Friends...

We have had a great time learning this past week and getting to know our friends.  During math we worked on matching and practicing how to take turns.  We also played memory; therefore, we can now add this game to our math/game center.  We also earned some time to go outside to play.  Last week was beautiful!  We had to take advantage.  The children are doing a great job!

Text Reminders...

Here is a quick and easy way to get reminders about our class.  You can sign up for "Remind" which will send a safe text message to you.  I will not be able to see your phone number and you will not be able to see my number.  This is just an easy way to get up to date information when I want to remind you of something.

You just have to text: @joestahl to the number 81010

(please note that standard text messaging rates apply depending on your phones plan)

Open House...

I am very excited about this upcoming school year.  I cannot wait to see you all at open house (August 17 from 6-8)!  We had a great kindergarten camp last week!

Just a little information about me!  I have been teaching for 13 years and the majority of it has been spent in kindergarten.  I am married and have two wonderful daughters!  We had a fantastic summer of hanging out, going to the zoo, and also swimming!  Here are a few pics from the summer!  I cannot wait to hear all about your adventures.

Please check back regularly for updates to what is happening in the classroom!

Our Classroom...

Mr. Stahl...

Mr. and Mrs. Stahl

Mr. Stahl, Whitney, Mrs. Stahl, and Lainey

GRADUATION

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION

MAY 28, 2015

9:20 (AM Class)

1:00 (PM Class)

End of Year Fun...

It's been awhile since I posted.  It has been crazy here in kindergarten with assessments for 3rd quarter and then working through 4th quarter.  We are preparing for our graduation at the end of the month!  It should be a blast.

Here are few pictures of things that have been going on!  I am amazed by the learning that has occurred!

Center Fun...

We have had a lot of fun in our centers these past few weeks.  We have created books, played word games, math games, and explored music.  I know call me crazy for letting the kids play instruments in class, but it was fantastic to see them work as groups and create "songs" together.  After watching them I think this was by far one of their favorite centers this year!

 

Just Some Fun...

We had our first mystery reader this past week.  The children loved having a guest come in and read a story to them...I think they were very excited that it was someone different than me for once :)  I am looking forward to having a lot more mystery readers coming in over the next few weeks.  If you are interested please let me know.  You can email or call the school and leave me a message 943-6929.  I will get back with you as soon as I can to set up a time.

We also read "Zin, Zin, Zin a Violin" this past week and learned about sound.  We also completed an art project with making a violin using tissue paper and water.  The children loved this project.  Monday will be the culmination of our sound theme with using various instruments to create our own orchestra!  It should be a lot of fun!

Class Picture Day...

We have Spring pictures and class pictures on Tuesday.  Your child should have brought home a form last week.  These are my favorite pictures because it gives me a great memory of both classes.  It also saddens me when this time comes around because I know the end of school is coming closer.

Penguins...

We had a great day last Wednesday when the Cincinnati Zoo came to visit and help us learn about penguins. We read "If You Could Go to Antarctica" and learned about the weather, animal life, and other cool facts.  One of the animals which live in Antarctica are penguins and the zoo helped us learn penguins live in the southern hemisphere.  We also fixed a misconception that polar bears live in Antarctica.  This coming week we will work on our informational reports regarding penguins!

Valentine's Day Fun...

We had a lot of fun at our Valentine's Day party last Thursday!

Reading Groups...

The children are doing a great job working with their reading.  I am impressed by their ability to blend words.  The children should still work on this concept to help build their fluency.  Our goal is to have children reading simply words like the way we, as adults, read them.  Simple words are CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant...dog, cup, mat, log, etc).

Vocabulary...

This week we are reading "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and discussing character!  On Monday we took pictures from the story and discussed them with our friends about what we think the picture is showing us.  We were discussing new vocabulary from the book.  We learned about porridge, cottage, and clambered.  The children loved talking with their friends about what they thought the picture was showing us.  We will continue to read other versions of Goldilocks and will compare and contrast the story!

Word Typing...

We have had a blast last week typing simple words.  The children have been working on their keyboarding skills and also working on segmenting words (hearing the sounds in the words).  This is an excellent way to practice at home.  You just have to enlarge the font size in word and have your child type a word you give them.  You can even practice their sight words.  It is exciting if you an your child search for a picture for the word or have them print it off and draw a picture!

Center Fun...

Students are working on writing sentences on the computer!  I loved this sentence, "When I grow up I want to be a gymnastics teacher."

Students are working as teams to see how you can make things move.

Students are having fun working as a team to experiment with movement.

Students are working on ordering numbers.

Enjoying some free writing time with stencils.

Students are building words!

Enjoying books and looking for words they can read!

Center Fun...

We have been having a lot of fun at our centers recently.  The children are now in charge of choosing the center and recording the center they chose.  On the back of your child's center ticket you can check to see what center they completed and ask them questions about what they did!

This Week...

This week is the last week of the 2nd quarter...this means that half of kindergarten is over (I cannot believe it is going this fast).  We have been assessing last week and will continue this week.  The biggest area I am noticing is sight words.  The words in yellow are the words your child should know.  If you find your child does not know these words, please work with your child.  Next week, you will receive a copy of how your child did on their sight words.

This week, we will be continuing on with subtraction.  We will be playing subtraction bowling and I am in need of tennis balls.  If you have any tennis balls to spare and could send one or two in for our use that would be wonderful.  The children are doing a GREAT job with subtraction.  The only area I am noticing is sometimes children get subtraction and addition signs confused.  This would be something you can work on at home.  You can make different story problems up using addition and subtraction and have your child figure it out.  Snack and meal times work great for this activity.  In addition, if your child likes to help cook, this would be a great time to work on this skill as well.