Thank you!

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the wonderful gifts and gift cards! The party was great, thank you Jennifer and helpers for organizing it all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

See you in the new year....

Welcome Back!!!

It was great to see everyone today!! We all had a wonderful day! This month we are talking about animals and Christmas of course. Our high frequency word is "is" and the letter for the week is "Oo".

Just a FYI: I will be gone Wednesday through Friday for a conference in Arlington. Mrs. Karen Rand will be their sub all three days. She has been with them before and does an awesome job! I am sure they will have a great time! Also, PreK 4s will be singing in the Christmas Program Thursday, December 10th which is next week! Everyone will be there! Look for more info to come!

Class Registry through Box Tops

Here is another way to help your school. The Puppy Pals now have a registry through Box Tops. Every time you help out our class, a certain percentage goes to our school.

Box Tops

We will be collecting the next set of Box Tops on Tuesday, December 1st. Over the Holidays, check your pantry, family members pantry, even your neighbors! Also, check out the link below for special way to earn box tops, including on-line shopping. We won last time, lets see if we can do again!

Just a FYI: the calendar on the website has been updated. We have a lot of fun things going on in December that you are not going to want to miss! This includes your little ones singing at the Christmas Program on December 10th.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Thank you for being the awesome parents that you are!

www.Boxtops4education.com

Book Fair Singing

The Puppy Pals did a wonderful job singing at the book fair today! Here is the video. Enjoy!

A feast...

I hope everyone is having a great week! I am sorry that I haven't got to write on here everyday but with no more naps, we are busy busy! Speaking of no more naps, it is going great! We seem to be learning more and more each day! I would like some feed back on things you might have noticed since we have stopped napping or how they are in the afternoon.

This week we are continuing our discussion on food! We have talked a lot about Pilgrims and the Native Americans. Also, about the first Thanksgiving and what we are thankful for. Be looking for some really good Native Americans and Pilgrims for their art!

This week we are reading Our Special Sweet Potato Pie. A boy and his family want to make a sweet potato pie for Daddy's birthday. But the potatoes they pick start to roll down a hill. Everyone in the neighborhood tries to catch them. The Puppy Pals are learning that they can use story clues, picture clues, and what I already know to figure out things the writer doesn't say.

Skills: (Which I will now include every week!)
comprehension: make inferences
Concept words: seasons
Phonics: C
You can use raisin or other small objects to form the letter c. Then you can hunt for words that start with the letter c in one of your books!

Hope this helps keep you guys up to date on what we are doing! Have a great rest of your week!

Thanksgiving...

Hello everyone! Thanks to each of you for coming today to parent/ teacher conferences. As always, I enjoy meeting with each of you!

We have a great week with no naps! We have started one-on-ones and pre-reading. The Puppy Pals seem to really like it! They have transitioned wonderfully.

Please mark your calendars for Monday, November 16th. Your children will be singing at the Book Fair at 11 am!

As we talk about Thanksgiving.... I had each child tell me something they are thankful for. They had some great answers. From God, to food, to Halloween.... everyone was thankful for something! I am thankful for my wonderful class! We also started a new unit this week, food. We are working on the letter N and it's sound. We learned the special word "to" as well. Be looking for our special project this week, Elmer! They are each very proud!

Conferences

Just a reminder that conferences are next Wednesday, November 4th. These will last about 15 minutes. It is confirmed that ARC will be available for you to leave your child during your conference time free of charge. They are also having full day care if needed. If you have any specific questions that you would like to discuss with me about your child, please write them down and bring them to the conference. I will also be giving you your child's first report card for the year. I am looking forward to meeting with each of you!

Planting Pumpkin Seeds

We have had such a busy week!! We started off by talking about pumpkins and how they grow. Each child then got to plant their very own pumpkin seed! We will be watching them up until Thanksgiving and then they will get to go home.

We also had a great discussion about bones and skin. We learned about bones from head to toe, the biggest bone in our body (femur), and Miss. Wallace's favorite bone, the humorous (upper arm). Then the Puppy Pals talked about the skin protects us and keeps all of our bones and muscles inside our body. They are quite smart! Tomorrow we will start our skeleton project! Be looking for those in the room.

Just a reminder, Pumpkin Patch is Friday. Please bring $3 for your child to purchase a small pumpkin and a treat. Friday is also a free dress day! It is going to be a exciting day!

Nap Time

November 1st is quickly approaching! This is the time for the Puppy Pals to stop napping! We will stretch out our day to include pre-reading, one-on-ones, extra small groups, etc. This schedule will be posted next weekend. All the Pre-K 4s classes might be different based on their classes need. Of course, I know how tiring our day can be, especially if we have not gotten a good nights sleep the night before. I will always have a special place if a Puppy Pal needs to take a little rest. If you have any questions or concerns, you know where to find me!

(This also means after next Friday, you do not have to bring a nap mat anymore!) :)

A few things....

I hope everyone is ready for another nice weekend.

We finished off a great week. We got to play a new game today, number ring toss! They really enjoyed it! You will see their papers coming home either today or next week! Our special word for the week was "see". Also, this week I have sent home a name card with each child in their Friday folder. If you get a chance, please practice writing their name with them using upper and lower case letters! This is very important for Kindergarten! Lunch menus for November are in there as well.

Conference sign-up will start Monday, October 26th. I will have the sign-up near the sign-in table. Conference will be Wednesday, November 4th. They will run through out the day. This is NOT a school day. This is also a meeting between the parents and myself. I believe ARC will be available if you need some where for your Puppy Pal to go during your conference time. I will double check on that one.

Next week we are still talking about transportation. We will start working on the letter "I" and it's sound. We also have a fun skeleton project to go with our science, the human body. Pumpkin Patch will be Friday, October 30th. This is also a free dress day! You may come join your child for the morning if you would like. It is a exciting day for all! Please send with your child $3.00 for a small pumpkin and a treat.

We finished first in Box Tops for Early Childhood! We had close to about 370! Great work Puppy Pals!! Keep collecting those Box Tops.... There will be a another collection at some point!

Have a great weekend!

Journals

We had a wonderful day!

We have almost completed our first journal for the year! Above is a sample from one student so you can see what we are doing. We always practice our name three times. Then we have a prompt. Every student is different in how much they can do with their sentence. I always try to push them just a little bit further. Last they draw a picture that goes with their sentence. Today's sentence was "I can see a _________ go." Each student had to fill in the blank with some form of transportation. They are really enjoying their journals. Please feel free to come see your child's journal anytime!

In math, we talked more about ordinal numbers. (1st, 2nd. 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc) Each Puppy Pal got 5 little dogs and we had a puppy parade. We talked about who came first, second, etc. We also read "10 Little Rubber Ducks" by Eric Carle to go with our ordinal number study.

Transportation

Happy Monday!!





We had a great day today! We started our new unit, transportation. We read the book "The Bus for Us". They really enjoyed it! We also talked about the letter T. We learned how to write it and it's sound. The Puppy Pals also came up with a lot of T words!


Today we also became Illustrators! They were SO excited about it. We read the book, "If you take a mouse to the movies". They then got a piece of paper with a couple sentences from the book but the pictures were taken out. We then had to draw our own based on what the page said. They are very proud! Each month we will do a different one. I will keep them till the end of the year and make a book for them to take home of all of their illustrations. To the left is a little preview before they go up on the wall! Enjoy!

Box Tops

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! This weather has been amazing!

I just want to remind everyone to bring their box tops by Thursday if possible. (This gives me a chance to count them) They will come to collect them Friday morning. So far we have 353! Our goal for the Puppy Pals class is to get over 400! I think we can do it! Remember pantry items, bathroom tissue, tissues, etc all have box tops! Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far! I will give you a final total when they are turned in!

Also, please be advised that Google is having some issues. We are trying to figure out website clichés and get everything available to you as soon as possible. Newsletter and the schedule have been having the most difficulties. Thank you for you patience with this.

Squirrels...

I hope everyone is ready for a great weekend!

We have had some great stuff going on this week! We have finished our unit on squirrels. We concluded with finding acorns, pine cones, and pine cones that have been eaten by squirrels on the playground. We then brought them in and left them out for discovery. Each of the Puppy Pals has had a chance to come touch, look, and smell the discoveries. The picture above is of some that we have collected.

We also have concluded our study on friends. We read some great stories about friends, like "Molly, Simon, Plus Hester."Along with our new special word this week, "a", we have reviewed all 6 of our words. In math, we played the game Child Bingo. They really enjoyed this one. They became the pieces for the game board along with regonzing numbers. We also went on a number scavenger hunt. We had to find numbers 0-9 some where in the classroom. They couldn't believe where they could find number, even on the CD player!!

Next week we will start our transportation unit. If your child has a favorite toy car or truck, they might want to bring it for show and tell! We also will be doing the letter T,t. I also want to encourage you, that anytime your child writes their name, to remind them that the first letter is upper case and the rest are lower case. I will be sending some name cards home soon for you to keep so they have something to look at if needed.

Of course, as always, if you need anything, I am here! I am looking forward to another great week!

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Today was a exciting day! We have finished our painted pumpkins which are now displayed in the hallway. The Puppy Pals have their very own pumpkin patch now! I do have to say that they are very good artists. We have already gotten some compliments on them! Above is a little preview!

We have also started our discovery of the letter P! We have been finding P things everywhere!

We did get one playground in today but the rain came for the second playground! The Puppy Pals have been such troopers with not being able to go outside!

Please note that our schedule has changed. On the website (www.graceschool.org/swallace), is a full detailed schedule. I have broken it down for each day so that it is more specific. The tabs for each day are at the bottom of the schedule. If you have any issues at all, please let me know and I would be happy to help!

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Another week down.... it just seems like yesterday it was the first week of school.

We did have a rainy day today but it was good to have a cool front come through. We luckily made it to motor skills with Coach G. just in time before the rain came. Mrs. Peterson led us in chapel. We talked about Moses and the burning bush. We all had a great time! In class, we talked about intuitive numbers (0-5) and went on a number walk. They were so excited to find all the numbers in the hallway.

Next week we will continue our unit on friends. We also will be talking about the letter P, p and it's sound. Along with squirrels for science, we will be talking about other mammals and what makes them a mammal.

I want to thank each of you for being so understanding this week when I had to go out of town for the funeral up north. It really did mean a lot to me to be there and be there for my dad! You all are awesome! Have a great weekend!

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Hello everyone!

I didn't have time to write todays before I left so I thought I would fill in a little bit from here in Jersey!

Today we had a great day. We started our new unit, friends. Our book for the week, "What do you like?", was a hit. We found out that friends can have common interest as with different interest. We also talked about the letter S, s and it's sound. Tomorrow they will start their squirrel and scarecrow projects.

Again, I would like to say I am sorry I won't be there the next couple days. I made it to Jersey in one piece. As my family friend has died, I have seen so much life in your children! I hope each of you have a great couple of days and will see you guys Thursday.

Dot Projects!

A sneak peak at their dot projects!

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Happy Friday!

The Puppy Pals have finished their dot projects! Look for them out in the hallway Monday morning! After a fun filled day, these kiddos seem wiped out! Just about everyone feel asleep today! We had a great time at motor with Coach G. and at Chapel as well.

Next week, we will be working on the letter S. We will concentrate on how to write the letter as well as learning its sound. We also start a new unit, friends. Our science for the first half of October is squirrels. Just a reminder, on your child's next leader day, to bring their "Me Boxes."

Our class pictures will be Friday, October 9th in the morning. Girls will wear jumpers / khaki skorts or shorts; white blouse w/blue piping. Boys will wear khaki shorts or pants; white polo w/Grace School letters. Everyone will wear their Grace Cardigan. If you have any questions, my door is always open!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Happy October! Despite the heat today, I can feel fall coming!

Today we had a good day. We continued with our dot projects. We also read the interactive read-aloud story, "Jennifer Bing, Why Don't You Sing?". This story was about a little girl who had a family full of musical people. She herself wasn't musical. Every time they would sing together, Jennifer would go outside. She then started twirling and leaping. She soon discovered that she could move and that the music told her what to do. Her family finally saw her dance. They all realized she was musical. But Jennifer wasn't musical because she was singing or playing a instrument, she was musical with her whole body! We also talked about how this is a fiction story.

I also wanted to let you guys know that I had a family friend, Dr. Lou, pass away yesterday. He holds a very special place in my heart and he will be terribly missed. Please pray for his family and mine. I will be attending his funeral on Tuesday. It will be in New Jersey though. I won't be at school Tuesday or Wednesday. I am sorry that I have to be gone again, I wish it was under different circumstances. Mrs. Rand will be the sub for those two days. Thank you so much for your understanding.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

The Puppy Pal class had a great day today!

We finished our caterpillars. We also talked about some of the things we can do together as families. Some of the answers were build stuff, ride bikes, play golf, and walk our cat.

We read the book "10 Black Dots." This book became the inspiration for our dot project. Each child will paint 10 black dots and then color a picture with the dots. We started it today and they had some great ideas! I can't wait to see how the finished product looks!

Just a reminder that Sally Foster is due tomorrow and that our picture day is Friday, October 9th.

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Welcome to my blog! I am very excited that I can now bring you up to date information about what we do each day!

Today we had a very good discussion about how families change. From having a new born sibling to getting bigger, everyone had some great ideas! In our book we are studying this week, "Peter's Chair", Peter is upset that his crib and high chair have been painted pink and given to his sister. He grabs the one thing that hasn't been painted, his little rocking chair, and tries to run away. (to outside of the house of course!) He soon tries to sit in his chair and realizes it is to small for him. He then understands why everything has been going to his sister, he has gotten to big. He then took the chair inside to paint it pink and give it to his sister.

We also talked about how we might not have a sibling to pass down things that have gotten to small. Instead, we can donate these things to children that don't have anything. Each Puppy Pal was so sweet and wanted to go home and find a toy that they don't use anymore, that they could give to another child that has nothing. I was very proud of them!

We also played the "Counting Cookies" game. Each Puppy Pal worked together with a partner to find the cookie that matched their plate with a certain number on it. They all did great and had a blast doing it!