story on CD.  We have also been talking about different types of families and things we are thankful for.  Today each person in the class made a family tree!

We finished chapter 2 in math, but we will continue to practice making different types of patterns throughout the year in kindergarten.  Chapters 3 and 4 deal with writing numbers 1-10 and representing numbers with objects and pictures.  We have already spent a lot of time on this in math centers, so I think this chapter will go well!

Other fun things this week: calendar, library, music, art, gym, and a visit to the EPAC for a preview to the play, Beauty and the Beast!

Reminders:
**Next week is an early release on Tuesday. 

**Conferences - Tuesday and Thursday

**Field trip to the Edgerton Hospital Tuesday, November 22 ($0.25)

**No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday November 23-25 for Thanksgiving!

Reminders

Two reminders for this weekend:

***PTA Fall Fundraiser Pick Up: Saturday, November 5th from 8:30-11 a.m. at the Community Elementary Gym
All orders  must be paid in full at the time of pick-up (cash or money order).
All orders must be picked up as the PTA has no available storage.
Call/email Sandy or Steve Doll with questions: 884-0270 or doll.sandy@gmail.com

***The Family Resource Center will be open Saturday from 9-12.  Mrs. Witt will be there to help your child make a Mayflower candy dish for your home!  All supplies are furnished - please come and have fun with your child!  The canopy doors at the elementary school will be open and the FRC is located in room 46. 

Wednedsay, November 2

This week we are learning the sight word LIKE and we are reviewing the other words we have learned this year. 

On Monday we compared apples and pumpkins using a Venn diagram.  This was an activity that our field study student, Miss Bergstrom, prepared for us!  We also made a Halloween book for our book bin drawer.  In the afternoon, we went to gym and music, read a Let's Find Out magazine, and had calendar time.

On Tuesday we went to library in the morning and then visited two literacy centers.  Centers this week included a story on CD, stamping the words I and like, writing we, see, and the in rainbow colors, making a little sight word book for our book bin, writing initial sounds for word pictures, and cut-up words.  In the afternoon, our special was gym.  We also worked on making a turkey and putting together our November calendar. 

Today we went to the second centers in our rotations.  We also cut up a predictable sentence with the words I and LIKE.  I was impressed with the pictures that our class drew to go with their pictures!  Our class is starting to use more imagination and add more details to their pictures!  In the afternoon we went to the computer lab and went on a website called Funbrain.  This is a website that you can visit from your home computer as well!  There are lots of fun games that help your child learn better mouse control.  In math this week we are learning about different types of patterns.  Today, we worked with a partner to build AB (2-part) patterns using different objects in the classroom.

Later in the week we will finish up our centers and learn about spiders!  We will also talk about other types of patterns.

These are some websites that we use at school:
http://www.funbrain.com/brain/SweepsBrain/sweepsbrain.html
http://www.starfall.com/
http://pbskids.org/

This is the map that we have been working on during our Community Helpers unit.

Friday, October 28

Our field trip last week to the bank, Mario's, and the police station was very fun!  It was interesting to see what types of jobs people do in our community.  We learned a lot at each place, but I know our class especially loved the pizza and breadsticks at Mario's! 

Later last week, we practiced measuring fire hoses and other things around the classroom using unifix cubes.  We also got to meet our fifth grade buddies on Friday! 

This week we continued to practice all our sight words (I, see, a, we, the).  Our centers this week included the listening center, making a book for our book bin, stamping words, reading book bin books, word work, and an activity sorting pictures by initial consonant sounds.  We also made a class book about community helpers and wrote in our journals about things we are good at.  Yesterday we worked in small groups to make different places in our community to add to our map.  The places our class came up with included a park, a school, McDonald's, the Piggly Wiggly, and the pool.

Today is an early release day.  We started the day by going to gym and music right away.  We read the book The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything and made another book to go in our book bins.  Later in the morning, we will enjoy a fun snack and then change into our Halloween costumes for the parade.  I will post pictures of everyone as soon as I can!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

This was a fun math game that we played this week.  The strip has numbers 2-12 on it.  You have to roll 2 dice, add the numbers together, and cover the number on the strip.  Keep playing until all the numbers are covered!  This would be easy to make at home!

This is Calvin's picture that he made in computers this week.  We made fall pictures.

5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate

Tuesday, October 18th

Last week we had guidance on Thursday with Mrs. Miller.  We talked about different feelings and how to tell how another person is feeling.  On Friday, we had our Homecoming Pep-Rally and Parade!  We had lots of fun watching the football players and practicing our chant "The Tiders are out of this world!!!"  We also started making fire trucks on Friday and finished them up yesterday.  We have been talking about fire safety and practicing Stop, Drop, and Roll.

This week, we are reviewing our sight words I, see, and a and we have learned the new words the and we.  We have been practicing our new words at letter centers and on our word work.  We have also added new books to our book bin drawers that we practice reading every day.  We are getting good at pointing to the words as we read!

We are excited for tomorrow.  We will be walking to the bank, police station, and Mario's for a field trip around the community.  I hope we have a great time!!!


Things to practice at home:
*Have your child search for sight words in books and magazines.
*Practice writing numbers 1-10.
*Say a word and have your child try to figure out the letter that the word starts with. 

Reminders:
*Library books are due every Tuesday!!!  You can have your child keep his/her book in his/her backpack every day for an easy place to store it!

*Field Trip tomorrow to places in the community

Wednesday, October 12

On Monday we went on a walking field trip to the fire station.  We had a great time looking at the fire truck and ambulance and learning all about a firefighter's job. 

This week we are learning the word a and reviewing the words I and see.  We went to 6 literacy centers this week to practice our new words and other literacy skills.   This week we continue to learn about our community and helpers in our community.  We have started a huge map in our room and have added roads and bodies of water to it so far.  Later in the week we will be adding our houses!

Today we started our first social studies centers.  We had a fun time playing turn-taking games with friends, and doing activities with community helpers.

Reminders:
**Return library books every Tuesday!  We were missing lots of books this week!
**Our homecoming parade is on Friday.  We have made some special headbands and will be making rockets for our theme: "The Tiders are out of this world!!!! 3-2-1 Blast-off!!!!"

Pictures from this week:

Our class at the fire station

Parts of the fire truck

The fire truck with its lights on!!

We even got to go inside the ambulance!

The ambulance

Pictures of our social studies centers:

Match the tools to the job

Community Helper Bingo

Pattern Block math

Tool Game

Race to put out the fire

Friday Fun

This morning we reviewed our new sight words, I and see.  We finished up our sight word centers, too!  In the afternoon after music and calendar we went outside on a leaf hunt!  It was so much fun to enjoy the warm fall weather, see TONS of different colors of leaves, and collect a few.  We were also lucky enough to get to hear and see the middle school marching band as they were practicing!!  What a fun ending to a great week!

We worked together to put the abc puzzle together!

making words on the Smart Board

Play dough center

Letter Stamps

Writing board

Wikki Sticks

A picture of the marching band!!!

Our whole class :)

Searching for leaves

Wedneday, October 5

We have been busy the last few days of school! 
Last Thursday was our field trip to the apple orchard and Palmer Park.  Our time at the park was fun, but then it started to rain.  We were still able to visit the orchard, but we stayed inside the store.  We got to enjoy an apple doughnut and apple cider, see the crates of apples and the apple sorter, and bring home a bag of apples!

Friday was our first Early Release day.  We did some fun apple activities in the morning and went to our switcheroo groups.  After recess and snack, we had a short time for free choice and then we went home.

During the month of October, we will be learning about community helpers and places in the community.  We started this week by brainstorming different occupations and reading books about community helpers.  Next week we will take a walking trip to the fire station on Monday.  I have lots of fun community helper activities planned for the month!!!

We also learned our first two kindergarten sight words this week.  We have spent lots of time practicing the words I and see on different projects and at many different centers.  Throughout the year, we will continue to practice these words and will also learn many others!  We have started reading simple books with predictable text.  I am very impressed with the way our class remembers to use their fingers to point to words!  We have a class full of beginning readers!

I have changed the slide show at the top of our blog to include pictures from our field trip.  Check them out!

Other reminders:
Monday - Fire Station walking trip
Tuesday - Library - don't forget to return your book!!!
Friday- Homecoming parade

Snack Calendar

Snack Calendar for October:

October

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3 - Jacob	4 - Hailey	5 - Wyatt	6 - Brooklyn	7 - Morgann
10 - JaMaine	11 - Lacey	12 - Nicholas	13 - Zach	14 - Alex
17 - Anna	18 - Bella	19 - Sam	20 - Alexis	21 - Cloey
24 - Brady	25 - Ellen	26 - Danny	27 - Calvin	28 - Jacob
31 - Hailey	1 - Lacey	2 - Brooklyn	3 - Morgann	4 - JaMaine