Merry Christmas!

Christmas break is here!  We have had a great week.  The past few days we have spent some time traveling around the world to see how other countries celebrate Christmas.  The kids are bringing home a scrapbook today with info we learned about Mexico, Australia, and Sweden.

Enjoy this picture journey of other items from our week!

Our visit from Santa!  Each of us got a new book to read!

Playing "Melting Snowman" during our Christmas Party.  When the music stopped, the kids had to melt as quick as they could!

Making our Rudolph craft using our hands. 

Listening to a story.

Enjoying a sweet treat.  The kids decorated a sugar cone with green icing, then added M&M's as decoration to their tree.

The stockings were hung on the mantle with care.....  The kids made these back at the beginning of December.  It was a lot of fun when the realized they were being filled each day this week.  We had several guesses as to what could be inside:  candy, coal, and even new underwear!  They were pretty excited to find out today that it was candy!

Enjoy these 2 weeks off.  I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  See you in 2014!!

Another Week Closer...

It's hard to believe we are one week away from Christmas break!  First semester has really flown!  Here are some items to remember for next week:

Good Cheer Baskets:  We are still collecting items to donate through all of next week.  If you have any cans or dry goods you would like to donate to needy families, just send those in with your child any day next week.

Christmas Party:  Our Christmas party is Thursday, December 19th from 1-2 pm.  It is not too late to volunteer to come help us out.  If you are able, please let me know so we can plan for the number of helpers.

Polar Express Day:  This is one of my favorite days in Kindergarten.  All next week we will be doing activities to correspond with The Polar Express.  Friday will be our "Polar Express Day" and we will have a special surprise.  More information will come home on Monday.

Specials Change:  On Friday, December 20th, all the specials classes will be going to the gym for a fun activity.  PLEASE HAVE YOUR CHILD WEAR TENNIS SHOES ON FRIDAY.  When we come back on Monday, January 6th, the schedule will be as follows:

Echidnas:  Art

Emus:  Music

Kangaroos:  Library

Koalas:  PE

Christmas Break:  Our break officially starts at the end of the day on Friday, December 20th.  School will resume on Monday, January 6th.

Pictures:  I have attached a few pictures of the kids playing a memory game during one of our Super Kids lessons this week.  They had to take turns and find the matching Capital and Lowercase letter.  They will be able to play this game at home next week once we finish our unit on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Whew!

What a crazy way to end the week!  Today flew by!  However, we were able to accomplish just about everything!  A few things to note:

Mexico:  We finished our trip to Mexico today.  I brought back some cookies with me from my trip, so the kids were able to taste those.  Some liked them more than others, but I was proud of all of them for at least trying the cookies!

Superkids:  We met a new Superkid today, Frits!  Frits loves to fish!  This next unit we will be working on the letter /f/ sound, our handwriting for this letter, as well as really starting to read whole sentences.  The kids are doing such a great job blending words.  Keep working on it at home.

Canned Food Drive:  Next week Creekside will be starting a canned food drive.  All the donated items will be donated to a food pantry for needy families during the Holidays.  If you are able to donate items, please send them in with your child to add to our class basket.

My family and I are heading to Missouri today to see my sister's college Christmas Program.  Fingers crossed the roads aren't terrible!  Enjoy your weekend!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Welcome back from what was hopefully a wonderful Thanksgiving break!  It is hard to believe that it is December already and we are just 3 weeks from Christmas break!  Over the weekend I was able to go and cut down my very first Christmas tree!  It has been a lot of fun getting my house decorated for the holidays!  I love this time of year!

We have been getting ready for the holidays here in the classroom as well!  I love Christmas lights and the ambiance of a room lit by hundreds of lights, so I have decked out our classroom!  The kids were so excited to see all the lights, and our classroom tree as well!  I had to laugh when they seemed shocked that my tree is decorated with penguin ornaments.... duh!  What else would I use?!

We have also started a countdown to help us know how much longer we must wait for Santa to visit us!  Hanging in the hallway, each child has a picture of Santa, except one thing is missing... his beard!  Each day, the kids get to add one cotton ball to help fill in Santa's beard.  When all the circles are filled in, Santa will be coming that night!  They love getting to watch the beard fill in!

I have updated our blog pages for our December Classroom Calendar.  Be sure to check it out so you know what will be taking place this month.  Also, there is no Snack Calendar for December.  We have plenty of snacks right now, and I think we should be able to make it to January before we need to replenish.  Look for another calendar to come home at the beginning of the year.

With Christmas being just around the corner, we have 2 very special events planned for Kindergarten.  The first is our Christmas Party.  It will be on Thursday, December 19 from 1-2 pm.  If you are willing and able to come in and help with the party, please let me know!  

The other event is our Polar Express Day which will be on Friday, December 20th.  More information about this day will be coming home shortly.

Thank you all for allowing me to teach your child.  I am really enjoying this group of kids and I'm blessed to have such a special group to spend my days with!  Have a great afternoon!