"How to"

We are in the middle of a writing unit on procedural writing.  Children are writing "how to" do things.  Today they wrote how to make no-bake cookies and what a fun time they had!  Each child had a chance to add an ingredient to the bowl and/or mix and knead the dough.  Each child then got his/her own ball of dough to shape into a 3-D shape and then roll in green sugar in honor of St. Pat's Day.  Now we will write the directions so you can try it at home!

100th Day of Kindergarten!

Teachers came in ready for the 100th Day!

Then our 5th grade partners joined us for the stringing 100 Fruit Loops!  No sure who enjoyed the necklaces more - the Kindergartners or the 5th graders!

 While they worked, the Math Whiz worked with the Math Whiz!

One of our students is moving so we made a chart of 100 reasons why we love her!

The children also enjoyed making hats with 100 stars or stickers.

We also loved making our 100 snack!  We had 10 snacks and got to count 10 of each! 10 marshmallows, 10 raisins, 10 Cheerios...

The children ended the day by hearing Zero the Hero read a big book.  He then had them do 100 jumping beans and 100 jumping jacks, etc.

We had so much fun that we are going to continue our celebration on Monday!  We still have a 100 cake to eat, 100 words around the room to find, 100 Hershey Kisses to find for the number chart...  And the celebration continues...

2nd Nine Weeks Awards

Today some of our parents joined with us as we presented our Second Nine Weeks Awards.  Awards were presented for "E" Citizenship, All E's, Readers-to-Leaders, and Perfect Attendance.  A few special awards were given including the highly coveted "Soaring Eagle."  The "Soaring Eagle" is given in every classroom to the student who has done something exemplary during the nine weeks.  This nine weeks our classroom presented "Soaring Eagles" to two students.  Congratulations to two of the sweetest little girls in the world who have worked so hard this nine weeks.  We are proud of you!

Word Problems

In math we have started doing word problems. Today one student helped us read the problems and then chose students to act it out.

We have been doing word problems every day.  You can help at home by thinking up some problems for your own child such as, "If we have 5 forks and then 5 spoons, how many do we have in all?" or "I'm giving you ten Goldfish.  If you eat 4 of them, how many do you have left?"  Or at the grocery store, "Let's get 3 apples and 4 oranges.  Now how many do we have?"

Report Cards Go Home Today!

Report cards go home TODAY and we will celebrate in our room tomorrow.  Make sure to join us at 9:15 for our Second Nine Weeks Awards Ceremony. 

Last week the children that will be receiving the "Readers-to-Leaders" Award enjoyed time with the Principal playing Bingo.  Each night your child brings home a form to write down the book that is read.  This coming nine weeks, the children are being encouraged to write the book title down themselves.  No more parent help with the writing!  The children are expected to read 25 books each nine weeks.  That same expectation is for every student K-5.  Reading nightly is a habit  and expectation that your child will have as long as they are at Chets Creek.  Children that read, write down the books, and then remember to turn them in each week receive the "Readers-to-Leaders" Award at our Awards ceremony.  To help encourage students, Mrs. Phillips has a special event for all of the students that meet that goal.  This nine weeks the kindergarten students were invited into the Dining Room to play Super Hero Bingo with the Principal.  Each child left with a prize.  What did your child win?  It's fun for the children and reminds them that reading is important.  Children that don't meet the goal remain in the room to read ):  Have your child started on the goal for the third nine weeks?

Happy Birthday, Chets Creek!

Happy Birthday to Chets Creek! 14 years old today. Just think, none of the children in our class were even born when Chets Creek opened!

An Author Visit

Today the children at Chets Creek had the delightful experience of hearing children's author Carmen Agra Deedy, and what a treat it was!  Carmen was born in Cuba and came to the United States when she was three years old.  She told the children the story of leaving Cuba and her first year in school in the states.  She is such a wonderful story teller and so funny!  The children were captivated by her stories!  Make sure to ask your child about Carmen's story about the peanut man and baseball.

Children were offered the opportunity before the break to order a book by the author so those that ordered a book were given the opportunity to meet the author one-on-one and have their book signed.  Each year Chets Creek Media Specialist KK Cherney brings a children's author to the school so that the children can hear from someone who is a published author or illustrator.  What a treat!

New Year's Resolutions

As we eased back into the New Year we read and talked about goals and new year's resolutions (or "revolutions" as Luke called them!)  These are some of the things our children are thinking about as they ring in the new year!

Jaiden - My resolution will be cleaning my room.
Luke - My resolution will be I will run six laps every day.
Mikaela - I will take care of my guinea pig.
Subhangi - My resolution will be to go to Sea World because my dad helps me go to Sea World in a car.
Liam - My resolution will be to run laps as a family.
Jaylene - My resolution is to wash dishes and help Mom.

Nicky - I will recycle because it can help the environment.
William - My resolution will be to walk two laps around my neighbor's house.
Richie - My resolution will be to do my homework.
Griffin - I will clean my room.

Hailey - My resolution is to clean up my room.
Ethan - My resolution is to play more football.
Braylen - I will run laps.
Alyssa - My resolution is to eat less chocolate.
Gabriel - I will try to make better choices outside with my brother.

Austin - taking out the garbage
Manny - My resolution is to clean my room.
Grace - I am going to take care of my baby sister.
Christian - I will go to the beach.

Morgan - My resolution will be to help my sister make better choices at home so she does not get in trouble.
Jacob - My resolution is to run the track.
Nathen - My resolution is to sleep in.

Lilly - to clean my toys up
Avery - I am going to run.
Addison - My resolution is to clean my room.
Will - My resolution will be to exercise a lot more so I can get stronger.
Kayla - My resolution is to run laps.
Nelson - I want to go to more places with my friends.
Asher - I want to play on the computer more.

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!