It is December and this is the first post of the year!

I am finally getting my blog up and running this year!  It has been crazy trying to get everything settled and up and running this year!  I have added some links to the right side of my blog!  I added some of the blogs that I follow and get ideas from.  I also added a link page for Kindergarteners.  These are a few of my favorite links for the kids to use at home!  I was just sent a link from a fellow teacher in Oklahoma for science experiments you can do at home!  Here is the link, make sure to check it out!  http://www.gourmetgiftbaskets.com/Kitchen-Scientists-Home-Experiments.asp

Thank you Mr. Covington and Amanda for sharing the link!  What a great addition to my links! :)

I hope to keep posting things that are happening in my classroom!  I am also working on uploading pictures from this fall!  Be on the lookout for those! :)

Happy Summer!

I hope that you are having a great summer and are enjoying the hot and humid days!

Paper, Paper Everywhere!

The kids have become so interested in making their own books, that I am running out of "extra" paper!  Anything that isn't on my desk, is fair game to them!  They love to staple them together and create stories!  I have refilled my stapler numerous times!  I will also need to go and scavange for more paper for the kids to use!  They have reminded me several times on Friday as all their paper is gone! YIKES!  Hopefully they are sharing their books and writings at home with you! :)

WOW! They are becoming readers!

Wow, they are becoming readers!  The kids are doing so great with their reading, learning sight words, concepts of print, etc....  They are making huge gains and love to meet with me during small group time!  They don't even want to take their books home. They want to leave them at school to reread!  Needless to say they were not happy with my on Friday, when I made them clean out their mailboxes!  They just had too many in there!  Some couldn't even shut their drawers they were so full!  I am so glad they are embracing learning how to read!  This is why I am so proud of this class! :)

The Kids Made Me Very Proud!

I just wanted to share the kids made me very proud on Friday!  They tried pulling April Fool's Pranks on me(yes they got me with the spider one!) :)  Their behavior was excellent and they got along so well!  They helped make it a better day than what it started out to be!  On Friday, the staff at Halverson found out their placements for next year!  It was a very tear filled day as we were trying to support each other!  The kids did a great job and even helped to make me smile!  I will miss Halverson and the kids that are there!  I will be moving to Lakeview next year to teach Kindergarten! 

After School Program

Today is the last day for the Kindergarten After School program!  I will miss working with the kindergarteners on Tuesdays and Thursdays!  I know they will miss spending time with their friends from the other classes, having Megan come for 4-H, reading Junie B. Jones, singing crazy songs, and learning lots!  They have made great progress and worked really hard!  They will do a great job in 1st grade! :)

Reading Books

Your child has been bringing home their guided reading books!  These are for you to keep at home and for your child to use as practice!  They are making such great gains with their sight words, sounds and visual cues, it is awesome to watch them read their new story!  They are always excited to get a new story every day!  They also feel very proud when they can read it to friends and others that come to visit the classroom.  Hopefully your child is showing this enthusiasm at home when they are reading to others and to you! :)   Thank you for supporting your child in their reading this year!  I really appreciate it! :)

Winter, Winter Go Away!

Even though it is almost April, there is still snow on the playground!  Please send your child with appropriate clothing until further notice!  That includes snowpants, boots, hat, mittens, warm coat!  When we go out to recess it is still in the 30's!  It is chilly for them!  They also still seem to find the snow, mud and water! :)  I will let you and your child know when winter gear is not needed any more! :)

The Leprechaun!

I am sure that you have heard by now that a little green leprechaun visited our room for St. Patrick's Day!  The kids were very excited and on the lookout all day long for the Leprechaun!  He visited our room twice that day!  He had a lot of fun and made huge messes!!!  In honor of this special day, we also graphed Lucky Charms marshmallows.  The kids worked on sorting, counting and graphing their marshmallows!  Of course they got to eat them when we were all done!  :)

Ms. Schoneman's tongue was a tongue twister!

We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday on Wednesday, March 2.  We read many Dr. Seuss books!  I had some kids bring in their favorite Dr. Seuss books and I read them!  I also had some Dr. Seuss books!  Boy some of those books get going with the rhyming words and it is hard for my tongue to keep up!  The kids were laughing and having a great time! :)  Some even went to library and checked out Dr. Seuss library books to take home!  Hopefully your tongue isn't as tied in knots as mine was! :)

Rhyming-we will get it?

We have been working hard on rhyming words!  This concept seems to be a struggle this year.  I have been working on it in small group and during whole group.  The kids think that rhyming words need to start with the same letter.  We are working on listening to the ending of the word to see if it sounds the same.  Please help at home with rhyming words!  We are starting to get it, it is just taking its time this year!

We are counting maniacs!

We have been working very hard on our counting skills!  The skills we are working on are counting by 1's to 120, 10's to 100, 5's to 100 and 2's to 30.  We have just started counting by 2's at the beginning of February and most are catching on!  I have four friends that are at 100 already!  WOW!  Once your child has reached their Kindergarten goal, I will have them move on to work on the 1st grade goal.  The first grade goal is counting by 10's to 100, 5's to 120 and 2's to 50.  Hopefully we will keep working on it and your child will be ready for 1st grade math! :)

Spring Concert!

We have a date set for our spring conference!  April 19th in the afternoon will be our time to perform for everyone!  I am not sure of the time, but as soon as I find out I will let you know! :)  The kids are getting excited for this, even though it is over a month away! :)

Report Cards

There has been a lot of testing happening in Kindergarten!  I am working on report cards this weekend and they will be ready to go home on Friday!  They are making huge growth and gains and I can't wait to share it with you!! :)  Your child's report card will be going home on Friday in their folder, so be looking for it.  Please sign the envelope and return with your child to school!

Iktomi Play

This past Thursday, we had the privilege of going to the Marian Ross Theater to see students from Minnesota State University-Mankato perform Iktomi.  Iktomi is based on Native American Dakota stories of a spider-trickster spirit and is a symbol of chaos in the Dakota culture.  Iktomi is known for his outrageous adventures, inventions and his stories provoke laughter and head shaking in Dakota culture because he never learns his lesson.  The performance of Iktomi incorporates live music and audience interaction and is a modern interpretation of familiar Iktomi tales.  The Iktomi tales we saw were Iktomi and the Ducks, Iktomi and the Buzzard, and Iktomi and the Buffalo Skull.  Please ask us which one was our favorite, as well as what it was about!  Check out the pictures of our trip (Thanks Mrs. Rassler)!

We Get To See A Play!!!!!

Halverson Kindergarteners and 1st graders are very lucky this year!  We get to go and see a play put on by the Minnesota State University-Mankato theater students!  The play is titled Iktomi. It is based on Native American themes!  We received a grant to help us afford to send Kindergarten and 1st graders.  Thank you to the Perpich Arts grant and to Halverson SPIRIT for funding this awesome opportunity!!  We will get to go to a real theater to watch the play.  On March 3rd, we will be going to the Marian Ross Theater to watch the play.  We will be back in time for lunch although Kindergarten will be eating a little later that day.  Please be watching for a permission slip to come home in your child's folder!  Send it back to school ASAP!  We want everyone to be able to attend! :)

Reader's Theater

Reader's Theater came back to put on another story for us!  The book they acted out was called The Three Little Javelinas. The kids were so excited!  They love to see them come for a visit!  They sat so quietly and talked about the play all afternoon.  They can't wait for them to come back again!

Playground Reminders

Please remember to send your child's snow gear everyday!  Even though it was very nice this past week, there is still a lot of snow, water and mud on the playground.  Your child needs their boots, snowpants, coat, hat and mittens everyday until further notice.  Our playground stays wet and muddy for a long time, so please keep that in mind!  Thanks for your help!! :)

New Student

We had a new student start this week!  Jonatan comes from Estherville, IA!  So with 3 Johns in the room, we had to do some creative reworking of their names!  We use John, Jonny, and Jonatan!  The kids seem to be doing well with remembering the changes, why can't I?  They love to remind me when I seem to forget! :)

WOW! What a Busy Week!!!!!

What a busy week!  We celebrated Valentine's Day and 100th Day of Kindergarten!  Lots of excitement and learning happened this week!  We did a lot of counting to 100 by 1's, 5's and 10's.  The kids have been counting down the days to get to day 100.  I don't think they knew what to expect!  Some thought they were done with Kindergarten and were moving on to 1st Grade! :)  We worked on counting objects up to 100.  Some of the kids brought in 100 items from home!  We had everything from popcorn kernels, cheetohs, cereal pieces, pennies, and someone even drew 100 butterflies!  What an exciting day!  It was a crazy week for me to get back to work after being gone for a few days.  I found it was a lot harder for me than it was for the kids!  The kids did well with Mrs. Hanssen (she was the sub) and that makes me proud!! :)  Hopefully this week will settle down a little bit!

100th Day of School!

We will be celebrating the 100th Day of School on February 15th!  The kids have been getting excited about the 100th day.  They cheered when we hit the 90 day mark as they knew we were close to 100 days!  We will be busy doing different things that relate to the number 100! 

Please have your child bring in 100 different items for February 15th.  Make sure it is things they can carry easily! :)  Ideas are different cereal, toy cars, popcorn, pennies, a picture with 100 objects drawn on it.  The options are endless! :)

Valentine's Day

We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Monday, February 14th.  We will be decorating bags as a whole class this week.  You can start to bring in your Valentine's this week.  Your child will be putting them in their friend's bags!  We will be reading them on Monday, February 14th! :)

Conferences!

Thank you to those that have shown up for your conferences!  I was excited to meet with all of you and show you the progress your child has made!  Please keep doing all of the wonderful things you are doing at home to help your child!

AIMSweb Testing

We finished our Aimsweb testing!  The kids did AWESOME!  They made some really good gains!  I can't wait to share with you at conferences!

Conference Time is Here!

There will be parent teacher conferences this week!  I hope to see you at your scheduled time!  I can't wait to show you the progress your child is making!  I am very proud of all the hard work they have been doing, I think you will be surprised also!! :) 

Aimsweb Testing

Our class will be taking the district Aimsweb test on Wednesday, January 12.  Please help your child be prepared for the test by having them eat a good breakfast, going to be early to get enough sleep and encouraging them to do their best! 

I am so excited to see their progress on this test!  They have been working hard in the classroom!