Christmas is coming!!!

We had a great week this week learning and making Christmas ornaments. Next week we will start our "Christmas Around the World" unit. If you have anything that you could share with the class that came from another country, we would love to see it! Our class is going to sing at Richland Manor on Dec. 16, watch for the permission note to come home. Our class party will be Dec. 21 at 8:30. Your child will need to bring a gift to exchange (boys bring boy gift, girls bring girl gift ($5 limit). Please send gifts in by Dec. 17. Please send $1-$2 to help buy refreshments for the Christmas Party. You are welcome to come to the party. The children will sing for you at 8:30 before we have refreshments and open gifts. Kindergarten will dismiss at 9:30.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. It has been nice to relax before we get into the busy Christmas season. We will be learning a lot during the month of December. We will continue to work with letters, sounds and words. In math, we will be making a lot of graphs. During the month, we will also be learning about Christmas celebrations around the world. This is lots of fun for the children. You may want to pull out a world map, so your child can show you the places we learn about. Watch for the weekly newsletter to find out things we need this month to help with our activities.

BOOK FAIR AND BOOK SWAP

Our school is having "recycle a book" on Monday, Nov. 15. Your child may bring up to 10 books to trade or swap. We are also having the BOOK FAIR in the Library. The BOOK FAIR will last until next Friday, Nov. 19. If you want your child to buy books, please send the money in an envelope labeled BOOK FAIR. There will also be FAMILY NIGHT for the BOOK FAIR on Tuesday, Nov. 16, from 3pm-7pm.

November

Good afternoon! We have been very busy at school learning letters and sounds. We have also been learning to speed read our ABCs in order and out of order. You can practice this at home by writing letters(upper and lowercase), out of order for your child to practice. You can even use a timer to see how many they can say in one minute and see if they can improve their time. The children really enjoy beating their times. I will be posting pictures from the field trip soon, watch for them.

RED RIBBON WEEK

Red Ribbon Week is Oct. 25-Oct. 29. We have lots of activities planned for the week. We are participating in the CEMC can food drive. Red Ribbon Week is a week to bring attention to living a healthy life and staying drug free. We are decorating the school and each hall to promote being drug free. If you would like to come on Monday or Tuesday to help decorate please let me know. Our school will be judged on Thursday in a county-wide decorating contest. We are also having dress up days: Monday-dress like 50s and 60's; Tuesday-dress like 70's and 80's; Wednesday-dress like the future; and Friday-Career day, dress like your favorite career. Our field trip is planned for Thursday, Oct. 28 to Bottomview Farms in Portland. Parents are invited to meet us at the farm(parent price is $5 and you pay at the farm). We will be getting class t-shirts to wear on the field trip and on other special activities at school(your child will put it on at school and at the end of the day take it off for me to wash, at the end of the year your child will get this shirt to take home). You can also order a school t-shirt for your child and yourself. On Friday, Oct. 29, we will have a special "Pancake Day" party(a pancake decorated like a pumpkin) to celebrate "P" week and Halloween. Our special activities will start at 12:00 on Friday.

Five Little Pumpkins

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Letter T

This week we will be working with the letter T and the sound that t makes. We would really like to have a big truck or big tractor visit us during T week. If you know someone that has one and would be willing to spend 30 minutes-1 hour at school with us this week, please let me know.

M Week

We have been doing lots of activities this week with the letter M. We have played musical chair and used a magic hat to find things that start with M. We made a monkey puppet and we were also monkeys in a song. We are going to make milk mustaches and graph M&M's. Be sure to ask me what the letter m says and to tell you a word that starts with the letter M. We also got our own magnifying glass to take home. Thank you to all the parents that sent in supplies for the special activities this week.

Alphabet Song | ABC Song | Phonics Song-We enjoy this song in class

FALL Break

I hope everyone enjoys their time off during our Fall Break. Thank you to all the parents that came to parent conferences. It was great to meet with you and learn more about your wonderful child. If you didn't get to make it, please email me and we can set up a time to meet after the break. Reports cards will be going home in the next couple of weeks.

I AM A FIREFIGHTER!

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WE went on a field trip!!

WOW!  What fun we have had this week!  We have learned about community helpers, and talked about what we wanted to be when we grow up.  We learned about question marks and exclamation marks.  We finished our short review of the alphabet, and now we will start studying a letter each week.  We learned about all the sounds that the letters make by meeting animals (ask me if I know what Allie Alligator and Bubba Bear say).  We put our names in ABC order in the hall.  We learned how to spell and read words that rhymne with cat(ask me to tell you a word that rhymnes with cat).  We went on a field trip to the Highland Volunteer Fire Department.  On the field trip we learned about the fire trucks, the firefighters' uniforms, and what to do in case of a fire.  We also met a dog that works with search and rescue.   The best thing of all was getting in the fire truck and wearing the fire hat. The funniest thing was the BIG blow up fireman. 

What's happening....

We will have individual school pictures made on Thursday, Sept. 23.  Parent/Teacher Conferences will be on Sept. 30, I will send home the time confirmations this week.  I had A LOT of parents sign up for the same times, I tried to get everyone scheduled close to their picked time.  If your time doesn't work please contact me and we will work out another day to meet.  Fall Break will be from Sept. 30-Oct. 10.  Our class is going on a FIELD TRIP to Bottomview Farms in Portland on Oct. 28, if you would like to go please RSVP on this page. 

September 13-17

HI!! Hope you all are having a great weekend.  This week we will learn two new words   THE  and LITTLE.  Write these words and hang them around your house for your child to see and read daily.  I will be sending home a practice reader this week, have your child read this book to you and return it the next day.  The more your child reads it the better reader your child will become.  We will continue to work with rhyming words this week and nursery rhymes.  Share your favorite rhyme or nursery rhyme with your child.  We will also work with sequencing of stories and activities.  Use the words first, second, third, fourth, etc at home. Remember to have your child write their name on all homework, remind them to use an uppercase letter for the first letter of their name only.   Don't forget that the fundraiser is due on Sept. 15.  I'm looking forward to having a great week working with your child!!

READING in Kindergarten!!

WOW!!  We are really moving fast.  We can read our color words and the sight words "I" and "am".  For the next two weeks we are reviewing letters and letter sounds.  We started writing in our journals.  At the end of kindergarten we will be able to look back at our journals to see how we wrote at the first of the school year and at the end of the school year.  Our school fundraiser started today and will end on Sept. 15.  The class that sells the most will get a pizza party.  Progress reports will go home on Sept. 7.   WE ARE OFF TO A GREAT START!!

OPEN HOUSE

What a GREAT Open House!!!  We had 14 children come to visit with their families.  Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to come.  It was great to meet all of you and for the children to show off the classroom. 

WHAT FUN!!

OH WOW!!  We had such a fun day today.  We painted with the color BLUE and did a great job.  We visited the computer lab and our behavior was wonderful.  All the children seem to understand the mouse and how to use the computer.  We will go to the computer lab every Tuesday and every fourth Friday.  We will learn how to go to another learning site this Friday.  We also have two computers in our classroom  to use during center time and down time.  We went to the  school garden and picked tomatoes, a bean, and a sunflower.  The most fun of all  was going into the chicken coop to see the chickens.  We will be getting new younger chicks in October, and next spring they will lay eggs.  The children got a chance to try out reading rotation today, where they went to different groups and centers.  We will be having this rotation daily.  We are off to a great start.  We have a wonderful bunch of boys and girls.  I'm thrilled that your child is in my class!!

First FULL day of Kindergarten!!

WOW!  Wow is all I can say.  I had a great day meeting the 20 new students in my classroom today.  I am extremely tired tonight, but I can say we had a GREAT first day!!!  The children were so enjoyable and eager to try to do everything we did.  I do think we are going to have a great class, and a great class equals a great year for everybody.  Today we were very busy learning names, playing with puzzles, playing with playdough, listening to stories, learning about math and the calendar, going through the lunch line, playing outside and learning to listen and follow classroom procedures.  Ask your child what they enjoyed best today and leave me a message and let me know.  Have a great weekend!!

Tomorrow is first day!!

I am so excited that we start kindergarten full-time tomorrow.  I am sure you and your child are too.  I have been working really hard in the classroom to get everything ready.  I have lots of fun and exciting things for us to do this year.  We will start off studying color words and how to read the words.  We will be learning a song that goes with each color.  Kindergarten is a fun and active learning time for your child.  Take the time to listen to what they learned at school and to look at the papers that they bring home each day.  I hope all of you received the card that I mailed you to welcome you to school.

ALL ABOUT ME

Hi!!  I am so excited to start a new school year and to work with you and your child.  Kindergarten is a wonderful year of learning and experiencing new things.  I have taught school 26 years (10 years in First Grade, 10 years as a School Counselor(k-5) and the last 6 years in Kindergarten.  I absolutely love teaching and seeing children learn new things.  I have twin daughters(Kaitlyn and Kacie) that are in their second year of college.  They attend college at North Central College in Naperville, IL(which is 30 miles from Chicago); this fall they will be studying abroad in Canterbury England.  My daughters will come by during the school year to work with your kindergartener and get to know them.  You will probably hear a lot about them and about Chicago and England.  I like to read, walk, travel, play games, and crochet.  I also love working with my flowers and have a special fondness for cardinals.  I love life and learning; and I try to instill in your child the love of lifetime learning.  To succeed in life you must be a lifetime learner!!  My favorite colors is yellow and I love cats(even though I don't have one now because I'm living in an apartment.  Please feel free to leave comments and tell me more about you!!