pumpkin pie and gingerbread men

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I enjoyed spending time with my family. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving kindergarten tasted and graphed pumpkin pie. I am always amazed at how many children start the activity reluctant to try the pie, but end up loving it and wanting more. We also had fun graphing whether we liked it or not. Not to mention the whipped cream, (what is pie without whipped cream?) We graphed that too! (of course) We read the story "There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie" prior to tasting our pie and we discussed the kind of pie she swallowed then we decided to swallow our own pie. So much fun.

Next week we will be starting our unit on gingerbread men, I will read many different versions of the story; some old and some new. We will finish the week tasting and graphing gingerbread man cookies and then on December 13, we will make our own gingerbread houses. This is such a fun day! I love how they decide to decorate their houses. (you will be amazed at how much candy they can fit on them.) So much fun!!!! The excitement on their faces when we are done is priceless! I can't wait to post pictures of that activity.

Have a great week!

This week in kindergarten

This week we will be discussing the Pilgrims and Indians and their thanksgiving feast. I have so many great stories to read to the students and we will be making our own Thanksgiving book. It is a huge project, but when it is done it is awesome. As usual when it is finished if they bring it back with two signatures they will get a sticker for their folder. We also have science day on Tuesday. We will be studing Eggs. It will be eggcellent! We will be testing their strength and exploring what's inside and I have a surprise "magic" trick.
I will also be introducing addition to the students. We will be using some fun smartboard activites and we will be doing some hands-on activities. It is going to be a busy week. Check back I will have some pictures posted.

Science Day- weighing and measuring

This past week we investigated pumpkins. The students weighed , measured and estimated their pumpkins. They also found out that pumpkins float. Boy were they surprised. It's because their inside is hollow and full of air. I love seeing the look on their faces when they expect the pumpkin to sink to the bottom and they don't. We were also able to taste the pumpkin seeds thanks to Mrs. Ordway who graciously volunteered to cook them for us. They were delicious. So many of the students didn't think they would like them and were pleasantly surprised to find out they did.

Check back again... The halloween party is Monday it's going to be a spooktacular time!

kindergarten news

There has been so much going on in Kindergarten in the last few weeks. We studied Johnny Appleseed and we graphed the apples we brought in. This month we have been learning about spiders, bats and all things Fall. We made some awesome bats and wrote some batty "at" words. and we learned some interesting facts about bats and spiders. Did you know that spiders have eight eyes but don't see very well? And there are over 30,000 differen types of bats.
We have had one one science day where we studied physical and chemical change and we made some Gak. This month we are studying pumpkins, we have some great activities centered around them. It is going to be fun.
We went to the pumpkin farm last week and had a great time at the pig races and got to bring home a pumpkin.
Halloween is just around the corner and I can't wait to see all their great costume. Please watch the buzz for information about their party.
Check back often... I promise I will be better about posting things on our blog. I will try to get some pictures up soon.

2011-2012

Welcome Kindergarten

We are looking forward to a wonderful year!

We have so much to learn and many new exciting things to explore.

This year we will be using our New Smartboard in class.

As a matter of fact we have already started using it to identify

our letters and ryhming words.

Come back often to see pictures and view the blog.

Mrs. Cherney and Mrs. Lessentien

Mothers Day Tea and other events

The Mothers Day Tea was wonderful... Thank you mom's for taking time out of your busy schedules to spend time with your child so they could honor you for being such special mom's. They were so excited about having you in class. I also want to say thank you for all your kind words about the Tea. I know May is busy, but it is such a beautiful event. I just love seeing how they interact with their mothers. They talk about you all the time, I know it meant a lot to them to have you there with them.

The VIP program is this week.... Please watch the schedule closely. Remember to send a lunch and drink on the day your child stays all day. Costumes on Thursday and Friday. Also early dismissal on Friday.

Field Days is on Monday, May 23rd. It is going to be such a fun day. (there will be so many tired little children at the end of the day, and a few tired teachers too!) Then finally, Wednesday is Graduation. A note will come home about the arrival time that evening. I just can't believe we are down to the final days. Where has the time gone? I am so excited for them, yet it always makes me sad to see them go on to first grade...... Hmmmm.... I must be doing something wrong... I never get to graduate to the first grade.

I will see you all at Graduation!!

Remember if you haven't turned in your tutoring schedule please get it back to me as soon as possible. Thanks.

Kindergarten zoo trip

Monday we had a great time at the zoo! We really lucked out; the weather was wonderful and the zoo really wasn't that crowded. I think most of the groups were able to find the Naked Mole Rats, and the Giraffe exhibit aswell as the Meerkats and Zebra's. As part of our zoo unit the students picked an animal to write a short report on. They are very excited about it. We are also working on our classroom zoo. I can't wait until it is done. They are so creative I know it is going to be great. Thank you volunteers for joining us on our trip. The students really like having their parents along on our field trips. I hope you had as much fun as they had.