Classroom Volunteers

I have added electronic sign up sheets on the blog for classroom volunteers through December, as well as the available Motor Moms & Dads dates for the whole year. 

If you are interested, please visit our blog and look at the sign up links on the left side. 

Also, the Fresh Fruit Fridays sign up is also located on the blog. Thank you to Lynne P. for volunteering to bring mangos  in this Friday!  

Measuring with linking cubes!

Today we worked on measuring by using our linking cubes! We measured our pencils, shoes, books and even Amarillo, one of our bearded dragons!

While we were measuring we made sure to line up the end of what we're measuring with our first linking cube. We also practiced writing larger numbers by looking at the difference number charts in our classroom.

Math Home Links / October homework calendar

The October homework calendar, reading log and math home links pages 9–12 were placed in your child's blue folder today.

Please complete October week one and the math packet this week and return on Friday.

If you have any questions please let me know.

October pumpkin pride posts

If you have not yet returned the completed October pride post, please send it in your kindergartners blue folder.

On your pumpkin, please complete the following sentence starter, "________ is sweet as pie when… "

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Taller/Shorter

In math workshop this week, we have been continuing our measurement unit by discussing taller, shorter and longer.

After discussing what it means to be taller or shorter than something or someone, the kindergartners were each given a Post-it note and asked to draw a picture of something around the room that they found that was taller and something that was shorter then them.

We then put our Post-it notes on the easel to show what is taller and shorter than a kindergartner.

Objects that we found that are taller than us including doors, our mailboxes, the animal tanks and the refrigerator in our kitchen set. Items that we found that were shorter than us included the tables, chairs, game shelf and listening center.

We also took turns standing in lines to find other kindergartners that were both taller and shorter then we are.

Interactive White Board

This past week we began using our interactive whiteboard!  Our classroom is equipped with a special projector that is able to turn our whiteboard into an interactive computer screen! We use a special "magic pen" which serves as a wireless mouse.

Here we are using a computer game which allows us to sort pictures by their beginning sounds.

Please remember to return library books on Monday, September 30

The Alphabet Forest

In addition to learning the sounds of letters, we have been learning to identify the lowercase letters as well as the uppercase. Here we are matching upper and lowercase letters in the Alphabet Forest!

All of the tree trunks had uppercase letters, while the kindergartners added the treetops with matching lowercase letters.

Crazy Hair Day!

Tomorrow, Monday, September 30, will be the first day of the Harlan Spirit Week! We will be celebrating by having Crazy Hair Day! I can't wait to see what the kindergartners come up with!

Monday will also be the first day that Apron Lady tickets will be given out to the students. These tickets can be redeemed at the Fall Frolic this Friday, October 4. By presenting one of the Apron Ladies a ticket, the children will be able to get candy and treats from one of their pockets in exchange.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Specials Schedule for the Week of 9/30 - 10/4

Monday (D) - PE & Media Center

Tuesday (A) - Art

Wednesday (B) - Music

Thursday (C) - PE 

Friday (D) - PE & Media Center

Please remember to bring gym shoes on days that we have PE, and return library books on days that we visit the media center.

Collage Pizzas

In art class, Mr. Fackler and the kindergarteners have been working hard on lots of amazing art projects!

The project I have heard the most about were their collage pizzas! The children were so excited to tell me about all of the toppings that they had been adding to their pizzas! Here is Mr. Fackler's wall display of Harlan style pizza:

Beginning Sounds with Finger Paints!

This week we continued to listen for the beginning sounds in words. Thus helps us isolate the sounds when we are stretching words out in writers workshop.

Here we using yellow paint in ziplock bags. Each kindergartener was given a word and asked to form the beginning letter in their paint using their fingers! 

We had so much fun squishing the paint and writing letters! And the best part was the easy cleanup!

September reading logs

Please know that you can turn in your September reading logs next Monday. If the log was not in your child's folder today, I placed a missing homework note as a reminder about the September reading log.  Please know that I understand that September will end on Monday, so I will of course except the reading logs then as well. Thank you so much!

Homework Reminder

This is a gentle reminder that this week's homework should be returned in your child's blue folder on Friday, September 27.  This includes the work form the September homework calendar, as well as Math Homelinks pages  5-8.

Science "I Wonder" sheets

If you have not returned your kindergartener's "I Wonder" sheet, please do so as soon as possible so that your child may share what they wondered about.  This sheet was sent home a early last week and asked the children to think of a question they did not know the answer too.  They were then asked to find the answer with help from a grown up. 

The ones that have been returned have been excellent questions!  We cant wait to read the rest!

We 'mustache' you a question...

Are you having as much fun this year as we are?

One of our favorite activities during choice time is to play with the moldable foam. We like it better than Playdough because it never dries out! The other day all of the children decided to make mustaches and beards out of foam!

Measuring

This weekend in math workshop we have been learning more about measurement. We have been focusing on longer and shorter.

Here we are cutting apart color-coded strips of paper. We had to decide which of each color was the longer and which was the shorter of the two.

In addition to measuring, this activity allowed us to be introduced to our color wall. This lists all of our color words with a corresponding picture. We will be able to use this as a reference in our writing and reading for the rest of the year!

Fall Frolic

The Fall Frolic, Harlan's all-school fall social event, will take place next Friday, October 4.

The Frolic consists of games, treats, basket raffles and fun for the whole family!

During the Frolic, the kindergartners will have an opportunity to exchange tickets for treats from our volunteer Apron Ladies! These are parents who have an apron filled with goodies that the children can receive by handing over one of their Fall Frolic tickets. The tickets will be earned during the week of September 30 – October 4, by participating in the Harlan Spirit Week!

Here are the fun activities scheduled for spirit week:

Monday, September 30: Crazy Hair Day

Tuesday, October 1: Favorite Sport Team Day

Wednesday, October 2: PJ Day

Thursday, October 3: Hawaiian/Tropical Day

Friday, October 4: class T-shirt/Harlan Spirit Day

If your family is interested in purchasing a discounted bracelet, both for all-you-can-play and the Harlan Husky meal, please return the completed forms by Monday, September 30. 

I will send a reminder notice of spirit week activities as we get closer to next week. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Library books

Please remember to send your kindergartener's library books back to school on the days that we visit the media center. The kindergarteners are asked to wait to pick out a new book until they have returned their previous book. This has caused a few sad moments. 

If you are unable to find a book, please let me know and I will speak to Mrs. Stayer about replacing it.

Questions Regarding Math Homelinks

A few families have asked questions regarding the Math Homelinks packets that have been sent home.  Each Monday, a new packet will be sent home in your child's blue folder.  There will be 2 double-sided sheets.  Please complete one side each night, Monday - Friday, in addition to the monthly homework calendar.  All work completed that week should be returned in your child's blue folder that Friday.

If you are choosing to complete the assignments in a separate place, such as a notebook, please place the notebook in the blue folder or let me know where to look for the homework.

If you have any additional questions, please let me know.  Thank you!

Gentle reminder

This is a gentle reminder that tomorrow, Tuesday, September 23 will be a late start day. School will begin at 10:25 AM.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Citizen Science Expo

On Friday, the kindergartners were part of their very first school assembly! All of the students at Harlan gathered in the multipurpose room to discuss this past summer's Citizen Science project!

After recognizing the students in the school who created projects, we discussed the displays that were being presented in the lobby.

Here is Mrs. Stayer, our media specialist, leading our students in the all school assembly:

Here is our class exploring the many different projects that students created! Projects from our room included learning about bats, fireflies, migrating birds and dinosaur fossils!

Great job, Harlan scientists!

September Hallway Display

Room 100 is sun-sational!!

Specials Schedule for the Week of 9/23 - 9/27

Monday (C) - PE

Tuesday (D) - PE & Media Center

Wednesday (A) - Art

Thursday (B) - Music

Friday (C) - PE

* Please remember to bring gym shoes on PE days and return library books on media center days.

Top It!

Today we learned a new math game. It is called Top It! It is basically the card game War, but with a more kindergarten friendly name!

This game is excellent practice in taking turns, number recognition and understanding the difference between bigger and smaller numbers.

All of the kindergartners had such a blast playing it today! Even though we used special number cards, the game can be played with regular cards.

Have fun playing it at home!

Picture day

This is one last gentle reminder that school pictures will be taken tomorrow, Thursday, September 19. Any families who contacted me to request additional picture forms should find them in their kindergartener's blue folder.

Readers Workshop

In readers workshop this week we are talking about our favorite books and our favorite reading memories. We have talked about different kinds of books that we like and what we like to do when we read. We also discussed the three different ways to read a book-using the words, using the pictures, or we reading a book that we've already read.

After our reading mini lesson, we have been practicing returning to our desks for a few minutes of independent reading from a book look box. Here we are hard at work:

When reading at home, you can practice by telling the story just by looking at the pictures. You can also use the pictures to help you figure out words in books that have a pattern. 

For instance, we have looked at books that contain a one sentence pattern on each page, with one word that changes. The picture helps us to figure out what the changed word is.

Have fun reading at home with your kindergartner!

Constitution Day!

Today we celebrated Constitution Day! We discussed how the Constitution was written a long time ago. We also talked about how it is a list of rules to keep our country safe and fair. 

We looked at the preamble to the Constitution and decided that it was full of big ideas and that we needed to make it more kindergarten friendly. Here's what we came up with:

"We the kindergartners of Harlan Elementary promise to make everything as perfect as possible. We will be fair to everyone and promise to get along. Everyone will be safe and taken care of. We will make sure that we have freedom and fairness for all the children and ourselves."

Here we are making American flag handprint paintings!

We also enjoyed a delicious snack. We made Constitution cookies! This was our attempt at making red and white striped cookies!

Happy Constitution Day!