DECEMBER

WOW! December has been a busy month and has gone by fast so far.  Let's catch up quickly!

We have been learning about holiday celebrations around the world (Israel, France, England, Holland, Sweden, Germany) and the kids have enjoyed learning about the different traditions and customs that other countries have as well as some of the ones that are similar to those you or I  might have in our own holiday celebrations (i.e. Christmas trees = Germany).  Also, we earned all of the letters for LISTENING!  It took a while, but we did it and had a popcorn/movie party and watched a short 30 minute video of The Nutcracker.  Mrs. Gustafson came and talked about her time living in France.  We had a special Rudolph day with many projects and are looking forward to our own holiday celebration on Friday in the classroom!

In math, we have been learning about measurable attributes (longer, shorter, taller, heavier, lighter).  We have been measuring classroom objects using our linking cube towers (a tower of 5 is called a "5 stick", a tower of 7 cubes is called a "7 stick") and weighing items using our balance scale.  We have been really great about making sure to line up our "end points" when measuring.  Don't forget, "bigger" and "smaller" are not measuring words.  They are too vague.  Bigger can mean taller, longer, fatter, older, heavier, holds more....We are trying to be very specific in our measuring.  The kids are loving it!

We had some high school students come last week to do a lesson for their class project. This week we went to art class, too!  Mr. Lowe came to watch our class during Writer's Workshop and he was very impressed with our discussion and hard work.

Whew!  We have been busy.  The kids are looking forward to break.  3 Days To Go- I think we'll make it!

Remind your student that even though break is near, we still need to remember to...
BE KIND
BE SAFE
BE RESPONSIBLE

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful turnout for our Thanksgiving Music Program!  It was a great success and so much fun.  There is no homework (except show and tell) or baggie books for the long weekend.  I hope you all have safe travels, get to spend some extra time with loved ones, enjoy the festivities and have some much needed time to relax (or shop)!  I will see the Kindergartners back on Monday, November 30th!  Have a great Thanksgiving!!!

   

*Feast* *Thanksgiving Program* *Book Fair*

FEAST

We had an amazing feast this afternoon!  Check out the wonderful spread of goodies.  The students chose to be either a pilgrim or Native American for the feast.  We made sure to tell all of our friends "Thank you" for the delicious food.  It was so much fun.  Thank you, families, for all of your fabulous contributions to make our feast possible!

MUSIC PROGRAM

Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving Music Program.  CR Hanna doors will open at 10:30 and we are planning to begin our performance at 10:45.  After the program, we will allow parents/grandparents to come back to the classroom if you are bringing your student home with you at the dismissal bell (11:30 ish).  Everyone else will be asked to leave the building so we have room for buses and other parents to come pick up children for our 11:22 dismissal (bus riders) or 11:30ish (walkers).  If you are bringing your Kindergartner home with you and have older students, please have those older students meet you on the blacktop at the Kindergarten end.  You may not pick up older children early after our program concludes as they will still be finishing up from their academic day.  Everyone will be dismissed at the walker bell.

HELP NEEDED

BOOK FAIR DEC 1-4

Mrs. Begley needs help in the library for the upcoming book fair from Dec 1-4.  You can click on the link below to volunteer to help.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d48adab22aaf58-december

Students from our class will view books on Wednesday and make a wish list and then you can send money for them to go to the book fair and buy books on Friday.  The school receives 10% of all book sales!

Miss Music

Miss Music works at the Putnam Museum and we had her visit our classroom to do an outreach program called And the Beat Goes On!  It was all about music from America, Mexico, Africa, Sweden and Vietnam!  The kids were able to sing songs, use instruments and play games from around the world.  It was so much fun!  If it works, you can watch the following video of the kids playing some of the instruments to go along with the song from Africa about the Gbode (Gazelle).  Thank you, Putnam Museum, for visiting!

 

The Feast

Just a little note about our Kindergarten Feast for next Monday.  We will be having a feast in our classroom with the items that you contribute.  You only need to provide for our own classroom of 20 students and you do not need to feel like you have to send enough for each person as we will have plenty and not all students choose to try everything. So, if you plan on sending in pumpkin bread, one loaf is plenty because someone else is bringing rolls and someone else is sending blueberry muffins and someone else is sending banana bread!  The idea is to show the students how the pilgrims and Native Americans all worked hard, teaching one another how to hunt, plant, harvest and survive and came together to celebrate.  In Kindergarten we have come a long way learning how to work, follow directions, treat others and this is a time to celebrate all of the things we have to be thankful for in our own classroom with old and new friends! Thank you in advance for making our feast possible with your contributions!

Hexagons

If you thought yesterday's rectangle/square lesson in math was as interesting as the kids did then you can only imagine how "Mind Blown" the Kindergartners were today when we discussed hexagons being ANY closed, 2D shape that has six straight sides.  They LOVED it.  See if you can find the 3 hexagons below...

We also talked about the difference between circles and ovals since they both have a continuous curve and no straight sides.  From the center measuring out, ovals have long and short distances between the center and edge while circles have an equal distance from the center to the edge no matter where you check.  

They were very interested mathematicians today!

Rectangle or Not a Rectangle

Today in math we discussed that mathematicians describe rectangles as flat objects that have four straight sides and make a right angle.  By this definition, a square is a special kind of rectangle that has four equal sides!  During centers we looked at many shapes and determined which were rectangles and which were not.  I also introduced our newest 3D shape friend, Cassidy CONE.  Last week we talked about CUBEs.

Take a look at the shapes below.  Can you and your Kindergartner find all 5 rectangles?

On a totally different note, we had a special send off for the high school girls' volleyball team as they headed off this morning to participate in the Illinois State Championship tournament.  Good luck ladies!  

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROMAN! We had fun celebrating with you today!

*New Goal*

After meeting our goal of being RESPONSIBLE, we have set a new goal to be great at LISTENING!  Following directions the 1st time is an important skill and we are working on that as a class.  We talk a lot about what good listeners look like, sound like, and do.  Here are some things we discuss that you can review at home:

Good Listeners
...watch the person speaking.
...keep hands to themselves.
...are quiet.
...follow directions the 1st time.
...do not interrupt/take turns/raise their hands.

We Can Do It!

RESPONSIBLE GOAL = MET!

We did it!  We met our goal to earn all of the letters of RESPONSIBLE and earned lunch in the classroom today.  The kids loved it and we all had a lot of fun.  No one spilled any of the baked beans from their lunch trays on the long walk from the lunch room to our classroom either!  It was great and we will be working on a new goal soon.  Check out pictures from our lunch!

National PTA Reflections Program

Each year the Orion PTA participates in the National PTA Reflections Program.  This is an Arts Program that is open to all students grades K-12.  Students may participate in six categories:  dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts.  Students may enter in one or more arts category. 

Students must submit their artwork and entry form to Mrs. Moen at CRH in order to enter.  Entrants must follow requirements and instructions specific to each arts category and division.  Please note that the entries should pertain to the theme “Let Your Imagination Fly.”

If you would like a form or information, please email Mrs. Moen at smoen@orionschools.us or visit the website www.pta.org/reflections.

I had such hard working, RESPONSIBLE Kindergartners this morning.  We earned TWO more letters toward our goal.  Only the "E" is left and then we get to have lunch in the classroom!  Super job!  If we earn the E tomorrow morning, we can celebrate at lunchtime.

We have been learning about Native American tribes in preparation for the first Thanksgiving.  Earlier in the week we learned about the Inuit Tribe (Eskimos) and today we introduced Plains Native Americans.  Ask your child what kind of home the Plains Native Americans built (tepees) and why (tepees are easy to put up and take down so the tribe can pick up and move their entire camp easily to follow the buffalo).




*****Don't forget to make arrangements so you can join us for our Kindergarten Thanksgiving Music Program on November 24 at 10:30 AM if you are able!

Lock Down

As you may have heard, we had an official lock down at all schools in Orion today.  This was a "soft lock down" where we go on about our day as usual, but no one is allowed in or out of the building because of a safety issue that does not directly affect us at that moment. Henry County Sheriff's Department called for the lock down in response to a situation with a fleeing car headed through Alpha and toward Orion.  Once the suspect was apprehended, the lock down was lifted and we went on our merry way to Art.  The kids did a great job staying calm and following my directions.  We were in the middle of a little free choice play time, so their attention was easily directed elsewhere and everyone was able to stay safe and sound.  Feel free to talk to your child about our different lock down procedures and why it is so important to listen, follow directions and stay safe.  Super job, Kindergarten!

A brief message was sent out about the lock down through the district's School Messenger System.  If you haven't signed up for these handy phone calls or text message alerts, you can do so by visiting the following link and clicking "sign up now".

https://accounts.relianceco.com/cm/?u=orion&is_return#login

be RESPONSIBLE

Our class is working on being RESPONSIBLE.   We have discussed that RESPONSIBLE learners are those that are listening, watching the speaker, following directions and working hard.  Each time the whole class is "caught" being RESPONSIBLE, we earn a letter and I write it on the board.  When we earn all of the letters that spell RESPONSIBLE, we will earn the opportunity to eat lunch in the classroom with Mrs. Essary!  It is a very exciting reward and well earned because catching 20 Kindergartners being RESPONSIBLE all at the same time can be difficult!  We have been working on RESPONSIBLE for about 3 weeks and have earned RESPONSI so far.  Today two teachers mentioned how RESPONSIBLE the whole class was in the lunchroom and on their walk back to the room before recess which earned them the I.

Talk to your student about our CR Hanna Expectations: Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Responsible and remind them of how proud we are when they show each of these.

Great Job, Kindergarten!

Happy Halloween!

Aren't these kiddos cute as can be?!  Check out our awesome Halloween costumes.  Thank you to the wonderful PTA for putting on such a fun afternoon party!