Polar Express Day

Polar Express Day was a success.  We started by reading the book and handing out tickets for the movie

When we came back from lunch we watched the movie on big screen…kindergarten style.

                                             

Next, we enjoyed hot chocolate with marshmallows….just like the movie!

Lastly, we found out that Santa, sent us a surprise!  We opened it up and it was a BELL! 

                                         

 

WHAT A FUN DAY!!!!

3D Shapes

Today we studied the CUBE.  We had to revisit our shapes and talk about how a cube is different from a square.  We talked about how both have sides and corners, but a cube has multiple faces.  We had fun building cubes with gum drops and toothpicks.

      

3D Shapes….Taking it Further

This is a picture of Nicolas.  He has taken his cube and transformed it into another 3D shape.  Way to go!

3D Shapes

We are having so much fun with dimensional shapes this week.  I think the classes favorite part is that they get to eat their project.  Today we worked on the 3d shape of a CONE.  We made Christmas Tree’s!

Thanksgiving Table

 

Our chant this week made me hungry!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

Here are some pictures from our thanksgiving feast.

		Thanksgiving Feast 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Special thanks to the parents who donated food, and helped “waitress” our feast.

The Mayflower

 

Today we enjoyed hearing a presentation on the Mayflower.  The Fourth graders in Ms. Baltista’s enrichment class did a wonderful job on their project.  We all got to take pictures in the ship.

 

Introducing ISAIAH!

 

Isaiah is one of my past students.  He is now in third grade.  He sometimes comes and helps in our classroom during center time, and reads to our class during our snack time.  The kindergarteners enjoy when he comes in, as do I!  He interacts great with all of them. 

Red Ribbon Week

This week is Red Ribbon week.  Everyday we will be doing a different activity to show the importance of saying "NO!" to drugs.  A note has been sent home in your red B.E.E. folder.  Below are the weekly activities.

Monday- TIE ONE ON AGAINST DRUGS: Wear a tie.


Tuesday-USE YOUR HEAD, DON’T DO DRUGS: Wear your favorite hat or a silly hat.


Wednesday- VOTE FOR A DRUG FREE LIFE: Wear Red, White, and Blue.

Thursday- GIVE DRUGS THE SLIP: Wear your slippers or house shoes. Also bring tennis shoes for outside and physical education.


Friday- TEAM UP AGAINST DRUGS: Wear a Sport Jersey from your favorite team.

What's Inside?

Today we took a look inside our Pumpkin.  First we all took turns trying to lift the pumpkin. The pumpkin was pretty heavy!  I had a few scares and thought the pumpkin was gonna break...Turns out, our class pumpkin was pretty durable!  When we dropped it (all five times) it just bounced a little.  :)

To all the students surprise, the pumpkin was EMPTY!  Yes, all that weight, and nothing in it.  Well, there was a little something in it.  WE found lots of seeds and some ooey gooey orange "pumpkin guts".  We cant wait till tomorrow.  We will be counting all the seeds.  Have you been counting with your child at home?

Make a GUESS!

This week we have been focusing on Autumn Harvest and PUMPKINS!  Yesterday we talked about circumference and tried to guess what the circumference of our class pumpkin was.  A lot of us were WAY OFF.  (I think they were trying to see who could have the longest string for a while)  But in the end, there were three students who made great guesses!

Applesauce

At the end of the week, we changed the apples property of texture...instead of hard apples, we had soft and slimy APPLESAUCE!
If you would like to make apple sauce at home, here is the recipe:

7 apples

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of water

cinnamon (to taste)

Go Get It Week!

Last week we talked a lot about college.   I shared some of my experiences at my alma mater Texas State University.  It is very important, with today's changing economy, to prepare your children to pursue going to college.  

The Properties of Apples

 

Because it is harvest time, we decided to teach the properties of matter using Apple.  Some of the properties we touched on were shape (round or flat), texture (smooth, bumpy, hard) and color (red, yellow, green)




We also did other activities such as graphing the size  and colors of the apples.  Before we put the apples into a graph, we practiced sorting them different ways.  Below are some of the graphs we made. The first graph has the apples sorted by colors  (green, red, yellowish red, and then redish green).  The second graph has the apples sorted by size (small, medium and big).




Joseph brought in the biggest apple I have EVER seen.  And Kaylee brought one of the smallest apples.  Thank s to all who  donated an apple.

The Sense of Taste

Today we went over one of the five senses. Taste is my favorite sense to teach because you get to eat and learn all at the same time! WE learned that thigs can be SOUR, SWEET, SALTY and BITTER. Here are some pictures of us using our taste buds to find out what was sweet, salty, bitter, and sour:

                                              

  Lemons are SOUR…Check out Jenna’s sour face!

Fruit snacks are SWEET.

Cheez-It’s are SALTY…You can even see the salt on them.

And guess what’s BITTER?? Watch the video below to find out (this is my favorite part)!!!

Miss Nelson Is Missing!!

Last week I read the book Miss Nelson Is Missing.  The book is about Miss Nelson, and her class full of naughty students.  They never pay attention and are always playing.  Miss Nelson, their teacher, is the nicest teacher ever. She tells her students to be quiet and settle down but they just wont listen. Miss Nelson gets tired of having to repeat herself over and over again, and she seeks revenge on the students.  The only way to make the students behave is to call in Mrs. Viola Swamp (a mean and ugly substitute).

Turns out that this book it was a hit with the class.  We have read it multiple times since them, and every time they see or hear something in the book they didn't catch the time before.  I promised the class since this book is a class favorite we would read it once or twice this week for Read For A Better Life.  Who knows...Maybe Mrs. Swamp will visit our class sometime soon.  ;)

Read For A Better Life

Remember...this week is read for a better life.  There is an activity planned for each day this week!

Monday: College Game Day

Tuesday: Hats off to Poetry

Wednesday: Western Wear

Thursday: Open the DOOR to a good book - Teachers bring a blanket and read outside to your kids

Friday: Book Character Day. Dress up as your favorite book character.

Sight Words

Please remember to review sight words daily. Reviewing sight words will help your child be a more fluent reader.

Patterns

We had such a great time making patterns last week. All students can code patterns as: AB, AAB, ABC, AABB....If you dont know what that is, ask them to show you :) Here are some pictures of some of the patterns we made!

Learning Stations

Our learning stations are up and going!  I am so proud of all the kids and their work in their learning stations (centers).  Here are some pictures of them workin gin their stations.





Lyla in the Work on Writing Station

Jonathan in the ABC Station

Giselle and Elijah in the Creative Station

Costello in the Listening Station

Jessica in the Write around the room Station

Zarian and Joseph in the Big Book Station

Alex and Elijah in the Creative Station