Friday February 25th, 2011

Room 7 would like to welcome 2 new PillowPets to the classroom.  Rudy the dog and BuzzBuzz the bee have greatly increased the popularity of the reading corner during free choice and center time.  The class has also been very good about making sure that they all get an equal number of turns.

Thank you so much to the volunteers who came with us to Junie B. Jones, The Musical on Wednesday.  This much anticipated field trip was very fun and everyone had a wonderful time, despite the fact that it was a little hard to hear.  We still have a few field trips on the horizon, so if you have not yet had a chance to join us, there is still time.

Our Love Around the U.S.A. unit has been a blast this week.  Thank you so much to all the family and friends who sent postcards to our class.  On our last count, we had collected postcards from 21 different states and 3 different countries.  We will continue to read postcards into early next week, so if you still have some on the way, don't worry!

It's been a big week for Room 7!  The class earned themselves their first official Fancy Lunch on Friday.  Fancy Lunch can only occur when ALL the bees stay in the garden for an entire week.   We are very proud.  Fancy Lunch came complete with tablecloths, floral centerpieces, special napkins, special dessert, mini umbrellas, and classical music.  Pictures from Fancy Lunch will be available next week. 

In Math this week we have been working on Topic 12: Larger Numbers.  We will still be concentrating on this unit next week along with reviewing addition and subtraction.

Also next week we will be getting loose with Dr. Seuss!  In honor of the famous author's birthday, Kindergarten will be concentrating on rhyming and begin our study of word families using his iconic literature.  Most of the students have already pointed out their favorite books!  We are so excited!

Friday February 18th, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!  We all had a wonderful time celebrating our friendshisp on Monday.  It was great to see all the special valentines the kids brought for each other and their artistic valentine boxes.  This week in Kindergarten we carried the valentine theme throughout the week with our geography unit, Love Around the U.S.A.  Thank you so much to everyone who sent in postcards.  We really enjoy reading about all the different places our families live and facts about those places.  Our goal is to talk about all 50 states!  There is still time to send them in, we will be reading them next week as well.

We are finishing up Topic 11: Subtraction this week.  On Thursday we wrote our own subtraction sentences after acting out various subtraction problems.  The students really enjoyed pretending five of them went to the beach then two went home.  Next week we will begin Topic 12: Larger Numbers.

In Writer's Workshop, we are talking about adding Five Finger Detail to stories.  It helps to have this visual representation when students are planning out what they want to write.  It's amazing to see the detail they have begun to include in their stories.

Reminders
-  Monday February 21st - NO SCHOOL for President's Day
-  Wednesday February 23rd - Field Trip to Junie B. Jones, the Musical.  Thank you so much to everyone who signed up to join us.  Unfortunately, we are only taking 2 chaperones on this trip.  The chaperones for this trip will be Mr. Gollias and Mr. Fanning.  Please be at school at 9:00, the bus is scheduled to leave at 9:15.
-  All parents who accompany us on field trips must be Virtus certified.  Please visit the website for the Archdiocese of Chicago under the tab "Protecting Children" to learn more about where and when those training sessions occur.
-  There are still spots available for Celebrity Reader.  Please send a note or email with your day of preference.
-  There will be a Parent's Association Meeting on Tuesday February 22nd at 7:30 in the church commons.
-  Mark your calendars!  Kindergarten will be planning the mass for Ash Wednesday (March 9th) and we would love for all of you to attend. 


Requests
-  Disinfecting wipes
-  Paper towels

Thank you so much for your unending generosity!

Friday February 11th, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!  Happy 100 Day!  We have been very busy catching up from all our snow days last week.  100 Day was moved from last Thursday to Monday as a result of the blizzard.  We had a blast counting to 100 every different way imaginable.  We counted jumping jacks and Fruit Loops by 10's, we counted blocks by 5's, we counted hops by 25's and by 2's...it was exhausting, but great practice!

Also this week we started talking about hibernation.  We talked about what we already know about hibernation.  Then we came up with questions that we want to answer about hibernation this week.  We also read the book, Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson to see what happens when a bear and his friends hibernate.

In Math we started Topic 11: Subtraction.  So far we have learned about take away and leftover.  Next week we will begin working with the minus sign.

Requests
-  Spoons
-  Recess Volunteers.  We are in need of recess volunteers for Kindergarten's 1:00 recess.  Please contact Cathy Veth if you would like to help out.

Reminders
-  Please send in your child's valentines and boxes on Monday.
-  Scholastic Book orders are due February 25th.  If you would like to order online, our class activation code is: H2YDJ


Thank you so much for everything you have sent in for our class!  We really appreciate it!