Mrs. England's Kindergarten

3D Song...

2012-01-14T19:41:00.000-08:00

3D Snack!

2012-01-14T19:35:00.001-08:00

Personalize a picture collage

Winter delays our 100th day...

2012-01-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

As winter begins to really be winter, and we see more snow and possibly school closings, please continue the homework and reading logs at home. Also, I will keep you posted when the 100th day of school is going to be. There will be a parent/child project coming home soon for you to do and return before the 100th day. As of right now it will fall on January 31st, but if there are more snow days it will be sometime in February.

Shelfari Books...

2012-01-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

If you look at the book shelf to the right you can go through the shelf to see some of the books we have been reading in class lately. The last couple of weeks we have done author studies with books by Jan Brett and books by Gail Gibbons. We will read books by Ezra Jack Keats the next couple weeks.
You can load Shelfari on your computer and when you read books each night you can put them on you "shelf" and then you and your child can answer questions about the book on Shelfari, such as the plot, characters... This works well with what I am doing in class where we share what we are reading and thinking with the group at share square. I think this would be so beneficial to your child to "review" the book after you read it. If you choose to do this please jot a note on the reading log so I will know to talk to your child about it.
Happy reading and reviewing!

Sharing our Thinking...

2012-01-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

At the end of reading workshop, we share our thinking about what we are reading about. We are learning about "schema" which is a word that means what we already know about something. Our schema can change when we learn new things and add that to what we already knew.

We are also working on our "stamina". We want to have stamina so we can read, listen, write, think... Our fish has stamina. It keeps going and going without stopping.

We want to have stamina!

Calculators

2012-01-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

All students "explored" with calculators and then answered questions by pressing the correct number...like how many legs does a dog have, how old are you, how old is Mrs. England!...?

We also explored the
+ and - buttons. We
will be doing more
with the calculators
in the upcoming
weeks.

Sink and Float?

2012-01-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

We set up our experiment with a tub of water
and a tray of objects to test.

Students made predictions and then
recorded the results in their notebooks.

Pattern Block Designs

2011-10-26T16:54:00.001-07:00

Pattern Block Designs on PhotoPeach

Readers!

2011-10-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

This free picture collage customized with Smilebox

Fall Leaves Collages by Seth

2011-10-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

Patterns!

Colors!

Leaves!

Bookmaking- Rileigh's Fall Break

2011-10-12T17:28:00.001-07:00

This slideshow generated with Smilebox

Rileigh made this book to

read to the class to let them

know what she did on her fall break.

Quadblogger classes- The Kentucky Horse Park is a special place because horses are very important to Kentucky. It is in Lexington, KY and there is a link about it in the Kentucky post.

Learn about Kentucky!

2011-10-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some links you may want to visit to learn more about our state, Kentucky; and our town, Carrollton.

National Geographic- Kentucky

Lexington, KY

Our Big Sport- Basketball!

Carrollton, KY Tourism Page

Carrollton, KY

The state capital is where the star is and we are about 35 miles west of that star, right on the point where two rivers meet-
the Ohio river and the Kentucky river.

I Love School!

2011-10-04T08:05:00.001-07:00

Free scrapbook design customized with Smilebox

Video from New Zealand Quadbloggers

2011-10-01T10:03:00.001-07:00

Out and About Around our School from Lynne Laburn on Vimeo.

Tour our School

2011-09-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

This is our school, Kathryn Winn Primary School.
We have grades preschool through second grades.

We know we are expected to go to college. This is what we see when we walk in our front door!

These are our school mascots- Wisdom and Wonder.

This is our library. There are lots of places to sit and read.

“Nihao,” (knee-how) which means “hello” in Chinese. This is Miss. Ulza, our Chinese teacher in the library with another kindergarten class. She has come from China to teach here for one year. This is the third year we have had a teacher from China. Do your recognize the characters in the painting on the wall?

This is our technology classroom.

Here we are with Ms. Leadingham in our art classroom.

Our hallways are named after college mascots. Our classroom is on Eagle Avenue.

Here is our classroom, at the end of Eagle Avenue.

Questions on Wall Wisher

2011-09-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

"Shelfari" Book Shelf

2011-09-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

See our book shelf to the right? Here are some of the books we are reading. You can have one too! Either click the box on the shelf or go to this site:
http://www.shelfari.com/
This is a web site recommended by Mrs. Stucker, the technology teacher. I have begun to "shelf" some of the books I have, and will, read to my students. Some of these books are read for shared reading and guided reading, some are read for writer's workshop, and then others are read at the end of the day. I will be going back as time allows and reviewing the books, but I just had time to "shelf" the books today.

Parents this would be a great thing to do at home with the books you are reading for the homework reading log. You and your child could write your own review, list characters, key words... This would really make reading experiences last longer and mean so much more to your child!

2011-09-12T03:40:00.000-07:00

Writer Matt Glover Visits Our Classroom! on PhotoPeach

QuadBlogging

2011-09-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Monday is the first day for our QuadBlogging. We willbegin this with our first blog in the United Kingdom. We will make comments on their blog each day this week.

http://stokebishopyear1.blogspot.com/

September 12-16th

The other classes will comment on our blog next week, Sept.19th-23^rd.

From Sept. 26-30 we will comment on this blog from a class inAustralia.
http://prepblackburnsouth.blogspot.com/

From Oct. 2-7 we will visit this New Zealand blog and leave commentsfor them. http://pointviewschoolroom3.blogspot.com/

This will be an exciting experience for us and it will be nice to haveothers commenting on our blog. Itcan be so disappointing to go to the blog and there be zero comments. Also, we can learn from our new blogfriends and from their blogs! Iincluded their blog addresses so you can visit them from home with your child.

We Work, We Play, We Learn All Day!

2011-09-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

Vocabulary Words

2011-08-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

We have been learning vocabulary words about school this week. The first word was students.

A student is a kid that goes to school. Students learn (Trey)

Our vocabulary word today was principal. Our principal is Mrs. Wise.
She takes care of the school. Mrs. Wise wants us to greet her with "Good Morning" and she wants us to speak loud and proud.

My School

2011-08-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

We have been in school 15 days.
We have many things in our classroom. Here are
some things we see:

I see a book.     Omar
I see a hamster.   Cindy
I see pictures of students. Jacob C.
I see a fish. Mayra
I see a brown bear. Seth
I see puppets. Jaylyn
I see a teacher. Jacob L.
I see number charts 1-5.    Rileigh
I see the number apples. Neil
I see a cash register in the math station. Alexis
I see chairs. Bryson
I see tables. Trey
I see a clock. Carmello
I see an easel. Nicholas
I see a Chick Chicka Boom Boom ABC tree.   Elijah
I see headphones. Ethan
I see a gorilla book. Harley

Tag Reader Pen!

2011-04-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Due to the article in the News-Democrat, I have 1 tag reader pen donated to the classroom! Also a set of short vowel sound books. I am so excited. If you know any business that would want to donate, they do not have to go through the Donors Choose program as the paper said...they can donate directly to the classroom. I will go and buy the pen. They have them at WalMart for $38.00! I continue to think of ways to use this new addition to our class. The more I can get the more students get to use them at one time.

We Had a Guest Reader!

2011-04-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a guest reader! Mrs. England's friend Ms. Robin came and read two books about pets. Here are some things we learned:
Dogs have to have a home. -Leon
Let dogs smell your hand. -Izzy
Dogs need a home. -Tara
You need to take care of a cat. -Kathryn
Don't go near a dog next to a car. -Connor
Don't go near a dog that you do not know. -Emma
Ask the owner if you can pet their dog. -Dominic
Take care of the dogs. -Makenna
Take care of the dogs and cats. -Jenny
Let the dog sniff your hand. -Destiny
Keep your hand flat when you give a dog a treat. -Alexis
Dogs need food. -Bruce
Do not hold a treat with you fingers because the dog might accidentally bite your fingers. -Kenneth
When dogs don't have a home, there are people who try to find them homes. -Blayden
Don't smack a dog, be gentle. -Jayden
Do not tease a dog, they may bite you. -Kailey
You can make a dog house for a dog to stay in. -Cayrin
Dogs need water, especially if it is hot outside. -Kenyion
Let them play with a dog's toy. -Wences
In the book, when she adopted a dog...it was her best friend. -Stacey
Dogs need food and water. -Mikey
Be nice to dogs. -Chaselyn

10 Frames

2011-04-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

We will be reviewing 10 frames after Spring Break. I will be teaching number sense through strategies of how to know what number is represented on the 10 frame. Students can count dots that are there, count empty boxes, count on from 5... Then we will write number sentences that equal ten from the frame we count. This is also subitising since students are learning to look at the frame and be able to see what the number is without counting.

Alphabops Kindergarten Spring Musical

2011-04-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

Outfitted for Careers- College and Career Week @ KWPS

2011-04-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Blayden the Principal

Dominic the Fire Fighter

Emma the Vet

Connor the Pro Skateboarder

Kathryn the Vet

Tara the Teacher

Izzy the Ballerina

Leon the Scientist

Stacey the Nurse

Stamped Sight Words

2011-04-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

First students used abc stamps to make any of our sight words. Then wrote sentences with the words they stamped out. They stamped the words in Bubber...
a cross between foam and playdough.

They loved it!

What will I be when I grow up?

2011-03-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

It is college and career week here at KWPS. We are discussing what we want to be when we grow up...and what education we will need to do to be that.

I want to be a police officer. -Cayrin
I want to be a teacher when I grow up. -Kailey
I am going to be a cop. -Jayden
I want to be a principal. -Blayden
I want to be a doctor. -Destiny
I want to be a scientist. -Kenneth
I want to be a life guard. -Alexis
I want to be a vet. -Jenny
I want to be a ballerina. -Emma
I want to be a professional skateboarder. -Connor
I want to be a vet. -Kathryn
I want to be a police officer. -Brayden
I want to be a ballerina. Tara
I want to be a ballerina. Izzy
I want to be a doctor. Kallie
I want to be a principal. -Bruce
I want to be a scientist. -Leon
I want to be a dentist. -Chaselyn
I want to be a teacher. - Stacey
I want to be a scientist. -Wenes
I want to be an artist. -Mikey
I want to be a police officer. -Kenyion
I want to be an airplane pilot. -Dominic
I want to be a vet. -Makenna

College Week @ KWPS...Where did you go to college?

2011-03-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

We are celebrating College Week at KWPS March 28-April 1. Tell us where you went to college.

I'll start:

I went to Georgetown College in Ky. I got my Bachelor's Degree, Masters Degree, and Rank 1 all at Georgetown College. When you are a teacher you just keep on going to college and learning more and more! -Mrs. England

Subitising (part 2)...Watch it!

2011-03-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

At free choice these girls chose to do this activity that we had done in math stations this week. I had overheard Emma saying, "Ok girls, we are going to subitize now." I love it!! Everyone in the class loved this station activity. They want to do more!
FYI- pronounced "sue-buh-tize"

BOOKS!!!

2011-03-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at school looking at 50 new books! These books are the Leap Frog Tag readers...50 of them. You know what is better than 50 new Leap Frog Tag reader books??? 50 new Leap Frog Tag reader books that were awarded to our class thanks to Kathryn's mom Staci Fultz. She entered our class to win and boy did we win!!! Thank you so much Staci!!

Click on the title of this post to watch a video I found of a little boy explaining how to use the pen to read the books.
The kids will love these...
now I am going check on the Tag pens!!!
I love technology!

Our Favorite...

2011-03-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

What is your favorite thing to do at school?

Learning sight words. -Cayrin
Math. -Kailey
My favorite thing to do at school is signing sight word charts. -Jayden
My favorite thing to do at school is doing the weather. -Destiny
My favorite thing to do at school is putting straws in the "how many days we have been at school" pocket.-Kenneth
I like to be the star student. -Alexis
I like doing the calendar. -Jenny
I like to read. -Makenna
I like doing the calendar chart. -Dominic
I like to do my tests. -Emma
I like being star student. - Connor
My favorite thing to do at school is ringing the bell for sight words that I have learned. -Kathryn
My favorite thing at school is being star student. -Brayden
My favorite thing to do at school is math jobs. -Tara
My favorite thing is subitising. -Izzy
The weather pocket chart. -Kallie
My favorite thing to do is my work. -Bruce
I like the morning meeting in the gym. -Leon
I like to be the door holder. -Kenyion
I like to do the calendar. -Chaselyn
I like to be the caboose. -Wences
I like to read a book. -Stacey
I like to go outside at science and look at the fish. -Mikey

Our Flag!

2011-03-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

We have been studying the United States flag in our "Where I Live" theme. We have read books about the flag and listened to a song too. We have marched through the room while the song Your a Grand Ole Flag played on the CD player. Here are some things we know about the flag:

Some flags are very big. -Izzy
The flag is red, white, and blue. -Kathryn
It has 50 stars. -Stacey
It has 13 stripes. - Kenyion
The flag belongs to everybody in the United States. -Kailey
It has 50 stars because the United States has 50 states.- Jay
The flag is "Old Glory". -Chaselyn
The stars were 13 and the stripes were 13 and then it changed to 50. Because there use to be only 13 states. -Kenneth
We see the flag everywhere. -Blayden
The flag has lots of names. -Jenny
The flag is called "Stars and Stripes". -Connor
The flag is old. -Cayrin
I see the flag at school. -Destiny
I see the flag at the zoo. -Emma

We are Subitising!!

2011-03-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Subitising is:

A different way to count. -Jayden

Counting dots. -Izzy

Looking at the shape of the dots. -Kathryn

Subitising is counting different ways. -Cayrin

Subitising is counting dots in many ways, like by 2s, 5s, 10s. - Kailey

Like four sets of three is twelve. -Jayden

Above you will find the link to above to a short clip about subitising by clicking the title of the post. It is something we do everyday...we just don't know it is called that. Learning these strategies at an early age can really help math make sense to kids. To help your child improve these skills, play dominoes with them or roll dice and help them learn the configuration of the dots. It is visualization of the number instead of counting one to one...that is why they said it is a different way to count. We are playing a game with dot cards at a math station this week. Another station has the students writing numbers between 10-20 and using dice configurations to draw out dots for that number. That is how Jayden saw that four sets of threes is twelve!!

What is a scholar?

2011-03-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Wise has asked us what a scholar is. We looked the
word up in an online dictionary and read the definition.
Here is what it means in our own words...

A scholar is a person who learns from a teacher
and takes tests. -Kailey

A scholar is a kid who goes to school. -Kenyion

A scholar is a graduate from high school. -Connor

A scholar is a pupil. -Kathryn

We are scholars!!!! -all students

More 3D...

2011-03-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

We have continued learning about 3D shapes this week. We have made 3D shapes with playdough; cut and sorted pictures of 3D items and put them into a 4 column sort for cube, cylinder, cone, and sphere; did a pocket chart activity and sorting pictures of 3D shapes into groups; and learned about the sides/faces, edges, and corners/angles of 3D shapes and how they look if they were cut apart and laid flat on the table. We then cut construction paper and folded it into a 3D shape. The kids are enjoying these activities and learning as well.

Focus Skills

2011-03-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

I have made a new page above for current focus skills. Each week I will update that page with the upcoming week's skills. This is a way to let you know what you and your child can work on at home.

Making Books Page

2011-03-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Look at the page bar at the top. I have made a new page for making books. The books that are posted on that page now are entitled: My Birthday. Please read their books and give them some feedback through comments. It means so much to them!

3D Shapes!

2011-03-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

We made 3D shapes in math this week.

We call them 3D because of height. -Kathryn
3D shapes are tall. -Izzy
3D shapes are not flat. -Kailey
The 3D shape with the square on the bottom and triangles on the side is a pyramid. -Kenneth
3D shapes with squares on
all sides are cubes. . -Blayden
The points on the 3D shapes are the corners.- All

Vocabulary Word... Custom

2011-03-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Custom- Something we usually do...
A birthday cake. -Makenna
A Christmas tree. -Chaselyn
Candles on a cake. -Izzy
Hats and balloons at a birthday party. -Kenneth
Presents at Christmas. -Bruce
A birthday cake. -Kailey
Play football. -Kenyion
Friends come to your party. -Kallie
A Christmas tree. -Stacey
A birthday party. -Jayden
Cake at a birthday party. -Cayrin
Birthday cupcakes. -Blayden
Christmas presents. -Wences
A birthday cake. -Alexis
Birthday presents. -Jenny
A Tinkerbell birthday cake. -Tara

Learning Targets...

2011-03-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

Our learning targets tell us what we need to learn. This week our targets are: letter u (letters and sounds), sight words: she they, vocabulary words: kind, meal, custom; comprehension: decoding and use the pictures; phonemic awareness: blending.

Our stations today: we listened to a tape for begins with letter u, vocabulary word- kind, Earobics computer program, and guided reading.

In math this week we are building 3D shapes, measuring with feet, tallies from the dots on dice we roll, and addition number stories from dots on the dice. Look for pictures later.

In library and technology we watched an I Spy video, and a video about friendship.

Literacy Activities

2011-03-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

During focus groups we had an activity were we used letter tiles to make CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant) words. This used the focus skills segmenting [taking sounds apart] and blending [putting sounds together]. Making these words will help us be able to read them. It also helps us understand beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

This is the listening station. Students had the ipods and were engaged in letter/sound
and word
making apps.

Math Stations

2011-03-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

This station is "2 digit numbers"... We rolled the dice and then made two 2 digit numbers. Notice one dice is a numeral and the other dots. If we rolled a 4 and a 6... we could make 46 and 64. We took it up a notch by telling which number is more/ which number is less!

In this station we used unifix cubes, that are one inch cubes, and measured items. Students choose what they wanted to measure...kleenex boxes, pencils, pictures, crayons... After measuring they drew a picture of that item and recorded the measurement. WE CAN MEASURE!

Here is someone measuring a marker. Looks like it is 7 cubes (inches) long!

Wences is writing numbers 1-100 in the number grid. He has a model of the 100 grid to look at if he chooses to use it.

Making Books: The Sun

2011-03-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

The students wrote books about the sun following our theme unit "The Mighty Sun". Here are three books we want to share with our followers. We picked these books because they stayed on the topic- the sun, and they give facts about the sun.

The Sun
by Destiny Snow

The sun is big. I like the sun.
The sun is hot. The sun is a star.
This is a sunny day.

The Sun
by Jay Perkinson

The sun is a star. The sun is first. [from the illustration of how the planets line up away from the sun]
The sun is big. The sun is hot.
The sun is bad for skin. The sun is good for plants. The sun is hot. I set [sit] on a chair. [picture shows a sunny day with a person in a chair in the shade...] The wit [wheat] is rete [right] to hovit [harvest: reference to how plants need the sun to grow] .

The Sun
By Wenceslao Arizmendi

The sun is hot. It is a star. The sun is big. Sun is ___ ad. [shade-picture shows person under shade of a tree...you need sun to have shade...] I pla [play] in sun. The sun is up.

Friday's blog...We love it!

2011-03-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for your comments! To answer one of your questions...we measured pencils, pictures, boxes, books, Cub cards, crayons...

We got our class picture and individual pictures taken this morning. We have great smiles!

Today we wrote about the topic- birthday. We picked one thing about our birthday and wrote about it. Some people wrote about the cake...some wrote about presents...some wrote about a party! BUT, we had to just write about that one thing. This afternoon in math, we drew and wrote about what we do in the morning, afternoon, and night. We went to art and science for specials.

Please keep making comments for us to read. From the words of Dr. Seuss: Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one!

We All Can Blog!

2011-03-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

What did we do today?
We read at our tables by ourselves. We have books in our box that we can read.
We read sight words, morning message, picked a star student (Emma), and our vocabulary word- treat.
At our learning stations we: listened to a tape that told us to move a chip for each sound in a word, we wrote the sight word: not, we had a book at guided reading that we had to "decode", and we wrote about the vocabulary word-treat.
We did our calendar, went to lunch, and then had math.
In math we: wrote to 100, measured, made 2-digit numbers, and finished writing our teen number pages.

This is our first blog from the students. Please write us back by sending us a comment.

Presidential Readers...

2011-02-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

President's Day Reading Group

2011-02-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

Learning a little bit about our first president!

Making Words...

2011-02-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

Making words that begin with j.

Valentine's Day Happenings

2011-02-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Students came with their valentine cards that they signed themselves and got busy delivering them to our well decorated Valentine boxes. Parents and children did a wonderful job making the boxes. I always look forward to seeing them.

Your Child a Reader Article

2011-02-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

Click on the title of the post to read an article for parents about helping your child be a reader.

100 Days Smarter!

2011-02-06T19:07:00.001-08:00

Hip, hip, hurray!
We've been in school 100 days!

For a math target skill we focused on counting to 100 by 10s. We made a chart with 100 of our faces, 10 rows of 10. We practiced
counting by 10s.

At the end of the
day, we had a
chance to show
what we know!
Count to 100 by 10s and get a sticker that tells everyone we can do it. We also get to put our name on the "count by 10s to 100" chart.

Many got their stickers that day. We hung the chart up in our math station area so we can practice it the rest of the year. We can get a sticker whenever we learn it. We had a great 100 day!

Predicting as we Read

2011-02-06T18:50:00.000-08:00

Our reading comprehension target last week was "predicting" what we think will happen as we read. We begin by looking at the pictures and "predicting" what we think happens in the book from the information we get from the pictures. We get our crystal ball and say something like..."I predict they are going to go south to be warm..." Good readers make predictions and then read to see if their prediction is correct.

Phoneme Segmentation and Blending: Stretch Out The Sounds...Say The Word!

2011-02-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

The students say each sound in the words I tell them as they move the disks into each box on the card. This teaches them to stretch out sounds in a word as they read. We also learn after we stretch out the sounds in the word we blend the sounds together to read the word. I say touch, touch, touch, slide...and on slide they say the word. Another way we practice this is "say it slow, say it fast...". As we do this we start with our hands together and spread them farther apart for each sound, then clap together to say the word. This has been very helpful for them. Ask your child to show you with words like pig, hit, lip...

Rhyming!

2011-01-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

Children use magnetic letters to make words that rhyme. We sing many songs about rhyming, but we like the one that tells that rhyming words they sound the same in the middle and in the end, end, end! I think some children could confuse same ending sound vs. rhyming... To rhyme, the word needs to have a same middle and ending sound. This is an easy skill to practice at home. Say a word, ask your child to tell you a word that rhymes... Say three words, two rhyme one does not...ask your child to tell you which two words rhyme. You can always use pictures too if you have them available.

We have also learned about word families (words that end with the same family like -it, -am, -at...) Those words rhyme too!

Click on the title Rhyming! for a video about rhyming.

My You Tube Channel

2011-01-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

I have created a You Tube channel with music videos we use in the classroom to help us learn our target skills. You could go on this at home and give your child extra learning time. The You Tube channel is a safe way for your child to watch these videos without viewing advertisements and videos we would not want them to watch. Just click the title above (My You Tube Channel) and begin watching. Then, make it a favorite so you can go right to it later! If you have any questions or trouble viewing let me know!

Oh, Christmas Tree...

2010-12-17T02:20:00.000-08:00

Making Words!

2010-11-19T16:33:00.000-08:00

We have many different ways to make words in Kindergarten.
We get a lot of practice
making words so we will be better readers and writers.
Good readers and writers can hear and say the sounds in words so they can read or write them.

We have games to practice making sight words.

We make words that are in the same word family to learn spelling patterns that help us be better readers and writers.

Thanksgiving Dinner

2010-11-19T15:34:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful

Thanksgiving meal

today. It was nice to see

so many families eating

together. The

cafeteria looked great too!

Red Bird Guided Reading!

2010-11-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

This is the red bird group reading their guided reading book. We are learning that "good readers" use the pictures and sight words to help them read.

We are learning in different ways!!

2010-11-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

Students at the guided reading table stretching out words into sounds. This is a very important skill for a beginning reader and writer.

These students are matching the beginning sounds of the pictures with the letters that make that sound.

We love using the laptops to learn. There are many good programs to teach many necessary beginning reading skills. We get the laptops two times a week. Everyone gets time on the laptops on those days.

Cubs Club!!!

2010-11-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

We had our first "Cub Club" celebration. Students who mastered skills that have been taught and had good behavior could get a medal. We had 9 gold medal winners, 2 silver medal winners, and 5 super kid medal winners. The super kid medals are for students who are giving extra effort to learn!

We Enjoy Books!

2010-10-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

We spend time each
day enjoying books. They look forward to seeing what books will be in their table's box. When new books are in the box I hear them saying, "Oh, look...she put this book in!" I love for them to get excited about books. We have all kinds of books throughout the room. Each station has books that go with that station, and each table box has a variety of books to choose from. Students can choose from books we have read together, books we have listened to on tape/cd, non-fiction books, number books, abc books, sight word books, magazines, picture dictionaries... It is important that children enjoy books as it gives them motivation to learn to read.

"Burrow"

2010-10-08T12:08:00.001-07:00

We acted out our vocabulary word "burrow" by crawling to a table and curling up underneath the table. We also looked around outside for places that animals could burrow.

A Child's Play...

2010-09-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

This is what we call "free choice time". Students make a "plan" to show what station they want to go to. It is important they get to have the choice where they want to go. This is not just "play time", although play is what children do so well. Children learn through play. While at the station, students play with materials and activities that are educational and very child centered. Many of the activities have been or will be used as a learning station, and they get to redo the activity and practice what they have learned. All activities are developmentally appropriate for kindergarten children to "explore" and learn from. Stations include: Listening, ABC, Writing, Art, Science, Math, Big Book, Book, and Our World (social studies related). Free choice lasts about 25 minutes each day and is really looked forward to by the children.

Reading Groups

2010-09-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Just a sampling of students reading during guided reading groups. They are using sight word recognition as well as picture clues to read.

Updated Class Web Page!

2010-09-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

Please visit our class web page for good information about our class. There are many pictures of events from last year that I will replace with new pictures when that event come along. Just click on the title: Updated Class Web Page above and it will take you right to it!

New Features

2010-09-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Please notice the pages available on this blog at the top under the school. I have made a page for school calendar- days school are not in session; weekly newsletter in English; newsletter in Spanish; Sight Word lists; and one called Reading Connection that gives parents tips to help their child when reading with the at home. Watch for new pages to appear. I plan to put one on for our monthly enrichment schedule. If you have ideas for things you want on see on the blog or on our website be sure to contact me at school.

We want to read!

2010-09-12T11:06:00.001-07:00

Blayden brought a book to school and asked to read it to the class. They enjoyed it and chimed in with him. I told all students they can bring in books to share with the class.
Thanks Blayden and Good Job!!

Good Choices Abound!

2010-09-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here are the six paw prints we were able to get filled in by about the 15th day of school by making good choices! We celebrated by having Oreo cookies and white milk!! Thanks to parent Stacey Mefford for helping me.
We are now working on the next six prints...
wonder what the next celebration will be?!

Vocabulary Words...

2010-09-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

We took pictures to illustrate our vocabulary words...here are a few:

"rules"

"enter"

"respect"

"learn"

We learn better when we are involved in the process. They helped me decide what to take pictures of to match the vocabulary word.

The Turtle!!

2010-09-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

The students arrived one morning and looked out the window to the beautiful courtyard to find a turtle looking right back at them. They were so excited. I had told them there were turtles out there...and I guess they had been looking through the window and checking each day to see one. This picture
was taken right from our window.

Reading and Writing in our Class...

2010-08-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sitting back reading a good book, it doesn't get much better than this!

Students share their
writing with others.
The students wrote about what they see in the room. Beginning kindergarten writing is in the form of pictures with maybe a few letters that go with some sounds for the words in the drawing.

Learning sight words is a good way to help children read and write. There is a link on this blog to the sight words for kindergarten.

2010-08-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

We have been working in our vocabulary journals. We put the word in and then draw a picture that shows that word. Our vocabulary words this week are: student, principal, and school.

This activity was in the listening station. We listened to a tape for the letter m sound. We use a dry erase marker to do what the tape tells us to do so we can learn the sound for letter m! This will help us learn to read!

First Week!

2010-08-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

We have had a pretty good first week. We have gotten to know each other and are getting into a routine. It takes time to get use to a new environment, teacher, expectations... WE WILL BE UP TO KINDERGARTEN STANDARDS IN NO TIME!!

We have used the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle to introduce them to the school, the teachers, and the classroom. We have made our own books, cut and pasted shapes, sorted gummy bears and so much more.

READY FAIR!

2010-08-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Ready Fair was a success! It was so nice to see new students, and former students too. I am looking forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday for a great beginning to a great school year!

New PTO!

2010-07-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

There is a new PTO beginning at Kathryn Winn!
Check for representatives for the PTO at Ready Fair to get more information how you can be involved.

Board Meeting:

2010-03-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

Cameron presented the "predicting" reading strategy at the board meeting tonight. There was a student from each grade level presenting a reading strategy.

Predicting is thinking about what you think is going to happen. Sometimes we predict by looking at the pictures and thinking about what the pictures are telling us about the book... Sometimes we stop reading and talk about what we
"predict" will happen next.

Test Taking:

2010-03-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the students taking their Think Link tests on the computers. They took this in the fall and now again in the spring.

They have really
become very good at
using the computers.

Technology in the Classroom!

2010-03-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Students use
IPOD touches
to play educational
games. They have many to choose from.

Our children
live in a world that is dependent
on technology, so the better prepared they are for that world the better for them.

It is great for them to start so young because they aren't afraid of it...they just take off with it!

Each student has their own earbuds and they are learning to login their names and passwords on the laptops too.

Reading Strategies...

2010-03-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

Students look into our "crystal ball" to predict what we think the book will be about.

We look through giant glasses when we take a "picture walk" to see what information we can get from the pictures.

These strategies help us prime our brain and helps us read the book more easily.

2010-03-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Students love to
go to music and
sing.

Mr. Roode plays his
guitar while we sing.

2010-03-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

2010-03-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Hanlon works with the green frogs. They are spelling sight words with letter cubes.

Quiet Reading...

2010-03-08T09:19:00.001-08:00

We have a new addition to our room. We have a reading bench in our reading station. If you are chosen, you can go there during quiet reading and read your book.

Each morning, after putting our bookbags away and moving our pictures to show we are here and what we are going to do for lunch, we go to our tables and choose a book to read quietly.

Positive Behavior!

2010-03-05T09:44:00.001-08:00

We fill in a part of these paw prints for good choices/ good behavior. When our class gets five filled in,
we get to have a reward. Today we are having a snack
and a few surprises for these paw prints.
GOOD JOB STUDENTS!!

Chinese Class

2010-03-05T09:40:00.001-08:00

This is our Chinese teacher. She is from China. She has been teaching us how to speak Chinese.Today we color the Chinese word/symbol for Spring!

We love to read!

2010-03-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

Kylee reads a book to Mrs. Haun. We are all learning to read very well.

Book Maker!

2010-02-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

We make books every week in our classroom, and sometimes books get made at home. We can write about so many things. When we make books at home it is great to bring them to school for sharing. Cameron wrote a book at home about his first concert and read it to the class. Great job Cameron!

Daily Jobs

2010-02-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

At the end of every day we take care of our room. We wipe down tables, pencils, crayon boxes; we stack chairs, water plants, empty trash... We are responsible for our classroom.

More Snow...More Missed Days!

2010-02-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

The snow is really making it hard to keep continuity at school. We did not get to finish our station jobs that go with the big book The Red Rose, which is what I read for the week of Valentine's Day. I will wait and see how many days we miss. I may have to use a few of these activities and then move on to the next topic.

I was hoping to have some Valentine Party pictures to post, but they seem to not show up on my camera. Not sure what is wrong, hopefully it is just the camera being moody! I will post them if I am able. I took pictures of their Valentine boxes, some activities they did, and some of the party. They really enjoyed that day.

I hope to see your children soon. I miss being at school but I don't want to have school if there is any risk of the buses having problems. I agree that student safety comes first. I do hope the weather and roads allow us to come back to school soon.

Afternoon Activities...

2010-02-08T14:01:00.000-08:00

In the afternoon we have three adults in the room and we have extra time to work on our reading skills. We practice skills such as beginning and ending sounds, making works, listening skills, rhyming, letters and sounds, sight words, and much more. Two days a week we have the lap tops and are able to have a group working on one of our very valuable reading programs. Every minute of the day is used to help your child learn valuable skills.

Earobics in the ABC station!

2010-02-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

The district has bought a new computer program for the school that is having it's beginning in our kindergarten classes. The program is called "Earobics" and it is designed to help students become better readers by fostering the components of a good reader. The games we have been playing are about rhyming, listening, and beginning sounds. Each student plays at his/her own pace and will advance when they show mastery of each skill.

First Grade Visitors!

2010-02-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

Taylor and Katie came from first grade to read to us today.

Next year we will be able to come and read to Mrs. England's new kindergarten class.

More sharing...

2010-02-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

Students feel very safe sharing their writing and illustrations with the class. They are very encouraging to each other.

More of growing up...

2010-02-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

When I grow up...

2010-02-05T10:47:00.001-08:00

Students wrote and shared what they want to be when they grow up.

End of another week...

2010-02-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

We ended another week today, a short week, and learned about different workers who help out our community. We ended the week by writing about what they want to be when they grow up. There were many dreams of being fire fighters, police officers, and veterinarians. They shared their writing with each other and many of the veterinarians turned out to be "vegetarians"!!!
(I was surprised to hear this word but more than one read it this way...Maybe they will be healthy animal doctors!)
I love watching them grow and learn. I love to watch them share with each other and the way they encourage each other and praise each other. They really can show respect for each other.
I plan to post some pictures tomorrow of the writing and sharing. Stay tuned!