Week of October 24-28, 2011

Happy almost Halloween!  Ms. Haas and I have been administering assessments this past week, and the students have been hard at work on some spooky activities. The boys and girls created Halloween cats, worked on a pumpkin counting book, made paperclip mobiles, utilized their fine motor skills with pumpkin sewing, sang Halloween songs, and constructed their very own Halloween books with words and pictures.

The students have also really enjoyed their enrichment classes, as well. With Dance, Spanish, Music, P.E., and Library, the kindergarteners have really become very well rounded young scholars.  Their enrichment teachers have also commented how well behaved they are in class, which makes Ms. Haas and I very proud of them!

We are so excited for our Halloween festivities on Monday. It is going to be such a fun day for everyone. We would like to thank the parents who are volunteering to help, and bring in the items needed for the party. It will be awesome to see the kindergarteners all dressed up in their costumes!

Reminder: The Halloween Parade starts at 1:10pm on Monday, October 31st. Students may wear their costumes to school, but please leave any costume weapons at home.

Thank you, parents, for all you do! Hope you have a wonderful pre-Halloween weekend!!!

October 17-21

Halloween is in the air! The kindergarteners have been working hard this week. On Monday, Olive the storyteller visited and told us some wonderful Halloween stories. The boys and girls especially love saying the Five Little Pumpkins poem from this week. We also had a great time visiting the school wide bake sale. Thank you for bringing cookies to sell!

In Language Arts, the students tried their luck in a game of Pumpkin Boo. They took turns drawing letter cards out of a jack-o-lantern, and writing words that start with that letter. The kindergarteners also learned some interesting facts about bats this week. They each wrote their very own "bat fact" and decorated paper bats in the classroom. October is national "Apple Month", and the students took turns exploring the parts of the apple with Ms. Haas. They even tasted different types of apples, and compared them. The boys and girls are very excited about Halloween, and they took time discussing their costumes in their table groups. Then, they had a chance to draw and write what they were going to be. It was very fun to find out what costume each student will be wearing!

We have been practicing how to write our numbers in Math. The students have been making sure that their numbers are facing in the right direction, and are written in correct form.  They also have learned some new Halloween songs about witches and jack-o-lanterns, so you can ask your child to sing you a tune or two. In Art, the boys and girls have been creating a multitude of Halloween projects. The students made fingerprint spiders and little trick-or-treaters for our bulletin boards. They did a great job. Please come in and check them out! Also, they made ghost wind socks to hang up at the kindergarten booth for the Halloween Carnival this weekend. They are very spooky!

Just a reminder: Monday, October 24 is a minimum day.

Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend!

Week of October 10-14, 2011

Even though this was a short week due to a school holiday on Monday and our Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch on Tuesday, we got a lot packed in! It was a little muddy and we got a bit of a science lesson with several weather patterns throughout the day, but that didn't deter the children from having a wonderful time at the Pumpkin Patch feeding goats, riding ponies, trains and picking out the perfect pumpkin!

LA was tied into the Halloween theme where children wrote words that begin with /g/ like ghost, /c/ like cat, /s/ like scarecrow, and /p/ like pumpkin.

In Math, we finished up the final 2 lessons in Topic 1: Sorting and Classifying. The children also took their first math "Test" to assess their understanding of the concepts and skills learned.

On Friday we got a special treat with the 7th Graders presenting Donizetti's Elixir of Love. The children were engaged and attentive listeners. We may even have a future Opera singer in our very own classroom!

Hope everyone enjoyed the lovely weather this week - we sure did with a little extra recess at the end of the day!

I have many more photos from the field trip that I will post in the classroom. I'm happy to email/print copies of photos of your child. Just let Ms. Haas know... Have a great weekend!

Week of October 3-7, 2011

The Kindergarten has been getting in the Halloween spirit this week! We finished up the alphabet and read Miss Spider's ABC by David Kirk. We then created a spider "web" (a form of graphic organizer) in which the children came up with things that they know about spiders: they lay eggs, they eat insects, they are created by God, and they have 8 legs! The children wrote the ABC's on a sentence strip, taped 8 legs onto it, and then made them into spider hats!

Also in Language Arts, we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. We talked about how each letter makes it own sound and that letters are used together to make words. As an example, we used a very familiar word - our names! The children then made their own coconut tree and just as the alphabet falls out of the coconut tree in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, the children spelled their names with foam letter stickers falling out of their coconut tree!

Mrs. Haas continued with a mini-apple unit and the children went apple-picking! They had baskets filled with red, green, and golden (paper) apples, each with a letter of the alphabet on it. They picked their apples from the basket, said the letter, it's sound, and named something that begins with that letter. They then drew the picture and either wrote the letter or if they were feeling challenged, wrote the word in their Apple Workbook.

In math, the children continued the concept of sorting and classifying objects by attributes and objects that do not belong. They had a great time exploring with the pattern blocks!

Don't forget Monday is a Holiday and our Pumpkin Patch Field Trip is on Tuesday, October 11th. Remember to pack a paper bag lunch and wear clothes that can get dirty!

Have a great long weekend!

Week of September 26 to September 30

Happy October! The kindergarteners have had a very busy week. We had our annual Pirate Day this past Monday, and it went off without a hitch! The students looked very authentic in their pirate gear. Olive the storyteller also visited, and told us some wonderful stories.  On Thursday, we met with our sixth grade reading buddies. The sixth graders took some time to "interview" the kindergarteners, and learn about their young buddies. The students really enjoyed getting to know each other.

In Language Arts, we covered the letters T, U, V, and W. The boys and girls had a fun time creating paper bowl turtles, and their "V" flower vases.  The students are coming up with some great words to coincide with our Letter of the Day. They are always so excited to participate!

In Math, the students tried their luck "rolling the dice". They recorded each roll on a graph to see which number they rolled the most. The kindergarteners were very enthusiastic when they had a number that finally reached the top of the graph! The students were also introduced to the concept of sorting, which will continue into next week.

We worked on an art project on Friday where the students created an apple tree with their handprints. The kindergarteners giggled as we painted their hands green for the leaves!

Ms. Haas and I wanted to thank all of the parents that helped donate prizes for our weekly Friday raffle. We really appreciate it, and the children are so excited to be a part of it.

Reminder: The kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch is on Tuesday, October 11. We have no school the day before (Monday, October 10) due to Columbus Day. So, the field trip will be on the first school day of that week. We thank you for your efficiency in returning the permission slips. It will be a really exciting day!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!