It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Ok, so it's not really looking like Christmas outside, but the Christmas excitement sure is in the air!

We are celebrities!  

Mrs. Bockover has asked me for a while if we could be on morning announcements.  Well, today was our day!  We talked to her about what we were excited about for Christmas, and helped lead the Pledge of Allegiance and Cougar Creed.  Announcements are pre-taped, so our moment in the spotlight will be tomorrow morning!  They were part excited, part nervous this morning, but they did a GREAT job!

Polar Express Day

Don't forget to have your children wear their "school appropriate" pajamas to school Friday!  We will finish our Ettabetta unit Friday morning with the Supersmart, and the rest of the day will be dedicated to all that is Polar Express!  We will play games and complete literacy and math activities all relating to the Polar Express.  And of course, we will be watching the movie and enjoying hot chocolate!

Thursday--Christmas Party/Centers

I've decided I could use a few parents to help run the centers at our Christmas Celebration!  If you could help work at a center from 12:45-2, could you please email me and let me know?  You would be helping the boys and girls with snack, craft, and/or game centers.  Thanks!

Christmas Present

Today your child is bringing home their Christmas present for you that we made in class.  They are very excited about them!  We talked about them either choosing to give it to you today, or putting it under the Christmas tree and having you wait until Christmas to open it.  I have a feeling most will have you open it today!

Counting to 100

YAY!  Everyone in our class can now count to 100 and has earned their invitation to the pizza party after the 100th day of school (sometime in January).  We are VERY close to our grade level goal of having 100 kindergarteners being able to count to 100 by the 100th day of school!

Have a great day!

Happy Monday!

Homework
There will be NO homework in Kindergarten next week!  A little "Christmas gift" for the children...and you!  :)  Enjoy a week away from homework, but PLEASE remember to keep practicing reading those sight words and read EVERY night!  Remember it is important to also talk about story elements after you finish reading.  Ask your child to tell you the characters, setting, main idea, key details, and sequence of events.  This nightly practice will help increase comprehension and confidence at school when I ask those questions. 

Good Cheer Drive
The Good Cheer food drive is still going on.  Our basket is getting very full! Please send in any canned or boxed non perishable food for the food drive!   The drive ends next Friday when volunteers will be around to collect the baskets.

Polar Express Day

Don't forget to have your children wear their "school appropriate" pajamas to school next Friday!  We will finish our Ettabetta unit Friday morning with the Supersmart, and the rest of the day will be dedicated to all that is Polar Express!  We will play games and complete literacy and math activities all relating to the Polar Express.  And of course, we will be watching the movie and enjoying hot chocolate!

Thursday--Christmas Party/Centers

I've decided I could use a few parents to help run the centers at our Christmas Celebration!  If you could help work at a center from 12:45-2, could you please email me and let me know?  You would be helping the boys and girls with snack, craft, and/or game centers.  Thanks!

Holiday Donations

Just a reminder that if you signed up to send something in for Thursday or Friday, please have those donations in by Wednesday, so I have enough time to prep them for our special events!  Thanks again for donating!

Twinkle is Back!

He's had some fun the past couple of days!

Writer's Workshop

Last week we finished up writing lists, so this week we are learning how to write cards and postcards.  You will see a lot of these come home this week!

Third Grade Friends

On Friday we were invited to Mrs. Jochim's Third grade class.  They paired up with us and they practiced fluently reading while we listened to Christmas stories!  Plus they each made us a bookmark to keep.  It was a lot of fun.  Check out some of the pictures below.

Have a great week!

Only 6 more school days until Christmas Break!

Superkids
This week we finished up our Frits unit.  If you haven't heard by now, Frits is a Native American Superkid who loves to fish, but he never has much luck catching anything.  We will have our Supersmart today and meet the next Superkid Friday.  

Recycling Lesson
To go along with our Frits unit, we had a special guest from Johnson County Recycling here on Wednesday to lead our class on a fun fishing environmental lesson.  Check out our pictures below!

NWEA
We finished our middle of the year NWEA tests today.  We had PERFECT ATTENDANCE both days of testing, so thank you!!  Results will come home soon.

Coats and Shoes
Please continue working with your child on zipping his/her own coat and tying shoes.  These skills help your child become more independent and help children feel confident.  

The Adventures of Twinkle!
Twinkle has been busy!

 Day 7...zip lining!  I forgot to take a close up picture, but you can see him above the first grade friends' heads here.

Day 8...being silly in our bathroom!

GOOD CHEER DRIVE
The Good Cheer food drive is still going on.  Our basket is getting very full! Please send in any canned or boxed non perishable food for the food drive!   The drive ends next Friday when volunteers will be around to collect the baskets.

NO HOMEWORK SHEET NEXT WEEK
Due to the Christmas spirit, we will not have a homework sheet next week.  Enjoy!

First Grade Friends
Wednesday Miss Records' class came to practice the play that they are putting on for their parents on Friday.  Check out the pictures of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Have a great day!

Happy Tuesday!

Day 5--Twinkle is putting together a puzzle.

 Day 6--today he is going fishing like Frits!

Lily in Miss Records' first grade class earned 50 Reading Counts points!  As her special prize, she choose to come to our class and read a story this morning.  Way to go Lily!

Good Cheer Food Drive
The Good Cheer food drive is still going on.  Our basket is getting very full! Please send in any canned or boxed non perishable food for the food drive!   The drive ends on December 18th when volunteers will be around to collect the baskets.

NWEA
Tomorrow we are starting winter NWEA testing in the computer lab!  Our class will test on Wednesday and Thursday.  As a reminder This test measures how much your child knows in the areas of reading/language, and math.  The test begins with easy questions and gets progressively harder the better your child does.  Children will take the test again spring to show growth.  After results are in, I will send a copy home and we can discuss them!  Please make sure your child gets enough sleep the nights before testing, eats a good breakfast the day of, and remind them to do their best!  

Wreath contest--Cougars Against Cancer Relay for Life team
Teachers and staff participated in making Christmas wreaths which are on display in the commons area outside the office.  The last day to vote for your favorite and drop change in the bucket is tomorrow!  Also, check out the wreath album on Creekside's Facebook page and place your silent auction bid to win one of the wreaths!  Bidding goes through Friday.

The countdown to Christmas is on!

Only 10 more school days until Christmas break!!  Where has this year gone?!

Day 3--Twinkle is taking a marshmallow bubble bath. 

Day 4--Twinkle is feeling a little under the weather today, and needed a nap!

Day 5--Twinkle is a little thirsty...nothing a drink of syrup won't cure!

Trinity--artist of the month
Each month our art teacher, Mrs. Garrett picks one student from each grade level as the artist of the month! Their artwork is displayed around Creekside in a fancy frame and they get a special certificate.  For the first time we have someone from our class as the Kindergarten Artist of the month.  Congrats Trinity!

Calendar Update
I've updated the calendar for December/January on the calendar link at the top of the blog.  If viewing this blog entry on your computer, click on Classroom Calendar.

Good Cheer Food Drive
The Good Cheer food drive began this week. Please send in any canned or boxed non perishable food for the food drive!   The drive ends on December 18th when volunteers will be around to collect the baskets.

NWEA
Next week we are starting winter NWEA testing in the computer lab!  Our class will test on Wednesday and Thursday.  As a reminder This test measures how much your child knows in the areas of reading/language, and math.  The test begins with easy questions and gets progressively harder the better your child does.  Children will take the test again spring to show growth.  After results are in, I will send a copy home and we can discuss them!  Please make sure your child gets enough sleep the nights before testing, eats a good breakfast the day of, and remind them to do their best!  

Reminder--PTO Christmas Ornament Painting--TONIGHT!

The PTO would like to invite your family to a fun evening of painting special gifts for your loved ones or creating new ornamemts for your tree at home. Here are the details:

Where: Creekside Cafeteria 

When: Friday, December 4 from 6:00-8:30

(open house style so join us anytime during the event and leave when you are finished)           

 Cost: $10 per ornament painted - no limit

(PTO will receive a portion of sales)

 How it works: UPaint Pottery from Greenwood will be at Creekside with a wide variety of ornaments to paint. Choose and pay for as many as you'd like and then get busy painting. (Don't forget about all the special people in your life that love gifts made by your kids.) When you are finished, UPaint Pottery will take your creations back to their studio to glaze and fire in their kilns. Finished masterpieces will be returned to the school safely packaged and sent home with your child before Christmas break. 

Math
Yesterday in math we made shapes with pipe cleaners, craft sticks, and our bodies!  We had a lot of fun!  Check our our pictures below!

 square

 triangle

 rectangle

 oval

 square

triangle

Wreath contest--Cougars Against Cancer Relay for Life team
Teachers and staff participated in making Christmas wreaths which were displayed today in the commons area outside the office.  Starting next week we will have penny voting to vote for your favorite!  All money donated goes to our relay for life team.  Send your change in with your child to vote for their favorite (or stop by and vote for your favorite!) Voting is Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week.

Have a great weekend!  See you Monday!

Happy December!

Good Cheer Food Drive
The Good Cheer food drive beings today. Please send in any canned or boxed non perishable food for the food drive!   The drive ends on December 18th when volunteers will be around to collect the baskets.

Polar Express Day
Polar Express Day in Kindergarten will be Friday, Dec 18.  Children will be invited to wear their pajamas to school, and we will spend the morning doing literacy and math centers that focus around the book and movie.  Then, in the afternoon we will enjoy hot chocolate and watch the movie! 

Superkids
We have just one more day with Tic, Tac, and Toc (Super Smart today!) and then we will be meeting a new Superkid on Wednesday!  I feel like we are no sooner meeting these kids that we are on to another one!  Time is flying by!

Math
For math yesterday we worked on some special Christmas projects.  The boys and girls had to place green strips in order from longest to shortest to make a Christmas tree.  We also got Santas ready to display.  Each day we will glue a cotton ball to Santa's beard...when the beard is full, Christmas Eve is here! I'm posting pictures of these below! 

Writer's Workshop
This week in Writer's Workshop we are working on writing friendly letters.  We will conclude this unit this week by writing letters to Santa!

The Adventures of Twinkle the Elf!
Our class elf is back!  Twinkle appeared yesterday!  I can't wait to see what fun he brings to our class over the next three weeks!  What a good writing opportunity to for us to write a sentence every day about where we found him!  I just happened to have special journals ready to go for us to record this info....

Day 1...Twinkle appeared on top of the Christmas tree in our classroom window!

Day 2....Twinkle LOVED checking out all of the cool technology in our classroom.  He even stopped to rest on top of our document camera!

Have a great week!