Mrs. Billups' Kindergarten Blog: October 2012

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Tricky Words

We are ready to begin our next phase of Jolly Phonics! The children have learned all 43 Jolly Phonics sounds and are ready to begin putting the sounds together to read and write! It would be wonderful if our English language allowed us to sound out all words! Some words we just have to memorize and we call these words, "tricky words!" This week your child brought home his/her first four tricky words! As posted earlier, I ask that you spend a few minutes each evening reviewing the tricky words with your child. Your child should be able to read them in 3 sec. or less. You will find that your child will be very excited when they find tricky words while reading to/with you! We have sets of tricky words at school and the children enjoy reading them with partners! As always, if you have questions about Jolly Phonics, please don't hesitate to ask! **Don't forget to read with your child and keep track on their Pizza Hut Book It form and turn in the first day of November!

Miles Of Pennies!

Kalona Elementary participated with the Optimist in collecting pennies for the Miles Of Pennies program. This program raises money to help children with cancer. Students had the opportunity to collect coins and bring to school in the month of October. I encouraged students to ask mom and dad for chores to "earn" the coins they brought to school. Although our class did raise the most money and were the winners of the pizza party, we discussed through out the month who the real winners were...."the children with cancer because they will use the money to help find a medicine that will make them better!" Thanks to the Kalona and Washington Twp Optimist for including us in this worthwhile project and giving us the opportunity to help others AND to parents and grandparents for helping your child to get involved! Below are photos of the pizza party that was served by members of the Optimist group.

Pizza Party

Fire Safety Week

October 8th was fire safety week! The children enjoyed the puppet presentation given by the UI Burn Unit nurses! The presentation covered stop, drop and roll, what to do if you get burned while cooking and having a safety plan for home WITH a meeting place. We continued learning about fire safety in our classroom throughout the week. The children practiced "stay low and go," feeling the door to see if it's hot and crawling to a window to wait for help! I can tell you that each year when we have this presentation the nurses always ask children to raise their hand IF they have a safety plan for home AND if they have a safe meeting place outside. The concerned looks from the children without a plan/safe meeting place always reminds me just how important it is to make sure and remind parents to have this conversation with your children! IF you haven't, please take a few minutes to discuss this important information with your child this week! It's something you will never regret doing!

UI Burn Unit Presentation

Fire Safety Puppets

Stop, Drop and Roll

Stay Low and Go

WE DID IT!!!

Our class is doing the "happy dance!" All twenty-two kindergarten children can now tie their shoes!!! When I ask the children why they thought I was so happy, their response was, "because you are so proud of us for learning to tie our shoes!" Yes I am AND it just made my days a little easier!! We waited to celebrate until yesterday when everyone was healthy and back in school! The children enjoyed making their own ice-cream sundaes, complete with Oreo cookie crumbs, sprinkles, chocolate syrup and M&M's! We were excited to have Mr. Cayton join us, but ONLY after he proved he could tie his shoes too! THANK YOU parents for continuing to encourage your children to tie their shoes at home! I know it takes longer and is difficult to not step in and do it yourself, but the practice will pay off! NEXT......zipping coats!

We Can Tie Our Shoes!

I'm "PROUD" of your hard work Kindergarten friends!

Mr. Cayton tying his shoes BEFORE he can have his ice-cream!

Thank You Mr. Cayton for joining us for our celebration!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Patterns

The children had LOTS of fun producing patterns with musical instruments! We also clapped and stomped patterns! Look for patterns while at the grocery store, driving down the road or at home!

Music Patterns

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Pete The Cat

The children have a new favorite book, Pete The Cat, I Love My White Shoes by author, Eric Litwin (aka Mr. Eric)! We currently have three of his four Pete The Cat books and the children love to read and sing along to his catchy songs! This week after reading Pete The Cat (I Love My White Shoes) we followed directions and use our fine motor skills to create our very own Pete The Cat! Next we cut apart a sentence and while reading, glued it in the correct order and finally wrote the color of Pete the Cat's shoes! The finished product is displayed in the front hallway! We are currently working on a class book, I Love My School Shoes! Watch for the class book to be coming home soon in your child's backpack! **(Watch for the Christmas Pete The Cat hardcover book in November's Scholastic book order!!!)

Making Pete The Cat

Pete The Cat

Making Pete The Cat

Pete The Cat

FALL FUN

I finally got my technology issues all figured out, thanks to Jill Hartsock!! We've had some wonderful fall days and have enjoyed some fall learning opportunities in our classroom! The children always enjoy apple activities and this year was no different. Each child brought an apple to school and the variety gave us opportunity to sort and graph apples many different ways! We used the apples to make apple patterns and we also enjoyed baking apple cake! The children brainstormed many signs of fall before we went on a fall walk! Each child carried a paper bag and created their own "fall collection." We also enjoyed the annual M-P middle school marching band!