We were the jingle bells at our DCS Christmas Carolling today! What fun to jingle even when we didn't know all the words.
Then we made Christmas cards and wrapped our Christmas presents and packed up for our Christmas Party! We hiked through Foxwood Forest, better know as Edison Park. There were water drops on all the trees. It was the last day of fall so I guess fog turned to drops on trees is ok, although we usually have snow to hike through and talk about tracks in the snow. We did find a every green bough and compared it with all the every green/fir trees along the way. Its needles were either too short, or too flat, or too soft to be any of the trees along our route. It was a good learning experience even though we didn't find out where the bough had come from.
We toured Mrs. B's fishy ocean bathroom, touched a rubber blow fish and a real one. Saw a lobster tail from Maine, a huge barnacle from Alaska, a coconut shell from Florida- all hanging in Mrs B's fish net on the ceiling...oh, and a sponge and a fake snake, and a fish made out of palm fronds from Hawaii. We looked for 20 white things with wings- angels on Mrs B's Christmas tree. We had two great moms to make a party for us!! Mrs. Englert helped us make a ginger bread house. Mrs. Barbee helped us make gingerbread men and some angels and reindeer as a craft. Mrs. Englert brought an amazing game for us to play that let us move and make a lot of noise and we loved that! Then we sat still for a minute or two while Mrs. B read us God Gave Us Christmas. "Can we go find Santa, Mama?" "Hmm. Santa is hard to find," said Mama. "But we can go find God. God is everywhere." Kids always talk about stuff like that and this book starts where they may be and the Mama helps baby bear to see how much God loves us by sending us Jesus. That was my favorite time in the party because there are seven little souls so ready to hear God's truth and I get to sit in the middle of them for a short time in their life and help them meet my Savior. Sappy sounding but from my heart!!
Merry Christmas to you all. This has been a great year so far. A little rest and off we'll go again!! And now we have a magnetic white board for Reading Center and Number Notebook time. With magnetic markers I won't misplace! And a classy scarf and necklace from the class. Thanks to the moms for a great party!!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
DCSgradeK: Day 41
DCSgradeK: Day 41: Our story today was If Anything Ever Happens At The Zoo. It is a clever story about a girl who invites all the zoo animals to her house if ...
Monday, December 19, 2011
Day 41
Our story today was If Anything Ever Happens At The Zoo. It is a clever story about a girl who invites all the zoo animals to her house if any thing ever happens at the zoo. And all the zookeepers remember her offer when the zoo floods out and she has a big yard for the zebras, a swing set for the monkeys, a bathtub for the alligator and other spaces. One problem is that they show up at night and her mom didn't know about the plan. It is such fun. Of, course the kids played zoo animals, dressing up creatively and having more fun. We also started organizing our own zoo on a mural. It shows all the places the animals would need to be happy and we are placing different animals from an animal collection book. It gives us a chance to strategize about where each one should live. You have probably guessed that we are learning about the z sound this short week.
I am learning how to leave enough space for original problem solving in our number notebooks. The kids need freedom to think through my problems. Unfortunately, they have figured every one of my problems out so I will have to keep making them a little harder. It gives me a great opportunity to learn more about sites online that can give me ideas.
Wednesday we head to my house for the afternoon. I hope we can contain our enthusiasm and leave my house in one piece. We have a lot of activities to keep us busy, so it should be a great little party. Enjoy your time off with your family! What a wonderful time of year to celebrate Jesus coming to us!!
I am learning how to leave enough space for original problem solving in our number notebooks. The kids need freedom to think through my problems. Unfortunately, they have figured every one of my problems out so I will have to keep making them a little harder. It gives me a great opportunity to learn more about sites online that can give me ideas.
Wednesday we head to my house for the afternoon. I hope we can contain our enthusiasm and leave my house in one piece. We have a lot of activities to keep us busy, so it should be a great little party. Enjoy your time off with your family! What a wonderful time of year to celebrate Jesus coming to us!!
DCSgradeK: Day 40 if you believe it~!!
DCSgradeK: Day 40 if you believe it~!!: We started out the day with a dancing pineapple! Her name was Zero The Pineapple!! She cheered for Day 40 and the kids had a good laugh. ...
DCSgradeK: Day 40 if you believe it~!!
DCSgradeK: Day 40 if you believe it~!!: We started out the day with a dancing pineapple! Her name was Zero The Pineapple!! She cheered for Day 40 and the kids had a good laugh. ...
Friday, December 16, 2011
Day 40 if you believe it~!!
We started out the day with a dancing pineapple! Her name was Zero The Pineapple!! She cheered for Day 40 and the kids had a good laugh. Later I carved it up so they saw the outer skin, then I trimmed around the core and each of them got a peice of pineapple shaped like a...ZERO!! We all tried it and it was delicious! No one said 30 ten this time so they anticipated the exchange of ten ones to a bundle of ten.
We finished our first week of Number Notebooks to start off the day. We have a page full of our results. Day 1: Make a pattern with two colors of cubes. Try another combination. Draw pictures.
Day 2: Make a pattern with three colors. Draw a picture of it.
Day 3: Make a CORE pattern of three colors. Repeat it and trade one set of three cubes with a b uddy. Now draw the two patterns together. This was definitely harder for them to do. We will try it again on Monday with no help from me to see how they figure it out and if they come up with the right answer.
The goal is to learn to give them a situation to solve in their own way.
How I love Bible time!! On Wednesday we continued to talk about the shepherds and what it was like for them to find out about Jesus from angels. We thought about how the angel was so bright. God put a light in them. God was behind them. An angel is like a candle. The kids genuinely want to understand the God they love. Today we talked more about how the shepherds might feel since they were out in the open and couldn't see in the dark and then the Angel appeared to them. They shared their experiences with fear in the dark. And then we all hurried to Bethlehem to see the Newborn King. Afterwards we looked into the sky and saw our memory verse : Luke 2:10 and 11. It is due on Monday, December 19.
We are so excited about making words out of our moveable letter people. The children are really interested in the whole reading process. They put each standing letter on either side of letter light a and just like that they discover a word!! Then they write it down and they are so proud!
Don't forget- P booklet homework is due Monday! Have a great weekend. Enjoy last minute preparations and time with your family!
We finished our first week of Number Notebooks to start off the day. We have a page full of our results. Day 1: Make a pattern with two colors of cubes. Try another combination. Draw pictures.
Day 2: Make a pattern with three colors. Draw a picture of it.
Day 3: Make a CORE pattern of three colors. Repeat it and trade one set of three cubes with a b uddy. Now draw the two patterns together. This was definitely harder for them to do. We will try it again on Monday with no help from me to see how they figure it out and if they come up with the right answer.
The goal is to learn to give them a situation to solve in their own way.
How I love Bible time!! On Wednesday we continued to talk about the shepherds and what it was like for them to find out about Jesus from angels. We thought about how the angel was so bright. God put a light in them. God was behind them. An angel is like a candle. The kids genuinely want to understand the God they love. Today we talked more about how the shepherds might feel since they were out in the open and couldn't see in the dark and then the Angel appeared to them. They shared their experiences with fear in the dark. And then we all hurried to Bethlehem to see the Newborn King. Afterwards we looked into the sky and saw our memory verse : Luke 2:10 and 11. It is due on Monday, December 19.
We are so excited about making words out of our moveable letter people. The children are really interested in the whole reading process. They put each standing letter on either side of letter light a and just like that they discover a word!! Then they write it down and they are so proud!
Don't forget- P booklet homework is due Monday! Have a great weekend. Enjoy last minute preparations and time with your family!
DCSgradeK: Day 37
DCSgradeK: Day 37: We had a beautiful day for our play field trip. We boarded the bus with great excitement. We could see snow all over everything on the way...
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Day 37
We had a beautiful day for our play field trip. We boarded the bus with great excitement. We could see snow all over everything on the way to Northville and it was even snowing a little bit on our way into the theatre. We sat in seats towards the front of the theatre. We were so happy to have our parents and teachers with us. The costumes were beautiful and the performances were delightful. Bell was such a kind and cheerful soul. She learned to love the Beast because he was beautiful on the inside. She and her father were so generous to want to save the other one. Wonderful lessons!
We made it back to school in time to write about our trip. In the afternoon we read the Christmas story about the shepherds coming to see the newborn baby and acted the story out during free time. The shepherds had to sleep on the green rug and didn't have a house to stay in. The kids were surprised about that! We wondered when Mary and Joseph could take baby Jesus back home..to Nazareth. And Elizabeth wanted to come and visit Mary there. Lots of issues come up when you are acting out the Bible. I can't always answer their questions at the time but hopefully they will ask you, too and we can ask our Father in heaven to help us teach our little ones what they want to know.
Please look for a new memory verse in the kid's folders. Also, some of the kids read to me and got new library books. The rest will have a turn on Monday. They were pretty excited to get to read to me!!
We made it back to school in time to write about our trip. In the afternoon we read the Christmas story about the shepherds coming to see the newborn baby and acted the story out during free time. The shepherds had to sleep on the green rug and didn't have a house to stay in. The kids were surprised about that! We wondered when Mary and Joseph could take baby Jesus back home..to Nazareth. And Elizabeth wanted to come and visit Mary there. Lots of issues come up when you are acting out the Bible. I can't always answer their questions at the time but hopefully they will ask you, too and we can ask our Father in heaven to help us teach our little ones what they want to know.
Please look for a new memory verse in the kid's folders. Also, some of the kids read to me and got new library books. The rest will have a turn on Monday. They were pretty excited to get to read to me!!
DCSgradeK: Day 36
DCSgradeK: Day 36: Oh, so sad my camera conked out because the kids looked adorable as Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, their donkey, the innkeeper ...
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Day 36
Oh, so sad my camera conked out because the kids looked adorable as Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, their donkey, the innkeeper and a whole village of Bethlehem.
Another first- we started to add today. Eventually they figured out that the next problem was just one more or the number that comes after. We started our Number Notebooks this morning. We will start by answering questions about patterns and writing the way we figured it out on our graph paper pages.
Friday is our field trip, Beauty and the Beast. We get to ride a bus because Trevor's Uncle drives a church bus and offered to drive us! Should be fun! We will see many of you there!
Another first- we started to add today. Eventually they figured out that the next problem was just one more or the number that comes after. We started our Number Notebooks this morning. We will start by answering questions about patterns and writing the way we figured it out on our graph paper pages.
Friday is our field trip, Beauty and the Beast. We get to ride a bus because Trevor's Uncle drives a church bus and offered to drive us! Should be fun! We will see many of you there!
DCSgradeK: letsfindout
DCSgradeK: letsfindout: Now let's see if we can keep track of those kindergarteners. Day 6 was Friday, Sept 16, the day of our Signs neighborhood walk. You receiv...
Monday, December 5, 2011
Day 35
I found out today that some of the kindergartners can already count by 5s! That is really handy as we are studying about nickels now. We also could count the number of fives days we have had and it is 7. It may not mean much to them right now but they saw multiplying in action during calendar and counting time today. We will start playing the ant go marching 5 by 5 in math center time. Should be a fun way to practice counting by 5s. Picture lots of insects to count and boys and girls who like insects and you can see how much fun they will have.
I just got their number notebooks put together today. Each morning we will find out something about math problems during guessing time. Today we tried it together-I asked the question, "How many cubes can you pick up in your hand?" So we all guessed and I modeled how to figure it out with their help. We wrote down our guesses and compared them. Then we tried it out to see how many were white cubes. When they use their notebooks, I will give them the chance to try to figure problems out on their own and write down their answers in the notebooks. The problems will go along with where they are in math right now. We will do patterning problems for awhile. When adding starts to make sense we will use what they know about adding, too. I am excited to see how much this helps them with thinking through math problems.
The kindergartners were pretty excited about learning how to put sounds on either side of letter light a to blend together to make words. We did it together with the help of the small letter people called Moveables that they use on their map. Then we tried it at the word shop where I worked with them as they moved the letter people together to blend the sounds together and read the words they had formed.
To celebrate this great day, we have opened the lending library. They each picked out a book to read with you. They go along with the a that Ms. A says when she says a-choo (or the a in apple). I sent home a note to help you know what to do with the book and when to send it back and get a new one. I will let them read their book to me and that will give me a good idea of how they are doing.
Besides all that, we saw the rain start to float- or rather snow started to fall this afternoon. That was very handy for talking about snow in science class. They told me that rain in God's tears. He has alot of extra that He puts in clouds. When it gets cold enough it melts into snow. (I suggested freeze might be a better word for it but all our ideas are worth talking about!!)
I just got their number notebooks put together today. Each morning we will find out something about math problems during guessing time. Today we tried it together-I asked the question, "How many cubes can you pick up in your hand?" So we all guessed and I modeled how to figure it out with their help. We wrote down our guesses and compared them. Then we tried it out to see how many were white cubes. When they use their notebooks, I will give them the chance to try to figure problems out on their own and write down their answers in the notebooks. The problems will go along with where they are in math right now. We will do patterning problems for awhile. When adding starts to make sense we will use what they know about adding, too. I am excited to see how much this helps them with thinking through math problems.
The kindergartners were pretty excited about learning how to put sounds on either side of letter light a to blend together to make words. We did it together with the help of the small letter people called Moveables that they use on their map. Then we tried it at the word shop where I worked with them as they moved the letter people together to blend the sounds together and read the words they had formed.
To celebrate this great day, we have opened the lending library. They each picked out a book to read with you. They go along with the a that Ms. A says when she says a-choo (or the a in apple). I sent home a note to help you know what to do with the book and when to send it back and get a new one. I will let them read their book to me and that will give me a good idea of how they are doing.
Besides all that, we saw the rain start to float- or rather snow started to fall this afternoon. That was very handy for talking about snow in science class. They told me that rain in God's tears. He has alot of extra that He puts in clouds. When it gets cold enough it melts into snow. (I suggested freeze might be a better word for it but all our ideas are worth talking about!!)
DCSgradeK: letsfindout
DCSgradeK: letsfindout: Now let's see if we can keep track of those kindergarteners. Day 6 was Friday, Sept 16, the day of our Signs neighborhood walk. You receiv...
Friday, December 2, 2011
Day 34
What a joy to talk to your kids about God's plan to come down to earth to be with us. We sang "God Promised He would send us His Own Son". (repeat) This is how he kept his promise-He sent us baby Jesus! God promised He would send us His own Son. Add some claps and we really worshipped today!
We started talking about doctors today. We learn alot about things just by talking about our experiences. Gabi brought in a little horse that was her grama's. She told us her grama had cancer and died. What is cancer someone asked. Where you can't breath because of the dirt. When you have it and get better and get it again. Of course, my comments were about it spreads, and they said it makes you really sick. At the book bank they love the Animal book with so many actual animals. They teach each other about getting germs from being bit by a bat and cleaning out the bite. We hope to learn alot about our bodies just by bringing up doctors helping us stay healthy.
In weather class we started talking about where wind comes from. From a cloud? How did it get there? God put it there. Could God breath it into the clouds? Not every question gets completely answered but we will keep having the conversation each day and they will be amazed at what God can do and how his weather works.
Our writing gets more detailed as we learn more everyday words. We have 1 1 letter word-I. We have five two letter words-do, to, me, my, is. We have five three letter words-you, see, are, and, the. Two letter words are- like, made. One five letter word-there. We use them in our Kindergarten news each morning when we try to put them in sentences. We used slash marks to count up how many my's we used today and we found we used my six times.
We have two new math games: We are counting gingerbread men into a cookie sheet, starting to count by fives up to 30. We couldn't believe they were baked by the eighth graders when they were in Kindergarten (and extremely hard, too I might add). We are also counting out pennies to see how many go into a nickle- again counting by fives. That is a magnet game we made up today with our magnetic money. They love making up new games to play. I need to help them sometimes since I know what we are learning in math.
Well, have a good weekend I say from my house where no one is discussing anything at the moment. And that is ok. May Our Father in Heaven give you peace as you enjoy your little ones at your house.
We started talking about doctors today. We learn alot about things just by talking about our experiences. Gabi brought in a little horse that was her grama's. She told us her grama had cancer and died. What is cancer someone asked. Where you can't breath because of the dirt. When you have it and get better and get it again. Of course, my comments were about it spreads, and they said it makes you really sick. At the book bank they love the Animal book with so many actual animals. They teach each other about getting germs from being bit by a bat and cleaning out the bite. We hope to learn alot about our bodies just by bringing up doctors helping us stay healthy.
In weather class we started talking about where wind comes from. From a cloud? How did it get there? God put it there. Could God breath it into the clouds? Not every question gets completely answered but we will keep having the conversation each day and they will be amazed at what God can do and how his weather works.
Our writing gets more detailed as we learn more everyday words. We have 1 1 letter word-I. We have five two letter words-do, to, me, my, is. We have five three letter words-you, see, are, and, the. Two letter words are- like, made. One five letter word-there. We use them in our Kindergarten news each morning when we try to put them in sentences. We used slash marks to count up how many my's we used today and we found we used my six times.
We have two new math games: We are counting gingerbread men into a cookie sheet, starting to count by fives up to 30. We couldn't believe they were baked by the eighth graders when they were in Kindergarten (and extremely hard, too I might add). We are also counting out pennies to see how many go into a nickle- again counting by fives. That is a magnet game we made up today with our magnetic money. They love making up new games to play. I need to help them sometimes since I know what we are learning in math.
Well, have a good weekend I say from my house where no one is discussing anything at the moment. And that is ok. May Our Father in Heaven give you peace as you enjoy your little ones at your house.
DCSgradeK: letsfindout
DCSgradeK: letsfindout: Now let's see if we can keep track of those kindergarteners. Day 6 was Friday, Sept 16, the day of our Signs neighborhood walk. You receiv...
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