Happy New Year!

Welcome 2012!

Run run as fast as you can...

So what do you do on the last day before the holiday?  Why you look for the missing gingerbread boy, of course!  He came in for a visit and before we knew it, he was missing!  However, he did leave us some clues as to where we might find him.  The first clue sent us to the stage in the Dining Room.

 The second clue sent us out to the portables where our fifth grade partners were waiting.

They told us they had seen the gingerbread man and he left a clue that he was on the playground. So... it was off to the playground we went just to find out we had missed him once again.

Of course, he did leave us another clue and we finally found him by the kindergarten class with the gingerbread house - of course!

We just couldn't believe that he had taken us on such an adventure.  He did leave some gingerbread cookies for us to eat!

Since we have been writing pattern books, the children each wrote their own Gingerbread Boy pattern book. The following is an example. Angel used his vast knowledge about animals to incorporate into his pattern book. Once upon a time the gingerbread boy ran away from a ... If you listen carefully you will see that Angel had his gingerbread boy run away from animals in alphabetical order beginning with A until he finally got to Z where the zebra ate him all up!

Letters to Santa

Go to Timmons Times to read Letters to Santa from our class.

Holiday Party

If you were not able to join us for the holiday party, you missed such a treat.  There's nothing like sharing the holiday with children.  Below is just a little peek into the fun!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

What do you do on that rare occasion when you can't go outside for recess because it is raining?  In Kindergarten we often teach the children to play games.  We have found that young children need lots of lessons on playing fairly!  They just want to WIN and good sportsmanship is often a taught skill!  One of the games that is always a school favorite on rainy days is Heads Up, Seven Up.  Maybe you played it when you were in school! 

To play Heads Up, Seven Up, seven children are chosen to come to the front. 

The rest of the class puts their heads down on their desks with their hands in a fist with thumbs up. 

When the teachers says, "Go!" the seven children each go and put one child's thumb down and then go back to their place at the front of the room.  The teacher then tells the children they can look up.  The children who had their thumbs put down get to try to guess which child at the front put their thumb down.  If they are right, they take that child's place and if they are wrong the chosen child stays at the front for another turn.  This is a simple game but it is sometimes hard for kindergartners not to "cheat" by opening their eyes.

Make sure to ask your child about this game.  You might want to spend some time playing games with your Kindergartner at home because this is such a great time for them to grow and enjoy games.  You might even whisper in Santa's ear that you would love to have a few games included in this year's gifts!  Let us know what your favorite game is to play with your child!

Our Giving Project

Each year classes at Chets Creek are encouraged to adopt a giving project for the season.  So many of our children get so much at the holiday and we want to remind them that there are people who also have a difficult time during the holiday and who need our help.  With our economy slipping and so many people out of a job, we know how stressful this time of year is on so many. 

We started this project by reading a book, The Giving Tree, which tells the story of a tree that gives and gives and gives out of love.  We want our children to capture that feeling and so we took the name of a family from our Angel Tree in the lobby.  All of the families that are represented on the tree are from our own Chets Creek family.  For some of the families, the gifts of love that are purchased by the families in our class will be the only Christmas that the family will have.  We so appreciate those of you who are able to help with this project this year and if you are not, we certainly understand.  It will not diminish the pride that each of the children will feel as we take the presents and deliver them under the tree.

As part of our display in the Lobby to let others know what we are doing as our giving project, we asked each of the children to write something they could do to show kindness on an ornament that we put on the tree.  We love that our children will be thinking about others during this season.  When you have a chance, stop in the Lobby and read all of the ways that they decided that they could show kindness this holiday season!

You better not pout...I'm telling you why...

These are the children's non-pouting bags because... we all know who's coming for a visit at the end of the month!  And we also know that every teacher has a special phone to call Santa and let him know who's been naughty and who's been nice.  Each day for the next two weeks each child can earn a small treat at the end of the day for having a good day and staying on the nice list.  The children will take home their bag of treats on the last day of school so be looking for this special red bag on the last day.  Make sure to ask your child if they earned their treat each day because...

You better watch out.  You better not cry. You better not pout.  I'm telling you why. 

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Our Gingerbread Bulletin Board

Our new bulletin board is up and it is based on a class activity of decorating a cardboard gingerbread cookie using a "glyph."  A glyph is a fun way to graph information.  For instance, if the child is a boy he give his gingerbread cutout circle eyes and if she are a girl, she gives her cutout triangle eyes.  If the child has siblings, the cut out makes their nose face right and if they are an only child, the nose faces left and so on.  After the children make their gingerbread cookie, they looked at the class data.  they sepearted themselves into categories and graphed the information and then answered questions about their representation.  This was a fun activity with lots of learning!

How long is your foot?

Today we used one inch cubes to meaure our foot!

Then we compared our foot size with that of a friend and talked about longer, shorter and the same.  Make sure to ask your child about it!

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

Make sure to stop by the lobby and see the beautiful Chets Creek holiday tree.  The tree is an annual tradition and includes a picture of every single child at the Creek.  Our class ornaments actually decorate the Christmas tree skirt this year.  They are the colorful coffee filters with each of our pictures.  The tree is an amazing sight!