Back to School 2016

Yes, it's back to school time!  Parents, we have been working hard on getting into a routine so this post is just a highlight of some of the things we have done the last 8 days!

• We have learned routines
• We have learned procedures
• We have learned how to work with others
• We have learned expectations (Be Safe, Be Kind, Listen, Do Your Best)
• We have listened to books
• We have colored and played with play-dough
• We have worked on our writing strokes (you may think this is not needed but trust me- this will totally help when we start writing our letters)
• We have played hard inside and out
• We have been to P.E., Art, Music, and DANCE!
• We have counted and used manipulatives
• We have started to learn about main idea and details
• We have rested our bodies when needed

I don't have pictures to show (well, actually that's not true- I do have pictures to show but I need those forms back for the photo release.  I have a lot of forms out and I try not to post any until I have most of them back) but I will show you a picture of our front door display AND a fun little graphic that talks about kindergarten!  Be on the lookout for important info on Monday or Tuesday.

News and Notes

No pictures today- those will come next week!  I meant to have this post up last week and time slipped away from us!

**Wednesday, April 27 is our field trip to WonderLab- if you are planning on coming with us please let me know so I can check on your background check.

**Wednesday, May 4 we will have a field trip to Elephant and Piggie play AND this could be a rain date for the WL trip.

**There will be no school on Monday, May 2 and Tuesday, May 3!

**The last day of school is Tuesday, May 24!

**Kindergarten graduation is Monday, May 23 at 2:00 p.m.

**Be looking this week for a list of sight words your child knows and those they still need to learn!

** You will be receiving a packet closer to the end of school of ways to enrich and practice with your child over the summer break!

**Please check your child's folder on a daily basis!

"March"ing into April

This has been a crazy month- we've had some wild weather, spring break, convocations, Dr. Seuss week and more.  Here's a snapshot:

 March was Women's History Month- we learned about Amelia Earhart!

 Mr. Jon came and read The Magic Fish!  We loved this story!

 We had indoor recess where we used GoNoodle- always a fun time!

 Building a "bounce house" out of magnets in honor of the school carnival.

We had a visitor from IU come read to us during Dr. Seuss week!

 Some green eggs and ham to celebrate Dr. Seuss week!

 We had some third grade buddies who came and read to use during Dr. Seuss week as well!

April promises to keep us hopping as well!  Coming up we have a field trip (or more than one), Spring Carnival (Friday, April 1), Mr. Jon will be back to read, we are continuing to review ALL of our skills learned throughout the year, and we will end the year with a letter a day!  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at tgrandi@mccsc.edu

Buffalo Soldiers and the Wild West

February is known as the month of Love- and we covered that with celebrating Valentine's Day.  We had a good time expressing our creative side by putting together our Valentine bags- you can see a few pictures below of the students working hard- they were all unique and showed their personalities!

February also brought us snow day #2, cold weather, crazy winds (today) and some new outside "toys" to use.  Mrs. Pennell also got a Donor's Choose project filled with some outside toys- we have hula hoops, jump ropes, bean bags, musical instruments, balls, and a sand table (which our class will use in the future).

We are also studying Black History Month-our focus- school-wide is the role of African Americans in the Wild West.  We looked at Buffalo Soldiers and all that they did to help protect the expansion out west.  We made a chart to tell some things they did, wrote and illustrated one and designed our own stamp.  As soon as it is all hung up I will post a picture here and on the FB page.

We have been learning subtraction as well- we have used manipulatives to subtract and are really growing in our skill.  Quick tip- give your child between 1-10 items of food- ask them to eat a number and tell how many are left. (example- 6 goldfish- have them eat 4= how many are left)

We are also learning how to write using first, next, and last as well as learning about sequence of events and using text features in Reading and Writing.

Just a reminder we have P.E. on Thursday and Friday- PLEASE send your child in tennis shoes!

Our next break is Spring Break- it is March 14th-18th.

I will be making a few phone calls in the upcoming week- I want to update you on your child's progress and all that they are learning as well as some areas for improvement!

Where did January go?

Seriously- this month flew by!  With finishing up Winter Break, two hour delays, a snow day, and lots of indoor recess the month was over before I knew it!  So- a quick recap of where we have been and what we have been doing along with some exciting news!

Before break we built our Gingerbread houses- this was a lot of fun (and quite an experience).

We enjoyed our Winter break and then came back to school and settled right into the swing of things.  We also were able to enjoy some snow, some two hour delays and a snow day in there!  

We talked about Martin Luther King and our dreams.  We even got to paint a world where we added a heart with our dreams.  Next time you come into the school be sure to check them out!  

We have been working a lot on our writing and adding details to our sentences.  One day we wrote about what we were wearing- that helped us understand adding details!  Check out a couple of them below.  

We are also moving beyond just letter names and sounds- we are also incorporating CVC words- how to read them and write them, identifying beginning, middle, and ending sound, and counting the sounds in the word.  We continue to work on rhyming and syllables.

In math we just finished talking about how to make ten.  We will continue to review this as we move into adding and then subtracting!  

Finally- our big news.... Back in December I put in for a project on the website Donor's Choose.  On December 31, 2015, I got word that our project was funded.  We were given gears, some more magnatiles, puppets, ink and stamps (letters), playdough/clay letter tools to build words, and following directions cards.  The goal is to use these to tie into literacy and math. We are using these during stations and our community time/Wildcat time at the end of the day.  You will see pictures of these as time goes on but we are in the exploration process right now!  We are having a great time!

One last thing- please make sure the school has current contact information!  This is super important in these months where sickness is around more and winter weather is upon us!

Bird feeders, plants and Gingerbread

Here's a quick glimpse into the last few weeks:

• We made bird feeders with IU Biology Outreach
• We participated in a Native American Heritage Month program
• We enjoyed Thanksgiving break
• We started reading all kinds of Gingerbread stories
• We had a our last visit from IU Biology Outreach (sad) 
• We have been writing all about the gingerbread man.

Here's a few pictures to show you...

sorting cereal into groups that are the same and then we wrote about it

looking at our radish plants we made and learning how to label the parts of a plant.

Making bird feeders

What does the next week bring us?  BUSY!!!  

We have:

• a holiday performance by the 1-4 grade violinists
• holiday shopping (you should have received a note with our days)
• Breakfast with Santa on Saturday
• lots of holiday activities including more with the gingerbread
• a holiday "celebration" (more to come on this on Monday)
• making gingerbread houses (but shhhh.... that's a surprise)

SO- lots going on!  Don't forget to check out the FB page Bloomin' at the View

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been busy little bees these last couple of weeks.  We had IU Biology outreach come again and plant with us.  We had Mr. Jon come read to us again (this time we learned about the The Tortoise and the Hare).  We finished up learning all of our letters and sounds.  We learned about 2-D and 3-D shapes and the list goes on and on!

Here's a snapshot (literally) of all we have done:

Learning about soil and mixing up our own kind of soil with IU Biology

Planting radish seeds

Mr. Jon reading us about the tortoise and the hare- the top picture is putting our animals from fastest to slowest

Free choice time- we have been working on building with blocks- the best part?  They are talking about shapes, building vocabulary, social skills and learning how to work together.  They also were retelling stories as they used stick puppets to help tell the story of Goldilocks.

We were also blessed to receive some magnatiles- they have loved using these.  They have created cars, cubes (3-D shape learning in action) and here- she said I made a football!  They have been so proud of their creations and all that they are doing.  

This is the last week of school before Thanksgiving break and we will be BUSY!  We have been learning about Native American history and why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  We are going to be presenting a Native American History Month program on Thursday, November 19 at approximately 2:00.  We would love to have you join us!  We are also continuing to work on analyzing character- we will use The Little Red Hen at the end of the week to do more with that!  We are going to be comparing and contrasting 2-D and 3-D shapes and are going to be working on different forms of writing.   We also have IU Biology Outreach coming again this week to spend time with us!

As always if you have any questions please comment below or email me at tgrandi@mccsc.edu