Welcome to the Jungle

My Final Post :(

2009-06-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

I want to thank each and every one of you for such a fantastic year! We have shared so many memories and the students have accomplished so much. I could not have asked for a better group of kids and beyond that such incredible parent support. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to do what I love every single day. I can't imagine a better life and I am thankful that you have all been a part of it. Enjoy your summer and I will see you all in the fall!

Our Final Days In Kindergarten

2009-06-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

Zoo Field Trip

2009-06-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Week of June 1st

2009-05-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

Our Jacksonville Zoo field trip will be tomorrow from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Please make sure your child is dressed in comfortable clothes and shoes. The summer heat is in full swing so you may want to send your child with a bottle of water for the day. Lunch will be provided for all students. If you are planning on being a chaperone please meet us at school at 8:45 a.m. Our Kindergarten End of the Year Party will kick off on Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. We have lots of outdoor games and activities planned for the students. Come join in on the fun! Lunch will be provided as well for all students. Our class is in charge of the dance station, so if you have any music that you would like to lend us please send it in with your child on Monday. Our Kindergarten Graduation will be held on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. in our classroom. I hope to see you all there! Just one last reminder that Friday's dismissal will be at 12:00 p.m. Please make sure to send in all supplies for the party/graduation on Monday. Each child needs a plain white t-shirt to paint. Also if you have not sent in a white 3-ring binder yet for your child's memory book, please do so by Monday. Thank you all for your support this year :) I appreciate each and every one of you and I look forward to a fantastic final week in Kindergarten!

Stadium Field Trip

2009-05-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Week of May 11th

2009-05-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder, our field trip to Jaguar Stadium will be Monday May 11th! Don't forget to wear your teal :) This week we will be starting our Eric Carle author study. So go ahead and ask your students to practice their retelling strategies with the new books introduced daily. Our new genre of writing is persuasive. The students are writing to persuade and convince their readers of their opinions on various subjects. We have started working on addition and subtraction in Math Workshop. This week the students will be incorporating those skills with story problems. Lastly, in Science Workshop we will begin a study on various zoo animals in order to prepare for the upcoming field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I am looking forward to another memorable week in Kindergarten!

Our Downtown Library Field Trip

2009-05-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

Spring Egg Hunt

2009-05-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

Play Day 2009

2009-04-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Week of April 5th

2009-04-05T06:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome Back! I hope that everyone has had a fabulous Spring Break. We are now officially in the last nine weeks of your child's Kindergarten career! This week will be short, but busy. On Wednesday the students will have "Play Day." Play Day is similar to a field day with Coach Rhodin giving the students the opportunity to participate in a variety of outdoor activities. Our Play Day time will be from 9:10-10:25. Please dress your child in comfortable clothes and sneakers. If any parents would like to send in popsicles for the class to enjoy at the conclusion of their play day, I would greatly appreciate it! On Thursday we will be embarking on our Spring Egg Hunt at the Reynold's family residence! I have asked that each parent send in $2.00 for the cost of the pizza lunch and 12 plastic candy filled eggs labeled with your child's name on each. Many thanks to all of you that have already done so. We will also be taking a field trip to the Downtown Library next week. The cost of that trip is $3.50. Each student will also need 50 cents to ride the monorail. Please have both permission slips and all costs for both trips sent in as soon as possible. There will be no school this Friday, so look forward to another nice long weekend!

Week of March 23rd

2009-03-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Last week I sent two field trip permission slips home with your child. Our Spring Egg Hunt will be on April 9th and our Downtown Library trip will be on April 14th. Please return the permission slip and the cost of the trip on or before Thursday, March 26th. If you have any interest in chaperoning either trip please let me know as soon as possible! Scholastic book order forms were sent home as well. I sent both the March and April forms together, so that I could have all orders in prior to Spring Break. As the end of the year approaches, now is the time to stock up on summer reading supplies for your child! Please have all orders in by Thursday, March 26th. I am continuously working on Kindergarten memory books for all of my students. I would appreciate if you could please send in a white 1.5 inch 3-ring binder so that I can compile your child's work. With Spring Break just around the corner, it would help to have them all sent in beforehand so that I can work on them over the break. Thank you for all of your support and I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Happy Spring!

2009-03-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Week of March 2nd

2009-03-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! This week we will begin our next author study featuring Theodor Seuss Geisel. I have lots of activities planned for the week that incorporate the wonderful books by Dr. Seuss into our daily curriculum. Progress reports will be sent home this week. I am sorry for the delay, but I wanted to take the time necessary to assess every student individually in all academic areas. The progress reports will indicate any areas that your child might need additional help with at home. If you need any information regarding those areas, please do not hesitate to ask. This Wednesday is an early release day and the students will be dismissed at 1:45. Last Friday the students took spring pictures. Unfortunately, you will not be able to view the pictures prior to purchase. If you intend to purchase pictures, all picture money is due no later than Wednesday, March 4th. This week will also be the start of a new writing genre and the next Math Investigations unit. Now that we have wrapped up functional writing, we will be embarking on how to produce and respond to literature. In math we will be exploring geometry. The students will be introduced to the world of shapes in a variety of exciting learning activities! I hope everyone is ready for another great week in Kindergarten :)

Happy President's Day

2009-02-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

Valentine Extravaganza!

2009-02-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

Our 100th Day of School!

2009-02-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

Week of February 2nd

2009-02-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

It is going to be a busy week in our classroom! We are kicking off the week with the 100th Day of School and Groundhog's Day. Don't forget to have your child bring in their "100 things" to share with all of Kindergarten on Monday. I also want to extend a thank you to all of you that have already sent in items for our "100's Trail Mix." Report cards will be sent home on Tuesday. Just a reminder that Wednesday is an early release day. On Thursday morning we will be attending a puppet show in the gym, so be sure to ask your child about that! Last week we began a Kevin Henkes author study. We are reading a collection of his books and focusing on characters and setting to help with the students retelling ability. Our new writing genre is "functional" otherwise known as "how-to" writing. Functional writing is simply giving directions. This week we will start writing in a three part system about how to do things using key words such as first, next, and last. I will be sending home some information this week regarding our classroom plans for Valentine's Day, so be on the lookout! I look forward to another fabulous week :)

Kindergarten 2008

2009-01-18T07:47:00.002-08:00

Week of January 12th

2009-01-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

I want to thank all of you that have returned your blog photo permission forms and taken the time to view our classroom blog. Last week we began a cross-curricular Polar Animals Unit. Our first animal focus was the penguin. During Reader's Workshop we have been reading "Tacky the Penguin" books by Helen Lester and studying the letter "Pp." As a class in Science, we created a KWL chart to decipher what we already know, want to know, and then learned about penguins after reading several non-fiction books. In Writer's Workshop the students wrote reports about penguins while studying the genre of Informational Writing. The students were also able to create penguin artwork to finish up the week! So ask your child what they have learned, you might be surprised to learn something new yourself. Our polar animal focus this week will be the polar bear. Just a reminder there will be no school on Friday, January 16th or Monday, January 19th in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and I look forward to another great week.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy and healthy new year. I hope that you enjoyed your holiday break and time with your family. I have recently decided to begin the new year with a classroom blog. This site will allow you to keep up with the events in our classroom. I will be posting weekly updates, photos, and more. This blog can be a great tool for communication, so please take full advantage. If you click on comments below, you will have the opportunity to leave your mark. Thank you for taking the time to do so and keep a look out for more to come.