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.