Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Break We Go!

Wow, what a busy month December has been. We have worked so hard learning all of our letters and sounds. We have added fifteen new words and ten names to our word wall and we have read several version of the Gingerbread Man story. Ask your kindergartner which story was their favorite. Over break please help your kindergartner continue to practice reading the sight words.

In math we have been focusing on counting and reading numbers 0-50. To practice, we've played many games like, Rainbow, Top-It, and Give Me 5. Over break please continue to help your child with recognizing, counting, and writing numbers from 0-100.

In science we wrapped-up our "Moon" unit. We have fun learning all about the moon phases and some of the other objects in our solar system. Ask your kindergartner about the red dot on Jupiter or the rings around Saturn. When we return to school in January we will begin our "Water" unit. It will certainly be a splashing good time.

I am very happy and sad to share that Brody G. will be leaving our class and moving to Mrs. Louthan's class in January. We are all very proud of him and we wish the best of luck.

Finally, I would like to thank you all for the generous holiday gifts and treats. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such a hard-working, caring, and fun-loving group of students. Thank you for sharing them with me.

Have a wonderful and safe winter break.
See you all next year!

Love,
Mrs. Childress

Canned Food Drive

Hello Beye Family!

The third graders are doing a little canned food drive to help the homeless and hungry during the Thanksgiving season. They have been talking about how important it is to help others and have compassion. We have so much to be thankful for!

Please spread the word to your kids. They can bring in canned food and put it on the table in the Commons.

Thanks,
Beye School's Third Grade

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Last week we welcomed Mrs. Allen as the new assistant in our classroom. Mrs. Allen holds a degree in Early Childhood Special Education. She is a wife and mother of two kids that attend Lincoln Elementary in Oak Park. She is very excited to work with us this year.

Mrs. Woodall thanks you all for the very generous gift certificate to the teacher store. She has already used it to buy supplies for her first grade classroom.

In language arts we completed our “Shadows” units. We explored the sounds for the letters /p/, /q/, /r/, /s/, and /t/. We also spelled many cvc words and read our seventh decodable book. Next week we will wrap-up our sounds study and begin unit 3. Please continue to help your child practice rhyming and punching out words. Ask your kindergartner to show you how we punch out words.

In science the students also investigated how some objects cast shadows and others do not. We also drew silhouettes of each other. Next week we will begin our study of the “Moon”. If you have books or artifacts that you would like to share with the class during our study please feel free to send them to school with your child. We will return all artifacts/books at the end of our study.

In math we explored reading and writing teen numbers and comparing sizes of objects. We also played the “Rainbows” game. Next week we will compare the length of objects and grouping numbers. Please continue to help your child with reading and writing numbers. This is an on-going skill that we will work on this year.

Upcoming Events:

November 23rd Field Trip to Cernan Earth and Space Center. Permission slip will be sent home Monday, November 15th.

November 24th Institute Day (No School for students)

November 25th and 26th Thanksgiving Break (No School)

Please visit the Student Work Blog to see what your kindergartner has been up to.

Have a Great Week!

Happy Halloween!

Our class will celebrate Halloween on Friday afternoon. Victoria Wipf and Jocelyn Adkins have been busy organizing our classroom celebration. Please contact Jocelyn if you would like to contribute snacks or volunteer in the classroom.

Our morning is extended until 12:00 --- the students will eat lunch at 12 instead of 11. If possible, I would encourage you to pick up your child at 12 to eat lunch and put his/her costume on at home. Please let me know ahead of time if this is your plan. Students can be picked up in the office if you are taking them home (they need to be signed out/in when they leave for lunch). Lunch will end at 12:55. Students should not wear their costumes to school on Friday.
• We will start our parade at 1:15 after all the students are dressed. Our class will walk with our 4th grade Reading Buddies. The parade route is explained in Mr. Ellwanger’s letter found in the Thursday packet online.

• If your child is getting dressed at school, please send his/her costume in a labeled bag that can be used for other clothing when they change. The students will put on their costumes after lunch. We will have adults here to help get students dressed. Please remember scary masks, weapons, or anything that is considered violent will not allowed in the school.

Happy Halloween!

Conferences

Dear Kindergarten Families,

I have made a few more time slots available for conferences this week. If you would like to change your scheduled conference for one of the times listed below, please let me know as soon as possible.

Wednesday
2:00-2:20
2:20-2:40
2:40-3:00

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Patterns are all Around Us

This week in Language Arts/Science we started our “Shadows” study. We began our unit by reading and discussing the book, “Shadow Magic” by Seymour Simon. This story taught us that there are three things needed to create a shadow. These things included a light source, a place to cast the shadow on, and _____________. See if your kindergartner can tell you what the third thing is. Also this week, we study the sounds for the letters /f/ and /g/ and read our fourth decodable book.

In math we explored patterns. The students had fun creating, extending, and naming different patterns. Please continue to practice these skills with your kindergartner at home. On Tuesday, I am asking that the student wear an item of clothing that has a pattern on it. We will use our clothing to continue our pattern exploration.

Reminders

The change in weather increases the chances for the transmission of head lice. Please stress to your child the importance of not sharing hats, combs, coats or hair accessories. This will decrease the risk of transmission of head lice.

Picture Day is Tuesday, October 19th

October book orders are due by Sunday. You can access the Scholastic Book Club through our blog.

Our Room parents are looking for volunteers to work in our classroom on Thursdays and Fridays. If you are interested please contact Jocelyn Adkins at jadkins10@earthlink.net

Our Halloween Parade and Classroom party will be held on Friday, October 29th in the afternoon. More details to follow as we get closer to the date.

Thank you to all those parents that have donated snacks.

Before leaving our blog please take a moment to visit our "Student Work" blog to see the kindergartners latest work.

Enjoy Your Weekend!

Things are Shaping-Up in Kindergarten

This week in language arts we wrapped-up our first reading unit, “School”. In this unit the students were introduced to various letters and sounds, rhyming, visualization, and asking questions. Next week we will begin Unit 2, “Shadows”. This is always an exciting unit for the students because it aligns perfectly with our first science unit, “Sunshine and Shadows.” Many of our lessons in these units are taught outdoors so please be sure to dress your child appropriately for the weather.
In math this week started our unit on, “Geometric Shapes”. Some of the shapes that we explored were the trapezoid, hexagon, triangle, square, big and little rhombus. We had fun using these shapes to make pictures. Next week, we will use these shapes to explore and create patterns.

Before leaving our blog, please take a moment to visit the “Student Work” link to take a peek at some of our work.
Enjoy your weekend!

We Are Making Moves

Wow, can you believe this is already our fourth week of kindergarten? We have been busy learning so many new things. In Language Arts we continued our Unit 1 study, “School”. We are getting better at rhyming, more and more each day. Please continue to play rhyming games with your child at home to help them practice this skill. Rhyme Time is a game you can play with your kindergartner as you prepare dinner. In this game, you and your child will work together to see how many rhyming words you can come up within a minute (The sillier the better). Also, in Language Arts, we started our Letter Sounds Unit; for every letter we explored, we created a movement to help us remember. So far, we have learned the sounds for short and long vowel /a/, /b/, and /c/. Next week we’ll explore the letters /d/ and /e/.

This week we also started our Star Reading Log. Every Monday your child will bring a book home to read throughout the week. Students should return their Star Reader Log, book, and Ziploc Baggie back to school on Friday, so they can read to me and earn their star sticker. Once students have earned their star sticker for a book they can add that book to their collection at home (an old shoebox works well for storage of Decodable Books).

In Math we continued to explore numbers 1-20. We practiced counting, writing, and recognizing these numbers. Number recognition and writing can sometimes be a challenge for students. Please continue to practice counting and recognizing these numbers with your child. We also learned the game “Top-It” in math this week. Ask your kindergartner to teach you how to play it at home.

Reminders
Please remember to send a healthy snack with your kindergartner each day. We would like to thank those parents who donated snacks to the class. We are enjoying them!

Also if you have not signed up for Fall Conferences, please contact me as soon as possible to do so.

Enjoy your weekend!

Another Great Week

What a great week! The kindergartners have been working hard to learn all the new routines and procedures here at Beye School.

In Language Arts, we have been reading stories and songs that rhyme. We really enjoyed reading and acting out the rhymes, “I’m a Little Teapot” and “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”. Also, this week, we shared some fun things that we like to do with our friends and families.

In math, we explored numbers 0-15 and we began counting down to the 100^th day of school. The kindergartners are already discussing what activities and games we should organize to celebrate this special day. We also had our first “Munchie Math” lesson. It was yummy!

I would like to thank all those families that were able to join me for Curriculum Night. The students were thrilled when they entered this morning to find the special love notes left at their seats. The looks on their faces were simply priceless.

Our Wonderful Room Coordinators are:

Victoria Wipf vbrownwipf@comcast.net

Jocelyn Adkins jadkins10@earthlink.net

Here’s to Another Great Week!

What A Great First Day!

We had a wonderful first day of school. We stayed busy getting to know each other, taking a tour of our school, and reading a fun kindergarten story.

See if your kindergartner can tell you:

-Where we line up each morning
-What story we read today
-What games they played outside during recess

I know that tomorrow will be just as exciting!

Reminder: Thursday, August 26th is our Kindergarten Curriculum Night. We will begin promptly at 6pm in our classroom. The PTO will provide free babysitting services that evening for any family that may need it.

Welcome

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Kindergarten!

I have designed this blog to help keep you informed of events and activities taking place in our classroom. Please remember to check back frequently to get a glimpse of all the fun and learning your kindergartner will experience this year.

Before you leave, please take a moment to complete the forms located in the right sidebar.

Here is to an Exciting Year!