Snow Pics...

When we return from winter break we will be reading various snow/winter stories. In conjunction with this unit in reading, we will be doing some writing of what we can do in the snow. If you have pictures of your child playing in the snow, standing in the snow, etc. please send them in. We are going to use them for a book. If you want you can email me the picture and I can take care of the printing or if you want to send it in that is fine. The pictures will not be returned because they will be in our class book and in your child's end of year celebration book.

I want...

First, I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season! The children a couple of weeks ago created a predictable chart of "I want..." The children told me what the wanted for the holidays and I recorded what they said. We then read the sentence and found words we knew. I typed them up and gave them a strip of their sentence. The children cut their sentence apart and created a "puzzle." They had to put it back together and illustrate their sentence. Here are the stories we created...

AM Class

PM Class

Gingerbread Houses Galore...

(more pictures located on the "Pictures of Us Learning" page)

We enjoyed gingerbread stories all last week and we have one final one on Monday, "The Gingerbread Girl." I hope the children have been telling you about these books when they come home from school. Also, this past Friday, we had a blast building our gingerbread houses. The children did a marvelous job working together, sharing materials, and listening to directions to build a great house. I hope you enjoyed the houses when the came home! The children were so proud of themselves after they were finished. I was also proud of how hard they worked. Thank you to everyone who sent in materials to help with the gingerbread houses to make it a success. We also have one last "surprise" project on Monday for the children to work on as my gift to them.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we will be taking a trip on the "Polar Express." We will be talking about trains, shapes, counting, and sequencing. The children will also be writing about where they would go on a train. We will be reading the book and then watch the movie. In addition, the children can wear their pajamas to school on Wednesday as part of our unit. I think the children are going to enjoy this week at school.

Reading Fun...

We are having a blast this week reading various gingerbread books. We are working on predicting what is happening and also sequencing the events in the story. We have read "The Gingerbread Man" and the "Gingerbread Baby." We took a survey today and the children decided "The Gingerbread Man" was their favorite. We have two other books we will be reading, which I think will turn out to be their favorites. One is "The Gingerbread Cowboy" and the other is "The Gingerbread Girl." I am really excited about reading these books. The children are loving listening to them and they are doing a great job sequencing.

We are also working on sight words. A sight word is a word the children read within 3 seconds. If they are unable to read the word within the allotted time, then it is not considered a sight word. The best way to practice these words at home are on flash cards. You can also have your child write the word with crayons, markers, and even in the snow. The words we have learned thus far are: see, said, I'm, I, and, the.

Happy Reading!

Snow Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their snow day! During your time off, I would love for the children to take time to write a "story" about what they did during their day. The children should draw a picture and color it, label a couple parts of the picture, and try to write a sentence. The children should use their inventive spelling and segmenting skills to write the sounds they hear. Of course you may help them, but I would like to see it in their handwriting and their ability to use their sounds. I look forward to seeing their stories and we will read these in class in the next day or so when we return.

In addition, I would also love to find out what books you are reading during your time off. Have your child write down their favorite book they read. You can ask them questions as you are reading with them: who is in the story, where is the story taking place, what happened first, second, last, etc.

Enjoy your day! I cannot wait to see the children when we return!

Gingerbread Week...

We are beginning one of my favorite units this week, Gingerbread (the other ones occur in January and May). In Literacy we will be reading "The Gingerbread Man" and other gingerbread stories. We will be working on sequencing and then comparing/contrasting the various stories. In math we will be working with nonstandard measurement, relative position (above, under, over, across, etc.), and 3-D dimensional objects. On Friday we will make gingerbread houses. Your child will bring home their house on Friday too and you may display it at your home for the holidays. You should have received a pink sheet detailing our project. To make the project a success we need your help in supplying some materials; however, this is optional for you to send in the items. We are in need of graham crackers, small candies, and frosting. I circled a specific item for your child to bring in to make sure we had a enough of everything; however, you are more than welcome to help supply other items as well. I know the kids will be excited to make the houses! Thank you in advance for your help and as always thank you for everything you do!

Thank You Miss Bailey...

Today was Miss Bailey's last day of student teaching in our classroom. We surely are going to miss her. She has been a huge asset to our classroom and the learning that has occurred. She has taught the children so much during her 16 weeks in our class. I am very thankful to have such a great student teacher who was able to help your children so much. I know Miss Bailey is very excited about graduating college and beginning her teacher career wherever her path may take her. She has promised to come back and visit!

Good Luck Miss Bailey!

Tech Fun...

This past week I was given a website to engage the children in a fun way to work on letter names. This site also has many other fun games for learning. You can go the site and visit the kindergarten section. It is: www.abcya.com I hope you all enjoy it!

3-D Fun...

The children this past week had the chance to explore 3-D shapes and then had the opportunity to build 3-D shapes. The children had a great time using marshmallows to build this shapes. The children had great discussion on the difference between 2-D and 3-D. The children learned 2-D shapes are flat and are on paper; whereas, 3-D shapes are objects you can feel and have sides and can put in your hands. This allowed the children to have a concrete definition of the difference between the two. We are going to go into the similarities and differences between 2-D and 3-D. For example, we will look at a square and a cube. I look forward to listening to the discussions we have.