Our class would like to thank Ena's Mom, Ms. Dirks, for her wonderful job sharing all the great art pieces in the Adventures in Art Program. Ms. Dirks showed the class the last two pieces of art this week.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

This week we start a new theme – Jobs People Do. This is perfect timing because last week I asked the students what they wanted to be when they grow up. Look for all their responses in this weeks Laker!

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 the idea!

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.

Hannah showed everyone how well she can jump rope! Great job Hannah!

Hola from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic,
I hope you are all having a wonderful spring break! Jamie and I just swam with the dolphins! I can't wait to see you all on Monday!

Centers are so much fun to watch. The students are getting better and better at working independently at each center. In the Letter and Sound Center Laniah built different words. All the students were doing a great job!

Today K-5 learned about the different coins we use. They learned their names and values. Help identify the coins with your child when you are shopping, banking or just added to a piggy bank.

Medallions:
Starting in March until the end of the year, your child has the opportunity to try to earn medallions by completing the tasks listed below. Please encourage your child and practice the tasks with him or her. When he/she is ready to try and earn a medallion, have them come to school and tell me! Have fun!

Your child should be able to:

Days of the Week: Name each day of the week and know them in order.

Shapes: Name the following shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, cross, oval, diamond, squiggle.

100: Count to 100 without help.

20: Write to 20 with the numbers facing the correct direction.

Address: Say address – house #, street, city, state, & zip code.

Alphabet: Recognize all the letters (upper and lower case).

Sounds: Say all the sounds in the alphabet.

First and Last name: Write first and last name with correct uppercase and lowercase letters

with all the letters facing the correct direction.

Birthday: Say birthday – including month, day and year.

Colors: Know the 8 basic colors. (red, blue, yellow, orange, green, brown, black, white)

Phone Number: Know all 10 digits.

Zip: Zip coat. Once they have done this, they will be doing this by themselves for the rest of the year!

Tie Shoes: Once they have done this, they will be doing this by themselves for the rest of the year

Sight Words: Know all sight words from the kindergarten language arts curriculum

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 start out the week learning about the names and values of coins and practice telling time to the hour and half hour.

Also, in your Friday Folders, I put in a note about how your child can earn Class Medallions. Mrs. Koepp had a wonderful idea and I asked her if I could borrow it!

Your son or daughter can earn medallions for different skills till the end of the year. There are 14 medallions and when your child has practiced a skill and feels ready, they can come to school and share that information with me. Once they master the skill, I will put a medallion on their ribbon on the Class's Ribbon Banner.

This week we will be learning the new sight words: up and down

We will be talking about opposites and in our centers we will be working on words ending with the word families: -ox, -ix and -ax.

All of the students will be writing about places they like to go. They are sounding their words out and spelling the words just like they sound. Today, Maxx told me and wrote that he likes to go to "Trget". Karina likes to go to the "bech".

Our vocabulary words are: contrast, meander, tidy, famished, modify and unfortunate

Today, the students were so excited to see the goldfish and guppies in the tank. We will be starting a new science unit this week. We observed the goldfish and guppies today. We will write down our observations and learn all about them in the next couple of weeks.

Today was the 100th day of Kindergarten! We had so much fun and learned a few new ways to count to 100! All of us fit through the "100" door frame! We all had fun gong in and out of the room.

We counted out a 100 Fruit Loops in groups of 10 and then made some beautiful and yummy necklaces.

Our snack even looked like 100!

Wow! Monday, March 1st 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!

Grace the Birthday Girl!

We all enjoyed some hot cocoa!

We watched Mrs. Knauf's 1st graders perform their plays!

Well, the day didn't turn out exactly how we all wanted it, but we still had fun! Our Winter Wonderland Day turned into a Winter Wonderland Inside Day. It was just too cold to go outside today. We started off the day by celebrating Grace's Birthday. Then we were invited to watch Mrs. Knauf's 1st graders rehearse their plays. They were great and K-5 was a great audience! Then we made snowmen, ate donut holes, sipped hot cocoa and enjoyed yummy birthday cupcakes from Grace's mom! Thanks!!!!!!

This week is a short one! We will be working in our Literature Centers and Small Reading Groups on Monday and Tuesday and we will continue to work on our hundreds chart. I would like to have a Winter Wonderland Day on Wednesday. We will finish up the centers and then go outside Wednesday, come back in for some hot cocoa and treats and end the day in Gym. Please dress you child in snow pants, coat, hat, mittens and boots so we all stay warm.

I am looking forward to meeting with you at your child's conference this week. Please review your child's report card and if you have any questions, please feel free to bring those questions to the conference. 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. Thanks so much!

Today, the students had so much fun counting by 10's, 5's and 2's to 100!  They used all sorts of things!  Look and see......10....20....30.....40....50.....60.....70.....80.....90......100!
The students also read and wrote the room. They all got out their journals and walked around the room and read all the different words up everywhere in the room!  Then they wrote them all down!  Their hand might be sore tonight from all that writing!

Hope you are enjoying this long weekend!

February 16th - 19th:

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 got very creative! This is our Classroom Picture:

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 and working on Number Patterns. We will be learning about all the patterns that make up the 100 chart. We will be counting by 2's, 5's and 10's and talking more about odd and even numbers.

We will be celebrating 100 days of Kindergarten on March 1st!

What a great day! Our party was so much fun! We started out our day with Ena's Mom coming in and sharing Ena's favorite book. Then we talked about President's Day and then we had our Valentine's Party. We had an Airplane Center, a Candy Necklace Making Center, a Tissue Heart Making Center and a Cookie Frosting Center. Then the students all found a quiet place in the classroom and opened up their Valentine's. Everyone picked a spot. They were in all the corners, under tables and in groups looking at all their Valentine's they got from their friends in K-5. Everyone had a great day!

This 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 drawing looks like!

Our new sight words are what and two.

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

We will be working on numbers 10 - 30 and then moving on to Chapter 7: Number Patterns.

Work with your son or daughter at home counting up to 100. Each day the class practices counting to 100 as a group!

Our Valentine's Party will be on Friday, Feb. 12th!

Kalkidan and Grace worked together in Math to put the numbers 0 through 30 in order.

Today, Ena's mom showed the class the first two pieces of art from the Adventures in Art Program. She did an amazing job! The students listened and loved learning about the art pieces. Ms. Dirk's wrap up her visit by having the students make a class totem pole that represented friendship, citizenship, sharing and peace.

February 1st - 5th:

This week we are starting 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 continue working on numbers 10 - 30. Have you child show you how high they can count. Then practice counting backwards from 30.

This week Ena's mom will come into our classroom and present 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!

Today we worked in centers and.....WOW! What a great job K - 5 did!

You have to take a look!

On Wednesdays, Mrs. Stahlke volunteers in our classroom. We are so lucky to have her come in! She helped some of the students build short o words.

Bryce is reading!

Jake and Kalkidan are in the Game Center.

Grace and Eathon are working in the Math Center. They are working on numbers 10 - 30.

Here is Jesse in the Writing Center. He is working on writing sight word sentences!

Lance reading

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

Our sight words this week are: you and look

Look at you!

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

* Read each word together as your child point to it.

(You can use the sight word flash card I gave each student at Christmas.)

* 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 with “Zero the Hero” on numbers from 10 – 30. We will be putting the number in order from 1 to 30 and then counting and arranging them backwards. At the end of the week your child will bring “Zero” home. 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.

On Thursday, we go on our Field Trip to Stages Theater to see "The Snowy Day"!

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.

In math we will be starting on Chapter 6: Numbers 10 - 30. The students will be learning how to group numbers using ten-frames.

The play that the kindergarteners will be seeing on Jan. 28th, at Stages Theater, is called, "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. Below is a review I found online. We will be reading the book in class.

The Snowy Day


Story & Illustrations by Ezra Jack Keats

Review by: Christina Mark

This is a story about a small boy named Peter who has one magical day playing in the snow. The reader follows Peter as he walks through the snow, leaving footprints behind as he walks with his toes pointed in and then again with them pointed out. He witnesses a snowball fight, which he becomes a victim of, and then proceeds to make snow angels and a snowman. He then slides down a hill of snow and pockets some of the snow as a souvenir before heading into his warm house.
 This book really captures the innocence of children and their wonderment of the world around them. It's hard to read this book without conjuring up images from your own childhood. The illustrations are truly captivating with each page displaying beautiful artwork.
 This book, although based on such a simple concept, really epitomizes just what it is to be a child exploring the beauty of nature. I think children really enjoy this book because they ARE Peter. They would do everything that we see Peter do, from whacking a tree with a stick to release the snow from its branches, to building a happy, smiling snowman.

This week flew by! Today the class wrote sentences, talked about spacing their words in the sentences, discussed different punctuation marks to use, worked more on symmetry and fractions and learned the difference between a non-fiction and a fiction book.

We looked at the following website to work on fractions:

http://kids.aol.com/KOL/2/HomeworkHelp/archive/homework-help-jr-math-fractions

(You can copy and paste this website to your google bar to go there)

Then go down to "Pizza Fractions" and click on that.

You can work on fractions at home when you are cooking, baking or eating a pizza with you child! Have fun with math!

In Math, the students had fun designing geometric shape using tooth picks and marshmallows! Try it at home!

Kalkidan is creating his geometric shape!

Pastries With Parents: Sam, Owen and Connor enjoyed pastries with their parents!
Here's Owen and his mom.

Here's Sam and his mom.

Here's Connor and his family.

Today, K-5 played a new game: Snowman Meltdown! It is a fun way for the students to learn their sight words. K-5 had a great time!

Today K-5 learned a little more about symmetry! We used a program on my computer to show symmetry. Look at Dakota, Anida, Hannah and Laniah! If you put a line right down the middle of each picture, each side is the same!

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. Also, you can use the sight words I gave the students at Christmas! 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 will be finishing up Chapter 5-Geometry and Fractions. We will be starting on Chapter 6 at the end of the week - Numbers 10 - 30. The students will be learning how to group numbers using ten-frames.

Pennies for Patients Activities:

K-5 is bringing so many pennies in! We watched a power point presentation that was made by Abby Thoma's parents that explained why Shirley Hills is raising money for Leukemia. Abby is a fourth grader her at Shirley Hills. She has been cancer free since Kindergarten.

A lot of us wore Jerseys last Friday!

Jan. 11-15 is Bring a coin in every day!

On Monday - bring in a penny

On Tuesday - bring in a nickel

On Wednesday - bring in a dime

On Thursday - bring in a quarter

On Friday bring in a dollar to wear a hat for "Hats off for Leukemia!"

Jan. 19-22 - Cookies for a Cause! On Friday students can bring money in to buy frosted

cookies. There will be other great things to buy too!

Jan. 25-28 - Cozy Up for a Good Cause! On Thursday students can bring in a dollar and wear their pajamas or cozy clothes.

We also retook a math challenge worksheet. The students used “offices” for privacy and listened to me say each question. We tried this on Thursday and we did a “redo” on Friday. I had some help from Lance at the overhead. Thank you, Lance!

On Friday, everyone in K-5 shared something that was special to each boy and girl. They either brought in something or shared a story about someone special. Each student listened and showed respect as everyone took a turn. Here is Hannah. Maxx and Lance are listening to Jake tell a story. Ena is showing two special things!

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a great New Year! I want to thank you all for the wonderful gifts you 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. 4th the students are gong 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!

This week will be a good week to review some things we learned before the holiday break.
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.

On Tuesday and Thursday we will be working in our Literacy Centers.

Merry Christmas from Jolly Old England! The students are having fun going to the different classrooms and learning about how other countries celebrate the Christmas Holiday. K - 5 learned all about England today. Ask them what the children in England do after they write Father Christmas a letter!

We all sat around the fireplace in our classroom and learned about England's traditions. Then the students made stocking! Glitter was everywhere! Fun, fun, fun! Ms. Rasicot hung the stocking by the fireplace with care, in hope that Father Christmas soon will be here!

K -5 Parents,
Next week (Dec. 14-18th) the students will be taking their "passports" and traveling around the world (actually just next door to the other kindergarten classrooms) and learning from the other kindergarten teachers about holidays around the world. The students will rotate through the different countries. They will learn how England, Germany, Holland, Israel, Japan, Mexico and Sweden celebrate the holiday season. The students love learning about other cultures and they will get to see a different classroom each day.

Here are the students hard at work in their stations!

I hope everyone stayed warm this weekend. Winter is here!
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 words meanings. K - 5 does a great job on their vocabulary words!

We will be working in our stations/centers this week. The students are learning how to work independently. Once the students can work independently, I can work with small groups of students who are working on the same skills and meet their needs that way.

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

We just started Chapter 5 in Math, so we will continue talking about geometric shapes.

Hi everyone!
This week has flown by! We have been working in our stations and the students are getting better and better. Ena, Eathon, Dakota and Karina are in the Word Work Station. In this station the students practice their sight words. They are playing the Pancake Flip Game.

Maxx, Hannah, and Sam are in the Reading Station. They are creating their own book covers for the book, "Down on the Farm".

Darren and Jesse worked in the Letter and Sound Center. They had to put the letter puzzle pieces together.

Connor, Laniah, Lance and Anida worked in the Listening Center. They followed along as the book was being read to them for the CD Player.

Ingrid and Bryce are working in the Letter Center too!

Kalkidan, Grace, Owen and Jake worked in the Writing Center. Here they had to write a farm animals name and draw it. We will make these into our Animal Mobiles!