What a great day we had on Thursday! The students performed so well and the luncheon was delicious. Thank you all for your help with the program and food and, most importantly, for your support throughout the year!
The “Kindergarten Kidlets” decided to help write the last newsletter of the year. They voted to include the words to the songs, “I Love My Rabbit,” and “Sing Your Way Home.” They also wanted to tell two things about their Kindergarten year:
1. The Best Thing I Learned in Kindergarten
2. My Favorite Part Of Kindergarten
McCaffrey Billings “The best thing I learned was reading.” “My favorite part was bouncy balls”
Luke Daniels “The best thing I learned was how to read.” “My favorite part was Legos at Centers.”
Bode Dunham “The best thing I learned was reading.” “My favorite part was Centers!”
Aleyah Eisele “The best thing I learned was reading.” “My favorite part was the programs we put on.”
Houston Fauber “The best thing I learned was reading books.” “My favorite part was learning about bugs.”
Elizabeth Foley “The best thing I learned was learning how to read.” “My favorite part was Center Time.”
Camryn Hecker “The best thing I learned was learning the letters to read.” “My favorite part was Centers.”
Connor Isakson “The best thing I learned was how to read.” “My favorite part was playing with show and tell things at centers.”
Deena Lee “The best thing I learned was reading.” “My favorite part was reading in the reading groups here.”
Winfield Loomis “The best thing I learned was reading.” “My favorite part was bouncy balls.”
Bryce Lydic “The best thing I learned was reading.” My favorite part was Center Time.”
Mariah Mason “The best thing I learned was how much fun reading was.” “My favorite part was Centers.”
Robert Morton “The best thing I learned was reading.” “My favorite part was asking questions to learn new things.”
Kennady Myers “The best thing I learned was reading.” “My favorite part was singing because I love to sing.”
Ayden Phillips “The best thing I learned was learning how to read.” “My favorite part was Center time.”
Nicholas Walton “The best thing I learned was learning how to read books.” “My favorite part was reading hard books at guided reading time.”
I Love My Rabbit I love my rabbit. My crazy, crazy rabbit. Hop, hop, bunny, bunny, Hop, hop, bunny, bunny, Hop, hop, ho, ho, hop, hop.
He loves his carrots. His crazy, crazy carrots. Hop, hop, bunny, bunny, Hop, hop, bunny, bunny, Hop, hop, ho, ho, hop, hop.
Sing Your Way Home Sing your way home, At the close of the day. Sing your way home, Drive the shadows away.
Smile every mile, For where ever you roam, It will brighten your road It will lighten your load, If you sing your way home.
Kindergarten News May 21, 2009
Oue Fishing Day field trip was peaceful and exciting at the same time. Thanks to all who helped, especially the Big Horn Lion’s Club and the Sheppard Family.
Our class is getting very excited about the Kindergarten Spring Program on Thursday, May 28th at 10:00 a.m. We have worked very hard on our songs and artwork for this special occasion. All family members and friends are invited. The Kindergarten Program will be followed by a Taster’s Luncheon. For those who are able, please bring your child’s favorite recipe, made up to feed a small bite/piece everyone.
Happy Summer Birthdays to
Connor June 10th McCaffrey June 18th Camryn July 25th Deena July 25th Bode’ August 13th Nicholas August 13th
Dates To Remember Memorial Day May 25th No school. P.E. Fun Day May 26th Remember to send/apply sunscreen. Kindergarten Program May 28th 10:00 a.m. (Luncheon to Follow) All family members and friends are invited. Last Day of School May 29th Early dismissal.
Kindergarten Thoughts On Fishing Day
McCaffrey “I caught the first fish of everybody.”
Luke “I like rolling them in, touching them, then throwing them back."
Bode’ “My Dad and I didn’t catch a fish but we had fun together."
Aleyah “I cast it way out and got a nibble, but no fish.”
Houston “I caught zero fish but I caught a bug and seaweed.”
Elizabeth “It was really good and I liked going fishing.”
Camryn “I caught a huge fish and a little one.”
Connor “Fish are fun to pet and then put back in the water.”
Winfield “At first I didn’t catch any but then I did.”
Deena “The fishing pole was heavy, but It was fun to fish.”
Bryce “I liked fishing when I caught a fish.”
Mariah “My Mom and Dad helped and I caught a cute baby fish.”
Robert “I wore my fishing vest and fishing hat but I didn’t catch any fish."
Kennady “I love feeling the soft, slick, fish skin.”
Ayden “My partner helped me fish and I caught a lot.”
Nicholas “It was great fun. I caught big fish and little fish.”
May 15, 2008
Our Big Books are still special to us even though we are reading so many other kinds of books now. Each student read a word family Big Book to the class by him/herself! We also love reading our smaller song and poem Big Books.
We read a beautiful book called, I Have A Sister --- My Sister Is Deaf, by Jeanne Whitehouse Peters. This book helped us to understand why sign language is necessary. We are working on finger spelling our names and our initials.
RED - YELLOW - BLUE These are the primary colors we had fun experimenting with to make new colors. We found out that red and yellow make orange, blue and red make purple, and the biggest surprise: yellow and blue make green! When we put them all together, we had a beautiful brown. We learned two definitions for the word primary: first or beginning, and most important or main. On the back of our newsletter we have a song about these primary colors which helps us to make wise choices. Please mark your calendars for our Kindergarten Spring Program -- May 28th -10:00 A.M. . All family members and friends are invited.
The Kindergarten Program will be followed by a Taster’s Luncheon. For those who are able, please bring your child’s favorite recipe made up to feed a small bite/piece to the children and their families. If you haven’t sent the recipe on paper yet, please do so on Monday.
Dates To Remember
Fishing Day May 21st Parents are invited to join us at the Shepperd Pond in Big Horn.
P.E. Fun Day May 26th This will be at the YMCA.
K - Program May 28th 10:00 A.M. (Luncheon to Follow) All family members and friends are invited.
Last Day of School May 29th Early dismissal.
“Our Primary Colors”
Our Primary Colors are one, two, three---
Red, Yellow, and Blue.
Each one has a message for you and me.
Each has a symbol too.
Red is for Courage to do what is right,
Yellow for Service from morning till night.
Blue is for Truth in our thoughts and our deeds.
We will be happy when this is our creed.
May 7, 2009
Cinnamon Apple Spice, Mandarin Orange Zinger, Country Peach Passion, Sweet Peppermint, Sleepytime Chamomile ------It was Tea Time in the Kindergarten!
We had a simply delicious time with our Springtime Manners Tea Party! Besides sampling the different kinds of herb teas with sugar cubes, we ate tea biscuits spread with clotted cream and marmalade, scones, British travel sweets, and Liquorice Allsorts. A highlight of the repast was “deep-dish rhubarb upside-down cake” from the Dr. Seuss song, “The Super Supper March.”
In addition to all the good food, we enjoyed reviewing proper dinner and tea time manners. We practiced tucking other people’s chairs in, using our napkins, passing food politely, and using “gracious conversation.”
The Merry Month of May was also welcomed with an English Maypole Dance. We listened to fanfares and madrigals as we wove our colorful streamers around our Maypole.
Cinco de Mayo was a great time to learn more about Mexico. We enjoyed trying on sombreros and panchos, singing Spanish songs, and eating spicy salsa with tortillas chips.
As part of our study of Children Around the World, we are comparing our food to that of children in other lands. In conjunction with this, could you please send a copy of your child’s favorite recipe to school?
*****Happy Birthday to Elizabeth F. on May 5th.******
Students with summer birthdays may choose a day in May to celebrate the special event .
Thanks to all those who brought pets for Pet Week. We enjoyed learning about those special family members.
Dates To Remember: May 15th School in session May 21st Fishing Day May 26th P.E. Fun Day May 28th K Program 10:00 A.M. (Luncheon to Follow) May 29th Last Day of School
SING A RAINBOW
Red and Yellow and Pink and Green, Purple and Orange and Blue. I can sing a rainbow, Sing a rainbow, Sing a rainbow too.
Listen with your eyes, Listen with your eyes, And sing everything you see. You can sing a rainbow, Sing a rainbow, Sing along with me.
Red and Yellow and Pink and Green, Purple and Orange and Blue. Now we can sing a rainbow, Sing a rainbow, Sing a rainbow too.
April 30, 2009
Starting next week we will have the long-awaited Pet Week. Any child who wants to share his/her pet may do so by having a parent/adult bring the pet during the first half hour of the day or from 3:15 to 3:45 on Monday or Tuesday. If that time isn’t convenient, please check with me for other times throughout the day.
Please plan to tell us about the care of your pet and what you feed it. Bring an example of the food if you can. Also, please let me know if any children are allergic to animals so we can take proper precautions.
One of our Kindergarten standards is learning about children in other cultures, especially their traditions and celebrations. As part of this study, we will be comparing our food to that of children in other lands. In conjunction with this, could you please send a copy of your child’s favorite recipe to school?
We will look forward to learning about children in other countries and cultures. Watch for maypoles, sombreros and chopsticks!
On Monday we had an interesting field trip to the Bradford Brinton Memorial and Museum. Tom Spence, the Illustrator of the book, A Boy’s Summer, explained to us how his artistic career evolved over the years. We had 4th grade buddies who helped us follow directions to make our paper airplanes.
Nurse Newman gave us some great advice for avoiding sickness: keep clean! We enjoyed singing the Clean Cowboy song written on the back of the newsletter,
Any child with a summer birthday may choose a day in May for the celebration.
We finished the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests this week and will have our DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) test first thing Monday morning. This will be a timed test consisting of Letter Naming Fluency (random alphabet recognition), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (saying all the sounds in a given word), Nonsense Word Fluency (correctly reading or saying the sounds in make-believe words), and Word Use Fluency (using words in sentences). Please make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep on Sunday!
Clean Cowboy
STORYTELLER: Let me tell you ‘bout a fellow I know. He lives way out West. He rides his horse in the rodeo. Folks say he’s the best. He gets dirty, he gets dusty But when the rodeo’s through He goes home and gets in his shower And sings this song to you...
CHORUS: Oh, I’m a clean cowboy! Just a clean cowboy! I like a clean clear western breeze. A clean horse between my knees, So hand me the soap, please I’m a clean cowboy. (He’s a clean cowboy)
STORYTELLER: You see, keeping healthy means keeping clean, Like bathing every day. And staying away from dirty things When you go out to play. Cover your mouth so the germs won’t spread When you cough or sneeze! Comb your hair and brush your teeth And you’ll grow up big like me.
REPEAT CHORUS
STORYTELLER: Now sharing is good for girls and boys, But sometimes it won’t do. Like your toothbrush or your medicine, Those things are just for you. And when you go to the bathroom For whatever you have to do, Wash your hands when you’re finished, That’s a mighty good thing to do.
REPEAT CHORUS
April 23, 2009
Our Spring Manners Basket has been home to all the cute stuffed animals which have come to school to visit. We have enjoyed play-acting good manners with these animals as we prepare for our Spring Manners Tea in May.
Spritely Spring Synonyms! We had fun thinking up and choosing synonyms to illustrate. We are now enjoying reading them where they are displayed on our door.
Our song, “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree,” has gotten us in the mood for spring; we are now on the alert for blossoms on the trees!
EARTH DAY/WEEK WAS GREAT! The sun was shining and the sky was blue as we walked to the Big Horn Park for lunch on Earth Day. We read books by Lynne Cherry on the beauty of our world. Our Earth Day posters helped describe how we can do our part to take care of the earth.
On Monday we will take a field trip to the Bradford Brinton Museum to look at artwork by Wyoming artist, Tom Spence.
Dates To Remember:
April 27th MAP Test (a.m.) Bradford Brinton Trip (p.m.) May (First Week) Pet Week May 4th, 5th DIBELS Test May 21st Fishing Day (K-3) (At a pond in Big Horn) May 26th P.E. Fun Day May 28th Kindergarten Program 10:00 a.m. May 29th Last Day of School
Happy Birthday to Ayden on April 22nd and Mariah on April 26th.
Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree
I looked out the window and what did I see?
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!
Spring has brought me such a nice surprise,
Blossoms popping right before my eyes.
I can take an armful and make a treat,
A popcorn ball that would smell so sweet.
It wasn’t really so, but it seemed to me
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree! *
April 17, 2009
READING! READING! READING!
We are doing so much good reading all through the day and at home that we need some advanced decoding skills.
As we read a lot of four or five letter words that end in “Ee,” we need to remember the rule that if it has a silent “Ee,” usually the preceding vowel has the long sound – or its own “bossy” name. Examples would be cake, whale, hive, stove, etc. Even if it is made plural by adding an “Ss,” it still has the long vowel sound.
“Yy” can also be tricky! It has its own sound at the beginning of words or syllables, but can become the vowel sound of “Ii” or “Ee” in the middle or end.
Knowing how “bossy” the “Rr” can be helps us read words ending in ar, er, ir, or ur. Examples are car, butter, sir, and fur.
To celebrate the end of our ocean, we used the art form of crayon resist to make a colorful ocean scene with blue and green paint “water.” We then wrote an essay telling about our artwork. We also enjoyed using crayon resist to decorate and dye eggs.
A Great Big THANKS to all the people who helped us with our Clam Chowder Day! The contributions in both ingredients and time were most generous. The K Kidlets worked diligently to make it the best ever day!
Our class has been using higher-level thinking skills as we take the roll in the morning. Sometimes the roll is called by spelling the first name, at which time the child spells his/her last name Other variations include using our initials.
We have a HUGE Spring basket in our class! The students used their small-motor skills and did a beautiful job of constructing it. Each child may bring a small stuffed animal to put in it to be used for good manners play-acting. This will help us prepare for our Spring Manners Tea.
In his visit to BHE this week, author and illustrator, Zachary Pullen, demonstrated how he comes up with artistic ideas for his books. Each kindergarten student received an autographed copy of his book, Friday My Radio Flyer Flew. Our Beautiful World
Whenever I hear the song of a bird,
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face,
Or the wind as it rushes by.
Whenever I taste a piece of fruit,
Or walk by my lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world,
Mother Nature created for me.
April 9, 2009
Clam Chowder
The Kindergarten Recipe
20 pounds of chopped potatoes 10 pounds of chopped onions 10 pounds of chopped celery 2 cups of grated carrots 3 pounds of real butter 6 cups of flour 4 quarts of whipping cream real clams lots of cans of clams salt and pepper
Family-Sized Recipe 1 cup chopped onions 1 cup chopped celery 2 cups chopped potatoes 1/4 cup grated carrots 3/4 cup real butter 3/4 cup flour 1 quart half and half (or 2 cups milk with 2 cups whipping cream) 2 cans (6 1/2 ounces each) clams 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Barely cover vegetables with water and juice from the clams and cook until tender in a BIG pot. Melt butter in a pan and add flour. Cook until bubbly then add juice from cooked vegetables and cook until thick stirring constantly. Add this to the cooked vegetables and add cream and clams. Salt and pepper to taste and reheat if necessary. Enjoy!!!
Our Classroom Ocean Song
The waves in the ocean go up and down, Up and down, up and down, The waves in the ocean go up and down, all day long.
The crabs on the beach, crawl back and forth, Back and forth, back and forth The crabs on the beach, crawl back and forth, all day long.
The lobsters in the ocean go, snap, snap, snap; Snap, snap, snap; snap, snap, snap, The lobsters in the ocean go snap, snap, snap, all day long.
The clams on the beach go open and shut, Open and shut, open and shut, The clams on the beach go open and shut, all day long.
The sharks in the ocean go bite, bite, bite; bite, bite, bite; Bite, bite, bite, The sharks in the ocean go bite, bite, bite, all day long.
The octopus in the ocean goes squirt, squirt, squirt; Squirt, squirt, squirt; squirt, squirt, squirt, The octopus in the ocean goes squirt, squirt, squirt; all day long.
The jellyfish in the ocean go wibble, wobble, wibble; Wibble, wobble, wibble; wibble, wobble, wibble, The jellyfish in the ocean go wibble, wobble, wibble, all day long.
April 2, 2009
OCEANS! OCEANS! OCEANS!
Over the last several weeks we have been celebrating the ocean and all of its interesting creatures. What fun we had making our own “Ocean” in our classroom with our favorite fish “swimming” around it. We also have examples of many kinds of shells and other ocean creatures. They include starfish, sand dollars, coral, a puffed-up puffer fish, and a tiny little sea horse.
To further celebrate our ocean, we will have a Clam Chowder Luncheon next Thursday, April 9th. We will peel potatoes, chop onions and celery, grate carrots, and pry open clams to make a huge vat of delicious clam chowder. We will also have fruit and vegetable trays, and cheese and crackers, in addition to P. B. & J. Uncrustables for the Faint of (Fish) Heart!
All family members and friends are invited to join us around noon next Thursday for lunch. Any food contributions would be appreciated for the celebration: potatoes, celery, onions, heavy cream, butter, and fruit and veggies for the trays.
Next Tuesday is our trip to the WYO Theater to see the sign language production of Dr. Dolittle. We will eat an early lunch and spend the afternoon enjoying learning about Dr. Dolittle and his animals.
Reading the big book, New Hope, gave us many new insights into families, genealogy, and what life was like when our grandparents were alive. We learned the following new words: forded, axles, Pokkers, root vegetables, root cellar, ferried, blacksmith, forge, bustling, tannery, steeple, and statue.
My Bonnie
My Bonnie lies over the ocean, My Bonnie lies over the sea, My Bonnie lies over the ocean, Oh bring back my Bonnie to me.
Bring back, bring back, Oh bring back my Bonnie To me, to me. Bring back, bring back, Oh bring back my Bonnie to me.
March 26, 2009
Wyoming Weather!! We hope that you enjoyed the first hint of Spring as much as we have at recess time.....rain, snow, hail, sun, slush, and wind!! We are looking forward to the coming of flowers and other signs that the earth is renewing itself.
If you have any questions or concerns about our late start/early dismissal call from Superintendent Belish, or need another phone number added to your calling list, please contact me. You can also check with Sheridan Media (www.sheridanmedia.com) for information about school closures.
There is an OCEAN in our classroom! Our study of interesting sea creatures began with the big book, Looking for Crabs, by Bruce Whatley. With this book we were introduced to the metaphoric expressions, Figure of Speech and Tongue in Cheek.
As we took a picture walk through another big book, Commotion in the Ocean, we learned more about compound words, prefixes and suffixes, and schwas. We will continue to learn about the ocean and are looking forward to making clam chowder.
In social skills we have been discussing PERSEVERANCE and CONSEQUENCES. It was fun to “Chunk” those huge words and see how easy they were to read. Play-acting different situations helps to reinforce the meaning of such important words.
Our class has enjoyed chanting and echoing , “A Tooty Ta.” The directions are on the back for your enjoyment.
Our Kindergarten will be going on a field trip to the WYO Theater on the afternoon of April 7, 2009, to see a production of Dr. Dolittle. Because of the limited space, both on the bus and in the theater, we cannot take extra people, however, we have several other field trips coming up.....we’ll keep you posted!
If you are aware of residents in the area with preschool children, please encourage them to contact Mrs. Cook, our secretary, (672-3497) to make an appointment for Kindergarten Screening which will be held on April 24th.
A -Tooty -Ta Chorus: Leader: A-tooty-ta, A-tooty-ta, A-tooty-ta-ta.
Students: A-tooty-ta, A-tooty-ta, A-tooty-ta-ta.
Sing the chorus between each verse/addition to the song as listed below:
Thumbs up Elbows back Feet apart Knees together Bottoms up Tongues out Eyes shut Turn around
This chant can be changed to incorporated phonemic awareness and letter sounds, such as A-dooty-da, A-looty-la, etc. It can also be changed to foster direction-following, such as snapping fingers or clapping hand during the tooty-ta chorus.
March 19, 2009
Our St. Patrick’s Day week has been filled with green adventures! When we came into our class on Tuesday morning, we found that the Leprechaun has tossed all kinds of things around the room: chairs, shamrocks, green candy, and name tags. * We especially enjoyed the St. Patrick’s Day food he left us: fresh vegetables which we dipped in green ranch dressing and huge green apples which we used to learn about fractions. We cut one whole apple (one part), into halves (two parts), another into thirds (three parts) and another into quarters/fourths (four parts); then we cut enough parts for each person in the class to share some delicious pieces. * Our introduction to Telling Time was fun as we practiced clapping out seconds while watching the second hand go around the clock. The expression, “Just A Minute,” took on a whole new meaning as we sat in silence and waited for a minute to pass. We will continue exploring time with digital and analog clocks. We are also memorizing the days of the weeks and months of the year. * Our Kindergarten will be going on a field trip to the WYO Theater on the afternoon of April 7, 2009, to see a production of Dr. Dolittle. Because of the limited space, both on the bus and in the theater, we cannot take extra people, however, we have several other field trips coming up.....we’ll keep you posted!
If you are aware of residents in the area with preschool children, please encourage them to contact Mrs. Cook at the school (672-3497) to make an appointment for Kindergarten Screening which will be held on April 24th.
Our person of the week is Nicholas. We are enjoying finding out more about him.
Sixty Seconds
Sixty seconds make a minute.
How much good can I do in it?
Sixty minutes make an hour.
I’ll do the best that’s in my power.
Twenty-four hours make a day.
Time for work and rest and play.
March 5, 2009
Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!
We have enjoyed reading Dr. Seuss books all week. We started out with his very first one, And to Think That it Happened on Mulberry Street, written in 1937. We then continued to read some of the older ones which were written with specific goals and morals in mind such as perseverance, imagination, patience, and kindness. As we read his newer Beginning Books, we were amazed at how many words we knew!
We especially enjoyed reading the book, Green Eggs and Ham. A Venn Diagram helped us graph our predictions on whether we would like green eggs and ham. As we cracked our eggs and cooked our ham, the delicious smell made us hungry enough to eat everything including the green garlic bread cat’s tails!
In addition to writing books, Dr. Seuss enjoyed writing lyrics for songs. One we enjoy singing in our class is “The Super-Supper March.” We were not sure about frittered flums or wham chops, but we enjoyed eating pickles and rhubarb and are now on the lookout for huckleberries and blueberries so we can make mish mash and bumplings!
Here are some of our great new vocabulary words: aglow, pursuit, shrieked, whisked, migration, predator, prey, pray, century, sentry, and synonym.
Please have an enjoyable Spring Break next week! Keep Reading, Reading, Reading!!!
The Super-Supper March By Dr. Seuss
1. Hungry, hungry, I am hungry, Table, table, here I come. I could eat a goose-moose burger, Fifteen pickles and a purple plum!
2. I could eat three bowls of goolash, Half a pound of wuzzled wheat. I could eat a peck of poobers, Then I’d really get to work and eat!
3. Oysters, noodles, strawberry stroodles, French fries, fish hash, one red beet. Lamb chops, wham chops, huckleberry mish mash, Oh, the things that I could eat!
4. Donuts, dumplings, blueberry bumplings, Chocolate mush-mush, super sweet. Clam stew, ham stew, watermelon wush-wush, Oh, the stuff that I could eat!
5. Deep dish rhubarb up-side-down cake, I could eat a frittered flum. Hungry, hungry, I am starving! Table, table, table, HERE I COME!!!!
February 26, 2009
What fun we had today for 100’s Day! We counted out the many different items which we brought from home and then shared the wrapped edibles.
We also enjoyed making 100-count necklaces out of fruit-flavored cereal. We planned out the colors on our necklace mat so that we could to count by tens to 100. We then threaded them in their groups on the yarn to finish the necklace.
As we read the book, One Hundred Hungry Ants, we predicted what would happen at the end as we watched how long it took for the ants to get in the different formations for counting to 100. We then made our own formation for getting to 100 with pennies.
For some fun 100’s Day homework, the students may find and write 100 words on the light purple paper and use the yellow hundreds board to do the dot-to-dot.
Our three-cornered hats looked most debonair as we danced the minuet to celebrate George Washington’s birthday. We learned many facts about President Washington’s early life: he loved horses, he was trained as a mapmaker, and his school was right at his own house. He tried to use integrity in all of his dealings with others which helped him as he served as leader of the army and then later as our first president.
Please enjoy this song with your child about George Washington’s hat. It has helped us with our coordination and thinking skills. Be sure to do all of the actions at the right times!
This afternoon we visited the Sheridan College Dental Hygiene Department. Through stories and skits on the theme of Over the Rainbow, we learned how we can take good care of our smiles with proper brushing and flossing. Thanks to those parents who came with us.
Paul Taylor, the Walking-Stick Man, has entertained us all week with his stories, songs and instruments. This is a song about George Washington’s hat. It has helped us with our coordination and thinking skills. Be sure to do all of the actions at the right times!
My hat, it has three corners.
Three corners has my hat.
And had it not three corners,
It would not be my hat!
February 19, 2009
On February 26th, we will have the 100th Day Of School! We have counted and sung the numbers up to 100 by one’s, two’s, five’s, and ten’s. We will count beads, blocks, pencils, and the number of steps it takes to get to and from our room to get ready.
To celebrate this landmark, each child may bring 100 items to count and share. Pennies, paper clips, nuts, straws, ---- let your imagination go wild! If it is something which needs to be returned, we will make sure it gets back home. If it is something edible to share, please have it wrapped: lollipops, peanuts-in-the-shell. We will COUNT on having a great day.
We are working on money in math. We especially need to recognize both sides of, and know the value of the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. Please give your child as many real-life experiences with money as possible.
Our field trip to Sheridan College’s Dental Hygiene Department will be on the afternoon of February 26th. We have been identifying good food for healthy teeth in anticipation of our visit. We will leave the school shortly after 1:00 p.m.and return before 2:30 p.m. Parents are invited to go on the field trip; please send a note if you will join us.
Wyoming Young Authors 2008 is coming up very soon. If you are interested in this writing competition, please contact me.
A REMINDER: Parent/Teacher Goal-setting Conference are tonight and tomorrow morning.
B-I-N-G-O
There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.
Leave one letter out each time you sing it and clap instead, until you have five claps at the end.
X-X-X-X-X
February 12, 2009
We have been studying one of our most famous Americans, Abraham Lincoln. Born in a one-room log cabin, he developed a reputation for honesty and determination, which led to his nickname, “Honest Abe.” He respected and honored each person he met, no matter what that person’s station in life. We read about Abe’s great sense of humor. After his stepmother cautioned six-foot-four-inch teenage Abe to keep his head clean so he wouldn’t get her ceiling dirty, he played a trick on her by helping a neighbor boy walk across the ceiling with muddy feet! He then cleaned and whitewashed all her floors, walls, and ceilings.
Our field trip to Sheridan College’s Dental Hygiene Department will be the afternoon of February 26th. We have been identifying good food for healthy teeth in anticipation of our visit. Parents are invited to go on this field trip with us.
As you read with your child, please remember the following helps: one-to-one matching with the pointer finger, picture clues, tapping out the sounds then scooping them back together, and chunking the word apart (an-i-mal). Also ask, “Does it make sense?”
The Wyoming Young Authors 2009 is coming up soon. If anyone is interested in participating in this writing competition, I have the entry forms.
As we work more on writing our letters and numbers, we are working hard to remember to always start at the top and go down.
We will look forward to learning more about Kennady as our special Person-of-the-Week.
Happy Valentine’s Day! We laced and decorated our Valentine mail bags, drew hearts, and sang love songs. Many thanks to those who helped with our Valentine festivities.
Valentines, Valentines, Tell me what they say.
I love you, I love you, More and more each day.
February 5, 2009
Did you know that the distance from the tip to the first joint of the thumb on a kindergarten child is about an inch? Did you know that King Charlemagne’s foot was used to tell the citizens how long a foot was? Did you know that a yard is the distance from an (average) adults’ nose to the end of his side-stretched arm? By reading the book, How Big Is A Foot, by Rolf Myller, we learned many interesting facts about measurement.
We have been measuring ourselves, the chairs, the tables.... everything around us to make comparisons. Please help your child practice measuring familiar things in the home environment. Along with using the foot rulers and yardsticks for measurement, we tried using them in an eye-hand balance and coordination game. The object is to see how long a person can balance a yardstick on the end of his/her outstretched finger without having it fall!
The students have worked very hard on a penmanship lesson of copying each other’s names. This paper may be used to address Valentines to exchange. If you do join in the Valentine exchange at school, please be sure to include every child in the class. We will deliver our Valentines on February 12th, during our party in the afternoon.
As we tap and sound words out, we are using The Clover to help understand which of the six syllable types we have in the word.....more on this later!
For Groundhog Day we learned many facts about the groundhog and did a great reading/sequencing paper to help tell the groundhog story.
We are enjoying learning more about Mariah, who is our person-of-the-week
Love Somebody
Love somebody, yes, I do!
Love somebody, yes, I do!
Love somebody, yes, I do!
I love somebody
But I won’t tell who!
Shhhhhh!!!
January 29, 2009
Snow was an important word this week! We began by reading the 1999 Caldecott Medal Winner, Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. In this story/biography about the self-taught scientist, Wilson Alwyn Bentley (1865-1931,) we learned how he devoted his entire life to capturing, on film, fragile and elusive snowflakes. We did internet research to find some of his photographs of snowflakes which reveal two important truths: first, no two snowflakes are alike, and second, each one is startlingly beautiful. http://snowflakebentley. com.
Exploring words in poetic form was enjoyable as we wrote our Cinquains about snow. A cinquain is a poem with five lines which gets its name from the French word for five: cinq. The following is the form we used: Cinquain 1. title/subject (one word) 2. description (two words) 3. action/”ing” words (three words) 4. your feelings (four words) 5. synonym/summary (one word)
An Example:
1. Snowflakes 2. Icy lace 3. Dancing, twirling, blowing 4. Landing on my tongue 5. Cold!
Folding and cutting paper to make our own six-pointed snowflakes helped us understand how unique each snowflake/child is!
After learning songs about the snow, we enjoyed the book by Raymond Briggs called The Snowman and the lovely video interpretation of the same book.
We will miss our friend, Robert, who will be gone until after spring break.
*
Here comes Susy Snowflake,
Dressed in a snow-white gown.
Tap, tap, tapping at your windowpane,
To tell you she’s in town.
* Here comes Stevie Snowflake,
Dressed in a snow-white shirt.
He is blowing all around the town,
And covering up the dirt!
January 22, 2009
In honor of the peaceful efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to bring equality to all Americans, we discussed and illustrated how each of us can be a Peaceful Person and honor the worth of all individuals, no matter what differences we see and experience among us.
The students were very attentive during the inaugural activities which we watched this week, including the oath and speech of President Obama. We decided we would do our share to help, so we decorated Peace Doves and wrote on them our dream for a better country and world.
Because we are starting to encounter them in our reading, we have been learning to read the titles, Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Jr., and Dr., and their meaning and derivation.
With our study of the letter “Kk,” we are finding one of the tricks of our language: the silent “K.” We have enjoyed sounding out great new vocabulary words such as knee, knife, knock, knight, knoll, knob, knot, know, knuckles, and knickknack, with the silent “K.”
We also had fun clinking keys as we sang “Dr. Knickerbocker.” We “got the rhythm” as we counted by one’s and did skip counting by two’s, five’s, and ten’s. The song also helped us review our body parts.
We have enjoyed having Bryce as our special person this week.
The Wyoming Young Authors 2009 is coming up soon. If anyone is interested in participating in this writing competition, I have the information and the entry forms.
“Dr. Knickerbocker”
Dr. Knickerbocker, Knickerbocker, Number one. He got stuck in the bubble gum.
Now let’s get the rhythm with our Hands. (Clap, Clap)
(Repeat two more times with other body parts.)
Now let’s get the rhythm With the number one.
(Or two, five, ten, or by whatever number you are skip counting.)
You then proceed to count as high as you want, in a normal counting voice, keeping a good counting rhythm.
January 15, 2009
What fun we are having with our Words-of-the-Day! First we find all the vowels and scoop the syllables together. Then we tap out the phonemes (sounds) and clap the syllables. Our trusty classroom dictionaries come in handy for looking up what the word means and other words like it. Some of our words this week have been consequences, predict, diner, cafe, restaurant, traditions, strategy, segment, and said (pronunciation derivation).
To get ready for writing in our new journals, we will continue to play our game, Name It, Verb It. We think up a name of something (person, place, or thing) and then an action for it to do. Examples would be Lion: growls, Motorcycle: roars, Baby: cries, Wind: blows, Star: shines, This could be a great travel game which will build vocabulary and help teach sentence structure. Puzzles have kept us busy this week. After struggling with some large floor puzzles, we thought up strategies for putting puzzles together: 1. Look carefully at the picture on the box and keep it handy for frequent reference. 2. Find the corners first. 3. Find all the edges. 4. Fill in the middle pieces. The students decided that puzzles must be good for the brain; they really make us think!
We enjoyed reading Elbert’s Bad Word by Audrey Wood, and now are working on using our Good Words to solve problems with each other.
Happy Birthday to Kennady on January 12th.
!! Book orders are due !!
Softly Falling Snow
Falling down, Gently down, See the softly falling snow.
Falling down, Gently down, Covering the ground below.
January 8th 2009
Happy New Year! It was good to see the happy, smiling faces of the children as they returned to school on Monday.
We had a delicious time decorating cookies for our classroom program in December, and appreciate all the parents who assisted with this project and with the program. A special thanks to the students who performed so well!
With the arrival of the New Year, we will put particular emphasis on memorizing the days of the week and the months of the year. Learning them in sign language helps cement them in our minds. If you have extra calendars, old or new, we would love to use them in our class.
We will be checking to make sure we all know the following information about ourselves: our full name, our parents’ names, our addresses, and our phone numbers. Please help your child review these important facts about him/herself.
Our class will be doing assessments next week. The students will be given the Observation Survey, the DRA, the MAP and the DIBELS. Please be sure your child gets plenty of rest so as to do the best job possible!
Our Snow Table is getting us in the mood for learning more about the seasons. With the possibility of cold, or snowy and icy road conditions ahead in the next few months, be ready for the early morning phone call for school closures or delays and remember to listen to the local AM radio stations for more weather updates. (KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
If you would like to order books from Scholastic Books, please return the completed order form by January 15th.
Please enjoy playing Name It, Verb It with your child!
Our person of the week for this week is Winfield. We are having fun learning more about him.
Once There Was A Snowman
Once there was a Snowman, Snowman, Snowman, Once there was a Snowman, Tall, tall, tall!
In the sun he Melted, Melted, Melted, In the sun he Melted, Small, small, small!
Repeat, using “Snowlady” instead of “Snowman.”
December 19th 2008
Have a Happy Holiday and a Great New Year!
Thanks to all the students for performing so well on the all-school program on December 11th, and also for the wonderful job they did on our special Kindergarten program yesterday!
Keep safe and warm over the break. Read a lot, enjoy your families, and get plenty of rest!
Dates To Remember:
December 20th Winter Break Begins
January 5th School in Session
Happy Birthday to Bryce on Dec. 20th.
God Bless All
God bless all
Good friends here,
A Merry Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
December 11, 2008
The BHE All-School Elementary Music Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. (TONIGHT!!) Children should be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. The students will be singing at the beginning of the program, after which they will go to sit with their parents.
Please reserve time on your calendar for our special Kindergarten Class Program on Thursday, December 18th. This will be held in our classroom at 10:00 a.m. All family members and friends are invited to attend. In conjunction with this program, we will be frosting and decorating cookies on December 17th. If any of you are baking cookies, could you please save out 2 dozen unfrosted cookies to send to school on/before the 18th? Thanks!
We have a beautiful Tannenbaum in our class from the mountains above Big Horn School. Our thanks to the Quinn family for bringing it to us. We enjoyed learning about different trees in science. The deciduous trees have leaves which drop off at the end of their growing season. Conifers or evergreen trees keep their leaves and have pine cones. We enjoyed tasting (interesting) pine nuts, smelling (fir-strong), feeling (pine-sticky), and tasting (sugar maple-delicious), sap/resin from different trees. We especially enjoy looking at (beautiful!) our own Tannenbaum. Our five senses are especially useful during the holidays!
We are learning a song about our Tannenbaum. The translation tells us the tree’s lovely branches are green in the summer and also in the winter when it snows . We enjoyed finding vowels as we chunked apart our big new word: Dendrochronology. It literally means Tree-Time-Study, or the study of the history and age of a tree. We counted the rings on the bottom of the trunk and learned that our tree was 11 years old.
We had a surprise visit from the German Santa Claus, St. Nikolaus, who visits children on the night of December 5th. In the tradition of good children finding treats in their shoes, all of the Big Horn Kinder found oranges and candy in their P.E. shoes on Monday morning..
Our Person-Of-The-Week is Winfield.
Happy Birthday to Houston on Dec. 18th.
School will be in session Friday, Dec. 19th with a 1:00 p.m. dismissal.
O Tannenbaum
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
Du Grunst nicht nur zur sommerzeit. Nein auch im Winter wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
December 4, 2008
We had such a wonderful time on the week before Thanksgiving! The pie-making and cream-whipping were educational and tasty. The potato-peeling, stuffing-making and turkey-roasting were aromatic and delicious. You should be proud of your children. They are the best choppers and peelers ever! Thank you, parents, for your wonderful support in this memory-making week.
The words, Odd and Even, took on new meanings as we did number exploration in math. We also enjoy skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
The BHE All-School Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. We will be singing several songs, afterwhich the children will go to sit with their parents to watch the rest of the program.
We especially enjoy our language arts and social studies standards during the holiday season as we learn of the traditions of children in other cultures. We will be including some of these in our own Kindergarten Program on December 18th. If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to help, please contact me.
Dates To Remember:
*Dec. 11th All-School Music Program in the B.H.H.S. gym at 7:00 p.m. Students must be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. *Dec. 18th Kindergarten Class Program 10:00 a.m. *Dec. 20th Winter Break
Our special person this week has been Connor. We have enjoyed learning more about him and his family.
Please check the Lost and Found in the main hall for missing articles. Also, Please write names inside coats, etc., so lost clothing can be returned to its owner.
Rudolph
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, Had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, You would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer, Used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph, Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say: “Rudolph with your nose so bright, Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”
Then how the reindeer loved him, As they shouted out with glee: “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, You’ll go down in history!”
November 20, 2008
We have exciting plans for Thanksgiving in our Kindergarten! This week we cut open, explored, and ate raw, fresh pumpkin! It was most tasty dipped in ranch dressing. We then baked the pumpkin in preparation for the actual pumpkin pie-making.
On Monday, we will finish reaming and mashing the pumpkins and then smell, taste, and add the rest of the ingredients to make delicious pumpkin pies! We will whip the heavy cream for the topping and enjoy our pies.... saving some for the next day’s feast.
On Tuesday, we will be having our Thanksgiving Feast. We will make the dressing by chopping onions, apples, and celery and tearing up the bread. We will add butter and “chicken candy” (bouillon cubes) and then stuff our turkey to replace the one which will have been cooking a good part of the night! After that, we will peel and mash our potatoes. We will eat our delicious meal at noon instead of school lunch. that day. Any contributions to our feast would be appreciated (see attached list)
Family members and friends who would like to help and/or join us for lunch would be most welcome. We will be eating around noontime. We will also be honoring our BHE teachers by inviting them to our feast and our bus drivers by cooking a special turkey dinner for them to eat later.
We also have been learning about the history and reason for the holiday and the important part which the Native Americans played in the lives of the Pilgrims.
One of our favorite songs at harvest time is “Over the River and Through the Woods.” If you sang this song as a child, please share that information with your kindergarten student and enjoy reading and singing the song together.
Along with our study of Thanksgiving, we “chunked” the word apart and rearranged it to find the words :“Giving Thanks”. We discussed all the things we were thankful for and made our own “I am thankful for...”writing web
With the word, Thanksgiving, it was a good time to work again on our ”ing” ending that appears so frequently in words.
Happy Birthday to Aleyah on November 19th.
Our Thanksgiving Feast List
For the Pies: canned (evaporated) milk sugar real (unwhipped) whipping cream eggs
For the Turkey Dinner: canned chicken broth onions celery old bread butter potatoes corn olives cranberry sauce (Anything else that makes your dinner special!) Please bring your ingredient(s) on Monday. THANK YOU !!!!!!!
Over the River and Through the Woods
Over the rive
March 26, 2009
Wyoming Weather!! We hope that you enjoyed the first hint of Spring as much as we have at recess time.....rain, snow, hail, sun, slush, and wind!! We are looking forward to the coming of flowers and other signs that the earth is renewing itself.
If you have any questions or concerns about our late start/early dismissal call from Superintendent Belish, or need another phone number added to your calling list, please contact me. You can also check with Sheridan Media (www.sheridanmedia.com) for information about school closures.
There is an OCEAN in our classroom! Our study of interesting sea creatures began with the big book, Looking for Crabs, by Bruce Whatley. With this book we were introduced to the metaphoric expressions, Figure of Speech and Tongue in Cheek.
As we took a picture walk through another big book, Commotion in the Ocean, we learned more about compound words, prefixes and suffixes, and schwas. We will continue to learn about the ocean and are looking forward to making clam chowder.
In social skills we have been discussing PERSEVERANCE and CONSEQUENCES. It was fun to “Chunk” those huge words and see how easy they were to read. Play-acting different situations helps to reinforce the meaning of such important words.
Our class has enjoyed chanting and echoing , “A Tooty Ta.” The directions are on the back for your enjoyment.
Our Kindergarten will be going on a field trip to the WYO Theater on the afternoon of April 7, 2009, to see a production of Dr. Dolittle. Because of the limited space, both on the bus and in the theater, we cannot take extra people, however, we have several other field trips coming up.....we’ll keep you posted!
If you are aware of residents in the area with preschool children, please encourage them to contact Mrs. Cook, our secretary, (672-3497) to make an appointment for Kindergarten Screening which will be held on April 24th.
March 19, 2009
Our St. Patrick’s Day week has been filled with green adventures! When we came into our class on Tuesday morning, we found that the Leprechaun has tossed all kinds of things around the room: chairs, shamrocks, green candy, and name tags. * We especially enjoyed the St. Patrick’s Day food he left us: fresh vegetables which we dipped in green ranch dressing and huge green apples which we used to learn about fractions. We cut one whole apple (one part), into halves (two parts), another into thirds (three parts) and another into quarters/fourths (four parts); then we cut enough parts for each person in the class to share some delicious pieces. * Our introduction to Telling Time was fun as we practiced clapping out seconds while watching the second hand go around the clock. The expression, “Just A Minute,” took on a whole new meaning as we sat in silence and waited for a minute to pass. We will continue exploring time with digital and analog clocks. We are also memorizing the days of the weeks and months of the year. * Our Kindergarten will be going on a field trip to the WYO Theater on the afternoon of April 7, 2009, to see a production of Dr. Dolittle. Because of the limited space, both on the bus and in the theater, we cannot take extra people, however, we have several other field trips coming up.....we’ll keep you posted!
If you are aware of residents in the area with preschool children, please encourage them to contact Mrs. Cook at the school (672-3497) to make an appointment for Kindergarten Screening which will be held on April 24th.
Our person of the week is Nicholas. We are enjoying finding out more about him.
Sixty Seconds
Sixty seconds make a minute.
How much good can I do in it?
Sixty minutes make an hour.
I’ll do the best that’s in my power.
Twenty-four hours make a day.
Time for work and rest and play.
March 5, 2009
Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!
We have enjoyed reading Dr. Seuss books all week. We started out with his very first one, And to Think That it Happened on Mulberry Street, written in 1937. We then continued to read some of the older ones which were written with specific goals and morals in mind such as perseverance, imagination, patience, and kindness. As we read his newer Beginning Books, we were amazed at how many words we knew!
We especially enjoyed reading the book, Green Eggs and Ham. A Venn Diagram helped us graph our predictions on whether we would like green eggs and ham. As we cracked our eggs and cooked our ham, the delicious smell made us hungry enough to eat everything including the green garlic bread cat’s tails!
In addition to writing books, Dr. Seuss enjoyed writing lyrics for songs. One we enjoy singing in our class is “The Super-Supper March.” We were not sure about frittered flums or wham chops, but we enjoyed eating pickles and rhubarb and are now on the lookout for huckleberries and blueberries so we can make mish mash and bumplings!
Here are some of our great new vocabulary words: aglow, pursuit, shrieked, whisked, migration, predator, prey, pray, century, sentry, and synonym.
Please have an enjoyable Spring Break next week! Keep Reading, Reading, Reading!!!
The Super-Supper March By Dr. Seuss
1. Hungry, hungry, I am hungry, Table, table, here I come. I could eat a goose-moose burger, Fifteen pickles and a purple plum!
2. I could eat three bowls of goolash, Half a pound of wuzzled wheat. I could eat a peck of poobers, Then I’d really get to work and eat!
3. Oysters, noodles, strawberry stroodles, French fries, fish hash, one red beet. Lamb chops, wham chops, huckleberry mish mash, Oh, the things that I could eat!
4. Donuts, dumplings, blueberry bumplings, Chocolate mush-mush, super sweet. Clam stew, ham stew, watermelon wush-wush, Oh, the stuff that I could eat!
5. Deep dish rhubarb up-side-down cake, I could eat a frittered flum. Hungry, hungry, I am starving! Table, table, table, HERE I COME!!!!
February 26, 2009
What fun we had today for 100’s Day! We counted out the many different items which we brought from home and then shared the wrapped edibles.
We also enjoyed making 100-count necklaces out of fruit-flavored cereal. We planned out the colors on our necklace mat so that we could to count by tens to 100. We then threaded them in their groups on the yarn to finish the necklace.
As we read the book, One Hundred Hungry Ants, we predicted what would happen at the end as we watched how long it took for the ants to get in the different formations for counting to 100. We then made our own formation for getting to 100 with pennies.
For some fun 100’s Day homework, the students may find and write 100 words on the light purple paper and use the yellow hundreds board to do the dot-to-dot.
Our three-cornered hats looked most debonair as we danced the minuet to celebrate George Washington’s birthday. We learned many facts about President Washington’s early life: he loved horses, he was trained as a mapmaker, and his school was right at his own house. He tried to use integrity in all of his dealings with others which helped him as he served as leader of the army and then later as our first president.
Please enjoy this song with your child about George Washington’s hat. It has helped us with our coordination and thinking skills. Be sure to do all of the actions at the right times!
This afternoon we visited the Sheridan College Dental Hygiene Department. Through stories and skits on the theme of Over the Rainbow, we learned how we can take good care of our smiles with proper brushing and flossing. Thanks to those parents who came with us.
Paul Taylor, the Walking-Stick Man, has entertained us all week with his stories, songs and instruments. This is a song about George Washington’s hat. It has helped us with our coordination and thinking skills. Be sure to do all of the actions at the right times!
My hat, it has three corners.
Three corners has my hat.
And had it not three corners,
It would not be my hat!
February 19, 2009
On February 26th, we will have the 100th Day Of School! We have counted and sung the numbers up to 100 by one’s, two’s, five’s, and ten’s. We will count beads, blocks, pencils, and the number of steps it takes to get to and from our room to get ready.
To celebrate this landmark, each child may bring 100 items to count and share. Pennies, paper clips, nuts, straws, ---- let your imagination go wild! If it is something which needs to be returned, we will make sure it gets back home. If it is something edible to share, please have it wrapped: lollipops, peanuts-in-the-shell. We will COUNT on having a great day.
We are working on money in math. We especially need to recognize both sides of, and know the value of the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. Please give your child as many real-life experiences with money as possible.
Our field trip to Sheridan College’s Dental Hygiene Department will be on the afternoon of February 26th. We have been identifying good food for healthy teeth in anticipation of our visit. We will leave the school shortly after 1:00 p.m.and return before 2:30 p.m. Parents are invited to go on the field trip; please send a note if you will join us.
Wyoming Young Authors 2008 is coming up very soon. If you are interested in this writing competition, please contact me.
A REMINDER: Parent/Teacher Goal-setting Conference are tonight and tomorrow morning.
B-I-N-G-O
There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.
Leave one letter out each time you sing it and clap instead, until you have five claps at the end.
X-X-X-X-X
February 12, 2009
We have been studying one of our most famous Americans, Abraham Lincoln. Born in a one-room log cabin, he developed a reputation for honesty and determination, which led to his nickname, “Honest Abe.” He respected and honored each person he met, no matter what that person’s station in life. We read about Abe’s great sense of humor. After his stepmother cautioned six-foot-four-inch teenage Abe to keep his head clean so he wouldn’t get her ceiling dirty, he played a trick on her by helping a neighbor boy walk across the ceiling with muddy feet! He then cleaned and whitewashed all her floors, walls, and ceilings.
Our field trip to Sheridan College’s Dental Hygiene Department will be the afternoon of February 26th. We have been identifying good food for healthy teeth in anticipation of our visit. Parents are invited to go on this field trip with us.
As you read with your child, please remember the following helps: one-to-one matching with the pointer finger, picture clues, tapping out the sounds then scooping them back together, and chunking the word apart (an-i-mal). Also ask, “Does it make sense?”
The Wyoming Young Authors 2009 is coming up soon. If anyone is interested in participating in this writing competition, I have the entry forms.
As we work more on writing our letters and numbers, we are working hard to remember to always start at the top and go down.
We will look forward to learning more about Kennady as our special Person-of-the-Week.
Happy Valentine’s Day! We laced and decorated our Valentine mail bags, drew hearts, and sang love songs. Many thanks to those who helped with our Valentine festivities.
Valentines, Valentines, Tell me what they say.
I love you, I love you, More and more each day.
February 5, 2009
Did you know that the distance from the tip to the first joint of the thumb on a kindergarten child is about an inch? Did you know that King Charlemagne’s foot was used to tell the citizens how long a foot was? Did you know that a yard is the distance from an (average) adults’ nose to the end of his side-stretched arm? By reading the book, How Big Is A Foot, by Rolf Myller, we learned many interesting facts about measurement.
We have been measuring ourselves, the chairs, the tables.... everything around us to make comparisons. Please help your child practice measuring familiar things in the home environment. Along with using the foot rulers and yardsticks for measurement, we tried using them in an eye-hand balance and coordination game. The object is to see how long a person can balance a yardstick on the end of his/her outstretched finger without having it fall!
The students have worked very hard on a penmanship lesson of copying each other’s names. This paper may be used to address Valentines to exchange. If you do join in the Valentine exchange at school, please be sure to include every child in the class. We will deliver our Valentines on February 12th, during our party in the afternoon.
As we tap and sound words out, we are using The Clover to help understand which of the six syllable types we have in the word.....more on this later!
For Groundhog Day we learned many facts about the groundhog and did a great reading/sequencing paper to help tell the groundhog story.
We are enjoying learning more about Mariah, who is our person-of-the-week
Love Somebody
Love somebody, yes, I do!
Love somebody, yes, I do!
Love somebody, yes, I do!
I love somebody
But I won’t tell who!
Shhhhhh!!!
January 29, 2009
Snow was an important word this week! We began by reading the 1999 Caldecott Medal Winner, Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. In this story/biography about the self-taught scientist, Wilson Alwyn Bentley (1865-1931,) we learned how he devoted his entire life to capturing, on film, fragile and elusive snowflakes. We did internet research to find some of his photographs of snowflakes which reveal two important truths: first, no two snowflakes are alike, and second, each one is startlingly beautiful. http://snowflakebentley. com.
Exploring words in poetic form was enjoyable as we wrote our Cinquains about snow. A cinquain is a poem with five lines which gets its name from the French word for five: cinq. The following is the form we used: Cinquain 1. title/subject (one word) 2. description (two words) 3. action/”ing” words (three words) 4. your feelings (four words) 5. synonym/summary (one word)
An Example:
1. Snowflakes 2. Icy lace 3. Dancing, twirling, blowing 4. Landing on my tongue 5. Cold!
Folding and cutting paper to make our own six-pointed snowflakes helped us understand how unique each snowflake/child is!
After learning songs about the snow, we enjoyed the book by Raymond Briggs called The Snowman and the lovely video interpretation of the same book.
We will miss our friend, Robert, who will be gone until after spring break.
*
Here comes Susy Snowflake,
Dressed in a snow-white gown.
Tap, tap, tapping at your windowpane,
To tell you she’s in town.
* Here comes Stevie Snowflake,
Dressed in a snow-white shirt.
He is blowing all around the town,
And covering up the dirt!
January 22, 2009
In honor of the peaceful efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to bring equality to all Americans, we discussed and illustrated how each of us can be a Peaceful Person and honor the worth of all individuals, no matter what differences we see and experience among us.
The students were very attentive during the inaugural activities which we watched this week, including the oath and speech of President Obama. We decided we would do our share to help, so we decorated Peace Doves and wrote on them our dream for a better country and world.
Because we are starting to encounter them in our reading, we have been learning to read the titles, Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Jr., and Dr., and their meaning and derivation.
With our study of the letter “Kk,” we are finding one of the tricks of our language: the silent “K.” We have enjoyed sounding out great new vocabulary words such as knee, knife, knock, knight, knoll, knob, knot, know, knuckles, and knickknack, with the silent “K.”
We also had fun clinking keys as we sang “Dr. Knickerbocker.” We “got the rhythm” as we counted by one’s and did skip counting by two’s, five’s, and ten’s. The song also helped us review our body parts.
We have enjoyed having Bryce as our special person this week.
The Wyoming Young Authors 2009 is coming up soon. If anyone is interested in participating in this writing competition, I have the information and the entry forms.
“Dr. Knickerbocker”
Dr. Knickerbocker, Knickerbocker, Number one. He got stuck in the bubble gum.
Now let’s get the rhythm with our Hands. (Clap, Clap)
(Repeat two more times with other body parts.)
Now let’s get the rhythm With the number one.
(Or two, five, ten, or by whatever number you are skip counting.)
You then proceed to count as high as you want, in a normal counting voice, keeping a good counting rhythm.
January 15, 2009
What fun we are having with our Words-of-the-Day! First we find all the vowels and scoop the syllables together. Then we tap out the phonemes (sounds) and clap the syllables. Our trusty classroom dictionaries come in handy for looking up what the word means and other words like it. Some of our words this week have been consequences, predict, diner, cafe, restaurant, traditions, strategy, segment, and said (pronunciation derivation).
To get ready for writing in our new journals, we will continue to play our game, Name It, Verb It. We think up a name of something (person, place, or thing) and then an action for it to do. Examples would be Lion: growls, Motorcycle: roars, Baby: cries, Wind: blows, Star: shines, This could be a great travel game which will build vocabulary and help teach sentence structure. Puzzles have kept us busy this week. After struggling with some large floor puzzles, we thought up strategies for putting puzzles together: 1. Look carefully at the picture on the box and keep it handy for frequent reference. 2. Find the corners first. 3. Find all the edges. 4. Fill in the middle pieces. The students decided that puzzles must be good for the brain; they really make us think!
We enjoyed reading Elbert’s Bad Word by Audrey Wood, and now are working on using our Good Words to solve problems with each other.
Happy Birthday to Kennady on January 12th.
!! Book orders are due !!
Softly Falling Snow
Falling down, Gently down, See the softly falling snow.
Falling down, Gently down, Covering the ground below.
January 8th 2009
Happy New Year! It was good to see the happy, smiling faces of the children as they returned to school on Monday.
We had a delicious time decorating cookies for our classroom program in December, and appreciate all the parents who assisted with this project and with the program. A special thanks to the students who performed so well!
With the arrival of the New Year, we will put particular emphasis on memorizing the days of the week and the months of the year. Learning them in sign language helps cement them in our minds. If you have extra calendars, old or new, we would love to use them in our class.
We will be checking to make sure we all know the following information about ourselves: our full name, our parents’ names, our addresses, and our phone numbers. Please help your child review these important facts about him/herself.
Our class will be doing assessments next week. The students will be given the Observation Survey, the DRA, the MAP and the DIBELS. Please be sure your child gets plenty of rest so as to do the best job possible!
Our Snow Table is getting us in the mood for learning more about the seasons. With the possibility of cold, or snowy and icy road conditions ahead in the next few months, be ready for the early morning phone call for school closures or delays and remember to listen to the local AM radio stations for more weather updates. (KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
If you would like to order books from Scholastic Books, please return the completed order form by January 15th.
Please enjoy playing Name It, Verb It with your child!
Our person of the week for this week is Winfield. We are having fun learning more about him.
Once There Was A Snowman
Once there was a Snowman, Snowman, Snowman, Once there was a Snowman, Tall, tall, tall!
In the sun he Melted, Melted, Melted, In the sun he Melted, Small, small, small!
Repeat, using “Snowlady” instead of “Snowman.”
December 19th 2008
Have a Happy Holiday and a Great New Year!
Thanks to all the students for performing so well on the all-school program on December 11th, and also for the wonderful job they did on our special Kindergarten program yesterday!
Keep safe and warm over the break. Read a lot, enjoy your families, and get plenty of rest!
Dates To Remember:
December 20th Winter Break Begins
January 5th School in Session
Happy Birthday to Bryce on Dec. 20th.
God Bless All
God bless all
Good friends here,
A Merry Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
December 11, 2008
The BHE All-School Elementary Music Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. (TONIGHT!!) Children should be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. The students will be singing at the beginning of the program, after which they will go to sit with their parents.
Please reserve time on your calendar for our special Kindergarten Class Program on Thursday, December 18th. This will be held in our classroom at 10:00 a.m. All family members and friends are invited to attend. In conjunction with this program, we will be frosting and decorating cookies on December 17th. If any of you are baking cookies, could you please save out 2 dozen unfrosted cookies to send to school on/before the 18th? Thanks!
We have a beautiful Tannenbaum in our class from the mountains above Big Horn School. Our thanks to the Quinn family for bringing it to us. We enjoyed learning about different trees in science. The deciduous trees have leaves which drop off at the end of their growing season. Conifers or evergreen trees keep their leaves and have pine cones. We enjoyed tasting (interesting) pine nuts, smelling (fir-strong), feeling (pine-sticky), and tasting (sugar maple-delicious), sap/resin from different trees. We especially enjoy looking at (beautiful!) our own Tannenbaum. Our five senses are especially useful during the holidays!
We are learning a song about our Tannenbaum. The translation tells us the tree’s lovely branches are green in the summer and also in the winter when it snows . We enjoyed finding vowels as we chunked apart our big new word: Dendrochronology. It literally means Tree-Time-Study, or the study of the history and age of a tree. We counted the rings on the bottom of the trunk and learned that our tree was 11 years old.
We had a surprise visit from the German Santa Claus, St. Nikolaus, who visits children on the night of December 5th. In the tradition of good children finding treats in their shoes, all of the Big Horn Kinder found oranges and candy in their P.E. shoes on Monday morning..
Our Person-Of-The-Week is Winfield.
Happy Birthday to Houston on Dec. 18th.
School will be in session Friday, Dec. 19th with a 1:00 p.m. dismissal.
O Tannenbaum
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
Du Grunst nicht nur zur sommerzeit. Nein auch im Winter wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
December 4, 2008
We had such a wonderful time on the week before Thanksgiving! The pie-making and cream-whipping were educational and tasty. The potato-peeling, stuffing-making and turkey-roasting were aromatic and delicious. You should be proud of your children. They are the best choppers and peelers ever! Thank you, parents, for your wonderful support in this memory-making week.
The words, Odd and Even, took on new meanings as we did number exploration in math. We also enjoy skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
The BHE All-School Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. We will be singing several songs, afterwhich the children will go to sit with their parents to watch the rest of the program.
We especially enjoy our language arts and social studies standards during the holiday season as we learn of the traditions of children in other cultures. We will be including some of these in our own Kindergarten Program on December 18th. If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to help, please contact me.
Dates To Remember:
*Dec. 11th All-School Music Program in the B.H.H.S. gym at 7:00 p.m. Students must be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. *Dec. 18th Kindergarten Class Program 10:00 a.m. *Dec. 20th Winter Break
Our special person this week has been Connor. We have enjoyed learning more about him and his family.
Please check the Lost and Found in the main hall for missing articles. Also, Please write names inside coats, etc., so lost clothing can be returned to its owner.
Rudolph
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, Had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, You would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer, Used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph, Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say: “Rudolph with your nose so bright, Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”
Then how the reindeer loved him, As they shouted out with glee: “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, You’ll go down in history!”
November 20, 2008
We have exciting plans for Thanksgiving in our Kindergarten! This week we cut open, explored, and ate raw, fresh pumpkin! It was most tasty dipped in ranch dressing. We then baked the pumpkin in preparation for the actual pumpkin pie-making.
On Monday, we will finish reaming and mashing the pumpkins and then smell, taste, and add the rest of the ingredients to make delicious pumpkin pies! We will whip the heavy cream for the topping and enjoy our pies.... saving some for the next day’s feast.
On Tuesday, we will be having our Thanksgiving Feast. We will make the dressing by chopping onions, apples, and celery and tearing up the bread. We will add butter and “chicken candy” (bouillon cubes) and then stuff our turkey to replace the one which will have been cooking a good part of the night! After that, we will peel and mash our potatoes. We will eat our delicious meal at noon instead of school lunch. that day. Any contributions to our feast would be appreciated (see attached list)
Family members and friends who would like to help and/or join us for lunch would be most welcome. We will be eating around noontime. We will also be honoring our BHE teachers by inviting them to our feast and our bus drivers by cooking a special turkey dinner for them to eat later.
We also have been learning about the history and reason for the holiday and the important part which the Native Americans played in the lives of the Pilgrims.
One of our favorite songs at harvest time is “Over the River and Through the Woods.” If you sang this song as a child, please share that information with your kindergarten student and enjoy reading and singing the song together.
Along with our study of Thanksgiving, we “chunked” the word apart and rearranged it to find the words :“Giving Thanks”. We discussed all the things we were thankful for and made our own “I am thankful for...”writing web
With the word, Thanksgiving, it was a good time to work again on our ”ing” ending that appears so frequently in words.
Happy Birthday to Aleyah on November 19th.
Our Thanksgiving Feast List
For the Pies: canned (evaporated) milk sugar real (unwhipped) whipping cream eggs
For the Turkey Dinner: canned chicken broth onions celery old bread butter potatoes corn olives cranberry sauce (Anything else that makes your dinner special!) Please bring your ingredient(s) on Monday. THANK YOU !!!!!!!
Over the River and Through the Woods
Over the river and through the woods, To Grandmother’s house we go. The horse knows the way To carry the sleigh Through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and through the woods, Oh how the wind does blow! It stings the toes and bites the nose As over the ground we go.
Over the river and through the woods, And straight through the barnyard gate. We seem to go E-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y S-l-o-w, It is so hard to wait! Over the river and through the woods, Now Grandfather’s cap I spy. Hurrah for the fun! Is the turkey done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
November 13, 2008
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918, a peace treaty was signed to end what was then called “The Great War.” From that event we had what was called Armistice Day. In 1954 the name of the holiday was changed to Veteran’s Day to honor all of the men and women who have served to protect freedom in our world.
We discovered the eleventh day of the eleventh month on different calendars, we signed our names to little cards which will be sent to veterans in our local VA Hospital, and we have enjoyed our “hands-on” Veteran’s Table.
If you have any veterans or active service personnel in your family, please write down their names, addresses, and military service descriptions so your child can share that information with the class.
The “Getting To Know You” student this week was Camryn. We have enjoyed getting to know her better.
In math, we used our Ten Frames for the first time. We did counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. After that, we did “counting on” to understand the concept of addition. At the end, we just had fun with our tiles!
Alphabetical Order has a whole new meaning now as we can place ourselves in line in alphabetical order by our first names. We also enjoy calling the roll by our initials.
The big book, Silly Sally, brought excitement to our class this week. After we read it, recognizing characters and plot and using prediction, we decided to act it out. Walking, dancing, singing, sleeping, and playing leapfrog weren’t too hard.....but when we had to do it all UPSIDE-DOWN (as Silly Sally did), the laughter and fun really began!
As the weather gets colder, more coats seem to lose their owners. Please put your child’s name inside all “take-off-able” clothing. If the temperature is above 10 degrees, we will have outside recess so please dress your child accordingly. Also, with the new message system from the district, we will should be alerted to any school closures, however, they will also be announced on the local radio stations.(KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
Five Brave Turkeys
Five brave turkeys are we,
We hid all night in a tree.
When the cook came around,
We couldn’t be found,
So that’s why we’re here, you see!
November 6, 2008
What a great day we had on our Read-In and Halloween Party last Thursday! There were many different characters about which we learned. These are the ones we represented with their books:
McCaffrey Knight Book: Castles
Luke Cowboy Book: The American Cowboy
Bode Spiderman Book: The Very Busy Spider
Aleyah Medieval Princess Book: Disney Storybook Collection
Houston Knight Book: You Wouldn’t Want To Be A Medieval Knight
Elizabeth Princess Book: What Is A Princess?
Camryn Batgirl Book: Bats At The Beach
Connor Darth Vader Book: Star Wars
Winfield Batman Book: Stellaluna
Bryce Batman Book: Creatures of the Night
Mariah. Cheerleader Book: NFL Sports Book
Robert Football Player Book: Sports Illustrated For Kids
Kennady Cowgirl Book: My Chincoteague Pony
Ayden: Power Ranger Book: Operation Overdrive
Nicholas: Special Forces Book: The Sword In The Stone
A big THANKS to the parents who helped with our wonderful Halloween Party!!
As part of our letter “Cc” exploration, we have introduced Color words, story Characters, Cat songs, Contractions (did not = didn’t), and Countless Carrots.
From the humorous book, Cookie’s Week, we have been learning to read the days of the week. We are also learning them in sign language.
We enjoyed having Elizabeth as our special person this week.
A BIG thanks to the parents who helped with our Halloween Party!!
Apples and Bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas,
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas.
A E I O U
a e i o u
Each time the song is sung, one long or short vowel sound is used for all the voiced vowels in the words, eat, apples, and bananas. This helps the ear hear the different vowels in unusual (funny) settings.
Long vowels are marked with macrons: hate Short vowels are marked with breves: hat
October 30, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Pumpkin, Pumpkin, big and round, I’m glad you grow upon the ground. I’m glad you don’t grow on a tree, For then you might fall on me!
Pick A Pick A Pumpkin
Pick a pick a pumpkin from the pile, We can make his eyes and a great big smile. Pick a pick a pumpkin, round and clean, Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween! Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
October 23, 2008
On October 30th. we will have our Kindergarten Read-In during the day. The students should choose a book to match their Halloween costume. They can then show their costumes while their books are being read so we can have more visual enjoyment of the book. At 3:00 those who wish may change into their costumes for our party.
During our Monday library time, we will try to find books to fit costumes if you don’t have one at home. (Stretches are just fine; a book about nocturnal animals would surely qualify for Batman!) If you choose not to have a costume, we would enjoy reading your child’s favorite storybook.
This Read-In will give us an opportunity to enjoy exciting stories as we discuss our reading standards concerning plots, characters, themes, and settings. We will also be addressing the standard involving sequence as we talk about the beginning, middle, and ending of a story.
We have enjoyed learning about the major and minor musical modes (styles) as we have sung two songs about cats in the different modes. Learning the sign language for happy (major mode – “up” motion) and sad (minor mode –”down” motion) has given us more understanding for these musical modes. We have also enjoyed signing the words in the songs. Please have your child sing and explain these songs for you.
As part of our letter “Bb” study, we are thinking up new Bb words and illustrating them. For our blue Bb book we are also writing words and sentences about the pictures.
Our “School Families” had a wonderful time reading picture books in the family groups this week. We will continue to meet monthly to get to know other friends in different grades.
We enjoyed learning about Aleyah this week. Our next person-of-the-week will be Houston.
Black Cat, Black Cat (Major Musical Mode)
Black cat, black cat looking for a witch.
All around the night is dark as pitch.
You can see because your eyes are green.
Black cat, black cat, this is Halloween.
Boo!
Halloween Cat (Minor Musical Mode)
Halloween Cat! Halloween Cat!
Why do you Meeeow and Meeeow like that?
Neither I nor the moon, likes your tune,
So SCAT!!!!
Halloween Cat!
October 16, 2008
This week we commemorated the anniversary of the arrival in the New World of Christopher Columbus on October 12, 516 years ago. We learned about the early years of his life, especially how he concluded that the world was round.
It was interesting to do the same experiment with a butterfly and a orange that Christopher observed in his orchard in Italy when he was just a lad. With the help of our globes and the paper ships we made, we were able to see first the tops of the sails, then the whole ship, just as he did from his hilltop home overlooking the harbor.
Our senses were well-used as we tasted and smelled many new spices to learn one of the reasons that Columbus was trying to find a new route to the Indies. We also felt embroidered silk and smelled perfumes from the Orient.
At snack time, we tried some of the food that Captain Columbus and his crew might have eaten on their voyage. The hardtack, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, vinegar, and beef jerky were all tasty, but we decided that it would get pretty boring day after day without fresh foods. We hope you enjoy our little ships as they sail to the New World.
We had an enjoyable time learning our new finger play/song, “Five Little Pumpkins.” We especially enjoyed doing it as a choral reading complete with actions, sign language, and rotations. It also gave us good practice with our ordinal numbers. The words to the song are on the back of he newsletter.
Our author visit on Monday was informative. Brian P. Cleary explained how he writes his stories which are mainly about parts of speech.. We all enjoyed listening to him read some of his books. We are bringing home our own, personally signed, copy of one of his colorful books, Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally, a Book of Adverbs.
We enjoyed meeting Bode’s family and will look forward to Aleyah for our new student next week.
Our Halloween party will be on October 30th at 3 p.m. If they desire, the students may change into costumes at that time. To make the day Reading Friendly, could you please try to find a book which goes along with the costume so we can read the books throughout the day. Examples: Spiderman costume=a book about spiders, Princess costume=a book about fairy tales. If you would like to help with the party, please send me a note so we can make the party plans!
Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
1 The first one said, “My it’s getting late”.
2 The second one said, “There are witches
In the air”.
3 The third one said, “We don’t care”.
4 The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run
And run”.
5 The fifth one said, “My we’re having fun”.
OOO went the wind, and OUT went the light,
And the five little pumpkins
Rolled out of sight!
October 9, 2008
Thank you for the wonderful Parent/Teacher Goal-Setting Conferences last week. It was great to get to know you better and discuss goals for your super duper kidlets. Thanks, too, for filling out and returning the yellow forms for Strengths/Goals/Notes.
The BIG APPLES which have come back decorated look wonderful. It is exciting to have the students share them with others. They will look so attractive on the big paper tree in the hall.
I am so proud of the readers we have in our class! When the teachers do the daily Running Records in the guided reading groups, it is evident from all the good check marks that the children are reading their books at night.
As the books get more difficult, the students will need to sound out more of the words. Please remind them to tap each sound with their fingers and then scoop the words back together.
The chart on the back of the newsletter will help the students remember the sound/letter correspondences if they point to the letters as they sing the song.
Our Aa Book is coming home today. In addition to reading and coloring the Aa words, the students enjoyed thinking up, writing, and illustrating their own Aa word.
In math, we had a great time with our Bug Bucket. We had to estimate how many bugs were on the rug when we dumped them out. Then we sorted them by color and size. We counted them in categories and used our HUGE calculator to add them up, learning how to use a calculator as we went.
It was enjoyable to meet Luke’s family. We will look forward to Bode for our new “Getting-To-Know-You” student.
We are going to have a Pumpkin Patch in our classroom! If you have any extra harvest items such as pumpkins, gourds, etc., we would love to add them to our Pumpkin Patch.
October 14th - Author Visit October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
Happy Birthday to Winfield on October 9th.
October 2, 2008
We have enjoyed learning about John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed) this week. He was born on September 26, 1774, in New England, just as the apples were ready to eat in his father’s orchard.
He spent his whole life in the great outdoors befriending animals and helping others. He planted apple seeds, which he culled from large apple cider presses in New York. The trees from these seeds even have “grandchildren” trees in the Big Horn area!
The different varieties of apples we tasted were delicious and we will continue trying new ones next week, after which we will make graphs to find the ones we like the best. If you have a favorite kind, could you please share an apple or two so we can taste as many varieties as possible? Thanks! We also had fun finding the magic “star” inside of each apple. We are looking forward to making apple star prints and apple sponge painting.
We are enjoying our new book called I Read A Book. We are still working on left-to-right-progression and one-to-one matching in our reading. Usually our first books are “memorized” rather than “read,” but that is often the first step to understanding the reading process and getting those first “hooks” into that daunting sea of letters. Just for fun pick, one word out of a page or have your child read a sentence backwards: “dog the at Look” or “Mom my to read I” to check for memorization versus reading.
As letters and words become more familiar to us, we are noticing many longer words which end in “ing.” Every time we see the “ing” we get to do our “ing” dance. This helps us not to be afraid of sounding and tapping out new words. A big book which helped us find “ing’s” was I Went Walking by Sue Williams, humorously illustrated by Julie Vivas.
I am looking forward to our Parent/Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow.
October 13th - Author Day October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
The Apple Tree
Way, way up In the apple tree,
Two little apples Smiled at me.
I shook that tree As hard as I could,
Down came the apples, Mmmm, they were good!
September 25. 2008
Autumn is in the air and we are excited about Johnny Appleseed’s birthday coming up. Our Apple Table has many kinds and textures of apples from a wooden apple block calendar to an apple door chime. It also has applesauce-making implements which we will put to good use when we make our applesauce. Any apples are welcome for this project; Big Horn orchard apples are especially good for applesauce.....and we’ll be careful to cut out the bad spots and the worms!
Last week we enjoyed reading The Gingerbread Boy. We discussed the characters in the story and the exciting plot. We then wrote out a recipe for making gingerbread people. After tasting and measuring the ingredients, we mixed, kneaded, rolled out, cut out, decorated, and baked our gingerbread people. The recipe is enclosed so you can enjoy making them at home.
Eric Carle, the author and illustrator, has become one of our favorite names! We have read and learned the sign language for his books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? and Today is Monday,and enjoyed reading and doing the actions to his book, From Head To Toe. We also watched a video about his life. We are excited to try out his painting style as we make our own collages
Counting, counting, counting! We have c
January 15, 2009
What fun we are having with our Words-of-the-Day! First we find all the vowels and scoop the syllables together. Then we tap out the phonemes (sounds) and clap the syllables. Our trusty classroom dictionaries come in handy for looking up what the word means and other words like it. Some of our words this week have been consequences, predict, diner, cafe, restaurant, traditions, strategy, segment, and said (pronunciation derivation).
To get ready for writing in our new journals, we will continue to play our game, Name It, Verb It. We think up a name of something (person, place, or thing) and then an action for it to do. Examples would be Lion: growls, Motorcycle: roars, Baby: cries, Wind: blows, Star: shines, This could be a great travel game which will build vocabulary and help teach sentence structure. Puzzles have kept us busy this week. After struggling with some large floor puzzles, we thought up strategies for putting puzzles together: 1. Look carefully at the picture on the box and keep it handy for frequent reference. 2. Find the corners first. 3. Find all the edges. 4. Fill in the middle pieces. The students decided that puzzles must be good for the brain; they really make us think!
We enjoyed reading Elbert’s Bad Word by Audrey Wood, and now are working on using our Good Words to solve problems with each other.
Happy Birthday to Kennady on January 12th.
!! Book orders are due !!
Softly Falling Snow
Falling down, Gently down, See the softly falling snow.
Falling down, Gently down, Covering the ground below.
January 8th 2009
Happy New Year! It was good to see the happy, smiling faces of the children as they returned to school on Monday.
We had a delicious time decorating cookies for our classroom program in December, and appreciate all the parents who assisted with this project and with the program. A special thanks to the students who performed so well!
With the arrival of the New Year, we will put particular emphasis on memorizing the days of the week and the months of the year. Learning them in sign language helps cement them in our minds. If you have extra calendars, old or new, we would love to use them in our class.
We will be checking to make sure we all know the following information about ourselves: our full name, our parents’ names, our addresses, and our phone numbers. Please help your child review these important facts about him/herself.
Our class will be doing assessments next week. The students will be given the Observation Survey, the DRA, the MAP and the DIBELS. Please be sure your child gets plenty of rest so as to do the best job possible!
Our Snow Table is getting us in the mood for learning more about the seasons. With the possibility of cold, or snowy and icy road conditions ahead in the next few months, be ready for the early morning phone call for school closures or delays and remember to listen to the local AM radio stations for more weather updates. (KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
If you would like to order books from Scholastic Books, please return the completed order form by January 15th.
Please enjoy playing Name It, Verb It with your child!
Our person of the week for this week is Winfield. We are having fun learning more about him.
Once There Was A Snowman
Once there was a Snowman, Snowman, Snowman, Once there was a Snowman, Tall, tall, tall!
In the sun he Melted, Melted, Melted, In the sun he Melted, Small, small, small!
Repeat, using “Snowlady” instead of “Snowman.”
December 19th 2008
Have a Happy Holiday and a Great New Year!
Thanks to all the students for performing so well on the all-school program on December 11th, and also for the wonderful job they did on our special Kindergarten program yesterday!
Keep safe and warm over the break. Read a lot, enjoy your families, and get plenty of rest!
Dates To Remember:
December 20th Winter Break Begins
January 5th School in Session
Happy Birthday to Bryce on Dec. 20th.
God Bless All
God bless all
Good friends here,
A Merry Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
December 11, 2008
The BHE All-School Elementary Music Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. (TONIGHT!!) Children should be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. The students will be singing at the beginning of the program, after which they will go to sit with their parents.
Please reserve time on your calendar for our special Kindergarten Class Program on Thursday, December 18th. This will be held in our classroom at 10:00 a.m. All family members and friends are invited to attend. In conjunction with this program, we will be frosting and decorating cookies on December 17th. If any of you are baking cookies, could you please save out 2 dozen unfrosted cookies to send to school on/before the 18th? Thanks!
We have a beautiful Tannenbaum in our class from the mountains above Big Horn School. Our thanks to the Quinn family for bringing it to us. We enjoyed learning about different trees in science. The deciduous trees have leaves which drop off at the end of their growing season. Conifers or evergreen trees keep their leaves and have pine cones. We enjoyed tasting (interesting) pine nuts, smelling (fir-strong), feeling (pine-sticky), and tasting (sugar maple-delicious), sap/resin from different trees. We especially enjoy looking at (beautiful!) our own Tannenbaum. Our five senses are especially useful during the holidays!
We are learning a song about our Tannenbaum. The translation tells us the tree’s lovely branches are green in the summer and also in the winter when it snows . We enjoyed finding vowels as we chunked apart our big new word: Dendrochronology. It literally means Tree-Time-Study, or the study of the history and age of a tree. We counted the rings on the bottom of the trunk and learned that our tree was 11 years old.
We had a surprise visit from the German Santa Claus, St. Nikolaus, who visits children on the night of December 5th. In the tradition of good children finding treats in their shoes, all of the Big Horn Kinder found oranges and candy in their P.E. shoes on Monday morning..
Our Person-Of-The-Week is Winfield.
Happy Birthday to Houston on Dec. 18th.
School will be in session Friday, Dec. 19th with a 1:00 p.m. dismissal.
O Tannenbaum
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
Du Grunst nicht nur zur sommerzeit. Nein auch im Winter wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
December 4, 2008
We had such a wonderful time on the week before Thanksgiving! The pie-making and cream-whipping were educational and tasty. The potato-peeling, stuffing-making and turkey-roasting were aromatic and delicious. You should be proud of your children. They are the best choppers and peelers ever! Thank you, parents, for your wonderful support in this memory-making week.
The words, Odd and Even, took on new meanings as we did number exploration in math. We also enjoy skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
The BHE All-School Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. We will be singing several songs, afterwhich the children will go to sit with their parents to watch the rest of the program.
We especially enjoy our language arts and social studies standards during the holiday season as we learn of the traditions of children in other cultures. We will be including some of these in our own Kindergarten Program on December 18th. If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to help, please contact me.
Dates To Remember:
*Dec. 11th All-School Music Program in the B.H.H.S. gym at 7:00 p.m. Students must be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. *Dec. 18th Kindergarten Class Program 10:00 a.m. *Dec. 20th Winter Break
Our special person this week has been Connor. We have enjoyed learning more about him and his family.
Please check the Lost and Found in the main hall for missing articles. Also, Please write names inside coats, etc., so lost clothing can be returned to its owner.
Rudolph
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, Had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, You would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer, Used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph, Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say: “Rudolph with your nose so bright, Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”
Then how the reindeer loved him, As they shouted out with glee: “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, You’ll go down in history!”
November 20, 2008
We have exciting plans for Thanksgiving in our Kindergarten! This week we cut open, explored, and ate raw, fresh pumpkin! It was most tasty dipped in ranch dressing. We then baked the pumpkin in preparation for the actual pumpkin pie-making.
On Monday, we will finish reaming and mashing the pumpkins and then smell, taste, and add the rest of the ingredients to make delicious pumpkin pies! We will whip the heavy cream for the topping and enjoy our pies.... saving some for the next day’s feast.
On Tuesday, we will be having our Thanksgiving Feast. We will make the dressing by chopping onions, apples, and celery and tearing up the bread. We will add butter and “chicken candy” (bouillon cubes) and then stuff our turkey to replace the one which will have been cooking a good part of the night! After that, we will peel and mash our potatoes. We will eat our delicious meal at noon instead of school lunch. that day. Any contributions to our feast would be appreciated (see attached list)
Family members and friends who would like to help and/or join us for lunch would be most welcome. We will be eating around noontime. We will also be honoring our BHE teachers by inviting them to our feast and our bus drivers by cooking a special turkey dinner for them to eat later.
We also have been learning about the history and reason for the holiday and the important part which the Native Americans played in the lives of the Pilgrims.
One of our favorite songs at harvest time is “Over the River and Through the Woods.” If you sang this song as a child, please share that information with your kindergarten student and enjoy reading and singing the song together.
Along with our study of Thanksgiving, we “chunked” the word apart and rearranged it to find the words :“Giving Thanks”. We discussed all the things we were thankful for and made our own “I am thankful for...”writing web
With the word, Thanksgiving, it was a good time to work again on our ”ing” ending that appears so frequently in words.
Happy Birthday to Aleyah on November 19th.
Our Thanksgiving Feast List
For the Pies: canned (evaporated) milk sugar real (unwhipped) whipping cream eggs
For the Turkey Dinner: canned chicken broth onions celery old bread butter potatoes corn olives cranberry sauce (Anything else that makes your dinner special!) Please bring your ingredient(s) on Monday. THANK YOU !!!!!!!
Over the River and Through the Woods
Over the river and through the woods, To Grandmother’s house we go. The horse knows the way To carry the sleigh Through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and through the woods, Oh how the wind does blow! It stings the toes and bites the nose As over the ground we go.
Over the river and through the woods, And straight through the barnyard gate. We seem to go E-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y S-l-o-w, It is so hard to wait! Over the river and through the woods, Now Grandfather’s cap I spy. Hurrah for the fun! Is the turkey done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
November 13, 2008
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918, a peace treaty was signed to end what was then called “The Great War.” From that event we had what was called Armistice Day. In 1954 the name of the holiday was changed to Veteran’s Day to honor all of the men and women who have served to protect freedom in our world.
We discovered the eleventh day of the eleventh month on different calendars, we signed our names to little cards which will be sent to veterans in our local VA Hospital, and we have enjoyed our “hands-on” Veteran’s Table.
If you have any veterans or active service personnel in your family, please write down their names, addresses, and military service descriptions so your child can share that information with the class.
The “Getting To Know You” student this week was Camryn. We have enjoyed getting to know her better.
In math, we used our Ten Frames for the first time. We did counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. After that, we did “counting on” to understand the concept of addition. At the end, we just had fun with our tiles!
Alphabetical Order has a whole new meaning now as we can place ourselves in line in alphabetical order by our first names. We also enjoy calling the roll by our initials.
The big book, Silly Sally, brought excitement to our class this week. After we read it, recognizing characters and plot and using prediction, we decided to act it out. Walking, dancing, singing, sleeping, and playing leapfrog weren’t too hard.....but when we had to do it all UPSIDE-DOWN (as Silly Sally did), the laughter and fun really began!
As the weather gets colder, more coats seem to lose their owners. Please put your child’s name inside all “take-off-able” clothing. If the temperature is above 10 degrees, we will have outside recess so please dress your child accordingly. Also, with the new message system from the district, we will should be alerted to any school closures, however, they will also be announced on the local radio stations.(KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
Five Brave Turkeys
Five brave turkeys are we,
We hid all night in a tree.
When the cook came around,
We couldn’t be found,
So that’s why we’re here, you see!
November 6, 2008
What a great day we had on our Read-In and Halloween Party last Thursday! There were many different characters about which we learned. These are the ones we represented with their books:
McCaffrey Knight Book: Castles
Luke Cowboy Book: The American Cowboy
Bode Spiderman Book: The Very Busy Spider
Aleyah Medieval Princess Book: Disney Storybook Collection
Houston Knight Book: You Wouldn’t Want To Be A Medieval Knight
Elizabeth Princess Book: What Is A Princess?
Camryn Batgirl Book: Bats At The Beach
Connor Darth Vader Book: Star Wars
Winfield Batman Book: Stellaluna
Bryce Batman Book: Creatures of the Night
Mariah. Cheerleader Book: NFL Sports Book
Robert Football Player Book: Sports Illustrated For Kids
Kennady Cowgirl Book: My Chincoteague Pony
Ayden: Power Ranger Book: Operation Overdrive
Nicholas: Special Forces Book: The Sword In The Stone
A big THANKS to the parents who helped with our wonderful Halloween Party!!
As part of our letter “Cc” exploration, we have introduced Color words, story Characters, Cat songs, Contractions (did not = didn’t), and Countless Carrots.
From the humorous book, Cookie’s Week, we have been learning to read the days of the week. We are also learning them in sign language.
We enjoyed having Elizabeth as our special person this week.
A BIG thanks to the parents who helped with our Halloween Party!!
Apples and Bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas,
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas.
A E I O U
a e i o u
Each time the song is sung, one long or short vowel sound is used for all the voiced vowels in the words, eat, apples, and bananas. This helps the ear hear the different vowels in unusual (funny) settings.
Long vowels are marked with macrons: hate Short vowels are marked with breves: hat
October 30, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Pumpkin, Pumpkin, big and round, I’m glad you grow upon the ground. I’m glad you don’t grow on a tree, For then you might fall on me!
Pick A Pick A Pumpkin
Pick a pick a pumpkin from the pile, We can make his eyes and a great big smile. Pick a pick a pumpkin, round and clean, Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween! Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
October 23, 2008
On October 30th. we will have our Kindergarten Read-In during the day. The students should choose a book to match their Halloween costume. They can then show their costumes while their books are being read so we can have more visual enjoyment of the book. At 3:00 those who wish may change into their costumes for our party.
During our Monday library time, we will try to find books to fit costumes if you don’t have one at home. (Stretches are just fine; a book about nocturnal animals would surely qualify for Batman!) If you choose not to have a costume, we would enjoy reading your child’s favorite storybook.
This Read-In will give us an opportunity to enjoy exciting stories as we discuss our reading standards concerning plots, characters, themes, and settings. We will also be addressing the standard involving sequence as we talk about the beginning, middle, and ending of a story.
We have enjoyed learning about the major and minor musical modes (styles) as we have sung two songs about cats in the different modes. Learning the sign language for happy (major mode – “up” motion) and sad (minor mode –”down” motion) has given us more understanding for these musical modes. We have also enjoyed signing the words in the songs. Please have your child sing and explain these songs for you.
As part of our letter “Bb” study, we are thinking up new Bb words and illustrating them. For our blue Bb book we are also writing words and sentences about the pictures.
Our “School Families” had a wonderful time reading picture books in the family groups this week. We will continue to meet monthly to get to know other friends in different grades.
We enjoyed learning about Aleyah this week. Our next person-of-the-week will be Houston.
Black Cat, Black Cat (Major Musical Mode)
Black cat, black cat looking for a witch.
All around the night is dark as pitch.
You can see because your eyes are green.
Black cat, black cat, this is Halloween.
Boo!
Halloween Cat (Minor Musical Mode)
Halloween Cat! Halloween Cat!
Why do you Meeeow and Meeeow like that?
Neither I nor the moon, likes your tune,
So SCAT!!!!
Halloween Cat!
October 16, 2008
This week we commemorated the anniversary of the arrival in the New World of Christopher Columbus on October 12, 516 years ago. We learned about the early years of his life, especially how he concluded that the world was round.
It was interesting to do the same experiment with a butterfly and a orange that Christopher observed in his orchard in Italy when he was just a lad. With the help of our globes and the paper ships we made, we were able to see first the tops of the sails, then the whole ship, just as he did from his hilltop home overlooking the harbor.
Our senses were well-used as we tasted and smelled many new spices to learn one of the reasons that Columbus was trying to find a new route to the Indies. We also felt embroidered silk and smelled perfumes from the Orient.
At snack time, we tried some of the food that Captain Columbus and his crew might have eaten on their voyage. The hardtack, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, vinegar, and beef jerky were all tasty, but we decided that it would get pretty boring day after day without fresh foods. We hope you enjoy our little ships as they sail to the New World.
We had an enjoyable time learning our new finger play/song, “Five Little Pumpkins.” We especially enjoyed doing it as a choral reading complete with actions, sign language, and rotations. It also gave us good practice with our ordinal numbers. The words to the song are on the back of he newsletter.
Our author visit on Monday was informative. Brian P. Cleary explained how he writes his stories which are mainly about parts of speech.. We all enjoyed listening to him read some of his books. We are bringing home our own, personally signed, copy of one of his colorful books, Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally, a Book of Adverbs.
We enjoyed meeting Bode’s family and will look forward to Aleyah for our new student next week.
Our Halloween party will be on October 30th at 3 p.m. If they desire, the students may change into costumes at that time. To make the day Reading Friendly, could you please try to find a book which goes along with the costume so we can read the books throughout the day. Examples: Spiderman costume=a book about spiders, Princess costume=a book about fairy tales. If you would like to help with the party, please send me a note so we can make the party plans!
Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
1 The first one said, “My it’s getting late”.
2 The second one said, “There are witches
In the air”.
3 The third one said, “We don’t care”.
4 The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run
And run”.
5 The fifth one said, “My we’re having fun”.
OOO went the wind, and OUT went the light,
And the five little pumpkins
Rolled out of sight!
October 9, 2008
Thank you for the wonderful Parent/Teacher Goal-Setting Conferences last week. It was great to get to know you better and discuss goals for your super duper kidlets. Thanks, too, for filling out and returning the yellow forms for Strengths/Goals/Notes.
The BIG APPLES which have come back decorated look wonderful. It is exciting to have the students share them with others. They will look so attractive on the big paper tree in the hall.
I am so proud of the readers we have in our class! When the teachers do the daily Running Records in the guided reading groups, it is evident from all the good check marks that the children are reading their books at night.
As the books get more difficult, the students will need to sound out more of the words. Please remind them to tap each sound with their fingers and then scoop the words back together.
The chart on the back of the newsletter will help the students remember the sound/letter correspondences if they point to the letters as they sing the song.
Our Aa Book is coming home today. In addition to reading and coloring the Aa words, the students enjoyed thinking up, writing, and illustrating their own Aa word.
In math, we had a great time with our Bug Bucket. We had to estimate how many bugs were on the rug when we dumped them out. Then we sorted them by color and size. We counted them in categories and used our HUGE calculator to add them up, learning how to use a calculator as we went.
It was enjoyable to meet Luke’s family. We will look forward to Bode for our new “Getting-To-Know-You” student.
We are going to have a Pumpkin Patch in our classroom! If you have any extra harvest items such as pumpkins, gourds, etc., we would love to add them to our Pumpkin Patch.
October 14th - Author Visit October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
Happy Birthday to Winfield on October 9th.
October 2, 2008
We have enjoyed learning about John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed) this week. He was born on September 26, 1774, in New England, just as the apples were ready to eat in his father’s orchard.
He spent his whole life in the great outdoors befriending animals and helping others. He planted apple seeds, which he culled from large apple cider presses in New York. The trees from these seeds even have “grandchildren” trees in the Big Horn area!
The different varieties of apples we tasted were delicious and we will continue trying new ones next week, after which we will make graphs to find the ones we like the best. If you have a favorite kind, could you please share an apple or two so we can taste as many varieties as possible? Thanks! We also had fun finding the magic “star” inside of each apple. We are looking forward to making apple star prints and apple sponge painting.
We are enjoying our new book called I Read A Book. We are still working on left-to-right-progression and one-to-one matching in our reading. Usually our first books are “memorized” rather than “read,” but that is often the first step to understanding the reading process and getting those first “hooks” into that daunting sea of letters. Just for fun pick, one word out of a page or have your child read a sentence backwards: “dog the at Look” or “Mom my to read I” to check for memorization versus reading.
As letters and words become more familiar to us, we are noticing many longer words which end in “ing.” Every time we see the “ing” we get to do our “ing” dance. This helps us not to be afraid of sounding and tapping out new words. A big book which helped us find “ing’s” was I Went Walking by Sue Williams, humorously illustrated by Julie Vivas.
I am looking forward to our Parent/Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow.
October 13th - Author Day October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
The Apple Tree
Way, way up In the apple tree,
Two little apples Smiled at me.
I shook that tree As hard as I could,
Down came the apples, Mmmm, they were good!
September 25. 2008
Autumn is in the air and we are excited about Johnny Appleseed’s birthday coming up. Our Apple Table has many kinds and textures of apples from a wooden apple block calendar to an apple door chime. It also has applesauce-making implements which we will put to good use when we make our applesauce. Any apples are welcome for this project; Big Horn orchard apples are especially good for applesauce.....and we’ll be careful to cut out the bad spots and the worms!
Last week we enjoyed reading The Gingerbread Boy. We discussed the characters in the story and the exciting plot. We then wrote out a recipe for making gingerbread people. After tasting and measuring the ingredients, we mixed, kneaded, rolled out, cut out, decorated, and baked our gingerbread people. The recipe is enclosed so you can enjoy making them at home.
Eric Carle, the author and illustrator, has become one of our favorite names! We have read and learned the sign language for his books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? and Today is Monday,and enjoyed reading and doing the actions to his book, From Head To Toe. We also watched a video about his life. We are excited to try out his painting style as we make our own collages
Counting, counting, counting! We have counted legs, ears, noses, arms, fingers, and toes. Our math manipulatives have helped us understand more about counting and patterns. We used colored plastic bears to make tabletop designs and patterns, after which we got down on the floor with our Unifix Cubes. Making and reading our patterns, we stretched our snake clear around the room and down the hall past Nurse Newman’s office! As we patch, clap, and snap, the rhythms we do with our bodies are also starting to make sense as musical patterns
On Wednesday, we gathered in our School Families to get to know new friends and eat breakfast.
We enjoyed meeting McCaffrey B.’s family this week. Our next special person will be Luke D. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Please be sure to check the blue paper in your communication envelope for your parent/teacher conference time. We will also have a book fair in the library during conferences.
I LOVE THE FLAG
I love the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Salute the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Follow the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
March with the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
September 18, 2008
To celebrate Constitution Day , we did many exciting activities. We practiced our numbers counting the states in our nation. We learned our letters with the book, A is for America; Dd is for Democracy. We read the books: America The Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner, and This Land Is Your Land, and then sang the songs along with learning the sign language for the words.
The highlight of Constitution Day was making our own Kindergarten Constitution. First we discussed our school motto, Respect and Responsibility. Then we talked about The Golden Rule and what it meant to us as Kindergarten students. We made sure they would both be part of our constitution. Then we thought of all the different ideas which would help keep us safe and happy. We color-coded them so they could be read easier. Finally, we signed our names underneath the list to witness that we would try our best to obey and follow our very own constitution.
Next week is the starting of “Getting-To-Know-You” time. On Monday, the student for that week brings pictures, small toys, baby clothes, and other special things about himself/herself. After the student tells about the items, they will be displayed on a bulletin board in the hall. On Thursday, the student may bring a favorite snack to share, and parents and other family members may come to be introduced, tell about themselves, and read their child’s favorite story to the class. We will reserve 3:15 to 3:50 p.m. on Thursdays for this special family activity.
Our first getting to know you student will be McCaffrey. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Our Kindergarten Newsletter can be accessed on the school district’s web site: http://co.sheridank12.net/. Go to Students and Parents and then scroll down to SchoolNotes Directory. It is under Big Horn Elementary (scroll down to Roberts) or arranged alphabetically with the other district teachers. Often first names of students are mentioned in the newsletter or on the web site. If you have any concerns about this, please visit with me.
Our Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up on October 2nd and 3rd. The form to schedule conferences is in the communication folder. Please complete this form and return it by Monday, September 22nd. The conferences last about 15 minutes and students are encouraged to attend.
Our Kindergarten Constitution
1. Be nice and follow the Golden Rule.
2. Show Respect and act Responsibly.
3. Walk and Whisper in Halls.
4. Keep your Body to yourself.
5. Talk when it is your turn.
6. Only Take Things that belong to you.
7. Have Permission to leave the room.
8. Use a Safe Sit at the rug and the table.
9. Be Happy!
10. Learn a Lot!
“America The Beautiful”
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain.
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
September 11, 2008
We have had a Lavender-blue “L” on our LEFT hand and a Red “R” on our RIGHT hand to guide us this week as we have been concentrating on learning LEFT and RIGHT. The “Hokey Pokey” is one of the songs which helped us hone our skills. The song on the back is one that helped me learn left and right when I was in Kindergarten!
Our book, The Great Big Turnip, was a great fun to read as we learned the power of “pulling” together to solve a problem. After reading the book, we used our five senses to explore a real turnip. We looked at it (white and purple), touched and hefted it (round, smooth, and heavy), listened to it as we thumped it and cut it (solid and crisp), smelled it (strong and spicy) and finally tasted it (sharp, spicy, and crunchy like a radish). With plenty of ranch dressing it was actually quite good!
To commemorate Patriot Day, we enjoyed learning the song, “America the Beautiful.” This favorite song becomes even more beautiful with descriptive signing.
This week in math we have been doing problems using the words same and different. We have also been sorting by size, shape, and color attributes.
We have been practicing writing our names in the Zaner-Bloser penmanship style. A copy of this alphabet is included in the newsletter for your reference.
If you wish, your child may leave a complete change of clothing (underwear, tee shirt, and sweatpants) in a zip-lock bag at school for any emergency.
On Monday morning, we will be taking the Kindergarten MAP Test (Measures of Academic Progress) during our computer time.
Happy Birthday to Robert on September 9th and Luke on September 10th.
Please.....
Give me your right hand,
Here is mine.
How do you do?
How do you do?
I hope that you are feeling fine,
Dear little friend of mine.
September 5, 2008
Our new book, Lunch, is hot-off-the-press! The students are anxious to read it to all family members.....and pets.....and stuffed animals.......!
Our big book, Mary Wore Her Red Dress, gave us many good ideas on how to write, draw, and sing about ourselves; be sure to look for our artwork in the hall. We also had fun with the poem/hand-clapping game, Miss Mary Mack. Please enjoy reading and clapping this rhyme with your child.
These are our weekly specialists: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we have P.E. with Mrs. Wilson. We always need to have our P.E. shoes and shorts (for girls with dresses) on those days. Tuesday and Thursday we have Music with Mrs. Ruleaux. We are singing and exploring the different sounds of the Orff instruments.
Wednesday we have Art with Mr. Jurosek. We are finding out the different media we can use to do our artwork. Nurse Newman teaches us Health each Wednesday. We are learning how to take care of our bodies. We have Technology every Monday. We will learn about computers.
As we worked on our names and alphabet letters this week we learned about the sky line, the plane line, the grass line, and the worm line which help us with our printing.
In math we are working on these position words: top, middle, bottom, in, out, under, over, above, left, and right.
Last week we sent home several Scholastic Book Order forms. We will be doing these book orders every month or so. If you would like to order, please turn your forms in by September 10th. Miss Mary Mack
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, All dressed in black, black, black, With silver buttons, buttons, buttons, All down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother, For fifty cents, cents, cents, To see the elephant, elephant, elephant, Jump over the fence, fence, fence.
August 28, 2008
What a great week of school we had! We learned so many new things in such a short time. We are learning to walk in line with polite arms and feet, the “safe sit” for rug time, and how to raise our hands and take turns.
After reading My Brown Bear Barney, we adopted a “real” stuffed brown bear as our class mascot. We are already doing left-to-right progression and one-to-one matching with our song, “Welcome Back To School.” Please enjoy reading and singing this song with your child. We also liked reading and coloring the book, School, which your child is bringing home today.
We will begin scheduled “Sharing Time” (Show and Tell) next week. Please help your child select an item (as educational as possible) which is meaningful to him/her. If a child forgets to bring an item, it just turns into a “Tell” where favorite foods, toys, etc. are discussed. This will be our schedule for the year:
SHOW AND TELL LIST Monday McCaffrey B Luke D. Bode’ D. Aleyah E. Tuesday Houston F. Elizabeth F. Camryn H. Connor I. Wednesday Winfield L. Bryce L. Mariah M. Robert M. Thursday Kennady M. Ayden P. Nicholas W.
This past week the whole school has taken the DIBELS Assessment (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.) The Kindergarten assessment included Initial Sound Fluency, Letter-naming Fluency, and Word-use Fluency.
Please be sure to return the blue plastic communication envelope each Monday so it will be ready for the next week’s papers.
Welcome Back To School
Welcome back to school,
Can you clap? XXX
Welcome back to school,
Can you clap? XXX
Can you say, “Hello”
To everyone you know?
Can you clap? XXX
Can you clap? XXX
ounted legs, ears, noses, arms, fingers, and toes. Our math manipulatives have helped us understand more about counting and patterns. We used colored plastic bears to make tabletop designs and patterns, after which we got down on the floor with our Unifix Cubes. Making and reading our patterns, we stretched our snake clear around the room and down the hall past Nurse Newman’s office! As we patch, clap, and snap, the rhythms we do with our bodies are also starting to make sense as musical patterns
On Wednesday, we gathered in our School Families to get to know new friends and eat breakfast.
We enjoyed meeting McCaffrey B.’s family this week. Our next special person will be Luke D. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Please be sure to check the blue paper in your communication envelope for your parent/teacher conference time. We will also have a book fair in the library during conferences.
I LOVE THE FLAG
I love the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Salute the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Follow the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
March with the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
September 18, 2008
To celebrate Constitution Day , we did many exciting activities. We practiced our numbers counting the states in our nation. We learned our letters with the book, A is for America; Dd is for Democracy. We read the books: America The Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner, and This Land Is Your Land, and then sang the songs along with learning the sign language for the words.
The highlight of Constitution Day was making our own Kindergarten Constitution. First we discussed our school motto, Respect and Responsibility. Then we talked about The Golden Rule and what it meant to us as Kindergarten students. We made sure they would both be part of our constitution. Then we thought of all the different ideas which would help keep us safe and happy. We color-coded them so they could be read easier. Finally, we signed our names underneath the list to witness that we would try our best to obey and follow our very own constitution.
Next week is the starting of “Getting-To-Know-You” time. On Monday, the student for that week brings pictures, small toys, baby clothes, and other special things about himself/herself. After the student tells about the items, they will be displayed on a bulletin board in the hall. On Thursday, the student may bring a favorite snack to share, and parents and other family members may come to be introduced, tell about themselves, and read their child’s favorite story to the class. We will reserve 3:15 to 3:50 p.m. on Thursdays for this special family activity.
Our first getting to know you student will be McCaffrey. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Our Kindergarten Newsletter can be accessed on the school district’s web site: http://co.sheridank12.net/. Go to Students and Parents and then scroll down to SchoolNotes Directory. It is under Big Horn Elementary (scroll down to Roberts) or arranged alphabetically with the other district teachers. Often first names of students are mentioned in the newsletter or on the web site. If you have any concerns about this, please visit with me.
Our Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up on October 2nd and 3rd. The form to schedule conferences is in the communication folder. Please complete this form and return it by Monday, September 22nd. The conferences last about 15 minutes and students are encouraged to attend.
Our Kindergarten Constitution
1. Be nice and follow the Golden Rule.
2. Show Respect and act Responsibly.
3. Walk and Whisper in Halls.
4. Keep your Body to yourself.
5. Talk when it is your turn.
6. Only Take Things that belong to you.
7. Have Permission to leave the room.
8. Use a Safe Sit at the rug and the table.
9. Be Happy!
10. Learn a Lot!
“America The Beautiful”
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain.
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
September 11, 2008
We have had a Lavender-blue “L” on our LEFT hand and a Red “R” on our RIGHT hand to guide us this week as we have been concentrating on learning LEFT and RIGHT. The “Hokey Pokey” is one of the songs which helped us hone our skills. The song on the back is one that helped me learn left and right when I was in Kindergarten!
Our book, The Great Big Turnip, was a great fun to read as we learned the power of “pulling” together to solve a problem. After reading the book, we used our five senses to explore a real turnip. We looked at it (white and purple), touched and hefted it (round, smooth, and heavy), listened to it as we thumped it and cut it (solid and crisp), smelled it (strong and spicy) and finally tasted it (sharp, spicy, and crunchy like a radish). With plenty of ranch dressing it was actually quite good!
To commemorate Patriot Day, we enjoyed learning the song, “America the Beautiful.” This favorite song becomes even more beautiful with descriptive signing.
This week in math we have been doing problems using the words same and different. We have also been sorting by size, shape, and color attributes.
We have been practicing writing our names in the Zaner-Bloser penmanship style. A copy of this alphabet is included in the newsletter for your reference.
If you wish, your child may leave a complete change of clothing (underwear, tee shirt, and sweatpants) in a zip-lock bag at school for any emergency.
On Monday morning, we will be taking the Kindergarten MAP Test (Measures of Academic Progress) during our computer time.
Happy Birthday to Robert on September 9th and Luke on September 10th.
Please.....
Give me your right hand,
Here is mine.
How do you do?
How do you do?
I hope that you are feeling fine,
Dear little friend of mine.
September 5, 2008
Our new book, Lunch, is hot-off-the-press! The students are anxious to read it to all family members.....and pets.....and stuffed animals.......!
Our big book, Mary Wore Her Red Dress, gave us many good ideas on how to write, draw, and sing about ourselves; be sure to look for our artwork in the hall. We also had fun with the poem/hand-clapping game, Miss Mary Mack. Please enjoy reading and clapping this rhyme with your child.
These are our weekly specialists: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we have P.E. with Mrs. Wilson. We always need to have our P.E. shoes and shorts (for girls with dresses) on those days. Tuesday and Thursday we have Music with Mrs. Ruleaux. We are singing and exploring the different sounds of the Orff instruments.
Wednesday we have Art with Mr. Jurosek. We are finding out the different media we can use to do our artwork. Nurse Newman teaches us Health each Wednesday. We are learning how to take care of our bodies. We have Technology every Monday. We will learn about computers.
As we worked on our names and alphabet letters this week we learned about the sky line, the plane line, the grass line, and the worm line which help us with our printing.
In math we are working on these position words: top, middle, bottom, in, out, under, over, above, left, and right.
Last week we sent home several Scholastic Book Order forms. We will be doing these book orders every month or so. If you would like to order, please turn your forms in by September 10th. Miss Mary Mack
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, All dressed in black, black, black, With silver buttons, buttons, buttons, All down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother, For fifty cents, cents, cents, To see the elephant, elephant, elephant, Jump over the fence, fence, fence.
August 28, 2008
What a great week of school we had! We learned so many new things in such a short time. We are learning to walk in line with polite arms and feet, the “safe sit” for rug time, and how to raise our hands and take turns.
After reading My Brown Bear Barney, we adopted a “real” stuffed brown bear as our class mascot. We are already doing left-to-right progression and one-to-one matching with our song, “Welcome Back To School.” Please enjoy reading and singing this song with your child. We also liked reading and coloring the book, School, which your child is bringing home today.
We will begin scheduled “Sharing Time” (Show and Tell) next week. Please help your child select an item (as educational as possible) which is meaningful to him/her. If a child forgets to bring an item, it just turns into a “Tell” where favorite foods, toys, etc. are discussed. This will be our schedule for the year:
SHOW AND TELL LIST Monday McCaffrey B Luke D. Bode’ D. Aleyah E. Tuesday Houston F. Elizabeth F. Camryn H. Connor I. Wednesday Winfield L. Bryce L. Mariah M. Robert M. Thursday Kennady M. Ayden P. Nicholas W.
This past week the whole school has taken the DIBELS Assessment (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.) The Kindergarten assessment included Initial Sound Fluency, Letter-naming Fluency, and Word-use Fluency.
Please be sure to return the blue plastic communication envelope each Monday so it will be ready for the next week’s papers.
Welcome Back To School
Welcome back to school,
Can you clap? XXX
Welcome back to school,
Can you clap? XXX
Can you say, “Hello”
To everyone you know?
Can you clap? XXX
Can you clap? XXX
r and through the woods, To Grandmother’s house we go. The horse knows the way To carry the sleigh Through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and through the woods, Oh how the wind does blow! It stings the toes and bites the nose As over the ground we go.
Over the river and through the woods, And straight through the barnyard gate. We seem to go E-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y S-l-o-w, It is so hard to wait! Over the river and through the woods, Now Grandfather’s cap I spy. Hurrah for the fun! Is the turkey done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
November 13, 2008
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918, a peace treaty was signed to end what was then called “The Great War.” From that event we had what was called Armistice Day. In 1954 the name of the holiday was changed to Veteran’s Day to honor all of the men and women who have served to protect freedom in our world.
We discovered the eleventh day of the eleventh month on different calendars, we signed our names to little cards which will be sent to veterans in our local VA Hospital, and we have enjoyed our “hands-on” Veteran’s Table.
If you have any veterans or active service personnel in your family, please write down their names, addresses, and military service descriptions so your child can share that information with the class.
The “Getting To Know You” student this week was Camryn. We have enjoyed getting to know her better.
In math, we used our Ten Frames for the first time. We did counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. After that, we did “counting on” to understand the concept of addition. At the end, we just had fun with our tiles!
Alphabetical Order has a whole new meaning now as we can place ourselves in line in alphabetical order by our first names. We also enjoy calling the roll by our initials.
The big book, Silly Sally, brought excitement to our class this week. After we read it, recognizing characters and plot and using prediction, we decided to act it out. Walking, dancing, singing, sleeping, and playing leapfrog weren’t too hard.....but when we had to do it all UPSIDE-DOWN (as Silly Sally did), the laughter and fun really began!
As the weather gets colder, more coats seem to lose their owners. Please put your child’s name inside all “take-off-able” clothing. If the temperature is above 10 degrees, we will have outside recess so please dress your child accordingly. Also, with the new message system from the district, we will should be alerted to any school closures, however, they will also be announced on the local radio stations.(KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
Five Brave Turkeys
Five brave turkeys are we,
We hid all night in a tree.
When the cook came around,
We couldn’t be found,
So that’s why we’re here, you see!
November 6, 2008
What a great day we had on our Read-In and Halloween Party last Thursday! There were many different characters about which we learned. These are the ones we represented with their books:
McCaffrey Knight Book: Castles
Luke Cowboy Book: The American Cowboy
Bode Spiderman Book: The Very Busy Spider
Aleyah Medieval Princess Book: Disney Storybook Collection
Houston Knight Book: You Wouldn’t Want To Be A Medieval Knight
Elizabeth Princess Book: What Is A Princess?
Camryn Batgirl Book: Bats At The Beach
Connor Darth Vader Book: Star Wars
Winfield Batman Book: Stellaluna
Bryce Batman Book: Creatures of the Night
Mariah. Cheerleader Book: NFL Sports Book
Robert Football Player Book: Sports Illustrated For Kids
Kennady Cowgirl Book: My Chincoteague Pony
Ayden: Power Ranger Book: Operation Overdrive
Nicholas: Special Forces Book: The Sword In The Stone
A big THANKS to the parents who helped with our wonderful Halloween Party!!
As part of our letter “Cc” exploration, we have introduced Color words, story Characters, Cat songs, Contractions (did not = didn’t), and Countless Carrots.
From the humorous book, Cookie’s Week, we have been learning to read the days of the week. We are also learning them in sign language.
We enjoyed having Elizabeth as our special person this week.
A BIG thanks to the parents who helped with our Halloween Party!!
Apples and Bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas,
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas.
A E I O U
a e i o u
Each time the song is sung, one long or short vowel sound is used for all the voiced vowels in the words, eat, apples, and bananas. This helps the ear hear the different vowels in unusual (funny) settings.
Long vowels are marked with macrons: hate Short vowels are marked with breves: hat
October 30, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Pumpkin, Pumpkin, big and round, I’m glad you grow upon the ground. I’m glad you don’t grow on a tree, For then you might fall on me!
Pick A Pick A Pumpkin
Pick a pick a pumpkin from the pile, We can make his eyes and a great big smile. Pick a pick a pumpkin, round and clean, Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween! Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
October 23, 2008
On October 30th. we will have our Kindergarten Read-In during the day. The students should choose a book to match their Halloween costume. They can then show their costumes while their books are being read so we can have more visual enjoyment of the book. At 3:00 those who wish may change into their costumes for our party.
During our Monday library time, we will try to find books to fit costumes if you don’t have one at home. (Stretches are just fine; a book about nocturnal animals would surely qualify for Batman!) If you choose not to have a costume, we would enjoy reading your child’s favorite storybook.
This Read-In will give us an opportunity to enjoy exciting stories as we discuss our reading standards concerning plots, characters, themes, and settings. We will also be addressing the standard involving sequence as we talk about the beginning, middle, and ending of a story.
We have enjoyed learning about the major and minor musical modes (styles) as we have sung two songs about cats in the different modes. Learning the sign language for happy (major mode – “up” motion) and sad (minor mode –”down” motion) has given us more understanding for these musical modes. We have also enjoyed signing the words in the songs. Please have your child sing and explain these songs for you.
As part of our letter “Bb” study, we are thinking up new Bb words and illustrating them. For our blue Bb book we are also writing words and sentences about the pictures.
Our “School Families” had a wonderful time reading picture books in the family groups this week. We will continue to meet monthly to get to know other friends in different grades.
We enjoyed learning about Aleyah this week. Our next person-of-the-week will be Houston.
Black Cat, Black Cat (Major Musical Mode)
Black cat, black cat looking for a witch.
All around the night is dark as pitch.
You can see because your eyes are green.
Black cat, black cat, this is Halloween.
Boo!
Halloween Cat (Minor Musical Mode)
Halloween Cat! Halloween Cat!
Why do you Meeeow and Meeeow like that?
Neither I nor the moon, likes your tune,
So SCAT!!!!
Halloween Cat!
October 16, 2008
This week we commemorated the anniversary of the arrival in the New World of Christopher Columbus on October 12, 516 years ago. We learned about the early years of his life, especially how he concluded that the world was round.
It was interesting to do the same experiment with a butterfly and a orange that Christopher observed in his orchard in Italy when he was just a lad. With the help of our globes and the paper ships we made, we were able to see first the tops of the sails, then the whole ship, just as he did from his hilltop home overlooking the harbor.
Our senses were well-used as we tasted and smelled many new spices to learn one of the reasons that Columbus was trying to find a new route to the Indies. We also felt embroidered silk and smelled perfumes from the Orient.
At snack time, we tried some of the food that Captain Columbus and his crew might have eaten on their voyage. The hardtack, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, vinegar, and beef jerky were all tasty, but we decided that it would get pretty boring day after day without fresh foods. We hope you enjoy our little ships as they sail to the New World.
We had an enjoyable time learning our new finger play/song, “Five Little Pumpkins.” We especially enjoyed doing it as a choral reading complete with actions, sign language, and rotations. It also gave us good practice with our ordinal numbers. The words to the song are on the back of he newsletter.
Our author visit on Monday was informative. Brian P. Cleary explained how he writes his stories which are mainly about parts of speech.. We all enjoyed listening to him read some of his books. We are bringing home our own, personally signed, copy of one of his colorful books, Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally, a Book of Adverbs.
We enjoyed meeting Bode’s family and will look forward to Aleyah for our new student next week.
Our Halloween party will be on October 30th at 3 p.m. If they desire, the students may change into costumes at that time. To make the day Reading Friendly, could you please try to find a book which goes along with the costume so we can read the books throughout the day. Examples: Spiderman costume=a book about spiders, Princess costume=a book about fairy tales. If you would like to help with the party, please send me a note so we can make the party plans!
Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
1 The first one said, “My it’s getting late”.
2 The second one said, “There are witches
In the air”.
3 The third one said, “We don’t care”.
4 The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run
And run”.
5 The fifth one said, “My we’re having fun”.
OOO went the wind, and OUT went the light,
And the five little pumpkins
Rolled out of sight!
October 9, 2008
Thank you for the wonderful Parent/Teacher Goal-Setting Conferences last week. It was great to get to know you better and discuss goals for your super duper kidlets. Thanks, too, for filling out and returning the yellow forms for Strengths/Goals/Notes.
The BIG APPLES which have come back decorated look wonderful. It is exciting to have the students share them with others. They will look so attractive on the big paper tree in the hall.
I am so proud of the readers we have in our class! When the teachers do the daily Running Records in the guided reading groups, it is evident from all the good check marks that the children are reading their books at night.
As the books get more difficult, the students will need to sound out more of the words. Please remind them to tap each sound with their fingers and then scoop the words back together.
The chart on the back of the newsletter will help the students remember the sound/letter correspondences if they point to the letters as they sing the song.
Our Aa Book is coming home today. In addition to reading and coloring the Aa words, the students enjoyed thinking up, writing, and illustrating their own Aa word.
In math, we had a great time with our Bug Bucket. We had to estimate how many bugs were on the rug when we dumped them out. Then we sorted them by color and size. We counted them in categories and used our HUGE calculator to add them up, learning how to use a calculator as we went.
It was enjoyable to meet Luke’s family. We will look forward to Bode for our new “Getting-To-Know-You” student.
We are going to have a Pumpkin Patch in our classroom! If you have any extra harvest items such as pumpkins, gourds, etc., we would love to add them to our Pumpkin Patch.
October 14th - Author Visit October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
Happy Birthday to Winfield on October 9th.
October 2, 2008
We have enjoyed learning about John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed) this week. He was born on September 26, 1774, in New England, just as the apples were ready to eat in his father’s orchard.
He spent his whole life in the great outdoors befriending animals and helping others. He planted apple seeds, which he culled from large apple cider presses in New York. The trees from these seeds even have “grandchildren” trees in the Big Horn area!
The different varieties of apples we tasted were delicious and we will continue trying new ones next week, after which we will make graphs to find the ones we like the best. If you have a favorite kind, could you please share an apple or two so we can taste as many varieties as possible? Thanks! We also had fun finding the magic “star” inside of each apple. We are looking forward to making apple star prints and apple sponge painting.
We are enjoying our new book called I Read A Book. We are still working on left-to-right-progression and one-to-one matching in our reading. Usually our first books are “memorized” rather than “read,” but that is often the first step to understanding the reading process and getting those first “hooks” into that daunting sea of letters. Just for fun pick, one word out of a page or have your child read a sentence backwards: “dog the at Look” or “Mom my to read I” to check for memorization versus reading.
As letters and words become more familiar to us, we are noticing many longer words which end in “ing.” Every time we see the “ing” we get to do our “ing” dance. This helps us not to be afraid of sounding and tapping out new words. A big book which helped us find “ing’s” was I Went Walking by Sue Williams, humorously illustrated by Julie Vivas.
I am looking forward to our Parent/Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow.
October 13th - Author Day October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
The Apple Tree
Way, way up In the apple tree,
Two little apples Smiled at me.
I shook that tree As hard as I could,
Down came the apples, Mmmm, they were good!
September 25. 2008
Autumn is in the air and we are excited about Johnny Appleseed’s birthday coming up. Our Apple Table has many kinds and textures of apples from a wooden apple block calendar to an apple door chime. It also has applesauce-making implements which we will put to good use when we make our applesauce. Any apples are welcome for this project; Big Horn orchard apples are especially good for applesauce.....and we’ll be careful to cut out the bad spots and the worms!
Last week we enjoyed reading The Gingerbread Boy. We discussed the characters in the story and the exciting plot. We then wrote out a recipe for making gingerbread people. After tasting and measuring the ingredients, we mixed, kneaded, rolled out, cut out, decorated, and baked our gingerbread people. The recipe is enclosed so you can enjoy making them at home.
Eric Carle, the author and illustrator, has become one of our favorite names! We have read and learned the sign language for his books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? and Today is Monday,and enjoyed reading and doing the actions to his book, From Head To Toe. We also watched a video about his life. We are excited to try out his painting style as we make our own collages
Counting, counting, counting! We have c
January 15, 2009
What fun we are having with our Words-of-the-Day! First we find all the vowels and scoop the syllables together. Then we tap out the phonemes (sounds) and clap the syllables. Our trusty classroom dictionaries come in handy for looking up what the word means and other words like it. Some of our words this week have been consequences, predict, diner, cafe, restaurant, traditions, strategy, segment, and said (pronunciation derivation).
To get ready for writing in our new journals, we will continue to play our game, Name It, Verb It. We think up a name of something (person, place, or thing) and then an action for it to do. Examples would be Lion: growls, Motorcycle: roars, Baby: cries, Wind: blows, Star: shines, This could be a great travel game which will build vocabulary and help teach sentence structure. Puzzles have kept us busy this week. After struggling with some large floor puzzles, we thought up strategies for putting puzzles together: 1. Look carefully at the picture on the box and keep it handy for frequent reference. 2. Find the corners first. 3. Find all the edges. 4. Fill in the middle pieces. The students decided that puzzles must be good for the brain; they really make us think!
We enjoyed reading Elbert’s Bad Word by Audrey Wood, and now are working on using our Good Words to solve problems with each other.
Happy Birthday to Kennady on January 12th.
!! Book orders are due !!
Softly Falling Snow
Falling down, Gently down, See the softly falling snow.
Falling down, Gently down, Covering the ground below.
January 8th 2009
Happy New Year! It was good to see the happy, smiling faces of the children as they returned to school on Monday.
We had a delicious time decorating cookies for our classroom program in December, and appreciate all the parents who assisted with this project and with the program. A special thanks to the students who performed so well!
With the arrival of the New Year, we will put particular emphasis on memorizing the days of the week and the months of the year. Learning them in sign language helps cement them in our minds. If you have extra calendars, old or new, we would love to use them in our class.
We will be checking to make sure we all know the following information about ourselves: our full name, our parents’ names, our addresses, and our phone numbers. Please help your child review these important facts about him/herself.
Our class will be doing assessments next week. The students will be given the Observation Survey, the DRA, the MAP and the DIBELS. Please be sure your child gets plenty of rest so as to do the best job possible!
Our Snow Table is getting us in the mood for learning more about the seasons. With the possibility of cold, or snowy and icy road conditions ahead in the next few months, be ready for the early morning phone call for school closures or delays and remember to listen to the local AM radio stations for more weather updates. (KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
If you would like to order books from Scholastic Books, please return the completed order form by January 15th.
Please enjoy playing Name It, Verb It with your child!
Our person of the week for this week is Winfield. We are having fun learning more about him.
Once There Was A Snowman
Once there was a Snowman, Snowman, Snowman, Once there was a Snowman, Tall, tall, tall!
In the sun he Melted, Melted, Melted, In the sun he Melted, Small, small, small!
Repeat, using “Snowlady” instead of “Snowman.”
December 19th 2008
Have a Happy Holiday and a Great New Year!
Thanks to all the students for performing so well on the all-school program on December 11th, and also for the wonderful job they did on our special Kindergarten program yesterday!
Keep safe and warm over the break. Read a lot, enjoy your families, and get plenty of rest!
Dates To Remember:
December 20th Winter Break Begins
January 5th School in Session
Happy Birthday to Bryce on Dec. 20th.
God Bless All
God bless all
Good friends here,
A Merry Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
December 11, 2008
The BHE All-School Elementary Music Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. (TONIGHT!!) Children should be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. The students will be singing at the beginning of the program, after which they will go to sit with their parents.
Please reserve time on your calendar for our special Kindergarten Class Program on Thursday, December 18th. This will be held in our classroom at 10:00 a.m. All family members and friends are invited to attend. In conjunction with this program, we will be frosting and decorating cookies on December 17th. If any of you are baking cookies, could you please save out 2 dozen unfrosted cookies to send to school on/before the 18th? Thanks!
We have a beautiful Tannenbaum in our class from the mountains above Big Horn School. Our thanks to the Quinn family for bringing it to us. We enjoyed learning about different trees in science. The deciduous trees have leaves which drop off at the end of their growing season. Conifers or evergreen trees keep their leaves and have pine cones. We enjoyed tasting (interesting) pine nuts, smelling (fir-strong), feeling (pine-sticky), and tasting (sugar maple-delicious), sap/resin from different trees. We especially enjoy looking at (beautiful!) our own Tannenbaum. Our five senses are especially useful during the holidays!
We are learning a song about our Tannenbaum. The translation tells us the tree’s lovely branches are green in the summer and also in the winter when it snows . We enjoyed finding vowels as we chunked apart our big new word: Dendrochronology. It literally means Tree-Time-Study, or the study of the history and age of a tree. We counted the rings on the bottom of the trunk and learned that our tree was 11 years old.
We had a surprise visit from the German Santa Claus, St. Nikolaus, who visits children on the night of December 5th. In the tradition of good children finding treats in their shoes, all of the Big Horn Kinder found oranges and candy in their P.E. shoes on Monday morning..
Our Person-Of-The-Week is Winfield.
Happy Birthday to Houston on Dec. 18th.
School will be in session Friday, Dec. 19th with a 1:00 p.m. dismissal.
O Tannenbaum
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
Du Grunst nicht nur zur sommerzeit. Nein auch im Winter wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter.
December 4, 2008
We had such a wonderful time on the week before Thanksgiving! The pie-making and cream-whipping were educational and tasty. The potato-peeling, stuffing-making and turkey-roasting were aromatic and delicious. You should be proud of your children. They are the best choppers and peelers ever! Thank you, parents, for your wonderful support in this memory-making week.
The words, Odd and Even, took on new meanings as we did number exploration in math. We also enjoy skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
The BHE All-School Program will be Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. We will be singing several songs, afterwhich the children will go to sit with their parents to watch the rest of the program.
We especially enjoy our language arts and social studies standards during the holiday season as we learn of the traditions of children in other cultures. We will be including some of these in our own Kindergarten Program on December 18th. If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to help, please contact me.
Dates To Remember:
*Dec. 11th All-School Music Program in the B.H.H.S. gym at 7:00 p.m. Students must be in the classroom between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. *Dec. 18th Kindergarten Class Program 10:00 a.m. *Dec. 20th Winter Break
Our special person this week has been Connor. We have enjoyed learning more about him and his family.
Please check the Lost and Found in the main hall for missing articles. Also, Please write names inside coats, etc., so lost clothing can be returned to its owner.
Rudolph
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, Had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, You would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer, Used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph, Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say: “Rudolph with your nose so bright, Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”
Then how the reindeer loved him, As they shouted out with glee: “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, You’ll go down in history!”
November 20, 2008
We have exciting plans for Thanksgiving in our Kindergarten! This week we cut open, explored, and ate raw, fresh pumpkin! It was most tasty dipped in ranch dressing. We then baked the pumpkin in preparation for the actual pumpkin pie-making.
On Monday, we will finish reaming and mashing the pumpkins and then smell, taste, and add the rest of the ingredients to make delicious pumpkin pies! We will whip the heavy cream for the topping and enjoy our pies.... saving some for the next day’s feast.
On Tuesday, we will be having our Thanksgiving Feast. We will make the dressing by chopping onions, apples, and celery and tearing up the bread. We will add butter and “chicken candy” (bouillon cubes) and then stuff our turkey to replace the one which will have been cooking a good part of the night! After that, we will peel and mash our potatoes. We will eat our delicious meal at noon instead of school lunch. that day. Any contributions to our feast would be appreciated (see attached list)
Family members and friends who would like to help and/or join us for lunch would be most welcome. We will be eating around noontime. We will also be honoring our BHE teachers by inviting them to our feast and our bus drivers by cooking a special turkey dinner for them to eat later.
We also have been learning about the history and reason for the holiday and the important part which the Native Americans played in the lives of the Pilgrims.
One of our favorite songs at harvest time is “Over the River and Through the Woods.” If you sang this song as a child, please share that information with your kindergarten student and enjoy reading and singing the song together.
Along with our study of Thanksgiving, we “chunked” the word apart and rearranged it to find the words :“Giving Thanks”. We discussed all the things we were thankful for and made our own “I am thankful for...”writing web
With the word, Thanksgiving, it was a good time to work again on our ”ing” ending that appears so frequently in words.
Happy Birthday to Aleyah on November 19th.
Our Thanksgiving Feast List
For the Pies: canned (evaporated) milk sugar real (unwhipped) whipping cream eggs
For the Turkey Dinner: canned chicken broth onions celery old bread butter potatoes corn olives cranberry sauce (Anything else that makes your dinner special!) Please bring your ingredient(s) on Monday. THANK YOU !!!!!!!
Over the River and Through the Woods
Over the river and through the woods, To Grandmother’s house we go. The horse knows the way To carry the sleigh Through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and through the woods, Oh how the wind does blow! It stings the toes and bites the nose As over the ground we go.
Over the river and through the woods, And straight through the barnyard gate. We seem to go E-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y S-l-o-w, It is so hard to wait! Over the river and through the woods, Now Grandfather’s cap I spy. Hurrah for the fun! Is the turkey done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
November 13, 2008
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918, a peace treaty was signed to end what was then called “The Great War.” From that event we had what was called Armistice Day. In 1954 the name of the holiday was changed to Veteran’s Day to honor all of the men and women who have served to protect freedom in our world.
We discovered the eleventh day of the eleventh month on different calendars, we signed our names to little cards which will be sent to veterans in our local VA Hospital, and we have enjoyed our “hands-on” Veteran’s Table.
If you have any veterans or active service personnel in your family, please write down their names, addresses, and military service descriptions so your child can share that information with the class.
The “Getting To Know You” student this week was Camryn. We have enjoyed getting to know her better.
In math, we used our Ten Frames for the first time. We did counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. After that, we did “counting on” to understand the concept of addition. At the end, we just had fun with our tiles!
Alphabetical Order has a whole new meaning now as we can place ourselves in line in alphabetical order by our first names. We also enjoy calling the roll by our initials.
The big book, Silly Sally, brought excitement to our class this week. After we read it, recognizing characters and plot and using prediction, we decided to act it out. Walking, dancing, singing, sleeping, and playing leapfrog weren’t too hard.....but when we had to do it all UPSIDE-DOWN (as Silly Sally did), the laughter and fun really began!
As the weather gets colder, more coats seem to lose their owners. Please put your child’s name inside all “take-off-able” clothing. If the temperature is above 10 degrees, we will have outside recess so please dress your child accordingly. Also, with the new message system from the district, we will should be alerted to any school closures, however, they will also be announced on the local radio stations.(KROE 930 and KWYO 1410)
Five Brave Turkeys
Five brave turkeys are we,
We hid all night in a tree.
When the cook came around,
We couldn’t be found,
So that’s why we’re here, you see!
November 6, 2008
What a great day we had on our Read-In and Halloween Party last Thursday! There were many different characters about which we learned. These are the ones we represented with their books:
McCaffrey Knight Book: Castles
Luke Cowboy Book: The American Cowboy
Bode Spiderman Book: The Very Busy Spider
Aleyah Medieval Princess Book: Disney Storybook Collection
Houston Knight Book: You Wouldn’t Want To Be A Medieval Knight
Elizabeth Princess Book: What Is A Princess?
Camryn Batgirl Book: Bats At The Beach
Connor Darth Vader Book: Star Wars
Winfield Batman Book: Stellaluna
Bryce Batman Book: Creatures of the Night
Mariah. Cheerleader Book: NFL Sports Book
Robert Football Player Book: Sports Illustrated For Kids
Kennady Cowgirl Book: My Chincoteague Pony
Ayden: Power Ranger Book: Operation Overdrive
Nicholas: Special Forces Book: The Sword In The Stone
A big THANKS to the parents who helped with our wonderful Halloween Party!!
As part of our letter “Cc” exploration, we have introduced Color words, story Characters, Cat songs, Contractions (did not = didn’t), and Countless Carrots.
From the humorous book, Cookie’s Week, we have been learning to read the days of the week. We are also learning them in sign language.
We enjoyed having Elizabeth as our special person this week.
A BIG thanks to the parents who helped with our Halloween Party!!
Apples and Bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas,
I like to eat, eat, eat, Apples and bananas.
A E I O U
a e i o u
Each time the song is sung, one long or short vowel sound is used for all the voiced vowels in the words, eat, apples, and bananas. This helps the ear hear the different vowels in unusual (funny) settings.
Long vowels are marked with macrons: hate Short vowels are marked with breves: hat
October 30, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Pumpkin, Pumpkin, big and round, I’m glad you grow upon the ground. I’m glad you don’t grow on a tree, For then you might fall on me!
Pick A Pick A Pumpkin
Pick a pick a pumpkin from the pile, We can make his eyes and a great big smile. Pick a pick a pumpkin, round and clean, Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween! Then we’ll be ready for Halloween!
October 23, 2008
On October 30th. we will have our Kindergarten Read-In during the day. The students should choose a book to match their Halloween costume. They can then show their costumes while their books are being read so we can have more visual enjoyment of the book. At 3:00 those who wish may change into their costumes for our party.
During our Monday library time, we will try to find books to fit costumes if you don’t have one at home. (Stretches are just fine; a book about nocturnal animals would surely qualify for Batman!) If you choose not to have a costume, we would enjoy reading your child’s favorite storybook.
This Read-In will give us an opportunity to enjoy exciting stories as we discuss our reading standards concerning plots, characters, themes, and settings. We will also be addressing the standard involving sequence as we talk about the beginning, middle, and ending of a story.
We have enjoyed learning about the major and minor musical modes (styles) as we have sung two songs about cats in the different modes. Learning the sign language for happy (major mode – “up” motion) and sad (minor mode –”down” motion) has given us more understanding for these musical modes. We have also enjoyed signing the words in the songs. Please have your child sing and explain these songs for you.
As part of our letter “Bb” study, we are thinking up new Bb words and illustrating them. For our blue Bb book we are also writing words and sentences about the pictures.
Our “School Families” had a wonderful time reading picture books in the family groups this week. We will continue to meet monthly to get to know other friends in different grades.
We enjoyed learning about Aleyah this week. Our next person-of-the-week will be Houston.
Black Cat, Black Cat (Major Musical Mode)
Black cat, black cat looking for a witch.
All around the night is dark as pitch.
You can see because your eyes are green.
Black cat, black cat, this is Halloween.
Boo!
Halloween Cat (Minor Musical Mode)
Halloween Cat! Halloween Cat!
Why do you Meeeow and Meeeow like that?
Neither I nor the moon, likes your tune,
So SCAT!!!!
Halloween Cat!
October 16, 2008
This week we commemorated the anniversary of the arrival in the New World of Christopher Columbus on October 12, 516 years ago. We learned about the early years of his life, especially how he concluded that the world was round.
It was interesting to do the same experiment with a butterfly and a orange that Christopher observed in his orchard in Italy when he was just a lad. With the help of our globes and the paper ships we made, we were able to see first the tops of the sails, then the whole ship, just as he did from his hilltop home overlooking the harbor.
Our senses were well-used as we tasted and smelled many new spices to learn one of the reasons that Columbus was trying to find a new route to the Indies. We also felt embroidered silk and smelled perfumes from the Orient.
At snack time, we tried some of the food that Captain Columbus and his crew might have eaten on their voyage. The hardtack, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, vinegar, and beef jerky were all tasty, but we decided that it would get pretty boring day after day without fresh foods. We hope you enjoy our little ships as they sail to the New World.
We had an enjoyable time learning our new finger play/song, “Five Little Pumpkins.” We especially enjoyed doing it as a choral reading complete with actions, sign language, and rotations. It also gave us good practice with our ordinal numbers. The words to the song are on the back of he newsletter.
Our author visit on Monday was informative. Brian P. Cleary explained how he writes his stories which are mainly about parts of speech.. We all enjoyed listening to him read some of his books. We are bringing home our own, personally signed, copy of one of his colorful books, Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally, a Book of Adverbs.
We enjoyed meeting Bode’s family and will look forward to Aleyah for our new student next week.
Our Halloween party will be on October 30th at 3 p.m. If they desire, the students may change into costumes at that time. To make the day Reading Friendly, could you please try to find a book which goes along with the costume so we can read the books throughout the day. Examples: Spiderman costume=a book about spiders, Princess costume=a book about fairy tales. If you would like to help with the party, please send me a note so we can make the party plans!
Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
1 The first one said, “My it’s getting late”.
2 The second one said, “There are witches
In the air”.
3 The third one said, “We don’t care”.
4 The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run
And run”.
5 The fifth one said, “My we’re having fun”.
OOO went the wind, and OUT went the light,
And the five little pumpkins
Rolled out of sight!
October 9, 2008
Thank you for the wonderful Parent/Teacher Goal-Setting Conferences last week. It was great to get to know you better and discuss goals for your super duper kidlets. Thanks, too, for filling out and returning the yellow forms for Strengths/Goals/Notes.
The BIG APPLES which have come back decorated look wonderful. It is exciting to have the students share them with others. They will look so attractive on the big paper tree in the hall.
I am so proud of the readers we have in our class! When the teachers do the daily Running Records in the guided reading groups, it is evident from all the good check marks that the children are reading their books at night.
As the books get more difficult, the students will need to sound out more of the words. Please remind them to tap each sound with their fingers and then scoop the words back together.
The chart on the back of the newsletter will help the students remember the sound/letter correspondences if they point to the letters as they sing the song.
Our Aa Book is coming home today. In addition to reading and coloring the Aa words, the students enjoyed thinking up, writing, and illustrating their own Aa word.
In math, we had a great time with our Bug Bucket. We had to estimate how many bugs were on the rug when we dumped them out. Then we sorted them by color and size. We counted them in categories and used our HUGE calculator to add them up, learning how to use a calculator as we went.
It was enjoyable to meet Luke’s family. We will look forward to Bode for our new “Getting-To-Know-You” student.
We are going to have a Pumpkin Patch in our classroom! If you have any extra harvest items such as pumpkins, gourds, etc., we would love to add them to our Pumpkin Patch.
October 14th - Author Visit October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
Happy Birthday to Winfield on October 9th.
October 2, 2008
We have enjoyed learning about John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed) this week. He was born on September 26, 1774, in New England, just as the apples were ready to eat in his father’s orchard.
He spent his whole life in the great outdoors befriending animals and helping others. He planted apple seeds, which he culled from large apple cider presses in New York. The trees from these seeds even have “grandchildren” trees in the Big Horn area!
The different varieties of apples we tasted were delicious and we will continue trying new ones next week, after which we will make graphs to find the ones we like the best. If you have a favorite kind, could you please share an apple or two so we can taste as many varieties as possible? Thanks! We also had fun finding the magic “star” inside of each apple. We are looking forward to making apple star prints and apple sponge painting.
We are enjoying our new book called I Read A Book. We are still working on left-to-right-progression and one-to-one matching in our reading. Usually our first books are “memorized” rather than “read,” but that is often the first step to understanding the reading process and getting those first “hooks” into that daunting sea of letters. Just for fun pick, one word out of a page or have your child read a sentence backwards: “dog the at Look” or “Mom my to read I” to check for memorization versus reading.
As letters and words become more familiar to us, we are noticing many longer words which end in “ing.” Every time we see the “ing” we get to do our “ing” dance. This helps us not to be afraid of sounding and tapping out new words. A big book which helped us find “ing’s” was I Went Walking by Sue Williams, humorously illustrated by Julie Vivas.
I am looking forward to our Parent/Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow.
October 13th - Author Day October 23rd - Picture Day October 30th - Class Party. October 31st - Halloween
The Apple Tree
Way, way up In the apple tree,
Two little apples Smiled at me.
I shook that tree As hard as I could,
Down came the apples, Mmmm, they were good!
September 25. 2008
Autumn is in the air and we are excited about Johnny Appleseed’s birthday coming up. Our Apple Table has many kinds and textures of apples from a wooden apple block calendar to an apple door chime. It also has applesauce-making implements which we will put to good use when we make our applesauce. Any apples are welcome for this project; Big Horn orchard apples are especially good for applesauce.....and we’ll be careful to cut out the bad spots and the worms!
Last week we enjoyed reading The Gingerbread Boy. We discussed the characters in the story and the exciting plot. We then wrote out a recipe for making gingerbread people. After tasting and measuring the ingredients, we mixed, kneaded, rolled out, cut out, decorated, and baked our gingerbread people. The recipe is enclosed so you can enjoy making them at home.
Eric Carle, the author and illustrator, has become one of our favorite names! We have read and learned the sign language for his books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? and Today is Monday,and enjoyed reading and doing the actions to his book, From Head To Toe. We also watched a video about his life. We are excited to try out his painting style as we make our own collages
Counting, counting, counting! We have counted legs, ears, noses, arms, fingers, and toes. Our math manipulatives have helped us understand more about counting and patterns. We used colored plastic bears to make tabletop designs and patterns, after which we got down on the floor with our Unifix Cubes. Making and reading our patterns, we stretched our snake clear around the room and down the hall past Nurse Newman’s office! As we patch, clap, and snap, the rhythms we do with our bodies are also starting to make sense as musical patterns
On Wednesday, we gathered in our School Families to get to know new friends and eat breakfast.
We enjoyed meeting McCaffrey B.’s family this week. Our next special person will be Luke D. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Please be sure to check the blue paper in your communication envelope for your parent/teacher conference time. We will also have a book fair in the library during conferences.
I LOVE THE FLAG
I love the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Salute the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Follow the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
March with the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
September 18, 2008
To celebrate Constitution Day , we did many exciting activities. We practiced our numbers counting the states in our nation. We learned our letters with the book, A is for America; Dd is for Democracy. We read the books: America The Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner, and This Land Is Your Land, and then sang the songs along with learning the sign language for the words.
The highlight of Constitution Day was making our own Kindergarten Constitution. First we discussed our school motto, Respect and Responsibility. Then we talked about The Golden Rule and what it meant to us as Kindergarten students. We made sure they would both be part of our constitution. Then we thought of all the different ideas which would help keep us safe and happy. We color-coded them so they could be read easier. Finally, we signed our names underneath the list to witness that we would try our best to obey and follow our very own constitution.
Next week is the starting of “Getting-To-Know-You” time. On Monday, the student for that week brings pictures, small toys, baby clothes, and other special things about himself/herself. After the student tells about the items, they will be displayed on a bulletin board in the hall. On Thursday, the student may bring a favorite snack to share, and parents and other family members may come to be introduced, tell about themselves, and read their child’s favorite story to the class. We will reserve 3:15 to 3:50 p.m. on Thursdays for this special family activity.
Our first getting to know you student will be McCaffrey. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Our Kindergarten Newsletter can be accessed on the school district’s web site: http://co.sheridank12.net/. Go to Students and Parents and then scroll down to SchoolNotes Directory. It is under Big Horn Elementary (scroll down to Roberts) or arranged alphabetically with the other district teachers. Often first names of students are mentioned in the newsletter or on the web site. If you have any concerns about this, please visit with me.
Our Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up on October 2nd and 3rd. The form to schedule conferences is in the communication folder. Please complete this form and return it by Monday, September 22nd. The conferences last about 15 minutes and students are encouraged to attend.
Our Kindergarten Constitution
1. Be nice and follow the Golden Rule.
2. Show Respect and act Responsibly.
3. Walk and Whisper in Halls.
4. Keep your Body to yourself.
5. Talk when it is your turn.
6. Only Take Things that belong to you.
7. Have Permission to leave the room.
8. Use a Safe Sit at the rug and the table.
9. Be Happy!
10. Learn a Lot!
“America The Beautiful”
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain.
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
September 11, 2008
We have had a Lavender-blue “L” on our LEFT hand and a Red “R” on our RIGHT hand to guide us this week as we have been concentrating on learning LEFT and RIGHT. The “Hokey Pokey” is one of the songs which helped us hone our skills. The song on the back is one that helped me learn left and right when I was in Kindergarten!
Our book, The Great Big Turnip, was a great fun to read as we learned the power of “pulling” together to solve a problem. After reading the book, we used our five senses to explore a real turnip. We looked at it (white and purple), touched and hefted it (round, smooth, and heavy), listened to it as we thumped it and cut it (solid and crisp), smelled it (strong and spicy) and finally tasted it (sharp, spicy, and crunchy like a radish). With plenty of ranch dressing it was actually quite good!
To commemorate Patriot Day, we enjoyed learning the song, “America the Beautiful.” This favorite song becomes even more beautiful with descriptive signing.
This week in math we have been doing problems using the words same and different. We have also been sorting by size, shape, and color attributes.
We have been practicing writing our names in the Zaner-Bloser penmanship style. A copy of this alphabet is included in the newsletter for your reference.
If you wish, your child may leave a complete change of clothing (underwear, tee shirt, and sweatpants) in a zip-lock bag at school for any emergency.
On Monday morning, we will be taking the Kindergarten MAP Test (Measures of Academic Progress) during our computer time.
Happy Birthday to Robert on September 9th and Luke on September 10th.
Please.....
Give me your right hand,
Here is mine.
How do you do?
How do you do?
I hope that you are feeling fine,
Dear little friend of mine.
September 5, 2008
Our new book, Lunch, is hot-off-the-press! The students are anxious to read it to all family members.....and pets.....and stuffed animals.......!
Our big book, Mary Wore Her Red Dress, gave us many good ideas on how to write, draw, and sing about ourselves; be sure to look for our artwork in the hall. We also had fun with the poem/hand-clapping game, Miss Mary Mack. Please enjoy reading and clapping this rhyme with your child.
These are our weekly specialists: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we have P.E. with Mrs. Wilson. We always need to have our P.E. shoes and shorts (for girls with dresses) on those days. Tuesday and Thursday we have Music with Mrs. Ruleaux. We are singing and exploring the different sounds of the Orff instruments.
Wednesday we have Art with Mr. Jurosek. We are finding out the different media we can use to do our artwork. Nurse Newman teaches us Health each Wednesday. We are learning how to take care of our bodies. We have Technology every Monday. We will learn about computers.
As we worked on our names and alphabet letters this week we learned about the sky line, the plane line, the grass line, and the worm line which help us with our printing.
In math we are working on these position words: top, middle, bottom, in, out, under, over, above, left, and right.
Last week we sent home several Scholastic Book Order forms. We will be doing these book orders every month or so. If you would like to order, please turn your forms in by September 10th. Miss Mary Mack
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, All dressed in black, black, black, With silver buttons, buttons, buttons, All down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother, For fifty cents, cents, cents, To see the elephant, elephant, elephant, Jump over the fence, fence, fence.
August 28, 2008
What a great week of school we had! We learned so many new things in such a short time. We are learning to walk in line with polite arms and feet, the “safe sit” for rug time, and how to raise our hands and take turns.
After reading My Brown Bear Barney, we adopted a “real” stuffed brown bear as our class mascot. We are already doing left-to-right progression and one-to-one matching with our song, “Welcome Back To School.” Please enjoy reading and singing this song with your child. We also liked reading and coloring the book, School, which your child is bringing home today.
We will begin scheduled “Sharing Time” (Show and Tell) next week. Please help your child select an item (as educational as possible) which is meaningful to him/her. If a child forgets to bring an item, it just turns into a “Tell” where favorite foods, toys, etc. are discussed. This will be our schedule for the year:
SHOW AND TELL LIST Monday McCaffrey B Luke D. Bode’ D. Aleyah E. Tuesday Houston F. Elizabeth F. Camryn H. Connor I. Wednesday Winfield L. Bryce L. Mariah M. Robert M. Thursday Kennady M. Ayden P. Nicholas W.
This past week the whole school has taken the DIBELS Assessment (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.) The Kindergarten assessment included Initial Sound Fluency, Letter-naming Fluency, and Word-use Fluency.
Please be sure to return the blue plastic communication envelope each Monday so it will be ready for the next week’s papers.
Welcome Back To School
Welcome back to school,
Can you clap? XXX
Welcome back to school,
Can you clap? XXX
Can you say, “Hello”
To everyone you know?
Can you clap? XXX
Can you clap? XXX
ounted legs, ears, noses, arms, fingers, and toes. Our math manipulatives have helped us understand more about counting and patterns. We used colored plastic bears to make tabletop designs and patterns, after which we got down on the floor with our Unifix Cubes. Making and reading our patterns, we stretched our snake clear around the room and down the hall past Nurse Newman’s office! As we patch, clap, and snap, the rhythms we do with our bodies are also starting to make sense as musical patterns
On Wednesday, we gathered in our School Families to get to know new friends and eat breakfast.
We enjoyed meeting McCaffrey B.’s family this week. Our next special person will be Luke D. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Please be sure to check the blue paper in your communication envelope for your parent/teacher conference time. We will also have a book fair in the library during conferences.
I LOVE THE FLAG
I love the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Salute the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
Follow the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
March with the flag, my country’s flag,
Red, white, and blue.
September 18, 2008
To celebrate Constitution Day , we did many exciting activities. We practiced our numbers counting the states in our nation. We learned our letters with the book, A is for America; Dd is for Democracy. We read the books: America The Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner, and This Land Is Your Land, and then sang the songs along with learning the sign language for the words.
The highlight of Constitution Day was making our own Kindergarten Constitution. First we discussed our school motto, Respect and Responsibility. Then we talked about The Golden Rule and what it meant to us as Kindergarten students. We made sure they would both be part of our constitution. Then we thought of all the different ideas which would help keep us safe and happy. We color-coded them so they could be read easier. Finally, we signed our names underneath the list to witness that we would try our best to obey and follow our very own constitution.
Next week is the starting of “Getting-To-Know-You” time. On Monday, the student for that week brings pictures, small toys, baby clothes, and other special things about himself/herself. After the student tells about the items, they will be displayed on a bulletin board in the hall. On Thursday, the student may bring a favorite snack to share, and parents and other family members may come to be introduced, tell about themselves, and read their child’s favorite story to the class. We will reserve 3:15 to 3:50 p.m. on Thursdays for this special family activity.
Our first getting to know you student will be McCaffrey. We will look forward to finding out more about him.
Our Kindergarten Newsletter can be accessed on the school district’s web site: http://co.sheridank12.net/. Go to Students and Parents and then scroll down to SchoolNotes Directory. It is under Big Horn Elementary (scroll down to Roberts) or arranged alphabetically with the other district teachers. Often first names of students are mentioned in the newsletter or on the web site. If you have any concerns about this, please visit with me.
Our Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up on October 2nd and 3rd. The form to schedule conferences is in the communication folder. Please complete this form and return it by Monday, September 22nd. The conferences last about 15 minutes and students are encouraged to attend.
Our Kindergarten Constitution
1. Be nice and follow the Golden Rule.
2. Show Respect and act Responsibly.
3. Walk and Whisper in Halls.
4. Keep your Body to yourself.
5. Talk when it is your turn.
6. Only Take Things that belong to you.
7. Have Permission to leave the room.
8. Use a Safe Sit at the rug and the table.
9. Be Happy!
10. Learn a Lot!
“America The Beautiful”
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain.
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
September 11, 2008
We have had a Lavender-blue “L” on our LEFT hand and a Red “R” on our RIGHT hand to guide us this week as we have been concentrating on learning LEFT and RIGHT. The “Hokey Pokey” is one of the songs which helped us hone our skills. The song on the back is one that helped me learn left and right when I was in Kindergarten!
Our book, The Great Big Turnip, was a great fun to read as we learned the power of “pulling” together to solve a problem. After reading the book, we used our five senses to explore a real turnip. We looked at it (white and purple), touched and hefted it (round, smooth, and heavy), listened to it as we thumped it and cut it (solid and crisp), smelled it (strong and spicy) and finally tasted it (sharp, spicy, and crunchy like a radish). With plenty of ranch dressing it was actually quite good!
To commemorate Patriot Day, we enjoyed learning the song, “America the Beautiful.” This favorite song becomes even more beautiful with descriptive signing.
This week in math we have been doing problems using the words same and different. We have also been sorting by size, shape, and color attributes.
We have been practicing writing our names in the Zaner-Bloser penmanship style. A copy of this alphabet is included in the newsletter for your reference.
If you wish, your child may leave a complete change of clothing (underwear, tee shirt, and sweatpants) in a zip-lock bag at school for any emergency.
On Monday morning, we will be taking the Kindergarten MAP Test (Measures of Academic Progress) during our computer time.
Happy Birthday to Robert on September 9th and Luke on September 10th.
Please.....
Give me your right hand,
Here is mine.
How do you do?
How do you do?
I hope that you are feeling fine,
Dear little friend of mine.
September 5, 2008
Our new book, Lunch, is hot-off-the-press! The students are anxious to read it to all family members.....and pets.....and stuffed animals.......!
Our big book, Mary Wore Her Red Dress, gave us many good ideas on how to write, draw, and sing about ourselves; be sure to look for our artwork in the hall. We also had fun with the poem/hand-clapping game, Miss Mary Mack. Please enjoy reading and clapping this rhyme with your child.
These are our weekly specialists: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we have P.E. with Mrs. Wilson. We always need to have our P.E. shoes and shorts (for girls with dresses) on those days. Tuesday and Thursday we have Music with Mrs. Ruleaux. We are singing and exploring the different sounds of the Orff instruments.
Wednesday we have Art with Mr. Jurosek. We are finding out the different media we can use to do our artwork. Nurse Newman teaches us Health each Wednesday. We are learning how to take care of our bodies. We have Technology every Monday. We will learn about computers.
As we worked on our names and alphabet letters this week we learned about the sky line, the plane line, the grass line, and the worm line which help us with our printing.
In math we are working on these position words: top, middle, bottom, in, out, under, over, above, left, and right.
Last week we sent home several Scholastic Book Order forms. We will be doing these book orders every month or so. If you would like to order, please turn your forms in by September 10th. Miss Mary Mack
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, All dressed in black, black, black, With silver buttons, buttons, buttons, All down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother, For fifty cents, cents, cents, To see the elephant, elephant, elephant, Jump over the fence, fence, fence.
August 28, 2008
What a great week of school we had! We learned so many new things in such a short time. We are learning to walk in line with polite arms and feet, the “safe sit” for rug time, and how to raise our hands and take turns.
After reading My Brown Bear Barney, we adopted a “real” stuffed brown bear as our class mascot. We are already doing left-to-right progression and one-to-one matching with our song, “Welcome Back To School.” Please enjoy reading and singing this song with your child. We also liked reading and coloring the book, School, which your child is bringing home today.
We will begin scheduled “Sharing Time” (Show and Tell) next week. Please help your child select an item (as educational as possible) which is meaningful to him/her. If a child forgets to bring an item, it just turns into a “Tell” where favorite foods, toys, etc. are discussed. This will be our schedule for the year:
SHOW AND TELL LIST Monday McCaffrey B Luke D. Bode’ D. Aleyah E. Tuesday Houston F. Elizabeth F. Camryn H. Connor I. Wednesday Winfield L. Bryce L. Mariah M. Robert M. Thursday Kennady M. Ayden P. Nicholas W.
This past week the whole school has taken the DIBELS Assessment (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.) The Kindergarten assessment included Initial Sound Fluency, Letter-naming Fluency, and Word-use Fluency.
Please be sure to return the blue plastic communication envelope each Monday so it will be ready for the next week’s papers.
Eric Carle's Website Biography about Eric Carle, a list of his books, and a link to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
Tomie dePaola's Website Tomie dePaola's biography, illustrated calendar, list of books, and a link called
November 2009 To view the full calendar, click the above link.
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