Wrapping up the First Week

A FEW ODDS & ENDS...

It's been a great first week!  We have had a lot of fun getting to know each other this week in class.  It's going to be a "SUPER" year with all of these sweeties!

Thank you for helping your child complete homework this week!  The homework response has been great and I really appreciate that!! Just keep an eye out in your child's folder.  Homework will start coming home daily for math and other activities will come home from time to time as well.

This past week, we went over a lot of rules and routines.  We particapted in the school wide "Boot Camp" on Wednesday (lots of rules from different teachers and principals throughout different places in the building). We spent time learning about our "learning tools" (crayons, pencils, glue, scissors, etc) and how we use these appropriately for learning. :) We also focused on basic colors and shape recognition during a few of our lessons.

Next week, we are ready to start rolling with our letter of the day program! We will work with letters A - E next week.  We will also begin our math lessons in the My Math series.

Thanks for all of the family photos this week!  We will be sharing these next week, so if you haven't sent one, there is still time! :)

Specials Schedule for next week is below:

Monday - Art    Tuesday - Music    Wednesday - Library    Thursday - Computer   Friday - PE (wear tennis shoes on PE days)

Please let me know if you have any questions!  Check our blog often for daily and weekly updates, important dates, etc.

Have a RELAXING weekend!!! :)

First Day of Kindergarten!!

And....they made it! What a wonderful first day our class had!!  I enjoyed meeting all of the students today and watching them all interact and get to know each other. :) Today, we introduced the 4 Be's (Be Safe, Be Caring, Be Respectful and Be Responsible).  The students will hear these a lot this week as we learn all of the new routines and procedures.

"Be Safe, Be Caring, Be Respectful, Be Responsible"

Most importantly, the class played at recess together today, enjoyed snack, were "Listening Superstars" during story time, met Mrs. Mosby in Art Class, ate in the cafeteria and explored with some of our Kindergarten learning toys!  I encourage you to ask your child about his/her day and talk with your child about Chester the Raccoon (from the story The Kissing Hand).  As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  We are off to a great start!!

 

Welcome To Kindergarten

It was great to meet so many families and new students last night at Open House!  Thanks to all of you that were able to make it to the classroom!  If you were not able to make it last night, no worries! :) I will send your Open House information home with your child on Monday.

I can't wait to see all of our Kindergarten friends on Monday!  We will be learning about our school, classroom and new friends on the first day!  We will also be going to Art class.   A lunch menu was in the Open House packet, so talking with your child about the lunch choices for the day is always helpful if he/she plans on buying lunch. :)

Please let me know if you have any questions before Monday or any time during the school year! Feel free to call or e-mail me anytime! I want to do whatever I can to help make the first day of Kindergarten and the rest of the year a fabulous experience for your child!! Have a great weekend!

KINDERGARTEN 2015 - 2016

Important Upcoming Dates: Whiteside Elementary's Open House will be on August 13 from 5:30 - 7:30.  Please bring your child's school supplies to Open House and check out our classroom! 

Our first day of school will be August 17 from 8:30 - 3:00.  I can't wait to meet all of you! 

December

This past week, we kicked off the month of December with some holiday fun!  The students really enjoyed a performance of holiday songs by the Glee Club today to get us all in the holiday spirit.  We have been reading various versions of the Gingerbread stories and comparing and constrating these stories.  We will continue these into next week with Gingerbread crafts and activities to go along with them.  This week, our focus was letter Hh and next week, we will move onto the letter Ii.  Students from Belleville East came today to

The December sight words were sent home this week, and we will be working on these words throughout the month.  Please practice at home as well.

November Family Project

The class loved sharing their turkey creations!  It was so much fun to hear about all of their unique disguises and the family members that helped them!  Thank you families for your participation in this!  Check out all of the disguises below!

November News

Last Week

Last week, we learned about the letter Ee.  We read several elephant books and made our Ee word list.  Students used this list to help them with their journal writing.  They enjoyed the story, Elmer, by David McKee and colored their own Elmer the Elephant.

In math, we worked on recognizing the numbers 11 - 15 as well as counting objects that correspond with the numbers.  We finished playing our Pumpkin Number game from the week before.  The ghost hides behind one of the pumpkins and the students take turns guessing which pumpkin it is behind.  In November, we will extend this game by hiding a turkey behind the pumpkin and the students will practice writing the numbers as they guess.  They have a lot of fun guessing and it is a fun way to practice the numbers!

Our poem of the week last week was about Pumpkins.  This came home with your child as one of the homework activities.  This week, we will have a poem about friends for our letter of the week.

This Week

This week, our letter focus will be Ff.  Today, the class wrote in their journals about words that start with an Ff.  We also spent time learning about Veteran's Day.  The second grade classes did a wonderful presentation for the school in honor of  Veteran's Day.  During this assembly, they presented the word of the month for November - Peace. Please remember to bring in canned foods for our November food drive!  The school is trying to reach the goal of 800 cans by Friday!  We appreciate everyone that has sent in items already.

When we return to school on Wednesday, we will be learning about Pilgrims, Indians and Thanksgiving.  This theme will continue on for the next two weeks.  We will focus on several writing and research activities on this topic.  We will also incorporate many fun crafts, and learning games into our activities in the coming weeks! Thank you to all of you that have returned your Family Turkey.  If you have not had time to complete this yet, that's okay.  Please return it when you are finished and your child will share it with the class. Sharing the family projects are part of the speaking and listening lessons we complete in Kindergarten.  Check out all of the fun October Family Pumpkins from last month! It is always so enjoyable to listen to the students share their family creations.