Please join us for Flying Pancakes!

PANCAKE BREAKFAST is BACK!!
Served with SAUSAGE, ORANGE DRINK & COFFEE 
BY: CHRIS CAKES

LOCATION: Ellen Thompson (front parking lot if weather permits)
Date: Thursday September 29, 2011 
Time: 5:00-7:00 p.m.                                                               
COST: $6.00 per person at the front desk
$7.00 per person at the door
(Children under 2 free) 


This is a fundraiser that UPA has done for the last few years!  It is always a lot of fun!  I hope to see you there as you catch some flying pancakes on your plate!

Back to School Night

Dear Kindergarten Families,

I would like to invite you and kindergartener to Back to School Night this Wednesday, September 14! The program will begin on 6:00pm and include an overview of our year, work samples, a tour of our (completed) classroom and an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about our school, classroom or future projects.

I hope to see as many families as possible there!  Thank you in advance!

Our first week of Kindergarten!

In math this week, we discussed the difference between longer and shorter by comparing different lengths of paper.  After our exploration, the children were given a strip of paper and needed to find the other person in the room with the length that matched.  After comparing their paper to different lengths, the new pairs sat together and asked each other "getting to know you" questions. 

On Thursday, we used our different senses to count.  We first counted objects using our eyes.  Then we paired up and used our sense of touch to count.  One member of the pair had their eyes closed and their hand out. The other member then tapped into their hand.  Each kindergartener got to count each tap they felt to find the right number!

We then used our hearing to count.  We took turns closing our eyes while one of our friends dropped tiles into a cup.  We practiced counting in our heads each time we heard a noise.  We had so much fun guessing how many tiles our friends used!

On Friday, we were introduced to the number "0".  We began by singing "5 Little Monkeys," practicing putting down one finger each time a monkey fell off the bed.  We then talked about what it means to have "0" of something.

We also were introduced to the mini white boards and dry erase markers.  We practiced passing them out, how to erase, and how to use the markers.

At the end, we practiced making the number "0" using our new number poem.

"Start at the top, loop like an 'o'.  Look what you've made - the number zero!"

In writing this week, we began our Writer's Workshop.  In kindergarten, our stories begin with pictures.  We will then move on to using letter strings to represent words.  Here are some friends as they begin their journey of becoming authors!

We put all of our first stories on the "refrigerator door" in our classroom!  If you have time, please stop by and "read" their wonderful writing!





Singing with Ms. Ritter and our first Kindergarten Meeting

This week, we continued with meeting new people in our school!  On Thursday, the kindergarteners visited Ms. Ritter for their very first music class!  They were so excited to share everything they did in the music room and said that they can't wait to visit again.

Here is Ms. Ritter singing a "getting to know you" song.

Because of the rain, we also had our first Kindergarten Meeting, where all three kindergarten classes come together for enrichment activities.  Here we are doing a warm up dance to Tootie Ta.

We then worked on our letter recognition using Ms. Woolsey's SmartBoard, a large interactive computer screen.  We touched different colored dots to reveal letters underneath.  We then traced over the letters to practice our handwriting!  Here is Nia choosing a dot.

Caden gets ready to trace the letter "X"

Gemar tried the lower case "q"



AMPT Schedule Correction

I accidentally listed technology as one of our AMPT classes this quarter instead of music.  We will be going to music on Mondays and Thursdays.  We will vist technology in a few weeks.  I apologize for the error.  Have a great day!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hello kindergarten families!

I wanted to welcome each and every one of you to our classroom blog!  Here, you will find, pictures, reminders and updates about what we will be doing in kindergarten this year!  If you have any questions, please fell free to contact me through email or by phone.  My planning period is from 12:30 - 1:25pm, so that is the best time to get in contact with me.

skefgen@uprep.com
313-874-9800

I also wanted to share some pictures about what we did during our first day of school!  We began by learning a new song called Tootie Ta! It was a silly song that required the children to listen to the directions to see what they would be doing next.  We giggled through the whole song! 

"a tootie ta, a tootie ta, a tootie ta ta!"

We also read an amazing book called The Kissing Hand.  It was all about a young raccoon who is nervous about starting his first day of school.  His mother then kissed his hand and told him that if he held it to his cheek, he would be able to feel his family's love with him whenever he needed.  We then made Kissing Hands for our own families, just in case they were nervous while we were in school learning new things!

Her we are working in our centers! Our choices were library, blocks, Mr. Potato Head, sand table and puzzles.  We made our way through half of our center rotations, and will finish tomorrow!

Here we are enjoying our first kindergarten lunch in the village area.

Here we are enjoying our first time on the playground during recess!

During math, we discussed the different lengths of strips of paper, including which one is longer or shorter.  We then chose strips of paper and played a matching game to find our math partners with the same length of paper!  Each pair of kindergarteners took turns asking each questions about their favorite color, animal, food and how many siblings they had.  We had a great time on our first day of kindergarten!

If you would like blog updates emailed to you, please subscribe by entering your email address on the right side of the blog.  Below you will also find our current AMPT schedule.  Thank you!

Monday - Technology with Ms. K

Tuesday - PE with Coach Marbry

Wednesday - Art with Ms. Seiklay

Thursday - Technology with Ms. K

Friday - PE with Coach Marbry

Please remember to bring a change of gym shoes on the days that we have PE.