Our Growing Tree!

Our growing tree is up and we have marked how tall we are. We are going to check later in the year to see how much we have grown. The children love to see their names on our tree. Our tree will change a lot over the year, just like us. It is going to amaze you how much your child does grow this year. Kindergarten is a big year for growth and maturity. We are very excited to take this journey together.

School Is About To Begin!

Time is coming soon. Kindergarten is about to bloom. I can not wait to see each and everyone of you.

Kindergarten Is Tough On The Last Day!

Today we are just plain having some fun. We have read some fun books on the last day of school. We had fun in gym, music, and library today. We went to see how Second Grade's tadpoles are. Guess what? They are frogs. We thought that was really neat. Then we had a extra long recess. Last but not least a movie and some popcorn. What can we say... Kindergarten is tough on the last day!

We Are Nuts About Our Dads!"

We did a fun project for Father's Day. Mrs. Livingston's second grade class came down and we made our dads a neat project. We made our dads "I am nuts about you!" jars with peanuts for a present. They are going to love them. Thank you Second Grade. Then, kindergarten read lots of Father's Day books. Then we picked "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney. The children then wrote their very own story to their dads. They did an amazing job. They are very creative writers you know. I am so proud of them. Have a Happy Father's Day!

Eric Carle is Amazing!

We just finished our author study on Eric Carle. We had so much fun. The children made podcast of their favorite books. We also made lots of fun projects. We made coffee brown bears, cotton ball lambies, grouchy ladybugs, ladybug addition, and tissue paper painted animals. We learned how Eric Carle makes his illustrations for his books by painting tissue paper. We made our own. This is some fun stuff. We also wrote lots and lots. We wrote about our favorite character in "Mister Seahorse" and the "Hungry Caterpiller". Our work is in the hall until Thursday the 18th. Be sure to stop and check it out. Who knew learning could be so fun?

We Love David Shannon's Books!

Our class just did an author study on David Shannon. We read all his books and did fun things to go along with them. He is a really funny guy. We voted and the children like his "No, David" books best. We made "No, David" pictures for the hall. We also made a poster and graphed our votes for the hall. David Shannon also has two fun pirate books ("How I Became A Pirate" and "Pirates Don't Change Diapers"). They also enjoyed these. We made treasure maps to go along with these two books. I kept a big bag of David Shannon books on the floor for free reading for the last two weeks. They all chose from the Big Bag of Books instead of the book shelf. I love seeing them do this. It really shows their enthusiasm toward reading. That is the real treasure.

Welcome Grandparents and Grandfriends!

We hosted our annual Grandparents and Grand friends Day at our school. It was so much fun for both the children and our guest. We first watched a play put on by our 5Th grade class. After our guest watched the play the came back to our rooms for some fun and snacks. In our room we set up the children's favorite learning centers. The Grandparents and Grand friends got to experience the centers first hand with their grandchildren. The children were excited to show off their games and talents. The Grandparents/Grand friends were excited to try them themselves and see how excited the children were about learning. Many commented on how "fun" learning can be when done with centers. I was really surprised to see how many of our guest stayed all the way to the end of the day. What a great way to bring generations together.

"Our Very Best Kindergarten Talents" By Mrs. Freeman's Kindergarten Class!

Our class has been working very hard this month. We decided to write a classroom book and have it published. WOW was this a lot of work. The children did amazing. They made their own title and made illustrations. While working our ideas into our writing the students decided that sloppy copies are important to get their ideas down. We had to rewrite our pages several times to get it neat enough to write on the final paper. This is exhausting but we did survive this ordeal. The students were so proud of themselves when they got the final draft done. We have a special mom in the room who is an amazing artist who helped integrate our illustrations on our pages. She also put a secret twist on the book that the students won't see till it come back from publishing. Last, the book had to be put in order and sent out for publishing. The students decided it is really hard to be an author but would love to do it again. What a wonderful experience we have shared together. So move over Eric Carle our Kindergartners are authors now!

"If You Give A Mom A Muffin" for Mother's Day

We did an author study on Laura Numeroff's books in the beginning of this month. After reading all the books I wrote "If you Give a Mom A Muffin" on chart paper. I then placed it on the board for the students to read. I asked them to brainstorm some ideas for us to make our own story. We made a story map and the children had me list lots of detail options on the paper. After this they decided which details would connect with each other to come back around in our story. Just like our author Laura Numeroff does in her stories. I was amazed at how well they connected the details. In the end we wrote our own story "If You Give A Mom A Muffin" for our moms for Mother's Day. On Mother's Day we decorated our room in pink (a mom color) and performed for our moms. We sang them a song and presented them with awards (the children got to make them up themselves). We then read our new story for our moms. Last, we had muffins with our moms for Mother's Day. Our children and moms loved their time together. What a great day!

Dr. Seuss's Birthday and Read Across America Week!

This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss and Read Across America. Monday we celebrated "Dr. Seuss's Birthday". We had birthday cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday. I brought out my collection of Dr. Seuss books. They were a big hit. Tuesday was "Crazy PJ's Day". We had lots of kinds of pajamas. We even had twins mix and match theirs. They were adorable. They said they were 'tricky'. Wednesday we had "Who Hair Day". WOW!!! We had some interesting hairdos. I have to admit I was beautiful! Thursday was "Silly Sock Day". We had everything from patterned tights, to different socks on each foot, to several socks on each foot. I wore rainbow socks with toes in them. The kids loved them. Friday we had "Horton Hears A Who Movie Day". We watched the movie with the first and second grade classes. We also had a "Who Snack" while we watched. We made Cat in the Hat hats. The children really did amazing learning to read several of the Dr. Seuss books. Some even read to the class on their own. They did AMAZING!!!

100 Days of School

The children could not wait for our 100th day of school. I have never counted to 100 so many times in one day. We read, sang, danced, counted, and had treats. The children brought in their 100 collections to share. We had everything from stamps, seeds, pennies, to M&M's. You can't go wrong with M&M's. Best of all we got to eat them after we counted them. I told the kids that M&M's are brainfood. We also had a party with snacks at the end of our day. Every child in the room can count by 1's, 5's, and 10's. We even excercised out our 5's and 10's. They love to get their bodies moving with learning. I just love watching them learn.

President's Day

We are discussing presidents and patriots this week and next in class. The kids know that a president is a person who leads our country. They also know that a patriot is someone who believes and stands up for our country. We even have read some stories about presidents that were also patriots. We have been learning about George Washington. Did you know that Washington loved animals? He had 36 dogs in his lifetime. He actual found and returned the enemies dog in the Revolutionary War. It got around to everyone that he was so loyal and fair that people from both sides of the war sent him animals for pets. His fairness is what made the people want him for the first President of the new United States of America. Thank you to my special student who found these facts out for our class. We also read a Magic Tree House book this week. It was also about George Washington. Ask you children about the adventure Jack and Annie went on. Who did they get to meet? We also wrote a poem about presidents. It is displayed in our hall this week. Along with "If I were President I would_____." There are some very interesting ideas in this writing piece. I hope you all have a nice long holiday weekend. I will see you back next Wednesday.

Valentine's Day

This week we are doing Valentine activities. We are making Valentine holders and cards. We are reading lots of fun stories on Valentine's Day. We read two of our class's favorite books this week. They are Pinkalicious and Purplicious. The kids love these two stories. One of my students actually bought our classroom their own Pinkalicious. We decided that pink and purple were perfect colors for Valentines. We made lovely lions for Ll week. The children learned how to say "I love you" in sign language (they know all their word wall words in sign also). The children also loved playing addition games this week. Ask them about all the adding games they know how to do. They really had a fun time. We are very excited about our party on Friday. I will try not to get them to sugared up. Hope you all have a nice Valentines weekend.

Martin Luther King Jr.

This week has been a busy week. We discussed why we have Monday off. We read lots of books on black history. The classroom favorite was Henry's Freedom Box. We read a some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech. We discussed how different people have been treated in the past. I was amazed at how empathetic the children where. I was very proud of them. Sometimes I think the kids teach me as much as I teach them. The children made an acrostic poem on "Freedom". They did amazing. They remembered so many of our vocabulary words and used them correctly. We also displayed our "I have a dream" writing assignments in the hall. They had really beautiful illustrations to go along with them. Make sure you ask your children about Martin Luther King Jr. Our children sometimes have a way to touch our hearts on topics we need to remember everyday. Thanks for your great kids. Keep up the good work.

Mrs. Freeman