Grinch Day, Gingerbread Houses, Coding, and Five Senses

Check out some highlights for this week!

 Mrs. Parsons taught us how to program a robot to dance, make noise and even kiss!  We participated in "Hour of Code."  Click on the link to the righ t(Kindergarten Coding)   to practice at home!

In Science, we learned more about our sense of touch and smell.

Friday ended with some much needed center time!  Check out our pictures!

Upcoming Events:

Friday, December 14th-  Grinch Day!  We will be doing all kinds of "Grinchy" activities! Students are encouraged to dress as their favorite Grinch Character (Cindy Lou?  Max?  The Grinch?).

Monday, Dec. 17th- Crazy Hat Day

Tuesday, Dec. 18th- Crazy Hair Day

Wednesday, Dec. 19th-Ugly Sweater/ Holiday Attire Day

Thursday, December 20th- Gingerbread Houses!  Please send in a bag of your favorite candy, and a box of graham crackers or tub of white frosting.  We will decorate houses at 1:45.  Parents are welcome to attend!  

Thursday, December 20th- Pajama Day!  Wear your coziest PJ's and bring a stuffed animal or pillow!  Students do need to wear shoes as a safety precaution.

December is a crazy, busy time of year in Kindergarten!  Keep an eye on the class blog and be sure to check your child's attache' for the latest information on upcoming events! 

Big Thank You's, a Grateful Heart and Class Pets!

I just want to say a big thank you to all of you for your words of care and encouragement, cards and gifts!  Throughout this whole journey I have felt wrapped in a blanket of love and support.  I cannot tell you what a difference it made!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I feel truly blessed and so glad to be back!  

Finally!  After a very long wait, I am pleased to introduce Sugar and Spice, our new class pets!  Ask your kindergartner to tell you all about them!

This week, we continued our Science Unit, Sorting Organisms and Objects.  During this unit we will learn what it means to be a scientist and use our five senses to explore the world around us.  So far, we have learned that Sugar and Spice can be very noisy as they spin on their wheel and rearrange their home!

Winter is here!  At Tarver, we go outside everyday unless the temperature is below 20 degrees.  Please make sure your child brings a winter coat each day!

If you would like to order Scholastic books, I will submit an order this Friday.  I sent an order form home last week in the attache' or you can order online.  Our class code is HB6B6.   Please let me know if you are ordering books for Christmas gifts and I will set your order aside until you can pick them up in person!

Have a great weekend!

A Few Notes...

Happy Friday!

Just a few quick notes...

Scholastic Book Club
I am sending home our first Scholastic Book Order of the year.  This is a great opportunity to purchase quality children's books at great prices.  You can order online (class code is HB6B6) or from the order form on the back of the flyer.  If you order from the flyer, please make check payable to Scholastic Book Clubs and be sure to write your child's name on the order form.

Picture Day
Picture day is Tuesday, September 18th.  Please check the blue attache' for more information.  Again, you can order pictures online or send in an order form.

Snacks
Some kids are complaining that they don't have snack or they ate everything at lunch.  I try to keep graham crackers on hand for those who forgot or are still hungry but I am running out.  Please check with your child and maybe send a little extra food if you notice their lunchbox is coming home empty.

Week in Review
In Shared Reading, we are learning to use the pictures to help us figure out the tricky words.  We read a new book called I Like and added the word "to" to the Word Wall.  We are still working on the ABC chant, please take some time this weekend to practice. 
During Writer's Workshop we are learning to use the Word Wall and ABC Chart to help us write a sentence.
In Math we are working on counting forwards to 30 and backwards from 10.

Have a great weekend!

Tarver Fundraiser!

Fundraiser packets are coming home today!

Students are collecting dinosaur key chains when items are sold.  A $10 donation paid in the Tarver office is the equivalent of selling 1 item.  The first key chains will be distributed on 

Sept 5th!

Kindergarten Homework!

I am sending home our first homework assignment for the year!  Please check your child's backpack for the blue attache'.  Inside you will find the Unit 1 Everyday Math Parent Letter and a Home Link.  The parent letter will tell you what we are focusing on during this unit.  The Home Link is meant to be done together with your child.  You do not need to return them!  

You will also find a copy of our ABC chart.  We practice the ABC chant everyday in kindergarten.  It goes like this:
                                    A, a. apple     (letter name sound twice)
                                    /a/, /a/, apple (make short a sound twice)

                                     B, b, bear      (letter name sound)
                                     /b/, /b/, bear   (make /b/ sound twice)


Students will point to each letter and sing the chant.  Please help your child learn this chant as soon as possible.  Practice each day until they can recite it quickly, accurately and even out of order!  The ABC chart is to be kept in the attache'. Please return both the attache'and ABC chant tomorrow.

Thank you so much for your support at home!

Week 2 in the Books!

We made it through the second week of Kindergarten!  This is probably the most difficult week for the students.  The excitement of starting school has worn off  and the long school day starts to take effect- you might have had some grouchy, tired kiddos coming home.  Hang in there!  It will get better!

We had a very busy week in our room, learning new procedures and routines.   So far, we are practicing Independent Reading, Shared Reading, Read Aloud, Centers, Writer's Workshop and Calendar.  In math, we are learning about shapes and numbers.  In reading, we learned to read a book called School (which we will bring home to share next week) and learned our first two sight words, I and see.  The highlight of the week was probably going to the Computer Lab!  We went to Starfall.com and played an ABC game.  I have a link to the site on this blog if you would like to try it out at home!

Here are some of the most important things we are working on this week:
                  *Writing first name with 1 capital letter at the beginning and the remaining letters                                   lowercase.
                  *Able to recognize and name all letters in first name.
                  *Holding scissors correctly and being able to cut out a shape, mostly on the lines.
                   *Able to count to at least 10.
If your child is struggling with any of these skills, please spend some time practicing at home.

Please check your child's backpack for the "blue attache'".  Take out all papers and send back to school on Monday.  Also, if you have not signed up for an assessment time, please do so as soon as possible!

Have a great weekend!