The Real Meaning of Christmas

This week we slow down just a little (on purpose!) to focus again on the most important thing: Jesus' birthday!  We love all the traditions, but the most important ones focus us back to the real meaning of Christmas.  Everything from stories, activities, and even our agenda board will remind us of some part of the story of Jesus' birth.  I hope you are finding time to slow down this week, too!  In all the hustle and bustle of the season, it helps to take a moment to remember....

Daily 5:
We are focusing on retelling stories in order... not forgetting the most important parts!  This can be challenging!  You can help by having your child retell the story after you've read together.  ASK: What happened in the story?  What was first, next, last?  Who were the characters?  Was their a problem they solved?  These all help us to listen while we read or hear a story.  We know good readers listen to what is being read.  And they ask questions about the story!

Math Workshops:
We still have a few numbers we are practicing (11 - 20 and beyond), but we are moving on to making patterns!  Patterns are all around us, and most importantly they are in our number line!  We are building and recording patterns.  You can help by talking to your child about patterns you see.  They may be the stripes on the towels or the colors on the lights hanging on the tree...ANY pattern!  Keep your eyes ready; you will be surprised!

UPCOMING THIS WEEK:

• Chores for Change -  We turned in our gift to the church.  We collected a total of $52.12!
• Thursday, Dec. 18 - Polar Express Day / PJ's Day!  Traditionally at Holy Spirit, we spend time doing some special activities around The Polar Express.  We end the day together watching the movie!  To help us celebrate, children are encouraged to wear the pajamas!  Students will still need shoes (no slippers, please!).
• Friday, Dec. 19 - 12:00 Dismissal / Mass / Class Book Exchange... The book exchange is meant to be a simple, fun way for the children to exchange a small gift.  The Dollar store (or the like) have books sections with possible books.  Or if you have a gently used book to trade, that would work, too!  Wrap  the book and only label with who it is from.  On Friday, we will do a drawing! 

Please contact me if you have any questions!

Chores for Change Update!

Our box is filling up! Only a few days left to collect any change you earn to add to our gift to the parish giving tree! We hope the children continue their chores, but we will STOP collecting change on Monday, December 15th so we can get all of our tags back to the church.

Thanks for all you did to make this another successful, giving year!

Gingerbread Adventure!

What fun we've had reading multiple versions of the Gingerbread boy stories!  Great vocabulary, fun order, and always a twist at the end!  I would hope your child could tell you about a few of those now!

When we went to Conner Prairie, we even got to experience the story by being a part of it! We walked from the kitchen, to the barn, to the room, following the footprints and clues from the gingerbread boy.  We also saw many examples of decorated gingerbread houses.... All great examples for ideas we will be using!

Some shots from Conner Prairie:

 

 

 

Starting Today!

December is off and running! :)
Make sure you don't miss out on these great opportunities!

CHORES FOR CHANGE:
Each child is asked to do some small task each day at home.  We hope this will be a task above and beyond what is already expected of them.  This way the earn some small change / a few coins for each task.... DON'T over pay!  

There are two goals for this:
1. The children learn that working is hard and it takes time to earn money.
2. The children feel proud of what they do and their gift to our giving tree items.

This month we will be focusing on the real meaning of Christmas... Jesus' coming.  He gave us so much, we can all share, too!

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA: Saturday, Dec. 13, from 9:00 - 12:00
Please consider coming to a wonderful tradition!  Tickets are on sale now in the office.  THERE WILL BE NO SALES AT THE DOOR... Tickets must be purchased in advance.  Contact the office for more information!

"Soup from a stone? Fancy that!"

What a fun day... and brave kids!  Someone even got the stone in their bowl!  We have had a great time reading and comparing stories.  Make sure you ask your child which one was their favorite and why they liked it best!

Picture Peeks:
Mrs. Catton read us the story again as a review...

 





Tasting Stone Soup, Cornbread, and hand made butter!

 

 
 

 

Getting Things Ready

Today we had fun getting things ready for Stone Soup!  We chopped our veggies up... and everyone even wanted to help with the onions!  

 


We also tried our hand at some pumpkin pie.  Of course, trying new things takes lots of courage... OR lots of whipped cream!  :)

 

 

 


More pictures to come from tomorrow's adventure!
"Soup made from stones.... Fancy that!" 

Thanksgiving & Stone Soup??

Mid November has come very quick and very cold!  Thank you so much for always remembering to send hats and gloves.  We may not get out each day, but when we can, even for a short time, we go!

This month we've begun to explore family traditions.  As we get close to Thanksgiving, we remember there is a lot we can be thankful for.  How do you remember to count your blessings in your family?

One tradition we have in Kindergarten is to make Stone Soup!  This story is an old traditional story that has taken on many forms from many countries.  In all of them the main theme stays the same: we all have a lot if we remember to share!  So this next week, we will wrap up our conversation about these stories by making stone soup together!  This is always a fun way for the 2 classes to come together and do something fun.

DAILY 5:
Students are using the books we have worked on (in mini form) to reinforce letter identification, sounds or sight words, depending on what their individual goals are.  We are all working on making sure we can match upper and lower case letters, especially the letters in our names!  

MATH WORKSHOPS:
We are beginning to look at patterns around us... in nature, in our room, and even in the 100 chart.  In our workshop areas, we continue to reinforce and practice counting in order, correctly writing our numbers and being able to build sets to match a given number.

WHAT CAN WE DO AT HOME?

• Continue to practice matching and naming upper and lower case letters in books you read together.
• Asking your child questions at the end about what happened first, next, and last
• Counting items you need at the grocery or when you set the table
• Comparing sets of things (Example: Do we have more cups or more plates?)

UPCOMING DATES:

• Thanksgiving Homework (pictures of what you are thankful for) Send in ASAP!
• Monday, Nov. 24: Stone Soup Ingredient Needed... cutting up veggies! AND Permission Slips for Conner Prairie Due (these came home today!)
• Tuesday, Nov. 25: Cooking Stone Soup!
• Wed - Friday (Nov. 26-28): NO SCHOOL... Happy Thanksgiving!
• Thursday, Dec. 4: Conner Prairie Study Trip
• Monday, Dec. 8: Mass (Feast Day)
• Dec. 9 & 10: Gingerbread House Building!!

Three Pigs Fun

Literature comes to life with comparison!  Everyone thought they knew about the story of the 3 little pigs.... UNTIL Mrs. Hacker brought out ALL her books!

We read:
The Three Little Pigs Rock Out (Song & Story by CJ... you can find on Spotify!)
Wait! NO Paint!  by Bruce Whatley (A fun twist at the end!)
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka

You can imagine that these brought out lots of ideas and opinions about the story!  Ask you child what they liked about each story and why.  Some students even found one of these books in the school library to check out!

Enjoy exploring some NEW sides of the story!

We had fun voting for our favorite!

Program Video Sneak Peek: Forever Friends

Picture Peek

Veteran's Day Celebration: The Little White Table

 

 

Program Practice & Show:  It's a Jungle Out There!

 

 

 

Off to a GREAT 2nd Quarter!

We've started our "At My House" part of our year long theme.  We are beginning to talk about how a home is where we live, all houses are different, and most importantly there are fun traditions we all have!  God made each family unique and special.  We will be exploring our families over the next several weeks as we learn how special God made one family.... Jesus' family as we come into the advent season!  Going into the holidays makes this a fun exploration!

DAILY 5:

Good readers use both the pictures and words to help make sense of the story. Good readers also remember the story in order so they can tell someone else what happened.  We are working on both these skills by making our own books, retelling familiar stories, and by putting picture clues in order from our story.

We are reading about the 3 Pigs and the different houses they made.  We are comparing various versions of the story.  So far we have read 2 different types.  Ask your child which one they liked best and what made them different! 

MATH WORKSHOP:

We are working hard to build a solid understanding for numbers up to 10 with pictures, numbers and words.  We are doing this through a variety of fun games and activities... Comparing 2 cards (what you might know as "war"), build it (building a picture of a given number), or even measuring items to see how many cubes "tall" it is.  Practicing at home is easy with a deck of cards, dice or other items to count!

UPCOMING DATES / IMPORTANT INFO:

• Can Food Drive:  Help us help others by sending in some can food, box food, or non-perishable items!
• Nov. 10 - RAM of the Week: Jennifer V.
• Nov. 13: Kindergarten to 2 Program at 7:00 in the Gym
• Nov. 17 - RAM of the Week: Jenna P.
• Nov. 26-28: No School - Happy Thanksgiving! 

Happy Halloween!

A huge shout out to the room parents!  What a fun time and great helpers we had!  Thank you so much for making our day even more fun with our party!

 

 

1st AWARDS DAY

So fun to see the kids' faces as they got called up!  Mrs. Parsons always makes it a fun time for all!