We had a festive Christmas celebration today!  We shared gifts with Mrs. LePard.  She shared gifts with us.  We shared gifts with our classmates and had a classroom party.

At the party we made two crafts, played two games, and had a delicious snack.  We made two different ornament for our Christmas trees.  One was a reindeer…the other was a picture of us in 2016!  We played candy cane golf and jingle bell toss.  We ate Christmas tree cupcakes, snowmen cheese sticks, and drank reindeer water.  THANK YOU to the parents who organized this event and to the parents who popped in and helped out with the crafts.

Here are pictures of our festivities….

Here is a link to the newsletter:  lk-k-news-122116

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  See you on Tues. Jan. 3

 

FEED THE REINDEER!

 

On Friday we made a game called “Feed The Reindeer”.  It is a game that will help your child learn to read his/her popcorn words quickly.  Here is how you play with your child:

1.  Take turns reaching into the bag.  Take out one popcorn (sight) word.
2.  Read the word.  If you can read it quickly, you get to keep it.  If you can’t read it, it goes back into the bag.
3.  If you get a “carrot” card, then you say “carrot”.  All of the words you have earned go back into the bag with the “carrot” card.  Keep playing until you run out of time…10 – 15 minutes should do the trick.
4.  Count how many card you have earned.  Whoever has the most is declared the winner.  Actually….your child is the real winner as you have spent time with them and they have practiced their reading skills…SHHHHH…don’t tell!

SPIRIT WEEK!

It is Christmas Spirit Week at Alward Elementary School.  Here is a link our Holiday fun:

spirit-week

SPaM!

We are having a problem with important messages from “School Messenger”.  Parents are reporting that these messages are ending up in “SPAM” instead of their inboxes.  Our technology department is aware of this.  Please make sure to check your “SPAM” if possible to make sure you are not missing any important messages from the office or the school district.  The technology department has stated that you may even need to mark it twice as “NOT SPAM” to fix the error.  We don’t want you to miss any messages from Ms. Doni!

Here is the link to last Thursday’s newsletter:lp-k-news-121516

This week we became SCIENTISTS!  We learned how scientists predict and collect data about experiments they do.  We learned that a prediction is a guess based on what we already might know about something.  We learned that sometimes our prediction is correct and sometimes it is not, but either way, it’s okay because that’s how predicting works.  We also learned how to collect data and write it down during our 5 Senses experiments.  We know that data is the thing we learned from doing the experiment.

Our week of being a scientist included:

Monday:  Sense of Sight…we explored the room and collected data about colors, shapes, and sizes. We hunted around the room using our sense of sight to find objects that had these attributes.

Tuesday:  Sense of Hearing…we predicted what we thought the item was that made that sound.  We heard jingle bells, shaving cream coming out of the can, a ball launcher that went pop, and rice inside of a plastic egg.

Wednesday:  Sense of Touch…we explored the classroom using our sense of touch to find something hard, soft, rough, and smooth.  We collected data by drawing pictures of what we found and labeling it.

Thursday:  Sense of Smell…we closed our eyes (sight) and smelled things that were hiding inside special containers.  We predicted what each smell was and drew a picture of our prediction.  We smelled vanilla, black pepper, cinnamon, and lemon juice that was old and a bit rotten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday:  Sense of Taste…we said we would be brave and take one small bite of each thing and WE DID!  So proud of all my little scientists!  We first predicted what we thought each thing we taste like and then we collected data by tasting it and recording our results.  We tasted pickles…they were sweet pickles.  We tasted pretzels…they were salty.  We tasted SweetTarts….they were sour.  And we tasted chocolate….it was bitter (baker chocolate…no sugar).  The kids were amazed (and a bit disgusted) by the way chocolate tastes when it has no sugar.

I wish I would have been able to take pictures during the experiments!  I think I need to ask Santa for a GoPro and wear it on my head.

I am VERY PROUD of all my scientists and their ability to predict, explore, and collect data.  It was a busy week and we learned a lot!

Here is a link to this week’s newsletter:  lp-k-news-12816

Students have been working hard to get ready for the Christmas Program.  Here is a sneak peek into tonight’s festivities!

Please make sure to have your child meet me between 6:15 and 6:20 so I can get them on stage promptly.

Please make sure to keep their coats/jackets as they not be returning to that room.  When kindergarten is finished on stage, we will exit into the foyer.  Mrs. Moore will ask for one parent of each kindergartner to find your child’s teacher in the foyer to collect them after their performance.  Please make sure to make eye contact with me so I know your child is safe.  I have also taught your child all of this as well.  Thank you for your help and understanding!

Please feel free to stay and enjoy the rest of the show!   Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!