Things In My Room!

 Oh My Goodness!  The Cat in the Hat had Thing 1 and Thing 2, but today I had Thing 1,2, 3, 4, 5...all the way to 17!  I've never seen so many things running about.

 Some were having better hair days than others.

 Things like to eat so we ate Dr. Seuss hats. 

 We made them with vanilla wafers, bananas, and red frosting.

 Things also like to wear their pajamas to school. 

I hope on Monday that I will have my students back and those Things will stay away.

Reading is So Much Fun!

 The class is so excited about reading!  All they want to do is read and take AR tests. 

We had a special visitor last week.  Clifford came to visit because we met our goal of books sold during the book fair.

 Isabella got her first tag today.  That makes 4 kids in the class who have earned tags.  Brodie, Gabe, and Madeline have also earned a tag.

When we aren't reading, we do some math.  Today we worked on putting the numbers in order in this pattern.  Speed and accuracy are important.  You can make some number cards at home and practice doing this.  I have the class race me to see who is faster. 

100th Day of School

 We celebrated 100 days of school last Friday.  It's quite a milestone for us because we have been counting up to it since the first day of school.  It's taken a long time to get here.  Some of the kids were a little disappointed to find out that they would not be going to first grade yet.  The 100th day is not the end of Kindergarten.

 We sang our "Count to 100" song for the last time. 

 We made fruit loop necklaces with 100 fruit loops and gummi savers. 

 The kids also brought collections of 100.  It was fun to see what everyone brought.

Reading Stations

 With the new semester, we started Reading Groups.  This is a little different from the stations of last semester.  Each station is longer and when the kids are in the group with me, we are reading!  I'm always so excited to see them take off with reading.  I couldn't do it by myself.  I know the kids are getting a lot of help from home and now your hard work is paying off.

I completed middle of the year testing last week and sent home a note telling you what level your child is reading on.  By the end of the year, I want everyone to be reading a 3 or 4.  If you have any questions about this, please let me know and we can set up a conference. 

 When I am working with a reading group, the other kids are at stations.  Some stations are work stations and others are just for fun.

 We've been working on color words.  Color words are not on the sight word list but I like to teach them anyway.

 Blocks are a station that is just for fun but what they don't know is that they are learning to cooperate and work together in that station.

The computer is a favorite station.  When they go to the computer, they are working on reading skills.

If the red folders have seemed a little strange lately, it is because I am trying to teach the kids how to code the behavior chart and put the papers to go home in it all by themselves.  It's not going very well right now.  I noticed today that some days are not being coded and I pick up loose papers all over the floor after everyone leaves.  I'm not ready to give up yet.  Since we aren't having naps anymore, I have a hard time getting the folders ready by the end of the day.  So please be patient.  I think they can learn how to do this. 

Reindeer Games

 We had reindeer in our class all day.

I think they are coming to the party tomorrow, too. 

The kids can wear pajamas to school tomorrow.  We are going to have pancakes and hot chocolate for breakfast.

 The party starts at 1:30.  All parents are invited to attend.  I hope you can all come. 

Gingerbread Man Adventures

 We made these Gingerbread Men last week after we read lots of stories about them.  In every story, the Gingerbread Men ran away and had an adventure. 

 So we really shouldn't have been surprised that when we came to school on Thursday, our Gingerbread Men were gone!  They left a letter for us that told us they wanted to see how Christmas was celebrated in other countries.

 The first stop for them was Japan.  The kids got to eat with chopsticks and then they made origami ornaments.

 The next country was Sweden.  They learned about the tradition of Christmas caroling and how the kids take cinnamon rolls and coffee to their parents on Christmas morning.

 In Mexico, they learned about a Christmas tradition of decorating houses and whole neighborhoods and then going from house to house to find the baby Jesus.

In Ukraine,  we heard the story of the Christmas spiders.  You will soon have a spider to decorate your tree at home. 

Don't forget about the Christmas party on Wednesday.  Everyone needs to bring a wrapped book for the book exchange by Tuesday.

Christmas Lists

 The Christmas excitement is building around here.  Since they are talking about it anyway, I let them write about one thing they want Santa to bring for Christmas.  Animals are the number 1 request.  Not the stuffed variety, the real thing.

 Madison wants a real puppy.

 

 Kalan wrote, "I like hamsters because they are my best friends."

 

 Lindsay wrote, "I want a bunny for Christmas."

 

 Chevy wants 2 hamsters and a cage with a wheel.

 

 Brodie wants a DS.  No pets for him.

 

 All Brooks wants is a ball.

 

Good luck to Madeline's parents on this one.  She wants Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, the real one.