Luke's Dad and Mom came in to celebrate Luke's Birthday today! Luke read a book then we went outside and did the Birthday Jellyroll! We ended the day with a birthday treat! Thank you Luke!

Today Mrs. Swanson came in and we had a mini assembly with Mrs. Schmitz class! We wore glow sticks and turned of the lights! She talked about how the people in our lives are our ROCK STARS ! Also, she told the students to Read, REad, REAd, READ all summer so they are 1st Grade Rock Stars! We sang and watched a video of all the teachers dancing! FUN!

Worms!
The class is learning about worms in science.
We all turned into scientists today and observed worms.

!

Mackenzie picked a birthday present from the birthday box! She decided on silly bands!
Happy Birthday Mackenzie!

Laura's Mom and Dad came in and read a book for Laura's birthday!

Jayden showed everyone his bear from Build-A-Bear! It even sang Happy Birthday!

Gretchen's sister, Grace, read to the class. Grace is in 2nd grade. Gretchen's mom made her own version of the book "Purplicious" for Gretchen! Grace read it to the class. It was a great book!


Gretchen had a great birthday!

Our new sight words are "little" and "give" this week. The students will be writing sentences in their new May Journals and in the Writing Center this week.

They will finish the sentence, "Give a little to the ________." with a word they sound out and write themselves. The students always think of other sentences to write too!

The students are writing great sentences. We have been working on starting our sentences with a capital letter, spacing out the words in the sentence and ending the sentence with a punctuation mark.

We are working on words ending in -ut, un and up.

In the Art Center the students will start making their own ABC Books! I know they will look Absolutely Beautiful and Colorful!

We will be finishing our neighborhood this week in Social Studies!

Emma had a great week being Star of the Week. Here are some of her pictures!

Today we celebrated Robert's Birthday.
The class learned how to do a "Jelly Roll"!
We all had a lot of fun!

First, the Birthday Boy was in the front of the line, followed by his Mom.

Then, everyone held hands in a line and we all circled around Robert.

This week is a review week in Language Arts. We will be reviewing the sight words are, they, we, she, and good. Practice the sight words at home with your child!

We will learned about the letters Yy and Zz. The class will use the Smartboard to write their sight words and letters. Then they will work in their April Journals. Please practice writing all the letters with your child. Ask them where they should start (at the sky) for UPPER CASE LETTERS and where they should start (at the fence) for lower case letters.

If you ordered Spring Pictures please put your payment in your child's backpack.
: )

Also, thank you so much for donating to our Classroom Art Basket! The baskets looked amazing! Thank you so much to Leah Leger for putting them together for the carnival!

We will be working on our classroom neighborhood in Social Studies and will be measuring all sorts of things in Math. Last week we used our hands, feet, fingers, different objects in the classroom and paperclips to measure things in the classroom!

Also, Friday is Earth Day so the class will be making a pledge to help the Earth stay healthy! The class already wants to recycle all of our milk cartons and pick up trash and see if we can recycle it.

April 11 - April 15

This week your child is reading "My Teacher Can Teach...Anyone!" and "Bravo, Maurice!". The students will see the wide variety of jobs that people have.

Sight Words this week: she and good. Practice all the sight word your child has learned so far this year!

We have learned: I, a, my, the, go, to, like, he, come, here, this, me, for, where, do, you, look, one, see what, two, up, down, we, want, out, who, are and they. WOW!

We will be working on words ending in -eg, -en and -et.

In Math, we will be practicing telling time to the hour and half hour.

This week we start a new theme – Jobs People Do. This is perfect timing because last week the class had their picture in the Laker telling what they wanted to be when they grew up. I hope everyone saw all their responses.

We will start off the week reading the stories “Everybody Works” by Shelley Rotner and Ken Kreisler and “Zara’s Hats” by Paul Meisel. These books talk about jobs that people have.

We will be writing and learning about the letters: Vv and Jj

This weeks sight words are: are, they

This weeks vocabulary words are: protecting, volunteer, responsible, adore, melancholy and exquisite.

FUN IDEAS THAT YOU CAN DO AT HOME: Job for a Day With your child, make a list of family members and close friends. Next to each name, write one or two jobs he or she does, such as paying or volunteer jobs outside the home and household chores. Read the list aloud and invite your child to choose a job to write about. First, talk about daily tasks, uniforms, and things needed to do the job well. Then, ask your child to dictate sentences about the job. Ask your child to draw a picture of the person doing the job and write a caption for it.

Ask your child what he or she thinks you do during the day while school is in session. You may be surprised at some of their ideas!

In Math we will be reviewing what the names of each coin is and their values. We will also start practicing telling time to the hour and half hour.

Today Luke's family came to visit. Grandma Phyllis, Lindsay, Peyton and Noah joined our Kindergarten class! We had a great day! Thanks for coming!

I hope everyone had a great Spring Break! I missed everyone and I am very excited to see you Monday morning!

This week your child will be learning more about stories that are realistic and stories that fantasies.

We will be learning about the letter "Ee". In our Literacy Centers the class will be doing some word building activities to isolate initial, medial and the final sounds in words.

Our new sight words are we and want.

Our vocabulary words are: treasure, sturdy, worth, compliment, confer, and mingle.

In Science we will observe our goldfish and guppies. The class has identified the parts of each fish. Each day we will record what we observe.

In Math the students will be learning about money and time. We will review out the names and values of coins and practice telling time to the hour and half hour.

We will be rereading stories from the theme "Let's Play". As children becomes familiar with a story through repeated readings, they respond to it with more depth and creativity. Last week the class read "David's Drawings". Just like in the book, I started a drawing of a tree and each student in K-5 added something to it. We have a classroom picture and each student drew their own.

We will be reviewing the sight words: me, for, where, do, you, look, one, see, what and two

We also will review vocabulary words: bound, drooped, joyous, load, steep, thrill, agreed, contribute, fantasy, jolly, spontaneously and versatile

Our letters this week are: "Ww" and "Xx"

We will be reviewing number 10 - 30, working on Number Patterns that make up the 100 chart. We will be counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. We will be using an application on the Itouches to practice what is an odd and even number. I will be introducing Chapter 8: Money and Time.

We will be celebrating 100 days of Kindergarten!

Wow! Wednesday, February 23rd will be our 100th day of Kindergarten! I have some fun things planned for that day! The room is all set just waiting for all of you to come through the door!

Watch out though.......you might have to duck!

Parent/Teacher Conferences
are on Thursday, March 3rd and Friday, March 4th.
If you are not sure when to come for your conference please call me at 952-491-8429. I will send out reminders this Friday in your child's Friday Folder.
The conference time slots are only 20 minutes and I want to be respectful of your time and the people scheduled after you, so I do ask that you come on time for your child's conference. Thank you so much!

In Math, we are on Chapter 7 - Number Patterns. We are looking at the 100 Chart and learning about all of the patterns we see. We have been counting by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's. We used calculators last week and the students loved counting by 2's, 5's and 10's!

In Science we will be observing and learning about Gold Fish and Guppies. The students always love this unit!

Our Valentine's Party was so much fun! The students all brought in boxes they had decorated and they looked great! Everyone exchanged Valentine's. It was so fun to watch and listen to the students. They all were very excited and very polite to each other. I heard a lot of "Wows!" and "Thank yous!"

Thank you to all the Mom's who came in and helped! You all were amazing!!!!!!

The rest of the week we will be reading the books "I'm a Jolly Farmer" and "David's Drawings". These books show other children using their creativity to make the world a little more beautiful and exciting. K-5 will use their creativity and their imaginations in the Art Center this week. I will start a drawing, just like David did in the book, "David's Drawings" and each student will add to it! I can't wait to see what our class drawings look like!

Our new sight words are what and two.

Our new vocabulary words are: agreed, contribute, fantasy, jolly, spontaneously, and versatile

We will continue to work on numbers 10 - 30 and we have moved on to Chapter 7: Number Patterns. Work with your son or daughter at home counting up to 100.

Wow!
We had four students from our class participate in the Imagination Fair!
Great job Gavin, Laura, Luke and Sam!
Here are their projects!

Gavin's Dinosaurs

Laura's Tell Me A Story

Luke's Lego's Space Police

Sam's Fish and Lures

This week we started a new theme called "Let's Play". Your child is reading Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo by Kevin Lewis and Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. We will stretch our imagination as we read and talk about these stories.

Our new sight words are: one and see

Us the word one in a sentence with your child----An example is:

Our family has one __________. (fill in the blank)

Or if you are in the car say:

I see one ___________. (fill in the blank)

In Math we will be learning about number patterns with numbers from 1 to 100.

This week Mackenzie's mom came into our classroom and presented the first two pieces of art in the Adventures in Art Program. This program is provided by our PTA. The class will have the opportunity to learn about great works of art that are displayed at the Art Institute. After the art pieces are discussed, the student will create their own artwork!

This week, January 31th - February 4th, we will be rereading stories from the theme “Whatever the Weather”. Each day we talk about the weather and we will discuss seasonal changes.

We will learning about different clouds. We will be drawing and painting them!

Our sight words this week are: you and look

To help your child learn these sight words, you can do these activities at home:

* Write and Read each word together.

* Give your child a clue about each work. For example, say “This word rhymes with book.” Then have your child point to and read the word.

* Ask your child to read you or look. Then together, think of rhyming words.

In Math we will be working on numbers from 10 – 30. We will be putting the number in order from 1 to 30 and then counting and arranging them backwards. Practice putting the numbers in order at home, too! Have your child practice writing each number. First, have them write the numbers in order and then randomly say any number between 1 and 30. Have your child write that number.

I am going to be adding another Medallion - Counting backwards from 30 to 1! If you have something you want your child to work on and it isn't on the Medallion list, please let me know. I can add it to their goals!

The class is excited about earning the Medallions!

We will read the book, "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats.

This week:
We will be reading Winter Lullaby by Barbara Seuling and Bear Snores on by Karma Wilson. The students will be learning about how the land, plants, and animals change for colder winter weather.

Our Sight Words are: where and do. We will be using and writing these words in sentences all week long. Where are we going today? Where will you line up? Where will we go? What will we do? Do you like cats? Where do you line up for the bus?

Our new vocabulary words are: arrives, creep, nestle, slumbering, delight, and blustery.

We will be working in our Literacy Centers, too. The students will be listening and then talking about a story. They will be reading, then writing and rereading sight word sentences. The students will be focusing on writing their letters from the sky down to the ground. Also they will be trying to space their words in a sentence and end it with the right punctuation mark. They will be working on memorizing the words "where" and "do". In the Letters and Sounds Center they will be building and writing words with the short i sound. I will be working with small groups using our decodable books.

January’s “Caring for Our Community” has been a huge success. The students are enjoying the dollar days and the Give Like a Rock Star photo booth. It’s been great to have this additional fun and excitement during the month of January. Thank you for your support of Cents for Heart! Thursday bring a dollar and dress like a "Rock Star"!

CULVERS NIGHT

Wednesday, January 26, is our next Culvers Family Night. Please stop by between 4:00 and 8:00 pm for some good food and good company. Remember, a portion of the evening’s sales is donated back to Shirley Hills. We are still in need of some volunteers to help bus tables and serve meals. If you can help, please call 952-472-3469.

IMAGINATION FAIR

If your child plans to participate in the Imagination Fair on February 10th, remember the entry form is due in the office by Tuesday, February 1st.

This week we are starting a new theme: Theme 5: Whatever the Weather. We will be reading "What Will the Weather Be Like Today?" and "When a Storm Comes Up". The students will be learning about different kinds of weather in these books.

We will be learning and writing the letters Bb and Kk.

High Frequency Words: me, for. Work at home with your child by using the words in sentences. Put the sight words, me and for, on your refrigerator. Have them read them and try to think of words that rhyme with them each day.

The students will learn the vocabulary words: prefer, fading, warn, whirl, perhaps, property.

I will be asking the students:

*Show me which you prefer - to whirl or to stand still

*Tell how a meteorologist might warn us about the weather

*Tell about something that perhaps might fade in the sun.

*Tell about your property. (Your backpack, your toys, the things in your room)

In Math, we started Chapter 6 last week - Numbers 10 - 30. The students will be learning how to group numbers using ten-frames and writing them.

Mackenzie brought in a fifty-cent piece on Friday to share with the class.

Mackenzie's Mom came in and read a book to the class to celebrate Mackenzie being Star of the Week! She did a great job! Thanks!

Luke's Dad came in today and read "Three Billy Goats Gruff" to the class! He did a great job! Then the student acted out the book. The class had a great time!

What a great day! We went on a word hunt to find all the rhyming words in the -ip and -it word families. We talked about the vowels a, e, i, o and u and listened for them in the middle of words. We wrote a short poem inspired by Sam's new puppy. In Math, we took a quiz on the different geometric shapes we have been talking about and then we talked about Fractions. So, if any of your children asked for pizza tonight, they wanted to impress you and show you how to cut it in half, in quarters and in eighths.

This week we will be review some things we learned before the holiday break and last week.
We will review our sight words: like, come, to, here, this, he, a, I, my, the and go.

We will work on word building using the phonograms: -it and -ip and we will listen and try to isolate the middle sound in words.

We will reread our Big Book Stories and work on comprehension using graphic organizers to remember what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the stories.

We will also review our vocabulary words: squabble, anxious, mischief, huddle, uproar, moans, tend, productive, soggy, idle, wobble and scrumptious.

We will be working in our Literacy Centers and Guided Reading Groups too.

Mrs. Swanson explained what "Cents for Heart" was to the Kindergarteners.

Wow! Our class ROCKED at giving for "Cents for Heart"! The photo booth was a huge success! Thank you! Friday, January 14th, will be "Hats on for Heart" day. If your child wants to wear a hat during school on Friday have then bring in a dollar for Cents for Heart.

PASTRIES WITH PARENTS

Pastries for Parents will be held in conjunction with Caring for Our Community this month. Come in on Thursday morning, January 13th, to the Shirley Hills Dining Room from 7:45 to 8:45 am. This is a nice opportunity for families to socialize over a light morning snack.

To tie into our Caring for Our Community month, families will be able to participate in a service project for the Ronald McDonald House. That morning, we will be decorating and assembling “Breakfast Bags” for families to eat while they are at the house or the clinic. We are asking families to donate the following supplies to fill the bags: granola bars, cereal bars (i.e., NutriGrain bars), juice boxes or pouches (100% juice only, please), and individual servings of apple sauce, nuts, or trail mix. If you can help with donating supplies, please bring them to the school office by the end of the day Wednesday, January 12th. A huge THANK YOU to our wonderful PTA for coordinating this fun and meaningful event!

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and great New Year! I want to thank you all for the wonderful gifts you donated to the room and gave me. Thank you all very, very much!

K - 5 has been waiting for the first day of winter. We start each day with our morning meeting and go through the calendar. We say the day, month, year and season. The first day of the winter season is the day of the year when the Sun is farthest south (on December 21st). On Monday, Jan. 3rd, 2011, the students are going to be so excited to say it is Winter! They have all been saying, "It feels like Winter, but not yet!" Well, it definitely feels and is winter!

Our theme is "On the Farm".
This week K - 5 will be learning the letters "Gg" and "Ff".
Our sight words are: here and this
We will be using the vocabulary words anxious, huddle, moans, productive, idle and scrumptious as much as we can. The students hear their vocabulary words in each week's big books and library books. We go over each word and I am amazed at how the class remembers the meanings of the words. K - 5 does a great job on their vocabulary words!

We will be working in our centers this week. The students are learning how to work independently.

We will also be listening for the final sound in a word, making more lists and we will talk more about the beginning, middle and end of a story.

Our class Christmas Party was great!

We started with our book exchange.

Played Bingo!

Made ornaments you can put on your tree!

Made a delicious snack and then played more games!

Malia's Dad came in today to read to the class. He read Malia's favorite kind....a Fancy Nancy book. Thank you Mr. Velarde! You did a great job!

Please know that if you have sent me an email, I am not ignoring it. The school's Email hasn't been working today! I'm hoping anything sent over the last couple of days will make it in or out sometime over the weekend.

The students got to visit England today and learn all about how they celebrate the Holiday Season there.
Ask them:
What do the children in England call Santa?
What do the children in England do to the letters they write to Father Christmas?
What did Father Christmas toss down the chimney long, long ago?

After we talked about how they celebrate the holiday, out came the GLITTER! The students decorated their own stocking!

Folded Paper and Paint Symmetry

I gave each student a piece of card stock that already had a fold line. They painted just one side and then folded it in half. They rubbed the top of their papers carefully and then opened them up. Their pictures were great and perfectly symmetrical!

Mrs. Velarde came in today and demonstrated how to make the Scandinavian cookie, Krumkake. The classroom smelled wonderful all day long. She came in both in the morning and in the afternoon! She made all the Kindergarteners one! Malia was her helper! Thank you!!