Week of Feb. 4-7th

I hope you all enjoy your long weekend!  I won’t be updating next week since it’s a short week, so I’ll try and cover it all here.

Conference notes went home, I think I have almost all of them back.  Please return those on Monday if you haven’t already.  In Kindergarten, conferences are not really student led.  I do have a reflection they’ve filled out and work samples to show you.  I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you want them to attend.

Bingo night was lots of fun, glad to see some of you there!  Next up for PTA is the roller skating party on the 21st.

This week in K included:

Putting together our non-fiction penguin books!  I hope you all enjoyed them!  We also did an experiment to learn why the oil on the penguins feathers make them waterproof and how their fat keeps them warm.

We also read Sneezy the Snowman and talked about story elements in a book.  In particular right now we are talking about setting.  When reading with your kids, have them tell you the setting, where and when they story takes place.

We have a couple of new class books coming home this week as well.  Some from the 100’s day and a winter one too.  I hope you’re enjoying reading the class books and seeing the progress the kids are making!

We continue to work on writing and I will share with you some writing samples at conferences.

In math, we continuing to work on deconstructing the teen numbers and are working on looking for and finding number patterns.  This week we looked at adding 10 to numbers to get teen numbers.

In Science/S.Studies, we are moving on to Presidents and American Symbols and will finish up the month with teeth and nutrition.

Next week, we will talk about hibernation and do some Valentine books and activities.  The Valentine party will be Tuesday at 2:45.  Please remember to have them bring in a box that day and valentines for each child.  We will pass out the valentines in the morning, so please send them in the am even if you’re coming to the party.

Ask your child about our quiet lips.  We’re trying something new that 1st grade is doing to make sure we’re quiet in the hallway.  (If first grade is doing it, that seems to be a good motivator!)  Hopefully this will transfer to getting back to earning 4’s in specials so we can earn our pj party!

Sorry I had to be gone Thurs. afternoon.  One of Abby’s staples in her paw came out and I had to take her back to the vet.  Now she has 4 staples and it’s all bandaged up.  Thankfully the raccoon has not returned.  Hopefully they all learned a lesson! (Although I highly doubt it!)

Have a great weekend!  My son and I are headed to the Home and Garden show.  He wants to talk to Reed Timmer the Storm Chaser and I plan to stalk Josh Temple from House Crashers!  I’d love for him to come and crash a room in my house!

100th Day!

Week of Jan. 28th-Feb. 1st

With all the excitement this week, I forgot to remind you that bookworms were due Friday.  Please total up the minutes, sign them, and turn them in this week.  For the month of February, the school will be having a classroom challenge to see who can average the most minutes per student, so keep reading!!

This week we added the sh sound, the words sheep, jeep, snail, pail, ship, fish, and dish.

We finished our Kansas books and those came home Tuesday on Kansas day.

We are almost finished up with penguins and you will see our facts books coming home soon.

100’s day was a lot of fun.  Thanks for having the kids dress up, and thanks to the parents who came to help with rotations.  I think the kids really enjoyed it!

Thanks also to all who came for Fathers, Football, and Facts night.  We had a great turn out and it was a lot of fun with a lot of problem solving going on!  Please fill out the evaluation sheet and return next week.  It’s important to give us your honest reflections so that we can improve things for next year.

February is a crazy, chopped up month, but we will continue with our curriculum as usual.  In math, we are still deconstructing the teen numbers.  We will do some fun valentine activities and continue with our reading and writing.  Around President’s day, we will learn about G. Washington and A. Lincoln and about American Symbols.

Please send conference notes back on Monday.  I tried to do the same times as last time.  Please keep in mind if you need to switch a time, that I am working around 23 other times scheduled as well.  Just so you know, you will not get a report card at this conference.  That’s always a little confusing, but we are at  midterm, so you will receive their midterm report then.  Please let me know if there are any specific concerns you want to discuss at conferences so that I can be prepared to answer questions.  I don’t send an evaluation for this conference as usually everyone knows the drill at this point.  However, if you do have specific concerns, please let me know!

Our valentine party is on the 12th.  A note will go home Monday about valentines and boxes.

I sure hope Phil is right and we’re headed towards Spring!  I’m not sure any of us can take anymore indoor recess! 🙂

Enjoy the Superbowl.  Personally, I prefer the puppy bowl on Animal Planet! 🙂