Merry Christmas

My heart is heavy this morning as I write this... the school shooting in Connecticut has hit too close to home and I am deeply saddened by this horrible tragedy.  I am reminded though of God's great love for us and I hold onto His promises of love and protection. "The LORD watches over you- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  The LORD will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."  Ps. 121:5-8.  I know that the families and all of those affected by this tragedy need our prayers- especially during this Christmas season.

We have been so busy over the past few weeks in our classrooms.  Thank you to everyone who joined us for the beautiful Christmas program and brunch.  I was so proud of the kids and I know that you were too.  They were so precious in their costumes and did a wonderful job singing. 

I'm not sure if they told you or not, but they were able to dress up again when we took our field trip to Ridgeview Nursing Home to sing.  The spirit of Christmas was definitely felt among the residents there as we sang and then hung the bird feeders that they made with Ms. Gina in Bible.

Our craft day was a success this past week.  Thanks to the moms who came and helped with that.  We have made lots of fun Christmas crafts and ornaments that will be coming home this week. 

Our class party is this coming Wednesday a 12:00.  All parents are invited to come. I know that our room moms have been in touch with you about the details.  This Thursday will be our Polar Express day.  The kids can wear their pajamas to school. We will be watching the movie and enjoying popcorn and hot chocolate! This Friday is our last day and we will dismiss at 12:00.  We will not eat lunch at school on Friday.  We have also had several out sick this week.  Please remember to keep your child at home until they have been fever free for atleast 24 hours.  I hope that everyone gets well soon!!

I hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas holiday.  Hug your kids extra tight and take a moment among the business of the season to reflect on God's most precious gift to us, his son Jesus Christ.  Merry Christmas to you all!!

Singing Christmas songs to the residents at Ridgeview

Hanging bird feeders at Ridgeview

M&M math~ fun with counting, sorting, and graphing

Fall Fun!

It has been a busy few weeks and it's been a while since an update! During the month of October, we had so much that kept us busy including our awesome Open House and Spaghetti supper.  The silent auction brought in so much that will go to help our continually improving program.  Thank you to all who contributed to the class baskets and to those who put them together. 

We enjoyed a fun field trip to Old Baker Farm, followed by a day of fun with our Harvest Hoedown! In addition to the fun trips and activities, the children have been learning all about the season of Fall.  We took them on a nature walk and collected fall leaves.  We sorted the leaves by color and size and then graphed them in the classroom.  We have read several fiction and non-fiction books about the season of Fall.  Some concepts that we have been working on during our shared reading time include, finding words that rhyme and are in the same word family, recognizing the author and illustrator of books, and understanding the concept of speech bubbles that are shown in stories when a character is talking.  We have worked on story retelling and have worked on the concept of beginning, middle, and end of a story. 

In Math, the children continue to work on counting to 20, sorting objects, and patterning.  We have also been working on similarities and differences in number, more and less, and addition up to 5.

Ms. Alissa and I have begun working on assessments this week.  We are pulling children individually during center time to do these.  We will be holding fall conferences the week after Thanksgiving.  We will hold them before, during, and after school.  A conference scheduling form will come home next week.

Also next Wednesday, Ms. Julie's class only, will visit The Lovelady Center to do a Thanksgiving craft with the children at the school there.  Ms. Alissa's class will visit The Lovelady Center in May.  The space there is small, therefore our numbers must be limited.

We are learning all about Thanksgiving this week and will continue next week as well. 

• No school on Monday for Veteran's Day.
• We will be out November 19-23, the entire week for the Thanksgiving holiday.
• We will return to school on Monday, November 26.
• Kindergarten Christmas craft day is on Friday, November 30.  We would love a few parent volunteers to help out on this day.  Please let us know if you are interested in helping.
• The CASA Christmas program and brunch will be held on Monday and Tuesday December 3 and 4.  Our class will be in costume and act as the live nativity for the program.  As of now, Ms. Alissa's class will perform on that Monday and Ms. Julie's class will perform on that Tuesday. The program will begin at 10:30 and is followed by a brunch in the CLC.

Hope everyone has a blessed day and enjoys the long weekend!

Fun with Fairy Tales!

The past two weeks have been busy and fun! We wrapped up our study of Fairy Tales today with a "beary fun" Bear Day! The children all brought their stuffed bears from home.  We shared our bears, compared and graphed the differences in our bears, sorted and tasted different flavored teddy grahams, and read stories and sang songs about bears! Our focus fairy tale of the week was Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  We read several different versions of the story, including Dustylocks and the Three Bears, which was a class favorite!
Last week our focus fairy tale was Cinderella.  We also read different versions of the story and did a Venn Diagram to compare the similarities and differences in the stories.  We painted pumpkins and fall leaves.  In Math, the children have continued working on their Jazzy Math Journals.  They made bats and measured the span of the wings using different items such as candy corns and paper clips. 

The next two weeks are going to be really busy as well! Please take note of dates and reminders:

• Tuesday, Oct. 23- CASA open house/spaghetti supper/silent auction- begins at 5:15
• Wednesday, Oct 24- Trick or Treating at Somerby Nursing Home.  Please have your child to CASA by 9:20.  DO NOT GET IN CARPOOL LINE. PULL UP TO THE HANDICAPPED SPACES AND WE WILL LOAD FROM THERE.  CHILDREN SHOULD BE DRESSED IN COSTUME AND HAVE A BAG OR BASKET TO COLLECT CANDY. PARENTS ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US.
• Tuesday, Oct. 30- Old Baker Farm field trip.  Arrive at CASA at 8:45.  We will pull out at 9:00. Please pack sack lunches (in brown paper sacks- labeled with child's name).  Please send one drink with lunch as well as an additional water bottle.  Please send disposable water bottles labeled with your child's name.  If you are chaperoning, you will need a sack lunch for yourself as well.
• Wednesday, Oct 31- Harvest Hoedown (cowboy attire)- more details to come.  If you would like to help with this party, please contact our room moms- Michelle Kendrick, Toni Glenn, or Allison Holley.
• Tuesday, Nov. 6- No CASA- Election Day
• Monday, Nov. 12- No CASA- Veteran's Day
• Week of Nov. 19-23- Thanksgiving holidays.  We will be out all week.

Painting signs for our community

Busy at centers

Dancing to the Tooty Ta!

Elbows back, tongue out, eyes shut!

Silly Kids!

Making our policemen

Decorating paper plate pumpkins

We combined classes to do this fun craft!

About to make our edible firetrucks!

Spreading the icing

Finished products

Yummy!