Welcome to Kindergarten!

There is a wonderful sense of home when you walk through the front doors of Samsula Academy. I deeply believe that your child will find our school to be a warm and friendly place. I am very proud to be a part of the Samsula Academy School family. Once you have opened those doors you are a member of our family too.

I wish to welcome you to Kindergarten. Kindergarten is a new and exciting time for you and your child. It’s a time of change… new beginnings, new friends, new challenges and exciting discoveries! I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation for allowing me to be a part of your child’s life during this precious time of growth and discovery!

This is my honor to welcome you and your child into Kindergarten and into… my life. I will do my best to make this year in Kindergarten enjoyable but also filled with academics. My motto is: “The seeds I plant today will blossom into a flower tomorrow.” It will be my pleasure and privilege to watch your child’s personality and learning abilities blossom and unfold day by day.

I run a very effective classroom which is well structured but allows for fun and growth. I hold high expectations for all my students. Furthermore, I strongly believe in differentiated instruction. Research reveals that all students learn differently. Therefore, I plan my lessons to meet the needs of all students. It will be my honor to expand the growing minds of tomorrow and encourage them to become the great leaders of the new generation.

You will find very useful information on this blog. I will update it with events that are happening in our classroom, student work, and other related events. If you have any questions, you may contact me at cgibbs@readingedgeacademy.org

-Mr. Christopher Gibbs

Stone Soup and Tom the Turkey!

Posted by Mr. Gibbs on Friday, November 20, 2009
We had a very productive week. Each and every child has been working so hard to master important skills. We have also had some fun along the way. This week, we finished learning our letters of the alphabet. We also celebrated the 60th day of school. We ended the week by making our very own stone soup. In the middle of our week, we celebrated Mrs. Shannon's birthday. We had a great week and we hope you enjoy reading this update!


This was our last week of learning our letters. Children are expected to know all letters and sounds of the alphabet. This week, we learned Jj, Yy, and Zz. We make our own Yo-Yo's to help us remember the sound of Yy. Children were very creative with their designs. This has helped many children remember the sound of Yy.



In the middle of our week was Mrs. Shannon's birthday. Mrs. Shannon kept it as a secret; therefore, when we found out we celebrated! There is no celebration like a Gibbs celebration! We made cards for Mrs. Shannon and celebrated with cookies and juice. Mrs. Shannon also had to wear a special birthday hat for the remainder of that day! Happy Birthday Mrs. Shannon!


On November 19th our familes came to our cafeteria and had a special meal. We had a great time and wore special turkey hats (I have a hat template for everything - literally!) We also celebrated the 60th day of school. Mr. Gibbs dressed up as "Zero the Hero." We are beginning to concept the power of zero. We also completed 60 minutes of math this day. We had a great time relating the 60th day of school to the season of fall. We made special turkeys and learned an easy way to count by 10's.
Lane and Mrs. Shannon working very hard!
We also made turkey hats and wore them to lunch!


We read Stone Soup this week. We made various crafts throughout the week all relating to Thanksgiving. Stone Soup is a classic tale about making soup by starting with a stone. We made stone soup on Friday. We also tried (most of us) it. Most of the class enjoyed it, few didn't like it, and some didn't even try it. All in all, it was fun!


Did you enjoy the family homework assignment? From the looks of it, I think everyone had a great time creating their turkey. Mrs. Shannon and I were so proud and amazed at how creative your family got. They were so good, we made a digital story using our "Turkey Toms." The students worked very hard on it! It is around 7 minutes but it is amazing. Be sure to watch as our children are becoming 21st century literacy learners! The digital story is located at the end of this blog.

RJ was our terrific kid this week. "RJ truly is a terrific kid this week," Mrs. Shannon said when ending the day. RJ has done an OUTSTANDING job this week. He has really improved since the beginning of the year in his academics and behavior. RJ has offically came out of his shell and is beginning to blossom. We are so proud to have a great student representing our class this week. Great job RJ!

Our afternoon workshop theme this week was Thanksgiving. We made several crafts which students will take home next week. Do you still have the bee magnet from orientation? If so, these crafts would be great to display using your bee magnet!

Next week is going to be a very fun week. We will be in school for only two days. Students will make costumes on Monday and will have a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday. The meal will be very similar to that of the first fall harvest. Our celebration will begin at 11:00AM. I am asking for volunteers to come to the classroom as early as 10:45AM. We will need help setting up. Please bring your items either in the morning or to the feast (if you are able to attend). We will not have Dolch words or homework this week because it is only a two day week. However, please use this time to have a great holiday. Also, use this time to review ALL Dolch words. Many are forgetting the previous word list....

"Turkey Tom"
Mr. Gibbs - Kindergarten
November 2009

Hunting for Turkey Tom from Johanna Riddle on Vimeo.

0 comments:

Post a Comment