Happy Halloween!

Was your child tired when they got home today? Well, they should be! Your child had a very busy week and I am so excited to share it with you! Before I begin, I would like to extend my appreciation to all of the parents. You are all amazing and I am blessed to have such great parents. You are so caring and helpful. You go above and beyond - for that I am truly grateful. I would also like to say "Thank You" for all the compliments that I continue to get with each new day. "I can't believe my child is reading," said Sandi Wines. Sandi, believe it! Your child is reading! I am constantly getting compliments about the running of my classroom and as I told you at Kindergarten Orientation - I will not disappoint! My expectations are high and will continue to get higher. "Mr. Gibbs you are amazing. This is your calling. This is where you need to be - teaching," said another parent. It is great hearing compliments. Although I love to hear them I must remind you that I am only doing my job.






This week was a special week. This week was pumpkin week and every activity this week was related to pumpkins. Each week we do fun, craft activities. The last hour of every day is dedicated to this fun time. It is a great way to end our day. This week our activities were hands-on fun! The first workshop was creating a pumpkin by ripping orange construction paper. Students glued the orange construction paper on a small paper play to create a pumpkin. Students wrote a Pp in the middle to identify the initial sound of /p/. In the second activity students created a pumpkin booklet with Mrs. Shannon. Students identified words with the initial /p/ and glued them in a pumpkin. In my workshop, students created ghosts (/g/) and Jack-O-Lanterns using construction paper. Students used their fine motor skills to complete this task. Finally, the favorite workshops this week was our pumpkin patch. In this workshop, students wore protective covering made especially by me!

In this workshop, students stuffed lunch bags with newspaper and painted the bag. Students painted the bag orange and green to create a pumpkin. When it was dry, I wrote the letter Pp on each to symolize the initial sound of /p/. This was a favorite because of the bag students got to wear and because it was a chance to get messy! Students were asked not to write their name on the pumpkin. As the week progressed, our pumpkin patch grew. Students would have a chance to choose a pumpkin from our pumpkin patch on Friday.

This is our finished pumpkin patch. Isn't it adorable? There was signs throughout the classroom and arrows on the floor leading students to our pumpkin patch. Each student followed the directions and choose a pumpkin from our patch.

On Tuesday we celebrated Teddy Roosevelt's birthday by bringing in stuffed bears. We had a great time celebrating this with third graders. Third graders came and explained the day to our children and read to them. It was very cute. The children enjoyed listening to the older kids read to them.

On Thursday, Mr. Gibbs carved the classroom pumpkin. "Let's call him Mr. Pumpkin," one student said before we began the process. So, I discussed the procedures and steps to carving a pumpkin. We then proceeded to carve Mr. Pumpkin. After I cut the top off, students had the chance to clean the insides. We found out that there were 325 seeds in Mr. Pumpkin. "You did a great job Mr. Gibbs," said Davis. Thanks Davis!

Friday was the day we have all been waiting for. It was finally the day before Halloween and it was the day of the Storybook Parade. We read the book and watched the movie and now it was time to dress up as characters from the story. It was even more surprising when the children found out that I called Central Florida News 13! Our class was featured on the news on Friday evening. We were given so many compliments and the things sure did impress the school! Below are some pictures which I am sure you will enjoy! Happy Halloween!

Terrific Kid Information and Classroom Update will posted later!

Mentos and Diet Coke

Job Day 2009

Job Day 2009

See, Kindergarten DOES Rock!

Mr. Gibbs and Mrs. Shannon are wore out! We just turned the lights off on our classroom and headed home for the day. "Another week down," said Mr. Gibbs. Yes, we just completed another fun week in kindergarten and we are all (including the students) exhausted! We made scarecrows, learned more about neighborhoods, finished our first Junie B. Jones chapter book, finished and produced our first digital story, and much more! Kindergarten is a blast and I am so grateful to have a wonderful group of students to share my dream with. This was a great week and I am excited to share some of the activities that we made this week.

Olivia has been named our terrific kid this week. Olivia has been waiting patiently for her time. This week is Olivia's time to shine. Olivia comes to school daily ready to learn. She comes to school with a smile upon her face and a great attitude. Olivia understands classroom rules and procedures and abides by them. Olivia also understands that there is always room for growth and improvement. Olivia is a pleasure to have in my classroom and is on her way to great things! We are very proud of Olivia this week. Olivia said, "Today was the funnest day ever!" What a great day for Olivia!

Jack was caught working very hard this week during stations! Jack was doing his personal best when finishing an assignment. As a teacher, I was so happy to see Jack moving his location so he can work quietly. Working in a quiet manner during stations is something that we are working on. I have seen growth throughout the weeks. This week, students did their best during reading stations and for that I am honored to be their teacher! Great job Jack - I caught you being BEEing good!

We love afternoon workshops! Afternoon workshops are fun themed stations. Each workshop is home to a different craft relating to the theme we are currently working on. This week, our theme was scarecrows! Students created a scarecrow book and even put together their own scarecrow! Each child had a blast putting together their scarecrow and decorating it. These are currently on display in our classroom and will be sent home next week. Next week, our theme will be pumpkins. Remember, if you are free in the afternoons, please come and volunteer during this time. We love volunteers!

We finished our first chapter book this week. In our chapter book, Junie. B. Jones has to decide

what she wants to be for job day. Junie B. Jones had a difficult time trying to find out what she wanted to be. In short, Junie B. Jones went to job day dressing up as a janitor. It was her ideal job. This week, we learned more about communities and community jobs. Students integrated reading and social studies this week. Students dressed up as whatever they wanted to be. Today, students wore their outfits to school and shared it with second graders. "I want to be a doctor because I like to help people," said McKenzie. Students engaged in special job related stations today. Students created a medical bag (I adapted the template from my intern teacher), made police badges and signs, and even completed a cut and paste activity. Students had a blast wearing their outfits throughout the day!

Gibbstown now has our homes and even community buildings. Students added buildings today to our neighborhood. Some of the buildings they chose to include are: a gym, bank, halloween store, wal-mart, feed store, and a pet store. We have 18 community buildings in Gibbstown, be sure to see our progress next time your in the classroom. This project will continue throughout the next couple weeks as we learn about transportations, signs, and map skills.

Next week, we will focus on pumpkins. Our afternoon workshops will contain several different crafts relating to pumpkins. Some of the crafts include: making a paper plate pumpkin out of teared construction paper and painting a lunch pag and turning it into a pumpkin by stuffing it with newspaper. On Thursday, Mr. Gibbs will carve the classroom pumpkin. The children will do the honors and clean out the inside. We will be reading several different books this week relating to the fall season. We will complete many different activities. In math, we will continue learning about numbers in a fun way. On Monday and Tuesday, we will learn how to use a numberline by walking along a pumpkin patch. Remember to practice recognizing numbers with your child (to 20), counting (to 100), and writing numbers (to 10). We will be learning about Uu and Gg this week. We have been introduced to all 40 Dolch Pre-primer words. This week, we will review all 40. On Thursday, your child is expected to know all 40.

Friday is going to be a fun day! Students will come to school in their uniform and will change into their storybook outfit in the classroom. Students will march in the storybook parade at 10:00am. After, we will have a school-wide lunch. Afterward, you may choose to come back to the classroom for a fall celebration or sign your child out and take him/her home. We are still in need of things for our celebration on Friday! Anything would be appreciated. We are so excited about Friday. Much credit to Amber Woods and Michelle Coats, without your help and involvement - it wouldn't be possible.

Our Five Senses

Wow! We just got back from the big premire! We watched our digital story for the first time today. Your children worked so hard on this. Below is our digital story, "Our Five Senses." What do you think? We are 21st century learners!

Mr. Gibb's K Class from Johanna Riddle on Vimeo.

38 Day Voyage

Every morning, we put a bee on our hive. There are now thirty-eight bees representing the number of days we have been in school. Can you believe how far in the year we already are? It feels like yesterday that I was setting up my room getting ready to meet my new children. This is a picture of our current "100 days of learning" wall. By now, we should have already had a conference and you have some insight about your child and how they are doing. If you feel the need to discuss anything, my door is always open.


We had a very fun week again in kindergarten!



Below is a recap of our week!









We celebrated Columbus Day on Monday! This was very fun for the students. The students joined I (Christopher Columbus) on a voyage! We set out to find a quicker way to India but instead, we a route to the new world. We sailed on three ships. We had fun reading books, poems, and sining songs about Columbus. We even did several Columbus activities throughout the week in our afternoon workshops (themed stations). Look for these to go home sometime next week!

Our afternoon workshops this week were:
Columbus Book - students assembled a book about Columbus. Three Ships - students put together a craft on blue paper using the three ships. A poem is on the back. Columbus Puppet - students make a puppet of Christopher Columbus. Columbus Painting -students used watercolor paint and colored our world. We learned that our world is round, like a ball.






Mrs. Riddle came in on Wednesday to help students finish their narration for our first digital storybook. Mrs. Riddle is putting the finishing touches on it. The student's enjoyed the use of technology. "That was AWESOME! I talked into a machine!," said Zane. "It was pretty cool in there," said Olivia. I am so excited to see the finishing touches.

Have you heard about Gibbstown? Gibbstown is our next big project in kindergarten. Gibbstown is a project we are doing in stages. We are learning about neighborhoods. Gibbstown is our neighborhood. Last week, we learned about maps; therefore, we made a map of our neighborhood. This week, we learned about houses. We made houses and put them in Gibbstown this week. Gibbstown has three weeks before its completition. We will be learning about community helpers and buildings next week. Later, we will learn more about transportation. Gibbstown is located near the door. Be sure to check it out!

Speaking of communities, next Thursday is job day! We are finishing our first chapter book and inside of the novel, Junie B. Jones has a job day at school. We are going to do the same. Children will dress up as whomever they would like to be when they grow up. They will wear their outfit to school on Thursday. If students want to be a fireman, they should dress accordingly (etc...) We are very excited about this. I wonder what Mr. Gibbs want's to be when he grows up.... hm..... (Mr. Gibbs always has something up his sleeve!)

Finally, Jeremy was named our Terrific Kid. Jeremy has done an outstanding job and I am so proud of him. Jeremy is coming to school ready to learn and has already shown drastic improvement! Jeremy is an example of a student who is eager to learn and is always willing to help others. Jeremy, I am so proud of you. Jeremy said, "This week we did Columbus things. We made houses. We watched Moby and read the Three Little Pigs. I like school."

Next week, we will be learning Ll and Kk. We will also conclude our Dolch words. After this week, students should be able to name 43 Dolch words. Students have until the end of the month before they are tested on all 43. Remember to always review! TIP: Make a word wall in your home and have your child read the wall nightly. Children love reading the word wall. We do this every morning. It is great and builds their confidence. We have some projects approaching for the end of October. Please see letter sent home about donations. Continue to practice counting to 100, letter recognition to 20, and writing numerals. These are very important concepts. There is no school on Friday and Wednesday is an ERD. Thanks!

Mr. Gibbs had an editoral published in the Daytona Beach News Journal on October 12th. You can read it here: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/LettersToTheEditor/letLET101209.htm This is Mr. Gibbs' 4th editoral!

-Mr. Christopher Gibbs

Christopher Columbus and his Crew

Christopher Columbus Day 2009

In fourteen hundred ninety-two

Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

We had a great day in Mr. Gibbs' class! Mr. Gibbs acted as Christopher Columbus and led his crew on a journey to find a faster route to India. In the process, they landed near the Bahamas! It is on October 12, 1492 that Christopher Columbus discovered a route connecting the old world to the new world.

Friends with Mr. Gibbs

We just finished another exciting week in Mr. Gibbs' kindergarten classroom. We have been very busy learning about our letters, sounds, patterns, and friends. We have learned over half of our letters and sounds and were reading! Mr. Gibbs is so proud of all his students. Most students are reading above level. Students are mastering the Dolch words weekly, which create more proficient readers. Mrs. Shannon and Mr. Gibbs were amazed to see almost every child read the fourty words on the Word Wall! We are buzzing our way through kindergarten.

This week was very exciting. We had a chance to go explore the kitchen inside of our cafeteria. The children were so happy to see the big machines and ovens that are used when making our lunch. The children even got to end the tour with a cookie! Zachary, our teriffic kid always has something to say. Zachary said, "It was fun."




We have been working with patterns for the past three weeks. We have previously made bead necklaces, fruit loop necklaces, weaving strips, and Friday we used skittles to create patterns. Children had a blast using skittles to create and extend basic patterns. Children took their skittles home. Please practice creating patterns with your child! Hannah and McKenzie had a great time. Before they began, they thought it would be a great idea to sort them. That's my girls!






We spent a large amount of time this week discussing what it means to be a good friend. At the end if our week, we used the learning center to review our unit and practice how to be a good friend. Olivia does a great job explaining the definition of a friend.





We also learned different things that friends can do. We learned that friends can share. Zane, Cole, and Jack helped the class review different things friends can do.




We also learned how to introduce ourselves to new friends in a very friendly manner. Watch as Lane and McKenzie demonstrate the proper way to introduce yourself to a new friend. Children learned to: (1.) approach the person (2.) make eye contact (3.) smile (4.) introduce with name (5.) wait for a response.

The children in Mr. Gibbs' class are ready to meet new friends. They have the proper skills needed to introduce themselves, ask others to play, and understands the qualities that good friends have.

Zachary is our teriffic kid this week. Zachary brings a smile to Mr. Gibbs' faces from the moment he walks in the classroom door. Zachary comes to school ready to learn. He continues to do his personal best and is a great friends to others. Zachary had a great week. Zachary enjoyed afternoon workshops. "I got to make a birdfeeder," he said. Zachary continued, "We watched a movie on letters." He didn't stop there, "I read to myself because I like to learn." Zachary will continue to do his personal best and Mr. Gibbs' is so proud of him! Great job!

Next week, we will be learning the letters Ee and Bb. Your child should know roughly thirty-eight Dolch words at this point. By the end of October, your child WILL know all 43 pre-primer Dolch words. We will focus on additional words this week: are, here, and with. Remember to practice these words nightly with your child. It is vital to their success. Field trip forms are due this week. It is important we get the forms and the money this week. We must reserve our tickets. Remember, scholarships are available (see Mrs. Comardo for details). There is NO early release on Wednesday. Our theme next week is Christopher Columbus. Children will be making hats for this celebration on Monday and participate in different activities throughout the week. Remember, volunteers are always welcome. See Mrs. Shannon for details - she will put you to work. Also, remember to practice your address with your child. Your child will be asked to recite it this week. Storybook parade money needs to also be turned in this week.

I will leave you with our class singing our new favorite song (all about friends):

-Mr. Christopher Gibbs

Learning IS Fun!

I finally finished uploading all of the pictures from Friday! Once again I would like to thank Michelle Coats for all of the wonderful pictures she has taken of our children. I have TONS of photos of our children and I am sure many more will be coming throughout the year. Below is a quick video I have made from the fire truck visit on Friday. The children really loved having the chance to talk to the firemen, see the fire truck, and even holding the hose. You can see how excited they are from the expression the face of each child.

Have you heard about our Thinking Maps? Each week, we create two Thinking Maps (Circle Map) on the letter of the alphabet that we are working. We write the letter in the middle and draw pictures of items that have that initial sound. This week, children got to work together to create their own. This was a review for students and they loved working together. The children in my class love Thinking Maps. Ask your child about them or come inside our classroom and take a look. We currently have all of our previous alphabet Thinking Maps hanging up and we created a class book using our Thinking Maps about colors.

On Monday, we had handwriting centers. Children had a chance to write their name in peanut butter, shaving cream, and with markers. We had so much peanut butter (thanks to the amazing parents) that Mrs. Shannon and I decided to do something creative. This week, your child practiced writing the letter Cc in peanut butter. The children loved this. "I didn't know writing can be this much fun," said one of the students. Yes, in Mr. Gibbs' class everything is fun! We hope to continue to do fun activities throughout the year. Remember to practice proper letter formation with your child. This is very important! Thanks!

We also started our fall workshops this week. We created birdfeeders using pine cones and peanut butter. WOW! What a hit! The children had a fun time creating these. Today, the children actually saw a squirrel eating one. The children loved this. Afternoon workshops will conclude tomorrow. The children who have not yet created one, will do so. Remember we are always looking for volunteers. We do a lot of stations and we could use the extra set of hands. We typically have reading rotations, math rotations, science rotations, and afternoon workshops. Each child is getting individual instruction with a touch of fun!

Amber Wood (Zane's mom) had decided to be captain of our storybook parade! She is going to making the hair and outfits for us. We are asking for a $4.00 fee. Please send this with your child ASAP so that we can get the proper supplies. We are looking for an extra talented and creative parent. We will need a sign made for this event. Mrs. Shannon and Mr. Gibbs have a fantastic idea for the sign but would like a parent to help prepare it. That parent will be awared volunteer hours!

Thanks,

Mr. Christopher Gibbs

PS: Remember - learning IS fun!

W for a Wonderful Week!

This has been a very exciting week in Mr. Gibbs' kindergarten class! We accomplished a lot and learned so much! We learned in various ways this week. We watched a movie, learned a song, and completed several hands-on activities in different areas of the curriculum. The activity the children enjoyed most was on Monday. On Monday (as posted below) children practiced writing the letter Bb with shaving cream. "It was fun getting messy," said Trevor R. I must agree, learning is not always clean - it's okay to get messy!

We continued working with patterns this week. We focused on identifying the pattern unit (the part of a pattern that repeats itself). This was a very difficult concept for the children to understand. During our math roations, we had fun creating, predicting, and extend shape patterns. We also make a weaving craft with Mrs. Shannon. Children in Mr. Gibbs' class enjoy learning through the use of hands-on activities! On Friday, we used autumn candy corn to copy (AB, ABC, and AAB) patterns. Children also had to predict which came next. This was a very fun activity and the children enjoyed it. I do this activity every year and once again, it was a hit!

This week, we learned all about the importance of fire safety. We learned proper procedures to use during a fire. During our afternoon workshops, we created several crafts that relate to fire prevention. These are currently being displayed in our classroom and will be going home shortly. Firehydrant Freddy was a hit with the students. We used shapes to create a firehydrant and added eyes to our character. On Friday, a group of firefighters came to share more information on fire safety. This was a great way to show children that what we learn relates to real life. Children enjoyed it! The children even had a chance to take control of the hose!


The terrific kid this week is McKenzie Graham! McKenzie follows all classroom and school rules. McKenzie also goes above and beyond with her work. I am so proud of McKenzie and all that she has accomplished. McKenzie recieved a McDolands gift certificate and a bumper sticker. McKenzie had a great week. McKenzie did a great job summing up our week, "We had a lot of fun!" Yes McKenzie, we did!

This week, we ready a book titled What Do You Like? This week, I sent a note home asking you to send a picture to school of your child with something they like to do. On Friday, we put the pictures together, wrote words, and create a book! Our book is very similar but includes pictures and words of things we like to do. Mr. Gibbs even has his own page. For those who did not send in a picture, there is still time. I can always unbind the book, include the picture, help write the words, and bind it up again! Please stop by and see our book we made together. We are becoming great readers and writers!


Below is our animoto from our math activity. I hope you enjoy watching all the videos that I post because I enjoy making them.

We will be learning three letters next week. We will be working with Hh, Dd, and Rr. We will learn to recognize the letter and will also learn the sounds. We will continue blending words in phonics with letter sounds that we already know. We will also have a spelling test on -ad and -an words this week (the results from the first test were OUTSTANDING!). In math, we will continue working with patterns with another fun activity on friday. Our theme this week is going to be 'falling into fall.' The afternoon workshops will all be related to the season. We will be making decorations for the season, creating pinecone birdfeeders, and tracing fall leaves. Remember to review ALL Dolch words with your child. We will also finish our digital storybook this week. Please practice the card that was sent home with your child. Remember to return it on Monday. Your child will recite it for Mrs. Riddle for our digital storybook.

Classroom Wishlist:
-Staples Easy Button - to be used during Phonics and Math!
-Watercolor Paint w/ Brush
-Washable Paint (red, yellow, green, blue, brown, etc...)
-Anything! :)