Pajama Party!!

Watching the students walk into the building was ADORABLE!! Many other classes participated in Pajama Day and even some of the teachers, but our students were the cutest! (Mrs. Pitts and I took a break from this event, but we'll probably dress up for the next one. :) We love to participate in FUN!!)

Anyway, we spent the day eating, singing, coloring and watching Christmas movies/ shows plus we went outside for Recess 2 times!! We work the students hard every day and this was our way of allowing them to relax and say thank you. :)

 Enjoy the slideshow!

Another free slideshow design by Smilebox

 Before I end the last post of 2014, we want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all the students that brought us the most wonderful gifts! We received candles, chocolate, coffee giftcards, and so much more!!! We felt like Queens for the day.
In fact... here is my Queen picture with Kian that Mrs. Pitts took. :)

 

Winter Party~ Library Style!

This was the best Winter Party that Mrs. Pitts and I have ever had!! Mrs. Thomas planned the activities and the crafts for our Gingerbread Time and then we ate gingerbread men cookies, popcorn, skittles, pretzel sticks with cheese and... more cookies!!! The class was in COOKIE HEAVEN! haha:) 

(Thank you Mr. Orr for stopping by the class to say "hi" and being put to work. :) You were a huge help!)

We looked at books about gingerbread men and then Mrs. Thomas read the class the most adorable book, The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires. Here are pictures of the books and if you haven't read any of them... stop by the Library over Winter Break. They have multiple copies of each one. :)

                

    

Then we sang songs, ones that we all know like Jingle Bells (plus we used instruments~ maracas and other sound sticks) and then a few new ones. :)  We learned I'm a Little Palm Tree.

After that we made the most adorable Gingerbread Cowboys and Cowgirls. Once everything was all cleaned up, we ate till our little bellies were full. While we were cleaning up Mrs. Thomas asked some questions about her activities and a few students won prizes. :) Janay and Orion both won a book and Micah won a box of Gingerbread.

Check out the slideshow below to see some pictures. :)

ooh Mrs. Thomas gave a Holiday treat to every student. We put them into the suitcases as the students exited the classroom during dismissal.

Create a slideshow

Suitcases are coming home TODAY! :)

The class was great while we packed our suitcases!! We ate ring pops and sat at our tables while ALL of the souvenirs were passed out. :) 

Here are the PACKED suitcases!
(We even added the moose, the parent gift and our gifts for each student into the bags. :) )

Here is the souvenir list so everyone will know what we made and ate for each country. :)

Flight #1216 to Germany

This is our last trip and this airplane had more turbulence than any other flight! haha 
We have had a wonderful time experiencing every thing Holidays Around the World brings. Hopefully you have enjoyed the experience with us too!

With no further adieu... here is our last daily post. 

 Hallo from Germany!

 

A few of the facts we discussed about Germany:

Capital:Berlin

Continent:Europe

Celebration: St. Nicholas Eve and Christmas. We discussed how many of our customs during the holiday are the same. We even compared and contrasted the picture we found of St. Nicholas with our Santa of today. :)

Yummy Foods: Sausage, potatoes, cabbage and should I mention more sausage...

Time: 6 hours ahead of us

Landforms: Mountains, Rivers, Islands, Plains and Lakes        

Clothing: Today we discussed Lederhosen, mohawks and neon clothes.

Here is the slideshow we watched and the link to google translator.  We also watched a Youtube Video of Silent Night sung English and than we watched it in German.  A few students recognized the tune and tried to sing along. :)           

When we landed in Berlin we got right to work on our souvenir... Gingerbread people. They are the cutest most adorable gingerbread people ever! The students worked very hard on decorating them :) Once every thing was all cleaned up we all got to eat a Gingerbread Cookie. (The class raved about these cookies!! Mrs. Pitts and I raved about the cookies too!! haha) Thank you Mrs. Orr, Mrs. Responte and Ms. Williams for sending them in.

Be ready for tomorrow... the Suitcases are coming home!!  
 

Flight #1215 to India

नमस्ते

or for us to better understand, Namaste!

That is Hello in Hindi.

 

A few of the facts we discussed about India:

Capital: New Delhi

Continent: Asia

Celebration: Diwali. A five day holiday of celebration and worship.

Yummy Foods: Rice, Lentil Stew, Naan Bread, Pakora

Time: 10.5 hours ahead of us  (We left school at 9:30 our time and it was already 8:00p.m. over there.)

Landforms: Mountains, Volcanoes, Glaciers, Valleys and Islands        

Clothing: Today we discussed the sari and the red dot on the forehead, bindi.

Here is the slideshow we watched and the link to google translator. 

The video we watched has arabic and indian singing. I chose it for the beat :) haha, the beautiful clothing and the wonderful views of the Taj Mahal. Hope you enjoy listening to it as much as the class did. 
 

The souvenir the class made is adorable and full of color! They made chalk rangoli pictures. Everyone was a great artist and did their best work!! :) Also, we ate a treat during our visit. It was yummy dried fruit. The students had mixed views on the fruit... We don't see many of you buying apricots and raisins any time soon. :)

We wanted to give a big thank you to Mrs. Jordon and Mrs. Bowman. 

Tomorrow is our last day of flying and we are EXHAUSTED!! It has been a long month for us and for the students. haha

Week of December 15

Our Resources for the week are: Monday- Art Media, Tuesday- #1-18 Music and #19-37 P.E. and Wednesday- Art. Wednesday we are having a Winter Activity Day... Library Style! :) Our favorite Librarian, Mrs. Noah Thomas will be coming in to celebrate with us. Thursday is Pajama Day. The students may bring one stuffed animal, make sure it fits inside of their backpack. NO SLIPPERS please!  
Reminder: There will be no homework sent home this week. We want everyone to be homework free over Winter Break. :)
ooh Monday is Calleigh's birthday, make sure to wish her a Happy Birthday. She will be joining the 6 year old club!!

MATH 

Our focus shifts from weight to length this week in our measurement unit. We begin measuring the length of shoes and then objects around our classroom. Non-standard units such as sticks, cubes, paper clips are used to measure in Kindergarten. The important concept is that all the units you use to measure are the same or the outcome varies! We finish measuring with length right after the New Year. Also, number recognition to 20. We will be diving into addition and subtraction soon after we return from the winter break!

Over the break continue working on counting to 100 by tens and ones. Count along and do the Macarena with this video!

ELA

(English Language Arts~ Reading and Writing) 
We are going to review all the sight words we have learned and focus on letter sounds: sound recognition, writing letters for sounds the teacher gives, beginning sounds, blending and rhyming. 
 
Monday we will learn about India and celebrate Diwali. Tuesday we will learn about Germany and celebrate Christmas. Then on Wednesday, your child will bring home their "suitcase" and all the souvenirs we have been making! :)   The rest of the week we will focus on reading Holiday stories and retelling the stories with character names and events in the order that they happen.
Here is the story of the Gingerbread Man, watch the video and then practice retelling the story. 

SCIENCE

Imagine our world with little or no gravity! The students had a little taste of this watching video clips from the space station. Here is the link to enjoy them at home!

 
This week will go by quickly and we wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Enjoy Winter Break and we will see the students back at school on Monday, January 5, 2015.

Flight #1212 to Italy

ciao da Italia!
That says "Hello from Italy!"  We practiced saying some simple words and the class loved it!! Here is the link to Google Translator so you can practice together. 

A few of the facts we discussed about Italy:

Capital: Rome

Continent: Europe

Celebration: Old Befana. An old woman who rides a broomstick and delivers gifts to children.

Yummy Foods: Pasta, pizza, pork, mozzarella cheese, fish, Tiramisu and espresso!
(Is anyone else getting as hungry as I am as they read these foods?? haha)

Time: 6 hours ahead of us

Landforms: Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Volcanoes and Islands        

Clothing: Today we discussed STYLE and discussed designer fashion.

Let me start out by saying the class was hilarious today and made the substitute and I BELLY LAUGH!! haha They were talking about La Befana looking just like a witch and laughing about her hitting you on the head with her broom if you saw her put a present in your shoe. Plus they discussed how people over there paid way too much for clothes and high heels!! haha 
While we worked on our souvenir, we watched the music video of Annalisa, but we were rushed for time at the end of the day and we only listened to the "Scenic" view around Italy. (I do want to warn you before you show your child the second video. It shows ALL of Italy, including the nude statues... it was very hard to find a video that didn't have statues in it and still showed the full country. 

Here are the Youtube videos and the slideshow link.      

During pack up and dismissal the students ate biscotti. Most were adorable and asked for a second piece, they said they loved it! :)

We wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Mrs. Strickland, Ms. Lamb and Mrs. Jones. Also Mrs. Jones was given a class set of coupons to Olive Garden. :) Make sure to stop by and use the coupon!! Free child's meal when an adult meal is purchased. :)

Patrols are selling SMENCILS!!

Our Patrols will be having a Fundraiser at school next week. :) They will be selling Smencils. (smelly pencils) for $1.00 starting Monday and it will continue until they are sold out.

They have the traditional smencils and holiday smencils.

  

  

Flight #1211 to Netherlands

 Hello from Nederland!

We tried saying words in Dutch and we thought it was going to be easy, but no matter how hard we tried... we just were not able to enunciate the words correctly. haha Go on the site and practice saying some words with your child. It'll be the most fun the two of you have all day! Here is the link.

 

 
A few of the facts we discussed about the Netherlands:

Capital: Amsterdam

Continent: Europe

Celebration: St.Nicholas Day~ Sinterklaas. A tall thin man who puts treats or coal into children's shoes. (Quite a few students were worried they'd receive coal. haha)

Yummy Foods: Bread with butter and chocolate sprinkles, beef stew, stamppot, crepes and apple pie

Time: 6 hours ahead of us

Landforms: Flat lands, Rivers, Lakes, Canals, Mountains

Clothing: We discussed how they dress similar to us and then we looked at Traditional Clothing. The class loved the klompen (wooden shoes) they wear. :)

While we were flying we watched our Powerpoint (here is the link) and listened to their National Anthem. Enjoy!

When we landed we had a long discussion about windmills: what they do, how they move, how they look, etc. Today's souvenir was to make a breathtaking picture with a windmill and tulips. They all did GREAT work on their souvenirs today, the pictures are beautiful!! ooh and the windmill will be able to spin just like a real windmill!! :)

During recess we ate Clementines. The class loved them! No one seemed to mind the juice or stickiness one little bit. :)

(We wanted to say a big thank you to Mrs. Bolson, Mrs. Jordon, Mrs. Barlow)

Tomorrow we fly to Italy!!

 

Winter Packets

Here is a link to the Winter Packets offered by our District. They offer packets for Kindergarten through 12th Grade. 

I checked out the Math and Reading Packets for Kindergarten and... well, I was a little disappointed that they didn't offer more content in the Reading packet. I checked out the First Grade packet and it offers the same material. With that said, I do want to point out that I enjoyed the Recommended Holiday Reading List!! (Holiday books are the best!!)

I want to remind all of you. The Holiday Packets are not mandatory!! We are not requiring anyone to complete them over Winter Break.

Our swim to Mexico... haha

hola de México

That says "Hello from Mexico" in Spanish!

Everyone in the class told me words that they knew in Spanish. A few told me number words, some told me color words and then multiple kids said "Hola!" Here is the link to Google Translator so your child can learn more words. :)

A few of the facts we discussed about Mexico:

Capital: Mexico City

Continent:North America

Celebration: Las Pasadas. A nine night celebration that celebrates the journey of Joseph and Mary when they were looking for shelter.

Yummy Foods: Tortillas, jalapenos, avocados, tomatoes, tacos, enchiladas

Time: 1 hours behind us

Landforms: Volcanoes, peninsulas, mountains, and beaches           

Clothing: They wear sombreros, jeans, pants, cotton shirts. Women will wear clothing with lots of embroidery.

Here is a link to the slideshow. :) 

Since we are so close to Mexico and everyone remembered to pack a swimsuit in their suitcase... we skipped flying and "swam" on over.  We watched our Power Point and the class LOVED hearing about Mt.Popocatepetl! Then we watched a video of a Miriachi band and made a red poinsettia. While lining up for lunch, we watched Head Shoulders Knees and Toes in Spanish. The class loved it!! :) 

Enjoy watching the videos with your child!

 

We wanted to say thank you to Mrs. Simms for helping to make our travels to Mexico great!

Tomorrow we head to Italy!

Greyhound Bus around the USA~ Kwanzaa

A few of the facts we discussed:

Capital: Washington D.C.

Continent: North America

Celebration: Kwanzaa. It is a week long celebration of Family, Community and Culture. We learned about the Kinara too.

Yummy Foods: Fried catfish, black eyed peas, collard greens and sweet potato pie

Time: We discussed the different time zones.

Landforms: Rivers, Mountains, Plains, Oceans               

Clothing: Lots of red, black and green is worn. During Kwanzaa the women wear a Buba and the Men wear a Kanza.

Here is a link to the slideshow I made in pdf form.

The students did great being my echo today while we learned how to say the names of the seven candles on the Kinara. (Below is a short video for you to say the names of the candles with your child.) We made kinara's, some turned out correctly... others, well the candles are backwards. :) While we worked we sang along with a "Happy Kwanzaa Song." (If you would like to sing along with the song, :) here is a quick link to it. ) Then at the end of our busy lesson, we watched a Sesame Street video of a family celebrating Kwanzaa together. Enjoy the videos!

During recess we ate popcorn. The class LOVED the popcorn more than any other snack we've had. :)(Thank you Mrs. Thoim!)

Tomorrow we are heading to Mexico!

Week of December 8

 

Our Resources for the week are: Monday- #1-18 P.E. and #19-37 Media, Tuesday- #1-18 P.E. and #19-37 Art and Thursday- Music. Wednesday is an Early Release Day and Friday is a Winter Holiday Shirt Day. (We've got to win the trophy back!!) Orion will be bringing in Fun Friday snacks for the class. ooh and make sure to wish Alexia a Happy Birthday on Tuesday. She will be joining the 6 year old club!

MATH 

This week we continue our measurement unit. Using balance scales and bear counters, students will work together to explore weighing objects from around the room. Towards the end of the week we will begin measuring the lengths of objects using non-standard units such as paper clips and craft sticks. Sid the Science Kid loves to measure. Here is a short video clip the children are sure to enjoy!

ELA

(English Language Arts~ Reading and Writing)

The sight words we are focusing on are some, was, not and has. We are working hard at reading the sight words!! This quarters goal is to read 50 and if you're thinking ahead... we aim for 100 sight words by the end of the year. We are also practicing using our sounds for blending and rhyming. Most students are catching on to blending quickly. (example I say, " /g/o/t/" and the student replies with "goat.") Rhyming is a little trickier because they have to apply the use of their sounds to the ends of words. 



Now on to Holiday's Around the World. We are a busy bunch this week!! Monday we are going to China and learning about the Chinese New Year. Tuesday we are riding a Greyhound bus around the U.S.A. and learning about Kwanzaa. Wednesday we are heading to Mexico and learning about Las Pasadas. Thursday we are flying to Italy and learning about Old Befana. (The students were able to see money from Italy. Jaiden made a little book and brought it in to share with the class last week.) , Then we will end our week by flying to the Netherlands on Friday and learn about St. Nicholas Day. As previously mentioned, during the "flights" we will discus the landforms, foods and dress of each country, along with a holiday they celebrate. When the "flight" ends we will make a craft, try some of the food that goes along with the country. If time permits, we will also make a journal entry about the country ~color their flag and write an interesting fact that we learned.

SCIENCE

Our class scientists will continue to explore gravity. This week students will make paper airplanes and use mini-parachutes to examine how objects get pulled to the ground.

Flight #1208 to China

你好來自中國

That says "Hello from China" in Traditional Chinese!

To learn more words, click on the link and it will take you to Google Translator.

A few of the facts we discussed about China:

Capital: Beijing

Continent: Asia

Celebration: Chinese New Year. We learned that they cleanse their house of ill fortune and "make room" for good luck. 2015 is the year of the Sheep.

Yummy Foods: Chicken, Peking duck, sticky rice, noodles... all consumed using chopsticks.

Time: 13 hours ahead of us

Landforms: Himalayan Mountains, deserts, plains, deltas               

Clothing: Love dark colors and beading. Women wear long tunic tops. They also wear clothes just like us!

Here is a link to the slideshow I made in pdf form.

Today the kids started out a little silly, so rather than get them sillier... we decided not to fly and just have a day learning about China. :) We watched our powerpoint, discussed the Chinese Zodiacs, and made a Chinese lantern while watching a video of a Chinese singing group that visits Hollywood. 
(I wanted to have a little mini "singing" lesson and learn how to sing Happy New Year... but we ran out of time. I promised the class I would put the video on here and they could watch it at home.)

 

 

During recess we ate our treat. :) We had chow mein noodles with duck sauce and lo mein noodles. Most really liked all the noodles and some LOVED the duck sauce, but a few however called all the food "strange." haha  
(We wanted to say thank you to Mr. Nelson, Mrs. Dumas and Mrs. Miller for sending all the items in. You all helped make the trip to China great!)

Tomorrow we are riding a Greyhound bus across the USA! 

Flight #1205 to Israel

שלום מישראל

That says "Hello from Israel" in Hebrew!
We weren't able to use Google Translator, so we taught the kids how to say hello (shalom) and good luck (mazel tov). I believe we were told shalom about 40 times today. :)

Here are a few facts we discussed about Israel:

Capital: Jerusalem 
Continent: Asia 
Celebration: Hanukkah. We discussed how the festival of lights lasts eight days. We learned about the Menorah and the Dreidel game.
Yummy Foods: Latkes, falafel, pita bread and shakshooka.
Time: 7 hours ahead of us.
Landforms: Valleys, deserts, small mountains in the South, the Jordan River and the Dead Sea!
and here is a link to the slideshow I made in pdf form.

We had a very quick "flight" today, so we weren't able to watch all the videos I planned. So if you have time, log on to Shalom Sesame. It is a very informative site with lots of short cute videos. :)  Here is the link. I really enjoyed the 'Word of the Day' videos, but my favorite is Ernie sitting in his tub singing 'Rubber Ducky' in Hebrew. haha

 When we we "landed" in Jerusalem at the Primary School, we made a souvenir. The souvenir was totally teacher led, so while we worked with the students 1-on-1 everyone else was in their Reading Center. 

During recess we ate our Israel treat of applesauce and everyone was given a gold coin to take home and eat.  :) (We wanted to say thank you to Ms. Porter, Mrs. Swyers and Mrs. Steele for sending all the items in. You all helped make the trip to Israel great!)

After everyone made their hand print Menorah (this was a never ending task with 37 students haha), we watched a cute little video. :)

  

 During Math we reviewed the rules for playing the dreidel game and then broke into groups and played. The class LOVED the game! (We didn't see all that many groups playing correctly... :) but every group was getting along great, laughing and talking.)

We were so BUSY sharing information, cleaning up the room, visiting our centers and reviewing the rules for talking, that once again we didn't take any pictures of the students or the souvenir. :(  But we were sure every one was going to go home and tell their parents that we painted their hands with blue and white paint! :)

Have a great weekend and check our blog out again next week. 

On Monday we are heading to China!  

Wonderland Gift Shoppe

This was formerly known as Santa Shoppe.

The Wonderland Gift Shoppe will be open for purchases December 8-15 from 9:00a.m. - 2:00. 

 We don't want the students to miss out on any Academic Instruction, so the students with money will shop after our lunch time, while we are visiting the "big kid" bathrooms.

Tomorrow your child will be bringing home a letter with an attached envelope. If you would like your child to participate and do some shopping, :) you will need to fill out the information being asked on the envelope. After you write the names down of who you want your child to shop for, PLEASE write the amount you want your child to spend for the people on each budget line. (This helps the volunteers make sure your child doesn't spend too much money on any particular person.)

Here is a picture of the paper.

We aren't sure what they are selling in the Wonderland Shoppe. If we get a chance to get a sneak peak, we'll take some pictures and post them. :)

Flight #1204 to Egypt

مرحبا من مصر!

That says, “Hello from Egypt!” in Arabic... or at least Google Translator told me it does. :) I’m crossing my fingers it’s correct! If you would like to hear this phrase or any other words or phrases, click on this link and it will take you there.  (The students didn't care too much for the Arabic language, but maybe at home with you they'll like it a little bit more. :) 

 

Here are a few facts we discussed about Egypt:

Capital: Cairo

Continent: Africa

Celebration: Ramadan! We discussed the discipline people show during fasting and the different Animal Gods.            

Yummy Foods: bread, fish, stuffed grape leaves and soup  

Time: 7 hours ahead of us  (We left school at 9:15 our time and it was already 4:15 over there!)

Landforms: pyramids, deserts, mountains, plains and the Nile River!                   

Clothing: Some wear long flowing robes called Jellabiya (pronounced Gellabiya) (similar to dresses). Others wear clothes similar to ours.

Here is a link to the slideshow I made in pdf form. 

(Unfortunately Powerpoint and blogger don't mix that well :( ... all Blogger did was stretch my photos in the slideshow and they looked awful! So I will be making every slideshow a pdf.)

 Then when we we "landed" in Cairo at the Primary School, we made a souvenir and ate fig newtons. **We don't see many of you buying fig newtons in the future... only a few students enjoyed the cookies.** During out "return flight," we also watched a music video. The video had the students excited, so we allowed them to stand up and dance. (You will find the video at the bottom of this post.)
 I don't want to take pictures of all the souvenirs, but I'll give you a little peak at one. :)

We hope everyone's day was as much FUN as ours!! Make sure to ask your child all about their travels and check our blog again tomorrow.

(Before you watch this video, I'd like to make a quick disclaimer for all the music videos I choose. I do not speak any of these languages and unfortunately I do not have a clue as to what the words say. However every video has a catchy tune and helps show the students scenes from the other countries. As for this video... I watched lots and lots and lots of arabic songs, this one was catchy and didn't push the dress code limits.)

 

 (Also just in case you are singing 'Walk Like an Egyptian' in your head, (I mention this because I have been... the whole time I type this post and well, I want you all to suffer a little with me. haha) Here is a link to the song. :)

Tomorrow we are heading to Israel!