Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, May Crowning, and more!

Hi everyone! I'm going to begin this blog post by warning you that it is going to be a quickee! I have a wedding to attend and two baby showers this weekend, so time is a little tight! Let's get started!

First up, let's recap the previous week.  We started the week with some Cinco de Mayo festivities! Here is a student creating their own precious sombrero. They turned out muy bonita!

Then, during listening centers, we listened to a fun little story about a cat who thinks he is a chihuahua! 

On Wednesday, we had the pleasure of having one of our own students be "Ms. Hudson" for the day. Here she is earning her teaching credential a little early on:

She sat in my desk all day, read a story to the class, dismissed them to activities, and awarded them points for being quiet. Then we ate lunch together! It was a fun auction prize! 

We had a fun time working on our Mother's Day projects. How did you like them? I hope you enjoy them, however you may use them, and I really hope you enjoyed your writing project "My Mom  is as pretty as..." I got a big kick out of those! They really think the world of you!

Yes, that's Mrs. Frawley in the background donning some true Cinco de Mayo attire!

For the record, that was the first time I ever let kindergartners use permanent markers... and they did great! 

On Friday, we had a fantastic art project- it was our last Meet the Masters art project, and we studied the artist Remington. What a great project to finish the year! I am not going to spoil the surprise, but here is the art-in-progress. You will see these come home next week- they are definitely a keeper!

Some of our kiddos are future Broadway stars already! While I didn't get the chance to see the whole production, our girls who participated in the St Jude Drama Production had the chance to act/sing one of their songs in front of the class. Check them out!

To finish off our week last week, here is a picture of one of our directed drawing activities. The kiddos listened to a story about trucks, so we had to learn how to draw a truck! Check them out!

Now onto this last week!

This week was all about the Blessed Virgin Mary. We began the week by learning about the May Crowning, and we drew pictures of Mary after we traced a sentence about the May Crowning.

Speaking of May Crowning, we were very proud of one of our kiddos for being the special helper to the 8th grader who got to crown Mary! The Procession was beautiful, prayerful, and filled with good spirits. Here is a photo of our Kiddo and the special 8th grader, and a glimpse into May Procession:

They look like they planned what they were going to wear 
together! How pretty!

Centers was a lot of fun this week. I love this age- the kiddos actually enjoy having assessments, which was one of the centers (or so they say). Very different from the way the older children react! Here are some photos from this week's centers. THANK YOU to our moms who could help out- you ROCK!
 

Playing Sight Word "Tower of Power"- a classroom favorite!

Some reading, listening comprehension, and writing assessments

"Spin-a-sight-word"game

"What's the missing short vowel?" game

Reading and going on a sight word hunt!

And, we ended our week in a fun way- our last official Kinder Club! The theme was summer, and boy did it make me feel like summer is here! It helped that the temperature outside was close to 100, but inside we were nice and cool. Here are some of the fun activities (and snacks). Thank you SO MUCH wonderful mom's!!!

These adorable pudding/graham cracker cups by Caitlyn's mommy

and a delicious summery fruit basket!

A fun past-time summer activity- building a fort! This one is FULL of kinder kiddos beneath those sheets!

Some fishing...

  We also had the chance to build shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks, play limbo, listen to some summer stories, and build our own kites! We hope they are hanging in a window somewhere in your homes! 

Well, that's it for me! 

Our share topic will be things that begin with the first letter of your LAST name!

Please continue memorizing your addresses and practicing how to tie your shoes!

Field Trip permission slips for our walk to the firestation are due on TUESDAY, but our trip will be on THURSDAY the 22nd.

If you entered the lottery, we will choose the chaperones' names out of a hat on MONDAY and you will be notified via email.

Have a wonderful weekend, and take care!

A big recap and a lot of important info!

Hi everyone! It has been great seeing everyone since our much-needed Easter break!  We noticed a few kids with some missing teeth and some who grew a little taller!  I definitely missed the kiddos! We came back to school in full force- yesterday we celebrated our Kindergarten mass!  They did a marvelous job, from the cheerful greeters at the doors, to the loud and clear readers, to the reverend students who brought the banner, gifts, and altar cloth up to the altar. I couldn't have been a prouder teacher!  Unfortunately, I was so busy smiling away at the kiddos that I didn't take too many photos.  I know we will see many photos up on the Shutterfly account, but here are just a few to get you by until then:

Here are some kiddos practicing for the big Mass.

And here they are in action!

Here is one of our wonderful readers, accompanied by her study buddies (for moral support!)

 

Here is our beautiful Mass banner, prepared by one of our wonderful moms!

I can't wait to see the other photos that some of you have taken! Feel free to email me a few, especially of our group photos (please!)

So, prior to our awesome Mass, we had a fun week leading up to our Easter Break.  During centers, we had some fun Easter-themed learning activities.  Here are some photos from those centers:

At this center, the students would crack open an egg, read the sight word on the paper inside the egg, then either copy it down three times or use it in a sentence.

This was a similar center, but inside each of these eggs was a set of letter tiles. The students had to arrange the tiles in the correct order to spell a real word, then write that word down.

Sometimes we need to squeeze in some assessments during centers... gotta love Kindergarten- they actually enjoy our assessments!

At this center, students had to cut and paste words into the correct order to form a sentence. Then they draw a picture about the sentence.

Besides participating in centers, some kiddos participated in our annual Student Council Peeps Easter Diorama contest.  Here is one student with her adorable rendition of "The Addams Family" using Peeps!

The kids also enjoyed another directed-draw activity.  Directed-draw activities help kindergartners become great direction-followers, increases their fine motor skills, as well as their sense of spatial reasoning.

We also had time to practice our sight words in Mr. Colvin's computer class.  The kiddos had to read the sight words on the computer (correlated to our own list of sight words, of course!), then they had to type the sight words in the box below each sight word.  The kiddos have really come a long way with their typing skills. Most of them have become very comfortable with knowing where most of the letters are on the keyboard.  Then, the early finishers changed the color and font of the words they typed! 

Now, onto our Easter Kinder Club!  A HUGE thank you to the parents who helped prepare for this very successful Kinder Club, particularly our rosary project!  It was a little challenging for them, but in a good way!  We had plenty of parents (and aunts!) on board to help them string their beads correctly.  What a great project! 

They seemed to really enjoy making these beautiful rosaries! Did we mention the cross glows in the dark?!?! 

They also made some beautiful crosses of their own using egg cartons and decorations. Great idea!

Kinder Club wouldn't be complete without some Kinder Yoga!  The kids really get into their Yoga poses!

They also participated in an Easter Egg hunt, but unfortunately I didn't snap any photos of that fun activity.  Finally, here are some kiddos playing a little Easter Bingo!

Now that gets us caught up to this week!  Besides spending a lot of time preparing for our Mass, we also had a special treat on Thursday when one of our Kinder Kiddos got to be Mrs. Frawley's assistant for the day. This was something his parents purchased at the school Auction. Next week, another student will get to be my special assistant for the day! 

Sitting all day at Mrs. Frawley's desk definitely attracts some attention!

Leading the class in our morning prayers...

Well, that's going to be it for the picture portion of our blog this week!  

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've got LOTS to do this month, much of which is preparing for our...graduation (among other things)!  Yikes! Can it be? Can it only be a little over a month away??? Didn't I just get these little kiddos??? I had to choke back tears at our Mass, so I can only imagine what I'm going to be like at our graduation! But, before we get to that milestone, we've got some other important events coming up! 

• This Tuesday- after school- another book fair at Barnes and Noble! Please come support our school and purchase a few books! I'll be reading a story at 3:40! This is a big fundraiser for our school, especially for our library!
• This Friday our Drama Club will be performing "Teen Beach Musical" in the hall at 7pm! A few kinder kiddos will be performing, so come support them!
• Friday, May 16th, we have another wonderful Kinder Club! If you haven't joined us for Kinder Club yet, this is one of your last chances!
• Thursday, May 22nd, we have a special field trip to the Fire Station!  More information will go home soon, including entering your name into our chaperone "lottery"... five lucky parents will be joining us on this walk across the street! 
• Friday, May 23rd, please join us for a special Catholic School tradition, The May Crowning! It is a St. Jude tradition to pick one lucky Kindergarten girl to assist in crowning Mary- we will pull a name out of a hat to choose this lucky girl sometime this week!
• Friday, May 30th, is another great St. Jude tradition- Olympic Day! We will all meet at Triunfo Park (not at school), and we will participate in a morning of various olympic-like activities with the whole school! You don't want to miss this great day (and it's a half day!)
• That same Friday, join us at the annual 8th Grade Lip Sync in the Hall at 7pm.  Rumor has it that the teachers may be doing their own little performance at the beginning of the show... = )
• Sometime in the first week of June, our Kindergartners will have their annual "Ice Cream Sundae" party!  They have to earn the parts of their ice cream sundae by saying their prayers correctly, tying their shoes, telling us their phone number and address, along with telling us their birthdate (including the year).  Please spend this month making sure they are ready for all of the parts of their sundae! 
• Not that this is in May, but don't forget to plan for our Graduation on Tuesday, June 10th at 10am! 

Ok, I'm exhausted just typing all of the events for May! 

One last note- share this week will be things that include the letter Z ANYWHERE in the word!  Can you believe we have finally reached the last letter in the alphabet??? Some kiddos have been asking what we will learn next- just tell them not to worry... Ms. Hudson always has something new for them to learn! 

Have a beautiful weekend, and take care!

Another wonderful week in Kinderland!

Happy weekend everyone! We had another busy week in the wonderful world of Kindergarten!  There's never a dull moment! This week we participated in some great centers, learned about Palm Sunday and the Stations of the Cross, and ended our week with a great Academic Pep Rally!   Here are some photos from our great week:

 Here are our Palm Leaves, complete with the word Hosanna!  Palm Sunday is one of the holiest days of the Church year, marking the day that Jesus came to town to celebrate Passover with his family and disciples.  I remember enjoying this particular Sunday a lot as a child since I received my own palm leaf to place in my room. Of course, I had to try and fold it into the shape of a cross as I sat nicely in Church, but that's beside the point!  Palm Sunday is the beginning of a very holy week, including Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and, of course, ending with the holiest day of the year, Easter Sunday!  

During Computer class this week, we celebrated the other great part of Easter, the Easter bunny!  We've mentioned that the Easter Bunny enjoys leaving Easter eggs for the children that had a particularly good Lent, especially those children that really tried their best to follow their Lenten promises (what they gave up at the beginning of Lent).  

We had a chance to hang out with our Study Buddies TWICE this week! First during our normal Study Buddy Wednesday, then later during Families! Here is a quick snapshot of us hanging out with our favorite 5th graders:

 

 We've been working hard this week on becoming extremely familiar with our number words.  The kindergartners are now able to recognize and read their number words, one through five, with little or no adult help!  Here are some kiddos participating in a little number activity with our magnetic white boards:

Here is a kiddo showing us the correct answer for one of our number worksheets on the white board.

  

Here are some kiddos working on a number-word addition power point that I created- the class worked on their whiteboards as I called volunteers to the big whiteboard!

Mrs. Schulte stopped by for a little visit yesterday. We impressed her with the amount of sight words we could read with no hesitation!  We practice these sight words practically every single day on a powerpoint presentation, so most of our kiddos feel very confident about recognizing and reading their sight words by now.  They should feel very proud! They are on their way to having a solid reading foundation in First Grade!
 While we're on the topic of a strong reading foundation, speaking as the former 1st Grade teacher of our school, I can tell you that about 95% of our kindergartners leave kindergarten with a good reading foundation.  They can decode (sound out) two, three, and four letter words with confidence.  They know their consonant sounds and vowel sounds, and they can spell confidently with "kinder" spelling (spelling that makes sense but may not be the way the dictionary spells it).  We practice sounding out every day, and I get to observe these skills in centers and during a weekly spelling assignment on Friday's.  Here is a student practicing their sounding out and sentence writing skills in a center:

 
Here is a student practicing their reading skills during centers:

She may look frustrated, but she wasn't! She's a great reader! She was just trying keeping her hair out of her way = )

 Here is a group of students working on their reading skills:

Here are some students looking through their Listening Center story after listening to it one time:

 

We had time during one center to practice reading our number words and placing them with a group of pictures that had the corresponding number of items:

One center was titled, "Word Hunt".  The class was given a graph with some sight words they were "hunting" for in some books.  Every time they found one of the sight words, they either colored in a square on the graph, or they could print the word in the square for some printing practice!

We had a blast prepping our bags with candy for our School Families project! Every year the school makes beautiful Easter baskets for less-fortunate families in our community. Kindergarten is in charge of donating candy for the baskets.  Here we are in our "conga line" filling our bags with candy:

We are currently learning about the water cycle and evaporation in our Science class.  Here is our current Science experiment: will water evaporate faster in an open container or a closed container?  Time will tell!

Here is one of our students explaining the water cycle to the class after a fun art project involving the water cycle:

 
We ended our wonderful week with an Academic Pep Rally (or, as some students mistakenly said, Pepper Rally!) 

Well, that's it for now!  We are not studying a new letter next week- we will be reviewing vowels and learning a little about consonant blends.  

The share topic this week will be anything that begins with a vowel (but not the "sometimes" vowel y)

Kinder Club is happening this Wednesday! 

We are looking for some volunteers to help in Centers on Tuesday afternoon...

Please check your Parent Envelopes for the schedule for this week. Remember, there is noon dismissal on Thursday, and there will not be any daycare available that day. Then it will be time for our Easter Break!

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!