December Fun

Thank you to all of the parents and grandparents who made it to school today for our Holiday Concert.  For anyone who was not able to make it, check out the videos on the right side of the blog to watch the three songs we sang. Our kindergartners did a wonderful job.  A special thanks to Mr. Levergood for working so hard with the kindergarten crew!

We continue to be very busy.  This week we welcomed a new student to our class, Lauryn.  In math, our focus is on numbers to 20.  We continue to write every day.  What progress our class has made with inventive spelling, spacing and ending punctuation.  It is amazing to see so many of them writing independently at this time of year.

Welcome to our new friend, Lauryn, who began with us yesterday.

Samantha, Charlie and Lucas R. work on a welcome poster for Lauryn.

Kindergartners put the finishing touches on their snow globes.

We imagined what it would be like to live in a snow globe. We thought
about what we would feel, hear and see.  Our writing is hanging in the hall.

We also wrote letters to Santa.

Upcoming Activities- 

We are still looking for donations for the party and Polar Express.

Holiday Bakery

The holidays are an exciting time in kindergarten.  Now is the time that we turn our dramatic play/housekeeping area into a BAKERY!  Kindergartners will be “baking” cakes and cookies, taking phone orders for pies and making their own menu in our holiday bakery…BUT…we need your help!  We need parents to volunteer to make us some special play-dough for all of our baking.  Batches of play-dough with cinnamon or nutmeg and batches with glitter have been favorites in the past. We could also use any old baking items you aren’t using such as muffin tins, spoons or aluminum pie plates.

Polar Express

To celebrate the December holidays, we will “climb aboard” our own classroom polar express on Wednesday, December 17 with a snow date of Thursday, December 18.  Our riders will act out parts of the story, listen to the book, sip hot cocoa and of course, WEAR PAJAMAS!

To make our day special, we are looking for the following donations: 2 half gallons of choc milk, 2  bags of mini marshmallows, 2 cans of whipped cream and  cups for hot liquids.  If you would be willing to help us out, please email your child’s classroom teacher.  

Holiday Party

Our classroom holiday party and book exchange will be on Monday, December 22nd.  In the event that there is a snow day, the party will be held on the next day, Tuesday, December 23rd.  We will also have a book exchange at our party.  Please send in a book, wrapped and labeled TO: My Friend, FROM: (your child’s name).  You may send the book in anytime between now and Tuesday, December 16.  Keep the price under $5.00 and make sure it is appropriate for a 5-6 year old boy or girl.

If you would like to send in a treat for the party, please send me an email or a note.  Suggestions include: fruit, veggies and dip, cookies, jello jigglers, pepperoni, cheese and nut free crackers, juice, Hershey Kisses, M&M’s, paper products (table clothes, plates, napkins, cups).  This time of year is SO hectic for everyone, so please keep it simple.  The kids will be happy no matter what!!

Guest Bloggers Lia and Alice

This year, every student will get a turn to update our class blog.  This week Lia and Alice get their turn.  They have taken all of the pictures and have told me what to type. Lia and Alice also took the two new videos to the right of the blog, Ten Big Turkeys and The Turkey is a Funny Bird.  Here is what we did this week in the words of Lia and Alice...

Guest Bloggers Lia and Alice 

We made turkeys this week. First, we used paint to make the body.  We squished the paper onto the paint.  We cut the paper out when it was already dry.  Then we put on a head, feathers, waddle, beak, eyes and legs.  We hung them on the wall in the hall.  We wrote about what we were thankful for.

Our turkeys and thankful writing displayed in the hall. Picture by Alice

On Thursday, we took a picture of the librarian because it was Ladybug day.  We voted on our favorite Ladybug Book.  We got ladybug cookies. If I Built A House won for our school.

Mrs. Bolhman dresses up as a Ladybug as the librarians collect the ballots and
hand out ladybug cookies on voting day. Picture by Lia

These are projects in the library that the third graders made. We like to look at them when we go to the library.

A third grade project displayed in the library. Picture by Lia

The Statue of Liberty. Picture by Alice

We practiced teen numbers this week. We wrote numbers on turkey feathers.  We worked so hard that we got to paint our turkeys on Friday.

Practing our teen numbers

We painted our turkeys and we had to have a picnic on the floor. Our tables were a mess!  That was fun!

Friday picnic. Picture by Lia

Friday picnic. Picture by Alice

November Fun

Check out our new video posted on the right side of the blog.  Our class sings Who Let The Letters Out? by Dr. Jean Feldman. We've put our own twist on the song by adding the hand signals that we have learned for each letter sound.  The hand signals are a combination of Visual Phonics and FUNdations.  Each kindergarten class practices the hand signals.  It's pretty amazing how quickly this group has learned their letter sounds.  The hand signals are also helpful when students write.  The signals are just enough of a hint if someone can't remember a letter sound.

Now that we are half way though November, our class is taking on more responsibilities in the classroom.  The leader of the day has always had a few responsibilities like leading the line but now each day our leader brings the lunch envelope down to the kitchen.  The leader has also taken over the daily calendar routine.  The routine consists of the leader asking the class to count the days on the calendar with them, figure out the pattern of the calendar pieces, spelling and saying the month and the year.  The leader builds a weather sentence and asks the class to read it with them.  Lastly, the leader updates the chart of how many days we have been in school and the Daily Depositor.

Summit leads our class through the calendar routine.  

The number on the Daily Depositor matches the number on the calendar.  Each day we make
a new deposit. This month we are counting buttons. Once we get ten buttons on the ones
 side (the white side), we move them to the tens side (the blue side).  Here you can see
that the number 13 is made up of one group of ten and three ones.

We also count the number of days that we have been in school.  For each day we are in school, we add
 another paper clip to the chain.  Once we have ten paper clips, we start a new chain.  The number
 52 is made up of five chains of 10 and two ones.  Students are also able to see that we need
 8 more school days to reach 60.

This week we took some time to review sorting by different attributes.

Josh and Samantha sort animals by color.

Lia and Lucas L. sort bears by color.

After a few hard frosts, the threat of EEE is low enough that the bottom half of our playground was reopened to students this week.  Our class had a great time using the sandbox and the swings again!

Henry and Lucas R. dig together.

Summit works in the sandbox on a beautiful fall day.

Alice tests out the swings.

The kindergarten grade level team feels that we have had a very successful cycle of WIN groups. We will stop WIN groups this week and take time to reassess every student.  Report cards will be sent home on December 5th.  After the assessments are complete, we will regroup students as needed based on our new data. The next cycle of WIN groups will begin the first week of December.

One WIN group writes about their favorite part of The Three Little Pigs.

All WIN groups have had a lot of fun during this WIN cycle.
Students from all three kindergarten classes get to work together in WIN groups.

A big thank you to Ayler's grandparents who sent our class supplies all the way from Michigan!

A big thanks to Bobbie and Jim from kindergarten!

Ladybug Book Reviews

What a fun week!  On Friday, we added a new element of technology into our literacy block.  For the past month, we have been reading all of the 2014 nominees for the NH Ladybug Picture Book Award. Our kindergartners narrowed down the list to two of their favorite books, Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg and If I Built a House. Students interviewed each other and learned how to make a video on the iPad. You can tell our class is in the beginning stages of feeling comfortable while making a video.  I'm sure you will notice a big difference in the months to come.  Thanks to Mr. Carozza who visited our class and helped with the lesson.  For a complete list of the 2014 nominees for the Ladybug Picture Book Award, check out this link.

http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/bookcenter/programs/ladybug.html

Election Day 2014

Did you hear about our election? We had a fun time with our mock election on Tuesday. It was an important decision...we voted on our favorite ice cream flavors!

Each kindergartner created a voter registration card
so that they could check in at the poles.

Once students checked in, we crossed their name
off the voting list.  Everyone got to vote only once.

Madison checks in to vote.

We voted in our booth.  We discussed that you don't need to
 share your vote with anyone.  You should vote for what
you like and not what your friend wants.

Rose gets ready to vote.

After voting, we placed our ballots into the ballot box.

Ayler and Lucas R. put their ballots in the box.

No one seemed to mind the line while waiting to vote.

After voting, everyone got a sticker.  Thanks to the folks at the polls at the high school
 Tuesday morning for providing our class with the stickers.

It was a close race with a two way tie for first, vanilla ice
cream and sundaes.  Tied for second was chocolate and strawberry!

Fire Prevention and Halloween

It certainly has been a busy two weeks!  Thank you to everyone who came to school for a conference. It was wonderful to touch base with all of you.

On October 21st we were so lucky to have the Hopkinton Fire Department visit Harold Martin!  Firefighters Nate Martel, Ian Tewksbury and crew did a fantastic job teaching us about fire safety.

Captain Martel takes time to speak with our class after the fire department's presentation in the MPR.

Kindergartners learned about the different parts of a firefighter's uniform
and how it keeps them safe in a fire. We also learned what it would look and sound
like if a firefighter was looking for us in a fire. 

Firefighter Tewksbury teaches us the safe way to feel if a door
knob is hot by using the back of our hand.

There was a lot to see about outside.  Kindergartners listen about
 all of the tools on the truck.....

....and then we got to explore!  Charlie, Clara, Lucy and
 Henry sit on the front of Ladder 1.

Ayler and Charlie jump up in a firetruck. 

Josh, Lia, Madison and Ayler on Ladder 1.

Madison, Lucy and Lia.

During a ladder demonstration, one of the firefighters
got all of the playground balls off of the roof for us.

Henry and Lucas L. explore the truck.

Joseph gets a turn to drive.

Ayler and Samantha

Thanks to the Hopkinton Fire Department for a great morning!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Halloween in our classroom.  It was a the perfect opportunity for some pumpkin math.  Thanks to Sadie's and Lucy's families for donating our class pumpkins. We learned about estimation and estimated the circumference and weight of our pumpkin.  We also decided if our estimates were just right, too small or too big.  Kindergartners graphed the type of face they wanted our pumpkin to have (ie, scary, happy, surprised and sad). Also, thanks to everyone who sent in food for our celebration on Friday.  Our class combined with Mrs. Grady's and Ms. Blanchard's class for crafts and an outdoor snack.  It was an exciting afternoon!

Here is our version of Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Round and Fat...enjoy!

Last week was first week of WIN groups since we wrapped up our Nursery Rhymes unit.  Kindergartners participated in groups that focused on topics from letter identification to reading. We will continue working in these same groups for the next few weeks.

In the computer lab, we navigated a new website.  There are plenty of literacy and math games. Here is the link if you would like to check it out at home.

http://www.abcya.com/


Just a reminder, there will be NO SCHOOL on November 11th.  Happy Veteran's Day.

School pictures will be coming home today.  If you are unhappy with your child's picture or if your child was absent on picture day, retake day is Friday, November 14th.

Art for the Sky

Most of our shortened week was spent on activities for Art for the Sky.  It was a pretty amazing experience.  Friday's unveiling of the photo did not disappoint!  Even better than that, Daniel Dancer created a video of the entire process.  Here are some scenes from the week...

We began the week with an assembly with Daniel Dancer.  The students learned
how were were going to create a picture using collaboration and our "sky sight."

Ready to board the bus on Wednesday.  It was a beautiful afternoon!
For some of our kindergartners it was their first time riding the bus.

Lucy, Lia and Alice

Madison, Joe and Henry

Rose and Josh

Summit, Clara and Sadie

Samantha and Charlie

Ayler, Lucas and Lucas

The hawk's head was made of different colored bark mulch.

Once we were in the right spot, we had to wait for everyone to
get in their spot.  We were very patient....

...and very patient.

Watching the ladder get higher and higher.

We had to stand on a very narrow line on the covered bridge.

Ready for the picture!

Standing still for so long was tough work!

Waiting for the buses was lots of fun!

Duck, Duck, Goose

It took lots of running before they were tired.

Lucy, Sadie, Summit, Madison, Josh and Lia

Our kindergartners are reading to see the picture at Friday's assembly.

It's always fun to see friends from other classes.

Everyone cheered when they saw the picture!Kindergartners are the white
trim on the covered bridge.  Our class is lined up on the line just under the 250 all the way to the point near the hawk's wing.

Daniel shared with us a birthday song that he wrote for his daughter.  Lucky Charlie...it was
his birthday on Friday!!  Everyone sang to Charlie, Mr. Tilly and Ms. Harlow at the assembly.

Charlie was one happy guy!

 The rest of our time last week was spent finishing up some projects for you to see at parent conferences this week. Our kindergartners are excited for you to see how much we have learned in only 34 days of school!  I look forward to meeting with all of you.  Reminders of conference times will be sent home tomorrow.  Please bring any questions you may have!