Dear Families,
Thank you for the generous gifts and surprises this week. I loved the homemade Christmas tree poster with all of the kids’ names and their decorations! Hopefully you were able to see the final product too (hung on the door)! Thank you also for the cards and kind wishes. I appreciate all the support and generosity!
This week was filled with many busy activities. We spent much of the time finishing our holiday presents for you! These presents are a combination of writing, art, social studies, and computer skills. We also learned how to make pop-up cards for you! We hope you like our gift and will be able to use it next year!
We also had several special events this week such as a fire drill on Monday, making snowflakes with our buddies on Tuesday, watching the Upper Grade Musical on Wednesday, and we had music with Ms. Disney on Thursday! Mrs. Kang (Woojin’s mother) even brought her violin during music class and accompanied us while we sang and danced to “Jingle Bells!” Thank you!
Today was our Polar Express Day! The classroom was set-up like a train when the kids arrived in the morning. They sat down in the train just like the children in the book (who are also wearing their pajamas!). I read them the Polar Express story and each child received a silver bell just like in the story. The children on the Polar Express also drank hot chocolate, so we did as well! We also did a kindness activity where we delivered hot chocolate to all the teachers and staff around the school. One of the most important concepts for me during the holiday season is for students to understand “giving”. So often, kids are self-centered and focused on receiving gifts and wanting more. I hope that we can teach kids that giving and helping others is so much more rewarding then getting something. Afterwards, we watched the movie version of Polar Express!
I hope your family has a wonderful holiday vacation. I plan on staying local the first week to hang out with my family and my husband’s family (they all live in the area). We are spending Christmas at my sister’s house in Santa Clara. During the second week, my husband and I plan on going to Tahoe to snowboard a few days. This is my favorite time of the year and I just know it’s going to fly by! I will see you all when we return on Monday, January 4th. For those of you who are traveling, I hope you have safe travels! Happy 2010!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
December 11, 2009
Upcoming Dates
* Friday, December 18th: ALL KINDERS COME FROM 9:00AM to 12:20PM.
We will be having a Polar Express Day! Please come to school in your pajamas (with a jacket of course) and bring your favorite stuffed animal to school. We will pretend to be the children on the Polar Express Train and we will even get to eat cookies and have hot chocolate!
NOTE: If you are a Friday sharer, please bring your sharing the day before, on Thursday, December 17th to present.
* Monday, December 21st to Friday, January 1st: NO SCHOOL – Winter Vacation
Have a wonderful two week vacation!
* Monday, January 4th: School Resumes
Happy New Year!
-----
Dear Families,
It has been really really cold lately. Make sure to send your children in warm jackets and remember to label everything! We have a few items in the classroom that have no names and have not been claimed. I remind the children to wear their jackets on our way out to recess and lunch, but even then it is still cold! Stay warm! Also, some students are still unable to open their own snacks. Please put their snacks in something they can open themselves, such as a ziplock bag for crackers or cookies. Thank you!
Once you are on the Eaton campus, it would be nice to keep consistent rules with the regular day. Please help to keep your child accountable before and after school. One example is that we always walk on the blacktop. Please do not let your child run through the hallways or run to get into line in the morning, or run around after school. We have to use walking feet, except on the grass. Another example is to patiently wait in line for our turn. Please have your child line up in the morning in order of arrival. Please do not let them cut in line, and also help to remind them that it’s ok to be first or last. Finally, we remember to respect others. Make sure your child is keeping their hands and feet to themselves, and also using nice words to talk about others. Keeping these consistent rules inside and outside of school will help your child remember to follow Eaton rules.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Kumiko
• Language Arts: This week we started reading some Gingerbread Man stories. There are a lot of variations of the story, but we read the Gingerbread Man, Gingerbread Baby, and Gingerbread Friends. During our Friday centers, we made our own gingerbread men using white paint and brown paper. We also made a mini book about eating different body parts of the gingerbread man!
• Social Studies: We are continuing our 3-week Social Studies project on the holidays, seasons, and months. Also, almost all of us have some sight words memorized such as the, month, for, and is! It is really important that at this time of the year, the children begin mastered their handwriting of little and big letters.
• Writing: In our journals this week, we wrote a sentence about what we think of when we hear “December.” We illustrated our pictures and checked our handwriting. We are trying to get into the habit of using capitals, spaces, and periods! It is still hard for some students to remember to check their work!
• Math: This week we practiced counting using ordinal numbers, such as first, second, third, etc. We learned that we use ordinal numbers when we say the date, and when we interview our Star of the Week! We practiced counting different objects that were in order. We also talked about graphs, and answered questions using the words more, less, or favorite. A new concept we talked about is odd and even numbers. We learned that odd numbers are the ones that “don’t have a friend,” whereas even numbers get all paired up and all have friends!
• Art: Ms. Abada came to our classroom on Tuesday and told us a Shape story. We used different shaped sponges and different color paints to stamp a picture of our choice. Students used their creativity to stamp flowers, trees, trains, and other pictures! You will see these pictures in today’s Folder.
• Computer Lab: This week we learned a new software program called Kidspiration. This program is usually used for brainstorming ideas in older grades. For our lesson, we chose pictures to match the different months of the year. We had to think about different special days throughout the year and make sure our pictures fit the season or month. This lesson will continue next week.
• Library: Thank you for returning your library books and homework folders each Friday. Our class has been great about checking out new books each week! I still have to remind some children that library is for reading books and not for playing or interacting with friends!
Our classroom is decorated with different holiday projects! If you haven’t already, you can see photos of our December decorations in the “Photos” section of our website! Also in the “Photos” section, I added my dance group’s latest performance called “Life.” My dance group is called Eight Count, and we performed this routine at the last Sunday Service. This is just a fun celebratory piece and we were excited to actually have audience participation! Enjoy!
I can’t believe it is already the last week of school for 2009. I don’t know how time is flying by so quickly! Next week will be really busy for the kids as we will be finishing up our major projects. Your child will be bringing home the homework envelope with a new library book and journal, but next week there will be NO homework packet. Please return the envelope on Friday as usual.
Have a wonderful weekend and stay dry!
* Friday, December 18th: ALL KINDERS COME FROM 9:00AM to 12:20PM.
We will be having a Polar Express Day! Please come to school in your pajamas (with a jacket of course) and bring your favorite stuffed animal to school. We will pretend to be the children on the Polar Express Train and we will even get to eat cookies and have hot chocolate!
NOTE: If you are a Friday sharer, please bring your sharing the day before, on Thursday, December 17th to present.
* Monday, December 21st to Friday, January 1st: NO SCHOOL – Winter Vacation
Have a wonderful two week vacation!
* Monday, January 4th: School Resumes
Happy New Year!
-----
Dear Families,
It has been really really cold lately. Make sure to send your children in warm jackets and remember to label everything! We have a few items in the classroom that have no names and have not been claimed. I remind the children to wear their jackets on our way out to recess and lunch, but even then it is still cold! Stay warm! Also, some students are still unable to open their own snacks. Please put their snacks in something they can open themselves, such as a ziplock bag for crackers or cookies. Thank you!
Once you are on the Eaton campus, it would be nice to keep consistent rules with the regular day. Please help to keep your child accountable before and after school. One example is that we always walk on the blacktop. Please do not let your child run through the hallways or run to get into line in the morning, or run around after school. We have to use walking feet, except on the grass. Another example is to patiently wait in line for our turn. Please have your child line up in the morning in order of arrival. Please do not let them cut in line, and also help to remind them that it’s ok to be first or last. Finally, we remember to respect others. Make sure your child is keeping their hands and feet to themselves, and also using nice words to talk about others. Keeping these consistent rules inside and outside of school will help your child remember to follow Eaton rules.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Kumiko
• Language Arts: This week we started reading some Gingerbread Man stories. There are a lot of variations of the story, but we read the Gingerbread Man, Gingerbread Baby, and Gingerbread Friends. During our Friday centers, we made our own gingerbread men using white paint and brown paper. We also made a mini book about eating different body parts of the gingerbread man!
• Social Studies: We are continuing our 3-week Social Studies project on the holidays, seasons, and months. Also, almost all of us have some sight words memorized such as the, month, for, and is! It is really important that at this time of the year, the children begin mastered their handwriting of little and big letters.
• Writing: In our journals this week, we wrote a sentence about what we think of when we hear “December.” We illustrated our pictures and checked our handwriting. We are trying to get into the habit of using capitals, spaces, and periods! It is still hard for some students to remember to check their work!
• Math: This week we practiced counting using ordinal numbers, such as first, second, third, etc. We learned that we use ordinal numbers when we say the date, and when we interview our Star of the Week! We practiced counting different objects that were in order. We also talked about graphs, and answered questions using the words more, less, or favorite. A new concept we talked about is odd and even numbers. We learned that odd numbers are the ones that “don’t have a friend,” whereas even numbers get all paired up and all have friends!
• Art: Ms. Abada came to our classroom on Tuesday and told us a Shape story. We used different shaped sponges and different color paints to stamp a picture of our choice. Students used their creativity to stamp flowers, trees, trains, and other pictures! You will see these pictures in today’s Folder.
• Computer Lab: This week we learned a new software program called Kidspiration. This program is usually used for brainstorming ideas in older grades. For our lesson, we chose pictures to match the different months of the year. We had to think about different special days throughout the year and make sure our pictures fit the season or month. This lesson will continue next week.
• Library: Thank you for returning your library books and homework folders each Friday. Our class has been great about checking out new books each week! I still have to remind some children that library is for reading books and not for playing or interacting with friends!
Our classroom is decorated with different holiday projects! If you haven’t already, you can see photos of our December decorations in the “Photos” section of our website! Also in the “Photos” section, I added my dance group’s latest performance called “Life.” My dance group is called Eight Count, and we performed this routine at the last Sunday Service. This is just a fun celebratory piece and we were excited to actually have audience participation! Enjoy!
I can’t believe it is already the last week of school for 2009. I don’t know how time is flying by so quickly! Next week will be really busy for the kids as we will be finishing up our major projects. Your child will be bringing home the homework envelope with a new library book and journal, but next week there will be NO homework packet. Please return the envelope on Friday as usual.
Have a wonderful weekend and stay dry!
Friday, December 04, 2009
December 4, 2009
Upcoming Dates
* Friday, December 18th: ALL KINDERS COME FROM 9:00AM to 12:20PM.
We will be having a Polar Express Day! Please come to school in your pajamas (with a jacket of course) and bring your favorite stuffed animal to school. We will pretend to be the children on the Polar Express Train and we will even get to eat cookies and have hot chocolate!
NOTE: If you are a Friday sharer, please bring your sharing the day before, on Thursday, December 17th to present.
* Monday, December 21st to Friday, January 1st: NO SCHOOL – Winter Vacation
Have a wonderful two week vacation!
* Monday, January 4th: School Resumes
Happy New Year!
-----
Dear Families,
I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately, my father went to the emergency room early Thanksgiving morning for stomach pains, and ended up staying at the hospital for 3 days. The good news is they couldn’t find any cancer or tumor causing the blockage in his stomach, and he was able to go home Saturday night. However, he has to remain on a liquid or soft food diet for a while, and has more outpatient treatments to receive. Although it was not a happy weekend for our family, we are thankful that he is free of any serious diagnosis.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Language Arts: During the next 3 weeks, we will not be doing our regular language arts activities such as letter of the week or literacy centers. Instead, we are working on our reading and writing through a social studies project. We are learning about the months of the year and special days that occur each month. We are writing a sentence that describes something about each month, and we are making crafts to match our writing. We are remembering to use capitals, spaces, and periods in our sentences.
• Writing: In addition to our social studies project, we read some stories about Santa this week. We wrote a letter to Santa and tried to tell him three reasons why we have been good this year. Then we wrote what our wish was. These letters are always very adorable, and you can read them on our website under “Classwork!”
• Math: This week we continued reviewing our numbers and worked on 8, 9, and 10. We are practicing to identify 10 quickly by using a ten-frame. We are also continuing to write math sentences using the plus and equals sign. Another vocabulary word we use often is “in all.” One area that is difficult for students is to answer “How many more?” in word problems using illustrations. An example is (and I would read this orally): 10 players are needed to play a game. Right now there are only 3 players. How many more players do they need? We practiced this type of word problem this week.
• Social Studies: In addition to our months and special days project, we are learning about holidays around the world. This week we learned a Hanukkah poem and also made a menorah which is the object that holds all the candles. Also, we learned about another holiday called Kwanzaa and made a unity cup that is used to show unity within family members.
• Assembly: We had an assembly today by Kirk Waller who is a storyteller of African American folktales. This was a good opportunity to hear oral storytelling from a culture different than ours.
• Computer Lab: We illustrated a poem this week called, “First Day of Winter.” We learned that December 21st is the first day of winter, and we drew a picture that shows what a snow scene would look like from inside our homes. They drew snow, icicles, and snowflakes!
• Library: We had a discussion this week about picking a book that is right for us. I am encouraging students to look at the amount of words on each page, and make sure that it is an appropriate amount for mom or dad to read. We don’t want to pick books with all words and very little pictures. I understand that sometimes the library book your child chooses is too long or difficult, and it is definitely ok to use another book for the homework journals if necessary. Remember that these library books are primarily for you to read aloud to your child. If you want a book that is at their reading level, you may have to go to the public library and pick books that are simpler to read.
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney last week for our make up class, as well as yesterday during our normal schedule. Last week, we learned songs about turkeys and also played a movement game using skipping. We played a game to the tune of “Skip to My Lou.” This week we started to learn holiday songs. We used bells and sticks to sing and follow the beat to the song, “Jingle Bells.” Some of us even danced during the song!
• Art: We finished our handprint wreaths this week by adding a red bow and “berries.” We used our fingerprints and a red stamp to make the berries. Also, we made a Santa face with a curly beard to illustrate our Dear Santa letters.
• Star of the Week: Matthew C. was our Star last week over Thanksgiving, and this week it will be Colleen! You can still go to “Classwork” to read about the Stars, but now I also added a link under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week” for you to read about our stars!
Your child is bringing home the turkey feather your family made. Thank you for spending time to decorate the feathers. I was amazed at all the creative ideas and material that was used and our class turkey was truly special! Thank you also for those of you who brought band-aids for our class!
Please remember to follow the traffic rules at Eaton school. There was an accident after school on Wednesday afternoon by Suisun and Blaney. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, however, it could have been very bad. Always use the sidewalk and look before crossing the street. Please keep your child close to you and do not let them run into the parking lot or street! Thank you for keeping everyone at Eaton safe!
* Friday, December 18th: ALL KINDERS COME FROM 9:00AM to 12:20PM.
We will be having a Polar Express Day! Please come to school in your pajamas (with a jacket of course) and bring your favorite stuffed animal to school. We will pretend to be the children on the Polar Express Train and we will even get to eat cookies and have hot chocolate!
NOTE: If you are a Friday sharer, please bring your sharing the day before, on Thursday, December 17th to present.
* Monday, December 21st to Friday, January 1st: NO SCHOOL – Winter Vacation
Have a wonderful two week vacation!
* Monday, January 4th: School Resumes
Happy New Year!
-----
Dear Families,
I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately, my father went to the emergency room early Thanksgiving morning for stomach pains, and ended up staying at the hospital for 3 days. The good news is they couldn’t find any cancer or tumor causing the blockage in his stomach, and he was able to go home Saturday night. However, he has to remain on a liquid or soft food diet for a while, and has more outpatient treatments to receive. Although it was not a happy weekend for our family, we are thankful that he is free of any serious diagnosis.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Language Arts: During the next 3 weeks, we will not be doing our regular language arts activities such as letter of the week or literacy centers. Instead, we are working on our reading and writing through a social studies project. We are learning about the months of the year and special days that occur each month. We are writing a sentence that describes something about each month, and we are making crafts to match our writing. We are remembering to use capitals, spaces, and periods in our sentences.
• Writing: In addition to our social studies project, we read some stories about Santa this week. We wrote a letter to Santa and tried to tell him three reasons why we have been good this year. Then we wrote what our wish was. These letters are always very adorable, and you can read them on our website under “Classwork!”
• Math: This week we continued reviewing our numbers and worked on 8, 9, and 10. We are practicing to identify 10 quickly by using a ten-frame. We are also continuing to write math sentences using the plus and equals sign. Another vocabulary word we use often is “in all.” One area that is difficult for students is to answer “How many more?” in word problems using illustrations. An example is (and I would read this orally): 10 players are needed to play a game. Right now there are only 3 players. How many more players do they need? We practiced this type of word problem this week.
• Social Studies: In addition to our months and special days project, we are learning about holidays around the world. This week we learned a Hanukkah poem and also made a menorah which is the object that holds all the candles. Also, we learned about another holiday called Kwanzaa and made a unity cup that is used to show unity within family members.
• Assembly: We had an assembly today by Kirk Waller who is a storyteller of African American folktales. This was a good opportunity to hear oral storytelling from a culture different than ours.
• Computer Lab: We illustrated a poem this week called, “First Day of Winter.” We learned that December 21st is the first day of winter, and we drew a picture that shows what a snow scene would look like from inside our homes. They drew snow, icicles, and snowflakes!
• Library: We had a discussion this week about picking a book that is right for us. I am encouraging students to look at the amount of words on each page, and make sure that it is an appropriate amount for mom or dad to read. We don’t want to pick books with all words and very little pictures. I understand that sometimes the library book your child chooses is too long or difficult, and it is definitely ok to use another book for the homework journals if necessary. Remember that these library books are primarily for you to read aloud to your child. If you want a book that is at their reading level, you may have to go to the public library and pick books that are simpler to read.
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney last week for our make up class, as well as yesterday during our normal schedule. Last week, we learned songs about turkeys and also played a movement game using skipping. We played a game to the tune of “Skip to My Lou.” This week we started to learn holiday songs. We used bells and sticks to sing and follow the beat to the song, “Jingle Bells.” Some of us even danced during the song!
• Art: We finished our handprint wreaths this week by adding a red bow and “berries.” We used our fingerprints and a red stamp to make the berries. Also, we made a Santa face with a curly beard to illustrate our Dear Santa letters.
• Star of the Week: Matthew C. was our Star last week over Thanksgiving, and this week it will be Colleen! You can still go to “Classwork” to read about the Stars, but now I also added a link under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week” for you to read about our stars!
Your child is bringing home the turkey feather your family made. Thank you for spending time to decorate the feathers. I was amazed at all the creative ideas and material that was used and our class turkey was truly special! Thank you also for those of you who brought band-aids for our class!
Please remember to follow the traffic rules at Eaton school. There was an accident after school on Wednesday afternoon by Suisun and Blaney. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, however, it could have been very bad. Always use the sidewalk and look before crossing the street. Please keep your child close to you and do not let them run into the parking lot or street! Thank you for keeping everyone at Eaton safe!
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