Stuffed Animals and Hot Chocolate...

We've had an unplanned winter break. The weather turned wickedly cold and school has been closed for several days. The wind chills were near minus 20 degrees. OUCH! Before our little "break" we had our "Stuffed Animal Day". This was actually postponed from just before Christmas when we had yet another bad winter day. Anyway, we all brought one of our favorite stuffed animals to school. We drank hot chocolate and watched a movie. It was fun. Take a look at the animals we brought to school:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

note: we are missing a few photos in this show. The missing photos will be added soon so check back soon!

How Can You Refuse?...

Our friend and staunch supporter, The Dogfather (aka: Tony) is having the 2nd Annual Customer Appreciation Days this coming weekend (Jan. 10th &11th). The restaurant is located at 957 Route 59 in Bartlett. There'll be Give-Aways and a raffle. Check out some of the ways The Dogfather has supported our school. They're great examples of school and community working together! The Dogfather Links. Don't  miss out on this opportunity...with the prices of the hotdogs and fries so low, it's an offer that is hard to refuse. ;-)

Holiday '08...

Here's hoping everyone had a great Holiday Break and that your New Year is off to a great start. My apologies for not posting much lately. We're back in session tomorrow and will be back on track on our blog as well.

Before the break we had our Holiday Party. Thanks to all the parents who helped out. We were due for a special day on Friday, but ended up with a snow day instead. We've postponed our special day 'til a little later in this week. Here's a few images from our Holiday Parties.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kindergarten Counts Money...

We have been learning all about coins. We know that pennies are worth one cent, nickels are worth 5 cents, dimes are worth 10 cents and quarters are worth 25 cents. Everyday we combine coins to match the number of days we have been in school. Some of us are still at the beginning stages of counting money; but others are quite good at it. We have little center of COINS in our class. We have books about money, coin stamps and REAL coins. We can sort the coins, compare them, look at them under a magnifying glass and of course, COUNT them. Take a look at how well Alex and Michael can count coins. We are constantly impressed by how well they count coins. GREAT job Alex and Michael. Keep up the good work!

More Dice Game Fun...

We have been busy learning about Farm animals and preparing for Thanksgiving at the same time. We found a fun dice game to play called "Roll A Turkey". All you need to play is a partner (makes it more fun), pencils, dice, papers and the "Roll A Turkey" drawing guide. We found our drawing guide at the "Little Giraffes" website. We are learning that it takes careful thought and planning to roll the die and get all the parts of your turkey drawn in just the right places. Click on the turkey below to get a copy of the drawing guide. Grab a friend and give it a try!

Thanks to the folks at Little Giraffes!

Dancing In Kindergarten...

Every now and then, we take a break from our normal routine for a little extra fun. Last Friday we invited our Kindergarten neighbors over to join us for "DANCE FRIDAY". We had a blast! We danced to about 3 different tunes. We have some really good dance moves. If you haven't tried it, don't be shy, give it a try, you'll be surprised at how much fun it can be!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kindergarten Votes...

Kindergarten joined the rest of our school (and Country) in voting for President of the United States. We got our voter's registration cards and went up to the library to vote. We put an "X" by the photo of the candidate of our choice. The voting was overwhelmingly for Barack  Obama. Our kindergarten totals were 31 votes for Obama and 4 for McCain. After the actual election results across the U.S., as votes Kindergarten, so votes the country! ;-) We were so excited to participate in our own small way, in this history making event!

We extend our congratulations to Mr. Obama!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Patterns Repeat...

We continue working on patterns. We are having fun creating them with our materials as well as clapping, singing, dancing and marching in patterns. We found this video that helps clarify our understanding of patterns:

Thanks to Mrs. Tricia Fuglestad for allowing us to post her video on our blog! Mrs. Fuglestad is an Art teacher in the suburban Chicago-land area. Visit her website to see some of the FANTASTIC things she has created and shared: Dryden Art
Thanks again Mrs. Fuglestad!

Back at The Dogfather's...

On Tuesday we returned to The Dogfather's for our No Cook Night! As always the company and food were GREAT! Thanks again to Tony and the crew for your continued support to our school!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Halloween Fun...

We had fun at our Kindergarten Halloween parties. There were all sorts of fantastic costumes, witches, movie characters, cats and more. One fun costume was Jack as "Dr. McCutie", heart specialist. Job Description: to fix broken hearts! How clever! ;-)

We got to parade around the school. Then back to our classrooms for party fun! Thanks to all the parents for your help with our parties. Take a look at some of the fun we had: