Our Holiday Party

I hope everyone is having a great break and had a wonderful Christmas! I'm enjoying my time at home with my family, friends, and my new husband and puppy.

The week before break was sooo busy! We had 2 holiday concerts and a party! Here are some pictures of the kindergartners singing with Ms. Ellington's class at the breakfast on Thursday. They sang Frosty The Snowman and did a great job!!

On Friday we had a class party in the afternoon. We decorated Christmas Tree cookies, enjoyed treats and played a few games. We received so many treat donations from our parents! A HUGE thank you goes to Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Miller and Ms. Brown for helping out with our party! We couldn't have such successful activities without such great parent support.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday break! See you January 4th 2010!

Christmas Cards with 5th Grade

Ms. Sangeorzan's 5th grade class joined us on Friday to make Christmas cards for people who will be in the hospital on Christmas Day. My mom is a nurse at Troy Beaumont hospital, and she will be working on the cancer floor on Christmas Day. She told me how excited the staff is there to pass out our cards. She says it always brightens the day of her patients when they receive cards and notes.

The 5th graders helped us write and spell words. After the buddy pairs read holiday books together. The 5th graders were really great role models and were very helpful. We hope to work with them again soon!

Alphabet Soup

The kindergartners really enjoy the book, "Martha Speaks." It is about a dog that eats alphabet soup and is able to talk! We reread it in class on Tuesday and then ate our our alphabet soup. A big thank you goes to Jaden's mom who helped make it.

After we are our soup we wrote about what the soup tasted like. The students really enjoyed their special snack!

Holiday Updates

Hello Families!

Here are some updates for this week and break...

~Wednesday at 5:30 is our school's holiday concert. It will be in the gym.

~Thursday at 9:00 am is The Lighthouse Village holiday concert. The kindergarten and first graders will sing a few holiday songs we've been practicing for you. After we will have some refreshments. We are asking for a $1.00-$2.00 donation for each of you to help pay for the food and beverages.

~Friday is our classroom Holiday party. It will begin at 1:30 in the afternoon. Parents are welcome to attend. We will decorate cookies, play games and enjoy some treats. Please send along any snacks or treats you would like your child to share with the rest of the students.

~Friday is also free dress for $1.00 day.

Thanks for all your help and support during the Holiday Season. This will be a fun week in Kindergarten!

Christmas Decorations

Yesterday, Jaden's mom Candice brought us a tree to decorate for our classroom. We made ornaments and put candy canes on it. We are so thankful for her help!!!

Reminders

This week is learning team meeting week! Please be on time and with your student so we can discuss their progress and set a learning goal. We will be picking exhibition topics for the March Exhibitions. Our theme is, "When I grow up." Please discuss jobs and careers with your students so they have ideas before hand. Let me know also, if you need a reminder of your date and time. Reminders were sent home last week.

On December the 16th there will be 2 holiday concerts. One is at 9:00 am for our floor. At this show students will be singing songs we practiced in our classrooms. Also there will be breakfast snacks and a photo opportunity. We are asking for a $1-2.00 donation from each of you to help pay for food and supplies.

Also, that evening at 6pm the whole school will perform in a music concert put together my our music program. Mrs. Melkonian is asking for parents to email one family picture to be used in the slide show. The concert's theme is families. Please send a favorite family photo to smelkonian@uprep.com.

Arthur & The Kids

Last weekend, my husband and I got a new puppy for our home. We named the little yorkie Arthur. On Friday, Billy brought him to school to meet all the students. The kids were very gentle and friendly with him. After the kids got a chance to pet and watch him play, we wrote about Arthur.

Shorter, Longer, Same

These words are very important in kindergarten math. Today we used blocks to help visualize and decide if different items were longer, shorter, and the same size.

Today we counted the number of letters in our name and then built block towers with the same number of blocks as letters in our name. Then we compared out block towers to see who's name was shorter, longer, and the same size. Use these words frequently with your student at home.

Domino Memory

Today in math we played domino memory. Students had to match the number of dots on a domino to a number on a card. They all played very well together and has fun practicing number recognition and counting!

After having a wonderful Thanksgiving break, it was great to see all the kids back at school and ready to learn!

Thanksgiving Project with MaLia

MaLia came to our class Tuesday afternoon to make some fun projects with our students. They made turkey apples, Native American Headdresses and each student received a candy bag. The money she collected went to her non-profit organization, Next Generation Community Organizers. Check out this article on their latest bookmobile project. MaLia will graduate from UPA this year and will attend Wayne State University! We wish her all the best!

Hat Day!

Today at school students wore hats for $1.00. The money collected went towards childhood cancer. For more information see the following website. There is a touching story of a boy and his friends who began this event. Thank you for all your support!!!

Reminders

On Tuesday November 24, MaLia, a student from our High School, will be in our class to do a Thanksgiving project with our students at 3:00. As a part of our project, she is collecting $2.00 donations for her non-profit organization, Next Generation Community Organizers. Please contribute what you can to help her cause.

Here is a bit she wrote about the event. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hello, my name is MaLia Gaddy, I am a 12th grade student at University Preparatory High School. I am a current volunteer with Next Generation Community Organizers, a non-profit organization that promotes literacy in under served communities. We are currently raising funds to purchase a library on wheels to travel the Detroit area and give under privileged youth access to reading materials and literacy building workshops. For only $2, your child will support the effort of improving literacy in Detroit and surrounding areas while engaging in fun Thanksgiving activities such as making turkeys from apples, and creating their very own Native American Headdress. Please submit the $2 to your child’s teacher. Can’t wait to see your child there!

Tuesday is also a $1.00 for free dress and hat day.

The Letter U

While we were learning about the letter U we took some underwater pictures. Take a look!

Check soon for our letter U Podcast!!!