Opps where did November go

I am not sure where November went but this is my first November post. Sorry about that!
This week we will focus on the letter Rr and the sight word with. I hope you are working with your children on the word wall words. Be sure you are adding the new words. We have 3 full weeks before the Christmas break. Please let me know if you would like to come and do a Christmas craft with our class or would like to help plan the Christmas party. I would like to have a pizza party after we get back from our field trip. I think we will also decorate gingerbread houses. Please let me know if you can help. This is going to be an exciting time in Kindergarten. We will be going to the Saline County Library on December 7. We would love for you to join us.

Your child should bring home their book bag one day each week. Please return the book bag by the following Monday at the latest. Your child should be able to read their new book to you.

Please remember to send your child a snack each day. They do not understand that I do not keep snacks in the room and become upset when they don't have anything.

Don't forget field trip money is due Friday, December 3.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Ward

Pumpin Week

The last two weeks we spent learning about fall leaves and scarecrows. We have had a great time learning how to do centers. Mrs. Edmondson came on Friday with a special story and craft. Everyone had a great time. Thank you so much for this treat!

This week we will be learning all about pumpkins. We will also be learning the letter Nn and the color black. Keep up the great job you all are doing about wearing tennis shoes on Wednesday and Friday. You all have done better than any group has ever done. I don't think anyone has missed a time wearning tennis shoes.

I appreciate all of you that have let me know if your scheduled conference time works or if we need to reschedule. If you have not let me know please do so as soon as possible. Remember no school October 25th due to conferences.

Remember we will be celebrating our 50th day of kindergarten on October 29th.

Our oldest son, Chris, flew back to Arkansas on Friday morning. He is doing well and will have surgery on his elbow after January 1 and then will be working on healing and then reinlisting in the marines after that. I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.

Today we added another family member, he is a pug and his name is Yoda!

I appreicate all of you that were able to order from the book order. We had another $100+ order!

Thanks for sharing your children with me. I really enjoy all of them!

Fall Week

Last week we had a great time learning all about apples. We ended our unit by making a summer apple tree (it is hanging int he hall between the cafeteria and the kindergarten hall) and by making homemade applesauce on Friday.

This coming week we will be studying about fall. I am so excited to actually have some fall weather while we are talking about fall. We will be learning the color brown and the letter Aa. We will wear brown on Wednesday because school pictures will be taken Thursday. Don't forget about Fall Fest on Tuesday night.

On a personal note we have had a diffcult time with Chris leaving for boot camp. This only got worse last week when we learned he had aggravated an old elbow injury. We got news today that they are sending him home. We should know when he will be home sometime tomorrow. He will be able to reenlist in 6 months if he chooses. From what the doctors say there it appears he needs surgery on his elbow. Please keep us all in your prayers. It has been very hard not being able to be there to comfort him and ask questions. We are learning how to be patient.

This week we will begin bringing home a daily calendar that shows what color your child was for the day.

I am looking forward to a great week with your kiddos!

Ending farm unit beginning apple unit

We had a great week learning about the farm. The highlight was probably the bunnies that visited us Friday morning. We really appreciate Emma, her mom and Pops for bringing the bunnies to visit our room. We were all very excited. Everyone enjoyed sharing their farm products. This upcoming week we will begin learning about apples. Each student needs to bring their favorite apple on Tuesday. We will be graphing our apples and having a taste test. We will also be using the extra apples to make applesauce on Friday. If you would like to send some extra apples for applesauce this would be great (I will need them by Thursday so I know how many I need to buy for applesauce).

The volunteers in computer lab on Friday are so helpful. Thank you for taking time to spend getting everyone logged in and ready to work. I really appreciate all of you that are able to do this. A big thank you goes out to Mrs. Edmondson, Mrs. Little and Mrs. Farmer!

We have had a few items sent for our car detail basket. Please remember items are due Thursday, September 30. Our basket will be at the Fall Fest on October 5. Please remember we still need volunteers to work our basketball booth. Let me know if you can work and if so what time you prefer. Thanks for your help.

Along with learning about apples this week we will be learning the color word orange, the letter Pp, the number 5, we will continue working on patterns and we will learn the sight words see and my.

We had a great accomplishment this week! We won the cafeteria behavior award with 5 paw prints. Our reward was having lunch on the picnic tables with Mrs. Shelnut and myself. The students also each got a Dr. Seuss pencil. The new competition has started and each day we are working on the best cafeteria behavior to win a pumpking. At the end of 10 days we see which class has the most and who wins the prize.

Have a great week!

Farm Week

Last weekend we sent our oldest son Chris off to marine boot camp. It was a very emotional weekend, but we are all doing better this week. It sounds like a very long time before we get to see him again. We should be in San Diego, CA December 8-11 for his graduation if everything goes as planned.

Last week and this week we are studying about the farm. Last week we had a great time making mud (chocolate pudding) and butter. We learned the letter Hh last week and we will be learning the letter Tt this week. Your child should know at a minimum the letters Ll, Oo, Gg, Hh and soon Tt. If they are struggling learning there letters I highly suggest the website www.starfall.com and the DVD Letter Factory by Leap Frog. Your children will think they are just watching tv and playing a game when they are actually learning.

We are all getting adjusted to going to school.

We will wrap up our farm unit on Friday by each student bringing their favorite farm product.

Remember we still need items for our car detail basket (items due September 30). We also need workers for our basketball booth at fall fest (October 5).

I hope you all have had a great weekend and have a great upcoming week!
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Labor Day!

I hope you all have had a great three day weekend. We spent some time on the lake with our kids. It was a great and relaxing time.

Last week we learned the letter O and talked about birthdays. If your child can not tell you their birthday please continue to practice this. One great way is to have your child say it each time you pull out of your driveway and each time you pull in your drive way. Even if you are saying their birthday and they are repeating it, this is still great practice.

We will be learning the letter G this week. Please continue to practice having your child write their name with the first letter being capital and the rest of the letters lower case.

Friday our book orders came in. I was so excited they came in quickly. With your orders we received 46 free books and $15 to spend on our next order. We also got may bonus points that can be used to order more free books! Thank you so much for your orders. I will send a book order out at the beginning of most months.

I really appreicate Mrs. Edmondson and Mrs. Little for helping in the computer lab Friday. This make is much faster getting everyone logged on and started in their programs.

I also appreicate all of you that have sent extra supplies. Right now we do not need anything in our room. Thanks again!

We will be going to walk club for the first time on Friday so make sure your child wears tennis shoes. We also have PE on Wednesday. So far everyone has worn tennis shoes on PE and walk club days! Great Job!

First Full Week Of Kindergarten

We succesfully completed our first full week of kindergarten. I think we were all tired and ready for the weekend by Friday! We definately had a fun and busy week.

One of our biggest accomplishments was succesfully completing a fire drill with no tears! This is a huge one for the beginning of kindergarten!

This week we will be learning the color blue. Don't forget to wear blue on Thursday.

We are still working on learning how to go to school. There are may routines and procedures we are working on.

Don't forget book orders are due Tuesday.

If your child does not know their birthday please work with them on this. We will be talking about birthdays this week.

The First Day of Kindergarten!

Wow! We had a great day! Thank you for sharing your awesome children with me. I hope to share some pictures as soon as I get all the signed agreements in. If you haven't sent your paper work please send it tomorrow. We go to computer lab tomorrow and each student must have a signed computer agreement in order to participate. Also don't forget we all need a snack each day and water bottled filled with water.

See you all tomorrow!

Great Open House!

We had a great open house on Thursday! I am so excited about our class. We are going to have a great year.

Don't forget to kiss your child's hand before school the first day. Please return your papers and school supplies if you did not bring them to open house.

Our new playground equipment has been installed. Thank you UPTO for all you do for us!

Have a great last few days of summer with your amazing children!

One more supply not listed

Our supply list does not list an extra set of clothes. Please send an extra set of clothes for your child in a ziploc bag with their name on the outside of the bag. Most students will need these clothes at some point in kindergarten. They may not have a bathroom accident but someone may spill their milk or get wet and muddy outside. This makes everyones day much better when we can have them change in to a set of their own clothes ready and waiting for them at school-just in case.

Our New Class!

I can't believe we have our class list for the 2010-2011 school year. I am so excited! We are going to have a great year. Today I am mailing out postcards to my new bunch of Ward's Winners.

One big question has been about the nap mat. I am very open to what you use. If you send a mat please send a thin one so it will fit in our shelf designed to hold these. You can purchase or make a cover for the mat (this is optional). If you put a cover of your child's mat please teach them how to put it on and remove it or understand they will need to bring the entire thing home each Friday. It simply takes too much time for me to do this to 20 mats every Monday and Friday. One option is to purchase your child a beach towel rather than a mat. These are easy to store and easy for them to handle. The choice is yours.

I suggest you purchase extra glue sticks and an extra set of water colors while the back to school sales are going on. The water colors are a great stocking stuffer for Christmas.

Please bring your supplies to Open House on August 12 from 6-7. We use community supplies so the majority of your supplies do not need to be labled. Please label your mat, water colors and scissors. Check the school supply tab for more school supply information.

Blog updates!

I love blogging! Tonight I added information on the all about me page. I also added several other pages. The word wall page and the homework page will be updated as homework and the word wall are added into our kindergarten routine. I also posted a link to the lunch menus so you can always check and see what the cafeteria is serving. This is especially helpful if you have a picky eater or you would like to see what you are having if you come and visit us for lunch one day. The newsletter page will be updated weekly. This page will give you an insight to what is coming up for the week. I added a supply list. The supplies listed are the beginning of the year supplies each student needs to bring. There are also some optional classroom supplies you might like to purchase.

Thanks for reading our blog!

Mrs. Ward

Sunday 7/11/2010

Starting my blog!!!!

I think this is going to be a great tool for keeping my parents updated on activties and events related to my classroom.