Today we began the day with reading books at our tables, instead of Center Time. After that, we had a short afternoon meeting, and then wrote two invitations as a class - one to Mr. Wold, and the other to Mrs. Wold. A couple of the kids brought them to their rooms, and after we read a couple of books, we had a surprise for Mr. and Mrs. Wold - and we gave them the baby advice book that we made (each child wrote a page of advice for the parents-to-be) and the fleece tie-blanket that we made for the baby. They were very surprised.

Then we headed up to the computer lab for our time there.

After that, we finished up a "secret project" and then watched a slideshow of all of the photos that I have taken so far this year while we ate popcorn. After that, it was time to pack up and go home.

Enjoy your breaks, and have a very happy, peaceful, and joyous holiday season.

See you next year! (That's a kindergarten joke that never gets old on the last day before Winter Break...)

Today was the first day when we were back to "normal" in kindergarten, after the 12 Days of Winter projects. We began the day with reading at our tables, and then had morning meeting. We worked to finish up a couple of projects that we had lingering, and met a new High Hat friend in our phonics program -- Eddy Elf. We learned about the short /e/ sound (/e/ as in ten). We also did a bit of work with a new word family - words that end in -en, such as ten, men, Ben, hen, etc. We then we headed to the gym for our time there with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson.

When we got back down to the room, we we had Choice Time, and then went back up to the library to check out books. Then, it was back down to the room to clean up, pack up the sugar cube igloos (look for them in your child's backpack today...), and then it was time to go home!

Today was the 12th (and last) day of Winter in our series. Today, the book page read, "On the twelfth day of Winter, my teacher gave to me: 12 treats for tasting." Yikes! We had 12 different snacks to sample, and the kids did a fill-in-the-letter activity for each snack. It (along with any snacks that they had left over) should be in their backpacks today. The kids also brought home their 12 Days of Winter books today -- check them out and see what we have been up to.

After the snacking, we worked on a project. One I can't tell you about it, though -- it's a secret. We then had a low-key Choice Time, and ended our day.

After all of that, it was time for us to bundle up and head home.

Today was the 11th (whew!) Day of Winter in kindergarten, so today we read, "On the 11th day of winter, my teacher gave to me: 11 cubes for gluing..." We made igloos out of sugar cubes by gluing them on to styrofoam balls. They took some doing, but turned out really nicely. I think that they MIGHT be dry by Friday, if we are lucky... :-)

After our craft, had a little bit of time to practice the letter sounds that we have learned in our High Hat phonics program, and then we headed up to the computer lab for our time there. When we got back down to our room,we worked on a surprise writing project - ask your child about it -- it is pretty fun, and turned out very well.

After writing, we got all bundled up and headed home.

Today was our 10th day of the 12 Days of Winter. Today, the page in our book said, "On the 10th day of winter, my teacher gave to me, 10 holes for stitching." We made mittens, that turned out very cute, if we do say so ourselves... The kids used large needles and yarn to stitch around the outsides of the felt mitten cut-outs, and then decorated them with buttons and pompoms. Check out their creation in their backpack today (some of them are going to finish them tomorrow - our time was a little short today).

After our sewing, we headed up to the music room. When we came back down, we then read two "mitten" books - The Mitten, and The Missing Mitten. Today, we also met a new high Hat friend - Zoo Zoo, and talked abou the /z/ sound, especially that fact that both z and s can make that sound (liek in zebra and in eyes). We then read our new Star of the Week poster (nice job, Julia!). After all of that, it was tie to bundle up everyone and head to home or to Spanish class.

Stay warm!

Today was day number 9 in the 12 Days of Winter. Today, "my teacher gave to me: 9 worms for watching." We "worms in dirt", which was gummy bears and chocolate pudding in a cup. the kids had a good, and remarkabbly un-messy, time. After our treat, we colored in our 12 Days of Winter Books, and then read two wormy books - Diary of a Worm, and Worm Family. We then headed up to the computer lab for our half hour of math and reading practice there.

After the computer lab, we celebrated Adele's half birthday - her Dad came in to read Popploetin to us, and we sang Happy Birthday to her. After that, it was time for a short Choice Time, and then out the door.

TGIF - enjoy your weekend!

Today was day number 8 in the 12 Days of Winter. Today, "my teacher gave to me: 8 bells for jingling." We made jingle bell bracelets, which I'm sure that you have seen (and, perhaps more to the point, heard) at home today. After our craft, we went down to the gym for the Family Fun Run with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson. It was really fun -- the kids all ran for 15 minutes, some of it with the lights down and the disco ball going. The kids thought (and many of the parents, I suspect) thought that it was pretty cool. In case you were wondering, I also ran for 15 minutes.

After the Fun Run, we had math class. We're beginning to talk about measurement. The kids built a measuring stick out of unifix cubes (they look like this), and then measured things that were shorter and longer than that, and recorded their findings on the page that they brought home today.

After math, we were off to the library to check out books, and then back down just in time to pack and go home.

Today was the 7th Day of Winter for us, and today "my teacher gave to me: 7 flakes for snipping" -- we made tissue paper snowflakes! They turned out really nicely - ask your child if they can teach you how to make a six-pointed snowflake!

After our craft, we had a quick clean-up time (picture 25 kids all making tiny tissue paper scraps at the same time). Then we had a reading lesson that used word families again to make words. We used the letter sounds that we have learned about in our phonics (High Hat) series to add on to word endings -op, -an, -it, and -at. When we finished with that, we did our monthly self-portrait to hang on our portrait wall.

When we finished with our portraits, we read a snowy winter book by Jan Brett called The Three Snow Bears, which is an arctic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

We finished our day with Choice Time, and then packed up to go home. Whew!

P.S. Don't forget that tomorrow is the Family Fun run -- please join us if you can. It will be in the gym from 12:55 - 1:50, and it will be great fun!

Today was day number 6 of the 12 days of winter - "On the sixth day of winter, my teacher gave to me: 6 socks for stuffing, etc...). We made sock snowpeople, using bird seed to fill the bottom, and fiber fill to make the two upper parts. It was great fun - and the kids got to take home the snowpeople today.

After our craft, we had a short version of Afternoon Meeting, read a winter book (Dear Polar Bear), and then we headed up to the computer lab for our half hour there.

Back down in our class, we had a short reading lesson, in which we talked about word families again, and then we had a bit of an extended Choice Time, since we didn't have any yesterday. The kids were excited to play in the Puppet Theater and to make paper bag puppets at the art center.

After all that, it was time for us to pack up and go home!

Today we continued with the 12 Days of Winter -- today was day number 5 - "5 gold stars." We cut out small stars, covered them with gold foil, and pasted them into our books. It took a (un)surprisingly long time for all of us to cut and paste and cut again -- but the pages in our books turned out remarkably well.

After our craft, we headed up to the music room for music class with Mr. Hofmann. When we got back to the room, we had a very short Afternoon Meeting (it's the 60th day of kindergarten already!!), and we read our new Star of the Week poster (nice job, Lili!). Then we met a new High Hat friend in our phonics lesson - Ollie Octopus (the short /o/ sound, like in 'octopus.' We also talked about a new word family - words that end in -op, like hop, mop, pop, top, and stop. Then we had a special visitor, Scientist Kristy (Kristy Quinn, a kindergarten parent who is also an astrophysicist at the U of M). She gave an very interesting presentation about stars and our sun in particular -- ask your child all about it!

The kids also discovered that the new dramatic play area is a Puppet Theater - and they are very excited to play there tomorrow!

Today was day number 3 in the 12 Days of Winter - three penguins. We made a cute little penguin from construction paper to glue into our books. The kids traced and cut, and then assembled them. (Thanks to Christine Fraser, who cut out all of the little tiny feet and beaks for the penguins!)

After our craft, we headed to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson. After that, it was up to the Media Center for book check-out. when we got back to the room, we read a funny book, just for fun, called Big Chickens. Then, it was Choice Time, and then packing up to go home!

Today we continued with the 12 Days of Winter sequence. On day 2, "my teacher gave to me: two teddy bears, and a bird feeder in a snowy tree." Today we colored another page in our 12 Days of Winter book, and the added a hibernation cover for the bears on the page. We read a couple of books about hibernation (The Bear Snores On and Time for Sleep). We also played a hibernation game, in which the kids covered their eyes and pretended to 'hibernate'. While they were all 'asleep,' I covered one of them with a sheet. Then I said "Springtime!" and they opened up their eyes and had to try to guess who was still hibernating. It was great fun!

After our 12 Days activities, we had time for Afternoon meeting, and then we had our second (and final) Art Adventure Lesson of the year. Katie Cronin came in again, and we saw four new pieces, and then made a self-portrait, which I hope you found in your child's backpack. The Art Adventure program, once again, is from the Minneapolis Institute of Art. (for more information on the MIA, click here, and to see some of the works that we looked at, click here -- we saw the portrait of the woman by Vigée-Le Brun, the Hmong ceremonial skirt, the Ojibwa beaded cape, and the wedding portrait from 1920s Harlem).

After our adventures in art, we had Choice Time, and then packed up to head home or to Spanish class.

Today, we started our 12 Days of Winter celebration. We are basing the next couple of weeks on the picture book The Twelve Days of Winter, and doing a craft or activity each of the next 12 days. Today we made (as you probably discovered in your child's backpack) a pinecone birdfeeder. It was really fun, and a surprisingly small mess.

After our craft project, we had our afternoon meeting, and started a short writing project about winter. Connor, our Star of the Week, also read his poster (nice job, Connor!) --we ran out of time to look at his pictures though -- we'll do that tomorrow. We then headed up to the computer lab for our time there with math and reading practice.

When we got back to the room, we had a guest reader! Ms. Cori, who is the bilingual resource aide at Burroughs, came in to read one of her favorite books - Peter Rabbit. Then, we had a short Choice Time, and packed up to go home.