Today was exhausting, not just for the students, but also for me! Two programs in one day-- what was I thinking? I'm glad we did it, though. The music program in the morning wonderful, but the gym was so crowded. I hope you felt like the afternoon program was more intimate. Thanks for bringing treats, cups, plate, napkins. It was nice to have some social time with families at the end of the program. There's a special ornament in your child's backpack -- a gift from me. I wish you all a very happy holiday.

Your child may have volunteered you to bring treats, paper plates, or plastic cups for our performance tomorrow afternoon. If you can't bring it, no worries. When we get back from the holiday break, we will have a buddy room! Each Thursday afternoon, the fourth graders will come to our room to read and do special projects. I'm really looking forward to this.

This morning the entire student body assembled in the gym for a dress rehearsal of the general music program. The kindergartners did a great job and I know you'll enjoy their performance on Thursday morning. This afternoon we checked out the computer lab and used a keyboarding program to learn about the "home row." You can access this program from the Rose Park web page (rosepark.weebly.com). Go to "Learning Links" and then scroll to the bottom for the only link under "keyboarding." I worked very hard to keep the students from using the hunt and peck method. Just imagine what fast typists they'll be by the time they get to high school if they learn the correct method now!

We had some out-of-town visitors today. Jenasee's aunt from Utah came to help with some Christmas projects and Abbie's big sister from California read a story to the class at the end of the day. Students wrote letters to Santa today. Before mailing them to Santa, I made copies of the letters in case families need additional gift ideas. (wink wink) We read the book The Snowman last week and today students watched the video. Although there is no dialog whatsoever, students were very engaged during the movie.

Gingerbread Houses

As you can see, students had a great time using their creativity to decorate their gingerbread houses. Thanks for all the donations of candy and icing mix and especially for the assistance! Fun projects like this don't happen without the support of parents.

We started working on our own version of a gingerbread man story this morning. It is going to be very silly. We decided that our gingerbread person will be a cowboy, the bad guy will be a pumpkin instead of a fox, and the gingerbread cowboy will escape by using rocket packs attached to his feet.

This morning both kindergarten classes practiced getting onto and off of the risers which will be used for our upcoming concerts. We practiced adding groups of objects together. Students shared with the class their math thinking for adding to 6. Some students are able to count by 2s so that was their strategy and a few others know their doubles so they know that 3 and 3 is 6. Very few had to count by ones to find the answer (that's the goal).

We read still more versions of the gingerbread man story. I have a new favorite -- The Gingerbread Cowboy. I read it with my very best Texas drawl. The students decided that since so many authors have written their own versions that WE should write a new story. I promised to bake a gingerbread man for each student on Thursday night and bring them on Friday. Since we'll have icing and candies for our gingerbread house project on Friday anyway, they can decorate their gingerbread man at the same time. I will photograph each of the decorated gingerbread men and then we can work on our story next week. Sounds fun!

We started addition today in math. Students used two-sided counters to show different ways to make the numbers 4 and 5. Working with partners sometimes turns into silly time, but I must say that they did a great job today of using math words and actually doing what I wanted them to do.

We used the computer lab again today and had some problems such as dead batteries and no spare laptops to use as back-up, but most students were able to create an avatar for the Starfall computer program so I can track their progress. Thanks so much to Sonya Craven for helping out!

Thanks to everyone for picking up your butter braids and for donating candy for the gingerbread house project. Tomorrow is library day so make sure your child's book is returned.

We read 2 versions of The Gingerbread Man and talked about the similarities and differences. Students practiced some words from the word wall by "rainbow writing" them. They chose 4 words and had to write each word in 4 different colors. For social studies we learned about the different ways that Americans celebrate the holidays.

We played a math BINGO game in which the calling cards said things like, "1 ten and 5 ones" and students had to know that it meant "15" so they could cover the number. They did a great job! For art we made snowflakes out of Q-Tips. You'll have to see the picture to appreciate it.

Mrs. Mayes came to visit today and she taught a fun math lesson on teen numbers. Students were so engaged that we missed morning recess and didn't even realize it! Thank you for sending your child to school with the proper snow clothes! They are getting a little faster at getting all those extra clothes off and on for recess. One thing that stands out, however, is the need for many of them to learn to tie shoes. This is not something taught in kindergarten so I encourage you to teach it at home.

Sam, our VIP, brought his dog Sophie for a visit at the end of the day.

Tomorrow is the deadline for Scholastic book orders. If you are sending in a paper order form, please have your child hand it to me as they come into the building in the morning as I will not have an opportunity to dig through their backpacks at any point tomorrow.

Students interactively wrote labels for a picture of Rudolph that hangs on a classroom wall. They used clues to guess the letter of the day. See if you can guess--here are the clues: The uppercase letter is made only of straight lines. The lowercase letter is made of curvy lines and has a hook that dips below the line (we say it "dips into the water"). Students drew pictures earlier this week to tell about a time that they got hurt. They used the format "beginning/middle/end" to tell their story. Today they added 3 sentences to tell their boo-boo story and shared it with the class. You will find this paper in your child's backpack. Take a look at the right side of this page for some upcoming events.

We learned the words and signs for the vowel song this morning. We also read 2 Corduroy books. Students made a text to text connection between one of the Corduroy books and Knuffle Bunny -- both were about a stuffed toy that got lost at the laundromat. Students worked at their tables during math, building teen numbers and identifying the matching numeral. We checked out the computer lab for the first time. Each student took a Mac laptop to their table, learned to turn it on, learned the terms "desktop," "icon," and "task bar" and learned how to properly shut down the computer. They opened a paint program and learned to draw and choose different colors. Thanks for Rex's auntie for helping us! Students did a great job and I look forward to doing a weekly computer lesson. Next week I want each student to create their own account in the Starfall program that we use in class so I can track their progress. They will get to create their own avatar and learn what "avatar" means. The vocabulary words learned today were: drowsy, insisted, and panic. Let me know if your child uses any of these words at home. If they do, I'll give them a small treat!

Today we worked on vowels. We practiced letter formation of each of the vowels and listened to a vowel song which students will learn tomorrow. I introduced addition as we were working on making teen numbers. Your child should be able to tell you that 17 is 10 and 7 more. For writing, I introduced the concept of "organization" in writing. I read the book Buzzy's Boo-Boo. Students also told stories of times they had gotten hurt and required a Band-Aid, stitches, or a cast. I asked them to tell me, through pictures, what happened first (what they were doing before they got hurt), what happened next (how they got hurt), and what happened last (how they were cared for after the injury). They did a great job and tomorrow they will add words to go with each of their pictures. In the afternoon, when the wind chill went above zero, we went outside for about 5 minutes.

For math, we practiced evenly dividing objects (1 for you, 1 for me), counting objects, and comparing amounts (more versus less). For art, students did a guided drawing of a rocket and then painted it. The results were great! I wish I had brought my camera with me today. Next week will be very cold so dress for it! Have a great weekend.

I tried something new today. During Text Talk, the program for teaching vocabulary words, I asked students to draw a picture for each of the words and they did a marvelous job! The words they learned today were imagined, grumpy and tame. Our shared reading for the week is called "We Like School." It has many lines about things that kids do at school, such as "We like centers." It said nothing about most students' favorite thing -- recess -- so we worked together to write a new sentence which we added.

Don't forget to turn in November reading minutes so your child can get his or her Pizza Hut certificate. It's supposed to snow tonight so please send your child to school with snow boots and maybe even snow pants.

Today students rearranged cut apart sentences using what they know about sentence structure to put them back into proper order. We talked about "announcements" and then students made "Lost" posters for imaginary lost pets. In math we learned about symmetry. Students cut shapes and divided them into equal parts. We related equal parts to "fairness." Check out the "symmetry" link I just added to the links section. You upload a picture of your child to find out if their face is perfectly symmetrical. During afternoon recess a tree service was cutting down some trees on school property which was provided lots of entertainment! Tomorrow is library day and it's supposed to get really cold in the afternoon so make sure your child is prepared.

Students learned 2 new words today: we and can. They also worked in pairs to use pattern blocks to create new shapes. They were challenged to put together a variety of hexagons, triangles, parallelograms and squares to create a large triangle. They discovered that the square was of no use for this task. We used Google Earth to zoom from outer space to our school. We also looked up several addresses and saw some of your homes. Pretty cool! We read the book Maxi the Hero and talked about heroic acts. I also had a student tell someone else a story and then asked the child to retell their friend's story. They had a really hard time doing this, so we will practice those important listening skills.

We accomplished a lot of work in our half day of school. I think most students were able to check out a take home reader. I met with reading groups to work on strategies such as using the picture to get information about the text as well as using letter sounds to figure out unknown words. When your child is reading to you, please be sure they are pointing to the words. They need to know that they can only say as many words as there are on the page. As their reading skills improve, they will be weaned off of the pointing but for now it's important. Have a safe and happy Thankskgiving holiday!

We learned a little about the pilgrims and their journey to America. It took them 66 days to cross the ocean and we've only been in school 61 days! The students couldn't imagine being on a boat for that long. We also talked about our state, where it's located, and how it differs from other states. In Social Studies students are working on a book about their place in the world. Today they cut out the shape of Montana and also located Montana on a US map. In math students put events into proper sequence. I didn't offer students a sentence starter in writing today and I think they did more writing as a result. They impress me so much with their ability to sound out words to convey a written message.

Students did an excellent job at process spelling, a program in which I say a sight word, students write it on a mini white board, and then all the students spell the word in unison. I also pulled some small groups to my reading table and had them reading sight words. I was impressed with how well they did. I can tell that they are practicing at home, so thank you, parents! They also made these awesome turkeys and added signs saying things like, "Eat pumpkin pie, not turkey." Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!

I just received email confirmation that our Scholastic book order has been shipped. Hopefully it will arrive before Tuesday! We had a busy day. The Very Hungry Caterpillar mobile project took much longer that I expected so we missed morning recess. We wrote questions in our journals today. Please help your child practice zipping his or her coat. Most of them can easily do it once they've been shown how. Speaking of coats, it's going to be mighty cold tomorrow. School policy is that students go out for recess unless the wind chill is below zero so warm clothes are essential, including hats and gloves.

We read the book "A House is a House for Me." It talks about how things are houses for other things. For example, a bowl can be a house for soup and a sandwich can be home for ham and cheese. We started thinking of all sorts of things that are houses for other things like a tree is a house for birds and squirrels. Try to think of some more at home tonight--it's kinda fun! We learned the Planet Poem. I had trouble adding the link to the site, but if you search "lyrics, Dr. Jean Planet Song" you can find the words. We practiced reading the ABC phonics chart as I am beginning to test students to see if they can remember all the letter names and sounds. We spelled and added to the word wall the words and, on, and my. Caine's dad came in to help with writing time. He also helped during musical chairs. If you have a spare wire hanger we could use it tomorrow. We will be making a mobile to go along with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the book that is helping us with sequencing and learning the days of the week.

Today we learned about the seasons and which months occur in each season. We also learned about the importance of the sun to life on the planet. Tomorrow we will learn The Planet Song which will help students remember the order of the planets from the sun. Students used a new sight word, and, in a sentence during writing by telling about two things they like. Example, "I like apples and bananas." Tomorrow is library day so please return your books. I will place the book order tonight so we can get your books on the way to you as soon as possible.

Special Visitor

Andy Armadillo from Texas Roadhouse visited today. He brought fresh, hot rolls with honey butter as well as a notepad and pencil and a token for a free kids meal for everyone!

The class earned another reward so we had ice cream cones in the afternoon. It also served as math review with the cone and the sphere of ice cream (ha ha). We watched a Magic School Bus video called Lost in Space while we ate ice cream. We also read a book about all the planets and learned what's in outer space. For art, students created a picture of what they imagine is in outer space. They used glitter as the stars and you wouldn't believe how many stars are out there! We'll have glitter in the carpet for weeks! It was a fun day.

We had a great day! Students worked in pairs to illustrate our class book and then they shared their illustrations with the class. We reviewed 3-D shapes and students used clay to mold their own cone, cube, cylinder and sphere. We re-read "The Popcorn Dragon" and learned 3 more vocabulary words: overjoyed, scorched, and forlorn. Students did a fantastic job during writing. We've worked hard all week to put spaces between words and I saw lots of well spaced sentences. We also did a little letter formation practice on mini whiteboards. I am so fortunate to have such a well behaved and smart group of students!

We read a cute book today called "Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing" by Judi Barrett. A couple of students came up with legitimate reasons why animals really should wear clothing, so we decided to make a book in defense of our position. The class brainstormed reasons, which I wrote down. Tomorrow they will draw the illustrations and we'll put the book together. I want to have the students take turns bringing our book home to share with you so be on the lookout for it. The animal worksheet that came home with your student today was from an activity in which I said a word and students had to decide which animal had the same beginning sound. We also used the sheet to find rhymes and same number of syllables.

We put three new words on the word wall today. They are: a, here, and is. Students learned about the 3-D shapes cone, cube, and sphere today. I briefly talked about the cylinder, but will teach it again tomorrow. We read The Popcorn Dragon and learned the vocabulary words envious, forlorn, and ability. Mr. Besel, the school counselor, taught a lesson on personal safety in the afternoon. Students learned the "touching rule" which is that a bigger person can only touch your private parts if it is to keep you clean or healthy. Students learned that they should never keep secrets about others touching their bodies. They should keep telling a trusted adult until someone believes them and does something about it.

I sent home a Scholastic book order today. Online orders can be done anytime between now and Nov. 15. If you're ordering with the paper form, please remember to turn in the order form with your child's name written on it along with cash by next Tuesday morning by putting it inside the Monday envelope. The PTA kicked off the butter braid sale today. They told students to only sell to people they know unless they are with an adult. Please collect money as people place their order. The frozen butter braids will be delivered to school and need to be quickly delivered to your customers before they thaw or you need to keep them in your freezer until you have time to deliver them. Students got to taste the blueberry butter braid and they loved it!

In social studies we talked about the Rose Park neighborhood and the types of buildings and jobs that exist in the neighborhood. We will learn the difference between a neighborhood, a city, a state, a country and a planet. This works out so well because tomorrow we begin a unit on the planets in science.

We had fun practicing skip counting by 2s today. We used a different funny voice as we practiced several times. To demonstrate counting by 5s, each student traced one of their hands, cut it out, and we wrote a number on it then connected it to another hand. We wound up with a chain of hands counting by 5s all the way to 95. When Aleah gets back from vacation and I add her hand, we'll be all the way to 100! As I would write the number on a student's hand I would say, for example, "Sam, you're 70." It was funny because the kids were acting like it was their age. Mrs. Concepcion came in to read a story to the boys as I showed the girls a new procedure for the bathroom. To prevent "peeking," the girls will now have a "guard" outside the bathroom door as they use it. The problem is that the locks are too high for the girls to reach and the toilets are high enough that when you look under to door to see if the stall is occupied, you can't see any feet! Hopefully the new system will help.

Parents, don't forget that this Saturday is Daylight Savings Time.

We learned numbers 18-20 and started learning to skip count by 2s today. We also learned about adjectives or describing words and found some in the book Old Henry by Joan W. Blos. We learned a new procedure for using mini white boards and practiced letter formation for the letters a, d, t and f and practiced writing the numbers 1-5. We received a post card from North Dakota today. I'm enjoying having time to talk with parents about their child's progress. Things are going very well and it's nice to have so many positive conferences.

If your child sasses you at dinner time tonight, I might be to blame. One of our vocabulary words was "detest." I explained that it means the same thing as hate, which they said is a naughty word. I told them they could use the word detest instead. The example I used was for a food they hate. "Mom, I detest peas!"

In sign language we learned "Frosty the Snowman." We'll learn lots of Christmas songs and my hope is that we can put on a show for parents just before the holiday break. Since our schedule was off today because of the early out, we got to do something we don't typically have time for--we played musical chairs. The kids chose the music and naturally they chose Justin Beber.

The highlight of the day was going on a leaf hunt around the school grounds and the park behind the school. Just before going out, I read the story "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert. In the book, leaves are put together in different ways to create characters such as ducks, cows, or fish. As students hunted for leaves, they were to keep in mind what colors and shapes they would need to create their character. They had as much fun creating their leaf character as they did collecting leaves. When they finished, they were allowed to go to any center of their choice, which thrilled them to death! I'm glad such simple things make them so happy. I was very happy about their effort to clean up at the end of the day. We had pieces of dried leaves EVERYWHERE but everyone pitched in and the room looked fantastic at the end of the day. Don't forget that the next 3 days are half days. See you at your conference!

Happy Halloween!

We learned signs for a new shared reading about leaves. In math, we reviewed the numbers 11-15 and did a group activity in which students worked with the people at their table to make number labels for cups and count objects to fill the cups with the appropriate number of objects. We reviewed the letter T and worked on ending sounds, which was a bit of a stretch for some. Students had to think of a word that ends with T and answers were "turtle," "table," etc. It helped when I showed them written words that had a T at the end. We'll continue to practice ending sounds. In their journals, students used the sentence starter, "For Halloween I will be..." Each student was able to share their writing and picture with the class. At the end of the day, Mrs. Hanson invited our class to watch a Winnie the Pooh Halloween movie with her class. I gave each student a Halloween treat: a Wendy's Frosty gift certificate and a small piece of chocolate. The students who turned in their reading logs also received Pizza Hut certificates. Get some sleep tonight and don't eat too much candy--you'll have to focus tomorrow! Report cards go home tomorrow.

PJ Day

It was so cute to see everyone in their PJs! We learned more about bats from watching the Reading Rainbow video Stellaluna. When we finish our night unit in science, it will lead into a unit on the planets--very exciting!

Today was Noah's birthday. We compared and contrasted the books Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Goon using a Venn diagram. In math, I introduced the class to a hundreds chart. Students found patterns on the chart and we talked a lot about teen numbers. We will be working on recognizing and counting numbers 1-30. You can help by counting with your child as often as possible. I noticed that all of the students can count to 10, but several of them get lost after 12. By the end of next quarter they will have to be able to count to 100. We received 3 more post cards today, from New Jersey, Louisiana, and Kansas. Late this afternoon the Lifetouch pictures arrived so they will be sent home with your child tomorrow. They are soooo... cute!

Today we reviewed numbers 1 through 10. We learned the "White" song (spelling the word white). We learned about fables -- stories that are meant to teach a lesson. We read the fable "It's Mine!" by Leo Lionni. We also learned 3 vocabulary words from the story: bickering, defiant, and harmony. We watched a video of another fable, "Strega Nona." In the story, the main character disobeys his employer's instructions to leave alone the magic pasta pot and learns a lesson the hard way. Sophie brought her disguised pumpkin(s) this morning and they are darling! I can't wait to see the rest tomorrow! Tomorrow is Noah's birthday.

I forgot about Red Ribbon Week. Today was Lay off Drugs- wear a lei. Here's what's up for the rest of the week:
Tuesday- Don't let drugs tie you up - wear a tie.
Wednesday- Drugs stink - wear pink.
Thursday- Sock it to drugs - wear crazy socks.
Friday- Team up against drugs- wear team clothing.

In sign language this morning, we practiced reading and signing My Fire Safety Plan. Students also signed sentences about foods. They had to remember the food signs and put them into complete sentences such as, "I want a banana." We played BANG, a letter recognition game, and BINGO, a number recognition game. Enjoy your four day weekend!

In math we reviewed positional words such as over, under, on, beside, and behind. We put those words to use by putting Tattle Turtle in different places around the room and using complete sentences to describe his position. In kindergarten we really emphasize the importance of answering questions by using complete sentences instead of one word answers. I can really tell that some students are practicing reading sight words at home. As of right now, your child should be able to recognize and spell the following words: yes, no, blue, red, I, orange, the, and see. Write those words on index cards and practice nightly until your child can read them without hesitation or guessing. I see that one of our post card recipients has made a comment to yesterday's blog post. It will be really fun as we begin to receive more post cards. I put a large poster of the US on our classroom wall and have marked Illinois, the first state to send us a post card. Tomorrow is a half day. Please make plans to pick up your child at noon.

We talked about fire safety this morning and one of the important issues that came up was that each student needs to know their home address. This is something for you to practice at home. Knowing their address and phone number is important to student safety. I gave students a slightly different writing assignment today and I allowed them to take it home to show you. Students cut pictures out of magazines and labeled them. If you can read their label phonetically please praise your child's effort. They need lots of confidence to move forward with their writing. Due to our half day on Wednesday, your child will not get their library time this week so you might want to hang onto their current book for another week. Students WILL have gym tomorrow, so please send your child in his/her tennis shoes tomorrow.

Mrs. Concepcion gave me a set of rubber pencil grips this morning. I was instructed to tell students that these are "tools, not toys." They are helpful in getting students to properly hold their pencil but are expensive! If a student intentionally destroys one, they will owe the school $2. We had a talk about not chewing on them, picking at them, drawing on them, etc. so I'm hopeful that students will respect this additional piece of school property.

We played a math guessing game today. I chose a block from a bucket but did not show it to students. Through a process of elimination, they had to guess the attributes of my block (thick/thin, large/small, shape, and color). The students had fun and did a great job. We made scarecrows for art. I used a glyph. A glyph is a way to give information through your choice of colors or shapes used in the project. For instance, boys made the scarecrow face brown and girls made it orange. If students had ever carved a pumpkin, they made blue pants and if they hadn't, they made red pants. The scarecrows turned out really cute!

Next week we only have 2 1/2 days of school. Teachers will be working on report cards and attending training sessions.

The fire station visit was great! Caine's dad and grandpa (a fire fighter from Hardin), Quinn's mom and Joshua S.'s mom and younger brothers joined us. We watched a fire safety video that taught students the importance of having a fire escape plan and showed them how quickly a fire can spread, proving that they only have one minute to get out. Each student got a turn to spray water from the fire hose. We also watched a fire fighter climb 120 feet to the top of the ladder.

Tomorrow is the last day that the 6th graders will be selling caramel apples. They are $3.50 each and the students are only taking orders now. The apples will be delivered on Oct. 28th. There will be a table set up outside the gym before school and immediately after school tomorrow. I highly recommend these apples!

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and talked about the patterns in the book such as the days of the week and counting up. There was a day on which the caterpillar ate ten different foods. I challenged the students to look carefully at the page and then sent them to their tables to draw what they remembered. Most of them could only remember 2 or 3 items so I showed the picture several more times until they remembered more. This is also fun to do at home with an empty shoe box. Put 8 to 10 items in it, show your child, then put the lid on. Challenge them to remember all the items and then let them see how well they did.

A yellow form was sent home in your child's backpack. On it you will choose the best time to meet me for your conference. I schedule conferences on a first come, first served basis so if you can only meet at a specific time or specific date, turn yours in soon! Tomorrow is our walking field trip to the fire station. I told the kids to dress for the weather and to wear good walking shoes (no flip flops or high heels). If you are planning to come along with us, we will take a bathroom break around 8:35 and then leave the school at 8:45. Our tour begins at 9am.

It was so fun to see all the fancy dresses and handsome dress shirts today for picture day. I sometimes forget that these little guys and gals may not have had a professional photo taken before and I hadn't really explain what to expect. However they did a great job. Today was Alexis's birthday and she shared some delicious cupcakes with us.

We had a talk about boundaries during center time. I told students to "ask three then me" if they need help during center time and I'm busy working one-on-one with a student. They should try to get their question answered by someone else and then if that doesn't work, to wait patiently for a break when I can speak with them. We also had a talk about taking care of the things in our room, such as the Playdough and dry erase markers. Students are not putting the lids on the Playdough that I bought just this weekend and it's drying out before everyone has had a chance to play with it. When it's gone--it's gone and that's just a natural consequence for not caring for it.

Our driver for bus safety took us for a driving tour of the bus barn. Due to the rain we didn't practice using the emergency exits or loading and unloading. Students brought home a coloring book that was a gift from our driver. Thanks to Mrs. Boogman for coming with us. Tomorrow is library day so don't forget to return last week's book.

Picture Day Tomorrow!

Picture day is tomorrow. Please turn in your orders by putting them in the Monday envelope and remind your child to give it to me as they enter the classroom in the morning. This morning students learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin and where pumpkins come from (not just "the grocery store"). Students played a counting game in which they worked in pairs to roll a die and put colored, plastic chips onto a ten-frame. We talked about beginning on the left and return-sweeping just like we do when we read. For social studies we finished our unit on Me and My Family by having students draw a picture of each member of the family and gluing them onto a big red heart. I will give those to you during conferences. The pumpkin decorating sheet I promised to send home today arrived late from the printers so I will send it home tomorrow. Quinn, our birthday boy, shared some delicious Caramel Cookie Waffles with us at snack time and brought his cat, Alex, to meet the class at the end of the day.

I just submitted our Scholastic book order. Thanks for your orders, once again. Since it was raining we played musical chairs during morning recess and for lunch recess both kindergarten classes came into my room to watch an Arthur movie. Thankfully the rain stopped in the afternoon and we were able to enjoy some fresh air! I am so pleased with the students' progress in writing over the past few days. They are using an ABC phonics chart to write words based on the sounds they know. For example, "I love my daddy" might be spelled, "I luv mi dade." We didn't have time to share our writing today, but do on most days. The kindergarten classes will learn about bus safety on Tuesday. As part of bus safety, the driver will take us on a bus ride. I will need 2 parent volunteers to help with this. I would need you to be available from 12:30-2pm on Tuesday. If you're interested, please email me. If you are coming on our walking field trip to the fire station on Thursday morning will you please email me? I want to see how many helpers I have for that day as well. Have a great weekend!

This morning we learned about verbs or action words. Students identified verbs in two books we've recently read. Next they looked through magazines to find pictures of actions and then added the pictures to a large poster in our room. For science, students predicted which objects would sink or float before we tested them. We had fun trying different objects from the classroom including paper, my water bottle, a pencil case, scissors and a box of crayons. Students were shocked that an individual crayon sunk but the full box floated. We talked about density so see if your child can tell you why a ping pong ball floats and a golf ball sinks. Students were disappointed that I didn't take them out for afternoon recess but it was raining and we have many students with horrible coughs. Don't forget that book orders are due tomorrow.

This morning there was a vision screening which slightly altered our schedule. Thankfully the students are adaptable. Today we started "helper of the day." In past years I have used a job chart but found it so cumbersome that I'm trying something new. Alexander brought a wasp nest to show the class. It was interesting to see the colors in it. If you haven't seen a wasp nest, do a search in Google images. I'll photograph the one Alexander brought when Homecoming week is over and my daughter returns my camera!

The students had lots of fun playing number recognition BINGO for math today. They didn't know it, but they were practicing reading numbers 1 through 10. They got an unplanned lesson in probability at the same time. After at least 50 spins, the number 6 had not come up so I erased another number on the spinner and changed it to 6. Still no luck! I ended up putting the number 6 in 4 different spots before we finally spun a 6! Linda Mayes, a reading coach in the school district, introduced writer's workshop to the students today. She related it to Santa's workshop in that the elves don't just shout, "I'm done!" and then sit and do nothing -- they keep working! There were some really nice sentences being written. Even students who didn't know all of their letter sounds at least knew the beginning sound for each word in their sentence. It was a great start!

Today we started working on a new sight word: see. Students learned to finger spell it, sign it, and write it. In math, we learned about a 10-frame (a way to make counting groups of objects easier). In kindergarten we talk about place value without using that specific language. For example, I teach them that the number ten is made up of 1 group of ten and 0 ones. Don't forget about walk to school week. Students who walked to school today were given a ticket that they wrote their name on and then put the ticket into a bowl. I drew 2 names of students who could choose a prize at the office. We'll be doing the same thing each day this week. Please remind your child to hand me their Monday envelope as they enter the classroom tomorrow morning. This needs to become a weekly habit. Thanks!

Unfortunately, today was Jacqulyn's last day in our class. Her family is moving into a new home in another neighborhood. We will miss her. Students decorated their shoe boxes that will be used to keep the mini books that come home each Friday. Your child should keep the box near their bed so they can practice reading them each night. We started a vocabulary curriculum this week called Text Talk. We read the book "Gregory the Terrible Eater" about a goat who is considered by his parents to be a terrible eater because he enjoys healthy foods instead of the types of things goats eat. They learned the words "average," "revolting," and "nutritious." Please use these words this weekend and see if you get a reaction from your child. I would love to hear what happens!

We had a surprise fire drill today and the students knew exactly what to do. I was so proud of them! We finished Star of the Day yesterday, so today we started something new for Writer's Workshop. We learned a chant that goes, "I like (insert food item), yes I do. I like (food), how about you?" For their writing assignment, students copied the words "I like" off the board and used what they know about letter sounds to write a food that they like. During kindergarten we don't worry about spelling unless the word is one of our sight words. What I'm looking for is a student's ability to use what they know about letter sounds to write words. You might see your child spell pizza "petsu" because those are the sounds they hear and that's WONDERFUL! Please don't get hung up on perfect spelling and just praise them for being brave enough to TRY to spell. Writing is the road to reading.

Haley was our Star of the Day! Haley has 2 sisters, 1 brother, and 1 cat. Her favorite color is pink, her favorite food is mac and cheese, her favorite ice cream is chocolate and her favorite number is 13. Yesterday I started teaching students signs for the Katy Perry song "Firework." (I have the Kidz Bop version.) They are so smart that they already know most of the signs and will spontaneously break into sign language if they hear the song on the radio. I also taught them a bunch of food signs today such as meat, bread, bacon, eggs, carrot, pineapple, ketchup, hot dog, and hamburger. If they forget a sign and it really bugs them, you can log onto ASLPro.com to look it up. I think I have a link for that site below.

It was an exciting day! As of yesterday, students earned enough links in their "good behavior chain" to qualify for a reward. They could choose to have an extra recess, a movie or a popcorn party. The class voted to have a popcorn party, which we enjoyed today. Our letter of the day was B, so for science students made bubble art. They used a straw to blow bubbles into a cup partially filled with colored bubble solution and blotted their paper with the bubbles. They also got to take a cup of bubbles out to recess. It was a messy day, but the students had the classroom sparking clean by the end of the day because they are AWESOME!

Nicholas was our Star of the Day. He has 1 older brother, 1 dog, and cats. He loves to go to the park, eat vanilla and chocolate ice cream and drink orange juice. His favorite toy is Batman an his favorite fish if a swordfish.

Ava was our Star of the Day. She has a dog named JJ, likes the color pink, her favorite part of school is gym class, and her favorite food is apples. Students went to their first whole-school assembly today and were very well behaved! We learned about a Walk-a-Thon that our school will participate in as a part of "Walk to School Week." A note went home about it in your child's Monday envelope. In sign language, your child learned signs for the book "Brown Bear Brown Bear." Ask them to show you signs for bear, frog, teacher, children, duck, bird, dog and sheep.

On Friday Joshua S. was our Star of the Day. Joshua has 2 younger brothers, likes mac and cheese, the colors blue and orange and will be Batman for Halloween. We looked at pictures of Native American art such as blankets and belts. Joshua S. had been to the Pictograph Caves and shared some information with us.

Today was Houston's birthday. Even so, the day was a little strange since it was a half day. Having our schedule thrown off is difficult not only for the students, but for me too. We didn't do Star of the Day due to lack of time. I did do some more reading tests and identified another reader. Next week I will begin working with students in small reading groups: some for learning letter sounds and some for word study. Tomorrow is a regular day.

Our letter of the day was W and not a single student has a W in their name. (Well, Rex's first name is William, but he goes by Rex so we didn't count that.) Alexis was our Star of the Day. Alexis has 2 brothers, ages 2 and 8. She has 3 dogs, likes the color blue, and loves to eat corn dogs and chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Her favorite store is Target and her favorite restaurant is McDonald's. Her favorite movie is Spiderman and her favorite book is Star Wars. I love the questions that students are asking now!

Tomorrow is an early out day. Students are released at noon. You will not need to send a lunch for your child. There were several students who ordered sack lunches that they will take home or to daycare, but they will not eat here at school. They're going to be hungry because we usually go to lunch at 11:05!

Our letter of the day was F. We did not do Star of the Day today because science took much longer than expected and students were gone in groups of 4-6 for a hearing screening. If the hearing screening detected any problems with your child's hearing, you would receive a notice within a week. No news is good news! Students had a good time using their sense of touch to guess what their friends brought but they got very noisy and wiggly during the long process so I will think of a different way to handle sharing items for the other senses. The janitor had to talk to the boys today about raising the seat when they urinate so they don't sprinkle on the seat. He asked that I also have parents discuss this with them so they remember. We learned about ordinal numbers in math, and learned that you have to notice which direction a group of people or animals are going in order to determine which is first versus last. Please try to use 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th with your child sometime this week. I am very happy to announce that I received funding for a grant proposal that will provide books for students to take home on a nightly basis. I already have 2 students who are reading well enough to take advantage of this program and it is my goal to get all students to this level by Christmas. As part of thanking the donors, I have to send photos of the students enjoying the new books. I will be sending home YET ANOTHER form requesting your permission to post photos of your child on the internet, as required by DonorsChoose. If you don't want your child photographed, I will just ask them to step aside when I take the photo or only show the back of their head.

Rex was our Star of the Day! He has 2 brothers, a dog, and his mom and brother both wear glasses. Rex will be Robin (of Batman and Robin) for Halloween. His favorite foods are mac and cheese and chocolate/vanilla twist ice cream. We studied the letter M today and played musical chairs. Students worked with partners to make real graphs using different materials such as blocks, cubes, connecting links, and coins. They named the column with the most/least/same objects. In sign language we learned signs to the song The More We Get Together and the Green song. Please remember to send your child to school tomorrow wearing tennis shoes (for gym) and send an object for "feeling" (guessing by touch). If your child needs a sack lunch for Thursday's early out, please return the purple form tomorrow.

In honor of Constitution Day, we read "Duck for President" and then voted for our favorite animal to run the farm. Students checked their favorite animal on a paper ballot and put the ballot in a ballot box. All the votes were counted and, sure enough, duck won! Students colored an American flag while listening to various people sing the Star Spangled Banner. Quinn was our Star of the Day. Quinn has 1 older brother, likes the color green, bananas, cheese pizza, chocolate ice cream, and tractors. His favorite animal is a cow. His favorite part of school is going to the library. We read the book "Go Away Big Green Monster" and students created their own big green monster. They are displayed in the hall. Have a great weekend!

I was out sick yesterday so I'm a little behind on Star of the Day. Yesterday, Wednesday, Caine was the Star of the Day. Caine's favorite food is pepperoni pizza, his favorite animal is the cheetah, and his favorite color is black. Caine has 2 cats and 2 younger sisters who are twins! Today's Star was Jenasee. Jenasee does not have any brothers or sisters. Her favorite animal is the elephant, her favorite movie is Bambi, she loves pizza and chocolate ice cream. Her favorite colors are pink, purple, green and orange. I look forward to seeing you at Open House tonight!

Today we learned the letter D, took a survey to find our favorite colors, and determined the length of our names by gluing individual letters to a strip of paper. Alexander has the longest name and Ava, Rex and Sam are tied for the shortest name. Sophie was our star of the day. Sophie has an older brother, 2 cats and 1 dog. Her favorite restaurant is Red Robin, she likes the color purple, chocolate ice cream, Monopoly, and the shoes she has on today. We had a few extra minutes before gym class so we played Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? Don't forget that there's a PTA meeting tonight at 7pm in the library. I know they love to have kindergarten parents get involved because you'll be around for a while and I know they need help with our booth at Saturday Live.

Scholastic Book Order

The Scholastic book order arrived today. Please check your child's backpack for the books you ordered. Because so many of you placed orders, I received all of these books FOR FREE!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Today in sign language we reviewed the Pledge of Allegiance and the manual alphabet, as well as learned the "Red" song. We will be working on colors all week. If you happen to see a sign with the word "red" when you and your child are out running errands, point it out and ask them if they know what it says. (I'm thinking of Red Robin.) Our star of the day was Houston. Houston has a 1-year old brother, likes salmon and shrimp, and is very fond of his black and white robe that he wears after his bath. His favorite stuffed animal is a very large polar bear and his favorite place is Chuck E. Cheese. Oh, and guess what his favorite color is...red!

Sennett was our Star of the Day. He has 1 brother, 1 cat, likes hot dogs, choclolate and vanilla ice cream and the color blue. The students asked him tons of questions, such as, "What's your favorite shirt?" and "What's your favorite tatoo?" I love that they're really getting into it now. I'd love to hear if your child talks about Star of the Day.

I'm keeping it short tonight because I'm getting home late after my daughter's open house. (It's past my bedtime!) Today was Joshua G.'s birthday. He shared cupcakes with the class and brought his pet hamster for show and tell. Alexander was our star of the day. Alexander has 1 brother, 2 dogs, and 1 cat. He likes the color blue, mac and cheese, motorcycles, Transformers, and tigers.

We had our first sign language lesson with the other kindergarten class today. We will meet together every Monday and Wednesday. Today we reviewed the manual alphabet and each student was given a small sheet of paper showing how to sign each letter of the alphabet. We also did a song that required knowledge of the sign language alphabet. Next week we'll learn a color song. Today's Star of the Day was Jacqulyn. Jacqulyn has an older sister, is wearing new shoes, likes the colors pink and purple, and can paint her nails. She enjoys mac & cheese, playing dress-up, and eating vanilla or chocolate ice cream. I love how brave the students are getting now -- they are giving us lots more information about themselves! The class set a kindergarten record today: they earned 4 links in their "good behavior" chain IN ONE DAY!! Woo hoo! Keep up the great work! I've added a link to a patterning game.

Mark your calendars if you would like to come along with us to the fire station on Thursday October 13 at 9am. Both kindergarten classes will take a walking field trip to celebrate fire safety week. Can't wait! This is Joshua G.'s VIP week but he was sick today. Hope you feel better soon, Joshua! Our star of the day was Aleah. Aleah has 2 cats, 1 older brother, likes the color pink, macaroni, vanilla ice cream, and playing dress-up. We started a science unit on the five senses so we went outside to experience the playground through our senses. In the grassy area, students took off their shoes and felt and smelled the freshly mowed grass, saw butterflies and blue sky, and heard birds singing. Tomorrow is library day so don't forget to send those library books back in the morning.

The fire drill went very well. I was so proud of the kindergartners! Now that they have that under their belts they won't worry about subsequent drills. Thanks for prepping them for it! Our letter of the day was Nn. Our star of the day was Taylor. Taylor has a younger brother, likes the colors pink and purple, loves pepperoni pizza and loves movies about Ariel (the mermaid). As we've been practicing classroom and school rules, I told the students to ask you, their parents, about rules that you have to follow at your jobs. I want them to know that we all have to follow rules in order to keep society running smoothly. Remember that we do NOT have school on Monday. Thank you for all your Scholastic book orders! I will enter them right now. It will take about 7 business days for the books to arrive and then I will distribute them to the students who ordered. Enjoy your 3-day weekend and I'll see you Tuesday!

Today we studied the letter Ii, found it in the names of 7 of our classmates and fed sound muncher some items such as an igloo, and iguana, ink, and an inchworm. For math, we talked about things that come in 2s such as eyes, ears, shoes, and earrings. Each student was given a magazine to find pairs of things to cut out and glue to a sheet of paper. Your child brought this page home so maybe you could extend the lesson by looking around the house for other things that come in 2s and talk about it with your child. We clapped syllables in the names of our classmates and discovered that sometimes names that have few letters still have a lot of syllables! Luciana was our star of the day. We learned that she has a 1 year old sister, likes cats, the color pink, jewelry and pizza. The whole school will be practicing a fire drill tomorrow morning. Please let your child know that there's not really a fire and that we'll be okay -- we've rehearsed what to do.

Someone tricked me and gave me a bunch of first graders! These kids are sooo good at recognizing numbers that they blew me away today. Our letter of the day was Aa. Each student brought their name tag to a bulletin board that asked if they had an A in their name and they put their tag under "yes" or "no." By the way, they really like to say "no" in sign language. Aleah's mom came in to help today and she read Superhero ABCs to the class. Our star of the day was Noah. We learned that Noah has 1 younger brother and a mom and dad. His dad makes wooden things for people and I truly apologize but I can't remember what he told us his mom does but I was very impressed that he went into such detail. Noah likes the colors red and white and his stuffed dog. Today was library and it was the students' first day to be able to check out a book. They can keep their book until next Wednesday but are welcome to return it any time between now and then, to the library basket in our classroom. There were several papers that had to go home today. I apologize because I try to only send papers home on Mondays. There is a dark pink form that the principal really needs back by tomorrow so I told the class that if all of them return those forms tomorrow, we can have extra recess. Tomorrow will be much cooler (thankfully!) so please remind your child to bring/wear a jacket.

The students met Mr. Besel, our school counselor, today. Mr. Besel came to talk about what a school counselor does. He told the class he'd be back in a few weeks to talk about being a "bully buster." Students also had their first day of PE today with Miss Lisa. Thank you for sending your child to school in appropriate shoes today. I overheard Miss Lisa reminding students by having them repeat, "Tennis shoe Tuesday." Sam was our star of the day. We learned that Sam has 3 older brothers, a mom and day, and 2 dogs. Sam likes steak, the color red, and monster trucks. Our letter of the day was T. This morning students reviewed yesterday's letter and learned to write the letter Ee. Please help your child with this. What we want to watch is that they don't begin their letters at the bottom and work their way up. They need to start at the top and work down so that they are ready to switch to cursive in 3rd grade. I will send home a handwriting sheet in next Monday's envelope that describes the proper letter formations.

This is Sennett's VIP week. He shared his poster with the class then he called on his classmates as they asked questions about the photos. His poster is on the VIP bulletin board for the rest of the week. He also had special visitors at the end of the day -- his grandma and grandpa who are celebrating their 47th anniversary today! Abbie was our star of the day. We learned that Abbie has 3 brothers and 1 sister (all older), and a dog. Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese and her favorite color is pink. Our letter of the day was E. Students had to look at their names and decide whether or not their name had an Ee in it. They also colored the E page in an alphabet book. We practiced what to do and where to go during a fire drill as we will have an actual fire drill later in the week. This week we are reading books by the author Mo Willems. Today's book was Knuffle Bunny Too. I sent home Scholastic book order forms and requests for permission to put your child's photo on this blog. Please return the forms ASAP. I am also missin some of the pink and green forms that were sent home last week. I will send you an additional form if you need me to.

VIP Schedule

Beginning next week, each student will be the VIP for one week. I tried to keep their VIP during the week of their actual birthday and for summer birthdays I used their "half birthday." During your child's VIP week, please send a poster of family photos. Your child will show the poster, talk about each photo, answer their classmates' questions and then I will put the poster on the bulletin board for the remainder of the week. Also during their VIP week, your child may bring a special show and tell, such as a pet or baby brother or sister. I try to have special visitors during the last 10 minutes of the day for your convenience but I am happy to set up another time. Your child might also want to bring birthday treats during this week. I have added a link for the VIP schedule in the Links section on the right.

We started something new today -- star student of the day. I put each student's name into a cup and each day I will choose a different name. Today I pulled out Joshua G.'s name. Joshua told the class that he has an older brother and sister and a pet hamster and that his favorite color is green. We counted how many letters are in his name. Each student wrote Joshua's name and drew a picture of him and some of the things they learned about him. Joshua took home all the pictures drawn by his classmates. For art today, I had written each student's name on white construction paper with white crayon so they couldn't see it. As they painted over it, their name was revealed. They finished a little faster than anticipated so we had time to watch a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom video. I read two of my favorite books to the class today, and I think they fell in love with them, too -- Bad Dog Marley by Josh Grogan and Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

We re-read the book The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School and then I gave each student some homemade gingerbread playdough and let them make a gingerbread man. They rolled the dough with mini rolling pins I made with wooden dowels and used cookie cutters to cut shapes. They played appropriately and seemed to enjoy themselves. I asked students to show me what they know so I gave each of them a sheet of paper. I asked them to write either letters, numbers, words or to simply write their name. I learned that this is a group of smart cookies! We started our classroom behavior plan today. Since every student stayed on a green card, the class earned a paper chain link. When the chain goes from my desk to the floor, the class can choose to have extra recess, a video, or a popcorn party. Students who stay on a green card will have a stamp on their hand at the end of the day. If your child does not have a stamp on their hand, ask them what happened. After a student accumulates 10 days of green cards, they can choose a prize from my prize box.

First Day!

I've got to say that today was the best "first day of kindergarten" I've ever had. Not a single student cried when they left their parents behind as we went into the building. I taught students the main 5 rules of the classroom: 1) Follow directions quickly. 2) Raise your hand for permission to speak. 3) Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat. 4) Make smart choices. 5) Make your dear teacher happy. I love sign language and believe in using it to teach phonics and certain concepts (such as up, down, under, over). I was impressed by how many of my new students already know some sign language! Yippee! I taught them how to say the Pledge of Allegiance in sign language, taught part of the alphabet, showed them the sign for thirsty so they can silently ask permission to get a drink from our classroom water fountain. I read two books about Pete the Cat that were both big hits with the kids. I've put a link to one on the right so please check it out. You've probably already heard your child singing this song because it is such a catchy tune. I hope tomorrow goes as smoothly as today. In the comments (observations) area below, will you please share with me your child's impression of the day? I'd love that.

Thanks for coming!

Thank you all for coming to the Meet and Greet tonight! I am impressed that all 20 students and their families showed up. After meeting you all, I'm even more excited about the start of school. I will spend tomorrow labeling your child's personal items that went into their cubbies as well as planning some special activities for our first few days of school. You can see now why I didn't want you to label everything, since some of the items will be shared. Please call or email me if you have any questions or need clarification on anything. I want you and your child to be completely comfortable about starting school. See you Wednesday!

Happy birthday, Sennett!!

Let's Meet!

Rose Park is having a "Meet and Greet" from 5-6pm on Monday, August 22nd. Bring the whole family, tour the school, meet the teachers, secretary, principal and drop off your school supplies in your classroom. I can't wait to meet you! See you then!

What to Expect

Welcome, kindergarten parents! I know you and your child are excited about the beginning of school and you might want to know what to expect. Please read the linked document titled "What to Expect" under the Links section to the right (under the school countdown clock) for more information. Also check out the class web page. I'm excited about meeting my new crew!

Free Books!!

Plan to attend Reading Rocks at North Park starting Monday at noon. Choose a book to take home each day. This is a great way to build your child's library and to get some reading practice this summer. Your child does not have to be part of the free lunch program to attend. Reading Rocks is for everyone! Hope to see you there!

Use your writing skills to type something funny for your pet to say on this web site www.talkingpets.org

Thanks for a fantastic year! Parents, I appreciated your support throughout the year. Thank you, too, for the great turnout at our end of year program. It was so nice to be able to mingle with parents and students afterward. Thanks for the cards and flowers. I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Have a fantastic summer and keep checking in to the blog over the summer. I'll post new links for computer games to keep the learning going all summer.

Thankfully we had good weather for field day on Friday. The students had a great time and got a lot of good exercise. I'm working on a special project that I will send home with students on Tuesday. I think you're gonna like it! Remember that we don't have school on Monday. Have a safe and fun Memorial Day!

We got to see the 5th and 6th graders perform some fairy tales this morning. Lauren's mom hung out with us for part of the day and Joe R.'s dad and dog came to visit at the end of the day. As long as the weather holds out we will have field day tomorrow. I reminded students that they need to wear sneakers and not flip flops.

New Links

Check out the new links for kindergarten summer reading lists. Keep your child reading all summer so they don't lose their skills!

We played some fun math review games today and did a unique writing project. Each student wrote one sentence on the sheet of paper in front of them and then students moved to the next seat to add a sentence to someone else's story. They did this 3 times, until their original sentence had been added onto by 3 other students. They did such a great job of staying on the original topic and using correct sentence structure.

Believe it or not, today was the perfect day for our zoo field trip. It was very cloudy but did not rain on us at all. Yes, it was a little cool, but not cold which meant that the animals were more active. We were there at feeding time and were able to watch the bear cubs "hunt" for their food that the zookeeper had put in various places in the exhibit. It was also nice because there were very few other groups there because of the threatening weather. Thanks so much to our wonderful volunteers who chaperoned the trip. Tomorrow is supposed to be field day, but might be rescheduled for next Friday if it rains. Your child needs to wear tennis shoes in case we have it tomorrow. Tomorrow is the due date for all library books. Please be sure to turn them in.

It sounds like we only have a 40% chance of rain for our field trip tomorrow. The last time I looked it was supposed to be 90% so that's an improvement. Pray for sunshine and send your child dressed for the weather. I told them they might want to bring their backpacks for holding their lunch, umbrella, jacket, etc. I have everyone's permission slip and money and we are good to go.

Zoo Field Trip

Thankfully the zoo has re-opened and we can take our field trip on Thursday. Yay! I will send detailed information in your child's Monday envelope. Thank you all for getting the permission slips and money turned in on time. To make things easier upon our arrival, I will go to the zoo on Wednesday and pre-pay. Anyone is welcome to meet us there. Just pay for your admission at the front gate. It should be a nice day.

Library Books

This is the last week that students may check out a library book. All library books are due next week. If your child has lost a library book you will receive a notice with the replacement cost of the book.

Summer Reading

I have had several wise parents ask me for suggestions for summer reading material. It is very important that your child practice their new reading skills on a regular basis so they do not backslide over the summer. I was looking through the Scholastic book order forms I sent home today for some suggestions. Don't be fooled by #71 Get Ready for First Grade Reading Library. Most of those books are far too difficult for our students. They will be great by the middle of next year, but they are too hard right now. I think #56 Science Sight Word Reader Weather Pack is a great choice. This would give you the chance to discuss fiction versus non-fiction. I also like #22, #32, and #66, the Phonics Boxed Sets as well as #20 Guided Reading Set. Don't forget to keep reading to your child. They need to hear fluency (smooth reading) in order to learn it.

Happy (Early) Mother's Day

I hope you enjoy your Mother's Day gift. I will give you a little information about it on Monday, after I can be sure you've received it (so I'm not giving any secrets away). Pizza day was a big hit and students want to do it again, but with only 18 days of school remaining, it is unlikely. We received 12 sturdy jump ropes for our class earlier this week and the students are already making excellent progress with their jumping skills. Remember that we don't have school tomorrow. Enjoy your 3-day weekend and I will see you on Monday.

Pizza Party Tomorrow

Yippee! Pizza party tomorrow! Send your child with a drink or 60 cents to buy milk in the lunchroom.

The class has finally earned their pizza party. I had to give a couple days notice to Domino's so we will have out pizza party on Thursday. Therefore you do not need to send a lunch to school on Thursday. It will be fun! We are painting umbrellas for a special project tomorrow. Please send a solid colored umbrella to school tomorrow morning.

We had an interactive math lesson today in which students wore different animal headbands and formed groups. We practiced addition, subtraction and matching numerals to number words. The students have fallen in love with Koko the gorilla and would really like for her to visit our school. I don't have the heart to tell them that she doesn't travel (yes, I already checked because I was thinking the same thing). We are planning to make a sign language video to email to her and students are working on letters and pictures that I will mail.

Koko the Gorilla plays with her kitten, All Ball

Students were re-introduced to their grass heads this morning and were very surprised at how much the grass had grown. They measured the length of the "hair" and if it was longer than 6 inches, they were to give their guy a haircut. Here's a picture of some of the styles, including Mohawk and crew cut. I read students the book "Koko's Kitten" about a gorilla who knows sign language and has a pet kitten. They are excited to learn more about Koko. As promised, I've added a link to Koko's web site in the links section below.

For any of you who are worried about your "Mr. Grass Head" here's how they are doing...

Ellie's mom and dad brought the family's 1928 Model A car as a show and tell. It has a crank engine and a really awesome horn. I'm sorry that I didn't have my camera available. For their morning work, students did a subtraction worksheet independently. I was so proud of how well they did! Both kindergarten classes went together to 3 intermediate classrooms to perform the song Firework in sign language. The big kids were so supportive and encouraging, in addition to being impressed by their wonderful signing! Way to go, kindergartners! You are awesome!

Ellie shared her awesome VIP poster with us this morning. We read In the Tall, Tall Grass about insects and animals you might find hiding in tall grass. Students completed an art project to go along with the book. Mrs. Felten helped students as they cut out grass, glued it to a blue background then drew and colored insects to put into the grass. Mrs. Rolfson read two books to the class after lunch and helped students with their journal topic "If I were a bug..."

If you've logged in looking for previous posts, you'll notice that they are all gone. I tried to update this blog yesterday to find that it had been deleted! Apparently there was suspicious activity and Google temporarily deleted it. I had to go through some work to get it back up again, but all my old posts are gone. Someone also hacked my Facebook account recently so I deleted it. It's kind of scary, but I'll keep an eye on this blog. If you notice any offensive posts or comments, please let me know so I can immediately deal with them. Thanks.

I took a picture of a sweet message that Ellie, Morgan, Lauren and Sofia left for me on the easel. Thank you, girls.

Students were very conscientious about watering their seeds this morning! As part of our unit on seeds, students created seed art. They were given sunflower seeds, in the shell and without shell, dried blackeyed peas, and dried lima beans and a small round paper plate. Some students created a pattern around the edges and others just sprinkled seeds randomly. We also labeled the parts of a plant on a picture of a sunflower. Students practiced subtraction independently.

After learning what seeds need in order to grow, students planted grass seeds in cups decorated like people. As the grass grows, we will take measurements and when it gets to a certain length we will give the grass heads haircuts.

Check out our new dinosaur center. I got the idea from a fellow teacher/blogger who created a sensory center. I also had some plastic dinosaurs that the students found on a shelf and desperately wanted to play with so I incorporated them.

Students brainstormed what to write as a class letter to our pen pals. They decided to write Happy Easter on a big egg shape. On it, each student designed their own egg. It turned out very cute and I will mail it to Canada tomorrow. We read The Ugly Duckling. Students were upset by the way the other ducklings treated the "ugly" duckling. They are getting so good at predicting and just understanding stories in general. (I love this time of year when everything starts clicking!) For art, students created egg shell cracking open, exposing a chick inside. For writing, I asked them to create something for the chick to say. Some examples are, "I can't breathe in here!" and "Hi, Mom!" I'll bring my camera to school and take pictures of their artwork. I forgot to mention this to the class, but I called the zoo to set a date for our end of year field trip. We will go to the zoo on Thursday May 19th. I will need 3 parent helpers if any of you are interested in coming along. Of course, you are all welcome to join us. The cost is $3.25 per person. I'll give more details as it gets closer.

Before learning about oviparous animals, each student received a picture of an insect or animal and had to decide if it hatches by putting the picture on a chart under the heading "yes" "no" or "maybe." As we learned more information, they were able to make changes to the chart. In science, we watched two time lapse videos of eagles and chicks hatching. If you didn't order a class picture and now wish to, I have 2 available. The cost is $8.00.

There's no school for students tomorrow. Have a nice day off!

Please keep Riley's family in your thoughts as they are going through a crisis. I have added a link to his mom's web page below in the Links section so you can read more about what's going on.

We practiced addition sentences by working in pairs to shake a cup of ten pennies, drop them, and sort them into heads and tails. Students wrote an addition sentence of how many heads plus how many tails. They knew their "all together" number had to be ten since everyone started with only ten pennies. We practiced sight words by handing each student a card with a sight word written on it. We all sang a song, and as students heard their word, they brought the card forward and then we finger spelled the word.

Since this is Lauren's VIP week, she brought her dog Hoot to meet her classmates. He was a little afraid of all the activity! After reading It Looked Like Spilt Milk, students used their imaginations to turn a blob of white paint into some sort of cloud shape. You will see their creations on the bulletin board just outside the room when you come to your conference.

Contest Winners

Congratulations to Peyton and Jared, winners of today's coloring contest. Great work, guys!

I forgot to make copies of a coloring page for our coloring contest, and I certainly heard about it! I corrected my mistake and students will color their pictures tomorrow. My bad! We started a unit on taking care of our planet by reading a book about the importance of recycling. Thomas brought his dirt bike for show and tell at the end of the day.

Fuddrucker's Family Night on Tuesday

To celebrate report cards, take your family to dinner at the Fuddrucker's on Overland Ave. Tuesday night. Part of the proceeds benefit our school. Be sure to tell the cashier you are from Rose Park.

I finished all my testing today so I spent a little time with students during centers. They enjoyed posing for pictures. We watched the school talent show this afternoon. Our own Peyton performed a dance and did a great job -- no nerves at all! We had 4 minutes to clean up before going home. I was so impressed that we got the room completely clean and sent everyone home with all of their papers in that amount of time. Way to go, team! Don't forget to return your library books tomorrow.

We did a guided drawing lesson yesterday in which I showed students how to draw a bird step by step. Next, they outlined their bird with permanent marker, and then they painted it with tempra paint. The results were impressive! We talked about when to add an s to a verb to make it agree with the noun. For example, "A dog runs." "Three dogs run." We practiced writing numbers because I'm still seeing lots of backward numbers and letters.

We started a new shared reading today called "Spring." It talks about what Spring has, such as, "Spring has new buds on trees. Spring has sunshine." The last line of the poem is, "Spring has no snow." HA! So wrong! I tested students on their ability to make a repeating pattern. They did very well. I am working on report cards tonight. Report cards go home next Tuesday, right before conferences.

We talked about the signs of Spring that we're already noticing -- longer days, chirping birds, and warmer days. Students generated some ideas of their own and wrote about them. We did a science experiment in which we made rain in a jar by putting hot water into the bottle, covering the bottle with a paper plate, and putting ice cubes on top of the plate. I was impressed by the amount of information students retained from our lesson about the water cycle and how clouds form. In an effort to encourage neatnesss, we had our first ever coloring contest today. I asked an objective staff member to judge the papers. She had such a difficult time (because they were so good) that there was a 3-way tie. Congratulations to Joe P., Lauren, and Ellie! We decided to make the coloring contest a weekly event. There are 2 items in your Monday envelope that need to be returned tomorrow. One is the blue conference confirmation sheet. The other is a thin orange sheet asking if you'd like to order Highlights Magazine. Even if you do not want to order, please check the "No" box and sign it. If I receive all of the orange forms, our class will receive a box of stickers that can be used in the classroom.

Class Picture Tomorrow

We get our class picture taken tomorrow. Please turn in your picture money and orcer form if you want a copy of our class picture.

We learned "take away" in math today. The phrase used was "fewer than." You can practice with your child by showing them a group of objects, asking them to count how many are there, then secretly taking away a few and ask your child to figure out how many you took away. They should be able to count the number of object remaining and count up to the previous number to determine how many you took away. For example, if you showed them 10 cookies and took 3 away, they would count the 7 remaining cookies and count "8, 9, 10" and be able to tell you that's 3 numbers so you took 3 away. I showed them what a "take away" number sentence looks like, so you could practice that as well (10-3=7). Students have listened to several books about life on a farm and have identified examples of onomatopoeia in stories. They're so smart!

For math, students practiced counting on. I used a spinner to give us the beginning number and the students had to be able to say the next number. We went around the circle, counting up to 20. The person who said 20 had to stand up, then we started over again until everyone was standing up. They thought I rigged it because I was the last one standing. lol I read Blueberries for Sal and students shouted out when they noticed onomotopoeia (krplunk, thump, etc.).

Daylight Savings!!!

Don't forget to "spring forward" on Saturday night! Your child is bringing home an order form for butter braids. They attended a "kick-off assembly" today, telling them to only sell to people they know and to always sell with a parent or trusted adult. This is, of course, optional. The PTA sponsors these fundraisers to provide our school with books and technology items the school district could not otherwise provide. If you get any orders, please return the form by March 25. The PTA will announce when the butter braids arrive. They will need to be delivered only to people who are home to receive them as they cannot be left to thaw.

Everyone seems to understand addition so we are zooming through our unit. I have talked to the class about writing during the entire Writer's Workshop time versus writing a single sentence and saying "I'm done." When students shared their writing today, I was impressed to see filled pages. The best part is that I'm giving very little assistance--they are being so brave and sounding out words on their own! This is exactly what I expect to see by this time of the year. I was so happy that I gave them 10 minutes of dance music and just let them freestyle dance for a while. They loved it!

In sign language, we learned the signs for this week's shared reading "My Look Book" and also learned signs to the song "One Light One Sun" by Raffi. In math, students learned about odd and even numbers and used different number combinations to make addition problems (we call them number sentences) for the numbers 8 and 9. Ms. Butler taught a lesson on the jobs of students. Every student's job is to follow the classroom rules, do their school work, but students also have jobs at home such as making their beds. We discovered that they have a lot of jobs for being only 5 or 6 years old. In science we talked about fossils then students pressed different classroom objects into clay and had a classmate guess what the item was.

Students finished an art project we started Wednesday afternoon. We started addition in math today. In our curriculum, they introduce addition by saying "Two and two is 4." I also show them how to write it as a math sentence 2+2=4 and use "plus" and "and" interchangeably so they get used to the language. Students did an awesome job in writer's workshop. Some students want to write a simple sentence and say, "I'm done." I tell them that Writer's Workshop is like Santa's Workshop. The elves don't just build one toy and quit; they keep going until time is up. (I learned this from my reading coach.) It encourages those who are capable to add another sentence to make their writing more interesting. As a reward for their hard work, each student was able to share one piece of writing with the class today.