Apples :)

This week we will be talking about apples!! I am very excited about all of the fun things I have planned to do with your sweet kiddos!! On Friday, I wanted to see what the boys a girls already knew about apples, and what they wanted to know about apples. You can see their responses below. I am personally interested to know what apple dip is. When I asked the student who told me about it I was told that it is mixed with chocolate. Sounds interesting! If you would like to send in any apple foods this week, we will gladly accept them and give them a taste :)

Mystery Hero :)

I am really excited about this!!! On Friday, I started something new that I learned about from another teacher. It is called "Mystery Hero". I put all of the students names on popsicle sticks and put them into our "Mystery Hero" can. The way it works is: I pick one students name and I do not tell them who it is. I then tell them that I am watching our Mystery Hero to see if he or she is able to follow directions and be a good listener. If they are able to, they are able to get a treat from our treat box after a desired amount of time (about 20 minutes) If not, I do not say who the Mystery Hero was, but I just tell them that my Mystery Hero is not able to get a treat because he or she had some trouble following directions. This worked great on Friday and the boys and girls were really excited to see if they were our Mystery Hero!!! Ask your child if he or she was our Mystery Hero today!

Letter M Song on You Tube

Looking for something fun to listen to tonight? Click here to go to the Letter M Song on youtube! We have been listening to the M and A songs in school this week. They are definitely catchy! When you finish with the letter M song, just type in Letter A Song into the search box and you can listen to that one as well! (or any other letter, we have just been working with the letters Mm and Aa this week) Don't be surprised if you catch yourself singing these songs to yourself! They have been stuck in my head all day :)

Enjoy the Ride

I know life can get hectic, but remember to slow down and enjoy all of the moments in your life. Ask your child what he or she did at school today. Even though you might only have 5 minutes of "down time," those 5 minutes might just turn out to be the most important 5 minutes of your day :)

Fun Lunchbox Ideas :)

Looking for fun ways to pack your child's lunch? Here are some healthy and yummy lunchbox ideas!

                                                      Lunchbox Ideas <--------Click Here!

:) Ms. Mentzer

Alphaworks

This is the 1st page of our Alphaworks series that we will be doing this year! I cannot take the credit for creating the Alphaworks but my boys and girls did a great job with the letter Mm today! Alphaworks are circle maps that have the letters of  the alphabet and the students have to decide if the pictures that I give them start with the letter or do not start with the letter. On the back of each circle map is a poem and the boys and girls have to highlight the focus letter whenever they see it. The letter Mm poem was titled Muffins. You can see a few of the students work below!

Thanks for stopping by :) Ms. Mentzer

Letter Aa and Mm Sort

Today during Literacy Centers the boys and girls completed an Aa and Mm letter sort. I gave them a sheet of letters (A, a, M, m) in different fonts and they sorted them by uppercase and lowercase letters. We learned that it is important to be able to read letters of all different fonts!  Here are a few of them!

Apple Farmer Annie

This week we have been reading the book Apple Farmer Annie.

After we finished reading today the boys and girls completed their first Reader Response. They had to write the title and the author and decide wheteher they liked the story or not. They then had to draw a picture of their favorite part. You can see a few of them below!

The boys and girls did a great job with this! Be sure to ask them to retell the story to you!

Thank you for stopping by :)

Structured Language

During our daily Word Work time we do an activity called Structured Language. Our sentences vary depending on what our Star Words (sight words) of the week are. As a review last week, we used the words I and can to create our sentences. First the boys and girls tell me an I can sentence (Ex: I can run. ) I write the sentence on big tablet paper alternating colors for each student ( you can see I used blue and red) I use two different colors so that they students can find their sentence easily. (I can tell them to look at the red or blue) We complete this part on Day 1.  I then write the students sentences on sentence strips in the same color that I used on the tablet. On Day 2 we review the sentences and talk about how sentences have spaces between the words. We draw lines in between all of our words and then the boys and girls cut the sentences apart. They are able to use the tablet paper that has their sentence on to help them put the sentences back together. (I hang it on the wall in a spot of the room that everyone can see it)
We then practice putting our sentences together and notice that all of our sentences start with a capital letter and end with a period. After we finish, we put them into a pocket chart to wait for our next days activity.

On day 3 we take our sentences out of the pocket chart and practice re-arranging and reading our sentences. We touch each word as we read.
On day 4, I will give each child a worksheet that looks like this: (with their sentences)

 Students will cut apart the bottom part and paste the sentence in order on the line. They will trace the sentences and draw a picture to match the words. The boys and girls love "reading" their sentences and this is a great strategy to help them understand sentence structure. You can download the worksheet here.

Pitch Burst

I would like to personally thank each and everyone of you for sending in money with your child so that they were able to participate in the Pitch Burst! :)  Thankfully the weather had warmed up so the cold water actually felt pretty good! The boys and girls had a great time!!  (Believe it or not, I did too!)

Social Stations

Here are a few pictures of us having fun at our Social Staions (centers) on Friday right before the Eagle Stomp. We have our shirts on and are ready to go!

DYE Eagle Stomp

We had a great time at the Eagle Stomp on Friday!!!! The boys and girls did such a great job!! I am a very proud teacher!!!  

 Sno-Cones

 Watching the 1st graders run while we eat our sno-cones and take a break!

 Face painting!

 And they are off!

 Having fun with our friends..



2011-2012 Kindergarten Essential Learning Skills

Below you will see a link  to our new 2011-2012 Essential Learning Skills. These skills are aligned with our new Common Core Standards.(Standards are the skills that we teach) All of these skills will be assessed this year and are on the report card. If you have had a child in school before you will notice that there are a lot of skills that we used to teach that are no longer in our curriculum (time, money, calendar etc...) TN is one of many states who have adopted the new common core standards.  The common core standards allow us to focus on the foundation skills and go in-depth with those skills rather than introduce the skills but not expect mastery. I will of course still do calendar time each day and talk about time, money and other skills but we will not be spending a lot of time focusing on these things. These skills will be introduced later in your child's school career. The common core standards mission statement is below:
 
The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.


Please take a moment to look through our Essential Learning Skills (Goals). Please remember that this year, Kindergarten is the only grade who has adopted the new standards. (Next year, when your child goes to 1st grade, the 1st grade team will adopt the new standards, the same goes with 2nd grade-12th grade) Your child will be the 1st class to graduate with the new standards. All students who are currently in grades 1-12 will graduate with the TN State Standards.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/65298923/Kindergarten-Essential-Learning-Goals-2011-2012

This is the link to the Common Core Standards. Go ahead and become familiar with these standards. This will give you a better understanding of what your child will be learning throughout his or her school career.
http://www.corestandards.org/


Thank you for taking the time to look at this! Have a great weekend! :)

Cards in Kindergarten?

One of my favorite things to teach my Kindergartners is how to play cards! What better way to get the students to practice their numbers and help them learn?? So far the boys and girls have learned to play "War" (you remember this game from when you were a kid right??) and "Garbage" Go ahead a grab a deck of cards and ask your child how to play! If they can't remember don't worry, we have only played once! Pretty soon they will be pros!

The 1st Lost Tooth of the Year

Owen lost his tooth on Friday! This is the 1st of many this year I am sure!

All About Me

We have really been enjoying learning about our friends! The All About Me projects that we have seen so far have been awesome!! Thank you for taking the time to create these projects! The boys and girls have really done a great job listening and asking their friends great questions about things that they want to know about them. I hope that those of you who have already sent in your child's projects have enjoyed reading the book that the class has made for your child! I know that the students have really enjoyed making these books and I hope that your child felt special during his or her "Special Day" Here are a few pictures of the boys and girls working hard during writing :)

Our Five Senses

Last week we began talking about our 5 senses. When asking the boys and girls which one of their 5 senses they thought was the most important, it seemed to me that they did not grasp the concept of what it would be like to not be able to have one of the 5 senses. So I figured the best way for them the understand was for them to have one of them taken away (temporarily of course). I broke out the blindfolds and the students had a chance to try and figure out their way around the classroom without being able to see. Needless to say, after this little experiment the boys and girls understood why their 5 senses are so important! We had a good time and good laugh watching our friends try find their way around the room.