Treasure Box Family Project Part 2

We have some more great treasure boxes to share with you. Students were so proud to show off their projects. Once again, students worked on speaking and listening skills. They also practice giving and receiving compliments. Thank you to all the families and family members who helped with their student's box. We can't wait to fill our boxes up with books that we are able to read. Check back for some more great projects in the coming months.

Books Are a Treasure!

The First of our Treasure Boxes came in Friday! Ya'll are doing a great job!  I went ahead and let the ones that brought boxes Friday share.  If you and your child have not made the Treasure Box yet, there is still time! Show-N-Tell is this this Friday, too!
Remember this box will be used AT HOME as a safe place to keep all the "red readers" and student made books your child will make this year. By this end of the year, the treasure box will be full of book, just perfect for practicing those sight words.  I can't wait to see more of your projects this Friday, September 15th!

              

Everyone did a great job!

                                 

      

Family Fun Project for September:

Check out the instructions that came with your Meet the Teacher letter or you can find one here.
  Click the link and look for the tab. :)

Treasure Box Project

If you are in need of a box, let me know. If you have extra boxes, please send them to school. This is a fun first show-n-tell for the students. Check out previous blogs about this projects in past years.

 Blast from the past treasure box projects...click here.

You can also find more posts about this project by scrolling down to my blog archive and clicking on each school year. This has been a favorite of the students and is something they will use all year.

It's a family project! 
So let's get busy!!

Tomorrow, May 12th will be field day. Events start at 8:15. Bring chairs and plan to stay a while. We hope everyone can come out and see the events this year. We will post lost of picture of our fun filled day soon. Check us out on facebook also.

A trip to the library is always a special treat!

Students enjoy our weekly visits to the library!

Huntington Elementary will host their annual Kindergarten Round Up on April 20th from 4:00 to 6:00. Parents & children can come by to see our campus & Kindergarten building. You may also pick up an enrollment packet for the 2017-2018 school year. Enrollment information can be filled out & returned to the Elementary front office!

Our first Family Fun Project of the year was a big success! Everyone did an awesome job on their treasure boxes! We have a few friends that will bring their boxes this next week. We look forward to seeing those too. Please find a spot at home to keep your child's "Treasure Box". We will be making books throughout the year to bring home and read to you. It will be good practice to "revisit" these books often because they will be full of our sight words that we are learning for first grade. We are learning that to be good at most things, it takes practice. Reading is one of those things. Please allow your child to "read" something to you every night. Praise these first attempts at reading and above all else be positive and build confidence.

 

Students worked on listening and speaking skills. They introduced themselves to the class and shared who helped them at home. Students practiced giving compliments and what to say in return. This exercise in public speaking will grow as the year progresses. Everyone did a great job presenting and listening!

We are Fortunate!

  We had a wonderful "meet the teacher" on Thursday! If you were able to come, you may have met two very special people. We are very fortunate to have Mr. and Mrs. Thornton volunteering in our classroom. 

                                         (Yes, the sun was very bright that day! )

This sweet couple have been "foster grandparents" in my classroom for several years.  They donate their time (and often much more) to our children.

They come a few times a week to read with them, listen to them, work on special skills etc.  They are truly a joy and an asset to the make up of our class.

  So if your child mentions a funny story "Mr. Doyle" told or that "Mrs. Nell" listened to them read a book, you will know who they are talking about. I am very excited to be able to welcome our "foster grandparents" back again this year!

Why didn't I think of that?

I found something today I wanted to pass along to my teacher friends. It's from a great blog I love and one you should check out. It's called The Organized Classroom.
This cool idea is for storing those posters and charts you really don't want to roll up, but don't have the space for.

http://www.theorganizedclassroomblog.com/index.php/blog/over-the-door-poster-holder

Check out the link or the left sidebar for their button and hop on over there for more great ideas!

Simple Things

Spring Has Sprung!

How many of you take the time to enjoy the simple things that each day brings? The hug from a child, the shape of a cloud as it drifts across the sky?  Sometimes in our hustle and bustle to fill our day with tests and rules and the skills we must cover that day, it's easy to miss out on the simple things.

Did we cover our math objectives today?... Yes

Did we talk about nouns?... Yes

 Did we review our sight words?... Yes 

But...

We made fairy crowns and fairy bracelets and

flower necklaces. I have a wet spot on the seat of my jeans from sitting on the ground. 

We read good books with cozy buddies and braided hair. (I have two boys, so I don't really do hair)

    

We took time to enjoy some simple things today...and it was good. I hope in the midst of your busy, crazy days, you will take the time to enjoy something simple too. It will be worth it.

  

Spring will soon be here! it is time to put away all the winter decor and crafts. Check out these cute snowmen

 from our art center that went along with 

Snow Family by Daniel Kirk.  

This is one of my favorite books. We read it every year. Its great for rhyming words.

Another favorite of mine is this book 

by Ezra Jack Keats called The Snowy Day. (Click the title for a read aloud)

Hope you had an awesome winter and here is to a happy spring!

 

This Friday, students will exchange valentine cards. If you need a list of the names, click the link below.

 

Valentine Class List

 

 



Can an Old Dog Learn New Tricks??

Happy Monday Bowers Bunch!! 

I am trying out some new things on the class webpage.  Please be patient with me as this "old dog" tries to learn some new tricks!

I would love some feedback positive or not.  I need to know what is working for you guys out there.  I have added a link for flash cards in case you need extra ones at home.  Be sure to click the link at the bottom of the home page and then open them at the bottom of the next page. There you can print the first set of sight words we have covered.
 I am trying to make things as user friendly as I can, but as I said, I am still just learning.

 

I am a true believer that a person should be a life long learner and there is always something out there to be learned.  I hope to post things you find helpful in this journey we call kindergarten.  We are in this together and so far it has been a wonderful ride. I look forward to hearing from you.

Save those Boxtops

Please start saving your boxtops for us. This is a competition between classes and while a great way to raise funds for our school, I'll admit, I would like to WIN! So, call grandma and all the aunts and uncles get everyone involved! It's for a good cause and maybe in the process we will WIN! 

We need your help!

Ever wonder what those little square things are on products that you buy?

They are called QR codes!

and

 

 

 There are some really cool things we can do with them in class!
 

Here is where we need your help!

We are looking for some old smart phones with charges that you are no longer using. (maybe like the one pictured above)

 

 

 

 

If you have an old device you would like to donate to our class for educational purposes, we would appreciate it
so much!

Also if anyone has any old individual cassette players (in working order) we are in need of those too.  Although we are trying to keep up with new technology, a lot of our stories are still on cassette  tape and these players are getting harder and harder to find. I am posting a picture in case you are not familiar with this ancient listening device. Ha ha!

 

 

Thank you for all you do for your child to help them be successful!

 

 

Annual Treasure Box Family Project

The Treasure Boxes started arriving last week. I went ahead and let those students share their project. They were so excited!
Students are working on many skills during their presentation.
1. They learn to speak in a loud clear voice.
2. Everyone must introduce themselves.
3. They must share two mediums (art supplies or other items.) they used to decorate their treasure box.
4. Tell who helped them with their project.
5. Students are encouraged to speak in complete sentences.
6. Students learn how to respond to compliments.



Here are just a few so far...

Students also have responsibilities as the audience.

1. Students are learning what makes a good listener.
    Look at the speaker etc.
2. Students learn to take turns.
3. Students are learning how to ask questions
4. Students are learning how to give and receive compliments.

I can't wait to see the rest of the projects as they come in! You are all doing a fantastic job! Please keep student made books in these treasure boxes all year. These will be great practice for reading sight words and building confidence in these young readers.
Treasure Box project continued:

This past Friday morning was filled with more sharing of wonderful treasure boxes and creative ideas. Thank you to all the family members who helped with this project.  However, this project is one that continues all year. Now that you have the box, you have to fill it with the treasures that your child will bring home. BOOKS! AND treat them as such. Ohhh and Ahhh over these books, ask your child to read them to you. They will follow your lead. 

Read, read read. 

Did I say read? 

If you and your child have not made yours yet, It's not too late. The share chair is always there!

Hallway on Display

   While going through some pictures and grouping last years pictures into a separate album on facebook I ran across these pictures.  Here is a culmination of several weeks worth of Art Center Projects that were on display outside our classroom last year.  We loved making grouchy lady bugs after reading Eric Carl's book by the same title and take a look at those very busy Spiders!

We had a great time painting flowers to go along with our spring and plant unit.  Also pictured are our ants that we made in the Science Center during our Insect Unit.  We also wrote poems about spiders.  It turned out to be a bright and interesting display I just hated to take down.

 

What a wonderful sight!

 

Centers

 Students enjoy some center time.

 

Students also work on communication and social skills. Our

#2 Center as we call them are more open ended and geared toward social interactions.

Read to Self

This week students practice different ways to enjoy books.
1. Look at pictures.
2. Look at (read) the words.
3. Retell or make up a story.
During our "Read to self" time students are expected to:
1. Stay in their spot.
2. Look at their books the whole time.
3. Don't talk to neighbors just yourself.
These students are doing a great job and this is just the first week of school!
Come along and watch us grow into readers this year!