A tRiP oN tHe PoLaR eXpReSs!!!!!

What an amazing time!!! The trip on the Polar Express was a perfect way to end our week of learning the letter Pp. It was a fun filled day with a train ride (for pretend!), cocoa and marshmallows (Yummy juice for "D" who is allergic to milk!), The Polar Express story, great practice sewing and learning to tie-(keep helping us so we can tie our own shoes!) on a candy cane, then a train ride back to school! Then, guess what?!!?!??! When we were getting our FISH folders and coats and backpacks, we received a package from the Santa Claus!!! Mr. Silzly and Mrs. Biery brought it to us right when it arrived to school! Inside, there were bells that were still cold just like the North Pole! The best part was that everyone single one of us could hear the bells-meaning we believe!!!!
I know I enjoyed the day and LOVED seeing my students faces and their excitement! Once again, I am in awe watching my students learn and enjoy life! What truly wonderful days. I love my job!!! Your children are perfect and so much fun! I hope you enjoy a few of the pictures of our day(s)!

Special Guests!!!

Last week, we were given a very special treat! A few of my former students, now First Graders, came and read to us a play!! It was a silly play about Santa in a parade with just his underwear on and they did an amazing job!!! We laughed like crazy through the whole thing!! I was so proud of how well they are reading and the Kindergartners were mesmerized by the "big" kids and what they were going to be doing when they move on. (Sniff, sniff!)
Thanks BIG First Graders/Mrs. Brookes! Thank you for thinking of us and coming in to read to us! You made our day! You are nothing short of amazing!!! We can't wait to be just like you!!!

Pajama Day in Kindergarten!

Just a reminder that tomorrow and Thursday is pajama day in Kindergarten! It is sooo cold, so you will need to make sure that your child has nice warm ones on. They can bring slippers to change into when we are at school.

Our morning will stay the same but we will get on the Polar Express (It is okay. It is just a pretend train but still LOTS of fun!!) to leave for the North Pole around 12:00!!! Yipee!! Oh what fun.......

Oh yea, no worries! We will be back to school around 2:35 so you can pick us up!!!!

OuR cHrIsTmAs WiShEs!!!

Christmas in Kindergarten is the best time of year! It is an amazing time of excitement and full of wonder and wishes! We hope you will enjoy reading our Christmas wishes for this year!!!

Hopefully you have heard by now that we had our annual Kindergarten Feast last week before the break! Well, not "just" a feast. A feast with little Pilgrims and Native Americans and LOTS of food! What could be better in a 5 year old's life than to end a unit on the First Thanksgiving with friends,food and fun centerst!!
Thanks to all the wonderful parent support and all of the items that were donated to make our feast a success! We spent the first part of the day practicing our letters, the sounds each letter makes and reading together. Then we kicked off the celebration by combining our classes for the big Feast. We played the part of the Pilgrims this year and I must say that we were the best Pilgrims ever!
After our bellies were full with WAY to much food, we spent the afternoon doing "special" centers like making a sweet little turkey made out of our own little hands, (Enjoy them! They will only stay that small for a little while!) we made bracelets with beads to help us remember the first Thanksgiving story, (Just ask us, we would be more than glad to share!) we played some addition turkey bingo,(Shhh, we know it is First grade math but noone knows! Oh and Yes, Mrs. Ryan is so proud of us!) and we even made a turkey out of an apple to take home for a centerpiece. We were busy!!! A great way to end the week and get ready for our own family feasts at home!

I hope you enjoyed your time with your child over the Thanksgiving Break! I sure enjoy my time with your child!! Once again, I am thankful for all of you! You and your child make my job look easy and are such a special part of my life! Thank you!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

a PeEk At LaSt WeEk...

 

In case you were wondering what we were working on last week, here is a little "peek" from some of our activities. We worked hard on the letter Hh and the alphafriend Hattie Horse. To finish the week, Mrs. Ryan always puts something in the sound box to have us guess what might be in it. (We are also learning to ask questions and what the difference is between a question and a story! But we just like it because if we guess what is in the box, we get to keep it!) Of course it started with the /h/ sound! It was a bunch of Horns for us to blow while we sang our new song! (Parents, I do hope you know that I apologized and smiled as I sent them home for you to listen to! No need to say thanks!! :-))
We also talked about Veterans Day and made flag windsocks to fly and show how much we appreciate the men and women that protect and work for our country! It is an honor to be an American and we wanted to take some time out to think about all of our Moms, Dads, Aunts, Uncles and others that help us! So if you are one of them, please accept our very best, "Thank you"!!!
However, the best part of last week was that we started to read! Really read! We know know our very first vowel and we are blending sounds with it to make words! Please help us practice at home! Practice makes us better and we are VERY excited about our new skill! We should know the letters a,b,h,m,n,r,s and t! This means that we can actually read words like hat, cat, man, ham, and tab! Aren't we amazing? We think so!!!
(A MUST share from your teacher: During our workshop time, the kids work on their Must Do's, Next Do's and then may go to choices. Choices are usually "housekeeping", play table, puzzles, etc. My highlight thus far was when four students got together and decided to play "teacher" and did blending, letter sounds and letter identification together at the carpet in a pretend "meeting". What a wonderful moment for me as a teacher! I am so very blessed! They will never know how much that inspired me as I watched them practice! So, "C", "R", "R" and "K", thanks for making my day!! I have these moments every day and sometimes I just want to share! Your kids are amazing!

A Note of Thanks from your Teacher!

I would just like to take minute and tell you how very thankful I am to have met with so many of you during parent/teacher conferences! I am so lucky to have such caring and supportive parents! I enjoyed sharing all the wonderful things your children have learned and I am honored that you allow me to work with someone that is so precious to you! It is because of you that my job looks and is easy! I value you and appreciate your support and all the extra hard work you do to make Kindergarten a success! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I love my days with your kids! I have the best profession in the world and am so blessed! Please know that you are the best and that even in the midst of some hard changes, we are excelling because of you!
Take some time to celebrate with your child! They have all come so far and in so many different ways! See you on Monday when we will be ready to get back to work!
(An added bonus for all of you football fans that are trying to convert us...I added the Boise State football schedule in upcoming events, just for you! You know who you are! Cornhuskers...Buckeyes..Vandals...geez!!! GO BIG BLUE!!!!!)

A sPoOkY question....

Have you ever wondered what a Kindergartner would say if you asked them what their pumpkin looked like? It is always an adventure to watch them aimlessly wander through the pumpkin patch searching for the perfect pumpkin! For some it is a quick pick..the first one they find. Then there are some that will search and search and search, always claiming that each one is "just not it". Sometimes there can be quite a lot of thought put into finding just the perfect pumpkin that it makes you wonder, what do they really see? Does the pumpkin actually resemble something that makes them decide that is the one to step on the vine, twist and then pull? (These are strict Farmer Feist instructions for picking a pumpkin!) So, I thought I would ask and here are your children's answers to the question...
What or who does your pumpkin look like?

KiNdErGaRtEn EsCaPeS...to the pumpkin patch!!

We did it!!! Even in the midst of horrible winds and an ice bitting chill in the air, we went to the pumpkin patch! Our day started with hard work during our reading block, enjoying some pizza together as a class while we waited for the bus and our parent teachers (Thanks office for providing us with lunch! It was YUMMY!) and then away we went to the pumpkin patch! We enjoyed ever minute of our special day! A HUGE thanks goes to the helpers that came with us or met us while we were there! You made our day so very special and we appreciate each and everyone of you! We hope you enjoy some special pictures of our day!

There was a Noodle name Nyle...

Who liked to nap for a while.
He wears a scarf around his neck
He's neat and right in style!
Hopefully your child has been coming home and singing, or at least telling you about our alphafriends. They even have the same beginning sound as the letter they help us to remember. It is always a lot of fun on Monday/Tuesday when I get to introduce our new alphafriend/letter for the week.
This week we are learning about Nyle Noodle and/or the letter Nn. However, believe it or not, we have already met 6 alphafriends and spent at least a week on the letter each of them represent.
Just in case you were wondering....here are the remaining 5.
s=Sammy Seal
m=Mimi Mouse
r=Reggie Rooster
t=Tiggy Tiger
b=Benny Bear
Your child should be able to recognize each of these letters (upper and lowercase), say the sound the letter makes, and write them as well! So practice, practice, practice. Have your child teach you the songs and sing along with them! I am sure you will enjoy them as much as we do or even more! (Be careful! They are catchy and you will find yourself singing them at work, doing dishes or just driving in the car! :)) Isn't Kindergarten the best!?!?!?!??!

SoMe MoRe RoCkS fRoM mOnDaY-wEdNeSdAy GrOuP.......

a LiTtLe RoCk FuN!!!!!

What a week in Kindergarten! We have been learning about the letter R, the sound the letter makes and meeting our 3rd Alphafriend, Reggie Rooster!!!! Hopefully you have been hearing Reggie's song at home and had fun finding things that begin with the /r/ sound! We know we have!!! We ended the week with guessing what could Mrs. Ryan possibly put in the R box for us to guess this time? Guess what?!?!?!? She put Rocks in there! Not just any rocks but rocks that we got to paint and make into a pet! Oh what fun!!!!! Take a look at our Rocks and the names we gave them!!!

Have you seen our Gingerbread Man?

We started the first day of school with a book about a gingerbread cookie, The Gingerbread Baby. Have you read it? It is a story about a little boy that bakes a gingerbread baby but doesn't follow the instructions and opens the oven before the suggested time. The gingerbread baby runs away and has many people and animals trying to catch him to eat him. However, in the end, the little boy is smart and bakes a gingerbread house. The big surprise however, is at the end when you lift the house and finding the gingerbread baby happy and caught!
The book made us all very hungry but Mrs. Ryan was a thinker and made us a HUGE gingerbread man cookie for us all to share for snack. We went to recess and came into our classroom with our mouths watering, only to find our gingerbread man missing! Can you imagine?
This started our tour of the school and how to walk in line. We looked in the office and meet Mrs. Cox and Mrs. Martinez (secretaries). We went to they gym and asked Mr. Andrus (PE teacher). We stopped by the lunchroom and they hadn't seen him. We went and asked Ms. Burr (Music teacher) and she never saw him either! We walked everywhere through the school (Learning "Hips and Lips" to keep us quiet in the hall!) and even asked the people we met along the way. Still, no gingerbread man!
Luckily, at the end of the day...Mr. Silzly (Principal) brought back our gingerbread man! He had been running on the blacktop outside at recess (This is a No, no!) and feel down and got hurt so someone took him to the office!
Thank goodness we learned rules and places we will go along the way so that will not happen to us! However, better than that, we finally got to have our snack!

Sorry T-Th group, somehow some of our pictures were deleted! I promised to make it up to you! Parents, we did have a lot of fun even if some of the pictures didn't make it here!

Introducing our new Kindergarteners!

Sneak Peek was an success! I enjoyed meeting you and your child! Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming! Every year I am amazed at how I have been blessed by so many wonderful parents and students! So I would like to introduce to you, Reed Elementary's new groups of Kinder. Kids!! It is going to be a great year! I can't wait!

HELLO, and WELCOME to our Classroom!!!

School is about to begin, and I am so very excited about our new year coming up! I can't wait to meet you and your child! It is going to be a fun new adventure being at school all day/every other day!
I have lots of fun and exciting activities planned for the months ahead. As we begin the school year, I look forward to getting to know you and your child much better. I hope that you will come and visit with us from time to time. If your schedule permits,I would love to have you volunteer in the classroom on a regular basis. If not,I hope you can join us for field trips or for a visit when you have a day off. You are always welcome in our classroom!
Again, I am looking forward to a great year and many successes with your child!

sPlAsH dAy 2009!!!

Splash Day was a HUGE success!!! Thank you to the parents that donated items and came into help! What a fun way to end the year and celebrate all we have accomplished! I was completely surprised by a beautiful quilt that my morning class had created for me! WOW! I was speechless (Hard to imagine, isn't it?) Thank you so very much! It was an amazing gift and I am still in awe of it! We have found a quilt rack and it is now proudily displayed in our Boise State Room at home! I had the perfect spot for it! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It was above what was necessary and I feel completely spoiled! I am going to miss each and everyone of you this summer and it will be especially hard when you come to school and keep walking down the hall, instead of coming to Room 2!! Enjoy pictures of our fun day!

TOMORROW IS OUR BIG SPLASH DAY!!!

Parents,
Please remember that tomorrow is our big water day! If you have signed up to help, please come to school with your child to help out at a station! We are so very excited!!!
Every Kindergartner will need to have sunblock on! They will need shoes and clothes that can get wet! (You may send an extra pair of clothes in if you would like too!)
See you tomorrow! Let the fun begin!!!!

A Special Note To Parents/Parent Teachers and Ms. Stassie from Mrs. Ryan.

It is hard to believe that we are coming to the end of Kindergarten! It has been truly a wonderful year, filled with learning, laughter and amazing growth! I cannot say enough how much I appreciate you sharing your children with me! They have developed and grown so much over the past year and I am so very proud of every one of them! It has been an honor to work with them each and every day and be a small part of their school career!
In no way do the two little words, "Thank you" begin to express how much I have appreciated each and everyone of you, my parents. Even if you did not have the opportunity to work in our classroom, I appreciate all of the time, love and understanding that you give to help your child be the best they can be! You have made my job easier and because of you, this year has been a HUGE success!
I need to take a moment to also thank those of you that gave up your time and worked with us in our classroom! I have always been so blessed to have such willing parents and grandparents spend countless hours in the copy room, organizing centers and/or me, stuffing folders, and/or working with us in the classroom! You did not let me down this year! Your help and availability completely amaze me! (If I didn't get your picture in the slideshow, please fogive me! I truly didn't mean to leave you out! This blog is a work in progress and I have big plans for next year!My hope is that you will know who you are and know how much I greatly appreciate you!!) I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all you have done to make my job easier! In fact, you leave me the fun part,simply just teaching your children! I do hope you know how much I appreciate each and everyone of you and now call you my friends!
That leaves us to our student helper from the High School this year. I was a little nervous about volunteering to have a helper but Ms. Stassie, you have been nothing less than amazing! You are so extremely talented and the best helper a teacher could ask for! Your smile and eagerness to work and enjoy Kindergarten is contagious and I enjoyed you more than you will ever know! You were a role model, an encourager, a helper, an igloo builder (teehee!) a photographer, a tester, and a perfect copy queen! We wish you the best in everything you do and hope you will always remember the special place you will have in our hearts. The only regret I have, is that my AM class did not get to experience, Ms. Stassie!! It was a pleasure to work and share my profession with you!
I appreciate each and everyone of you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Please remember to stop in and give your ol' Kindergarten Teacher a hug as you walk down the hall to your new classrooms! I am always available to you because you will always be the parents of children I have had the privilege to have worked with and love!