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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Gingerbread Baby Houses

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

KB has been reading different versions of the Gingerbread Man this week. We read "The Gingerbread Man," "The Gingerbread Boy," and "The Gingerbread Baby" this week. We finished the week by making gingerbread baby houses!
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Friday, December 9, 2011

Help!

Calling all parents! I need your help! Picture for a moment, 22 kids getting ready for recess....snow pants, boots, coats, hats, and mittens....yikes! Preparing to go out into the cold and coming back in from the cold is quite chaotic. Getting all buttoned, zipped, and tied can be a chore. However, if kids practice these skills at home, they become much faster!
Please work at home on helping your child learn how to dress and undress for the winter weather independently. Being a parent myself, I understand the temptation to hurry things along and do everything for your son or daughter. The problem with this is that at school, they are expected to be able to get ready for recess without much help.
If your child would like to play in the snow, they have to wear 5 things: coat, snow pants, boots, hat, and mittens/gloves. If they are lacking something, they will need to stay on the hard surface.
One last thing....please label each item with your child's name or initials to help us identify the owners of lost things.
Thanks so much for your assistance! Happy Winter!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Reading Strategies

 
 
 


Have you been hearing about "Ollie Owl", "Sammy Snake" or "Andy Alligator"? They are our reading strategy buddies. Ollie Owl tells us to look at the picture. Sammy Snake tells us to stretch the sounds in a word, and Andy Alligator reminds us to get our mouths ready. Kindergarteners are using different strategies to decode words and read. Finger flashlights help them keep track of the print in the story, and slinkies are used to be Sammy and stretch the sounds out.
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Buddy Reading

 
 
 
 

When we buddy read, we sit with our partner elbow to elbow, knee to knee. Listening when it is our partners turn and following along in the book. Kindergartners are doing a great job reading!
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Ag in the Classroom

Thank you Farm Bureau! Thank you Mr. Sandbothe! KB participated in making pumpkin pie in a bag! We all agreed that the whipped cream was the best part!
Pumpkin Pie on PhotoPeach

Monday, November 14, 2011

Thank You!!

This week is American Education Week! This week we celebrate everyone in education: teachers, students, staff members, volunteers and parents! I want to give a BIG thanks to all the parents of my students. Thank you for coming to conferences! Thank you for reading to your child! Thank you for helping them with their homework! Thank you for sending them to school ready to learn!

NO SCHOOL: November 23rd,24th,and 25th

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Conferences Next Week!

Please be sure to sign up for conferences! You may sign up on-line by going to this site. I look forward to meeting with you about your child's progress. Report cards will be handed out at that time too.
http://www.fairfieldsfuture.org/vparentteacher/

KB Doing the Interlude Dance!



How do you get your morning started? KB starts with Brainersizes! This month we have been doing the Interlude Dance! Pence P.E. teachers, Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Kool taught 1st through 4th grade during their classes, and the 4th graders taught Kindergarten. It's a fun way to get our bodies and our brains moving!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Jefferson County Park 2011

Follow That Squirrel! Jefferson County Park 2011 on PhotoPeach

Monday, October 10, 2011

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Roundin' Up Future Trojans

KB got in the spirit for Homecoming week by decorating our door with what else, but black and orange paper chains and photos of the kids wearing Trojan gear! The day was started with a visit from some of the FHS football players and cheerleaders! It was great to see such great school spirit all week long!
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

What apple did you like best?

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Yum! Applesauce!

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Apple Trees, Apple Trees. Oh So Tall. Which Apple Do You Like Best Of All?

Pence Kindergartners did all things apples this Tuesday to celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day! They made applesauce in Mrs. Sandbothe's room, apple investigations in Mrs. Ryan's room and apple tasting in Mrs. Bachar's room! This fun day was integrated with math, science and literacy skills! The Kindergarten Team had so much fun visiting each others classrooms and teachers! We are a community of learners!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Hip! Hip! Hooray for Reading Buddies!

KB has teamed up with Miss Ritland's 3rd grade class for reading buddies. This activity allows the 3rd graders to model fluent reading to the kindergartners. Meeting weekly for this activity also creates connections between the younger and older students in Pence.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

KB is Rocking in Their School Shoes!

KB has been rocking in their school shoes with Pete the Cat! Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin has become one of our kindergarten favorites. In this book Pete discovers all the cool places in school! No matter where he goes Pete never stops moving and grooving and singing his song...."because it's all good."
Some of the skills we have worked on with this book are tracking print and predicting. We used picture clues and Ollie the Owl, who says, "Look at the picture,"  to predict where Pete was in the school. Kindergartners also have there own Pete Loves School book that we "read" together and track the words with our fingers! We've been having so much fun!
Stay tuned for next week when Pete the Cat will return and help us learn our color words!

Click on the bus and see if you can keep from moving and grooving!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Kinders in Training

What looks like play, is actually kindergartners training for Literacy Work Stations. Students are learning to work together, use the "tools" in each area correctly, and build stamina by staying in one place for a certain amount of time. Each day the new work station is introduced to a small group while the other groups work independently. This week we learned how to use the listening center!

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Hand Puzzles

KB made hand print puzzles to make with their families while they shared what happened on their first day of kindergarten!!
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Home is Where the Heart Is

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is a classic story that is read to many kindergartners at the beginning of the year. Little Chester is comforted by his mom on his first day of school, that she is always with him no matter where he goes.

KB read the story and then Chester the Raccoon led us on a wild raccoon chase throughout Pence! This was a fun way for my new kindergartners to visit different places in the school. We visited the library, art room, music room, gym and office. That little rascal, Chester, left us notes and led us to each place. At the end we followed his paw prints down the hall and back to our room, where he had left a Hershey's Kiss for each of them! His last note told us he was back in the book, so we could read the story again! 
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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Meet the Teacher

Pence Open House was a huge success! I was thrilled to meet most of my new Kindergartners and their families. There were lots of smiles and excitement for the new year! I am so thrilled at the honor of teaching these new Kindergartners!
Thank you Pence Pals for providing snacks, drinks and fun in the gym. What a wonderful way to start the 2011-2012 school year!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Thank You Education Foundation!

The Education Foundation granted our class the funds to buy a program created by Heidi Butkus called "HeidiSongs". We have been using it in class to learn our sight words in a multi-sensory way. This is a fun way to learn sight words through music and movement! Take a look at KB singing some of their favorites!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Kindergarten Students Evaluate Books

http://voicethread.com/share/1219262/

The listening center is one of our favorite weekly routines in KB! The students are exposed to rich literature and a variety of different genres. After listening to the story, they become evaluators of the story. They decide if they loved, liked or didn't like the story. Then they draw a picture showing their favorite part. This week Mrs. Hunerdosse recorded their responses. Click on the link to voicethread to hear their evaluations of the story Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin.