Shepherd's Flock

Here is a video clip from the Christmas Program. Thanks to all of the parents and grandparents who brought in food and celebrated with us afterwords. Happy Holidays!

I have to start off by saying how PROUD I am of everyone! We have come such a long way in a short amount of time. I find it helps to send 'work' home for children during breaks for those parents who want to know what they can work on. I am sending Winter Work home today. The children are NOT required to do this work. Those who choose to do the work will be rewarded. Feel free to use these as springboards for other ideas. I hope you all find this Christmas relaxing and rejuvenating. Have a great break and I'll see you in 2009!

Sorry this is so late!!! Feel free to send me reminders when I forget to post this stuff!

12/15 *Write a sentence using at least one word that starts with z.
*Tell an adult one thing an animal may do in winter (NOT the same as on the 2nd.)

12/16 *Count to 100.
*Practice your no excuse words using your flashcards.

12/17 *Count backwards from 20.
*Practice your letters and sounds using your flashcards.

12/18 *Play sparkle with an adult.

Here is the info I am sending in folders today.
Winter Plans:

Polar Express-Thursday, Dec. 18
We will wear our pajamas and watch The Polar Express while drinking hot cocoa.

White Christmas Program-Friday, Dec. 19 9:15 am
During the program, all of kindergarten will stand onstage together and sing a song.

Christmas Brunch-Friday, Dec. 19 directly after program
We will have a brunch and make a craft in place of school lunch. This will be in our classroom.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
Brunch Volunteers
Child’s Name ____________________
Parent’s Name ___________________

___ YES, I would like to bring/send food in for the brunch.
I will be bringing _____________.

___NO, I will not be able to bring/send food in.
*If you have volunteered to bring food in, please send it with your child in the morning or have it in the classroom before the White Christmas Program. Thank you so much for all you do!

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving Feast. Thank you to all of the parents who brought in food and helped serve. The children had a great time!

This semester has been a blast! I have enjoyed getting to know your children and I am sad to be leaving next week. You should feel very proud of the progress that all of your children have made since the beginning of the year. I also want to thank Mrs. Shepherd and Mrs. Smith for all of their help as well as the parents and staff at Walhalla Elementary. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences here. Please take a few minutes to watch my final presentation for the semester. I hope you have a good holiday break and get to spend lots of time with your family.

Ms. S.

I have really enjoyed blogging. It's a great way to show everyone how well the students are doing in kindergarten. I would like to acknowledge that Miss S, our student teacher, has been instrumental in the making of this blog. Without having her in my classroom, I wouldn't have time to post too many things. Thanks again, Miss S!

This is from a parent. I LOVE it when students are SO excited about learning that they take it home!
"thank you for all that you and your helpers all do to make sure ___ stays interested. He has taken over my laptop and now even takes it to his room at night if he is playing starfall or the others...and...he makes me "Read and Write the Room" with him...that one took me a couple of tries to catch on to what he was doing, he wasn't sharing what he was writing on his clipboard, so I was guessing...and (his dad) doesn't like to play Sparkle anymore-he is always losing...I tried to explain the odd/even number of letters in a word "system" to him so that he could win a few, but, well...he's very tired when he gets home...tee hee hee!!"

Enjoy our rock stars!

Sorry it took so long!

Here is the video of how Miss S taught the differences between daily lives of children in the past and present. The first clip shows Miss S reading books about daily living in the past. The books she used has photographs that she transferred into a Smart Board activity. After the Smart Board activity, there is a brief clip of the students acting out ways children got to school in the past. Miss S did a great job of integrating many different standards in this unit. Here are some highlights for you:

Here are the plans for the rest of the month:
This week we are talking about communication and transportation differences between long ago and today. On Monday we will begin a mini-unit on Thanksgiving. The following week is only a two-day week. We will watch the Kitt Kittredge movie. It takes place during the depression but offers an awesome, wholesome kids' perspective. This will also allow students to see daily life during this era. Also, each year the kindergarten classes rotate teachers. Each of the four teachers has an activity that relates to Thanksgiving (such things as planting corn and making butter). On Tuesday, we will end this unit with our annual Thanksgiving feast. We have a lot of fun and learning in store for the next two weeks! Keep an eye for pictures!

From Mrs. Cain, our school secretary:
The ballots will available at spirit night tonight so that our students can vote for the teacher of the quarter.

Let’s all support our spirit night today. We are competing with the other elementary schools in the district. The school with the greatest percentage of sales will receive a check for double the amount normally awarded.

This money is important to WES as we use this to purchase items for the starbucks store. Thanks for your help.

November Homework Past/Present
11/3 *Count to 100 for an adult.
*Go to Chick-fil-A if your adult wants to take you between 5 and 8 tonight.
11/4 *Ask an adult to go out and VOTE!
11/5 *Practice reading your no excuse words using your flashcards.
*Write a sentence using two of your no excuse words.
11/6 Practice writing your no excuse words.
*Teach your family how to play the game Sparkle.
11/10 *Practice writing your numbers from 0 to 10.
*Play Sparkle with an adult using no excuse words.
11/11 *Practice writing your numbers from 11 to 20.
*Talk about some things children used to do in the past.
11/12 *Practice writing your numbers from 21 to 31.
*Tell an adult what you are saving your Starbucks for and how many Starbucks you need to reach your goal.
11/13 *Practice naming the letters of the alphabet using your flashcards.
*Practice saying the sound of each letter using your flashcards.
11/17 *Look at your calendar and discuss where the months are in your calendar.
*Write the following sentence, filling in the blanks correctly:
Today is ___, ____ ___, ___.
(day, month, date, year)
11/18 *Look at your calendar and discuss where the dates (the number of the day) are in your calendar.
*Write the following sentence, filling in the blanks correctly:
Today is ___, ____ ___, ___.
(day, month, date, year)
11/19 *Look at your calendar and discuss where the days of the week are in your calendar.
*Write the following sentence, filling in the blanks correctly:
Today is ___, ____ ___, ___.
(day, month, date, year)
11/20 *Look at your calendar and discuss where the year is in your calendar.
*Write the following sentence, filling in the blanks correctly:
Today is ___, ____ ___, ___.
(day, month, date, year)

This week we began our Past and Present unit. This is a very challenging concept for kindergarteners to grasp, but Miss S has been doing a great job with it. The kids have been learning about how different their lives are compared to children of the past. They have been comparing school life, home life, and even hobbies of today and long ago. I am going to try to post a video later today to show you how the children are applying what they are learning. TGIF!!!

The school-wide cook out for Friday October 24th has been postponed. As soon as it is rescheduled, I will let you know!

A Few Notes:
*Please pay special attention to the note on the cook-out lunch schedule about the possible rain.

*Students will be rewarded for good behavior tomorrow during lunch by having a picnic in the cafeteria. IF you would like for your child to bring a blanket to school for this, you are welcome to. THIS WILL BE DURING LUNCH, SO DROPS AND SPILLS ARE POSSIBLE.

*If you do not have a computer at home and are in need of a refurbished one, please let me know.

Don't forget to wear your purple shirt tomorrow to Oak Grove!

Also, don't forget to send in items for goodie bags for Halloween (23 children).

Due to the state budget cuts and the district's dedication to keeping money in the classrooms, we are all attempting to cut costs on 'non-instructional' materials and resources. For this reason, I will be sending out newsletters monthly instead of weekly. Also, I will be sending a monthly homework sheet instead of a weekly. Keep an eye on the blog, it is the cheapest, most efficient way to get information. PLEASE leave comments if you have questions/comments or email me! Thanks for your patience and understanding.

I would like to thank Mrs. Bibb, Mrs. Phillips, and Mrs. Morgan for allowing me to observe their classrooms for an entire day each! I am definitely stealing some great ideas and resources they each have! I would also like to thank Mrs. Smith and Miss S: I was supposed to be in the classroom all day today since Miss S's full-time takeover ended Friday, but they were very kind and generous to allow me to visit the last classroom today. If you have a child who attends our school and is in kindergarten now or attended kindergarten in years past, you know what a great group of teachers I work with! I count each day a blessing to be a part of an awesome group of ladies who just so happen to be great teachers, too! Thanks again Mrs. Bibb, Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Morgan, Miss S, and Mrs. Smith!!!

From Mrs. Bagwell (the school guidance counselor):
The Student Council/Service Club met yesterday after school. We have decided to sponsor a Food Drive for the Oconee A.I.D. Association here in Walhalla. I spoke with someone there and she said they are in dire need of food. Each 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade class has a buddy class from K, 1st, and 2nd. The Student Council/Service Club representatives from each 3rd – 5th grade class will be going to their buddy classroom in the next few days to tell your class about the food drive. They will also have a poster to put up in your room. We want to have a contest to see which “team” (buddy classrooms) can bring in the most food items. Mrs. Lanford suggested that we will need to use percentages to make it fair! Her students will work on this for us. We will collect food until Nov. 15th. If you have room, please keep the food items in your room and each Friday your SC/SC kids will count and record the # of food items collected for that week and move the food to another location. (my office or possibly to the front hallway so students can see how much we are getting).

We will be going on our field trip SOON! PLEASE be sure to send in permission and money if you have not yet done so. We are prepared to send home permission slips for our next field trip which is planned for the end of the month. We would like to have everything turned in for the first field trip before we begin collecting for the next one. Thanks!

Monday:
Draw a picture of something that begins with i and write the word.
Find a clock and talk about what you see with an adult.
Tuesday:
Write a sentence using the word see.
Count as high as you can for an adult. (Hopefully 100.)
Wednesday:
Draw pictures of words that start with l and label them.
Do the “Hokey Pokey” with your family.
Thursday:
Write a sentence using the word come.
Find (or make) something symmetrical-if you were to fold something in half and it’s the same on both sides- and bring it to school.

As always:
*Your child should read at least one book EVERY night. Record this on the reading log. This can be the take-home reader.
*For homework in which your child is told to write, allow them to try to write the words if they know some letter sounds. If not, you can write what they say and then have them copy what you wrote.
*Please do not allow homework to take too long. This is meant as review and practice. If the homework takes longer than 20 minutes, allow your child to stop working. Homework should be a fun way to help remind your child of what was done during the day and practice what was learned.

Some things to know as we begin homework this week:

Tell a parent something about fall and draw a picture.
Look at a penny with an adult and talk about what you see.

Pictures will be remade on Oct. 2 for anyone who would like to take advantage of this opportunity. Please send in a note or email me if you would like your child's picture re-taken on this day.

During American Educator Week, the School District of Oconee County is honoring educators through their Honor an Educator Campaign. By donating funds to the school district in honor of an educator that has inspired you or your child, you can not only honor this educator, but fund technology within our school district. American Education Week is November 16-22. For more information, contact the school district at 864-886-4400.

Here are our Johnny Appleseeds:

Now that we have fun pictures and video on the blog, you are probably wondering what and how we are learning everyday. Our school believes in the balanced literacy approach, so we are constantly reading and writing in kindergarten. Fall will be the unit we begin on Monday. We will be reading a lot about weather changes that occur during fall and how these changes affect plants and animals. Miss S, our student teacher, is also taking over this week. She will integrate the fall theme throughout our reading and writing activities for the next two weeks. I am so excited about Miss S' plans! She is a great addition to our classroom. Keep checking the blog for pictures of the new skills and reinforcement activities we are going to be doing. I love this unit, it is so much fun! (Maybe you'll see some leaves and pincecones in the sandbox...)

Enjoy one of our end-of-the-day songs!

Welcome to our new blog! You will find updates, information, pictures, and even video of what's going in our classroom. Please feel free to leave a comment if you are a parent and have questions/concerns. Mrs. Shepherd