Traveling Chet

We had such exciting adventures with Chet over Thanksgiving. We took a sailing trip around Pensacola Bay in Pensacola, FL, visited Bryant Denny Football Staduim in Tuscaloosa, AL (where my Papa went to college) and got to sit in the cockpit with the pilots on our Southwest flight from Birmingham, AL back to Jacksonville. While our travels were fun, we're looking forward to seeing all our friends tomorrow at school!
Abigale

Holiday Break

I know you are probably wondering what you should work on over the holiday break. Make sure you are reading daily! Practice counting numbers...Possibly by 10's, since the children do it everyday. Have them tell you a number story. You could also start a journal of what you are doing over the break. Have your child blog about it! I would be super impressed!!
Have a wonderful break! I will be thinking about all of you! And I can't wait to see you in January!

Pow Wow

Friday is Pow Wow! This is our annual Kindergarten tradition. We have been learning so much about our tribe, the Nez Perce, that it is nice to finish up this unit with a great celebration. We have been busy in the classroom making costumes, doing crafts related to our tribe and learning new songs and dances. Please bring your child to school as early as 8:30 to get dressed up and ready to go! Pow Wow will begin on the soccer field at 9:15 am. We will be doing Pow Wow centers to follow in different classrooms. I could use some help from parents! (If you have an ID badge)
A HUGE thank you to Saray Shively ("Shania's mom") and Michelle Wilson ("Luke's mom) for spending a great deal of their time last week making all of our costumes! I don't know what I would have done without them!!! I am so lucky to have great parents!!

Make-N-Take

I would like to thank Zachary, Yazmin, Denalia, Abigale, Shania, Cole, Luke and Isabella's families for participating in Make-N-Take night tonight! We had a great time listening to our Pow Wow music and making teepees. We have been learning so much about our tribe and it was nice to take a break and spend some time together.

Halloween

I hope everyone is gearing up for a great Halloween! I just wanted to share with you that my puppy will be participating. The kids loved seeing my dog, Stanley, in his costume for this year!

Fall Centers and Fall Carnival

We had such a great day! Our parade of costumes went great! After that, we went back to the classroom to do Fall Centers. We ate cookies, painted, colored and made picture frames!
A huge thank you to all the parents/grandparents who helped with the "Needle In The Haystack" booth at the carnival. I couldn't have done it without you!

Fall Centers

Would any of my parents be willing to donate some plain sugar cookies for decorating on Thursday, October 23rd? I have gotten everything for the centers except the cookies. We would just need 25 or so cookies!
I appreciate it!

Science Workshop

Mrs. Harbour visited our class on Tuesday to teach a lesson in Science Workshop. She had the children use their 5 senses to explore pumpkins. She even cut open a pumpkin in our classroom for the children to explore and observe!!
Thanks Mrs. Harbour

Harry The Dirty Dog

We had a great time on our field trip to the Florida Theater to see Harry The Dirty Dog! We started at the Kids Kampus downtown for playing and lunch and then made our way to the theater. We really enjoyed the show! I think all the kids were tired out when we got back!

HOMEWORK

Please make sure you are helping your child with their homework nightly and sending it back into class on Fridays in their orange homework folders. We are having problems with it floating around in their back packs or being in their planners. It really needs to be in the orange folders to help Mrs. Cordoza and myself stay organized.

Literary Parade

On Thursday, October 23rd, the children will be able to dress up as a favorite character from one of their books! Send them to school in their costume, with the book of the character they are dressed up as. Please make sure the costume is school appropriate!

We are also asking for donations of bags of candy for the teachers to hand out the evening of the Fall Carnival. If you could, please send one in the classroom this week!

An Adventure Around The World

Our Fall Carnival is right around the corner! It is on Thursday, October 23rd. We have the "Needle In A Haystack" booth and I will be sending home letters about having you volunteer for this booth. It is from 6-9 and we usually do a 30 minute block of time for you to help out. Please start thinking about if you will be able to volunteer!

Open House

Thanks to all of those who attended our Open House. It was nice to meet some new parents! I hope you have a better idea of what we do in the classroom on a daily basis. Please don't hesitate to call or email me if you should have any questions!

Bulletin Board

Check out our Standards Based Bulletin Board outside our room. We have been learning about different patterns during our Math Investigations. We had a Clifford Day where we made hats and patterned bones!

Science!

We are learning about our 5 senses in Science. I brought lemon for the kids to taste and vinegar for them to smell! They loved this hands on activity.

Field Trip T-Shirts

A green field trip t-shirt form was sent home in your child's planner last week. Please make sure you look it over and purchase a shirt if you can. I like for the children to be in the same color when we go on field trips. Please make sure you send in the exact amount of cash when placing the order! Thanks!

Room Parent

Mrs. Wilson (Luke's mom) has expressed that she is willing to take on the co-room parent responsibility. This is basically helping organize classroom parties, special events and Pow Wow, which is coming up in November! If anyone is willing to help her out, it would be greatly appreciated! Please email me if you are interested and I will pass on your information to her.
Thanks so much

Calendar Math

Calendar Math is an important part of our day. We begin each math time with exploring the calendar math elements. This month we are learning ones and tens, days of the week, months of the year and birthdays! The children get very excited to do math everyday and to sing new songs that help us learn.

Literacy Stations

We have begun to explore our literacy stations! The children are very excited about it and it keeps them engaged in learning as I will begin to pull small groups for reading. In these stations, they explore writing, the ABC's and different genres of books!

Supplies and Wish List

I'm sure all of you have heard that Duval County has made several budget cuts this year, one of those cuts being supplies! It would be so GREAT if I could get your help with supplies this year! Items we still need off our wish list are:
1. 12 single metal hooks for hanging backpacks on
2. plain white copy paper
3. colored Expo markers
4. white cardstock
5. a 4 step, step stool (I'm short and can't hang charts high on the walls!)
6. books by Eric Carle
7. Books by Laura Numeroff

If I think of anything else or you think of anything, please let me know! We can ALWAYS use supplies and thank you in advance!

Fun Friday Snack

At Orientation, I had a sign up sheet for Fun Friday Snack. It can be a simple as gummies or cookies for the whole class. We have 24 students and not all of the Fridays were taken. All of September has been covered! Look back for updates about October. Thanks for the help.

Reading Bags

Today I introduced reading bags to the students. These were the red and white bags that you purchased from Target. They are going to stay at school and will have leveled books in them for the students to read when they finish seat work. This will help the students become organized and learn how to be responsible for their things at school!

Reminder

Well we are ready to start again this week! A few reminders...
Don't forget to check your child's planner daily.
Send in all completed forms from your orientation packet as soon as possible.
Lunch money needs to be in an envelope with your child's name.
We start resource on Monday! I will post the schedule tomorrow.

What a great first day! I really enjoyed getting to know all the kids. I will put the resource schedule on the blog as well as on the newsletter on Monday. Please don't forget to give your child lunch money if they are buying lunch. Feel free to leave comments on the page!! Your comments and thoughts are encouraged! :)

1st day of school!

I am so much looking forward to the first day of school on August 18th! I can't wait to meet all my students and start another successful year!

Ms. Stresen-Reuter's dog Stanley