Week of March 25-29th

This week has been a frog frenzy in our room!  We read some great expository books about frogs, talked about fact vs. opinion, and made a frog book with great vocabulary words.  We wrote our own facts and opinions on frogs as well in our book.  We also made awesome frog habitats.  All of these will be out at the Art Fair night on April 11th.

In math, we’ve worked on counting to 100, seeing patterns in a 100’s chart, counting by 10’s to 100 (have them sing you the song!) and played some 100 number games!  Next week, we will start on different types of measurement.

For second step, we have been talking about conflict resolution/problem solving and different choices you can make when you have a problem.  We practiced some scenarios that happen in kindergarten daily and talked about what the BEST ways were to solve those problems.  I had to laugh at how many said “walk away” was the best choice because kindergarteners rarely walk away.  Maybe if we say it enough, it’ll sink in.  We talk about solving those little problems on their own instead of making them bigger.  We know that WHAT we say and HOW we say it makes a big difference!

Today we met with our 5th grade buddies and made friend diagrams.  They LOVE buddy time and they synergized really well together!

I have a request:  if you have a daughter who likes to wear jewelry, can we please try and keep it at home?  I’m seeing lots of rubber band bracelets being passed around, necklaces being chewed on or played with etc.  Lately it seems a lot of them are wearing things to compare to others and it usually just becomes a big distraction that ends up having to be put in their backpack.  Same goes for the chapstick.  If it’s in their backpack and doesn’t come out except to put it on (if needed) after lunch, that’s fine, but that’s not usually how it works.  Thanks for your help with this!

Thanks to all who came to Pizza Shoppe.  I worked the first shift, so I got to see several of you there.  We appreciate the support!

I will not be here Monday so please remind your child to be on their best behavior.  Mrs. Schmeeckle will be here for me.  I am moving my father in law to a new facility this weekend and we have to take him to the neurologist on Monday.  Given the move, my husband doesn’t want to go on his own.  He has Alzheimers and taking him somewhere like the Dr. is a two person job, especially with all the changes this weekend.  Thanks for understanding.  I’m hoping this is the last move he makes, unfortunately the facility he was in was not doing a good job taking care of him.

OK, enough about me, have a great weekend!  Please be sure to read and return book bags on Monday!

Week of March 19th-22nd

This week we learned all about weather, weather patterns, and the moon.  We listened to interesting books, we wrote facts and opinions on the weather and moon and we even graphed if we’d like to go to the moon.  The moon backpack has started coming home as well.  I sent an email earlier this week, so you’ll know what to do.

In math, we’ve been working on decomposing teen numbers for early learning of place value concepts.  We took the number 14, pulled a group of 10 out and then checked to see how many ones were left.  SeeSaw has the pictures of the fun game we played.  Next week, we will play some 100 games.  Keep working on practicing counting to 100, almost everyone has gotten it!

We’ve been working on how to get along with others while playing this week for second step.  We worked on our leadership notebooks today, updated 3rd quarter goals, set our 4th quarter goals, and talked about how we can be a leader at school.  Notebooks will be out for you to look at during the Fine arts fair night on April 11th.

We have almost been through the whole class to be greeters.  This weekend, I’ll work on the schedule for 4th quarter greeters.  I’ll start with those that had shorter weeks due to weather/conferences.  They are really enjoying being the greeters.  We are working on looking at the person in the eye and ways to respond to greetings.

Next week, I will have a list for you of all the year end dates to be aware of.  Be sure to hang on to that for the remainder of the year.

We did switch up reading groups so some of you may see a reread and some may see cold reads.  Please remember to keep reading nightly even without a book baggie book.  Also, if it’s a reread, make sure they are using strategies to get every word.  They can’t be making up or substituting words.

One of the kids asked about the character bags and books, so those will be coming home again starting next Monday.  Those always come home on a Monday and are due on Thursday the same week.  I got a few more stuffed animals and books and hope to add those in soon.  Please be sure to take good care of them, as I can’t replace most of the stuffed animals.

Next Wed., we have a fundraiser for Leader in Me at Pizza Shoppe.  I will be there from 4:15-5:45.  We get a portion of the proceeds and 100% of the tips that night.

Here’s a word from 4th grade about their community service project:

I did want to let you know that 4^th grade is sponsoring a service project in connection with Impact Church.  Impact Church is one of Bentwood’s business partners.  Baskets of Hope is an outreach that provides baskets of comfort items to people at Children’s Mercy in the Pediatric Oncology and Burn Units.  We are collecting brand new stuffed animals of any size, small enough to fit into a basket.  We started collecting on the Friday before Spring Break and will be collecting until the 5^th of April.  THANK YOU SO MUCH to those of you who have already sent in stuffed animals for our service project.   If you have not had time to, you still have plenty of time left.  We have already collected 85 stuffed animals!!!!

I think that’s it for today.  My Jayhawks made it through the first game and are on to the next, but playing a tough team.  That’s about it for my unscheduled weekend!  Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

Week of Feb. 25-March 1st

Book orders due by 3:00 today!!

Happy Friday!  I thought I’d type we made it through a whole week, but guess not.  Monday isn’t looking good either due to the cold, so make sure you watch for that!  Hard to explain to kindergarteners about global warming (learning about polar bear habitats) when it’s freezing outside!

We are learning about bears this week and learning about their appearance, food, predators, habitats, and interesting facts.  We also learned a lot of big vocabulary words to describe bears!  The plan is to take those facts and turn them into a bear report, but that will depend on if we have school Monday!

We added the sight words “said” and “was”.  Make sure you keep practicing, especially said as it shows up a lot in books!  Book bags should be returned Monday next week (unless your child has a chapter book).

In math, we’re finishing up subtraction and playing games to practice.

For second step and leader in me this week, we’ve worked on inviting others to play and making sure we are including others.

The site again for the Decorah eagles is https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-eagles/

She laid her second egg this past week and the next one will probably be mid week next week.  You can also google decorah eagles and click on the live cam.

There’s a note in the folder today about next Friday.  We will be having a wedding in our room!  The letters q and u will get married because they have to stay together to make words!  The boys can come dressed as quarterbacks and wear a football shirt or jersey if they have one and the girls will come dressed as queens…a princess dress or other party dress would be great!  Next week, you will get a paper home that says it’s a qu wedding gift.  Please help your child choose one word that starts with the letters qu or has qu in it and have them write the word (do spell for them this one time), and draw a picture of that qu word.  You can go to a wedding without a gift, so that will be their gift on Friday.  Those are due on THURSDAY!!

Also next week:

• Seuss dress up days, a note will come home today with the days and dress up items.  IF there’s not school on Monday which is pj day, they can wear them on Tues. instead.  I have Seuss pj’s so I’ll definitely be wearing mine!  On Friday, please do NOT send a stuffed animal.  With QU wedding, we will have too much going on.  We’ll do that as a class another day.
• Next Wed., March 6th, is grill day again.  Hamburger, hot dog or yogurt/mini pancakes.  I sent another  email today with menu changes as well.  Today’s lunch will be served Monday and Monday’s lunch will be cancelled.
• I have had several emails asking about homework kids should have turned in.  Each month I send a READO challenge that they can turn in the end of the month if it’s completed and earn a gotcha.  I just sent March’s home.  I also sent a tooth brushing/healthy snack chart that can be turned in for a gotcha once completed.
• This is from 4th grade:Our 4^th grade Blue Jays are organizing a Baskets of Hope Fundraiser partnering with Impact Church one of our business partners. Our part in this fundraiser is gathering NEW stuffed animals to add to care baskets that will benefit Children’s Mercy burn and oncology units.  We will begin collecting NEW stuffed animals Friday March 8^th. We will resume collections on Tuesday March 19^th and collect until Thursday April 5^th. Thanks so much for being a part of the JOY that will be brought to families going through such a hard time.   
• Just an fyi, end of March or early April, I will send a note home with all the dates for the rest of the year.  We are still working on confirming dates in May for the kindergarten celebration and field trip.

I think that’s it for today!  We are headed to Lawrence tonight to take the kids to dinner and go to Rock Chalk Revue!  Am excited to have some Mom hugs tonight.  I sure miss my kiddos!  Hope you all stay warm and safe this weekend!