We just made it back from Thanksgiving break and we're already counting down to Christmas! We have a lot to cover over the next three weeks as we approach the end of the second grading period. Please be practicing letter/sound recognition and sight words at home throughout the week. We will be conducting our classroom assessments in the last couple of weeks before break and want all of the kids to do as well as they possibly can.
I will be sending home a note in the next week or so highlighting a few Christmas activities we plan to do in class in the upcoming weeks. The note will be requesting donations for supplies we will need for the activities. If you are unable to to make a donation, please do not feel obligated to do so. This request is simply a form of assistance. We are also planning a small Christmas party that will include a book exchange for the kids. More details on that coming soon.
If you have any holiday books that you can send with your child for our read aloud time, I would greatly appreciate it! The kids are extremely enthusiastic about sharing their books and I thought this would be a great time to let them bring in their own books from home.
Have a great week!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and an opportunity to give thanks for the blessings in their lives. I personally ate waaaay too much food, but cherished every minute I had with my family and made sure to tell each one of them how much I love them and appreciate them.
Since you've had a day to digest your Thanksgiving dinner and maybe burn some of it off with some Black Friday shopping, I thought now would be an appropriate time to share all of the hard work the kids put into our "Week of Thanksgiving" at school.
We began our week reading and assembling our "First Thanksgiving Book." This book told the story of the first Thanksgiving and answered many questions the kids had about the holiday - such as What is Thanksgiving? and Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving? I had the kids highlight all of our sight words in the story to emphasize just how important those words are. They were surprised when I told them they were reading a book on a second to third grade level - even though they don't yet have the reading skills to decode the entire book, they were able to read many of the words because they are sight words that we have practiced in class.
After reading about the first Thanksgiving, we worked on our ability to retell the story. We made story bracelets that retold the story with different colored beads. Each colored bead represented a detail from the story and served as a reminder of what happened next. We read a Thanksgiving poem that was sent home so that the kids could retell the story of Thanksgiving to their families. I hope they shared! :)
We discussed what it meant to be thankful and made a list to display in our room. It's always amusing to see what is important to a kindergartener.
We turned our list into individual writings, but needed a little gobble gobble to go along with it. We created turkeys from a coffee filter - and man was it messy. We colored the filters with markers and as I sprayed each one with water, we watched the colors bleed together and create a tie dye effect. The kids loved it. I apologize for any dingy, brown fingers - just know they weren't the only ones who went home with them.
We also learned interesting facts about turkeys. Did you know a turkey has 157 bones? Or that turkeys have great hearing, but no ears? Did you know gobbling turkeys can be heard a mile away? Or that turkey eggs are light tan with brown specks? Well...now you do.
We put together a story sequence of the Mayflower and it's voyage to America...
For memory's sake, the kids made handprint art for each of their families with a Thanksgiving poem attached. They also made Thanksgiving placemats. I hope these treasures will be kept safe so that the kids will have something to look back on later in life.
But the most exciting part of our week was our preparation for our own Thanksgiving feast. The kindergarteners took on the role of the Native Americans while the first grade classes took on the role as the Pilgrims. We designed our own tribal headbands and feasted on Thanksgiving staples such as turkey and corn (ok - more like turkey sandwiches and popcorn, but that counts, right?). The kids LOVED the time shared together and that was the most important part.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! SEE YOU MONDAY!
Since you've had a day to digest your Thanksgiving dinner and maybe burn some of it off with some Black Friday shopping, I thought now would be an appropriate time to share all of the hard work the kids put into our "Week of Thanksgiving" at school.
We began our week reading and assembling our "First Thanksgiving Book." This book told the story of the first Thanksgiving and answered many questions the kids had about the holiday - such as What is Thanksgiving? and Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving? I had the kids highlight all of our sight words in the story to emphasize just how important those words are. They were surprised when I told them they were reading a book on a second to third grade level - even though they don't yet have the reading skills to decode the entire book, they were able to read many of the words because they are sight words that we have practiced in class.
After reading about the first Thanksgiving, we worked on our ability to retell the story. We made story bracelets that retold the story with different colored beads. Each colored bead represented a detail from the story and served as a reminder of what happened next. We read a Thanksgiving poem that was sent home so that the kids could retell the story of Thanksgiving to their families. I hope they shared! :)
We discussed what it meant to be thankful and made a list to display in our room. It's always amusing to see what is important to a kindergartener.
We turned our list into individual writings, but needed a little gobble gobble to go along with it. We created turkeys from a coffee filter - and man was it messy. We colored the filters with markers and as I sprayed each one with water, we watched the colors bleed together and create a tie dye effect. The kids loved it. I apologize for any dingy, brown fingers - just know they weren't the only ones who went home with them.
We also learned interesting facts about turkeys. Did you know a turkey has 157 bones? Or that turkeys have great hearing, but no ears? Did you know gobbling turkeys can be heard a mile away? Or that turkey eggs are light tan with brown specks? Well...now you do.
For memory's sake, the kids made handprint art for each of their families with a Thanksgiving poem attached. They also made Thanksgiving placemats. I hope these treasures will be kept safe so that the kids will have something to look back on later in life.
But the most exciting part of our week was our preparation for our own Thanksgiving feast. The kindergarteners took on the role of the Native Americans while the first grade classes took on the role as the Pilgrims. We designed our own tribal headbands and feasted on Thanksgiving staples such as turkey and corn (ok - more like turkey sandwiches and popcorn, but that counts, right?). The kids LOVED the time shared together and that was the most important part.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! SEE YOU MONDAY!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Quiet Before the Storm
Thanksgiving is almost here and while we have been working hard learning about the holiday and all of its exciting associations - turkeys, Pilgrims, Native Americans, the Mayflower and loads of food - I've decided to hold off on sharing our activities until later this week. I wouldn't want anyone to overindulge :)
Instead, I thought I would share some of the things we did last week that we all really enjoyed. To drill those sight words further into the kiddos brains, I taught them a game called Hedbanz. This game is a popular game you can purchase at the store, but I created my own version using our thinking crowns and flashcards. The kids loved it and did an AWESOME job.
We finally got around to putting those rocks I requested to use. Thank you to those parents who had to go on a spontaneous hunt for rocks in their backyards - you now have a pet to come home to instead - a pet rock! After we completed our rock unit, I promised the kids we would make pet rocks, but time kept slipping away from me and more than a week had passed. FINALLY I carved out some time so the kids wouldn't lose all faith in me :) They turned out great!
We also made human shapes - with our bodies, that is. Rectangles, circles, squares, triangles - the hexagon was the most interesting. The kids quickly grasped the concept of sides and angles and the differences between the shapes.
Stay tuned for All Things Thanksgiving coming later this week! Have a wonderful holiday!!!
Instead, I thought I would share some of the things we did last week that we all really enjoyed. To drill those sight words further into the kiddos brains, I taught them a game called Hedbanz. This game is a popular game you can purchase at the store, but I created my own version using our thinking crowns and flashcards. The kids loved it and did an AWESOME job.
We finally got around to putting those rocks I requested to use. Thank you to those parents who had to go on a spontaneous hunt for rocks in their backyards - you now have a pet to come home to instead - a pet rock! After we completed our rock unit, I promised the kids we would make pet rocks, but time kept slipping away from me and more than a week had passed. FINALLY I carved out some time so the kids wouldn't lose all faith in me :) They turned out great!
We also made human shapes - with our bodies, that is. Rectangles, circles, squares, triangles - the hexagon was the most interesting. The kids quickly grasped the concept of sides and angles and the differences between the shapes.
Stay tuned for All Things Thanksgiving coming later this week! Have a wonderful holiday!!!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Veteran's Day
We took a couple of days to talk about the significance of Veteran's Day. With the holiday being so close to Thanksgiving, it can easily be overshadowed by turkeys, pilgrims and indians. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen.
We created an anchor chart explaining what Veteran's Day is, why we celebrate it and who we are recognizing. We listed characteristics of a veteran/soldier and shared stories of family members who have served in the military.
It was evident from our discussion that we should be extremely thankful for our veterans. We took the opportunity to write a letter to the soldiers to thank them for doing what they do. We also made "mimi-me" soldiers or "army dudes" as the kids called them.
Thank you to all veterans who have served or currently serve in the military! We appreciate you!
We created an anchor chart explaining what Veteran's Day is, why we celebrate it and who we are recognizing. We listed characteristics of a veteran/soldier and shared stories of family members who have served in the military.
It was evident from our discussion that we should be extremely thankful for our veterans. We took the opportunity to write a letter to the soldiers to thank them for doing what they do. We also made "mimi-me" soldiers or "army dudes" as the kids called them.
Thank you to all veterans who have served or currently serve in the military! We appreciate you!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Weekly Update
Reminder: There is no school tomorrow due to Election Day! Make sure to do your civic duty and get out there and vote!
Last Friday we honored those students for their academic achievements for the first grading period. Three different certificates were awarded - President's List (all A's, no discipline referrals, no unexcused absences), Merit Roll (all A's) and Honor Roll (all A's and B's). I would like to congratulate the following students:
Last Friday we honored those students for their academic achievements for the first grading period. Three different certificates were awarded - President's List (all A's, no discipline referrals, no unexcused absences), Merit Roll (all A's) and Honor Roll (all A's and B's). I would like to congratulate the following students:
Honor Roll
Nyla Avant
James Gregg
Jamessia Williams
Addison Smith
Avery Brantley
Merit Roll
Tyler Hemingway
Ayla Butler
LaVar Manning
Joshua Sherman
Ambrielle Johnson
Nicere Wallingford
Sincere Huggins
Maci Long
Dalayah Phillips
Principal's List
Tyler Hemingway
Ayla Butler
LaVar Manning
I would also like to congratulate our Star Student, LaVar Manning. LaVar brings a positive attitude to class every day. He works hard and plays nice :)
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