Holidays Reminder

It is going to be a very buy time here in Kindergarten the next two weeks.  Tomorrow we will be practicing "the Spirit of Christmas" play, with the play being Wednesday night.  Everyone in the play was given a request with what to wear if something was needed, others will be in costumes provided.

Friday is our Holiday PJ party.  We will be having a special visitor, exchanging our class gifts (sock exchange) and decorating Christmas cookies and drinking hot chocolate for our party.  We also will join the preschool kids in watching the Polar Express.

Thursday December 24th we are open until 1:00, as well as December 31st.  If you have not let the office know if your child will be here those two days, please do so ASAP.  We then are closed Christmas day and New Year Day.

I hope everyone has a safe and merry holiday.

Christmas Around the World (2 weeks)

The next two weeks will have us exploring the different holiday traditions around the world.  Every class in the building picked a country, and we will briefly explore each one with a focus on Russia next week.  We will see Germany, the Netherlands, China,, Belgium, Jamaica, Russia, Finland, and Brazil.  Each day we will make an ornament that in some way features the country.
Germany= Christmas trees because that is where we got the idea to use Christmas trees.
Netherlands= A last name initial, ass that is featured in the Netherlands
China= Lanterns
Belgium= Advent wreath
Jamaica= Sand and shells with Santa (traditions similar to USA)
Russia= Fabric ball, nesting dolls, Faberge Egg
Finland= Yarn Elf
Brazil= Flowers

We also will learn the holiday greeting from each country, and decorate their flag.  Be sure to keep an eye on our map in class as we mark each country we have studied.

Books these two weeks will include:

 We will not introduce any additional new letter, instead we will review letters A-I.  Sight words will continue with TO and MY.  And, we will start learning the concept of money with the introduction of the penny.  It is sure to be a busy few weeks as we get closer and closer to the holiday.  Please don't forget that our Christmas play is on Wednesday December 16th, and our class Christmas party is Friday December 18th.  If your child will be out during the holiday break please let me know ahead of time so we can plan accordingly for staffing.  Thanks.

Holiday Party News

Hello families, as you may know, the holiday party is fast approaching.  We will be celebrating on December 18th.  I would like to try something different this year.  I want to do a holiday sock exchange.  My thought was to have each child bring in  a pair of WRAPPED child sized, HOLIDAY socks (gender neutral please). We then would exchange and open the "gifts" that day.  Please also look for a sign up sheet to contribute to the party food.

The Festival of Lights

This week we will learn about Hanukkah.  It is important for children to know that not all people celebrate Christmas.  Instead some people celebrate Hanukkah. We will learn about the menorah, and even play the dreidel game.  I is our letter this week and I and We are our sight words.

Below will be some of the books we will read this week:

Thanksgiving

This week, although it's short, will be busy as we get ready for our much needed holiday break.  We will be discussing what we are thankful for, making turkey crafts, and reading all about Thanksgiving.  We also will be learning a bit more about Pilgrims and what life was like for them.  Wednesday will be out Great Pre-Thanksgiving game, as we feast with the whole school in the gross motor room at lunch time.  We also will be celebrating the day with a special snack, a ice cream waffle sundae.  YUM.  Below are some of the books  to be featured this week:

We Are Kind

This week we are kind.  We are going to read "How Full is Your Bucket? For kids" and we will then have a challenge to complete by the end of the week.  We are kind, and the kinder we are to people the better it makes us feel.  We also will be focused on the letter G, and the book selection will focus on G.  Books will include;

Math will have us practicing the concept of adding.  Our sight word this week is HE.

We Share

For the next few weeks we are going to focus on important social skills, such as sharing, kindness, and helping.  We will start this week with sharing.  Our literature selection will all go with that theme and include;

Our letter this week is F, ans all art activities will incorporate that letter because we will use various items to pain with such as feathers, feet, fingers and forks.  F also is a good week to do a mini science unit on FALL.  Our sight word this week is FOR, and math will have us continuing counting skills.  

AS A REMINDER: We have Dance and Yoga and Gym on MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, and FRIDAY.  In order to participate comfortable children should wear sneakers and comfy pants.  If we are finding it hard to remember, bring in a pair of pants and I can have your child change before we get started.

Pumpkin Week

This week all activities will incorporate pumpkins as we get ready for my favorite holiday.  We will start two weeks on the letter E and this week will focus on the short sound.  Our literature selections will be fun stories.  They will include:

All art projects will some way, some how incorporate pumpkins.  This will come in handy as we start decorating the class for next week.

Sight words will be reviewed all week...practice, practice, practice.

All math and science activities will include, what else, PUMPKINS, as we start exploring them.  DO they float? Sequencing the life cycle, measurement, predictions and taste test will be how we explore them.  

We will switch form learning about respect to HONESTY.  It's going to be a busy week.

BRING YOUR SMILE!

With this weekend being a long weekend, I don't want anyone to forget that Tuesday is picture day.  All children will be photographed and we  will be taking a class photo.  You will see the proofs that night at pick up and place orders at that time.  WE ARE CLOSED MONDAY.

Lake Street Fire Station

We filed onto the bus, and headed down to the Lake Street fire station.  We talked about what we were excited to see all week, and we REALLY wanted to see the fire truck and the pole.  We listened to Officers Adam, Ryan, and Brad explain how to get dressed and different tools they use on the job.  Here are some photos Miss Kristen took while there.  Miss Alysia took some great ones I will send to you via email.

Watching the fire engine return and back in to the station.

Officer Ryan showed us the order of how they put their gear on.  Boots and pants stay together so they can put them on quick..

Officer Ryan showed us his oxygen tank.  In a fire there is lots of smoke and the air tank helps them breathe.

Officer Ryan completely dressed and ready for a fire.  We were shown this so we would know that it is just a man trying to help us under all that intimidation gear.

Officer Adam and AJ climbed the engine onto the ladder.  SO COOL.

The Jaws of Life

Us presenting the fire station with a gift of cookies and a fire hydrant cookie jar.  

Fire Safety Week.

This week we will be focusing on fire safety.  Our literature selection will include:

Also we will do various activities that focus on fire safety.  This week we will be starting to learn about three dimensional shapes.  

We started dance today and Wednesdays will be yoga.  PLEASE try to have your child wear comfy pants and shoes on dance days.  Dressy shoes, dresses, jeans, and boots are hard to move in.  On yoga days we do not wear shoes so only comfy clothes are needed. 

Also, please remember we are going to the fire station on Lake street Thursday, and on Friday we will be having the fire fighter visit.  It is going to be a busy week.

Lastly it is getting nippy out, please be aware of the weather and have your child dressed appropriately with a coat.  Thank You.

Apples to Apples

This week's theme is all about apples.  We will also be introduced to Johnny Appleseed.  Thanks to our field trip we will have the tools necessary to make a yummy fall treat on Friday.  We will continue to talk about shapes but we will also work on some graphing.  Our letter of the week will be B.  We seem to be catching on to our phonetic skills and B was a lot easier to list works than A was.  Our literacy selection this week includes: