Apple Centers!

Dear Parents,

The kids had so much fun at our Apple Centers this week!  They got to peel apples and use them to make homemade applesauce.  Almost everyone loved the taste!  They visited the taste test center and chose their favorite apple (red, yellow, green).  They read a poem and made an apple core craft.  They played a game to collect more apples than worms.  They counted apples on the smart board, too!  Thank you to our parents for coming in and helping with these fun centers.  Thank you to all for donating items and thank you to our Room Mom, Mrs. Davis, for organizing this memorable event!

First Week Pics!

Dear Parents,

Kindergarten has gotten off to a good start this year!  The kids have been working on getting to know each other as well as the rules and routines of classroom life.  I have received back all permission forms for kids to be photographed so here is our first look at what goes on in Room 107!!! 

While looking at the photos to get them ready for this post, I noticed that my first day photos with the frame did not come out as good as I wanted…I blame it on ipad user error!  I didn’t realize I wasn’t getting the whole frame in the shot or that my backdrop did not “drop” down far enough to hide the smartboard!  Because I am me, I will redo those pics so they will be as cute as can be!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Ready Confetti

Dear Students,

Tomorrow is the first day of school!!!  I hope you are just as excited as I am! I have my ready confetti sprinkled under my pillow to help me sleep and hopefully, keep the nervous jitters away! 

Dear Parents,

My goals for tomorrow are to make your little ones feel safe and loved and to make sure everyone gets home safely.  I will be sure to take plenty of pictures throughout our first day and week and get them posted to my blog ASAP!

Sincerely,

Welcome to Kemp!

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome to Kindergarten at Kemp Elementary School!!!  I am thrilled to begin this educational journey with you and your child.  This year will be full of new experiences and friendships.  It always amazes me how much academic and social growth occurs during this formative year!

This blog is one way I will communicate school news throughout the year.  If you would like to receive an email when the blog is updated, please subscribe in the sidebar.  

I am looking forward to meeting you all at Meet and Greet this Thursday, July 31^st.  Please feel free to bring your school supplies at that time. 

Below is a list of important dates to take note of:

My supply list is a little different from the one posted on the school website.  

Changes:

- no vis a vis markers

- no small glue bottle

- one more pack of pencils (we ran out last year)

- one pack of color pencils

- only one Primary Ruled Composition notebook 

- one plain Composition notebook

- ziploc baggies can be sandwich or quart

- one more roll of Scotch 3M brand masking tape 2 in. (ran out last year)

I will provide each child a pencil box to keep the following items:  crayons, markers, color pencils, scissors, glue stick, pencils, eraser

If you would like to write your child's name on certain supplies to ensure they get the ones you purchased, please do.

More information will be shared Thursday and again at Open House. Looking forward to an awesome year!!!

Week 21 100th Day of School

Dear Parents,

The kids really enjoyed celebrating the 100th Day of School!  I cannot believe how fast this year is moving! Thank you for donating items for this fun event! 

Sincerely,

Week 20 MLK

Dear Parents,

Here are some pictures from our week learning about Martin Luther King, Jr.  Sorry for the delay in posting.  My poor old camera finally gave out halfway through the year. :(

Sincerely,

Week 18 and 19 - Matter

Dear Parents,
The kids had so much fun these last two weeks learning about the properties of matter.  We visited hands-on centers to experience liquids and solids.  We thawed orange juice concentrate to make orange juice and then froze it to make popsicles!  We even watched our ice snowman melt and then heated him up to make water vapor.  It was a blast to see the kids get excited about learning!!!
Sincerely,

Week 17 - Christmas Centers

Dear Parents,

Well, I apologize for moving so slow after the holidays!  I think I was a bear in a former life (maybe that would explain my need to hibernate until spring)!!!

Looking back through the pictures made me smile.  The kids had so much fun visiting the centers and being with each other!  Thank  you to everyone for sending in items and for all the parents and grandparents who were able to come and help run centers.

Can you believe we are coming up on the 100th Day of School next week???

Sincerely,

Week 16 - Day and Night and Cookie Sale

Hi Parents,

What a busy and fun week in Kindergarten!  We learned about Day and Night and made some hands-on crafts to go along with our factual writing!  For Math, we practiced graphing and sorting items like shoes and Fruit Loops!  We measured items with marshmallows, too!  Thursday, we had a blast making cookie dough with the help of Kyle's dad and our teacher and paras!  Our room felt just like a real kitchen!

Friday was our Cookie Sale and what fun we had watching all the delicious donations being purchased by our wonderful Kemp family!  Thank you to all of you for taking the time to bake cookies and wrap them for the sale!  We earned $165.15 to give to the Caring Coins collection!  

Thank you again for doing so much to make learning fun.

Sincerely,

Week 15 - Thanksgiving Centers

Dear Parents,

The kids had a blast today at Thanksgiving Centers!  Wow!  Who knew making butter was so much fun!  

First, I want to thank all our our wonderful parents for donating items for this event!  We had enough muffins, biscuits, and corn bread (thank you Nadiya's mom for going to get extras:), whipping cream, apple juice, containers and paper goods to serve all of the kids (some even twice).  Oh my stars, it was really fun!  

Thank you to Kyle's mom, our Room Mom, for coordinating all the supplies and for coming in and helping!  Thank you to Eli's mom, Haliegh's mom, and Gabriella's mom for volunteering to run the tables today!  They worked tirelessly to make sure no biscuit went unbuttered!  

Sincerely,

Reminders for Nov. 18-22 and Play Practice Pictures

Dear Parents,

We have a busy week ahead of us!  Luckily, we have a week off after that! 

Yay for Thanksgiving! 

Wednesday we have Thanksgiving Centers beginning at 8:15 with a tour of the other Kindergarten classrooms.  Our room will be making butter from cream.  We will try the butter on muffins and biscuits.  We’ll wash it down with apple juice.  Please feel free to stop in and see how it goes! 

Friday we have our Thanksgiving Play.  It starts at 8:30 am sharp so if you want to get a good seat, get here early!  Due to the number of people who rsvpd (400+) we will have to set up the lunch tables and line the sides of the room with chairs.  Mrs. Mascheri will give time at the end to go up and get a close up picture of the kids and we will take pictures back in the room as well.

The children have their play part and we have costumes here at school.  If you want to embellish your child's attire that day you can braid your child's hair if she is an Indian woman for example. If you want to send in your young pilgrim man or minister in a white shirt and pants, that would be okay, too.  I will send home play parts tomorrow in the folders just in case your child is not sure.

Our classes are split up (I have all the pilgrim men come to my room, Mrs. Wade has all the ministers come to hers etc.) so we won't be standing together on the stage.  Please see the pictures below to see where your child will be placed on the stage so you can choose your seat accordingly.

If you have any questions, let me know and I look forward to seeing you all at  the Play!

Sincerely,

Week 14 - What is Thanksgiving?

Dear Parents,

This week we got a visit from Captain Black and his buddy!  They shared what it was like to be a veteran.  We learned some important facts about their jobs and even got to try on a real vest and get in a real Humvee!  How cool!
Monday, the kids shared their patriotism projects.  They were awesome!  We so enjoyed seeing the great things that the kids brought in to share.  

We had a visits from WellStar on Poison Patrol (back in October...think I forgot to post the pics!) and learned what is safe and what is not!  It's always best to check with mom and dad when in doubt!  
Hope you all have a good week!

Week 13 - Bald Eagle, Statue of Liberty, Veterans Day

Dear Parents,

This week we spent time learning about some of our country's symbols.  We read a book called The Impossible Patriotism Project.  It was a really great story and it inspired us to create our own projects.  We shared them Friday and Monday of this week!  The kids did a great job.  Thank you for working with them on this at-home project.  It was a great way to show respect for our country and the men and women who proudly serve!  

Sincerely,

Week 12 - Fall Centers

Dear Parents,

The kids had so much fun visiting the neighboring Kindergarten classrooms to enjoy  Fall Centers.  They got to play pumpkin-themed centers in Ms. Evans' room.  In Mrs. Stanton's room they had fun making spider crafts.  In Mrs. Wade's room, they made all sorts of bat crafts and had fruit kabobs!  Yum!  In our classroom the kids played scarecrow games and won prizes for participating!  Thank you to all parents who were able to come and help out with the activities!  

Sincerely,

Week Eleven - Gravity

r

Dear Parents,

This week we learned about gravity.  What comes up must come down!!!  We watched a BrainPopJr. video and read a book about gravity.  We participated in some hands-on activities such as block tower building and airplane flying contests.  We used straws to blow cotton balls across the finish line and raced our cars down wooden block ramps.  We loved the cup catapults but these will need tweaking next year as they kept falling apart!  
Thank you to all parents for coming in for the Fall Conference.  It was a pleasure to share good news with you regarding your child! Thank you, too, for our delicious lunches all week!  What a wonderful and generous treat!  

Enjoy your week!

Motion - Week Ten

Dear Parents,

Students enjoyed learning about motion and force and push and pull this week.  We also got to visit our in-school field trip with Nana Nature. She taught us about force, of course!  We then got to hear a presentation from WellStar on healthy food choices.  Our instructor gave us a wonderful placemat to help us remember to eat healthy!  Finally, we got to participate in Jump Rope for Heart.  What a busy week we had!

Sincerely,

Christopher Columbus - Weeks Nine and Ten

Dear Parents,

Students had two great short weeks learning about Columbus and his attempt to discover the new world.  We made our own boat mini books about Columbus as well as a necklace to help us retell the story.  We met with our book buddies and they helped us complete a needs and wants page on the things Columbus and his men took on their voyage.  We enjoyed some fun in the sun at recess (our favorite part of the day!!) and we also worked in our book boxes.

Sincerely,

Fall Parent Teacher Conferences

Dear Parents,

It’s that time of year!  Please click on the icon below to sign up for a fall conference to discuss your child’s progress.  

(link removed)

This link will be available until Oct. 8^th.    If you need to make changes after that, please send in a note or email to let me know.

Sincerely,