Friday, December 23, 2016

December 23

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We sure had a busy week here in Kindergarten! 


Today in your student’s folder was a packet filled with books, a number chart, and some math games.These books are at your student’s instructional reading level. These books can stay at home and you can practice with your students reading them.  As well as being able to read the words, it is very important that students are able to retell what happened in the story. Asking your child questions about the story will help build their comprehension. We will begin guided reading starting in January, but you can always look for other books to read at home with your child, using the books I sent home as a reference. Continuing to practice the Kindergarten sight words is something else you can do at home. The list of sight words if on my blog if you have misplaced your list I gave you at our conference. None of the things in this packet need to be returned.


This week we completed our Goodnight Room 113 book that will begin circulation after our vacation. We are still missing quite a few books. If you have a handmade class book at your house, please send it back in as soon as possible so another student can take it home to share with their families.

Mrs. Christiansen came in this week to teach us our 4th life skill: When something is too hard, find a teacher and ask for help. She read us a story called Beautiful Oops which we all really enjoyed.

We got to see the 4th and 5th graders perform their holiday concert on Tuesday which was awesome!

Thank you to all of you who came to our performance of the Nutcracker! We hope you enjoyed it!!



For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas with your families!

Have a wonderful vacation and a Happy New Year!


Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Gingerbread Men

Here are the Gingerbread Men we made with our 4th grade buddies! They are still in the hall, hopefully they do not run away around school!



Nutcracker Characters









Friday, December 16, 2016

Gingerbread Man

We have been reading a number of different versions of the classic tale: The Gingerbread Man. We have been comparing the stories and talking about the different characters. We have been making predictions about what might happen to the Gingerbread Man at the end of the story.


Today our buddies came down and we read the book The Gingerbread Man: Loose in the School.

Well, our Gingerbread Man has been sitting on my desk all this week. He visited us from my house. This afternoon after Mr. Stead read us our latest Gingerbread man story we discovered our Gingerbread man was gone!


The Gingerbread Man left us a note at the end of the book, saying he did not want to be a snack, and that he was running around the school!

We decided to track him down! 4th graders and Kindergartners worked together to read the clues and walked around the building to find the Gingerbread man! He took us to the library, the cafeteria, to Mrs. Conley, the music room, the gym, the art room, and then the nurse! Finally we read the last clue at the nurse's office and we found him back in Room 113! 








We were all able to decorate our own Gingerbread men that we will hang in the hallway and hopefully they will not run away again! 







It was a fun way to spend our Friday afternoon with our 4th grade buddies!


December 16, 2016

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We had a wonderful and busy week here in Kindergarten. With the snow on Monday we enjoyed a two hour delay! I hope you got a few minutes extra sleep!


This week we created a new class book about what Nutcracker character the students were traced as. They worked together to paint and create each other's Nutcracker character. Pictures coming soon!


We really enjoyed the show on Thursday. It was great to see the Nutcracker characters come to life after reading so many stories about the ballet. Thank you so much to Mrs. Andrews, Ms. Bagni, and Ms. Sorenson for joining us on the field trip! 

We have been busy with our own practicing for our very own Nutcracker performance on Thursday the 22nd. Please join us in the Francis Wyman auditorium for Kindergarten's very own Nutcracker. We will be performing the Arabian Coffee dance. Please have your student wear dark pants and a white, yellow, or orange shirt. If your student does not have a shirt any of these colors that is fine, please do not go out and buy anything special!


On Wednesday of this week, we participated in our very own battle scene from the Nutcracker with the rest of Kindergarten. Students got to pick whether they wanted to be a mouse or a soldier and we did a pretend battle. It was a lot of fun! 









Also on Wednesday our guidance counselor, Mrs. Christensen came in to work with us on Kindergarten life skills. We have been practicing these both with her and all throughout our day. These life skills will continue to help students. You can also practice these at home as well. 
Life Skill one: When a teacher says your name, stop what you are doing and say "yes."
Life Skills two: When a teacher gives you a direction, do it right away. 







Please continue to practice with your student at home how to get on their jacket and other cold weather items. We will continue to go outside when it is above 20 degrees and it is a huge time saver! 





Thursday, December 15, 2016

Snowmen!

We made snowmen faces... which worked out well for our two hour delay this week!

Monday, December 12, 2016

December 12

Image result for nutcracker


We have been working very hard here in room 113! We have  been learning all about the Nutcracker ballet and are looking forward to seeing it this week! The students have made different Nutcracker projects, and we will continue to do so this week. I am tracing each of them on big chart paper to make a life sized Nutcracker character. They are loving it and working together to create the different characters. 

We have continued to read different Gingerbread Man stories. After we read the stories we are comparing the different characters and different endings. It has been fun to predict what might happen to the Gingerbread man at the end of the stories. 

Students have been busy writing in their December journals. I am amazed how well their writing has been and continues to grow. We started letters x and y in Fundations. We are almost through the alphabet and will be starting uppercase letters in January, as well as starting to tap out sounds to make words. 


Please continue to practice at home with your child how to put on jackets, zip jackets, put on gloves, change boots, etc. It saves so much time for getting ready for recess and going home. 



** We are in need to paper towel tubes .. If you have any please send them in! **

Thanks!


Monday, December 5, 2016

December 5


It was nice to see all of you for conferences. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions! You should be very proud of your students. They are working very hard this year, and as many of you know, their hard work is paying off. I have been so impressed with their writing lately, they are doing a great job getting the sounds they hear down on paper. 


I have made an additional page on my blog with the list of sight words. You can practice these at home with your students. Also, continuing to count to 100 and read every night is great practice too! I will be sending home a book at your students' instructional reading level that you can practice at home as well. 


We have competed a new class book, Where We Live. We will continue to talk about why it is important to know where you live. You can practice at home too, and perhaps an important phone number for them to know!


We are also working with different Gingerbread man stories. The students are making a class book to go along with the story. We will also be writing in our December journals about the Gingerbread man. The students really seem to enjoy the different stories and predict what might happen to the Gingerbread character. We even decorated our very own Gingerbread men... They haven't run away... yet!



We are getting ready for our trip to the Nutcracker! We have read a few versions of the Nutcracker and have listened to the music. If you have not sent in the money yet for the field trip, please do so this week. A notice went home last week that the students in Kindergarten will be performing the Nutcracker on December 22nd at 9:00am in the Francis Wyman auditorium! All are welcome to attend. Our class will be dancing the Arabian Coffee. We will start practicing this week!



As the weather gets cooler we will still head outside for recess. Please practice at home with your child putting on their gloves, hats, mittens, jackets, boots, etc. It is a huge time saver for us getting ready for recess. When there is enough snow on the ground we will continue to go out to the hardtop area. Students are able to play on the snow if they have snow boots AND pants on. Please practice putting those on as well when there is more snow!