Holiday Celebration

Hello everyone and welcome to our Holidays Around the World program! We traveled to 5 different countries and we will tell you what we learned in each one. We also made a video of our travels for you to watch. Then we will sing a song for each country.  Let's  get started...

We first traveled Germany and in Germany families decorate Christmas trees and we made a Christmas tree in Germany! Here is the video of us in Germany...

 
Then we traveled to Holland and in Holland Sinterklaus leaves gifts in kids shoes and in Holland we made a wooden shoe with carrots and hay! Here is the video of us in Holland... 


We then traveled to Israel and in Israel they celebrate Hannukah and in Israel we learned how to play dreidel! Here is the video of us in Israel... 


Next we traveled to Africa and in Africa they celebrate Kwanzaa and in Africa we made kinara bracelets! Here is the video of us in Africa...


We also traveled to America and in America we made ornaments and we use jingle bells to celebrate the holidays. In America some kids get presents from Santa! 

We even had elves that came to keep an eye on us! Here is the video of us in America and our sneaky elf, Snowflake. 



We enjoyed learning about different cultures and we liked learning how people celebrate! Here is the video of us during our travels. 

King Oliver

Oliver was the King of the Jungle last week and he had a wonderful time being the King! His week started off amazing because his mom came to school on Monday and ate lunch with him and read the entire class a funny Curious George book! Now a little bit about our King... Oliver likes the color red and likes the movie Big Hero 6! He also likes football and his favorite food is mac n cheese! Oliver's favorite book is Lightening McQueen which we all loved as well! He also likes elephants and his favorite song is Shake It Off! Oliver is a special kid because he has a big heart! When Oliver is at home he likes to play and when he grows up he wants to be a teacher! I know he would be a great teacher because he loves learning! Oliver had a great week! 

Please check out his video of him as the King of the Jungle...

                        

King Felix

This week Felix was the King of the Jungle and he loved every minute of it! Felix loves all sports but especially soccer. He also likes the color orange and his favorite food is hot dogs. Felix's favorite book is "If You Give A Pig A Pancake" and when we read it everyone loved it as well - Felix really likes the bubble part. His favorite movie is Secret Life of Pets and he loves cheetahs! His favorite song is the Spider Man theme song and he also loves transformers and brought in a cool one to show all of us here at school! Felix is a special kid because he loves his family and they love him too! When he is at home he likes to play with his dad! When he grows up he wants to be a soccer player! We enjoyed getting to know more about Felix this week -

please check out the video featuring King Felix...

               

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I wanted to let you all know how very thankful I am...
I am blessed with a healthy family and a job that I love! I am so thankful that I get to work with your children every day! I wanted to share this poem with you all and tell you that I hope that I can be the kind of teacher that teaches your child the importance of being thankful...

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown

I hope you all enjoy the long weekend!  Please enjoy the video we made!  

                       

Queen Emily

Emily was our Queen of the Jungle last week and she had a wonderful week! Her big sister, Mia, came in and read us a super fun Pete the Cat book and her parents even stopped by to see her! Now on to some of Emily's favorite things... Emily loves the color purple, and her favorite food is mac and cheese! She also loves to play tee bal and her favorite animal is an elephant. She loves Ariel and the movie The Little Mermaid and she even got to meet her when she went to Disney World last month! Emily's favorite song is Fireworks by Katie Perry and she loves the book "Pout Pout Fish" and we all loved it too when we read it here at school! She is a special girl because she is helpful and kind! When Emily is at home she likes to play Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders! Emily wants to be a teacher when she grows up and I know she will be a great one! Please check out the video featuring Queen Emily...
                        

King Carter

This week Carter was the King of the Jungle! Carter had a wonderful week and we enjoyed learning about him! We know that Carter loves all things Pokemon and is also a big fan of transformers! His favorite song is actually the Transformer's theme song! Carter also loves football and koala's! His favorite food is noodles and he loves the color blue! Carter is a special kid because he is a big brother, he is also a respectful kid and a great listener! Something he likes to do at home is play with his Pokemon cards. When he grows up he wants to be a football player! Carter was a great King! Please check out his video...
                

Veterans Day

Today we celebrated a very important day in our country, Veterans Day! I talked with my friends about how much the women and men have sacrificed for our country to keep us safe and free. We are so thankful for all of the veterans and for all the men and women who are still serving our country! We are truly so lucky to live in America! Words cannot express our gratitude for all that they have done for us. Every passing day I admire and appreciate our veterans even more.

This year the kindergarten teachers at Meadow Lane challenged our students to bring in candy that they got from Halloween to share with the Veterans in our community. I was amazed at how much candy my friends brought in. We had a blast bagging up the candy to share with others. We also made turkey cards that were made with our hands and feet with the words "from our hands down to our feet we say thanks for keeping us free!" and I will be taking them along with our bags of candy to the veterans hospital this weekend to share with them. A few of my friends even took some home to give to the veterans that they know! Please check out this short video we made in honor of Veterans Day.
              

King Kai

Kai was our very first King of the Jungle and he was a wonderful King! We loved learning more about our friend Kai! Kai loves the color red and going fishing! His favorite book is "Digger the Dinosaur" which we all loved and his favorite movie is "How to Train Your Dragon". He also loves quails and eating fried walleye. His favorite song is "Devil's Bleeding Crown" by Volbeat. He is a special kid because he gets to go fishing with his dad and grandpa! When Kai is at home he likes to find bugs in his backyard and when he grows up he wants to be a ninja! Kai was a great King, please check out the video of his week...
                           

Fun and Crazy Week!

Last week was both fun and crazy! We started our week with Halloween on a Monday which was quite the start to our week! We did fun literacy and math rotations with a fall/Halloween theme and even made spider hats! Then the very next day we went on our first field trip to the Chet Ager Nature Center at Pioneer Park! We had a blast exploring nature and it was a gorgeous day! By the end of the week we were all pretty tired but we made it all the way through :) Below is a video of our Fall Fun and then the next video is of our fabulous field trip!
                        

                        

Queen Savannah

Savannah was our first official Queen of the Jungle and she loved every minute of it! Savannah loves the color pink and Curious George books - she brought in a Curious George book that had 10 stories and we loved the story she picked for us to read and of course her favorite animal is a monkey. She also loves the movie Zootopia and macaroni and cheese. She loves running and her favorite song is "Cheap Thrills".  She is a special girl because she has a lot of love to give. Something that she likes to do at home is play with her baby dolls. When she grows up she wants to be a hair stylist and own a skate zone! Savannah had a great week and was a wonderful Queen. Please check out her video...
                  

Queen Mrs. Woita

Last week we started our King/Queen of the Jungle. This is a special week for boys and girls where we get to learn a little but more about our friends. All of my friends are super excited about their special week! But first I would like to tell you all a little bit about myself. As most of you know I have four small children who I talk about all the time! Henry is 7 years old and is in 1st grade, Lily is 5 years old and in kindergarten, Macy is 3, and Marty is 7 months old! Boy oh boy how time flies by... I have been married to my high school sweet heart, Justin, for almost 9 years and we couldn't be happier - how lucky we are to have four happy and healthy children! We also have a dog named Olivia who we got right after we were married who taught us a lot about parenthood! I have been a lifeguard, pool manager and swimming lessons instructor since I was in high school and I love to swim!  I student taught at Meadow Lane in 2006 and have been here ever since I graduated and I LOVE kindergarten! Now on to some of my favorite things... My favorite food is pasta, and I love volleyball and have been a volleyball official for 14 years (it's my spending money for the holidays)! I can't really pick a favorite book but I do love anything by Dr. Suess and Nicholas Sparks! My favorite movie is The Lorax and I love almost every song from the movie and I LOVE the song "Happy"! Here is a little video I made for myself featuring pictures of my family and me and my new kindergarten friends!
                 

We love America!

I have loved getting to know each and every one of my kindergarten friends this year. They are all so amazing and I can't wait to see how much they will grow and learn over this school year! Here is a short video featuring all of my friends...
            
Our American Symbols unit and Constitution Day are really some of my favorite things we do during the year. I LOVED reading all of the family constitutions that you made together as a family!Thank you for taking the time to do this together. We really do LOVE America and enjoyed learning about our American Symbols that represent our country! Please check out our video.       
            

Happy Grandparents Day!!!

This Sunday we will celebrate a VERY important day.....Grandparent's Day!!! The kids have been telling me how special you are to them and all of the fun things you do together! Thank you for all you do....know you are loved. Here is a little poem for you...

GRANDPARENTS

Grandparents are special people
with wisdom and pride.
They are always offering love and kindness
and are always there to guide.
They often make you feel
so confident and strong.
Their arms are always open
no matter what you did wrong.
They try to help out
in every way that they can.
They love all their grandchildren
the same whether you're a child,

Or a woman or man.
They are always there to listen
and to lend a helping hand.
They show you respect
and they try to understand.
They give their love, devotion and so much more,
that's easy to see.
Grandparents,
what perfect examples
of the kind of person that we should be.

~By Stacy Smith~

Please enjoy the video we made for you...some of the pictures might even look familiar to you:)

I hope that all the grandparents that are still with us have a wonderful day...  :) Mrs. Woita

                       

Almost September!!!

I can hardly believe that it is almost September!! The start of the school year has really flown by quickly!!! I am sure it is because we are SO busy in kindergarten!!

In literacy this week we will finish up with learning about the alphabet!! We will be learning about the letters S-Z!!  That is SUPER exciting!! Although, next week we will start focusing in on one letter a week!!  On Friday we will review the alphabet and have a little chicka chicka boom boom celebration!!! We will continue to talk about all of the fun things kindergarteners can do. We will continue to review the words ‘I’ & ‘can.’ We have even been reading them in books…YES I said they are reading them. It is pretty amazing to hear these kids already reading. We have also been reading a lot of nursery rhymes…the kids really enjoy these and we have even been learning about syllables!

In writing we continue to become amazing authors!! We now have our writing folders and will be practicing telling our stories out loud to our talking buddies!! This week we will really focus on trying our best as writers and how to draw objects that may seem tricky we will practice drawing people together- but not the stick kind!  We will also be looking at the book “Good Dog, Carl” (which is a book with no words) that will help us learn that stories can be told just through pictures – which is where we will start. In kindergarten we start by drawing pictures then we will add beginning letters to our pictures, then labels, and finally start some sentences (we will be focusing on just pictures this week and will slowly get to the rest).

During math we will be continuing to explore numbers with our counting mats as well as our own counting books but we will also start practicing how to write the numbers 1 and 2 and comparing things that are the same and different!

In unit studies we are continuing to learn about how to stay safe and will finish up our safety books! We will hopefully get to go on a safety walk around the school to practice using the crosswalk and also so we can see the signs that are all around us to help us stay safe. 

 

Remember we go to P.E. on Day 4 on the calendar  – so this week again it falls on a Thursday so make sure to mark it on your calendar. You can find the day on the lunch calendar! I will hopefully also be sending home our homework folders this week and I will try and put that on our calendar as well! Yes I said HOMEWORK - and it is crazy but my friends this year have been begging for homework - so I hope that they still love it once it starts coming home! 

Also this Tuesday is our first PLC Day so we will be dismissing at 2:18 which is 80 minutes earlier than usual. It will be a fast, fun day. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and of course if you have any questions or concerns please let me know!  Mrs. Woita

Week 2 of Kindergarten

Well I honestly can’t believe that we are starting the second week of school!

Last week we really did talk a LOT about routines and my friends are really doing a good job with them! 

We read a lot of books that had to do with starting school and especially kindergarten. I love Chester the Raccoon and we read quite a few of his books as well this past week – I am sure you heard all about it! I also hope you liked the Kissing Hand we made for you! We even got to take a quick tour of our school while looking for Chester and we found out where the office is, the lunch room, all of our specials (computer, pe, music,library and art) classrooms are, we also found the courtyards. I sure hope your kids told you all about it! I know they were all disappointed that we never found Chester - but he did leave us a bracelet to make!

In Math we will learn more about our Daily Math Routines which we will do everyday and I promise I will explain in detail at a later time. We also started to learn about how numbers are all around us and we LOVE math already! We read Anno’s Counting Book (which actually has no words just scenes so we will get to make up the words) and will be looking at this book again and will actually get to make our own counting books were we will get to draw scenes of numbers and discuss them with our new friends! Last week we were introduced to our math mats. These are mats that we use to show a number and display objects of that many number. We will use counting mats many times throughout the year and will learn to talk about our display with our class and listen to our friends as they share WONDERFUL ideas!!

In Literacy last week we learned our ABC chant (which my friends LOVE) and also focused on the letters A-H and this week we will keep on going with as many letters as we can get through! We always practice finger writing the letter and saying the sound it makes! We also read a poem everyday out of our "Big Book of Rhymes" and will continue to do this as well. We even read "Animals in the Park" and will be rereading that as well! We will be talking a lot about books and authors and illustrators and what it takes to be a good reader and writer! We will start to look for capital and lowercase letters and also punctuation marks! Hopefully your child told you we learned a new word "I" and we even read sentences with it!  We can point to the words and read the sentence to our friends! We are SOO SMART! And this next week we will learn another new word "can" and I can't wait to see the sentences we read.

 During writing we read “Library Mouse” and discussed storytelling and about writing about what you know. Thank you for sending in a picture of your kindergartener - it was soo fun to hear them talk about it - we still have a few more to share. But please know I love hearing details of all the amazing things my friends have done! We will also be discussing the rules and procedures of writer’s workshop. We will practice how to sit, how to write, and how to put our things away. We might even get our writer’s workshop folders! We will store our writing in them AND be able to use some of the charts to help us spell better! I have learned that we LOVE to talk in our classroom so I know they will love getting introduced to talking buddies. They will have a buddy that they are paired up with. This is the friend they will practice orally telling their stories to before they write. I just know they are going to LOVE this! 

In unit studies we will be learning about safety! This week we will talk about stranger safety, fire safety, and our important emergency information. I will be sending a note home in Wednesday folders about this. On this note I want you to write the primary address and phone number you want your kindergarten child to learn in case of an emergency.The kids are going to be making their very own safety book so they can stay SUPER safe!!

We will continue to go to specials & we all love that time. Here is the schedule for this week:

Mon.: day 1 - Art 

Tues.: day 2 -Computer

Wed.: day 3 -Music

Thurs.: day 4-PE .(please send your child to school wearing their tennis shoes)

Fri.: day 5 -library (please make sure to return your books)

It's gonna be another great week!:) Mrs. Woita

First Week of Kindergarten!

Well...the first week is past us and it has been a SUPER busy and fun week!!! We have been learning all about Meadow Lane and the expectations. We have learned a lot about our 4 expectations...be respectful...be responsible...be safe...and be productive. We have also learned about the voice levels we should use in the building. The week has been filled with lots of excitement and of course, a few tears (but not for long- I promise).  I know it was hard to send your sweet little kindergarten kid off to school, but I want you to know that I am going to work very hard to make sure they are not only learning at school, but that they also feel special. I am so excited to see what the year has in store for us. I know it will be a good one!!

Please enjoy our first week video...You will have to actually go to my blog to watch it! I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!
                

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREU!!!

Today was a very special day in kindergarten, because our friend, Treu, turned 6! This was the first birthday since we have started kindergarten (just four short days ago) and it was a little crazy this morning in our classroom. For the past few years I have had an elf - yep I said elf - come to my classroom during the holidays to keep an eye on my students while they are at school. Some of you may have heard of the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition and boy does Mrs. Woita love when Snowflake (our elf) is watching because my friends are always on their very best behavior. But... last year I heard about Santa giving special permission to some of his elves to help come and celebrate birthdays because Santa loves birthdays too! So I wrote Santa a letter asking if we could have an elf come and help celebrate birthdays in my classroom and guess what? CONFETTI the elf CAME! He was even dressed up in his birthday suit! The kids were so excited to read the book he left about the birthday tradition! Confetti was so silly he left confetti all over Treu's desk and all over the carpet (although Mrs. Woita might have to write another note about the confetti and maybe keeping it at the north pole next time but we will see what Confetti thought of it - since he was watching us all day long too). This morning we all thought of words to describe Treu and Mrs. Woita made him a little gift from all of us - we sure hope he likes it! Treu's mom and younger brother and sister even came in to eat lunch with him! And if you can believe it Treu even brought gift bags to school for all of his friends.  I sure hope Treu had a great day too! Here are a few pictures from our fun day!

 Birthday Boy - Treu

 Treu with Confetti (our birthday elf)!

 Treu with his family at lunch!

 Treu and his friends and the gift we made him!

 Singing Happy Birthday to Treu!

 Another one of the Birthday Boy!

Treu handing out his gift bags!

First Week of Kindergarten

Well I honestly can’t believe that we are already done with our first day of school this year! It came and went so fast! Thank you to everyone who came into open house last week - I am glad you got to come in and check out our classroom! Also a big thank you to everyone who picked up a donation sheet - I appreciate all of your donations very much! 

I know that the first day of school you and your child probably felt lots of different emotions... excited, anxious, nervous, scared.. but please know that when your child is at school with me I will do my best to help them feel comfortable and safe at school. We went over today our jobs at school and my number one job as a teacher is to teach and keep kids safe and their number one job is to learn. I am so very fortunate to have a job that I truly love and I promise to try my hardest each and every day to make your child’s experience in kindergarten the very best that it can be!

This first week we will be going over A LOT of routines and the kids will probably not like me very much because I have learned that it is much better to go slow and learn things well than to go too fast and have to reteach everything (yes I learned this the hard way)  But I assure you we will be having fun along the way to learning the routines of kindergarten. 

We will learn our line order – this is how we will line up everyday all the time – for example when we get to school, when we go to lunch and specials and how we line up after recess is over and at the end of the day. Right now my line order is in alphabetical order but will probably change once we get into the swing of things!

We will also learn our four school rules – Be Respectful – Be Responsible – Be Safe – Be Productive. We will be reading a lot of books that have to do with starting school and especially kindergarten. I love Chester the Raccoon and we will read quite a few of his books as well this week – I am sure you will hear all about it!

We will take a tour of the school and find out where the office is, the lunch room, all of our specials (computer, pe, music, and art) classrooms are, we will also find the library and the courtyards. And we will be meeting some important people along the way!  Please make sure to ask your child about this on Wednesday night!

Also I realized today that I messed up when I sent home the specials schedule - we will actually be following the number schedule on the lunch calendar. I will try to remind my friends when we have PE so they can wear tennis shoes!

Day 1 - Art

Day 2 - Computer

Day 3 - Music

Day 4 - PE

Day 5 - Library 

We will practice a fire drill twice – once with just our classroom and the other one with the entire school. When we hear the bells we will line up quietly and go out the door toward the fence by the playground. I will also talk to my friends about what would happen if they were not in my classroom when they hear the fire alarms.

In Math we will be learning how numbers are all around us, we will be reading Anno’s Counting Book (which actually has no words just scenes so we will get to make up the words), we will also be learning about our Daily Math Routines which we will do everyday and I will explain in greater detail at a later time!

In Literacy we will again be learning the routines but also be focusing on letters A-E and learning the word “I” – yep we will be reading before you know it! We will read a different poem everyday and we will also be talking a lot about books and authors and illustrators and what it takes to be a good reader and writer! We will read “Library Mouse” and discuss storytelling and then everyone will get to sit on the rocking chair and tell a story that has really happened to them!

In Unit Studies we will be focusing on staying safe when we are at school and learning the school rules!

Lunch time will be a big learning time as well – I promise there are many adults that will help your child not only go through the line to make sure they get milk, and fruits and vegetables, but that they get silverware and get to the table with all their food still on their plate. We will learn how to open our milk and hopefully eat without getting too distracted and finally how to dump our trays! Your child does not need to know their snap number but if you need it to put money into their account please just let me know!  

JEEZ!!! We will be doing a lot this week and I know I have forgot a lot! I will be honest and say that dismissal time is a little crazy and I appreciate your patience with dismissal. It always takes a little while the first week while we are getting the hang of things! I expect each kindergartener to say to me “there is my mom/dad/sister (whomever it is that is picking up your child) and then I will try and make eye contact with you and I will give them either a high five or a hug and I will send them off to you! Thank you again for your patience and cooperation with dismissal!

Please know that I am so very excited and looking forward to this new school year and working will all of my new friends and watching them grow as learners! If you have any questions or concerns please know that my door is always open!

We had a super great first day of school and I am loooking forward to learning more with your kindergartener the rest of the week!! Mrs. Woita

New School Year!!

Well it's time to start another school year again so I will be deleting all of my last year kindergartens from my blog so you won't get the email updates! But please know that I hope all of my friends have a wonderful year in 1st grade. I also hope you all enjoyed your summers and please come back and see me if you ever get a chance!!! Can't believe my little friends from last year are going to be 1st graders!!!I I know they will all do great! 

End of the Year Celebration

Today is the last day of Kindergarten and we had to celebrate because we have been working soo very hard all year long. Here are a few videos we watched during our celebration..

First and Last Day of kindergarten...

Our tunnel walk...


Our first semester video...


Our second semester video...



We are so happy that we learned so much and had so much fun in Kindergarten...




At the end of the day we came up with a list of words that came to our minds when we thought of our year together and this is what we made....

Happy Birthday Devin!

Today we celebrated Devin's 6th birthday and Confetti came to help us celebrate one last time this school year! His actual birthday was yesterday but we were all still very excited! Devin had a wonderful day and was excited we were able to celebrate with him before the end of kindergarten! We had a easy time coming up with adjectives to describe our friend Devin. Here are a few pictures of his day at school...

 Birthday boy, Devin, at his desk!

 Devin and the note Confetti left for him!

 Singing Happy Birthday to Devin!

 Devin and his friends!

Confetti and Devin and the present we made him!

PLC - Professional Learning Community

All year long students of Lincoln Public Schools get out of school early so teachers can participate in PLC meetings. At those meetings teachers meet to talk about how we can help students grow as a learner. This year in kindergarten we focused our attention on writing. We took pre-tests and post-tests and collected data to see what we needed to focus on! Please check out this video to see what our kindergarteners have been learning about in writing!       
            

So much to do and soo little time!

This week we will be doing some assessments and reviewing everything we have learned in Literacy!  We will be talking about how we can protect our earth and make good choices. We will be reading "Panda Kindergarten", "Protect the Environment" and "Save Big Blue" and will learn more about baby animals. In guided reading we will either read "Help Clean Up" or "Let's Save Earth" and in our crabby books "Who Can Help?" Our vocabulary words which I know we will love are recycle, environment, protect, wisely, and encourage.  It will be a great review week! 
In Math we will hopefully be ready to take another test by the end of the week. We have been learning about money and time and this week we will be learning about measurement. We will measure with different manipulatives and will be comparing items in a group.  I am confident we will do wonderful on this test!
In writing we will also be taking a test - and it will take us two days to complete it. I have been talking to my friends about all of the things good writers do - we review the six writing traits daily and have been trying our best during writers workshop. We took a practice test already and will do one more practice and then we will take our real test to show Mrs. Schulzkump and the first grade teachers. I just know that they will be amazed at the great writers I have in my class this year!
In Unit Studies we talked about the Earth and the continent, country, state, and city that we live in! It was a ton of fun and we even made our own little maps! This week we will be talking all about the wonderful state of Nebraska that we live in and making a book about our state symbols!
We will also be trying to finish up some of our yearlong projects we have been working on.  We will also be starting to practice for our kindergarten celebration/program - so please be on the lookout for your childs lines -that I would love for you to practice as well as the rsvp so I know how many people are coming!

Last week we have had a volunteer come into our classroom and do Junior Achievement with us! Junior Achievement is a program that hopes to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. It is a volunteer delivered program for kindergarteners through 12th graders and we loved every bit of it! Every day Ms. Erica came and did an activity with us. Ms. Erica has been coming to my classroom for years and is always willing to come back to the craziness and I really appreciate her! I am sure you have seen the goodies that Ms. Erica gave us as well - we each got a certificate, a savings bank, and a magnet.  We talked a lot about how we can save money and why it is important to save and spend wisely! My friends loved having the Erica, our JA volunteer, in our room! Here is a video of some of the fun we had when she was here with us in Woita's World!
                  

Happy Mother's Day!

We hope all of our mom's have a wonderful day! This week at school we talked about how we are all so lucky to have people in our lives that love us, take care of us, and keep us safe and we talked a lot about our moms! I know that I am personally so thankful to my mother for being the most amazing person I have ever known. 

Moms - please know how much you are loved today and everyday! I hope all the moms like the LOVE boards we made for them throughout the year and I hope you can hang it up somewhere and display pictures or projects that your children have made! I also hope that you all get to relax and enjoy spending time together with your family today. 
 Please check out this special video we made especially for our moms!         

                 

MAY!!!!

We are in serious "let's get things done mode" from now until the end of the school year! I can't believe it is May already and there are only 14 school days left with my friends and then they will be in first grade!! Oh boy oh boy- do we have a lot to do!!!!

This week we will be talking about our end of the year program that will be held on the last day of school- Thursday, May 19th at 1:00 in our room.  I am excited because this week we will be able to see the band and strings practice concert and this next week we will get to watch the chorus practice concert! I hope my friends get more excited about our program after seeing these performances!!! I promise I will send out exact details in a note home!

Also this week we will be going to the park for lunch as long as the weather cooperates! A note will be sent home with exact times on Wednesday or Thursday- although I am thinking we will be down at the park around 11:50 if you would like to meet us there!

This week we will also be having a guest teacher, Ms. Erica, she is a volunteer for the Junior Achievement program and she will be coming in every morning to teach us a lesson. She has volunteered many years in my classroom and she is wonderful! I know my friends will love her!

In literacy we will be starting week 2 of unit 10 and will be discussing how things are alike and how they are different! Our last two words we will learn are "come" and "does" and we will be focusing on the long e vowel sound. Our vocabulary words are sort, familiar, perfect, endless, and experiment. We will be reading "All Kinds Of Families", "The Perfect Color", "Good For You", and "We Come on Time". We will be focusing a lot on comprehension and remembering key details from the story and asking and answering questions as we read to get ready for all of our 4th quarter assessments!! During guided reading your child will either read "My Box" or "Let's Make a Band".

In math we will continue to learn more about coins and their value as well as start talking about telling time to the hour! There are quite a few workbook pages that we are not getting to because they are not on the test so please know I will be sending home some papers for you to do in the summer that will help your child get ready for first grade!

We finished up our plant unit and this week we will start our social studies unit on Nebraska and where we live!!! We will talk about cities, states, countries, and continents! We will also learn a lot about the state that we live in and some of our very own state symbols which I know my friends will love learning about!!! It is sure to be another super great, busy week in kindergarten!!!

Here is a video of our super fun field trip to Chet Ager we went on last week...
               

Everyday is Earth Day!

We loved celebrating Earth Day and doing our many Lorax activities! I truly do LOVE the book and movie "The Lorax" because it has such a great message! I talked to all my friends about how every day should be treated as earth day and it is our job to help keep the earth clean and safe! Here is a video featuring our lorax and earth day activities...
            

End of April!!!

It is crazy to think this is the last week of April! My heart is starting to beat fast thinking of this school year being over and all the learning and fun projects we still need to do!! I came back to school last Wednesday and with all of the fun Earth Day and Lorax activities it was kind of a whirlwind! I am hoping that this week I can get back in to a good routine both at school and at home! The kids were all so nice when I got back and asked about Marty. Below is a video of pictures of Mr. Marty!

In Literacy we will be starting our final Unit – yep that’s right Unit 10! My friends will be super pumped to see our last crabby book! We will be talking about what can happen when we work together! We will be reading “What’s the Big Idea, Molly?”,  "The Elves and the Shoemakers", "The Variety Show", and in our crabby books "A Good Time For Luke". During guided reading your child will either read Animal Band or We Want Honey. We will be sequencing parts of a story and making, confirming and revising our predictions. Our vocabulary words are decide, marvel, opinion, ragged, and grateful. We will be focusing on the long u vowel sound and the words good and who and looking for sentence clues and questioning words. We will be practicing writing our kindergarten words, and retelling the details from the stories we are reading!

Ms. Bailey did a great job of teaching all of the Unit 5 skills and when I got back we took our test so that means that this week we will be starting unit 6 in math - where we will start learning more about money, time, and measurement!

This week we will wrap up our plant unit and hopefully get everything finished! We have loved learning about plants and how to take care of them!!! Our Lorax projects and movie night turned out great and hopefully I will get a video up sometime this week featuring pictures of our fun week last week! We will be planting a vegetable seed this week too if we are lucky!

In writing we will be working hard on our stories. We are working hard on adding details to our words and pictures to match our stories and also using our best handwriting and taking our time. In a few weeks we will be taking our writing test to show the first grade teachers how awesome of writers we are!

This Tuesday the 26th is a PLC day and our field trip to Chet Ager Nature Center where we will be exploring nature and the changing seasons! We also get to wear our cool shirts we made, ride the bus and eat lunch either in our classroom or outside when we get back to school! I honestly don’t know a better way to start our week! It is sure to be a great time and I can't wait to explore nature with my friends!

Marty's video...

Queen Harper

Harper was the Queen of the Jungle last week and she had a fabulous week as Queen. Here is some information about Harper... Her favorite color is red and she likes the book "Where the Wild Things Are". She also loves the movie "The Lorax" and had a super fun time doing all of our Lorax projects! She also likes soccer and loves to eat cake! Her favorite animal is a pug and she also likes the song "Shut Up and Dance With Me". Harper is a special girl because her family loves her a lot and when she is at home she likes to play with her neighbors. When Harper grows up she wants to be a race car driver and I bet she will be a great driver that always wears her seat belt!  Please check out Harper's video as Queen of the Jungle...
            

King Chance

This past week Chance was the King of the Jungle and he had a great week. Here is a little information about Chance... His favorite color is orange and he likes soccer. He likes the movie "Cars" and he brought in his favorite book "Planes" for us to read together. He also really likes root beer floats. His favorite animal is Jack Black - the cat! He also likes the song "American Kids" by Kenny Chesney. He is a special kid because his family loves him and something he likes to do at home is ride his bike and scooter! When Chance grows up he wants to be a zookeeper and we all think that would be a fun job taking care of animals. Please check out Chance's video...
               

King Trevin

Trevin was our king of the jungle last week and we LOVED learning all about him!! His favorite color is red and his favorite book is “I Wanna New Room.” He loves the movie “Good Burger” and he LOVES playing hockey!!!  His favorite food is chicken and his favorite animal is a bear. He loves dancing and singing to Uptown Funk!! He is special because he is sweet and caring. He LOVES riding his dirt bike…lucky boy!!! We think you are pretty special Trevin!!!

                         
              

Happy Birthday Haylee!!

Last week we celebrated Haylee's birthday and we had SO much fun!!!! Our elf came to visit and we even got to sing to her!!

Birthday sign!!!

Happy birthday to YOU!!

You are awesome Haylee!!

Queen Tatum

Tatum was our queen last week and we had SO much fun learning all about her!! She brought her favorite toy and taught us some of her favorite things!! Her favorite color is red and her favorite movie is "Adventures of Pooh." She loves foxes and eating cheez it crackers!! Yummy!!!!! She is a special kid because she has a GREAT imagination. When she grows up she wants to be a teacher (I think that is a great job to have!) Thanks for teaching us all about YOU Tatum!!!

Please enjoy our video.

First full week of April!

What a busy April we have ahead of us!!!

 As I am sure you all know our school is doing a Coins For Cans drive for the LPS Backpack Walk and your child is asked to bring in loose change for this great cause, but what you might not know is that there are 8 teachers that have agreed to be pied in the face at an all school assembly at the end of April if we as a school raise $1000. And yes I am one of those teachers :) Also the LPS backpack walk is on Saturday, April 16th and my family and I will be there and if you aren't busy I hope you will consider coming down to check it out! It starts at 10:00 and is at Lincoln East High School. I can’t wait to hear how much money my class brings in for this great cause!

Also the Art Fair is coming on Thursday, April 14^th and hopefully you can all come to Meadow Lane and check out the awesome art work and fun activities that they have planned for that evening!

Friday, April 22^nd is the Lorax Movie Night and Earth day! I LOVE Earth Day and the Lorax!!!! I hope you can all come back to school and watch one of my favorite movies with me! More information will be coming home about this event!

Tuesday, April 26^th we will be going on our Field Trip to Chet Ager Nature Center and again more information will be coming home about this event! But it is sure to be a super fun day! But wanted to let you know!

Also last Thursday hopefully you heard that Marty and I stopped by to see how all of my friends are doing at Meadow Lane. They were all so nice and excited to see and meet Marty! I was amazed at how much they have learned in the few weeks I have been gone! Ms. Bailey is doing an awesome job and I know that that my friends are in great hands! The plan is for me to return to school on Wednesday, April 20^th and again hopefully the transition will be smooth so we can have a great end to our school year!

Here’s a little information about this week at school…

In writing we will keep working on adding voice to our stories!! My friends are loving this writing trait!! We will also be reviewing what good writers do and will also be talking about how we can add our thoughts and feelings into our stories!

In math we will be making a teen number book and focusing on the ten in each teen number. We will be continuing to work on addition and subtraction and using different strategies to solve different equations as well as telling story problems! We will also be making a drawing of partners of ten for a classroom display!

We are continuing to learn more about nutrition, the five food groups, my plate, and doing many activities that will help us live a healthy life!

In literacy we will be learning two new words - help and too! I am sure we will he talking a lot about to, two, and too this week!!! We will also be starting to learn about long vowels and focusing on the long a! Our essential question is "how can you help out at home?" so you might have some extra great helpers this week-although hopefully it will last for more than just one week!!
Our vocabulary worlds are chores, contribute, member, organize, and accomplish. We will also be discussing prefixes and suffixes. We will be reading "Peter's Chair", "Helping Out at Home", and "The Clean Up". During guided reading your child will read either "Let Me Help You" or "How can Jane Help" and in our new crabby books they will read "Jake and Dale Help". It is going to be another fun week in kindergarten!

We are ALL special!!!

Today, April 2nd, we celebrate autism awareness. Yesterday at school we talked a lot about how we are all different, but we are all the same. No matter who you are, you ARE special. We each colored a puzzle piece for our school bulletin board. We also each drew a picture on a puzzle piece to celebrate why EACH of us is special. We made a ribbon in our hallway to remind us of our special traits. Please enjoy our video and CELEBRATE YOU today!!!

Happy Birthday Aubrey!!!

We celebrated Aubrey's birthday on Thursday and had a great time!! Confetti left Aubrey her hat AND confetti!! We also made a sign describing Aubrey and we came up with some GREAT words!!! Aubrey had her mom visit for lunch....LUCKY girl!! She also got flowers and a balloon from her parents after school. We hope you had an awesome day!!

SO fun!!!

Happy birthday to YOU!!!

Birthday sign!!

Silly Class!!