Kindergarten is the BEST place on Earth!

Reading: We will continue to discuss Characters and Setting. We will be learning how illustrations help support the Author's words and allow us to understand the events in the story. We will continue to discuss the letters of the alphabet (names and sounds) and color words. We will discussing the following Sight Words: the, of, a and, to. Students will be practicing Independent Reading and asked to find color words and Sight Words in their books. When reading books at home to your child, please ask them these questions: "Who are the characters in the book? Where does the book take place? How did the illustration help support the author's words? **I will not send home the Sight Word Money for the new sight words until the end of the week.**
Writing: We will continue to focus our thoughts into one idea and write a story about it. We will be discussing "take a risk" and adding a setting to our pictures. (Taking a risk means not drawing the same picture every day. Trying a new idea, even if the idea is a difficult one. Ex. drawing a roller coaster, dinosaur, the beach.) Students will be given Writer's Folder's to hold their stories at school. This will allow students to work on writing stories at their own pace. When drawing pictures with your child at home, continue to stress details are important when drawing people and when drawing settings.  When the drawing is completed, have your child tell you a story about the picture. **Please have your child draw with a regular pencil (we call them eraser pencils in class) and add color details with crayons or colored pencils. I do not want students drawing with crayons, because they are unable to fix their mistakes.**
Science: We will continue to study the five senses. This week we are focusing on the sense of hearing and will brush on the sense of taste. (Taste will be discussed more in depth next week.) Students will listen to sounds and explain who/what the sound belongs to. (I'm hoping to record these and post the video's on the blog.  I LOVED the video's from last weeks Science lessons. Hope you all did too! :) Have your child listen to different sounds and explain how they know who/what the sound belongs to. **This website, Sound Snap, offers a variety of sounds for to use with your child.**
Here are a few video's that we will be watching in class to get us excited. :)
                      
                              

The students did an amazing job learning about the sense of touch! They were excited and involved every day during Science. Seeing them watch Mr. R's videos was adorable!! They would sing along and clap their hands to the beat... hearing the song sung in their little voices made me smile.  :)

Well I took out the camera to record our lesson on Wednesday and tried to record "Scientist" feeling objects and none of us were ready! I couldn't hold the camera without shaking it. Haha. The students would yell out feeling words and not ask questions in question form. Only a few raised hands to talk.  So we practiced.... and by Friday they were amazing!

**When watching the videos, you will notice students raising fingers to go to the bathroom, go to the water fountain, and get tissues. You will see them given permission to walk to those areas by me pointing or they have been given permission by Ms.Godbold (our class Para-Professional). You will hear noises: telephones, voices, etc.   We are a busy, busy little class!! Haha

Reading: We will be learning about Characters, Setting and Main Idea using Eric Carle Books (I LOVE Eric Carle!!) When reading books at home to your child, please ask them these questions. "Who are the characters in the book? Where does the book take place? What is this book about?" We are also discussing the letters of the alphabet (their names and their sounds) and color words. Please practice having your child read the color words that come home in their folder. (I have them printed on "dollar bills." I"m not sure of the exact day they will be in the folder, so be on the lookout.)
Writing: We will be learning how to focus our thoughts into one idea and write a story about it. We will also be discussing drawing detailed pictures of ourselves. When drawing pictures with your child at home,  ask them to tell you the body parts on their people. Help them draw if they are forgetting parts. (These are the main body parts we focus on: head, hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, neck, arms, upper body (torso), legs, feet.) When the drawing is completed, have your child tell you a story about the picture.
Science: We are learning about the five senses and lots of vocabulary!! This week we are focusing on the sense of touch and the the way we can describe how things feel. Students will be blindfolded so that they have to use their hands to describe the objects. (I'm hoping to record these and post the video's on the blog. :) When asking your child to describe objects at home make them focus on feeling words: smooth, rough, fuzzy, bumpy, hard, soft, hot, cold etc.
Here are a few video's that we will be watching in class to get us excited. :)

Our first Fun Friday was FANTASTIC! The students loved sitting in each others chairs throughout the day. They were also super excited because everyone got a snack during Recess/ Snack Time. :) The special snack was... CUPCAKES!!

**A few parents have signed up to send in Fun Friday Snacks throughout the year. But there are still a lot of dates available. Let me know what date you would like to sign up for and I''ll write your child's name next to the date.**



Enjoy the video and have a great weekend!! (Some students didn't want their pictures taken and were moving way to fast for me to catch up with them. haha) We have lots of work to do next week. :)

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The past few days with your children have been great! :) They have done a terrific job learning all the new rules for inside the classroom and for outside at recess. Some are becoming pro cycler's on the tricycle. :) Plus they get excited over everything we do!! Today's lesson on germs sounded like we were having a party. haha We discussed the spreading of germs and I showed the students how germs spread by using blue paint to touch things. Blue paint was EVERYWHERE! On tables, chairs, white boards and... people. :) I think the students really understood the lesson!!   Plus our book Listen Buddy lead us into a great discussion on why listening is SUPER important. ( I received stories on falling into holes in the ground and getting hurt, to being eating by a dinosaur, to... "You just have to because Mommy says. " haha :) We ended our day with a big discussion on not playing with math tools. We discussed how exploring may seem like playing, but it's a little different... When you explore, you can then teach someone how to make the item. Three students taught us how to make their items by using position words and counting words. It was amazing! I can't wait to see who shares tomorrow!! :)

Enjoy the slideshow below for a peak into our day and the Jack Hartmann Letter Song Video. :)

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I need to start by telling all of you, that you have the sweetest, cutest kids ever! In all my years of teaching... this day was up there as one of the bests. :) Not a single tear and no one asked when it was time to go home. ( That made me think they liked me and had fun today. :) )  

I wanted to give you a semi quick breakdown as to what we did today... We did A LOT of rule review: Voice Levels, CHAMPS (breaks down the expectations you have for the students into categories. Conversations, Help, Activity, Movement, Participation and S~Super Students) and play dough rules. The kids did a good job with Voice Levels and EVERYONE loved laughing at the play dough rules. haha  It was cute hearing them chuckle. I'm attaching the play dough recipe below, in case anyone wants to make it. :)

We also read two books today. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn and David Goes to School by David Shannon. Reading The Kissing Hand was perfect for the students because it allowed them to see that the character, Chester Raccoon, was nervous about school just like them. Plus it allowed them to see that you can be nervous, happy, scared and excited all in one. :) Below you will find a picture of the predictable chart we wrote after our reading and the sweet pictures of the kids little hands with a "kiss" in the middle. :) David Goes to School went along with CHAMPS and following school rules. No one in our class wants to be a "David." A few even pointed out the right choices they were making and told me they were not like David! haha  I loved it!

See you all tomorrow. :)

I received this email from our school's Physical Education teacher. I am excited to think of the money we can receive from Target to help our school!! Read the message below and be sure to vote. :)

                                           
Thank you to all the parents who took time out of their busy schedules and came to Meet the Teacher. It meant a lot to me to see so many of you there!! I know you received a ton of information and some of it may have seemed confusing... please let me know if you have any questions. I want this to be a terrific year and that can only be done with constant communication. :)


I still have a ton of little things to do to be ready for Monday... but I took a break and made two slideshows. The first one is a quick tour of our Dr. Seuss Classroom. The second one shows your child's Name tag chair. The big kid Kindergarteners!! :) Hope you enjoy both of the slideshows.



Have a GREAT weekend and see you all Monday morning! Ooh don't forget  PTA will be hosting a BooHoo Breakfast on Monday, it will be starting at 8:30 in the Teachers Lounge by the Cafeteria. Make sure to stop by!

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Why is it that when  you want time to go fast, it goes slow. Then when you want it to go slow... it goes FAST!! haha It's the worse. I've gotten a lot done in the classroom, but I still have a ton to do to get ready for Friday's MEET THE TEACHER. :)

Here is an updated list on the things that I've been working on. (pause for a second while I give myself a cheer for getting lots done. haha)

FINISHED	CHANGED, REARRANGED, ALTERED, MODIFIED, TRASFORMED, REVISED, REMODELED, etc.
Classroom Layout	Classroom Posters
Teacher Library	Welcome Bulletin Board (only ½ is done)
Computers	Beginning of the Year Centers
Teacher Area	Math Word Wall
Math Area and math tools	Calendar Math and all the “doodads”
Student Library	Student Displayed Work Areas
Labeling Cubbies	Closets
Word Wall (only reading)
Helped two teachers do their Bulletin Boards.  They helped me and I reciprocated. LOVE my Co-Workers!

Also, I met another student on my class list. (LOVE seeing the new students!!) :) She was too cute and she said my name perfectly... It made me smile! I also loved how she got a huge smile on her face when she saw a poster that has an illustration from Ten Apples Up On Top. I can't wait to see all the students when they enter on Friday and see THEIR Kindergarten Classroom.

I really should be heading to bed... but no one ever sleeps the night before school starts. You are too excited!! So I decided to blog about my "Crafty Self." :)

I always see and hear people talk about Mod Podge. I thought this was the weekend to try it out! I wanted to do something simple and what better way to ease into the craze than to make Alphabet Letters for school. I'm hoping the students LOVE these as much as I do. ooh and notice the teacher in me made the vowels a different color from the consonants... A teacher is ALWAYS teaching!!

Sorry about my stuff on the refrigerator. Just focus on the magnets. haha

Also, I was asked by a colleague to make him a Treasure Box for his Welcome Back Bulletin Board... I wasn't sure exactly what direction I was going to take in making one. But thankfully he gave me all the freedom to do anything I wanted! Can't wait to hear what he thinks about it... :)  If you want to hear about all the different steps I took let me know.

THE TREASURE CHEST!!

Now I'm not yet tired... but I looked at tomorrows agenda and there is a ton of stuff to do. So I'm heading to bed. Night!

I have fun and amazing news to share with all of you. First let me say that I LOVE Smilebox!!! Second I have been given a present from them and I can't wait to use everything they offer! Here is the email that arrived in my inbox today. :)

I have had the same Alphabet line and Word Wall letters for the past 5 years. I was asked by a colleague if I was ever going to change them. Hmmmm I thought. No? Yes? No? And then I decided on YES!! I went on Teacher Pay Teacher and found a lot of cute alphabet lines. But I wanted something to match with Word Wall Letters. I fell in love with a set made by Suzie Cook. :) I liked hers the most because she made full page letter for the alphabet line. Then she made a smaller set (EXACTLY THE SAME!!) and I can use that set as my Word Wall Letters.  Here is a link to her items on TPT:  Full Page Letters and 1/2 Page Letters. I am still in the process of laminating all the pages... but here is a sneak peak of what will be on my wall this year. :)

I stopped by school again today. :) I feel as if I continued to make a bigger mess, rather than clean and organize. haha But one thing I made sure to do today was hang the TRUFFULA TREES!! (Last year my Co-Teacher, Nikki, brought the trees that she had made for her son's first birthday. The students loved them!! The smiles they received during Dr. Seuss week were beautiful.  I thought the trees would be a great addition to the Student Library and when I asked if I could borrow them this year... she said YES. YAHOO!!) Now before you look at the picture... please know that the Student Library is not finished. It is still on the "Work in Progress" list. The book baskets are just placed on the shelves and the listening phones are still in the packages. :)haha But notice the beautiful TRUFFULA TREES and the bright colors!! Nikki did an amazing job making them. With no further adieu... here is the picture.

Aren't they gorgeous?!?! :)

Here is a list of a few other things that got finished today, it's a pretty short list.haha The cubbies are labeled with the cute fish labels I made. (The room is set up for 20 students and I'm crossing my fingers no more than that!) The calendar border and all the different elements for calendar are hanging. And!! DRUM ROLL PLEASE the 5 foot tall Cat in the Hat is at the door ready for the photo op with the new Kindergartners. :)  All of these things were done with the help of my friend Johnny. Thank you Johnny for all your help. Today and last week... and maybe I should thank you now for the help you may offer next week! haha  Having a friend that is 6'4'' is an amazing help when you have posters and "doodads" to hang all around the room.

To get everyone in the Dr. Seuss mood with me :) I'm including the ABC Book.  Enjoy!!