Oct. 31

Happy Halloween!
Morning Meeting-We sang "What costume will you wear?" for our quick share. We did the Tooty Ta and the Silly Pirate Song.
Specials-We had Phy. Ed. today.
Read Aloud-Inside a Haunted House
Shared Reading-Jack-O-Faces
Reading Activities-We did our Nursery Rhyme page in our Kindergarten Memory Books.
Writer's Workshop-We wrote independently for 10 minutes in writer's workshop. We shared our stories before lunch. Many kids wrote about Halloween and Trick or Treating.
Nursery Rhyme Party-We did our Nursery Rhyme Rap, We paraded around the building and we recited our Nursery Rhymes. Then we had stations. We had charades, I'm a little teapot puzzles, snack station and an egg drop station for Humpty Dumpty. It was a wonderful party. Thank you to all of the parents who came to help today. The kids had a great time!!!

Oct. 30

Morning Meeting-We did all 3 AlpahFriend songs. We shared something we were looking forward to for our quick share. Many kids are very excited about trick or treating.
Specials-We had phy. Ed. and librart today
Read Aloud-We read "Rosie's Red Radish". There were lots of "Rr"s in this book.
Reading Activity-We went on a "Rr"hunt. We found "Rr"s in the Reggie Rooster song. We did a coloring sample in our Kindergarten memory books. We made our Reggie Rooster page.
Math-We did calendar and we finished our October calendars in our calendar books since we will not have time to do math tomorrow with our Nursery rhyme party.
We did candy corn math also. We sorted and counted our candy corn and pumpkin candies. We made patterns with our candy. We measured with our candy. The math sheet and extra candy corn came home today.

Oct. 29

Tomorrow is library day.
Morning Meeting-We spend most of our morning meeting practicing our Day 5 Alive song.
Specials-We had music today.
Read Aloud-We read "My Crayons Talk" and "The Crayon Box That Talked".
Snack-We had our wonderful fruit salad. Thank you for all of the fruit donations. We had a colorful and fun snack today.
Table Activity-We did our favorite color page in our Kindergarten Memory book. We also practiced our cutting skills with a pumpkin puzzle.
Rest Time-We practiced our Day 5 Alive song
Math-We did calendar and workjobs. Thank you to Ms. Aker, Beth and Amie for helping with workjobs today.
Day 5 Alive-We had lots of fun singing our Nursery Rhyme Rap at Day 5 Alive. Thank you for sending the costumes in early. They were great! We look forward to wearing them again on Friday.

Oct. 28

Tomorrow is favorite color day! Wear your favorite color. It is also fruit salad day. Please send in the fruit tomorrow.
It is also Day 5 Alive tomorrow. Please send in Nursery Rhyme costume.
Today was white day. We celebrated Gavin's birthday today!
Morning Meeting-We practiced our Nursery Rhyme Rap for Day 5 Alive. We also did Surprise Suitcase, the letter bucket and the Happy Dance
Specials-We had music today.
Read Aloud-We read "The White Book" and "In The Big Blue Sea".
Reading Activities-We picked new books and had Independent Reading.
Special Activity-We had vision and hearing tests today.
Rest Time- We listened to "Never Ride Your Elephant to School".
Math-We did calendar and introduction to subtraction. We used 10 links, a dice and white boards. We shook the dice and then subtracted that number of links, then we wrote a number sentence to go with our math.
Writer's Workshop-We practiced writing some of our sight words of white boards. Then we wrote a sentence on our white boards using our word wall and by stretching out our words. We wrote "I like my cat". Then we spent 10 minutes writing in our writing folders. We finished by sharing our work.

Oct. 27

Today was brown day. Tomorrow is white day.
*Reminders-
*Please send Nursery Rhyme costumes of Wednesday for Day 5 Alive. We will be using them for our performance at 2:10
*Favorite color day/Fruit Salad Day is Wednesday
*Library Day is Thursday
*Nursery Rhyme Party is Friday

Morning Meeting-We practiced our Nursery Rhyme Rap for Day 5 Alive. We also did the Reggie Rooster song. We shared exciting things that happened over the weekend. We had some stitches and some lost teeth this weekend. Along with Surprise Suitcase and Letter Bucket, we had our first person share the Star Suitcase. Rayna shared the book she made along with two of her favorite toys. We learned a lot about Rayna today.
Learning Goals-I met with half of the class to write learning goals today during free choice time. Each student had to tell me something he/she wanted to learn in kindergarten. I helped guide them in their decisions.
Specials-We had art today
Read Aloud-"Brown at the Zoo"
Shared Reading-"I See Brown" book
Reading Activity-I introduced Reggie Rooster today. We also had Independent Reading. We introduced Shared Reading (partner reading). We talked about the guidelines for Shared Reading and we modeled the behavior. Then we practiced Shared reading with a partner. We read the book "School" together.
Rest Time-We listened to "Froggy Plays T-ball".
Math-We did calendar and calendar book today. We measured things with our body parts. We measured with our hands, fingers, feet and arms. We recorded our measurements and shared what we measured after we were finished.
We ended our day by practicing our Day 5 Alive song and having a short playtime.

Oct. 24

Today was black day. Monday is brown day.
Morning meeting-We practiced our Nursery Rhyme Rap. We share our Halloween costumes during our quick share.
Specials-We had phy. ed. today.
Read Aloud-We read "Black Batty Bat" and "Monkey's Miserable Monday".
Shared Reading-We read our mini black books
Reading Activities-We found the "Mms" in the Mimi Mouse song. We made a Mimi Mouse page for our Alpha Friend book. We went on a Mm hunt around the classroom. We had independent reading for 6 minutes with 4 new booksof our choice in our book bags.
Rest Time-We listened to "Llama Llama Mad at Mama".
Math-We did calendar. We also measure classroom items with a balance or rocker scale. We predicted which object would be heaviest and which would be lightest. Then we measured the items. We put them in order from heaviest to lightest. Then we measure the items with links. We found out if our predictions were correct. After doing this activity as a group, we split up into smaller groups to measure an object individually.
Science-We did a movement activity for color mixing. Each student got a primary color streamer (red, yellow, blue). When I held up a secondary color (purple, orange, green), the students that had a color used to make the color got up in the circle with their streamer and "mixed" their color with the other primary color. This was a fun way to review color mixing.
Have a great weekend.

Oct 23

Tomorrow is black day!
Morning Meeting-We did the Shape and Freeze movement song. We shared our favorite fruit-many students like strawberries. We also worked on our Nursery Rhyme Rap for Day 5 Alive.
Specials-We went to Phy. Ed. and library.
Read Aloud-Pink Takes a Bow
Shared Reading-I See Pink
Reading Activities-We made the pink mini book. We also practiced our Independent Reading. We read for 6 minutes today. We reviewed the rules and expectations. Tomorrow we are picking new books for our book bags. We reviewed 4 of our sight words-I, see, my and like. The four words came home in our learning to read bags. Please practice them at home. Knowing these words will help during reading and writing activities.
Writer's Workshop-We looked at our mini-word wall in our writing folders. We highlighted all of the letters. We found some of our sight words on our little word walls. We talked about how we could use the word walls during writer's workshop.
Rest Time-We listened to "The New Bear at School".
Math- We did calendar and calendar book. We explored the penny today. We looked at it closely with our magnifying glass. We found the date and some words including one cent. We found the heads side and tails side. We played a flip the coin game. We flipped the coin and marked tally marks for heads or tails.
Science-Color Mixing-We did a color mixing center using color paddles. We also ate ice cream to celebrate earning 50 super stars for Star Behavior. We used food colors to explore mixing colors while we ate our ice cream. It was a fun and yummy way to mix colors.

Oct. 22

Tomorrow is Library Day. It is also Pink Day!
*Just a reminder...Our Nursery Rhyme party is Friday, October 31. Please have your child pick a nursery rhyme and practice saying it. Help them to make or find an easy costume to go with the Nursery Rhyme.
Morning Meeting-We did the Color March for our movement activity. We shared what Nursery Rhyme we are going to say at the party.
We had Music today.
Read Aloud-Mouse Paint-it is a story about mixing colors
Shared Reading-"Purple" book...I see a purple balloon
Reading Activity-Today we started Independent Reading. We talked about 3 ways to read a book-read the words, read the pictures or retell the story. We then talked about what our room should look like when we are having Independent Reading time. Our three rules were 1.Reading 2. Quiet 3. stay in spot. Each student got a "book bag" with 4 books inside. Each student went to their own special Independent Reading spot and "read" the books inside the bag. The students did a great job reading independently today.
Writer's Workshop-We reviewed stretching out words to hear the sounds and write the words. We spent 20 minutes writing individually.
Rest Time-We read our class books-"Lunch Box Book", "I Went Walking" and "Favorite Color" book.
Math-Calendar and workjobs. We had Ryan's mom, Beth, and Charlie's mom, Maggie, came to help today. Workjobs are math centers. The centers were patterns, matching numbers, counting numbers and ordering numbers. Each student has a card. After he/she finishes an activity, an adult checks and marks it on his card.
Day 5 Alive-We went to watch Day Five Alive in the gym. We saw Mrs. Johnson's 1st grade class do a movement activity for the seasons of an apple tree. We saw some 4th graders play the piano. We all sang the Rockford Elementary song and the Happy Dance

Oct. 21

Today was orange day!
Morning Meeting-We sang the Mimi Mouse song. We shared about our pumpkins for our quick share.
Specials-We had music today.
Read Aloud-We read "Pumpkin, Pumpkin" and "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever".
Shared Reading-We read a poem called "Orange Pumpkin"
Reading Activity-We made our orange mini book. We finished our color book today with our orange page. The students brought home the color book.
Writer's Workshop-We spent some time practicing stretching out our words to sound them out and write them on white boards. We spent 15 minutes independent writing. I am meeting with individual students to go through the work they have done so far. If I have met with your child, he/she brought home some of their writing. I saved 3 to 4 pieces for conferences and to show how their work is growing and progressing.
Rest Time-I read the story "Big Pumpkin" and we listened to the story "Yes We Can!".
MATH-We did calendar. Then we did patterns. We first did number counting patterns (1-2, 1-2, 1-2 is an abab pattern 1-1-2,1-1-2 is an aab pattern 1-1-2-2,1-1-2-2 is an aabb pattern). then we did patterns with our bodies (clap, tap, tap is an abb pattern and a turn, turn, jump is an aab pattern). Then we used attribute blocks to make patterns. We made two, three and four color patterns. We chose our favorite pattern to draw on paper. We also labeled our patterns with the letters (ABABAB).
Social-We talked about caring today. We brainstormed ways we could be caring and helpful at school. We talked about how that makes us feel good to help others. We read the story "Heartprints" by P.K. Hallinan. I am going to be looking for heartprints in kindergarten. A heartprint is a kind and caring act to another person. If I catch someone giving a heartprint to another student, I will give them a little red heart. If your child comes home with a heart, s/he did something kind at school. We talked about me not always seeing the heartprints. Eventually, I would like to have the kids give each other heartprints. I hope this starts highlighting all of the good things that kids do for others and hopefully downplaying all of the negative things.

Oct. 20

I am back from Jamaica! We changed our trip from Mexico to Jamaica because of the hurricane hitting Mexico on the same day we were supposed to arrive.
I missed the students and am excited to be back. I got lots of hugs today. Hope all of you had nice long weekends
Morning Meeting-We introduced our new Alpha Friend today-Mimi Mouse. For our movement activity we did actions to the Mimi Mouse song. For our quick share, we shared something fun we did while Mrs. Milow was gone. We did Surprise Suitcase and Letter Bucket
specials-We had art today
Reading Activity-It was green day today. For our shared reading, we "read" Go Away Big Green Monster on sentence strips while showing the pictures using the flannel board set. We made our mini green books. We read it to 2 friends. We are making a color book and made the green page today. We made "Big Green Monster" headbands.
*Mimi Mouse homework went home today. It is due on Friday. Everyone turned in the Sammy Seal homework! Thanks for helping your child with their homework!
Rest Time-We read "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Little Green Snake".
Math-Calendar and Calendar book. We played the domino addition game. We rolled the dice and wrote the numbers on the domino play mat. Then we wrote addition sentences to match our dominos.
*We spent some time reviewing classroom rules. The sub had some trouble with kids listening and following directions. We reviewed the rules and talked about how these rules apply even when Mrs. Milow is gone.

Oct. 9

Morning Meeting-We did a song similar to "Wheels on the Bus" but used fire truck words. Our quick share this morning was our favorite part of our field trip yesterday. We also made a thank you to the fire fighters.
Specials-We had art today with Mrs. Karg
Read Aloud-Silly Seal Sandwich-There were lots of "Ss" words in this story
Shared Reading-Nursery Rhymes
Reading Activity-We started our Alpha Friend book. We made our Sammy Seal page.
Computer-We took our last MAPS test-Math 2.
Rest Time-We listened to The Magic School Bus Inside the Bee Hive. We only did half of the story since it is so long. We will finish tomorrow.
Math-Calendar and Calendar Book. We also made a little graph of our class graph about favorite colors. We made a class graph on our birthdays.
Social/Science-We read a book about fire safety called "Fire, Fire". We made our scrapbook page about our fire station field trip.
Reminder-I will be at a workshop tomorrow. I will be stopping in after school and then I will be gone next week. Please send notes and make phone calls. I won't be checking my email after Friday. I will be back Oct. 20.

Oct. 8

Today we went to the Fire Station. We had a great time. We talked about smoke detectors, getting out of the house, having a meeting place at home. We also talked about practicing a fire drill at home. We had a chance to spray the fire hose. We saw the fire suits that fire fighters wear when going to a fire. We got to try on a helmet. We went inside 2 fire trucks. We learned all about the different fire trucks at the Rockford Station. We saw the ladder on the ladder truck to up in the air. One of the fire fighters even went up on the ladder and took our picture. Thank you to all of the fire fighters for taking the time to teach up about fire safety.
Morning Meeting-We did a fire truck song. We shared another baby outfit. We shared the Surprise Suitcase and the Letter Bucket.
Specials-We had Phy. Ed. with Mrs. Lingo.
Read Aloud-We read the story "The Fire House". We talked about fire safety rules after reading the story. We also talked about what we were going to see on the Fire Station Field trip.
Reading Activity-We talked about 3 ways to read a book. We talked reading the words, retelling the story and looking at the pictures to tell the story. I reread a book we read earlier this week called Fire House. It is an easy reader. Then we read the book all 3 ways. The students were put in partners to read the book in one of the 3 ways.
Writers Workshop-We talked about being independent writers. We talked about writing the words the best we could by listening to the sounds in the words. We practiced together. We also reviewed what to do when a student finishes a piece of writing. He/she can add to the pictures, add to the words or start a new piece.
We did not have rest time because we were at the fire station.
Math-We did the calendar after returning from the fire station.

Oct. 7

**Field Trip Tomorrow! Please wear a jacket, part of the field trip is outside.***
Morning Meeting-We shared six more baby outfits and pictures. Our bulletin board is almost full. We added a new sharing bucket today. It is our letter bucket. Each day a student will take the letter bucket home and fine objects around the house that start with that letter sound. This week students will be looking for objects that start like Sammy Seal and have the "Ss" sound. We will share the letter bucket during our morning meeting. Movement-Sammy Seal song
Specials-We had Phy. Ed. and Library today.
Snack-Thank you for preparing the students for no milk at snack. It was no bit deal. Most of them said that they already knew about no milk.
Read Aloud-We read "Sammy Seal" by Syd Hoff
Reading Activity-We circled the "Ss" in the Sammy Seal song. We also went on an Ss hunt around the classroom. Have your child go on an Ss hunt at home. Look for all of the Ss in your house.
Rest Time-Rain, Rain Everywhere
Math-Calendar and Calendar book
We also made a favorite color graph as a class. We made comparisons and talked about greater than and less than. We also added up different colors for addition problems.
Special Event-Mrs. Petersmeyer and Mrs. Wharram sang songs and read with the students in the story book room in the library while the teachers had a writer's workshop meeting.

Oct. 6

Happy Monday!
Today we started our day with free choice playtime. Last week we didn't get to do it as often since we were busy searching for our gingerbread man.
Morning Meeting-For our movement activity, we went on a gingerbread man hunt...we went up a tree, over a bridge, jumped over an alligator and across a river on the back of a fox until we got to a gingerbread house. We "chased" him and caught him and ate him. We shared our favorite color today because we are starting our new theme on Colors. We also shared 5 more baby outfits and photos.
Specials-We had music today
Read Aloud-We read "The Cookie Girl" and a special talking Gingerbread Man story.
Shared Reading-"I Love Colors" poem
Reading Activities-I introduced our new AlphaFriend-Sammy Seal. We listened to his song and brainstormed other "Ss" words. I introduced the homework. We wrote "Ss" letters and words on white boards. We added another page to our Kindergarten Memory books. We did the Gingerbread man page.
*Mrs. Seig was a substitute teacher for the afternoon. I was getting ready for Day 5 Alive with the other members of the ACE team.
Rest Time-We listened to"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" story and song.
Math-Calendar and introduction to clocks. We learned about O'clock. We practiced as a whole group and then used dice to play a partner game with the clock.
Science/Social-Fire Saftey-We read the story "The Fire House" as in introduction to fire safety. We spent time brainstorming all of the fire safety rules we already know.
Special Event-Day Five Alive-We had a whole school get together in the gym at the end of the day. Day Five Alive is a way for our school to celebrate all of the learning that is going on. We will see performances by different groups of kids at different grade levels. Today we had a skit performed by the ACE team about how to be a good audience for Day Five Alive. We also watched some 4th grade students perform on the world drums. We learned the Rockford Elementary song along with the Happy Dance. It was a fun time.
See you tonight at the parent meeting-6:30 in my classroom.

Oct. 3

WE FOUND HIM!!!! We wore our good luck Gingerbread man hats. We used our magnifying glasses. We went to the Galaxy room. We met 3 of the teachers, Darcy, Cheryl and Stephanie. We saw all of the kids playing. Logan found our clue. It told us to go to a room where we like to sing. We figured out it was the music room. We went to the music room and he was there! Sophia found him behind the piano. We were very excited to find him! One of the student's said that his "magic" must have run out. We took a class picture with him before bringing him back to class. We took turns having our picture taken with the giant Gingerbread Man. We also shared our favorite part of gingerbread man week. Most kids liked finding him, a few liked making him and someone said they liked putting the "magic" in him. We finished our activities up by eating him! He was delicious! We also finished our gingerbread man books. Look for our books and hats to come home today. It was an exciting week.
Morning Meeting-We shared 5 more baby clothes and pictures. Tyler, Ryan, Kyle, Ben and Nicolle shared today.
*Maps testing-We took our first math test today. The kids really enjoyed working on the computers.
**Rest Time-We earned all 25 stars before lunch today! Our class is working very hard to use their "STAR" behavior. The kids voted to watch a short video during rest time to celebrate their "STAR" behavior. We watched "The Magic School Bus Eats Lunch". It goes well with our Science theme-Human Bodies.
*Math-We did the calendar and our calendar books. We also played a partner game. We rolled the dice and wrote that many numbers (We rolled a 4...we wrote 1,2,3,4) . On our next turn we rolled and wrote that many numbers (rolled a 2...we wrote 5,6). We played until one person wrote numbers all the way to 30.
*Social-We made maps of our gingerbread man hunt. We brainstormed all of the places we looked for the gingerbread man. Then we made sure our maps included those places.
Have a great weekend!

Oct. 2

Greetings a day late! Better late than never I always say!
We continued our search for the Gingerbread man, but we did not find him. We even used our little magnifying glasses to help us look for clues. We checked in the nurses office and met Mrs. Schultz. She told us all about what happens when we visit the nurse. We found a clue to go to the speech office. We met Mrs. Faust. She told us all about the activities that happen in the speech room. We found a clue that told us to check Galaxy Kids Club on Friday. We are excited to find and eat him!
*We decided to make special gingerbread man hats to use for good luck on Friday. Some of us wanted to write the gingerbread man a note. We taped them up outside our door, hoping he would see them and come back to our room.
*Morning Meeting-We did the cheer "We're the Rockets" to get ready for our pepfest this afternoon. For our quick share we predicted where we would find the gingerbread man if we ever find him. Many students predicted we would find him at the Galaxy Kids room. Some said in our room or the kitchen. Some thought maybe the library. *We also started sharing our baby clothes. Grace, Ellie, Evan and Sophia shared today. They showed their baby clothes and baby picture. They also told something they could do now that they are a kindergartener. I took their picture holding up the baby clothes. Tomorrow we will share 4-5 more.
*Read Aloud-We read the "Gingerbread Boy".
*Reading Activities-We illustrated the next two pages in our Gingerbread Man Book.
*Rest Time-We listened to a story/song about the Gingerbread Man. I also read another version of the Gingerbread man.
Math-We did calendar. We also played a partner game-write the next number.
*Special Activity-We went to the pep fest. We saw the high school band, the cheerleaders, the homecoming king and queen and many high school athletes. We listened to songs and cheers. We also participated in a cheer. The kids seemed to really enjoy it!
**Star Students-We spent a lot of time today talking about "STAR" behavior. We did lots of practicing using the appropriate behavior in different situations. We role modeled the "STAR" behavior and the "unSTAR" behavior. I will talk more about this at the parent meeting. We are earning stars for "STAR" class behavior. We earned 13 already today! Our goal is 25 stars.

Oct. 1

I am sure you have heard by now that our Gingerbread man is missing. We went to the kitchen to get him out of the oven and he was gone. The little gingerbread men were there. The big gingerbread man left us a note where he was supposed to be. He said "Run, run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man. Look for me in the office." While we were in the kitchen, we met the kitchen staff, Char, Cheryl and Frieda. We looked at all of the large kitchen equipment...the ovens, the huge pot, the sink, the dishwasher. The kitchen staff told us they make food for 400-500 students everyday! At the office, we met Mrs. Larsen, Mrs. Hedelson and Mrs. Friedrich. We saw the workroom with the copy machine and the teacher's mailboxes, but we didn't see the gingerbread man. We found a note, it said "Run, run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread man. Look for me in the nurse's office tomorrow." The students were very disappointed that they had to wait until tomorrow.
Morning Meeting-We did the "Months Macarana" because it is a new month today!
Read Aloud-We read the Gingerbread Girl.
Computer-We took our second test-Reading 2 today.
Rest Time-We listened to "Shoo-Fly" story.
Math-We did calendar and our calendar books. We used our leaves in math today. We counted our leaves, we sorted them and we made patterns with them.
Gingerbread Man book-We started illustrating our Gingerbread Man Story. We drew the cover. We also did the first and second pages. The first page is about looking in the kitchen. The 2nd page is about looking in the office.
We ended the day with a little outside time.

Sept. 30

Sorry this it so late! Gingerbread day is crazy!
We had a very busy day! We had Phy. Ed. and library. We cooked our very big gingerbread man. The kids insisted that we put the "magic" in him. I hope he doesn't run away. He is as big as the pan. We put an "M" on him for "Milow". He has some hair. then we brought him down to the kitchen to bake.
Read Aloud-We read another version of "The Gingerbread Man"
Rest Time-We watched a movie of the Gingerbread Man. During this time we made our little gingerbread men.
Kathryn Beich kick-off-We went to the gym to learn about the Kathryn Beich fund raiser.