April Fool's!

On Thursday, April 1st the kindergartners played an April Fool's joke on their families. Everyone took home a "red day" or "yellow day". We wrote April Fool's on them so that parents would know it was a joke and not a real bad day. The children practiced looking down so they wouldn't laugh and ruin the joke. It was so funny to see them had the notes to the adults picking them up! The children all would burst out laughing. Thanks to all of you for being good sports and pretending to be shocked then happy. The next day children wrote in their journals about who they tricked. Most said it was great fun.

Second Trimester Award Ceremony

The children have really grown so much! This trimester 27 more children were honored for reading 100+ sight words. It was so exciting to see them wearing their Super Scotty t-shirts. Shirts are awarded as soon as the children master 100 words. The certificates are presented at the trimester award ceremonies. One more trimester to go! Keep studying those sight words.

St. Patrick's Day

Every year the first grade classrooms make Leprechaun Traps as a home project. They set them up the day before St. Patrick's Day in the hope of catching a leprechaun. The next day kindergarten comes through to see the traps and hear their stories. It is always a great time to see former students and admire the families' creativity. But the best part is also the sense of wonder in the children's eyes and voices as we look at the traps. The magic of childhood!

This year we also had some leprechauns visit our rooms! From small messes to green glitter and footprints, the nighttime visitors let us know they enjoyed our rooms. One class was even left a magically powder that turned into green pudding! We enjoyed an Irish snack of corned beef and potatoes. The best part was dessert, rainbow cupcakes! Even if we didn't catch a leprechaun, it was a fun day.

Kindegarten Sight Words

It is incredible how many children have mastered the 100+ kindergarten sight words at this point in the year! With a whole trimester still to go this school year, everyone can get there! Sight words are really important to know instantly. They are the most common words your child will encounter in reading. Many sight words are not easy to sound out put have to be memorized. Here are some ideas to help your child with those tricky words! Share a comment of other ways you have helped your child. New ideas help make sight word practice fun rather than a chore.

Flash Cards- Make 2 sets of flash cards with the sight words your child needs to learn. Sight words are in the newsletter and the weekly testing sheets. Use the cards to play Memory Matching or Go Fish.

See it! Say it! Spell it! Game- Use one set of flash cards. Show your child the word (see it). Then help your child read the word (say it). Finally hid the card and have your child write the word down (spell it).

Use fun ways to write the words down like a dry erase board, chalk board, sidewalk chalk or even bath tub paint. Work on 5 words at a time.

Write simple sentences with words your child already knows, pictures and the new sight word or words. Keep it to 3 new words or less. So for example, if your child was stuck on the word "want", you could write the following sentences:
I want a dog.
Mom and I want to go play.
Do you want a candy?
Than have your child circle the sight word and practice reading several times.

Green Eggs and Ham

We had a great time last week reading Dr. Seuss books. One of our favorites is Green Eggs and Ham. Every year the kids love trying out Sam-I-Am's colorful treat. This year was no exception. Most of the kids loved it. It tasted like white and yellow eggs! How did Sam-I-Am do it? Must be Dr. Seuss magic.

Dr. Seuss Day

On Friday, March 5th, Scott Ave. celebrated our annual Dr. Seuss's Day. We had community workers come to the classrooms and read stories and talk about their jobs. We also had a visit from a very special person ~ The Cat in the Hat.

Founder's Day

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!
This year it was kindergarten's turn to perform at the annual Founder's Day celebration for PTA. We used a musical from our new music curriculum based on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. The children just loved learning about Mr. Roger's and his characters. Some were familiar with the show and were even more excited to sing the songs. After weeks of practice the big night arrived! The children looked adorable as the characters of Mr. Rogers, King Friday, Queen Saturday, Daniel Striped Tiger, Mr. McFeely and of course Trolley. The rest of the children did a great job as the chorus. The next day some of the children were asking what our next show was going to be!

Party, party, party!

February may be a short month but it is full of celebrations!

On the 12th we celebrated Valentine's Day. The children in all the classrooms enjoyed special crafts, snacks and games. We are so thankful to the wonderful parent volunteers who organized all the fun. Every year it amazes us just how l o n g it takes to help the children pass out their valentines and goodies into the paper bags we decorate to hold them! But, it is a special time for each of them so we just can't rush them.

February 18th marked the 100th Day of School! This is always a huge milestone for kindergarten. We made crowns, necklaces and a 100 piece snack mix. The children worked on 100 collections at home and brought them into share. The highlight for me is always reading the letters parents wrote to celebrate their children's growth. I always get misty reading them! These children are very loved!

On February 19th we celebrated Chinese New Year. The children got to eat rice with chopsticks! This is always fun to watch. Making lanterns, dragon puppets and finding out what year they were born was also fun. Most of the children were born in the year of the Monkey. Monkeys are smart and funny according to Chinese legend. Most of the children were excited to be Monkeys but a few wanted to change their sign. I had one student who wanted to be a T-rex! Only in kindergarten :)

Groundhog Day at Scott Ave. 2010

On February 2nd, Groundhog Day, the children arrived eagerly awaiting the announcement from Puxsutawney Phil. The children knew he could predict six more weeks of winter or an early spring. We checked the webcast and Puxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. The children then wrote and illustrated about their favorite nocturnal animal, the groundhog.

Snow Day

Our annual snow day was a blast! Being that we live in warm Southern Ca, the teachers had to have the air turned on in the classrooms so the children could come bundled in snow gear. There was even a "snowball"fight with paper. The children took turns making "snowmen" by dressing their friends up in toilet paper and they also made edible snowmen out of marshmallows. What a great day in January!

Our beautiful library

Every Tuesday Morning, the children walk across campus to spend time in our school library. Once there, they are able to not only check out books, but they can also: curl up in a recliner by the faux fireplace, camp out in a tent, or sit in a circle on campout chairs ~ all with a good book. This time is so exciting and special. Tuesday has quickly become a favorite day of the week, not only for the children, but for the teachers as well.

Trimester Award Ceremony

We had our first trimester award ceremony on Friday, December 18th. The children did very well listening to all the awards being given. There were a few tears when Spirit Tickets were drawn since there are only 5 winners from each class. As always, the toy prizes were awesome. This year we added a special t-shirt for those students that mastered the kindergarten sight words. Since we doubled the number of words from last year, we did not expect any children to get the shirt until late in the year. What a surprise. TEN students earned this new award at the first trimester!!! The children were so happy and are going to look great in their new shirts. Keep up the great work Kindergarten Scotties!