My Final Blog on this Site:)

Hello families! A letter will be coming home today informing you of a
new site that I will be using. Starting next week, we will be using
www.hoppykindergarten.shutterfly.com for pictures, videos, calendar,
and blog posts. I enjoy using my current blog site, however it is
restricted at school so I am unable to make changes during the school
day. This new site will allow me to do so. It is also secure, meaning
you will need a password to access it (and those without a password will
not). I feel this privacy is a plus when posting pictures and videos.
The password will be sent home with your child today, so feel free to
check out the new site over the weekend. The letter will explain things
more in detail. I will leave this blog open for now, however all new
posts will be on the new site.

Today, we are reading for the camera (if the children choose to do so),
attending library and gym, completing centers, meeting with reader pals,
and completing our math unit. Next week, we will be meeting in math
groups, so your child may be with a different teacher during math.
Thanks to all who follow the blog posts and I hope you will find the
posts on the new site easy to access. Have a great weekend!

Yeah, we are working hard!

The kids came in this morning ready to work. We were all able to finish
our morning work on time. We then discussed letter 'A' and the fact that
it is a vowel. We practiced sounding out words with the long and short
'A' sound. This afternoon, we will be reading "The Hat" and making some
fun winter hat art. Have a great day:)

Testing, Testing, Testing

We will continue with second quarter testing today. Again, I saw some
great work yesterday when testing the kids. ALL are making great gains.
We practiced sounding out words this morning and will talk more about
Martin Luther King this afternoon. It is Successmaker day in computer
lab (our math game) and we will also have a lockdown practice later
today. I am not sure if I explained what a lockdown practice is to all
families, so if you have any questions, just let me know. I can tell you
that I keep the practice as "light" as possible so it is not a scary
thing. The kids sort of think of it as playing hide and seek from the
principal. Have a great day:)

Happy Monday...Wait, it's Tuesday!

Workshop days always skew my calendar...but it was a great workshop day
and I picked up a few ideas for the classroom. Well worth it! Today, we
will be testing for the end of second quarter. We will also practice
sounding out words and discuss Martin Luther King Jr. I ordered my iPad
this weekend and I am VERY excited to use it in the classroom. I have
found numerous books and apps that will help the children with both
reading and math. I am ordering a VGA cable that should all my iPad
screen to be projected on the Smartboard as well. This will open up a
lot of resources for our class and I look forward to sharing some fun
stories about this with you. I have posted your child's reading video on
page two of this blog, so feel free to have a look. Have a great day!

Friday, Friday, Friday...

The kids began recording their readings today. We had a lot of fun and
the kids were all psyched to get in front of the camera. I will be
posting these recordings to page two of my blog this weekend. A note
will be going home, and if a parent prefers, they can opt to have their
child's postings not put on the site. It is not a requirement. I do
encourage it, however, because the kids enjoy seeing themselves read. It
will be a lot of fun to compare the January and the June readings! We
will be concluding our Arctic unit today and will also have the chance
to visit with our reader pals. Our Skype session is back on for next
week and we look forward to meeting with Parkwood Elementary in
Jacksonville, North Carolina. Have a great weekend!

Let it snow!

The kids came in this morning and they all finished their warm-up work
on time...Yeah! We then watched the arctic videos on the National
Geographic website. The kids really enjoyed the Polar Bear and Penguin
videos. Feel free to check them out
at:http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature
We will be making some penguin art today as well as discussing the
important role the daddy penguin plays in the life of a chick. We will
continue practicing numbers to 100 in math. I have started testing the
children for the end of the second quarter, and they are doing a great
job! I can't wait to send those report cards home so you can see all the
wonderful progress. Have a great day:)

I am back and ready to go!

The substitute teacher left a note and mentioned that the children did a
very good job. That is always nice to hear! Today, we did a test Skype
call with Moose Lake, however there were some complications so we will
continue to see what the issue is. As soon as we are ready to go, I will
let everyone know. Jacksonville, North Carolina is back in school, so
maybe we will be able to have our Skype session next week. Today, we are
sounding out words, journaling, practicing our numbers to 100, visiting
the computer lab, and starting a unit on the Arctic. Have a good day:)

Kids are working hard...I am sure!

I am home sick today, but I am sure the kids are working hard! We had to cancel our Skype session with Jacksonville, NC today because they had to cancel school due to the weather. We will be rescheduling for later in the week. The kids were going to be working on sounding out words, journaling, and reading the story "The Mitten". I look forward to being back tomorrow so they can fill me in on their day. Have a great day:)

Artist in Residence, Mr. Houseman

The children made cave drawings today. They look great!

Some fun drawing today!

The kids were able to work with Mr. Houseman today. He shared a book he
had written and illustrated. This afternoon we will have the opportunity
to draw with him and we really look forward to leaning some tricks that
will help us become better drawers. We will also be reading the story
"The Mitten" and creating a fun art project to go with the story. I will
be sending home a letter today that has more information about Mr.
Houseman as well as some fun activities that are coming up later this
week. Have a great day!

Happy Friday:)

The kids worked hard on letter Y and Z this morning before reading our
new take-home book. We practiced the words you, what, and can. After
attending computer lab, we began working on a snowman puzzle, which will
be sent home. This afternoon, we will be making windsocks with our
reader pals and concluding our Winter unit. I put a bunch of new
pictures on the website, so feel free to check them out. Have a great
weekend!

Good Morning:)

We discussed our five senses this morning before heading to gym and
music. We will continue this discussion and you will see a packet about
the five senses come home today. This afternoon, we will be completing
our study of five and ten frames and create a snowman classbook. Have a
great day!

Good morning!

We worked on sounding out words this morning and the kids are all doing
a great job. We will be utilizing this skill during our journaling so
you may see some words coming home that don't look quite right. Please
remember that the kids will fix these misspellings as they learn more
"tricks" and it is okay to misspell at this age. After gym and music, we
will be attending computer lab and completing centers. This afternoon,
we will be talking about ten frames and working on a snowman poem. Have
a great day!

Brrrrr!!!!

The kids came in this morning with a very important question; will we go
outside for recess today? As of now, it is too cold, but you will have
to ask your kiddo when they arrive at home if they went out:) Today, we
practiced sounding out words (namely the ending sound) and completed
centers. This afternoon, we will be making some snowmen with the kids'
names on them. We will also practice more five and ten frame math. Have
a good day:)

Five Frame Picture

Back to school...Rock on!

I am so impressed with these children! They came in today smiling and
ready to go. We have already talked about sounds this morning and their
writing looked great. After gym and music, we will be working more on
sounding out words (namely beginning sounds) and then completing some
new Winter centers. This afternoon, we will be talking about five frames
(see attached picture) in order to help us identify numbers without
counting. Our snowman art will be completed this afternoon and hung in
our classroom. I hope everyone had a wonderful break:)