A Special Visit!

Mrs. Phillips (Our Awesome Principal) came to our class to read a book. The book was called The Leprechaun's Gold, written by Pamela Duncan Edwards and illustrated by Henry Cole. Mrs. Phillips told us that they had both been visitors to Chets Creek Elementary. It is one of Mrs. Phillips' favorite books. The book was a former Book of the Month. The book was addressed to "Susan",(Mrs. Phillips)and was autographed by the author and illustrator. She asked us questions as she read the story to us. Madeline says,"near the end of the book, the man (Old Pat) went away and the leprechauns made him a new harp out of the gold." Taryn says, "They made him a new harp because on his old one the other strings were broken." During the story Mrs. Phillips helped us learn the meaning of a new Vocabulary word. The word was "weary". "We now know that the word weary means,tired",says Yezen. Mrs. Phillips is a GREAT reader. "She also told us that she used to teach in our very own classroom",says Shane. Mrs Phillips admitted that our room is her favorite classroom in the building. She also stated that she loves to visit kindergarten. She used to be a kindergarten teacher. We loved having her in our room. We hope she will come back to read with us again.

This post written and created by the students in Mrs. Brown's and Mrs. Meissner's Class

Harry the Dirty Dog

Our excited class of Kindergartners went to the Wilson Center for Performing Arts to see a play. The play was based on one of our favorite books. The play was based on the book, Harry the Dirty Dog written by Gene Zion.

This is one of our "Star Books". A "Star Book" is a book that the children have heard several times as a read aloud. The children then have the opportunity to "read" the books, by retelling themselves the story. Due to the fact that the students were very familiar with the book they noticed many differences between the play and the original text. The children loved seeing a live action version of one of their favorite books. The play included singing and dancing, which the students loved. A great time was had by all.

Valentine's Day

We had an awesome Valentine's Day! We were able to do so many fun things, like "We decorated cupcakes," said Taryn. "We made hats that were called crowns, because we were either the King of Hearts or the Queen of Hearts." We went on a parade. We put on our crowns, we went through the front office and spread the love by blowing kisses at everyone. "We made Valentine Cards," said Brandon. "We even made Valentine puzzles," said Ethan. "We made beaded necklaces with Valentine colored beads," said Kiera. "We made a sign language I Love You heart," said Fiona. We all agree that it was a fun day. We do not agree on our favorite part of the day. Noah and Shane said, "We passed out candy and valentines and put them in the boxes." Kylie says her favorite part was, "We ate cupcakes." "We drank ice cream floats with a cherry on top," says Dominic. We were able to choose between strawberry and Root Beer for our floats. Nina said, "We ate jello and rice crispy treats." "We had some special guests, some moms came to the party," Kaya pointed out. It was a heart filled day.
The love was felt by all.

This post was written and posted by the students in Mrs. Brown's and Mrs. Meissner's Kindergarten Class

Me and My Shadow

The students spent a day learning about Shadows. We also learned about the position of the sun in the sky and how it affects how we see our shadow. The students went outside first thing in the morning. Mrs. Smith's fourth grade class helped by tracing each of the children's shadows on to the sidewalk, and writing the name of the student on the outline of their shadow so the child could find theirs again later in the day. The children then came back to the room and documented their observations about their shadows and their observations about the sun. After lunch we went back outside and the children stood in the same spot. They made new observations and documented them in their Science Journals. We repeated the process at the end of the day. Ask your child what they learned and please leave their response as a comment. We would love to hear what they learned that day. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Reading Strategies

Our students have come so far in their reading this year. Many of our students have "officially" become conventional readers and the rest are so close. We have spent a considerable amount of time working on a variety of Reading Strategies that the children can use when they come to an unfamiliar word so that they can figure out the word for themselves. Some of the strategies that we have been working on are:
1. Looking at the Picture Clues
2. Looking for Word Family words
3. Looking for words within words
4. Skip it and read to the end of the sentence
5. S-T-R-E-T-C-H the word.
6. Ask yourself, "Does that make sense?"

Ask your child to show you how they are using these strategies in their nightly reading.

Season of Giving

The Kindergarten students at Chets Creek this year decided that our Season of Giving project would be to collect diapers for Helping Hands Diaper Center. We were amazed by the outpouring of support to all of the families who chose to donate to this worthy cause. We were so proud of the amount that we were able to collect and the workers at Helping Hands were amazed by the number of diapers that we were able to donate. As always the families at Chets Creek are always willing to assist in helping those in need. What a wonderful way to celebrate the Season of Giving. Happy Holidays!

Long Time No See

Oh my goodness. It has been a long time since we have posted. There have been so many exciting things that we have been doing. We have participated in the Literary Parade at the end of October. Each of the children dressed up as their favorite literary character. We spent all of November studying the Seminole Tribe and learning about their traditions and culture. We culminated that unit of study with all of Kindergarten as we celebrated Pow Wow. The children performed Native American Dances and sang Native American songs. The children spent the rest of the day traveling from station to station, learning, playing, singing tasting and listening. It was an amazing day.

We are quickly approaching Winter Break. Many exciting activities to come. We will be celebrating Polar Express day with our jammies and making home made doughnuts.