The week of Jan. 29-Feb. 2.

Happy 157th Birthday Kansas!!!  January 29, 1861

What a fun day doing Kansas Day activities! Check out our sunflower hats we made today!  After we made our hats we sang a Kansas poem that we each had parts to!  We also played a Kansas symbol Bingo game, read Kansas books, and put our Kansas symbols in ABC order.  It was a fun day!

Sunflowers!

100th Day of school in Kindergarten!  Our official 100th day of school is Thursday, Feb. 1!  Have you helped your child think of their 100's Day food collection and their 100's Day collection yet!  You have 2 days left!  If your child's collection is ready, you are welcome to send them to school in a zip lock baggie with their name on both.  Please make sure the food item is an item that is not wrapped.  We are looking forward to another fun day of activities!  The fun just never ends in Kindergarten!

Parent/Teacher Conferences!  I will be sending out your confirmation date and time for your conference on Friday.  Please know that unlike 1st-5th, KDG does not have student led conferences.  We prefer your child to sit in the hall with something to do if they need to come with you.  Also, look for information coming home today about the art show that will be in the gym.  You are welcome to attend when you are here or come back with your child to check it out.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Our reading group time may not happen this week due to me needing to use that time for testing before conferences.  I may get a group or two in by the end of the week, but don't be surprised if you don't see a little reader this week!  I hope you are enjoying time with your child listening to them read the books that come home!  I can tell they are so proud of themselves and want to read the book!

I am testing over our 3rd quarter sight words, so please review those with your child at home!

Reading this week!  We will continue reading the fairy tales, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "The Three Little Pigs".  We will look for similarities and differences.

Letter of the week:  Dd
sight words:  are, her  (we are learning about the r-controlled vowels more with the "ar" and "er")

Groundhog's day is Friday, Feb. 2.  We will read about what it is, watch the video of Punxutawney Phil, the groundhog, in Punxutawney, Pennsylvania see if there's 6 more weeks of winter by seeing his shadow, and make our own groundhog to find his shadow outside.

In writing, we will learn about the author, Mo Williams, who has written the Pigeon books.  We will read, "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy", then we will create our own character for our a book we may write some day.  It's so interesting to learn how authors became authors!  

Math this week!
Topic 7 We will continue to learn more about addition using manipulatives and using strategies to solve them without manipulatives.  Last week we learned how doubles can help us add.  We are also learning how to count on beginning with the bigger number.  Each child will get addition facts to 5, and we will write answers for the facts on the back.  The kids will be able to get them out during their free time and practice them with a friend.

Coming up!
Feb. 1       100's Day--Has your child begun thinking about what to bring?
Feb. 9       Dental screening if you opt in for your child
Feb. 13     Valentine's Day Party   2:30-3:15  (party sacks made here)
Feb. 14/15  P/T conferences
Feb. 16/19      No School

The week of Jan. 22-26.

We are finally having our first 5 day week since before Christmas break!  I'm sure we will all be very tired by the end of the week! Please make sure your child is getting plenty of rest each night and eating fruits and veges!  As you all know, all illnesses are traveling.  Kids are sick with Influenza and strep in our building!  I am really talking to the kids about saying the ABC's or counting 1-20 when they wash their hands to make sure they are getting them clean!

Please make sure to also email Lindsay Bolan in the office to let her know your child will be sick and what illness they have.  They will document it to see if there's a trend in our building.

100's day on Feb. 1!  I talked to the kids today about bringing 2 baggies with 100 collections.  One with food in it and one with something else.  Please make sure the food isn't individually wrapped, as we will eat it in class.  They shouldn't be eating it as they count, so it can be germ free!  Also, please make sure your child is the counter of both collections.  You can double check, but they need to count.  They can practice counting by groups of 5, 10, 2 and by 1's.  I will be asking them how they counted, so please make sure they are the ones doing the work.  It's a great way for you to see if they can count by 1's and 10's to 100 which is what they are tested on in class!

Reading this week!
This week we are doing an author study over the author, Barbara Parkes, that writes our books in our reading series.  Today we read her Three Little Pigs that she retold.  We will be looking for words that she uses to grab the attention of the reader, along with comparing the stories using the 5 finger retell.  We will also be reading The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Sight word:  that
Letter of the week:  Soft Gg and Hard Gg
We are also going to be reading a different version of The Gingerbread Man each day and do a comparison and contrast with The Gingerbread Man and The Gingerbread Girl.  We will do some fun Gingerbread Man activities on Friday!

Math this week!
Topic 7  Understanding Addition
We will be adding the plus and equals signs soon to our math sentences.  This week each child will get their own addition flashcards up to 5.  We will write the answers on the back, practice here a few days, then they will go home for you to practice with your child.  I always make it our goal to try to memorize the addition facts to 5 and subtraction facts to 5 by the end of the year!  It will really give your child a boost going in to first grade!  Keep in mind that memorizing the facts to 5 is not a Kindergarten required skill.  Understanding the concepts of addition and subtraction is.  So, I will not be counting it wrong if they do not know them with out using manipulatives.  But, they sure feel good about themselves when they know them!  

Social Studies!  We continue to learn more about Kansas symbols!  This week we will learn about the Kansas state seal, flag, and how Kansas got it's name. Can I tell you how?  We learned it today!  How many stars are on the seal to signify when we became a state in the union.
Monday is Kansas' Birthday and we will be doing many Kansas activities that  day!

Coming up!
Jan. 29     Kansas day (We will have fun celebrating!)
Feb. 1       100's Day--Has your child begun thinking about what to bring?
Feb. 9       Dental screening if you opt in for your child
Feb. 13     Valentine's Day Party   2:30-3:15  (party sacks made here)
Feb. 14/15  P/T conferences

Feb. 16/19      No School

The week of Jan. 17-19.

Welcome Back!  I feel like we have a lot of catching up to do, but then I remembered how lucky I am to have a Kindergarten class that is doing so well!

The kids totally enjoyed listening to our parent volunteers read books to them during our Book Bash on Friday!  It's always nice to hear books read from different people in a different way!  Thank you parents!  Also, thank you to Lucas for bringing gummy worms for our "book worms" to enjoy!

Kansas Day is Jan. 29!  We will have fun doing several Kansas activities!  Today we read a Sunflower Life Cycle book and wrote details about it.  Then, we colored a sunflower quilt piece and picked a detail we learned about and wrote it at the bottom.  Later we will make another quilt square with yellow and blue squares to finish a big class quilt to hang in the hall!  Look for it if you come to our Valentine's Day Party!  Please send back the half sheet on where your child was born by tomorrow if you haven't!  Also, make sure their name is on it!

Our Valentine's Day Party will be on Tuesday, Feb. 13, from 2:30-3:15.  We will decorate Valentine sacks here at school, so you do not have to make a box at home this year!  I'm going to let your child choose if they would prefer to only write their name on the cards to make it easy to drop in the sacks, or they can take the time to write the names of everyone in the class, and find the students' names to put in their sacks.  Writing the names on the cards needs to be done at home before coming to school.  They also need to be able to read their classmate's name on the card before coming to school that day.  They need 20 cards since they don't need to count themselves.  I will attach a class list for your child to copy the names if they choose.  If you have any questions, please ask.  I'm not sure if I explained that clearly.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are Wed. Feb. 14 after school, and Thurs. Feb. 15.  I will keep you at the same time as the fall conferences unless you need to change.  I have one person who needs to sign up and then I'll send it out.


This week in reading!
sight word:  from
letter of the week:  short e and long e

We are reading a story with a message at the end.  The kids did well figuring out the message today!  Always remember to ask the 5 finger retell--1. characters  2.  setting  3.  details from the beginning of the story  4.   details from the middle of the story   5. details from the end of the story
We are also talking about making words plural by adding and "s".

If your child doesn't bring home a small reading group book this week, it's because we did not have enough time to fit it in with our short week and music programs at that time.  

This week in math!
We finished up Number to 100 today with our test!  The class did well on it!  If it was marked wrong, we talked about it, and they corrected it.  

Our next Topic in math is Understanding Addition.  Hopefully next week, you will be seeing flashcards come home on Adding up to 5.  We don't expect memorization at this point, but understanding the concept of addition and being able to use manipulatives to solve the problem.

It would be great if your child did go in to 1st grade knowing their addition and subtraction facts to and from 5!  

We will be writing to 100 soon to understand the pattern of a 100's chart.  Most got to count to 100 today and did great!

Coming up!
Jan. 29     Kansas day (We will have fun celebrating!)
Feb. 1       100's Day--Info. coming in Friday's folder!
Feb. 9       Dental screening if you opt in for your child
Feb. 13     Valentine's Day Party   2:30-3:15  (party sacks made here)
Feb. 14/15  P/T conferences
Feb. 16/19      No School

Book Bash!

The week of January 8-12!

We made it to 2018!  Wow!
I hope you had a fabulous holiday break!  See the Holiday party pictures at the bottom.

We are getting back in the swing of Kindergarten!  The kids have just done well picking up where we left off.

Tomorrow CCE gets to experience "Body Venture" during their specials!  It's a like a tunnel that shows the parts of the body throughout.  Adults will be explaining each body part as the kids venture through.  It's really cool!  Please make sure the kids wear socks, as no shoes or bare feet are allowed inside the Body Venture.

Please see the Book Bash info. letter in your child's folder today!  Please let them bring either a blanket, pillow, or stuffed animal that fits in their backpack.  They can also bring one book from home to read that's a favorite!

Reading this week!
Technology at home at School is our book that began today!  It is fun talking with the kids about the technology we have today compared to the "olden" days where there was no electricity.  We will also read a fiction book about "No Technology today".  The kids in the story have to go one whole day without technology.  They have to be creative and come up with what to do.  

I'm sure younger kids can come up with things to do better than older kids who are so accustomed to their devices by their side all the time.  

3rd Quarter sight words!
We have 16 sight words this quarter.  Please make sure your child is learning them!

Writing this week!
We continue to write everyday in our Shared Reading books.  Today the topic was about picking a gift they received for Christmas and writing a "Thank you" sentence to the person they got it from.  We talked about writing a Thank you with our own writing and how it is much more meaningful than typing a Thank you in an email.  

Social Studies this month!
We will be studying the Kansas symbols throughout the month.  Did you know there are eight symbols including the Kansas seal and the Jayhawk?  We will be learning that each of us born in Kansas are called Jayhawkers, even if we went to Kansas State University!  
Today we learned what our state flower is.  Ask your child to tell you!

I will be sending home a sheet for you to help your child fill out telling us what state they were born in and what the symbol for that state is; such as Jayhawker.  

We will also learn about a few famous people from Kansas and other information about Kansas.

Math this week!
Today we counted to 100 with a beach ball!  Then, we did the assignment filling in numbers on a hundreds chart.  We will be counting by ourselves to 50 on Thursday.  Please have your child practice counting to 50 before then.  They can keep going to 100 if they want!  Soon, we will be writing to 100 also!  

We will look for patterns on a 100 chart to help us write to 100.  

Coming Up!
Jan. 9       Body Venture (wear socks)
Jan. 12     Book Bash 
Jan. 15     MLK day--no school
Jan. 29     Kansas day (We will have fun celebrating!)
Jan. 30     100's Day as long as there's no snow days! (Info. will come home soon!)

Holiday Party!

Unwrap candy with gloves relay!

 Pin the nose on the snowman!

 Craft fun!

 Opening our present from Mrs. Scott