Week of Dec. 17-19

Wow!  It’s been a week of a really high high and a really low low.  As to the CT incident, I really have no words and honestly, I can’t really even think about it.  All I can do is pray for the families.  As to my high, wow, what a fun surprise!  Thank you all for the Hobby Lobby gift card to help me celebrate.  That part of the week was really fun.  Thanks so much for all the cards from the kids.

Thank you to the room moms for a great party.  I know the kids had a ball and especially like the elf video with me and Mrs. Brock!  Thank you from both of us for the wonderful gifts.  Truly, working with your kids each day is a gift.   We both feel very blessed to be in this school and working with such great families.

The kids came home today with a gift from us and a cereal journal.  I encouraged them to read everyday and to write everyday.  They can write in the journal or even write their own book if they like.  They also have their Dec. math calendars that came home.  They should be able to do most of it on their own.

I hope you all have a restful, relaxing break.  We are staying in town this year as our house is being re-sided.  I will miss your kids and look forward to seeing them in January.  January is an exciting time in Kindergarten as you will see HUGE amounts of growth soon.  Some have started already!  I retested everyone in reading and am seeing those lightbulbs go on!

Don’t forget to read and record on your bookworms as they’ll be due when we get back.

Take care and have a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year.

Lori

Week of Dec. 3-7th

Wow!  The weeks are flying by!  We had such a fun week in Kindergarten this week!  We started our Gingerbread unit and it’s always one of my favorites!  We tasted gingerbread cake and almost everyone liked it!  We graphed who liked it and who didn’t.  We’re reading lots of different gingerbread books and comparing and contrasting them and practicing the different refrains in each book.  We also started a gingerbread jar journal that we’re keeping track of the different endings in the different books we’ve read.  We’ve also worked on syllables in our words.  This week, we added the words toad, road, rope, bone, long e, bee, and the letter Z.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but since we’ve started rating our writing, the kids’ writing has improved dramatically!  This time of the year is so exciting for me because I get to see such growth in their reading and writing.  We’re working on capital letters at the beginning, a period at the end, spaces between our words, and making sure our pictures match our words.

In math, we’ve started addition and they’re really getting it.  I’m using the zoo plates and cubes for them to solve problems.  For example, the problem, 2 + 3, they put 2 cubes in the first ear, 3 in the other, then slide them together to the top of the plate.  As they count, they slide them to the bottom to make sure they’re not double counting.  We’ve done math around the room a couple of times where they move around and solve problems and they LOVE it!  I’ve probably had at least 5 kids in the last week tell me they love doing math now!

We also read the Nutcracker book this week and made our own nutcrackers.  They’re hanging in the hallway.  Then we watched parts of the movie and the kids really enjoyed it.

I hope you saw the list I sent home about the soldiers that we want to help out.  We will be making cards in class next week and collecting items.  I had a long talk with the kids and tried to explain to them how hard it is for the soldiers to be gone from their families and how hopefully we can help them out.  We also saw a picture of one of the soldiers and his family.  On Monday, our Elf, Buddy, will be bringing some candy to send to the soldiers.  I know lots of people are asking for items this time of year.  If you can provide anything on the list, I know it will be greatly appreciated and I think it’s so important for our kids to learn how to give.  I told them I know they don’t have money, so if you buy something, I suggested they help out doing a job at home to help “pay” for it.  I’ll have a box in the room to collect items.

I’ll send new books home in reading folders before break.  Please be sure they do lots of reading over break and use the strategy cards in the folders.

I have a few random requests:  I would still like a few more sets of playing cards.  I have lots of new games to teach the kids in Jan.  I also have a bunch of board games that I would love to have “markers” for and I’ve found the little shaped erasers work really well.  I got some at Michaels and could use some more if anyone runs by them.  What we REALLY need are more Clorox wipes!  The kids wipe the tables everyday at the end of the day and we are constantly wiping sinks and door handles.  We also use them a lot after projects as this group is a little glue happy!  If everyone could bring in one container of wipes, I’d really appreciate it!  I’ve never run out before, but would rather ask for more and keep germs away!

Book orders are due Monday in order to get them back by break.  Let me know if they’re gifts.

Our holiday party will be on Tues the 18th at 2:45.  Thanks for checking with me about treats so we can include all the kids.  The kids will have a sing along on Wed. the 19th.  If you will not be in school the last few days, please let me know so I can send things home early.

I have lots of Royal Reader dates open.  Please let me know if you’d like to come share a book with our class.  Jan, 11, 18, and 25,  Feb. 1, and 22nd, March 8, 15, 29 are all open.

I’m sure you’ve heard about Buddy our class elf!  Apparently, he knows lots of the elves at homes too!  Each day, he leaves us a note and some sort of surprise.  Everyday the kids write about what he’s doing.  He left on Friday to go and help Santa and left us some Elf Kisses (hershey kisses) to enjoy.  When he returns on Monday, he’ll bring some candy for the soldiers.  I think he is really helping us keep our behavior in check.  And we’ve had lots of fun with him.

I just want you to know that I feel so blessed to be where I am and to have this great class!  I just love my job!  Thanks for sharing your kiddos with me!

Have a great weekend and next week will be the last update until after the holidays.