Antarctica!

Keeping with the theme of our weather lately, on Friday we went to Antarctica!  The kids were super excited, although I think most of it was because of my excitement and their knowing it's my favorite place to talk about!  We saw a lot of pictures of the beautiful scenery, along with lots of wildlife.  All this week we are watching clips of video footage that I took while there as well!  It is only our first day here this week, and already, I'm pumped!

First sighting of Antarctica after 2 days of sailing

The ship that I traveled aboard

We saw 3 different types of penguins.  This one is a chinstrap

A minke whale (35 feet long) swimming along side our raft

We saw 4 different kinds of seals.  These are crabeater seals

Iceberg Alley

Another seal.  This one is a leopard seal, the meanest of the seals

Elephant seals, weighing in at an astonishing 3.5 tons

One of several research stations.  This one is Vernadsky and is run by the Ukrainians. 

Homework:

Homework for this week was already printed and ready to go, prior to yesterday's snow day.  I have gone ahead and sent home the papers for yesterday anyway.  Feel free to do those if you would like, in addition to tonight's homework.

100th Day of School:

Because of the snow day, our 100th day of school is now pushed back to Monday, January 27.  Should we have any further snow days between now and then, that day will continue to get pushed back.

Specials:

Whenever we have a snow day, our specials classes do not get skipped.  This means that whatever special your child was supposed to have had yesterday, is the special they had today.  As you look at your child's calendar each night, you will need to adjust each day back one to make sure you are planning for the correct specials class.  If you get confused, just check with your child to see what they had today, and that should help you figure out what comes next.

PE Shoes:

All the specials classes will be meeting in the gym on Friday (January 24).  Please make sure your child is wearing tennis shoes on this day!  In addition, many kids are coming to school in snow boots, which is fine.  However, please make sure if it is a PE day that tennis shoes are also being sent in for them to change into to participate in the activities.

Bingo for Books:

On Thursday, January 30, our PTO will be sponsoring a free event called Bingo for Books.  This is a fun event for the whole family that is free of charge!  More information will be coming home about it soon!

Yearbook Money and Book Orders:

If you are planning to order either of these, the due dates are approaching.  Book order money needs to be sent in or ordered online by this Friday, January 24.  Yearbook money is due by next Friday, January 31.

Sight Words:

Posted at the top of this blog is a link to our Kindergarten Sight Words.  Please make sure you are working on these words with your child at home!  We are currently working on learning the words from Quarter 3. This means your child should be practicing and all ready memorizing the words from Quarters 1 and 2.  These words are very important as we begin to read harder leveled books, especially in connection with our DIBELS testing.

Enjoy the rest of your week and try to stay warm!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

There is a lot of info coming home with your child today!

100th Day of School Activity:  Your child has an activity in their green folder to do in preparation for the 100th day of school.  Please be sure to read the top portion of the paper before you begin.  As always, this is a project for your child to do.  You may help as needed, but please allow them to do most of the work.  This project can be turned in anytime next week.

Scholastic Book Order:  Our January order forms are coming home today.  Remember you can fill out the order forms given, or log in to Scholastic to order on-line.  The Parent Letter on top has our class ordering code.  Also, there is a special coupon for you to receive a free book with your order of $10 or more.  Cool!  Orders are due by next Friday, January 24.

Superkids:  We finished our last lesson for Ettabetta today.  Inside green folders you will find your child's workbook for Ettabetta.  On Tuesday we will take our next Progress Test, and then meet our last Superkid.  I will get the Parent Portal updated on Tuesday for your child to have access to any new games and the new books.

Math:  This week in math we have been hard at work.  Below is a list of skills we have been working on:

• Ordering daily events
• Creating and extending patterns that are not color based.  (For this activity we used craft sticks)
• Practiced describing objects by their attributes (size, shape, color, thickness)
• Played a "Guess My Number" Game to continue developing number awareness
• Played a game to help us find the missing number in a sequence

Also coming home today, is the next quarter's Everyday Math at Home book.  Remember, this book is just a sample of activities you can choose to do at home with your child, which extend what your child is learning here in the classroom.  Please take advantage of this great resource!

Writer's Workshop:  Everyday we take a portion of time in the afternoon to work on writing in our Writer's Workshop.  On Tuesday, your child will be coming home with their Journal that they have been using so far to do their writing and drawing.  This first half of the year we have spent our time working on the following:

• Page orientation (left, right, top, bottom, single page spread, double page spread, front and back cover)
• Date Writing (1-17-13)
• Who the Author and Illustrator are and what they do
• Finding how an author gets ideas for a book, and making a list of topics we can write about (We write about things that we know!)
• Detailed Drawings
• Drawing a picture that matches our words
• Using good size, shape, and color in our pictures (make it realistic!)
• Attention to detail (5 colors, 5 details)
• Labels
• What they are and why we need them
• Practice labeling the important parts of our pictures

As we continue in the next few weeks we are going to start working on full sentence constructions.  We will learn strategies to help us hear and write the sounds we hear, as well as learning about the parts of a sentence and how to write them completely.  Have your child try to write a complete sentence for you at home this weekend!

Enjoy this 3 day weekend, and see you back on Tuesday!

And We're Back!

Welcome back to 2014!  I hope you all had a great holiday and enjoyed the extra days off we had!  While the snow and the few extra days were nice, to be honest, I was ready to come back!!  We have hit the ground running and the countdown to the end of the year has begun.  The kids are anxiously awaiting our 100th day of school (which is next Friday by the way!).

Last week we began a new Super Kid character: Ettabetta.  She loves all things games and puzzles!  Please continue working with your child on the /e/ sound, as well as correct letter formation for capital and lowercase Ee.  *The Parent Portal has been updated.  There are now 5 games for your child to play, along with 2 new books to read!*

Yearbooks:  An order form came home on Friday for your child to order a yearbook.  If you choose to do so, your $14 payment is due by January 31.

Bottle Caps:  Mrs. Shearer (our art teacher) is collecting bottle caps and lids of all shapes, sizes, and colors for a very cool project the kids will get to do.  She will be collecting these through the end of January.  As you pitch items at home, consider saving the lids and sending them in to help her out!

Classroom Calendars:  The Classroom Calendar has been updated for the month of January.  Be sure to check it out to stay up to date on all our classroom happenings!  Also, as of right now, there is still no snack calendar.  We still have quite the snack supply.  Expect a new snack calendar to come out in February.

Homework:  The homework sheets for both this week and next week were created before break, and because we already printed and copied them, we are going to stick with them. So please disregard the dates on the sheets the next couple of weeks.

Snow Make-up Day:  You have probably heard by now that the state is giving schools a waiver for missing Monday and Tuesday of this past week due to the extreme cold so we will NOT have to make up those two days. However, we will be making up the day we missed Wednesday. That make-up day will be on March 14.

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!