Christmas Fun & Games

Merry Christmas!

Play a nativity Memory Game online.

Decorate a virtual Christmas tree.

Find a variety of games at the Northpole site.

Follow Santa's progress, courtesy of Norad!

Read "The Christmas Baby".

Or, look for "The Child In The Crib".

Find several stories in this collection by Max Lucado.

Friendship Photos

As the day's Reporter, Jeremy chose to be in his picture!  Tanner and Jeremy were doing word work with the white boards.  

As Friday's Reporter, Alyssa wanted to photograph Alicia and Ava.  I was holding the camera for her as Joshua slowly slid into the frame!  Alyssa and I burst out laughing as she clicked the button!  Can you guess what Alicia thought of this idea?!  :-)  (We took more photos!)

Christmas Theme & Writing Work

A few of our gift creations are still in progress, but these were ready for presentation.  Underneath the 'lids' of these gifts, you'd see an array of pictures that the giver chose for the receiver!

We caught the Gingerbread Man!  He ran through the office, the lunch room, Mrs. Vedvig's classroom, the church office, and finally was caught by Mrs. Gregory!  Our gingerbread people tell a story about each one of us.  The buttons coincide with interests in sports, dance, reading, and music.  The stripes equal our ages.

After each of our "special" classes, the teachers let us know if we earned a class reward.  At the moment, we are collecting cookies on the sheet.  When we received the 12th cookie, we earned Toy Day!

Christmas Math

Each child glued ten items to a triangle.  We assembled the triangles into a tree shape, creating a set of 100 objects!  The concept of learning to "count on" is a bit abstract; the children want to count each group as a set of ten (10+10+10...etc.), but this activity helped us to count and add, repeat, as we skip-counted to 100.

Weekly News 12/13-17

Character trait:  Love 

Manner focus: Don’t stare at others when they are being disciplined.

Bible: The nativity story.

Literacy: word families _am, _ack;  service word-- put, writing Rr and Jj, distinguish the sounds for /r/ and /j/,  match a sentence to an illustration

Math: counting by tens to 100, choosing numbers that come next in order, writing numbers through 50, identifying numbers out of sequence, finding a missing addend in an equation 

(2 + ? = 4)

Social Studies/Science: *A Sweet Holiday* 
Candy canes and cookies will help us with our patterning and counting skills. We will also be collecting information on graphs and diagramming story elements. 

Math Rotation

Jeremy and Cecelia solve addition problems.

Tanner and Vanessa create designs on the geoboards.

Ava and Joshua count the farm animals.

Gavin adds pentominoes to a board.

Alyssa and Alicia navigate the tangrams.

We like math!

Turkeys In Disguise

Thank you for helping us with this project.  The children were soooooo excited to share their turkeys!

Weekly News 11/29-12/3

Character trait: Wisdom
Manner focus: When offered food, take a modest amount.

Bible: God sent a savior!

Literacy: word families _ot and _op, service word-- Jesus, writing Mm and Oo, constructing sentences

Math: counting by tens, estimating volume/area, using pennies to “buy” products

Social Studies/Science:  *Gingerbread *
We will be reading several versions of the classic “Gingerbread Man” story.  These editions will serve as springboards for graphing, writing, and creating!  IF our gingerbread people run away, we will certainly search for them…I wonder where they will go?

Virtual Gingerbread House & Story

Build your own gingerbread house!  Create a gingerbread man at Starfall, too.
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Weekly News 11/8-12 and 11/15-19

11/15-19

Bible:  Moses and Aaron

Literacy: new service words “for” & “good”, new word families _ill & _ell, writing Gg & Ll, discerning the sound for /l/, writing Thanksgiving words

Math: addition, matching number words with number groupings, dividing objects into equal parts

Social Studies/Science:  *Thanksgiving*
We will explore life in the 17^th century, the Wampanoag Indians, the Mayflower voyage, and the settlements of Plymouth & Jamestown.

11/8-12

Bible: the Ten Commandments,
          Israelites in the desert

Literacy: word families _and, _ug, _ig; introducing blends (nd), new service words “father” and “are”, sounds for /g/ and /u/, spelling three-letter words

Math: counting to 50 by tens, writing numbers 10-20, symmetry

Social Studies/Science:  *Patriotism*
We will study the branches of the military, United States symbols, and government!

Turkey Disguise Info

I am hearing that the turkey project is a bit intimidating.  
Check out these photos for some inspiration!  Next week, I'll be posting pictures of OUR turkeys!

Liberty Crowns

The Statue of Liberty's crown has seven spikes, representing the continents of the world.  (Gavin did not wish to be photographed. :-)

The girls discovered several different ways to wear their crowns.  (Michalyn was absent.)

Kindergarten Declaration

We wrote a "Kindergarten Declaration" for our freedom door display.  We listed things we should do in kindergarten.  These were original thoughts, no prompting from me, and I am very proud of the children!

Apples & Bats & Pumpkins, Oh My!

Stellaluna bats are flying!

These will come home soon; they were made with tempera, watercolor, and crayon.

We made these after reading "The Runaway Pumpkin"!

The eagles were made with our handprints!

Patriot Week is Nov. 8-12

The teachers at WCCS have many activities and surprises planned for Patriot Week!

Monday, Nov. 8 is red/white/blue day.  Please wear these colors with pride!


The White House for Kids is a great site for exploring our government.
Ben Franklin's Kids' Guide to Government has games and info regarding our national symbols.

Recent Views

Drawing spiders. (Oops!  Only 8 legs, please!)

a human spider web

Weekly News 11/1-5

Character trait: Contentment

Manner focus:  Accept a job or task without complaining.

Bible:   Continuing the life of Moses

Literacy: new service word- “come”, new word families- _at, _an, _ap; writing Aa, learning the sound for short /a/, complete Reader 9.

Math: measuring circumference and height,
adding onto ten (creating teen numbers), practice positional words

Social Studies/Science: ~~Pumpkins~~We will sequence the life cycle of pumpkins, describe them by using our five senses, and investigate the inside of a seed.  We will also make pumpkin books!

C is for Conference

A big THANKS to everyone for making conference time a success!  I enjoyed meeting with all of you and sharing the daily experiences of the children.

Second quarter reaches the halfway point on Nov. 20.  Time is flying!

Weekly News Oct. 25-29

Character Trait:  Generosity
Manner:  Always say, "Thank you!".
Bible:  The life of Moses
Literacy:  building on word famailies for _ick, _uck, _eck; writing Dd, learning the sound /d/, beginning Reader 9
Math:  matching digital clock time to round-face clock time, recognizing numbers out of sequence, using the 'cent' sign to  describe penny groupings.
Social Studies/Science:  Bats & Owls---exploring the world of these nocturnal animals, using echolocation to identify a asound, comparing mammals.

Weekly News 10/18-22

Character trait: Diligence 

Manner focus: Cover mouth when sneezing/coughing.

Bible:  Continuing the story of Joseph

Literacy: rhyming word pairs; listening for the ending sound in a word; learning the proper spacing of words in a sentence; word families for _ick, _uck, _eck

Math: using dominoes to create equations, graphing leaves while exploring probability, estimating popcorn kernals, writing numerals

Social Studies/Science: Autumn~~ collecting “fall” items, scarecrows and crops, building vocabulary with autumn words, leaf science

Weekly News 10/11-15

Character trait:  Orderliness

Manner focus: Be observant and orderly when walking in line.

Bible:  The story of Joseph

Literacy: writing and recognizing the sounds for Kk and Cc, new word families for _ub, _up, _ut.

Math: counting backwards from ten, arranging numbers in descending order, patterns---AB/ABC/AAB, fractions---whole to halves.

Social Studies/Science: Apples!  We will be graphing, counting, painting, describing, crafting, and cooking apples!

Applesauce Recipe

Peel and core 8-10 apples.  Cut into small pieces.
Place apples in crock pot.  Sprinkle with 1t cinnamon, 1/2c white sugar, 1/2c brown sugar; mix.
Add 1 c water.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours.  Turn the crock pot to off and allow apples to stew for an hour. 
(I propped the lid a bit, to let the apples cool.)  With a fork, gently mash the apples.  The applesauce will be chunky.

The children enjoyed this experiment in cooking!  Many of them returned to the table for seconds and thirds.  As a bonus, the room smelled divine!  Yummy :-)

Everyone examined the apples before they began to cook.

We all took turns in the stirring and mashing of the apples.

VIew From The Room

Michalyn in action!

Blokus if fun!

MOO!

Line Art, project from Art Class

Field Trip Info

We currently have a field trip scheduled for Friday, October 15, to Thies Farms (Hanley Rd. location).  However, I have not received any chaperone confirmations.  My van will hold 4 children with carseats; we need to accomodate 7 more students.  Plus, I really do need chaperones!  I will need to cancel this trip if the logistics are not settled by this Tuesday, the 12th.  Thank you!

Blues (Hockey) Bookworms Info

Here’s how the program works:

Each month, beginning in October, students record the number of minutes read.   (We are currently using the pizza slice =10 minutes form from Pizza Hut's Book-It Program to record the Blues minutes, too.)

Every class that reaches or goes beyond the goal of 250 minutes per month per student will be entered into a drawing for a player appearance. One classroom will be randomly selected each month to win a visit from a Blues player.

Students that reach the goal of 1,000 minutes at the end of the program will receive a free ticket to the Blues Bookworms game Thursday, March 24 vs. Edmonton (7 p.m.). As a special thank you, teachers who have the majority of their students reach the Blues Bookworms Program goal will also receive a free ticket to the Blues Bookworms game. Ticket vouchers and discount order forms for the students and teachers will be sent out at the end of the program.   

Blues Bookworms All-Stars!

At the end of January, the top reader from each grade level (K-6), OUT OF ALL PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS, based on overall number of minutes read, will win the Blues Bookworms All-Star Award and four tickets to celebrate their accomplishments during the Blues Bookworms game Thursday, March 24 vs. Edmonton (7 p.m.). Winners will be highlighted on the jumbotron during the game, and also on www.stlouisblues.com. 

Spider Info

The children are enjoying the spider unit!  Spider facts, with photos, can be found by clicking the link.  In our neck of the woods, knowing how to identify a Brown Recluse is necessary!

Weekly News 10/4-10/8

Character trait: Forgiveness

Manner focus:  If you bump into someone, say, “Excuse me!”.

Bible:  Isaac & Rebekah, Jacob

Literacy:  discerning sounds at the end of a word, introducing /i/ and /u/ in the short vowel form, creating word families for __un and __up.
Service word:  his

Math: continuing addition and clock work, recognizing numbers as groups of ten.

Social Studies/Science: Spiders! Listening to “Charlotte’s Web” at resting time.

Weekly News Sept. 27-Oct. 1

Character trait: Patience
Manner focus: Not interrupting someone when they are speaking
Bible: Abraham, Sarah, Hagar
Literacy: writing Bb, learning the sound for /b/, continue reading color words, complete Reader 5, learning the sound for /p/
Service Words: a, this, my, love
Math: clock work, telling time on the hour, beginning addition with numbers 1-5.
Social Studies/Science: life on a farm, animal facts, products-from farm to shelf, story sequencing for “Mrs. Wishy Washy’s Farm”

Alphabet Sounds Video

The pictures begin 20 seconds into the video!

A View Of Week 6

My camera was unavailable this week!  We have all grown accustomed to documenting our activities with photos; I lost count of the number of times that we wanted to take a picture.  :-)  Hopefully, we'll be back with photos in week 7.  First up, Michalyn in action!

Weekly News Sept. 20-24

Character trait:  Humility
Manner focus:  Esteem others as important and never        cut in line.

Bible:  Abram to Abraham

Literacy:  writing Ee, learning the sound for short /e/, reviewing sounds for t, i, s, n, h, w, word families for __et and __en, begin Reader 5
Service words:  a, this, my

Math:  counting groups of 20, recognizing numbers in isolation, ordering numbers in sequence

Social Studies/Science:  food groups and servings,
germs and cleanliness, making a fruit salad

*!* The worksheet for homework will be in the folder on Tuesday!

*!* Fruit assignments will also be found in Tuesday's folder!

A View Of Week 5

Art~~Funny Faces

Ava, painting with a toothbrush!

Joshua finishes the firefighter puzzle!

These sentences followed a listening story.

Weekly News Sept.13-17

Circle Time:  This week’s character trait is self-control.  
The manner focus is “do not speak or call out to friends in assemblies or meetings”.

Literacy:  learning the sounds for /h/ and /w/, identifying and writing Hh and Ww; reading a sentence silently, using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, adding an “s” to the end of a word (win/wins, hit/hits)

Math: writing numbers 7 & 8, grouping to 16, reviewing number order, identifying numbers 10-20, celebrating the 20^th day of school

Social Studies & Science: establishing a pen pal relationship with another Kindergarten class, beginning a unit on health and nutrition, locating a heartbeat

Bible: the children of Adam and Eve, Noah

Peanut-Free Snacks

Each afternoon, I have been providing a 2pm snack.  I welcome donations!  


These snacks are safe for the group, as we do have a friend with a peanut allergy:

• Kellogg's fruit-flavored snacks
• Keebler frosted animal cookies
• Keebler vanilla wafers
• Frito-Lay Sunchips
• Sunshine's CHEEZ-IT baked snack crackers
• Nabisco Oreos

The children enjoy bringing individual snacks for the morning snack, but I prefer a shared snack experience in the afternoon.  Thanks in advance for your help!   Our class eats lunch at 11am and an afternoon snack is a blessing!

A View Of Week 4

Gavin builds a counting ladder!

Hutton's cube ladder

Alyssa's cube ladder

Cooperation

Art:  Impressionist Flowers

A View Of Week 3

                                                    "It's A Wonderful Life" Timelines

Jeremy uses discs to problem-solve!

Vanessa works on patterning!

Our first "robust vocabulary" word:  serendipity!

Weekly News Sept. 7-10

Literacy:  learning the sounds for /n/ and /h/, identifying and writing Nn and Hh; new service words are “this”, “the” and “mother”.  We will begin our third Reader "Grandpa's Bible.

Math: writing numbers 5 and 6, grouping to 14, recognizing ordinal numbers and positions 1^st-5^th

Social Studies & Science: exploring the many ways that we communicate with each other

Bible:  Adam and Eve

Weekly News Aug. 30-Sept. 3

       …This Week…
Morning Work: following directions, future careers

Circle Time:  This week’s character trait is obedience.  The manner focus is to use “yes or no, ma’am/sir”.

Literacy:  vowels and consonants, discerning the sounds of /t/, /i/, /s/; identifying and writing Tt, Ii, Ss, Nn; creating word families for “it” and “in” (bit, sit, etc. & bin, tin, etc.), service words “here” and “is”.

Math: writing numbers 1-4, recognizing numbers 0-10, understanding the concept of left/right, exploring shapes

Social Studies & Science: stoplight signals, fingerprinting, navigating an obstacle course, the police force in a community

Bible: days four-seven of creation

A View Of Week 2

Tanner shares an "AB" pattern.

Alicia enjoys a Bible story.

Cecelia presents a vertical pattern line.

Friends

Zero The Hero