Week of Feb. 22-26th

This week was Bear week!  We learned all about Grizzly (brown) bears and Polar Bears and today we compared the two.  We are listening to informational books, taking notes, doing research, and next week, we will turn those into bear reports.  Next week, we will also learn about black bears and panda bears.  Next week will also be our Teddy Bear picnic.  Thanks to all who offered to send in items.  I sent the note home yesterday highlighted with what I needed.  Please note quantities as I don’t need everyone to bring the whole amount!  Friday is also small stuffed animal day, but in K, it’s going to be a little different.  I will send a note next week and remind you, but I’d like each child to bring a small stuffed bear on Thursday and it will spend the night in the bear den.  Then Friday, your child will have their bear as their stuffed animal.  If they don’t have a small bear, they can bring another small stuffed animal.  By small, I mean try to keep it under 12 inches.

We added the sight words “she” and “he” this week as well.

In math, we are done decomposing numbers.  The kids really get this concept which is fun to see.  Next we are starting measurement and will be looking at length, height, weight, and capacity.

I sent home a note today with the Spirit week days for next week.  In K, we have a few adjustments.

Monday is Cat in the Hat day.  Wear red, white, and black and they can wear a hat.

Tuesday is Green Eggs and Ham day.  Wear green on this day.

Wednesday is Wacky Wednesday and they can wear their PJ’s to school.  Please remember they need to wear tennis shoes and have to be able to go outside to recess.

Thursday is Fox in Socks day.  the sheet says silly socks or slippers.  I told them the K rule is only funny/mismatched socks, no slippers.  Unless you’d like to be in my room all day putting shoes on/off, tying them etc, we’re only going to do socks.  Thanks for helping me not have more gray hair that day! 🙂  Thursday is the day they will bring their teddy bear to school as well!

Friday is If I Ran the Zoo day and bring a small stuffed animal.  Their bears will be here for the teddy bear picnic, so no need to worry about that day!

Short and sweet update for today.  Have a great weekend!

Week of Feb. 16-19th

It was great to see you all at conferences.  Thanks so much for taking the time to come in and chat with me about how well your kids are doing.  I mentioned a series of books to several of you that I think the kids would like but can never remember the name.  I looked it up, (and wrote it down!).  It’s called the Dragon Slayer’s Academy by Kate McMullen.  It is a book that you would want to read to them as it’s sometimes in pig latin! 🙂  I read it one summer for a book club for Jack and the boys especially loved it.   Please be sure to hang on to the list of dates for the rest of the year to refer to.  I’ll give updates as things come up.

Speaking of things coming up:  Your child does NOT have kindergarten next Thursday Feb. 25th.  It will be Kindergarten round up day where we get a chance to meet the upcoming K kids for next year.

I know some of you need higher books in reading folders.  Please mark it on your form if you think they’re too easy.  I am trying to fit in reading groups AND do testing and it just takes awhile.  The good news is that it takes awhile because I have lots of kids that have taken off on their reading and I have to keep getting them harder books.  Please email me if there’s an issue and thanks for your patience.

On Monday, Schlitterbahn reading minutes are due if you chose to keep track for free tickets.  Library books are also due Monday.  I told them today which was my mistake.  It confuses me too now that we’ve switched days.  Checkout is on C days now.

I am sending a book order form home tomorrow that got here late, but has some good books in it.  You can order from that as well if you’d like.  Those orders are due March 2 so that we can get them back before Spring Break.  Having a new book to read would be a great way to start the break!

We spent two days this week talking about leaders, presidents, and in particular, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  We also talked about how the kids can be leaders and what qualities we look for in a leader.  We also talked about presidents being on coins and looked at the various coins and discussed their amounts.  On You tube, there’s a cute video called Hey Honey Bunny about coins and their values that they liked.

Today and tomorrow we are talking about dental health, visiting a dentist, and ways to keep our teeth clean.  I sent home a tooth chart for them to keep track of brushing and healthy snacks and told them when it’s completed, next week or the week after, they can bring it back for gotchas.  Tomorrow we’ll make Tooth Fairies and do some creative writing trying to figure out what the tooth fairy does with all those teeth!  They also got toothbrushes and toothpaste home today that Colgate sends us.

In math, we’re still decomposing numbers and taking the group of 10 out and adding the ones to get teen numbers.  Pick a teen number and ask your child to show you an example!

We added the sight words “said” and “was” this week. We’re also starting to add letters to the beginning of words to make new words.  For example, we’ll take the word bat and change the b to a c to make cat.  Then we’ll see how many new words we can make by changing the first letter.

On the announcements this morning, Dr. McDonald asked who was still working on coding and lots of my kids raised their hands.  Don’t forget to print off the certificate at the end and send it in when they finish all the modules.  Some of them even choose to work on it during center time.  The website it https://studio.code.org  then click on course one.

Olaf was a pretty big hit, but now that he’s been in everyone’s hands, he’s not so white anymore! 🙂  He is going home for a bath and next week, we’ll start with Baxter the Bear.  We had a great conversation in class today about being kind, respectful, and always trying your best.  Those are the qualities that Baxter is looking for.  We also talked about good tattling today and looking for those good characteristics in other people.

I will be here tomorrow morning, but will be gone in the afternoon to take Jack to a follow up appt. with the surgeon.  I will let the kids know in the morning, but wanted to give you a heads up.

Have a great weekend!  We’re going downtown to serve lunch at reStart with our church.  That will be great, but sure wish I was back in San Diego! 🙂  Have to say, I enjoyed the 77 degree weather and hanging out on the beach!

 

Week of Feb. 1st-4th

Look at me, remembering to update the blog! 🙂

We had another busy week finishing up our penguin unit.  Did they tell you about the fun experiment that we did yesterday with the oil and blubber glove?  If not, be sure to ask about it!  Today we put together our penguin books and they’ll share those at conferences! We added the words in and at and worked on a snow poem.  They are really having fun hunting for sight words in their emergent readers and poetry!

The 100th day was Monday of course and our room was full of old folks!  It was a fun day centered around the number 100!  Thanks to the parents who were able to come help!  I appreciate you!  I hope 100th day will be a fun memory for the kids!

Tuesday we learned about groundhogs and shadows.  I hope they remembered to share their groundhog cookies and tell you about what they learned!

Our Valentine party will be next Tuesday and we’ll be sharing valentines, making cards for veterans, and enjoying some party fun.  Please send their valentine box and their valentines with them on Tuesday.  We’ll pass them out in the morning and then I let them take them home to open them.

We had a LONG talk this morning about above the line behavior as yesterday they were very disrespectful to the music sub and we’ve just had some issues in class.  We talked a lot about the word respect and what it means.  We also talked about lunch and how they only have to stop talking for the last two minutes of lunch to finish eating.  I tried really hard to help them see the “why” of the rules, not just to follow them because I said so, but gave them the reasons why we have those rules.  This is a pretty chatty group which is fine at certain times, but not fine at others.  They did a great job at centers while I was with reading groups and the morning went really well.  Then….kinda fell apart at specials.  I had lots of kids walking laps at last recess today.  If your child did, please ask them why and what they’ll do to change that next week.  I am really pushing the “be kind” attitude and then that kind of covers everything.  I say this so that you can talk to your child.  However, having taught K awhile, I also know how hard Feb. is with short weeks and long breaks.  We will continue to talk about it and I appreciate your support at home.  They’re great kids and CAN do the right thing and I continue to tell them that as well.

Reminders for next week:

No school tomorrow:  Friday

Monday:  please send library books in and they will be able to check out new ones.  That’s not our normal library checkout day, but I want them to get new books.

Tuesday: please send in reading folders.  PLEASE remember to write the book titles on the logs.  If it’s not listed, we assume they haven’t read it and they don’t get new books.  Given the long weekend ahead, I want them to have new books.

Wednesday:  Kindergarteners do not have school, (1-5 does have school).  I will be in mtgs. in the morning and start conferences in the afternoon.  I look forward to meeting with everyone.  Please make every effort to be on time and I will as well.  I do not have the option to move people at this point because I am all full on times.  At conferences, I will give you a list of dates that you will want for the remainder of the year.

Thurday:  Conferences continue.  I will be at Jack’s in the morning and then will be back here to start at 1:30.  Thank you in advance to the PTA for the wonderful meals they provide for us during conferences!  It’s always a treat.

Then we all have a LONG weekend with no school on Friday or Monday!  I’ll be headed to
San Diego and the Hotel Coronado for the weekend.  My husband has a conference for work, and Jack and I are tagging along!

I hope you all have a great long weekend and that everyone can rest up.  I’ve had lots of coughing and sneezing, and several kids home sick this week.  I’m here for work in the morning and then headed to Lawrence to see my girl!

Have a great weekend!

 

Week of Jan. 25th-29th

Sorry for the late update.  I have excuses, but let’s just say…I didn’t get it done.  Thanks for sending your kiddos in their 100th gear.  I think they had a lot of fun today and I have to say, the day FLEW by!  Thanks to the Moms who were able to come and help with rotations!  I couldn’t do it without you all! 🙂

Last week, we worked on all things penguins!  This week, we will finish up our books and you’ll get them at conferences.  They have done an amazing job and should be filling your ears with info. about penguins!  Did they tell you about the vocab. word we learned, regurgitate!  That’s usually the one they want to share!

We added the sight words they and can.  I have been testing kids and they’re doing a great job, keep practicing!

In math, we finished up number sentences to 10 and this week, we’ll work on place value with teens numbers.  We’ll pull out that group of 10 and see how many “ones” we have left.

We also finished up KS day and will share those books with you at conferences as well.

I need all conference forms back as soon as possible.  If possible, I’d like your child to come with you, they’ll share with you for a few minutes and then we’ll have a few minutes to talk on our own.  If you need more time to talk to me, then you can take the things and have your child share them with you at home.

Here’s some info. about an upcoming service project:

Giving the Basics    Scout Pack 3132, along with Bentwood Girl Scouts, is sponsoring a product drive for Giving the Basics (http://www.givingthebasics.org), a local organization that provides human dignity and personal care products to children, families, veterans and others in need around Kansas City.

Our goal is to OVERFLOW the four collection barrels that will be available at Bentwood from Tuesday, February 16 – Friday, February 19.

Please consider sending a product donation! Any of these items are welcome:

— soap

— shampoo

— conditioner

— deodorant

— diapers

— toilet paper

— combs

— dental floss

— tissues

— handiwipes

— laundry soap

— razors

— shaving cream

— tooth brushes

— tooth paste

Simply have your child drop the items in the barrels at the front entrance of Bentwood during collection week.

If you have any questions about the drive, please contact nicollescheller@yahoo.com.Thank you!

I think that’s it for now.  I’m taking these OLD bones home! 🙂