We had a great time in Kindergarten today!

We had our Holiday Sing Along and our class sang Jingle Bells! Here is a link to the video! https://youtu.be/pL6ELQK09hg

We made special reindeer bags to hold our family gifts and we had a great time at the Holiday party! I have lots of pictures up on Twitter! Some of them didn’t load so I will retry when I get home! Thank you to all the parents who helped with the party today!

Thank you for all the wonderful cards and gifts! I am so blessed to work with such awesome families and kids! Holiday Holidays and enjoy the long break!

Kids come back on Tuesday, January 5^th!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We watched the Polar Express! We made hot chocolate! We put marshmallows in there. We had sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies. (Layla and Malai)

We did library. And while Mrs. Hotchkiss was picking us up, Santa came into our classroom and left us a note and gave us special bells! Everyone in our class got one! (Evan and Kymiah)

We did writing time. We wrote letters to Santa. We wrote the things that we did good this year and the things that we want. (Andrew)

We read the book The Polar Express for read aloud time. (Kate)

We did math. We played a Polar Express game. (Logan)

It was a Polar Express day! We got to wear pajamas and we got to bring stuffed animals and we could wear hats! It was a special day for us! (Sophia)

Tomorrow is wear red and green day!! Tomorrow is also our Holiday party! You are welcome to join us in the classroom from 2:30-3 pm as the kids eat a special snack, do a craft, and participate in a book exchange (no siblings please)! For the book exchange, please have your child bring in a wrapped book TOMORROW!

Thanks! Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We did P.E. It was our last day of gymnastics. (Layla)

We did writing time. In writing time, we shared our writing. We tried to make it our best! We picked our best one to share. (Andrew)

We had counselor. (Logan)

We got to play a math game. Santa had to get to the cookies. There was a short cut. It was sort of like the Gingerbread Man game. (Sylus)

Mrs. Hotchkiss read a book about a girl who was getting the reindeer ready for Christmas. (Ginger)

We did Daily 5. (Evan)

We passed around Clifford. We counted higher. We counted to 30. (Kate)

For Fundations we did our big cards and our little cards and the vowel chart. We did skywriting x and y. We wrote x and y on our whiteboards. (Sophia)

Important reminders!!!

Thursday (Tomorrow): PJ’s for Polar Express and hat day!

Friday: Red and green

Friday is also our Holiday party! You are welcome to join us in the classroom from 2:30-3 pm as the kids eat a special snack, do a craft, and participate in a book exchange (no siblings please)! For the book exchange, please have your child bring in a wrapped book by THIS Friday!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We rotated to different Kindergarten classes. (James)

We went to different teacher’s classrooms. In Mrs. Flanagin’s room we threw snowballs. You had to stay on your iceberg. Then we read a book. (JR)

In Mrs. Dixon’s class we made a paper Gingerbread house. (Andrew)

We went to Miss Reinkemeyer’s classroom. We did ice skating. She read a penguin book. (Logan)

In Mrs. Russo’s class we acted out The Gingerbread Man story with different movements like skipping and hopping. We read a book about the Gingerbread Man. (Kate)

In Mrs. Hotchkiss room we made reindeer food made out of oatmeal and sparkles. We put in in our yard on Christmas Eve. The reindeer will be able to see it in the dark. The next morning you will look and see and it will be gone! (Ginger)

In Mrs. Winn’s class we got to color Santa. We got to color what Santa would do in the night to give us presents. (Layla and Sophia)

We had crazy sock day! (Sophia)

We had art. We painted some animals. We had to put designs like stripes. We had to mix colors.  (Lyrik)

In math we played Roll and Cover with 2 dice. We warmed up by playing Quick Eyes. (Evan and James)

Tomorrow is ugly sweater day!

Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We did our math game. We rolled 2 dice and counted the number in all. We covered the Gingerbread Man with the number. When you cover all the numbers you get to start over again. (Ginger)

We did x and y in our Fundations notebook. (Layla)

We did writing time. For writing time we wrote about our weekend. We did our best picture. Some people got to share their writing. (Mikayla)

We did our poem. Our poem was called “Santa”. Our word for this week is “is”. (Andrew)

We did our vowel chart, little cards, and our new letters are x and y. (Sylus)

Our special today was music. We played a button game. (Evan)

We did Daily 5. (Logan)

For morning job we did shadow writing about the Gingerbread Man. (Kate)

For snack time we read a book called The Animals’ Santa by Jan Brett. She uses a lot of detail. It was a fun book! (Sophia)

We did math. We did the 100 chart. We had to figure out the missing number. (Jayden)

This week is a holiday spirit week! Here is how your child can participate!

Tuesday: Crazy socks!

Wednesday: Ugly sweater

Thursday: PJ’s for Polar Express and hat day (if a parent would like to donate a can of hot cocoa mix or Styrofoam cups for this day please let me know by replying to this email!)

Friday: Red and green

Friday is also our Holiday party! You are welcome to join us in the classroom from 2:30-3 pm as the kids eat a special snack, do a craft, and participate in a book exchange (no siblings please)! For the book exchange, please have your child bring in a wrapped book by next Friday!

Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We got our Gingerbread Man back and we got to eat him! Mrs. Hotchkiss cut him up. (Mikayla and Evan)

We did Daily 5. (Logan)

The Gingerbread Man left us clues! He left us notes to read. We looked everywhere and put up posters. (Sophia) Check out pictures on Twitter!

We lost our Gingerbread Man but we got him back! (James)

We did snack. Mrs. Hotchkiss brought Ginger Snaps since our Gingerbread Man ran away. A teacher came in and said they saw our Gingerbread Man. Mr. Burlison found him in his trap! (Sylus and Lyrik) Hear Mr. Burlison tell the story! https://youtu.be/JWEeoVhAJZE

We went to the Snowball Shop. (Ginger)

We did writing time. We wrote about our ideas on how to catch the Gingerbread Man. (Jayden)

We did our poem. It was He Ran Away. We highlighted our poem. We got to point to the words. (Dylan and Sophia)

We read The Gingerbread Cowboy. (Layla)

Announcements!

Reading bags are coming home today! Please return these books on Monday!

Next Week we will be doing a holiday spirit week! Here is how your child can participate!

Monday: Dress in comfy clothes!

Tuesday: Crazy socks!

Wednesday: Ugly sweater

Thursday: PJ’s for Polar Express and hat day (if a parent would like to donate a can of hot cocoa mix, Styrofoam cups, and/or cookies for this day please let me know by replying to this email!)

Friday: Red and green

Friday is also our Holiday party! You are welcome to join us in the classroom from 2:30-3 pm as the kids eat a special snack, do a craft, and participate in a book exchange (no siblings please)! For the book exchange, please have your child bring in a wrapped book by next Friday!

Have a great weekend!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We baked a Gingerbread Man. We tried to pick him up after P.E. but he ran away! (James) I have lots of great pictures on Twitter! Check them out! Also don’t miss Ms. Gail telling her story! https://youtu.be/u0W7Lr1aWyE

We did P.E. (Logan)

We looked around the school and talked to some teachers. All the Gingerbread Men ran away today! Every Kindergarten class is trying to find their Gingerbread Man! (Sophia)

For writing we got to learn when we are all done we can reread our writing and we can add more detail to our picture and add more to our words. When you are done you can read it with a friend and when you are all done you can get a new piece of paper. (Ginger)

We read The Gingerbread Baby book. (Layla)

We made a poster and we are going to finish it tomorrow. The poster is to help us find the Gingerbread Man who ran away! We made a plan to make posters. We tried to add detail just in case someone finds it they know where to take it! (Sophia and Sylus)

We decorated the Gingerbread Man with gum drops with magic sugar. It ran away like the books! (Kate)

A very exciting day in Kindergarten! Hopefully we can find him tomorrow!! ;)

If your child would like another chance to shop at the holiday shop please make sure they bring their money first thing tomorrow morning! This is totally optional!

Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We did holiday shopping. We got to shop for our moms and dads and brothers and sisters. (Andrew)

For snack, we read The Gingerbread Boy. He ran away from a little old woman, a little old man, a horse, and a cow. The fox ate him. (Layla and James)

We did our Gingerbread Man poem. (Logan)

We played a Gingerbread Man game for math. If you landed on a fox you had to go back one space. If you get to the Gingerbread house you win! (Evan)

In art, we watched a movie about a famous artist that used bright colors. We drew one of his drawings that he might make. (Ginger)

We did our magnet boards. We had to read a word wall word to get a board. (Sylus and Kate)

We did Daily 5. Some people got to go with a reading group. (Sophia)

Your child will have one more chance to shop at the holiday shop this Friday morning! Please send any money in your child’s folder on this day.

Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We did writing workshop. We wrote in our writing folders. We talked about resources like the word wall and the ABC chart and other resources around the room. (Mikayla)

We did math. We played a Gingerbread Man game. We rolled a dice and we covered the Gingerbread Man with the matching number. We took turns. (Logan and Sylus)

Mrs. Hotchkiss read us The Gingerbread Girl. She did not get eaten by the fox! (Layla)

Guest readers came today. It was Riley and Rocco. (Kate)

We did Daily 5. (Lyrik)

We had music we watched The Nutcracker and we read the book Goldi”rocks”. (Evan)

For our poem we read a new poem about the Gingerbread Man. Our new word wall word for this week is “he”. (Sophia)

We did Fundations we did our big cards and our little cards and the vowel chart. Our new letters are v and w. (Andrew)

We played the missing numbers games. We had to guess what number was missing. The hardest one had lots of missing numbers! (Dylan)

Tomorrow is our turn the Holiday Shop! If you would like your child to buy gifts please send money tomorrow! Thanks!

I am looking for parent volunteers who would like to help our class with the Holiday Shop tomorrow! We will be going at 1 pm and will only be there about 15-20 minutes! You would help the kids find gifts within their price range. You would meet us in the classroom. Please reply if you would like to help! Thanks!!

Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

At P.E. we took off our socks and shoes and we did gymnastics. (Lyrik)

We had our 3rd grade buddies come. We made snowflakes and we read books. (Logan)

We did our Needs and Wants poem. We highlighted “I’ and “and”. (Evan and Andrew)

We did Fundations. We did the little cards, the big cards, and the vowel chart. We played HangMouse. (Malai)

We did math. We looked at the 100 chart. It was a lot of numbers. The numbers go in counting order all the way to 100. When you go down one row it’s one more group of 10. (Dylan and Sylus)

Mikayla brought cookies for her birthday. We sang happy birthday to Malai and Mikayla. (Kate)

We did Daily 5. (Layla)

Our class is beginning our take-home weekend reading today!  Your child has been given a plastic bag with 4 books (2 reading group books that we have read together and 2 paper books we read whole group).  Please take the time to have your child read these books to you sometime this weekend! I want this to be a fun and positive experience for your child.  Remember, looking at pictures and using the pictures to help problem solve are part of the beginning reading experience. Please return the bag in your child’s backpack on Monday! 

When you begin each book, here are a few things to try:

1.       Picture walk—Before reading the book, read the title with your child.  Look at the cover and the pictures throughout the book.  Ask your child what they notice and to make predictions and connections with the book.

2.      Go back to the beginning of the book and read the title together.

3.      Make sure your child is touching each word as they read.

If your child cannot read a word, here are some strategies:

1.       Ask your child about the word they said:  Does it look right?  Does it sound right? Does that word make sense?

2.      Look at the picture. What would make sense and match the picture?

3.      See if they are able to recognize sight words.   The sight words in your child’s books should be ones that they have/are learning. 

4.      See if they are able to recognize a pattern in the text.   Are the words rhymes?  Can they figure out the mystery word by looking for rhyming or pattern clues?

5.      Can they recognize the sounds we’ve learned in class?  Focus on the beginning and ending sounds.  This means they will sound it out.

Please let me know if you have any questions! You can also find other reading tips on my website under “Our Classroom”.

Have a great weekend!!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We did art. We made a picnic out of paper quilts. We used dots to make bugs. (Logan and Andrew)

For math we got our brains all warmed up by passing Clifford around and counting to 20. Whoever said 10 had to sit down and 20 had to sit down. Mrs. Hotchkiss was out! (Ginger and Dylan)

We did our 10 frames. Today we had another group of 10 to make 20. Friends came up to make numbers in the teens. For 15 we needed one group of ten and 5 more. (Sylus)

We did Daily 5 time. We had to pick something different than yesterday. (Jayden)

We read the book called “The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog”. The book has a duckling in it! (Layla)

We did morning buzz. We talked about our favorite pigeon book. (Owen)

We did our Needs and Wants poem. Kids helped point to the words. (Mikayla)

We did Fundations. We did our big cards, our little cards, and our vowel chart. We did our white boards. We wrote h and k. We also wrote the words “go” and “and”. (Malai and Kate)

We learned how to draw the pigeon! (Kate)

We played a game. Mrs. Hotchkiss got a big paper out. We sorted paper pictures of needs and wants. You have to have needs to live. Wants are something that are nice to have but you don’t need them to live. It matches our poem. (Sophia)

Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

Ms. Mielke came. We talked about making mistakes. The more we make mistakes the more our brain grows. Sometimes when you make a mistake one time it won’t happen again. (Ginger)

We passed around Clifford and counted to 20. We sat down when we said a group of 10. We talked about teen numbers. The one at the beginning is a group of 10. (Sylus and Andrew)

We did writing. We wrote in our writing folders. We made a list of writing ideas. (Andrew)

We went to music. We drew some coloring pages of reindeer, kids, and a snowman. (Evan, Lyrik, and Layla)

For Fundations we got to do our magnet boards. To get a board we had to read a word wall words. It was fun! We know a lot of words. (Sophia)

We did Daily 5. We had to do our 5th choice first and then we got to do whatever choice we wanted. (Logan and James)

For math we played guess the missing number. We had to say how we knew it was the missing number. (Kate)

We read the book called The Pigeon Wants a Puppy. The puppy was too big and scared the pigeon so he wanted a walrus! (Dylan)

We played a game on the SmartBoard where we popped the balloon holding the needs and the wants. (Kate)

Have a great night!

Hi Parents!

Here is what we did today!

We played Grab and Count Least to Most and we had new partners today. We grab cubes and you see which is the most and which is the least. (James)

We did Daily 5. (Evan)

We read the book Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. (Kate)

We did math workstations. We had new partners. (Dylan and Sophia)

We did Fundations. Our new letters are h and k. We did the vowel chart, little cards, big cards, and we wrote the letters on our white boards. (Mikayla)

We did library. (Logan)

We had 2 recesses. (Jayden)

We did our poem “Needs and Wants”. We played a game where we sorted needs and wants. Our word wall word is “and”. We pointed to the words. (Ginger)

We did writing time. We made movies in our heads to help us tell our stories. (Layla) We talked about visualizing to help us add details to our pictures and to our words!

We did the calendar. Today is a new month. It is December. Christmas is coming. There are a lot of stay home days. (Sylus)

Some kids got to read at the circle table. (Lyrik)

From December 7^th - 18th, MCE will be doing a Paper Products Drive to help support

Coyote Hill, Rainbow House, and Ronald McDonald House.

Items needs include:

Toilet paper

Napkins

Tissue

Paper Towels

Trash bags

To-Go containers

Disinfecting Wipes

Drop off donations in the boxes located in the commons.

Have a great night!