Polar Express Day

On Wednesday, we will be having a Polar Express Day in Kindergarten.  Please send your child to school in pajamas.  They can also bring their favorite stuffed animal as well.  Please do not send them to school with slippers.  They must wear sneakers to school.  We are looking forward to having a fun day!!

Some Important Calendar Items

December 13th- We will be making gingerbread houses this Thursday. It may get messy, so please dress your child appropriately!

 

 

 December 18th- Please bring a book for our book exchange in our classroom.  Please wrap it and put your child's name on the tag on the front.  We will be exchanging books at our party on Friday the 21st. 

December 20th- Dress Up Day and Sing a Long.  We are singing the Chipmunks Christmas song (Christmas Don't Be Late).  Here are the lyrics if your child would like to practic at home.  http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/a/alvinthechipmunks8588/christmasdontbelate490140.html
Please try to dress your child in a red shirt/dress if possible. 

 

December 21st- Red and Green Day- We will be having our holiday party.  We will be having a pizza party, so there is no need to send a lunch in or order a lunch for your child that day, unless he or she does not like to eat pizza. 

 December 24th-January 1st- Winter Recess- Enjoy your break!

Run, Run as fast as you can.....

     You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!  Last week, we started with a fun theme using Gingerbread and the book, The Gingerbread Man.  It was so much fun!  We read multiple Gingerbread Man books this week.   We compared and contrasted them and made MANY text to text connections while reading.  We also learned about how to retell a story.  We even got to read a book about a Gingerbread Girl and a Gingerbread Baby.  Then we got to taste gingerbread cookies (SHH! That is our secret).  When we tasted the cookie, we took one bite and then graphed about which piece we ate first (arm, leg or head).  The head was the most popular part that was eaten first.

     During our Literacy Centers, we had lots of fun and everything had a gingerbread theme.  In the Creation Center, the kids made a gingerbread man AND a reindeer.  The reindeer kept them busy while our gingerbread man was drying.  In the Writing Center, the kids wrote about an animal that they ran away from, just like the gingerbread man and then they wrote about what they would do if a fox asked them to jump on his back.  In the Listening center, the kids listened to a version of The Gingerbread Man and then wrote about and drew their favorite part from the story.  In the ABC Center, they matched a picture with a letter from the alphabet and then they had to write the letters of their alphabet.  In the Word Work center, the kids made our star words using homemade gingerbread play doh and letter cookie cutters.  In the Phonics Center, they made CVC words (Consonant Vowel Consonant).  They looked at the pictures and made words with gumdrop letters.  In the Poetry Center, the kids matched the words of our Gingerbread Man poem and put it in their poetry journal.  In the Read and Write Around the Room center, the boys and girls looked for words that began with each letter of the word GINGERBREAD.

     This week in Math, we began a new chapter.  We are learning all about numbers and counting still.  We are learning about the proper way to form numbers.  We have been practicing and it is still difficult for many of the kids to write numbers appropriately.  We have learned about how to write numbers from 0-5.  Please practice writing these numbers at home.  It would help your children greatly!

     The class is REALLY looking forward to making our gingerbread houses on Thursday!  It is going to be tons of fun!

Creation Center

Poetry Center

Poetry Center

Writing Center

ABC Center

Word Work Center

Phonics Center

Our Gingerbread Man cookie graph

Listening Center

Busy Bees

     We have been very, very busy in our classroom over the past few weeks.  We have been learning all about how to make connections while we read and also we began learning how to properly retell a story.  We read The Three Little Pigs and discussed how a fairy tale begins and ends (Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After).  Then we also retold the story using many details.  We began our own retelling of the story as well.  Then we we read many different versions of the story and compared and contrasted them.  It was a fun week!

     We worked on 8 different centers during Reading timelast week.  In the poetry center, the kids matched the words in our poem in the poetry center.  This poem was all about colors since we have learned all of our color words.  After the kids match the words, then they put the poem in their poetry journal.  We also worked on rhyming words in our Phonics Center. The students had to use the small word cards and put them in the appropriate rhyming house. This was a popular center this week!  In our word work center, we worked on reading, stamping and writing our star words.  Keep practicing those star words!  This is extremely important as our star words are the most popular words in print and most cannot be sounded out.  Star words are the words we should memorize.  In the Writing Center, the boys and girls wrote a story about themselves, just like in Writing Workshop.  In the ABC Center, the kids put objects inside our alphabet tubs.  They had to work with their group to figure out what object started with what letter.  In the Read and Write Around the Room center, the kids found words that began with each letter of the alphabet.  In the Listening Center, the kids listened to Animal Strike at the Zoo and wrote and drew about their favorite part of the story.  In the Reading Center, the kids read books and searched for star words in each book. 

     We have been very busy in Math as well.  We continued with our Investigations unit.  During this unit, the kids have been learning about counting and numbers by playing various Math games.  During this time, they have played games such as grab and count and they made a counting book, just like the book Anno's Counting Book.  The kids also ordered numbers from greatest to least and least to greatest. 

     During this time, the class also learned about living things and nonliving things in Science.  They learned about baby animals and adult animals.  They also learned about the plant life cycle.  It has been fun and there is much more to come!

Enjoy some pictures from this week:



Phonics Center- Rhyming Houses

Word Work Center- Read/Spell-Stamp-Write

ABC Tubs

Poetry Center- They are matching words to the poems

 

 



 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take this time to wish all of our families a Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope your day is filled with love, laughter, and family!  I can't wait to see everyone on Monday!! 

Back to School.....

I hope that this post finds all of our families safe and well.  I had the opportunity to see some of you at school Monday and Tuesday during our donation collections.  School will begin on Monday, November 12th.  I am sure the children are looking forward to getting back to their schedule and routine and seeing their friends. 

Unfortunately, due to an already planned (before Hurricane Sandy) minor medical procedure, I will not be in school from November 12th-20th.  I will be going into school on Monday morning to get the kids settled and adjusted to being back at school.  I am so sad that I will be unable to be there for the kids for their first week back, however, Ms. Amanda and Ms. Halek (our wonderful substitute teacher), will be there with the kids.  Please know that I would be at school if I could.  It truly makes me sad that I am not able to be there and I miss and will miss their little faces, hugs, and stories SO, SO much! 

If you need to contact me for any reason in my absence, about anything, please send me an email. Please remember, if your child will be dismissed differently from their normal routine, please send a note to school so Ms. Amanda and Ms. Halek will receive it.  I apologize for the timing of my absence, however, please know that I would be there if I could.  Thank you all for being so understanding. I will also be sending a note home to all of our families. 

Hurricane Sandy

I just wanted to write a quick post to tell everyone to stay safe in this crazy storm!

Last Week......Scarecrows!

Last week we had a scarecrow theme.  We learned about scarecrows and why people might have them at their house, in their garden, or on their farm.  We read lots of stories about scarecrows as well.  We made a HUGE scarecrow of our own and made a book to go with it.  That was done in our Creation Center that week.  

In Reading, we learned how to make connections and about how to make predictions while we read.  Those are very important skills and those are great to practice when reading with your child at home.  I have completed some assessments with your children.  One was the DRA, in which I assess their reading and comprehension.  In the beginning of the year, Kindergarteners are expected to be at a Level A, which is at the emergent/pre-reading stage.  This assessment helps me put the children into reading groups with children that are of the same ability.  Then we will learn lots of new reading strategies and then we will see some wonderful reading from your little ones!  It really is amazing how much they can learn in such a short period of time!  I also did the district number knowledge assessment last week.  This week, I am working on an alphabet assessment as well as some other Kindergarten skills.  Once I am finished with assessments, I will begin our guided reading groups during center time.  Also, you will be able to see all of these assessments during our conference in December.

We have also been working on writing in our classroom.  We have our writing workshop during our morning literacy time.  During writing workshop, we all sit together on the rug and I do a small mini lesson on what we will be working on in writing on that day.  I model by writing my own story.  The kids have been learning about how to choose a story to write about (a true story about themselves), sketch a picture, label their picture, and add words to their story.  When they add words, they are to stretch out the word and listen to the sounds to spell it.  I NEVER tell a child how to spell a word.  I will help them sound out the word, but I love to see them figure out how to stretch it out and spell it.  :)  In a few weeks, we will publish our first story.  That is where we fancy up our writing and put a pretty cover on the front. 

So, during scarecrow week, we worked on many fun centers during our literacy and math time.  In Math, we worked on patterns.  The kids got to participate in Math centers that all had to do with making patterns.  Here are some pictures from our centers:

Scarecrow Writing Center

Listening Center- They listen to the story and draw a picture of their favorite part.

ABC Center- Fishing for letters- The kids got to fish for letters and then they colored in the letters that they got.  There was water in the bucket.....definitely a favorite center this week!

Phonics Center- Syllable Count- They had to put "crows" (black beans) on the shoulder of the scarecrow to show how many syllables were in each word.

Word Work Center- Play Doh Words

Read and Write Around the Room

Math Center- Make and extend patterns

Math Center- iPad Pattern Game

Math Center- Sticker Patterns

Math Center- Pattern Bracelets with Beads

Math Center- Pattern Puzzles

Pete the Cat Week!

We have been having such an amazing time in Kindergarten these days.  We are doing so well in our centers and we have been learning so much!  In Reading, we have been learning about how to make connections when we are reading.  We have made text-to-text and text-to-self connections while reading various stories in our classroom.  We have also been learning all about rhyming words and syllables.  We have learned lots of new letters and star words.  I hope everyone is practicing those at home and finding those words in the books you are reading.  :)

Two weeks ago, we read and compared three different Pete the Cat books. I never knew how much the kids were going to like Pete the Cat, but I have to say, he might be the new favorite character in our classroom!  We compared the three stories (text to text connections), watched the author of the book red the stories on You Tube, and made a graph of the favorite Pete the Cat story in our class.  It was so much fun!

In Math, we worked on positional words, left and right, and sorting.  We reviewed all of the skills we learned in Chapter 1 and began our next chapter.  During our morning meeting, we work on a lot of Math skills as well.  We learn how to tally, count by 5's, count by 10's, count by ones, break numbers apart by 10's and 1's, and shapes.  We also will be learning about the coins and how much each is worth soon.  We are very busy in Kindergarten!

Here are photos of some of the centers that we completed during our Pete the Cat week:

Our Cat Poem- Poetry Center

Our Pete the Cat Creation Center

Roll a Letter- ABC Center

Phonics Center- Rhyming Words



Word Work Center- Spin a Star Word



 

Our New Friend Buddy

     I wanted to introduce you to our new classroom friend, Buddy.  He is a stuffed puppy from Build a Bear that my nephews made for our class.  The class voted on a name and Buddy was the winner!Each child will bring Buddy home with them when they are star of the week.  It is so much fun!   

Here are some photos of my nephews making Buddy with much love for our class! 

Giving our puppy's heart lots of love!

Giving our puppy lots of brain power for school!



Our new friend, Buddy and my nephews

Giving Buddy a bath....he must be clean to meet our Kindergarteners!  Build a Bear said you can
go give Buddy a bath at their store when you get to take him home for the weekend!

Making a new friend is hard work!

Apples, Apples Everywhere!

   

      Last week we learned so much about apples!  We learned about the apple life cycle and what an apple tree looks like in the winter, spring, summer, and fall.  We tasted apples and made a graph of which apple color was our favorite.  We learned about Johnny Appleseed who used to give apple seeds to people he met.  We made an apple craft too.  We learned a great deal about apples and here are some pictures of our activities.

Working in the Creation Center on our apple craft

Our apple chart that we made together as a class

Our apple tasting graph

MMM!  Apple tasting!

The apple diagram we did together as a class.  We were learning about how to label.

Apple Core Craft

Writing Center Activity- The pages will be put together in a class book.

Poetry Center- This is a poetry journal that they work on in the center.



Our apple poem from our poetry center

Apple Life Cycle

     We worked on so much last week during our literacy time!  We were also very busy with Math.  We are learning about sorting by color, shape, and size.  We have been practicing using various manipulatives in the classroom, such as buttons, animal counters, vehicle counters, and shapes.  You can help your child learn to sort at home.  Have them sort food, clothing, or various household items you might have.  It is interesting to see how they might sort objects differently from how you sort objects.  We are having a blast in Kindergarten!