Friday, August 24, 2018

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!


Friday, August 17, 2018

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



Tuesday, May 29, 2018

End of Kindergarten 2017-2018

Wow!  Just like that, kindergarten is over!  I feel the year went by very fast!  However, the older I get, the faster time seems to be going.  

I truly enjoyed teaching your children this year.  I think we had a great class and very supportive parents.  It really does say a lot when you can wake up in the morning and actually enjoy going to work.  It was a privilege to teach your children this year and I will truly miss them!  However, I know they will be in great hands with the first grade teachers and will have a fantastic first grade year!

THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH FOR THE WONDERFUL CARD, MONOGRAMMED NAVY CUP AND SPA GIFT CARD FOR MY END OF YEAR GIFT!!  I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR THOUGHTFULNESS AND GENEROSITY!  I WILL DEFINITELY USE THE GIFT CARD TO GET A MASSAGE SOON!  😃

The Monkeys had a great end of year!  Last, but not least, our final superstar was, Maaya!  We got to learn all about her life and interests!



Field Day was a BLAST!!  The students LOVED the inflatable slides, water slides, sponge relay and more!  Thanks to the field day t-shirt sales, the specials teachers had enough money to get the fun inflatables for field day.







































































The Monkeys also had fun doing academic activities on our "Picnic" and "Ice Cream" themed days.  We enjoyed writing the steps as a class for how to make "ants on a log" snacks.  We enjoyed these celery, sun butter and raisin snacks with lemonade outside on our blankets. 




Our end of year party was a great success thanks to our room parents and all of our parent volunteers!  You are so wonderful for helping out and the Monkeys really appreciated all of your hard work and time!
























I hope you all have a wonderful and safe summer!  Remember to read and write daily and practice math problem solving over the summer!