News for the Week of September 3rd

We hope you all enjoyed the Labor Day weekend!  I enjoyed catching up on some much needed sleep and spending time with my family.  It was nice to get back in the groove though this week, with a shorter 4 day week.

In math this week, we worked on our new unit, Developing a Sense of Quantities to 10.  We are working hard to learn our routine for our math stations.  We have a math journal station, an independent practice station and we will be adding a math technology station this upcoming week.  We will eventually add a game/hands-on activity station and a guided math station with the teacher.  We are continuing to look at numbers in a variety of different ways.

In language arts, we continued our word study by looking at our names and playing "name bingo".  The students had a lot of fun with this game since it used everyone's name in our class.

We read the poem, Colors, and focused on the sight word, "a."  We wrote the word "a" several times and looked for rhyming words in our poem.  We read the book That is NOT a Good Idea, by Mo Willems, and worked on making predictions.  The students learned that a prediction is a guess based on the title, pictures and words in a text.  It is okay if we make a prediction that is wrong.  We also make predictions before and during reading the book Suddenly!, by Colin McNaughton.  We also worked on retelling a story after reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  The students have colored pictures of the characters in the book and will use the pictures to retell the story to a partner next week.  We will work on identifying the main event in a story, also.  In writing, we focused on figuring out if words we want to add to our stories are short or long (will it have many letters in the word or only a few?) and then we discussed how to "talk like a turtle" and say the words slowly.  As we slowly say words we listen for the sounds we hear and write them down.  We got our writing folders this week and worked on slowly saying words and writing the sounds we heard.

We continued work in our handwriting book and worked on the forming the letters N, M and H.  In social studies, we focused on authority figures that help us in our school.  We read about a librarian, principal and a teacher.  We will hear about a custodian and a school nurse next week.  We will also begin to learn about people in our community that help us.

In science, we began our unit, Properties of Objects.  We learned about our five senses and how they help to keep us aware.  We noticed the properties of popcorn with our senses, as we popped some in an air popper and ate some.  We noticed that the popcorn was white, soft, bumpy, salty and smelled yummy!  We read the book Seven Blind Mice and it showed us how some blind mice used their other senses to figure out what an object was by exploring its properties.  We will play a game with some buttons next week and describe the properties of the buttons.  We will make a chart of all of the different properties we might be able to use to describe a variety of objects.

Reminders

Please come to our Kindergarten Open House on Tuesday, Sept. 11th from 6:00-6:30 p.m.  We ask that only parents attend this if possible, and not students and/or siblings.  We will give an overview of kindergarten and answer any questions.  There will also be a sign-up sheet available to sign up for a fall parent/teacher conferences at the open house.  The conferences will be held on Monday, October 8th throughout the day. The PTA meeting will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria.

Please be sure to check out the "Dates to Remember" below. 

Upcoming Dates to Remember: 

Sept. 11     Kindergarten Open House, 6:00-6:30 p.m.

Sept. 11     PTA General Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Sept. 14     Kona Ice, after school
Sept. 19     Bush's Chicken Spirit Night, 4-7 p.m.
Sept. 20     Picture Day
Sept. 20     Coffee Chat for parents, Library, 7:45-8:15 a.m.
Sept. 25     Family PE/Wellness Night, 6-7 p.m.

Superstars & Birthdays:

Morris Superstar:

Jackson!

Morris September Birthdays:

Mozelle-9/14
Ethan-9/26

News for the Week of August 27th

We are settling in to our kindergarten routine more and more as each day passes!  After our first 12 days of school, the students are ready for a nice, long 3 day weekend!

In math this week, we continued working on our unit, Introducing Number Concepts to 5.  We will continue this next week and go into our next unit, Developing a Sense of Quantities to 10.  The students are looking at numbers in many different ways such as, five frames, tally marks, domino and dot arrangements, the actual numeral, various amounts of objects and number lines.  We learned a couple of fun concentration/memory card games this past week.  We also began working in our math journals.  The students matched up the appropriate amount of objects to the correct number.  

In language arts, we continued our word study by putting together name puzzles that we will keep in our book boxes, we made a chart about how many letters are in our names, and we matched up pictures that rhymed such as dog/log, mouse/house, etc.  We read the poem, In My Book, and focused on the sight word, "the."  We wrote the word "the" several times and looked for rhyming words in our poem.  We read the book A My Name is Alice and created a picture of ourselves and added the words, "__ my name is _______, and I like ______."  This was fun!  We created sentences such as, "K my name is Kim, and I like kites."  Be sure to check them out in our hallway!  We read the book Chrysanthemum again this week and we discussed how many letters are in our names.  We then created a class chart of how many letters are in our names.  We will begin learning about predictions next week and work on retelling evens in a story.  In writing, we reviewed expectations for writing workshop time and shared our stories about things we like.  We worked on talking about our pictures as if we were telling a story.  Next week, we will focus on talking slow like a turtle when saying the words for our story.  This will help us hear the letter sounds in our words.  We continued work in our handwriting book this week, too. We are learning to start forming our letters and writing them from the top.  We worked on D, E, P, R and B.  

In social studies, we are continuing to focus on why we have rules at home, at school and in the community.  We will start learning about authority figures in our school that help us this next week.

In science, we continued working on a unit called "I Am a Scientist."  We discussed the difference between "tools" we use in science and "toys."  We sorted pictures in our science notebook under the categories, "Tools" and "Toys."  We read and signed our Science Safety Contract and glued it into our science notebook.  We also had fun making play dough in science this week and focused on using safe practices while working with materials.  The Monkeys were then able to explore the play dough we made.  We will finish talking about how scientists ask questions, observe and measure things next week and will then begin a new unit called, "Properties of Objects."

Reminders

Book orders are due on Tuesday, September 4th if you would like to purchase books for your child.  Please send the book order and check or money order made payable to Scholastic Reading Clubs in your child's folder or order and purchase online.

If you have not filled out and returned the permission form from our counselor, Mrs. Hougham, please do so as soon as possible.  This form will allow your child to work in social skills groups with our counselor and Westwood PROS (high school students who mentor).  The students LOVE having this opportunity.  

Please be sure to check out the "Dates to Remember" below. 

Upcoming Dates to Remember: 

Sept. 3      Holiday, No School

Sept. 6      WatchDOGS Kick-Off,

                 Cafeteria, 6 p.m.

Sept. 11     Kindergarten Open House, 6:00-6:30 p.m.

Sept. 11     PTA General Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Sept. 14     Kona Ice, after school
Sept. 19     Bush's Chicken Spirit Night, 4-7 p.m.
Sept. 20     Coffee Chat for parents, Library, 7:45-8:15 a.m.
Sept. 25     Family PE/Wellness Night, 6-7 p.m.

Superstars & Birthdays:

Morris Superstar:

None

Morris September Birthdays:

Mozelle-9/14
Ethan-9/26

Happy Birthday Leighton!

News for the Week of August 20th

We finished our first full week of Kindergarten!  We had a great week and worked hard!  I think students, teachers and parents are all very tired.  I hope those of you who were able to make it to our storybook parade enjoyed watching your children!  They were so excited and cute!

In math this week, we worked on beginning to set up expectations for guided math and rotations.  We are building our stamina so math will run smoothly in the future.  We are focusing on numbers 1-5 currently and looking at the numbers in different ways.  Our current unit is called, Introducing Number Concepts to 5.  

In language arts, we have began our word study by working on recognizing our names, how many letters are in our names, beginning sounds of our names and we have focused on rhyming, too.  We read the poem, I See, and focused on the sight word, "see."  We wrote the word "see" several times and looked for rhyming words in our poems.  We read the book Only One You and learned how we are all special and unique.  We created a fish like the character Adri in the book.  We also read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and wrote the letters in our names and made trees with our names on them.  Be sure to check them out in our hallway!  Another book we read this week was Chrysanthemum and we discussed how all or our names are special.  We then created rainbow "tear art" names that we will display all year in our classroom.  In writing, we learned expectations for writing workshop time and created our first story about things we like.  Some students made pictures for their stories and could orally tell their story, while others also added words to their story.  We began work in our handwriting book this week, too.  We discussed and worked on correct pencil grip and we wrote the letter Ff.  We will continue to work on our unit, "Developing Readers and Writers" for the next couple of weeks.

In social studies, we are focusing on why we have rules at home, school and in the community.  We will also learn about authority figures in our home, school and community.  We have established our social contract and follow that to work well together as a class.  We are working hard to learn the expectations and procedures at our school.  We can all be successful in kindergarten if we follow our social contract.

In science, we are working on a unit called "I Am a Scientist."  We are learning about the meaning of science, discussing what we want to learn about in science, how to stay safe during science and focusing on what scientists do.  We will continue this unit next week.

Reminders

If you have not filled out and returned the permission form from our counselor, Mrs. Hougham, please do so as soon as possible.  This form will allow your child to work in social skills groups with our counselor and Westwood PROS (high school students who mentor).  The students LOVE having this opportunity.  

Please be sure to check out the "Dates to Remember" below. 

Upcoming Dates to Remember: 

Aug. 30     Cub Scout Information Night,

                Cafeteria, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Sept. 3      Holiday, No School

Sept. 6      WatchDOGS Kick-Off,

                 Cafeteria, 6 p.m.

Sept. 11     Kindergarten Open House, 6:00-6:30 p.m.

Sept. 11     PTA General Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Superstars & Birthdays:

Morris Superstar:

None

Morris August Birthdays:

Lauren-8/1

Ryan-8/25

Leighton-8/27

Happy Birthday Ryan!

News for the Week of August 16th-17th

We did it!  We all got through the first 2 days of Kindergarten!  This week is so busy and full of excitement, nerves and then being tired.  We have really enjoyed getting to know all of our new friends!  It has also been exciting to learn about our school and where places are!  We have been to the cafeteria, to the playground, to Music and to the gym for P.E.  Next week, we will get to go to Art and learn about the library! 

The kids are able to buy their lunch in the cafeteria now if they would like.  Please make sure their money is already in their account.  Also, make sure to talk to your kids if they are buying their lunch. We want to make sure everyone knows whether or not they will be buying in the cafeteria or if they have a lunch box. 

We played a game to learn our friends’ names called “Doggy, Doggy, Where’s Your Bone?”.  We also read the story “The Kissing Hand” and made some precious little handprints to give to each family.  The story teaches the kids that their mother’s love is always with you when she kisses your hand, you just press it to your cheek and remember the love!  

Each class has created a social contract where the class decides together how to treat the teacher and how to treat their friends.  The contract is signed and it is a promise that we keep throughout the year. We also go over consequences when a child is not following the contract.  We read a book called, No, David!, and then we sorted pictures modeling good choices and poor choices.

In the cafeteria, we practiced having good manners such as staying seated while we eat, raising our hands for help from an adult, and using an inside voice.  We also practiced cleaning up our own trash and walking to the trash can rather than running.

In math, we learned how to work with materials safely and how to clean up math counters/tools.  We were very impressed with our students and how well they cleaned up together.

We are so excited to have your child at Canyon Creek Elementary!  It is going to be a great year! Have a relaxing weekend!

Reminders

A note went home in your child's folder today about the Storybook Parade.  It will take place next Friday morning, (8/24/18), at 7:55 a.m. in the hallway at our school.  You are welcome to come and watch your child during this time and take pictures.  Please sign in first at the office with a valid ID or driver's license and get a badge.  All visitors must have a badge if they are in the school building after 7:40 a.m. for safety reasons.

Please be sure to check out the "Dates to Remember" below. 

Upcoming Dates to Remember: 

Aug. 24     Storybook Parade, 7:55 a.m.

Aug. 30     Cub Scout Information Night,

                Cafeteria, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Sept. 3      Holiday, No School

Sept. 6      WatchDOGS Kick-Off,

                 Cafeteria, 6 p.m.

Sept. 11     Kindergarten Open House, 6:00-6:30 p.m.

Sept. 11     PTA General Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Superstars & Birthdays:

Morris Superstar:

None

Morris August Birthdays:

Lauren-8/1

Ryan-8/25

Leighton-8/27