Community Helpers-Polar Vortex Round 2

Hello Parents!

I cannot believe this weather.  I truly hope that groundhog brings us spring this weekend!  Due to the (surprise) short week, or schedule was a little off, but we had lots of fun and learning anyway!

On Wednesday we did a small community helpers unit.  This unit introduced our new dramatic play center: mail center.  Students were taught how to write letters, how to address envelopes for our school mail, and how to deliver the mail.  Students are using the center well, but we are still working on properly address these envelopes.

Students used their words to describe a police officer and then sort his tools that he uses by yes and no.  We encouraged the reading of the sight words yes and no.  These are important words in our voting and now our sorting.

On Thursday, our students began being authors.  We started with a mentor text Freight Train by Donald
Crews.  We then brainstormed topics we are experts on and then went to writing them.  It was tough for some to get over they couldnt illustrate things like they see them in other books and real life but with encouragement they continued.  Some also struggled with not being able to spell but we are encouraging stretching the sounds out and writing what they hear rather than spelling it correctly and they took off with that as well. Our books are not done as an author's work is never done so we will go back and add details and read them again next week.

Students also were introduced to writing in shaving cream.  We used this activity as a letter recognition (I pulled it out of a hat and they said its name). We then wrote it practicing writing it properly (top to bottom, in the formation that is correct).  We then sang the song that reminds that letter's sound and then erased and played again!

Finally, in preparation for groundhog's day, students voted on whether the groundhog would see his shadow or not. We watched a short video on groundhog's day and then went to voting. We counted the votes

If you are willing and able or have extras lying around, please donate the following items:
5 oz cups for milk at snack
napkins for snack
Shaving cream for sensory table and word/letter work

Many have have asked about our Valentine's Day in our class.

• Our school has an all or none policy--students can bring valentines for:                                                                      *All the school*All the class*None at all
• Valentine's day snacks can be anything you wish but we do not eat any at school
• We will be handing out Valentines on Thursday February 13 as part of our small group 
• Students are encouraged to write their own name on the from line, but they can leave the "To:" line blank. This allows students to pass out valentines more effectively.  IF your child would like to address them, it will be their responsibility to get them in the right buckets.
• For our buckets, we like to use milk jugs. It is large for the valentines, has a handle, and can be decorated (at school).  Please send a cleaned gallon milk jug with your child (If you have extra you may send them for those who may forget or not have them).  by Tuesday February 11.

Important Notes:

• • Dress for the weather.  Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers)  It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate.  If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks.  We go outside on TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, Extended day kids go out EVERY DAY.
  • Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
  • Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
  • Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
  • Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 
  Next Week:
  Theme: Shadows, the Groundhog
  Letter of the Week: Hh
  Snack: West Family

Polar Animals-PALS (round 2)

Hello Parents, 

We have been busy measuring how many ice cubes a penguin is tall (IF you can find them around the room that is!).  This had us working on writing our numbers, the concept of measurement, the concept of counting, and number recognition.  Students really enjoyed searching around the room for the penguins and writing down their height.  

I have been busy seeing all that your child knows, and BOY have they learned a lot!  They are doing excellent at so many concepts and I love seeing how much they grow each day!

An area we have been working on the last few weeks is our body basics and making sure we are being respectful to our friends. This means doing their 5 on the carpet (criss-cross legs, safe hands, eyes on the speaker, ears are listening, and lips are zipped).  We are definitely starting to feel comfortable with our friends and have needed some reminders about this.  Also, we are working on using our centers and our classroom materials the correct way. This means that candy land is played correctly, high-ho cherry o is played correctly, puzzles are used for puzzles not confetti, the dice games are for playing not seeing how high the dice can go, we read in the reading center, not tackle each other, we play house with the food not throw it, etc.  We will continue to reinforce these concepts.

We will begin journals as well as "writing books" as the year progresses.  We are going to talk about an author, what they do, how they are so good at it, and how the students can be authors to.  We will be working on the concept of being an author over the concept of having to get words on the paper and spell.  

 The letter of the week was Jj. We learned the sign language for a letter, the literacy link sound symbols, the letter sound, and looking at and writing it in both capital letters and lower case letters.  Click here to view the many ways we learn the letter of the week!

Each week we watch letter videos from "Have Fun Teaching" and the students are really picking up the names of letters, formations, and the sounds of letters.  Check out these videos with you child!  Click HERE.

The Tuesday project of letter of the week is to decorate a letter with something that starts with the letter. This week we decorated the letter j with Jell-O.  On Thursday, our letter of the week project was to read a page from our alphabet book, J is for Jaguar.

Catholic Schools week is next week. There are many activities planned that do not have to do with Religion, but as our school being a community and having fun as a whole group.  Sheets were sent home, please feel free to participate in all dress up days.  

Important Notes:

• Please RSVP for sledding with the Hillside site.  It will be a fun day I hope you can attend!
• Dress for the weather.  Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers)  It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate.  If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks.  We go outside on TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, Extended day kids go out EVERY DAY.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 

Next Week:
Theme: Community Helpers
Letter of the Week: Hh
Snack: Everts Family

Polar Animals-PALS

Hello families,

As we are preparing for the end of the semester, we have also been seeing all your child has learned thus far in the Year!  Let me tell you, I am AMAZED at the growth every child as has made in a variety of areas!

Students have been building their vocabulary and learning a lot of fun facts about polar animals.  It is amazing seeing them talk about the narwhal's long hollow tooth, the animals having blubber, and the many different polar animals there are out there!

This week students got to work on a polar animals size sort and do a really cool science experiment. We discovered how blubber helps keep animals warm by testing it ourselves.  Students made predictions, tested it, and recorded their results.  What awesome science!

We introduced another center this week, pocket chart. Students work on building a sentence " I like the ___ or I see the ___" and finding a picture that corresponds with the last word.  This helps them label the new animals, find the initial sound and then find the word.  For those ready to start reading, I, like, see and the are good sight words for them to start with.  They also get to record their results on clip boards (it is amazing how much students like clipboards!)

We did get to the gym again this week to do our fun polar animal movements.  Here are some pictures!

moving like a walrus

walking like a polar bear

Eskimos on their sleds telling their sled dogs, MUSH!

Walking like a penguin that has its egg between its legs. This is very tricky!

We also got to do a letter of the week this week.  The letter of the week was Pp. We learned the sign language for a letter, the literacy link sound symbols, the letter sound, and looking at and writing it in both capital letters and lower case letters.  Click here to view the many ways we learn the letter of the week!

Each week we watch letter videos from "Have Fun Teaching" and the students are really picking up the names of letters, formations, and the sounds of letters.  Check out these videos with you child!  Click HERE.

The Tuesday project of letter of the week is to decorate a letter with something that starts with the letter. This week we decorated the letter P with popcorn in paint.  On Thursday, our letter of the week project was to read a page from our alphabet book, P is for penguin.

Important Notes:

• Dress for the weather.  Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers)  It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate.  If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks.  We go outside on TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, Extended day kids go out EVERY DAY.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 

Next Week:
Theme: Polar Animals
Letter of the Week: Jj
Snack: Highfill Family

Polar Animals during this Polar Vortex!

Hello Families,

If you are not busy this weekend, go to the fun and FREE event at the YMCA!!

I hope you were able to stay warm this past week!  Who knew Wisconsin could get so cold!  I heard through a rumor mill they even had to bring the polar bears in at the zoos this week!  Crazy!

When it finally thawed out to a balmy -19 with windchill, we were back in class!  We started our polar animal unit.  We first voted on which project(s) we would like to do.  Students came up, chose one column and voted with an x.  We then  counted them up and saw that making walruses and polar bears won.  

Our walruses turned out cute.  Students had to cut a large plate in half, and write their name on four pieces (small plate for head, large plate for body, and two halves for flippers).  Students then painted the pieces brown.  Finally, they had to glue the eyes and tusks on.  

Students also learned new vocabulary with the walrus and tusks (not teeth or horns).  





Students also painted polar bears with cool puffy paint.  The paint is a glue and shaving cream mixture that
dries puffy.  We had to work on dotting out paint not rubbing it our the polar bear wouldnt be fluffy!

In the gym we are working on moving like polar animals!  We had to hold ourselves up with our arms and drag our feet behind us like a walrus, go on our hands and feet (not knees) and run like a polar bear, hold a ball between our legs and waddle like a penguin, and hold on to our dog sleds and yell mush like the Eskimos.  We really had fun with that (I forgot the camera but we will do it again this week and get pictures).

Thursday we did the second activity the students did not vote for on Wednesday.  We made shape penguins.  These penguins had a large shape and a small shape.  Students had to pick the shape they wanted by naming it. They then had to color the BIG one black. They cut both out and had to glue the white belly on the black back.  They then cut out the beak and feet (very small pieces so this was tricky!).  They then glued on the beak and feet.  Finally, they had to write/trace the shape's name on the penguins belly and their names on the back....but that's not all!  They then went on a scavenger hunt around the room looking for the posted penguins and has to practice writing their shape name (twice) and drawing that shape (twice).  We are going to finish that on Monday. 

Reading with the Stars is Tuesday January 14 5:30-6:30--snow themed.  Please RSVP. Hope to see you there!

Important Notes:

• We are supposed to continue to have record cold weather and high windchills.  Dress for the weather.  Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers)  It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate.  If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks.  We go outside on TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, Extended day kids go out EVERY DAY.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 

Next Week:
Theme: Polar Animals
Letter of the Week: Pp
Snack: Heimann Family

Welcome Back! Pre & Post Break

Hello parents, I hope this post finds you well and rested from your holiday break. I decided to wait to post only because the snack reminders and such would be to far in advance if I would have posted right when break started.  

BEFORE BREAK:

Monday, Tiger broke into our snack and enjoyed some raisins!




Tuesday, Tiger must have gotten stuck in the gel on our door! He just 'hung out' all day long!




Wednesday, Tiger took a nap in our Kleenex Box.



We created the gifts and wrapping paper for our parents. This worked on our fine motor skills.  We also worked on finishing up our other projects that worked on patterning and measuring.  



We did have time for a letter of the week.  The letter of the week was Uu. We learned the sign language for a letter, the literacy link sound symbols, the letter sound, and looking at and writing it in both capital letters and lower case letters.  Click here to view the many ways we learn the letter of the week!

Each week we watch letter videos from "Have Fun Teaching" and the students are really picking up the names of letters, formations, and the sounds of letters.  Check out these videos with you child!  Click HERE.

The Tuesday project of letter of the week is to decorate a letter with something that starts with the letter. This week we decorated the letter U with mini Umbrellas.  On Thursday, our letter of the week project was to read a page from our alphabet book, U is for Umbrella.

Please visit the whole website (4k, drop down menu, Gallery) to see your child's first day photo as well as photos from through out the week.  If you would like the first day photo, please email me and I can send you the digital copy.

AFTER BREAK:
We watched the movie Happy Feet and looked for the different polar animals we saw in the movie. Students made rip penguins.  Students were given penguin templates and they had no feathers!  Students had to rip up paper feathers and make sure to cover all the skin. They then had to make feet and a beak for these penguins.  We also made a penguin out of an oreo cookie.  We enjoyed that snack!

We will continue to talk about, list, and find the adaptations of various polar animals.

The next Reading with the Stars is January 14, 2014.

Important Notes:

• We are supposed to continue to have record cold weather and high windchills.  Dress for the weather.  Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers)  It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate.  If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks.  We go outside on TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, Extended day kids go out EVERY DAY.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 

Next Week:
Theme: Polar Animals
Letter of the Week: Pp
Snack: Bonnet Family