The Gingerbread Man

 This week we listened to several versions of THE GINGERBREAD MAN. We took two of the stories and compared them to each other. We used hula-hoops to help us make a GIANT Venn-diagram, then we talked about the characters, settings, and the variations of the ending. We will read more stories and see how they are alike and different. Check back soon for more Gingerbread fun!

 

Hey Pete, We love our Shoes too...

We are still enjoying our Pete The Cat books. Today we got to wear a pair of shoes that we love too! Take a look at the shoes we wore to school....
These are shoes from the AM class:

These shoes are from the PM class:

What are your favorite shoes?

We LOVE Shaving Cream...

Just before we took off for Thanksgiving Break, our teacher surprised us with a chance to play in shaving cream. We wrote our sight words, numerals, shapes, simple pictures and more. What FUN we had. We can't wait until the next time we get to do shaving cream in class!

We Love Pete The Cat!

We are really enjoying reading the Pete The Cat stories. We made our own Pete the Cats from paper. They are hanging in the hallway near our classroom. It took a lot of cutting and time but we made Pete wearing (and LOVING) all different color shoes! Then we wrote a sentence for Pete telling about his shoes. Take a look at how adorable these turned out!

Thanks Mrs. Jump for sharing ideas to help us make Pete the Cat!

Dads and Doughnuts and Books, Oh MY!

We recently combined time with our Dads, with time to shop for books. Our wonderful Book Fair Volunteers, Staff and Teachers served doughnuts to our Dads (and the kids too). Then we got to shop the Book Fair. What fun!
Take a look at all the Dads (and a few Grandpas & Moms) that came out for the event!

Sight Word Fun...

We have been busy learning sight words in class. We write them, spell them, color them and more. One of our favorite ways to practice them is to make them out of playdough!

PS...Thanks Mrs. Kramer for creating this fun activity for us to enjoy! ;-)

llama, llama in pajamas...

We really love the llama, llama books. There is something about llama, llama and all his drama that keeps us smiling! If you have not read them yet, they are a "Must Read" for this age group!  On Thursday, October 7, 2011, we joined hundreds of Kindergartners all over the country in hearing the book "llama llama Red Pajama" written by Anna Dewdney. We were trying to help set a new world record. Mrs. Kendryna, our principal came in and read the book to us. We love to help find the rhyming words. After the story, we brainstormed all the different types of pajamas we could think of...blue pajamas, pink, orange, yellow, green, polka-dot, hearts, stripes, plaid, etc. Then we got a llama in pajamas template, some markers and a few crayons and got busy designing pajamas. We are using the pictures we created to make a HUGE class book that we can read and share all year long. Take a look at the fun we had and the wonderful creations we made:

We don't know if we set a world record for the number of students hearing the same book on the same day or not, but we sure had fun trying! ;-)

PS..click here to go to YouTube see and hear the author, Anna Dewdney read llama, llama Red Pajama!

Pattern Partners...

We worked with our partners to create all kinds of patterns. Right now, we make a lot of AB patterns. Watch to see how we work in class:

Math Fun...

We are learning to use our math materials to make PATTERNS! We are learning that patterns repeat in a predictable way. Take a look at some of the neat patterns we made in class:

We're Here!

School has been in session for a few weeks now. It's taken a while to get permission slips and photos in alignment, but we're here! We've been busy learning names, enjoying books, working with partners, learning letters, sounds and words. Here are a few photos of us on our very first day of Kindergarten!

Books Online

Before we left school for summer break, we talked about the importance of making time for Reading and Writing over the summer. Here are links to books to read online or print out to read in the car, by the pool, in bed, on a blanket in the park....or anywhere you want to read. Remember the more you practice, the better you'll get, so read, read, read!

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Flag Day 2011

Today is FLAG DAY! Here are a few FLAG FACTS you may find interesting:

 More than likely you have heard the song, The Star Spangled Banner. You usually hear it while people are looking at the flag. Many sporting events start with the singing of our National Anthem.  But do you know who wrote the famous song?  About 197 years ago a man named Francis Scott Key wrote the words to what is now our National Anthem. It was originally written as a poem. The poem was put to music that was written by John Stafford Smith. Watch and listen as our National Anthem is performed by Jordan Shelton:



Here are the lyrics:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

School's Out For Summer...

We said GOODBYE to our Kindergarten friends on Tuesday! We had a great year together. While school may be over, there are several photos waiting to be posted so be sure to check back soon for photos of several fun Kindergarten days!

Learning about Sharks...

In addition to preparing for our Kinder-Olympics this past week, we also continued our Sea Life unit. One of the animals we learned about this week was the shark:

Preparing for the Kinder-Olympics

All year long we have been working out in the gym. We have trained our bodies to run, jump, hop, skip, push-up, and sit-up. We have learned to jump rope, dribble balls, scoot on scooters, hula-hoop and more. On Tuesday we will get to put all our skills into action as we host the very first Kinder-Olympics at our school. We are so pumped and excited! Take a look at some of our preparations...

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Preparing for the Kinder-Olympics from Cindy Blakley on Vimeo.

We Know About Fish...

We have been learning all about FISH! We know the things that make a fish a fish! Watch as a few of our friends share what they know about fish:

We Know Fish from Cindy Blakley on Vimeo.

Woodworking Projects...

At our Fun Fair last week Lowe's sponsored a woodworking room. There were some woodworking projects left over and some of the projects got donated to our room. Take a look at the first "Project workers" and their finished picture frames. Thanks to the folks over at Lowe's for their contributions to our workbench!

Meet our AM Class...

To our friends in Mrs. Coe's class: Hello from the AM class.  We are excited to meet you. Take a look at our picture to see what we look like. We are missing two of our girls, but all  10 of our boys are here. We can't wait to learn about Cinco de Mayo. We don't really know what it is! Christopher said it's 5, but we don't know 5 what?? We really want to see your school. Don't forget to send us pictures! THANKS!

Making New Friends...

We are excited to meet our new Kinder-Friends in Mrs. Coe's Kindergarten class. They posted a picture and message to us on their blog: Little Miss Kindergarten we are sharing a photo of our PM class. We were missing 2 boys and 2 girls from our PM class. We'll share the AM class tomorrow. We are wondering if you have any questions for us? We live outside of Chicago, IL. We have 1/2 days of Kindergarten. We had library and Gym today. Do you have Gym too?  This was our last chance to check out books from the Library (inventory is coming soon). We had partners in Gym and played with balls. Can't wait to learn more about you all. Can you send us a picture of your school? We'll get one of ours. Oh and can we see your playground? ;-)
THANKS!

The PM Class

Bunny Glyphs...

Mrs. Blakely and Mrs. Borczak saw this idea on the First Grade blog: First Grade a la Cart and thought it would be perfect for us. They tweaked it a bit so we could combine both grade levels to work together. We divided our classes up...some Kindergartners went to work in Frist Grade and some First Graders came to work in Kindergarten.

Take a look at us working well together:

This is the legend/key to "read" each bunny:

Take a look and see if you can apply the legend to learn more about each bunny's creator:

We had a lot of fun with this activity! Thanks again to Mrs. Lavv for sharing this idea on her blog!

iTunes FREE MATH APPS...

In recognition of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference, McGraw Hill is offering FREE math apps for iPods/iPhones/iPadsMcGraw Hill publishes the Everyday Math Program. Hurry to iTunes because these apps are only free through April 17th.

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