May 14th
We are ending our Animals Two By Two with Pill Bugs and Sow Bugs. So if your kids have been digging worms and looking for bugs under logs and rocks you know why. It's always fascinating how much they enjoy these units.
Next we will focus on the country of Japan. We will learn about the culture, people and landforms. On June 17th will will have a Japanese festival. If anyone has anything about Japan they are willing to share please let me know, in the past we have had clothing, food and art sent in. We will need helpers in the 17th as well.
Book bags last day will be May 17th. Please look all over your house for our classroom books. Library books will end on May 31.
May 6
We have 11 chicks. Please sned back the permission slip for holding the chicks.
April 29
The Fun Run and Farmers Breakfast were a lot of fun. Now we just have seven days till the eggs hatch. We are working in snails and bugs until the big chicken day. Bottle Caps are due by tomorrow. Please send them in counted if you can.
April 18
Fun Run Tomorrow. Wear shoes for walking or running and bring your own water bottle.
Friday the 26th we will have the Farmers Breakfast. Our class will be cooking toast and scrambled eggs. We need a lot of helpers and supplies. We need eggs, bread, butter and jelly. Let me know if you can donate an item or come in to help. 11:00-11:45 for the AM 12:45-1:35 for the PM .
18 days till the chicks hatch.
April 8
Hello,
Spring is the best time in kindergarten, everyone came back ready to learn. We have a month filled with animals. We started the week with oviparous animals and then we get fish on Wednesday and chick eggs next week. Lots of excitement.
Some important dates.
The Fun Run is April 19th wear running shoes.
Farmers breakfast is April 26th wear your farmer outfit.
March 24
Last week was filled spring. We made spring bouquets, worked on writing and reading ing words and in math we worked on measurement. This week we will work on living and non living in Science and bunnies. Then we are off for Spring Break and when we come back we'll learn about eggs and our chicken eggs will arrive soon after. This Thursday report cards come out so be looking for them in their backpacks. Let me know if you want a conference.
March 14
Hello,
It feels like Spring.
We've been working on Weather, Measurement, writing complete sentences and adding more to our writing. This past week we have had a lot of one on one testing to get ready for report cards. I am seeing lots of progress. Report cards come out on March 28th . Please look for them in their back pack.
The Leprechaun party is tomorrow March 15. Wear green if you want. I could still use a few volunteers.
Feb. 23
We finished up our unit on the Healthy Heart by learning the Rapping Heart Rhyme and making our own Healthy Heart book.
We learned about George Washington and Abe Lincoln. The class had lots of questions about being president and several of them said they'd like to be president. One student wanted to be president so they could make lots of desicions. Desicions making would be a definite must if you were president.
Next Wednesday the 27th is our school SHOWCASE from 5:30-7:30. Our class will sing at 6:00. I hope you can make it. It is always a treat to hear children sing. 
Thanks for all the VALENTINES.
Feb 10.
We had a week filled with learning about the human heart. The class was amazed to find out the heart is not shaped like a Valentine.
We finished up a unit on teen numbers. These are the hardest numbers for some kids to write and to remember. Keep counting at home. This week we will do a short unit on patterning, valentine activities related to reading and math and of course the wonderful 100th day on the 19th. I could use more help onthe 19th in the morning let me or Miss Bell know if you can help out from 11:00-11:55.
Feb 2
I hope everyone is enjoying the sunny weather and the three day weekend.
The next few weeks will be busy with Valentine's Day, the 100th day of school (Feb 19th), Open House on Feb 27 from 5:30-7:30.
The Valentines Lists are on the website and I also sent a list home in their folders. Valentines can be sent in anytime. We will pass them out as they come in.
On the 100th day we would like everyone to bring in 100 items in a ziplock bag. Examples are legos, pennies, cheerios, etc. We are also collecting 100 cans or bags of pet food, anything will work . We have done this for several years now. It's a wonderful service project and it helps with counting, and sorting etc.
Open House or Showcase is a wonderful way for the family to come to school and see what we have been doing. The classes will perform, the classrooms will be open and you can visit the book fair.
The next few weeks our themes will be Valentines Day, and a health unit on the human heart.
Jan. 22
Pajama day is January 25 along with the Winter Festival.
We read the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and did an activity on story sequence. The kids did a fine job on remembering the order of the story. This is something they could work on at home with stories you read to them.
We are still working on naming, counting and making sets of teen numbers in Math.
In Science we grew salt crystals and we talked bout why some grew better than others and some didn't grow at all.
Our next unit will be a health unit in the heart.
Hello,
Yesterday we made cards for one of our students that is in the hospital. He is doing fine and he should be back to school in a few weeks. I'm sure the cards will make him happy if your child has any concerns or questions that you need me to answer just let me know.
Next week we will end our Winter Unit with a Winter Festival. We will have stations with Mrs. Young's class and "skating" in the hallway. The morning class will celebrate from 11-11:45 and the afternoon class from 12:45-1:40. I need a few more helpers in the morning.
Jan. 16
GRASS VALLEY FAMILY MATH NIGHT with KIM SUTTON
Dear Grass Valley Families,
On Wednesday, January 23rd, from 5:30-7:30, we have the great fortune to participate in a Family Math Night with Kim Sutton.This night is for parents and students K-5.
In preparation for the night, I would like to get an idea of how many families think they will be attending. This will give me the opportunity to make sure we have enough tables, hand-outs, and snacks for the evening. I would greatly appreciate it if you would e-mail me and let me know if you are interested in coming and how many in your family. My e-mail address ised.Watson@camas.wednet.eduThank you to those who have already responded. If you are not sure yet that you can attend, but find you are free on Wednesday, please come join us.
Jan 9th
We had a practice lock down today. The kids were marvelous. They were quiet and waited patiently in the classroom for about 15 minutes.
A letter about lock down procedures will go home tomorrow.
Jan. 7th
· Our annual carnival is in jeopardy! We are having a very hard time finding volunteers for the May 18 event. The kick-off meeting Thurs. Jan. 17 at 9:05 am in the GV conference room.
Jan 6
Happy New Year!!!
Our first week back went well. Everyone seemed happy to be at school again. We shared lots of stories about the break and made New Years Resolutions. Lots of kids said they wanted to help their mom and dad more. You should take them up on that.
We began a unit on winter. We'll learn about animals in winter, crystals and end with a winter festival on January 25th. At the festival we will "ice skate" in the hallway.
We are also starting a pet food drive where we try to collect 100 items to donate to an animal shelter by the 100th day of school. Send the food in anytime and I will keep you posted on how we are doing. Any animal food will work.
Dec 8th
This week we will focus on our last 2 celebrations Christmas in Mexico and Ramadan(AM). We will have a fiesta type celebration with Mrs. Young's class on Friday. 11-1145 (AM) 12:45-1:30 (PM) . I need parent help for both classes. We also need tortilla chips and 15 paper bowls.
Look for report cards in your child's backpack on Thursday the 13th.
Have a wonderful holiday season.
Winter Story & Activity Time
Looking for something to spark up those long, dreary January Saturdays? Well look no further! We have planned an exciting "winter" journey for your child! During each session, the kids will participate in a variety of activities based on a well-known children’s storybook. The boys and girls will be learning and reviewing essential skills in reading, writing, math and science. Every Saturday they’ll bring home a special art project to share with their family! This class is taught by two Prune Hill Kindergarten teachers; Mrs. Alanis and Mrs. Papantchev
Literature Focus:
January 5-
Snow By: Cynthia Rylant
January 12-
Where is Home, Little Pip? By: Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman
January 19-
The Three Snow Bears By: Jan Brett
January 26-
Sadie and the Snowman By: Allen Morgan
Additional Information:
Dates:
Saturday, January 5, 12, 19, 26, 2013 Time:9:00am-12:00pm
Location:
Prune Hill Elementary Rooms 10 & 11 Grades:K-1 Price:$125.00
School supplies and snack will be provided (please let us know about food allergies in advance) and remember to send a backpack with your child.In case of inclement weather, we will have a makeup day!
Nov 29th
Today in your child's back pack there is homework that you can do as a family. Please fill it out with the traditions your family has and we will be sharing these in class. The next 2 weeks we will be learning about many ways people celebrate all over the world.
We will learn about Ramadan, Diwalli, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas traditions here and in Mexico. We will end the unit with a fiesta on Friday the 14th.
We need tortilla chips, salsa, bowls and paper plates.
Report Cards will be in sent home on The 13th. Let me know if you have any questions.
Encampment Day is November 19th. Look in your child's backpack for a letter explaining trading. Hope everyone had a nice long weekend.
Reading bags are coming home this week.
Nov 6th
Barack Obama was the winner in the AM and the PM class.
Nov. 5th
We will be having a class election tomorrow. Please make sure your child turns in their voter registration homework.
Don't for get we have a lot of conferences this week. The computer has the times a little off so I will send a reminder in the folders.
The next few weeks we will be learning about Thanksgiving long ago and how we celebrate it today. We will end the unit with Encampment Day on November 19th. We need extra help that day. We will also have a trading day where the class trades small toys or stickers etc. they no longer want with friends in the class. More details to come. Please don't buy new toys for this.
Nov. 1 st
Our classroom now needs to be nut free. We have some children that are highly allergic to nuts so for safety reasons we need to be nut free. Thanks for understanding.
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Oct 28
Our themes last week were Owls and Pumpkins. We learned a lot of facts about both of them and added new poems to our binders. We wrote about them in our journals and read many books both fiction and non fiction. On Wed. we learned about wood and paper. We did sink and float activities and made many things out of paper.
Our Pumpkin Party will be Tuesday so both sessions have a chance to have some fun while learning. 11-11:45 for the morning class and 12:45 -1:35 for the afternoon class.
Please no Costumes or candy.
We need apple cider, cups and straws. Let me know if you can send some in.
Oct 21
We had a week filled with spiders and bats. The class made a dazzling spider web and learned a lot of new facts about spiders. We worked on our first word family AT. We learned facts about BBBBBBats and made a BBBBBat mask. We worked on number writing, identifying, counting, and making sets of numbers. Have your child work on counting at home especially the teen numbers.
Mr Causey, the counselor, has started a program called Second Steps with all the kindergarten classes. It works on social skills and problem solving. We are doing this for a few months in place of computer lab.
Bulb planting went well. The students planted their tulips along the fence by the bus pick up. 
CONFERENCES Please sign up for a conference by looking at th calendar on the web site.
Have a great week.
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Oct 14
It looks like the rain is back. Remember we go out in all kinds of weather rain or shine. Please label all coats because labeled items do get returned to the owners.
On the 19th we will be planting bulbs. It looks like I have 1 helper in the morning and in the afternoon. We could always use more. Let me know if you are interested.
Next week out themes will be spiders and bats. We will read fiction and non fiction books about both subjects. We'll work on making sets to five and writing numbers. I have sent home green number writing books. The little rhymes are a great way to learn how to form the numbers.
Conferences begin this week. Please sign up for one if you haven't done so already.
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I hope everyone had nice weekend. The next few weeks we will work on fall activities. Signs of fall and the changes we see all around us. We will learn about spiders, owls, bats and the life cycle of a pumpkin. In math we continue to recognize, count, and make sets of numbers. Our writing focus is labeling and making our pictures match our words. We are always reading, I hope to send the reading binders home this weekend. Please return them on Monday.
Thanks to all the families that donated books to our classroom from the book fair.
Also thanks to our classroom volunteers I really appreciate all the help. Volunteers make my jobs much easier and the kids love the extra attention. Let me know if you want to be added to our list.
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Helping parent calendars went home last week let me know if you need to make changes. The 30th is our Pumpkin Party. We will need a lot of help that day. Please make sure you have turned in your volunteer forms.
We have many sutdents leaving coats at school. Please label all personal belongings.
Next week we begin learning about safety and start our Fall unit. In math we will work on making sets and writng number to 5. Keep writing in your planner daily.
The picnic was a lot of fun. The class made their own sandwich. They needed to decide if they wanted half or a whole and counted out teddy grahams to eat too.
September 24,2012
The students are feeling more comfortable in our classroom and our school. All the students had a chance to act out The 3 Billy Goats Gruff and The 3 Little Pigs. Some were hesitant at first but once they saw how fun it was they all wanted to act it out over and over. This week we will work on The 3 Bears. We will end the fairy tales unit with a teddy bear picnic on Friday.
Students may bring in a stuffed animal that fits in their back packs on Friday.
We need Teddy Grahams and a few loaves of wheat bread for the picnic. Please let me know if you can send these in.
We will learn about more and less in math and continue working on labeling our pictures in writing.
Have a great week.
Week 2
The classes are learning the routines and starting to feel more comfortable at school. This week we spent time learning about feelings by reading the books Elmer and On Monday I Felt... We made our own Elmer and learned about sorting in Math and began our Kindergarten journals. We also learned about mixing colors by reading the book Little Yellow and Little Blue. by Leo Leone We mixed play dough, made our own books, and mixed colored water to see what other colors we could make.
Our second week was also filled with hearing testing and vision screening. You will be contacted by the school nurse or the speech and language teacher if they feel you child needs to be screened further. Next week, we begin academic testing.
Thank you for attending Curriculum Night. It looks like I have helpers for Computer Lab and Scholastic book orders. A helping calendar will be out next month. If you want to be added to it just let me know.
Next Week September 17
We will begin a unit on fairy tales, continue with sorting, and more or less. We are reading everyday and adding more and more poems and songs to our binders.
Picture Day is Tuesday September 18th. The fliers were sent home in their folders.
Have nice weekend.
Hello,
Our first week went well. By Friday we had walking down the hall almost perfect. This coming week is the true test with a full week of school and individual testing beginning on Wednesday. I will explain more about testing on Tuesday night at our parent meeting. I hope everyone plans on attending.
Many people have asked about the planners these will start on Wednesday and Thursday . I will explain them on Tuesday night.
Thanks for checking in!!