I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We have a week left before we return to school. When we return, we will have 101 days left in the year. Kindergarten is going to finish very quickly and soon, I will be sending them on their way to first grade - where they will experience bigger and more exciting adventures. By now, your child now has the framework for basic reading and math. We will finish building on those basic skills and challenge each and every child to reach his/her full potential. I would like to remind you (as I have said at orientation), I have very high expectations for all of my students. I know what they are capable of and I am expecting great things. Mrs. Shannon and I are going to continue to challenge your child and I am sure that your child will excel in the upcoming weeks (and even years) with this strong foundation of kindergarten learning.
I would like to remind you that we are in need of some supplies. We sent home a supply list and a reminder. Below are items that we are in need of:
3 (boxes/pouches) of 8- count Crayola twistable crayons.
1 primary writing tablet touch and feel (walmart) AND/OR
1 primary writing tablet stage 3 (walmart)
1 pkg of 2 jumbo sized pencils with or without erasers (w/o perferred)
1 pkg of 2 (or more) expo dry erase markers (thin tip)
Your child will be retested on all pre-primer and primer words upon arrival - Jan 4. Make sure you practice these words! :-)
Thanks,
Mr. Gibbs
Christmas and The Polar Express
Wow! We just completed a very busy week! We have learned so much and had a lot of fun! I was so honored to have so many parents volunteer on Friday. Friday was Christmas morning in our classroom and was really fun for the children. It was so happy to see the smiles on the faces of our great children. I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to our secret Santa exchange - every child was happy and thankful for their gift. Watching these children open these gifts reminded me the joy of being a child.
Our amazing day didn't end there. We have been reading The Polar Express this week and on Friday, we had a large celebration. Kindergarten, along with first and second grade, had a large gathering in the cafeteria. Children got to watch the movie in their PJs in the cafeteria. Children drank hot chocolate and had a lot of sweets to celebrate. The children in my class also carried their special bear that I purchased for each of my special children (this has become my tradition).
I hope you enjoyed the Ziploc I sent home with your child. Inside contains every Christmas activity/craft we completed this month. Included is also two special pictures. Mostly everything is dated. I encourage you to keep this in a special place and share it with your child often. I recently found all of my old crafts from when I was in kindergarten and it was very touching to recall all the great memories. Below are some pictures of some other activities we did this week.
Lane making a "Christmas present" using a rice crispy treat and candy
We attempted to make Applesauce ornaments but they did not turn out so good. It was fun trying.
Mrs. Shannon and I can't thank you enough for the wonderful gifts that were given to us. We truly have the "BEST" parents and we feel so honored to teach your children. There are truly great teachers out there and thanks for seeing that in Mrs. Shannon and myself. We look forward to the next 102 days of school! Have a truly blessed and magical holiday!
Santa came to Samsula!
Santa came for a visit today! We had a blast. We wore our polar express bells.
Santa is Coming!
"There ain't no school on the ground Mr. Gibbs!"
"Oh no, Jeremy. But it sure does feel like it!"
Snow has touched ground in Mr. Gibbs' classroom this week. We have been very busy celebrating the season in fun and exciting ways. We have been doing lots of crafts which are currently on display in our classroom. These crafts will be sent home with your child later next week. Below is a brief recap of our week.
In reading, we learned about the -ap word family. The students in Mr. Gibbs' class was busy building and blending -ap words. We read stories with ap words this week. On Friday, we had a spelling test. Every student got all ten words correct. Some of the words we spelt were: flap, snap, zap, and scrap. Mr. Gibbs is so proud of their success. This has been a great week in reading. Next week, we will be working with the -at word family and move on to the next set of Dolch words.
Tuesday was the 70th day of school! In math, we learned how to write numbers to thirty-five. This presented a problem to many of the children. It is a concept that students are not yet understanding. Please practice number writing with your child nightly. We also continued counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s to 100 using a hundreds chart. We will be learning about even and odd numbers next week. Students will learn about Mrs. Odd and Mr. Even on Monday. This is a great lesson students learn that integrates math, language, and social studies.
In science and social studies, we learned about
different holidays. We learned about Hanukkah. We played Dreidel and made potato pancakes. In the middle of the week was also RJs birthday. So, we had brownies with our potato pancakes.
"Oh no, Jeremy. But it sure does feel like it!"
Snow has touched ground in Mr. Gibbs' classroom this week. We have been very busy celebrating the season in fun and exciting ways. We have been doing lots of crafts which are currently on display in our classroom. These crafts will be sent home with your child later next week. Below is a brief recap of our week.
In reading, we learned about the -ap word family. The students in Mr. Gibbs' class was busy building and blending -ap words. We read stories with ap words this week. On Friday, we had a spelling test. Every student got all ten words correct. Some of the words we spelt were: flap, snap, zap, and scrap. Mr. Gibbs is so proud of their success. This has been a great week in reading. Next week, we will be working with the -at word family and move on to the next set of Dolch words.
Tuesday was the 70th day of school! In math, we learned how to write numbers to thirty-five. This presented a problem to many of the children. It is a concept that students are not yet understanding. Please practice number writing with your child nightly. We also continued counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s to 100 using a hundreds chart. We will be learning about even and odd numbers next week. Students will learn about Mrs. Odd and Mr. Even on Monday. This is a great lesson students learn that integrates math, language, and social studies.
In science and social studies, we learned about
different holidays. We learned about Hanukkah. We played Dreidel and made potato pancakes. In the middle of the week was also RJs birthday. So, we had brownies with our potato pancakes.
Afternoon workshops were a blast! I am so thankful for all the parents who came throughout the week to help. It really helped a lot. We made a cute Christmas tree craft, a paper Elf, a paper Santa, and a stocking. We had a lot of fun and they turned out very cute. Next week, we will continue our Christmas themed workshops by making a fire place, snow globe, and more....
Important dates:
Dec 11 - Christmas Play at Samsula!
Dec 12 - Samsula Tractor Parade!
Dec 16 - ERD
Dec 17 - Spelling Test and Dolch Word Test
Dec 18 - Polar Express and Christmas Morning
December 18 is the BIG day in our class. Students will be wearing their PJs to school. We will be opening presents and celebrating the season. Santa will even stop by. We are asking you bring your gifts (for the Santa exchange) on Thursday, so that they are already placed under the tree. At 11:45pm we will go to our Polar Express party. We will go have hot chocolate and eat special treats. We are going to have a blast!
Sawayer was our terrific kid this week. We are all so proud of Sawyer.
Below is a slideshow of some of our December family projects - yay to go!
Celebrating the Season!
This week, we will be working with the -ap word family. We will build, blend, and read words that contain the -ap word family. We will learn how to spell the following words: cap, gap, lap, rap, tap, zap, snap, flap, clap, trap. We will read two books this week that contain this word family. Look for the books Hap Can See and I like to Dance coming home this week. Reread them with your child.
We have learned so many words so far in kindergarten and I am so proud of each child. This week, we will learn: new, no, now, on, our We will learn to recognize them on sight and use them correctly in sentences.
In math, we will practice writing the numbers 30-35. We will also learn to count by 2s using a hundreds chart. We will review counting by 10s and 5s using a hundreds chart, as well.
In social studies, we will have a short unit on Hanukkah. We will learn about Hanukkah and will play the Dreidel game. On Wednesday, we will make a Menorah craft. On Thursday, we will make Potato Pancakes. On Friday, we will learn about Kwanzaa.
Our afternoon workshop theme this week is Christmas. We will be making our own stockings and lacing them ourselves. We will also make a Santa and Elf paper craft. Finally, students will also make a fireplace paper craft. These will all be displayed in our classroom.
Remember, Wednesday is an Early Release Day. Saturday is the Samsula tractor parade. Friday, December 18th is Christmas morning in our classroom and we will also have the Polar Express Party.
See you tomorrow,
Mr. Gibbs
We have learned so many words so far in kindergarten and I am so proud of each child. This week, we will learn: new, no, now, on, our We will learn to recognize them on sight and use them correctly in sentences.
In math, we will practice writing the numbers 30-35. We will also learn to count by 2s using a hundreds chart. We will review counting by 10s and 5s using a hundreds chart, as well.
In social studies, we will have a short unit on Hanukkah. We will learn about Hanukkah and will play the Dreidel game. On Wednesday, we will make a Menorah craft. On Thursday, we will make Potato Pancakes. On Friday, we will learn about Kwanzaa.
Our afternoon workshop theme this week is Christmas. We will be making our own stockings and lacing them ourselves. We will also make a Santa and Elf paper craft. Finally, students will also make a fireplace paper craft. These will all be displayed in our classroom.
Remember, Wednesday is an Early Release Day. Saturday is the Samsula tractor parade. Friday, December 18th is Christmas morning in our classroom and we will also have the Polar Express Party.
See you tomorrow,
Mr. Gibbs
Run, Run!
So many things are happening in kindergarten! We just finished another fun week. This week, we shifted our learning from letters to word families. This week, we learned the -an word family. We built and read three and four letter -an words. Yes, your child is reading words that contain digraphs and blends! Children in Mr. Gibbs' class can also read decodable readers that contain these words in addition to our current sight words. Mr. Gibbs and Mrs. Shannon are amazed! "I can't believe my child is reading," one parent informed me this morning. Well, believe it! Today, your child had a spelling test on the an word family. The ten words included basic CVC words, some blends, and even a couple digraphs. Everyone did amazing. Everyone received either a perfect score or a near to perfect score. Way to go busy bees!
In math, we learned how to write numbers to 30. We also learned how to use a hundreds chart to help us count by 1s, 5s, and 10s! We are making great progress but will eventually need to know how to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s without the help of the hundreds chart. This is something you can begin to practice now. Next week, we will be learning how to write numbers to 35. We will also learn how to use a hundreds chart to help us count by 2s. During the next two weeks, we will be learning about the following concepts: ordinal numbers and odd/even numbers.
We learned about matter this week in science. We learned about paper, cloth, metal, wood, clay, and water. We also learned how each of these can be changed. We did some hands-on learning this week to experiment. We folded paper to make Christmas links, we observed water turn into gas, and we made pinch pots. Children are doing very well and most children understand the concept of solid, liquid, gas.
These were made on Thursday. We began with a ball of clay and created a pot. This is one way that clay can be changed.
Did I mention that our classroom is now decorated for Christmas? Our classroom has a Christmas tree and several decorations around the room all created by the children. Our tree is special because each child placed (or will place) a special ornament on our tree. Children took home the name of their secret Santa today. This is the person they will be buying for. When items are wrapped or bagged, we ask that you write the name to whom it is for. Please DO NOT write your name. Instead, write "Santa." When the gifted is wrapped, you may come place it under the Christmas tree. If you have trouble thinking of ideas of gifts - ask Mrs. Shannon or Mr. Gibbs. Polar Express party will be December 18th after lunch. Children may wear their PJs this day. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd will attend the gathering.
We will be doing Christmas crafts during afternoon workshops the next two weeks. Thanks to those who signed up to volunteer. Also, thanks to those who have donated items to our classroom - your help is appreciated!
We read The Gingerbread Man this week! Mr. Gibbs read it daily and children learned how to retell a story in sequence this week. Children should be able to retell the story to you, as well. We did some fun crafts during afternoon workshops this week. Our crafts helped us with fine motor skills. We laced and decorated gingerbread men and also made houses for our gingerbread men. These will be sent home next week. Today, we went on a hunt to find the Gingerbread Man. It was cold outside which was great for the season. It was rainy but we didn't let that stop us!
We ate our Gingerbread and also wished Trevor Riley a Happy Birthday! Trevor turned 6 yesterady and is having his offical party on Sunday. Everyone is welcome to attend - invitations were sent home during the week.
Shelby was our terrific kid this week. She has done an outstanding job this week and we are all very proud of her. Also, our class was amazing in music during the month of November. Our class won the Outstanding Class award for Music! I am so proud of them. Below is a picture of them with our small trophy. The trophy will be in our classroom for the whole month, until another class is chosen. Way to go Busy Bees!
On Sunday, I will update the blog with events, activities, and other information for the upcoming week. Remember, the NSB Christmas parade is Saturday!
In math, we learned how to write numbers to 30. We also learned how to use a hundreds chart to help us count by 1s, 5s, and 10s! We are making great progress but will eventually need to know how to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s without the help of the hundreds chart. This is something you can begin to practice now. Next week, we will be learning how to write numbers to 35. We will also learn how to use a hundreds chart to help us count by 2s. During the next two weeks, we will be learning about the following concepts: ordinal numbers and odd/even numbers.
We learned about matter this week in science. We learned about paper, cloth, metal, wood, clay, and water. We also learned how each of these can be changed. We did some hands-on learning this week to experiment. We folded paper to make Christmas links, we observed water turn into gas, and we made pinch pots. Children are doing very well and most children understand the concept of solid, liquid, gas. These were made on Thursday. We began with a ball of clay and created a pot. This is one way that clay can be changed.
Did I mention that our classroom is now decorated for Christmas? Our classroom has a Christmas tree and several decorations around the room all created by the children. Our tree is special because each child placed (or will place) a special ornament on our tree. Children took home the name of their secret Santa today. This is the person they will be buying for. When items are wrapped or bagged, we ask that you write the name to whom it is for. Please DO NOT write your name. Instead, write "Santa." When the gifted is wrapped, you may come place it under the Christmas tree. If you have trouble thinking of ideas of gifts - ask Mrs. Shannon or Mr. Gibbs. Polar Express party will be December 18th after lunch. Children may wear their PJs this day. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd will attend the gathering.We will be doing Christmas crafts during afternoon workshops the next two weeks. Thanks to those who signed up to volunteer. Also, thanks to those who have donated items to our classroom - your help is appreciated!
We read The Gingerbread Man this week! Mr. Gibbs read it daily and children learned how to retell a story in sequence this week. Children should be able to retell the story to you, as well. We did some fun crafts during afternoon workshops this week. Our crafts helped us with fine motor skills. We laced and decorated gingerbread men and also made houses for our gingerbread men. These will be sent home next week. Today, we went on a hunt to find the Gingerbread Man. It was cold outside which was great for the season. It was rainy but we didn't let that stop us!
We ate our Gingerbread and also wished Trevor Riley a Happy Birthday! Trevor turned 6 yesterady and is having his offical party on Sunday. Everyone is welcome to attend - invitations were sent home during the week.
Shelby was our terrific kid this week. She has done an outstanding job this week and we are all very proud of her. Also, our class was amazing in music during the month of November. Our class won the Outstanding Class award for Music! I am so proud of them. Below is a picture of them with our small trophy. The trophy will be in our classroom for the whole month, until another class is chosen. Way to go Busy Bees!
On Sunday, I will update the blog with events, activities, and other information for the upcoming week. Remember, the NSB Christmas parade is Saturday!
The family project was due today, but we will still accept them on Monday. They are very creative! On Monday, we will make a digital story using our projects. Make sure you send one in with your child. I love seeing how creative you and your child can be! Great job!
