Sunday, December 9, 2012

2 Weeks to go!

What a past couple of weeks we have had. The kids have been learning all kinds of things!
This week we will be:

Reading- Reviewing; cause and effect, story sequencing and other Literary using some new books (including Holiday books). Our snap words for the week are for, me, with

Math- We will be learning some new Math games and on Thursday we will be learning the Dreidel Game!

Writing- The kids will be finishing up their small moments stories and then we will be learning to write letters so we can write one to a very special person this holiday season!

Holiday Play- The kids have been working hard learning all of the songs for the Christmas Play. This week we will be learning new movements, adding on extra practice time and heading to the stage! It should be an exciting week of songs!

Blog Update: Currently I am unable to upload pictures onto the blog. This will be corrected once Lauryn gets back. Sorry!

Dates to Remember:
December 20th @ 7:00 is the Christmas Play
December 21st is the classroom party!

Birthdays- Bjorn and Zane will be turning 6 on the 27th!!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Just for fun!!!

Just wanted to say "hi" from Victor, Idaho!
My boys and I have been having LOTS of fun, but I am getting excited to hang out with 13 Kindergartners soon!!!!

Friday, November 16, 2012

November 11-16

This week we finished up talking about Fiction and why we read fiction. We focused on the book, The Bear Snores On, and we got to act out the book in our classroom! Find out what character your kid acted as and what they had to do!

Thanksgiving Lunch!




We had a great time eating lunch with our friends and families, Mrs. Griffin even stopped by to say hi!

Next week:

Reading- We will be working on our new SNAP WORDS: like, he
We will also be celebrating Thanksgiving by doing many fun activities! Remember there is no school on the 22 or the 23!


Monday, November 12, 2012

November 5-9th

We have a very busy week ahead of us!

Reading- This week we will be talking about how to question a story so we can understand it better. Why does the character do something? What is the setting/ who are the characters?
We will also be talking about fiction and fantasy and how we can tell when a book is fiction/fantasy. We will also be working on poems that have alliteration (words that begin with the same sounds) and how to break down words so we can spell them!

Writing- We will be continuing to work on our stories that have a beginning, middle and end and we will be starting to talk about spaces in between words of our sentences.

Math- Number work and games!
The kids will be working on writing numbers correctly, learning about the Pan Balance and which objects are heavy and which ones are light, and playing many math games like Monster Squeeze!

Science- We are still working on fabrics and will be doing our fabric collage and we will be taking fabric apart to see how they are put together!


Dates to Remember:

Monday is Veteran's Day and there will be a special presentation given by a Veteran!
Thursday is our Thanksgiving Lunch where we will be eating turkey and all the Thanksgiving fixings, this starts at 11:15!
Friday is Avery's 6th Birthday!
Thursday the 22nd is Chloe and Madison's Birthday!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Halloween Week!

Sorry about the late postings on these last 2 blogs. It's been a very busy week! Let's start with some of our Halloween Pictures!







 What a spread!
 These kids are trying to figure out the problem of how to keep the toilet paper from splitting!

 Zoe's a mummy!

We have been having a ton of fun learning in math!



 A little game known as "Teen Tangle"
 Look at all those buttons!
What kind of building can you make with 14 blocks?

This week we will be learning:
Reading- We will be talking a lot about Connecting the stories we read to ourselves = Text-to-self
(This reminds me of me or my life)
Text-to-text
(This reminds me of another story)
Text-to-world
(This reminds me of something outside of the book)
We will also be learning more about the letter A!

Writing- We are beginning to write small moment stories. That means the kids are taking a story and stretching it out to have a beginning, middle and an end. This story is going to be stretched over 3 PAGES!!!!

Math- Get out those adding machines because we are going to start learning the basics of addition along with symmetry!

Science- We are going to revisit what we know about fabric and continue where we left off in our science unit!

Social Studies- We took our Candy Bar Vote on Monday to see what candy is our favorite! On Tuesday the kids will be learning about the Presidential Candidates and will fill our a real ballot for who they think should be President! Check out our post next week to see who won!

Dates to Remember: Parent/ Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday
Friday, November 9- No School!
Monday, November 12- Veteran's Day 
November 21- Early Release at 12:30
November 22- 23- No school HAPPYY THANKSGIVING!!!

Friday, October 19, 2012

This week in school we have a lot planned:

Reading- The kiddos will be learning the snap words: is, have
We will also be working on identifying the characters of the stories we are reading as well as the setting. We will learn about the sequence of a story so that the kids will be able to retell the story to their classmates with their Plaidypus Puppets they made last week.

Writing- This week, the kids will be creating more lists. We will also be learning about our ABC charts that we keep in our folders and we will also be learning how to use the Word Wall to find words we want to put in our stories. The kids are also practicing 'hearing a sound and writing it down'.

Math- We will be working on one to one correspondence with numbers this week as well as beginning our study of money. We will be learning new math games about counting and about money!

Important dates to add to you calendar:

October 25th- Our PTO Chili Dinner and Raffle starting at 5:30
October 20th- No school for the kids
October 31st- Our Halloween Party!

Just to sum up a very busy day with information you may want;

1) Deputy Matt from Jackson came to speak to our students about "strangers".  There were two sessions, older students and younger (k-2) students.  The conversation was very gentle and friendly.  He touched on a few points I thought you might want to know.  1) Strangers can be good or bad, but you may not know which. If you feel uncomfortable or unsure find a 2) safe adult - this could be an officer, a parent, a teacher, a group of adults  3) Don't help an adult who asks for help.  Adults should only ask other adults for help.  Don't trust some stranger who asks for help (even finding their dog) 3) Don't get in or near a car of a stranger ever 4) Trick or Treat with an adult 5) Ask you parents to point out the safe places you can ask for help

Also, Vancie's party was beautiful with lots of tears and laughter.  Ask your child about it! Thanks to those you made it, sorry to those whose timing didn't work out.  Let me know if you have more questions about the event.

Have a great weekend!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

We had a great week of Kindergarten. The Firemen came to the Alta school and showed the kids what a Firefighter looks like with all of his gear on. Chip also volunteered to put all of the gear on to show the kids that there is a person underneath all of the protective gear.







Reading- The kids learned about the setting of a story this week. We will be working more on setting, character and connecting a story to our own lives for the rest of this week as well.

    We are also learning the Sight Words: I, am, little, a. These are words that you can practice with your kids at home. We are also learning to recognize all of the letters in the alphabet as well as learning the sounds of the letters.

Writing: We had our first Author's sharing and the kids got to share with their 'best word' from their Writer's folders. This week we are going to be creating different kinds of lists and work on 'hearing a sound and writing it down' with labeling our stories.

Science- We are still learning about fabric and how we use it in our lives. Look forward to seeing some neat things the kids will be learning.



Friday, October 5, 2012


Welcome October!!

The kids acting out the characters in the story, The Little School Bus!

Creating Leaf Animals.... come see them, they will be hanging up on the bulletin board outside the classroom.

Mr Fox likes reading to himself just like the Kindergartners!

On Friday, the kids got to see the First Graders Author's chair where they got to share their best work from the first month of school. We will be having an author's share on Friday!

Kids working in their Reading Groups!

Let's play the Follow, Follow Game with Miss Brett! 

Kids working on their Word Work with Mrs. Heather.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Madden Kane Griifin

Hello parents. Just a little announcement about our new baby boy.
Born almost 3 weeks early October 2
7'7
20 inches
We are home...happy... And settling in

Friday, September 28, 2012







Last week of September!




The kids are starting to notice the signs of fall! The leaf collection we have is really HUGE and we are pressing the leaves for next week so we can make leaf animals!


Writing- The kids were learning about different signs in the school and in our community and we got to create special signs for our classroom to remind ourselves about the rules we follow while in the class!


Reading- Next week the kids are going to be learning the sight words: I, am. With these two words they are going to be starting to read! I know they are excited. We are also going to be learning how to connect the story we are reading to their lives!


Math- The kids had a great time creating color patterns on headbands that they got to show off the whole week! This coming week, we will be finishing up Unit 1 in Math and learning more about numbers and counting
 

Science- We learned all about fabric this week! We learned words to describe what they feel like and look like. And we also labeled all the different fabrics we have around our classroom! Have your child point out the different fabrics that you have around your house!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

SWIMMING WEEK!!




The Buckaroo’s News

Swimming
The kids had an amazing time this week at the Targhee Mountain Resort where they learned about the local animals as well as the local landscape with the Targhee Naturalist! They also learned new skills in the water with their swim coaches (chicken, airplane, soldier)! And last but not least, they got to learn new team building games!
Below: Pictures of team B & C!









Our Classroom
The kids have been learning many different songs!
-Days of the Week (to the tune of the Adam's Family)
- Months of the Year (hand gestures like the Macarena)
-Who Let the Letters Out by Dr. Jean

 Reading
We have been learning 3 different ways to read a book
1.Picture Walk
2. Retell a story they already know
3. Read the Words
If you are looking for a way to read with your child. Have them Picture Walk the book with you!

 Writing
The kids have been telling their stories by drawing pictures and adding detail. Their work is kept in their Writer's Workshop folders. They have also been sharing their stories with their classmates during sharing time!

Math
We had a week off of math this week because of swimming, but will be starting fresh with patterns and coin comparisons.

Science
The kids will be starting their first science unit on fabric. They will be looking at and using fabric for all different things!

We are just wrapping up our first month of school! Congratulations to all the Kindergartners!