Tolerance

Each month our school highlights a character trait.  This month the character trait was tolerance - a big word for kindergartners - but they learned that it is a word that means respecting other people's differences.  At the end of the month we get to choose a student that has best exemplified that trait in our classroom. Congratulations to this month's winner whose ever-present smile and acceptance of others is a constant gift to our classroom!

Update:  Each month all of the classroom winners are put in a basket and then two in each grade level are pulled out and all of those children are invited to a special Chick-fil-A lunch.  This is the first time one of our students has won that big prize, but today, our adorable winner above enjoyed a delicious Chick-fil-A lunch! Woo hoo!

Hexagons

Today we played a game with partners to see how many different ways we could fill a hexagon with triangles, trapezoids and rhombuses.  We were amazing!

It's Bingo Time!

Each nine weeks we have a reading goal for families to help their child complete at home.  We really believe that reading at home makes a difference and that it is a lifelong habit that pays off in spades.  We hope that our children will establish this daily reading habit in kindergarten.  This past nine weeks we expected our children to read 25 books at home (Monday through Thursday nights) and to record those books in a book log. We send home a "just right" book each night for each child to read.  At the end of the nine weeks, every child that met the goal and turned in a log received a Readers-to-Leaders certificate at our Awards Ceremony.   Our Principal, Susan Phillips, always plans a special treat for all the children who meet their goal.  Today 30 of our children were invited to play Bingo with the Principal and every single child that played was a winner and received a prize!  What fun!

We're 100 Days Smarter!

Today was the 100th day of Kindergarten!  Can you believe it?  Many of the children came dressed in tee-shirts with 100 things.  Such creative parents - view a few of the creations below.

100 band-aids with the saying - I survived 100 day of kindergarten!

 Stars and bows and patterns!

 This is 100 safety pins!  Amazing!

Stickers and monster eyes and jewels!

 Would you believe 100 buttons?

We shared our shirts and then we wrote from 1-100 and and wrote about the 100 things that we would like to have (like money and toys!) and the 100 things we wouldn't want to have (like ants and bug bites!)  Then we had out 100 snack.

Next we made a hundred hat.  Each hat had 10 strips with 10 stickie dots on each strip.  The perfect 100!

After lunch we had a hunt for 100 Hersey kisses.  Each kiss had a number on the bottom and we had to match the number on each kiss with a number on a hundreds chart.  The deal was if we found them all we could eat them all, but... at the end of the day, we were still missing two numbers so no kisses today!  I'm sure we will still be looking for the missing Hersey kisses tomorrow!

We ended the day with Fruit Look necklaces made from 10 rows of 10 Fruit Loops on each row.  Wonder how many of those Fruit Loops made it home?  What a FUN day!

Geometry

This week we began our Math work in Geometry!  We have been investigating shapes using geoblocks and play doh.  Next week we will be working with geoboards.  To help at home make sure your child can identify shapes around the house.  Look for circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, oval and rhombuses (diamonds).

JCA Play

Our second field trip this year was a play at the Jewish Community Alliance.

  We saw the delightful Amelia Bedelia.  They even invited a few of our students up on the stage.

The play was funny and the children enjoyed the play on words.  When it was time to "call the role," only Ameila Bedelia would look for a bread roll and start trying to call it to come like a dog!  After the play, we ate right there in the Cafe-torium!

 It was a cloudy, wet day but it was sunny inside and it never did rain.  Thanks to the parents who were able to go with us. We had a great time!

Last Day Fun

Where, oh where, did the gingerbread man go?

Oh there they are!

How about a balloon relay?

Recognize any of these Christmas trees designed by their friends?

Merry Christmas! See ya next year!

The Polar Express Arrives

Thanks to the Church at Chets Creek, we walked to the church and watched the movie, The Polar Express, on the big screen in our pajamas!  We jingled all the way back to school.  You could probably hear us!   It was cold enough to our thin Florida skin (mid 50's!)  that we could even  imagine we were in the North Pole!  One day until Christmas... I mean, vacation!

Crafts and Gingerbread Houses!

Crafts in the morning...

Gingerbread houses in the afternoon...