Happy birthday, Carson!!!

Happy Holidays!

Some students brought board games to play during center time. Board games are great for teaching turn taking and playing by the rules. Students watched Madagascar Christmas with Mrs. Hanson's class. We talked about the characters, setting, and the problem and solution in the story. We had a great turnout for our sign performance this afternoon. You are an awesome group of parents! Thanks for bringing all the delicious treats and thank you all the wonderful gifts! Have a safe and happy holiday break! See you in the new year.

Your child may bring a board game to play at school tomorrow IF...you think they can keep up with the game pieces and they can teach the game to a few classmates.

Thanks so much for attending the concert yesterday. I thought the students did an incredible job. They didn't look nervous at all. At 9am there was a rehearsal, so after performing their two songs, the class got to sit in the audience and watch the rest of the performances. I know that they enjoyed it because they told me I was "the best teacher ever" (just for taking them to the assembly, I guess). If you were able to get some photos, will you please share them with me? I wasn't able to get into a good position to capture them all.

Check our the links section below. I just added a new math site for practicing all the math skills taught in kindergarten. It has games that a parent may have to help the students get started on.

Today was a great day! Students decorated gift bags and wrapped their ornaments. In math, we estimated how much capacity a variety of containers had. In writer's workshop, students had the choice to either add more pages to their "All About" book or to write a sentence in their journal. I was impressed that most chose to continue writing their books. They turned out so cute! I hope you'll dig it out of your child's backpack and ask them to read it to you. Remember, they use phonetic spelling--you might have to "sound it out." If you can figure out what it says, praise, praise, praise. Tomorrow is the music program at 1pm. I hope you are able to attend. It will be very crowded so come a little early.

We had tons of fun today! Students wrote their first "My Book About _____." They worked mostly independently and did a great job. For science, we ended our study of the planets by pairing students to create a 3D model of a planet. They used our science books as reference for their planet's size and appearance. Each pair also labeled their planet. All of them will hang from our ceiling. I took photos of the groups as they worked, which I will post tomorrow along with our finished display, provided that I find the time to hang everything.

Students did a great job of estimating and measuring how many 1 inch squares it would take to cover a certain area. In Writer's Workshop, students brainstormed 4 topics they know a lot about. Tomorrow they will choose just one topic and write a fact about that topic. It is so fun in kindergarten right now because students are beginning to notice words within words and are sounding out words they see written around the room. All of the pre-reading skills they've been taught are coming together suddenly and it's so fun to witness.

What's Happening the Week of Dec. 13?

This is Riley’s VIP week! Students will be working hard to recall events, remember images, and retell stories. We’re working on using complete sentences, so when you ask your child a question, please encourage them to answer in a complete sentence. For example, if you ask what kind of pizza they like, they should answer, “Pepperoni is my favorite pizza,” instead of, “pepperoni.” Students will be estimating and measuring. We are reviewing the letter O this week. We will practice the vowel song, which reminds students that the vowels make 2 different sounds. In Writer’s Workshop, students will choose a topic of interest and write two facts about that topic. We have an all-school music performance on Thursday at 1pm in the gym. It will be crowded, so please arrive at least 10 minutes early. Stay tuned to the blog and read all your newsletters during this busy time so you don’t miss out on anything. Have a great week!

As part of our lesson on telling the order of events (what happened 1st, next, last) we played a game in which 1 student had to give verbal step-by-step directions to a blindfolded student to get them to a specific destination. It was good practice for remembering left versus right and some crazy mishaps occurred when students forgot that the other person couldn't see as they simply said, "Go over there." Students enjoyed being the boastful little gingerbread man, saying his refrain "Run, run, fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" as I re-read the story.

Christmas Stoll Tonight!

During sign language, students learned signs for the song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." It will be the opening song for our performance on the 21st. If you're confused about all of the upcoming performances, don't be embarrassed. I have to keep checking my calendar, too. Next Thursday at 1pm is the school music department's show for parents. It involves all grades. Monday, Dec. 20 4:15 at St. John's is the Sign Club performance. Wednesday the 22nd at 1:30 in the gym is just the two kindergarten classes performing in sign language for families.

Students painted their dough ornaments today. They desperately wanted to take them home but we are planning more surprises for our families so they have to wait. We enjoyed 2 more Jan Brett stories today: The Three Snow Bears and Hedgie's Surprise.

Today we had fun with an art project. Students rolled out dough, cut shapes such as gingerbread men, candy canes, trees, etc. I will bake the shapes tonight and hopefully students can paint them tomorrow.

Pen Pals

Today we received an envelope from Toronto, filled with pen pal letters addressed to each student in our class! Students used journal time to write back to their pen pal. To see the letter your child received, look in their backpack.

Happy birthday Aaron! Thanks for sharing the yummy cupcakes with us! After introducing the letter of the week (i), students were able to tell me words with the short i sound in them. They are great word detectives. In math, students quickly proved that they understood the difference between small, medium, and large. In social studies, we continued our lesson on family by having students put the faces of each of their family members onto a heart cut-out. At the very end of the day, my son Wes and his dog Lucky visited.

Sequencing Events

This week students will be practicing sequencing events. Here is a web site with sequencing games. You might have to help your child get started, but they will get the hang of it quickly. Copy and paste this link http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/storyscramble/scramble.html This is Mia's VIP week. We will be reading many stories by author Jan Brett, including Gingerbread Baby. Shhh...don't tell...each child will receive a bag of homemade gingerbread play dough tomorrow. There's an even bigger surprise for our art project on Wednesday, but I'm keeping it under my hat for now. Check out Jan Brett's web page for fun activities at http://janbrett.com.

Goodbye Ms. Kembel

Sadly, today was Ms. Kembel's last day with us. She has completed her practicum hours and will student teach next semester. Each students made a card for her. We also had a special treat for the occasion.

The Scholastic book order arrived today and I was able to distribute the books while the students were in music. If you placed an order, please check your child's backpack. Thanks to you, I was able to add 4 books and CDs to our listening center. I know the students appreciate having new books to listen to.

Ms. Kembel taught a lesson about cooperation this morning. We also made stress balls, using the pop bottles (that you wonderful parents sent to school) to fill balloons with flour. The kids were so excited about them, but I had them keep the stress balls at school until Friday so we can finish the lesson by talking about ways to deal with stress and how to use the stress ball when they feel stressed. Thanks so much to Ms. Kembel, Nicole and Tracy for pulling off such a fun project!