Hard to believe we've started the third week of Advent already and have gotten to our pink candle on our advent wreath! The students add a paper 'flame' to their individual wreaths that they made at the beginning of advent that are hanging on their lockers. We're all anxiously waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus!
Here's what we'll be doing in school this week:
Language Arts:
Last week we started with our first word family! How exciting!!! We will continue to work with the -at word family this week. We will also learn a new sight word: 'to'. Our Alphafriend this week is Vinny Volcano and we'll learn all about the consonant Vv! Now that we've started word families we've begun to talk about our 'helper letters', the vowels. Use the words 'consonants' and 'vowels' when talking with your child at home about different letters.
Our story will be "My Dad and I" and will focus on the friendship we find in our families. We've been talking about friendship last week and will continue it through this week and next in all of our stories. We've also discussed character, setting and plot/problem in stories and are continuing to do so when we read new stories. Predicting is also something important to do to help understand and inquire about what's happening in the story. Encourage your child to predict what may happen next while you read stories at home.
Math:
We're continuing with our numerals and number words! Keep practicing these at home! We'll continue to work with numerals 0-9 this week and with the number words 0-9! Have them practice writing their numerals and number words at home...remember to remind them to start from the top when forming numbers and letters!
Religion:
We'll focus on the story of Jesus' birth and on learning about the Holy Family. We'll compare the Holy Family with our family and become more familiar with this important bible story. Later in the week we'll be making finger puppets for this story. At home, encourage your child to retell the story of the birth of Jesus at home!
December 13th is also a special day this week...it is the feast day of St. Lucia. We will be partnering up with the 2nd Grade to make special St. Lucia crowns and traditional biscuits as we celebrate and learn about this very special lady. (She is also the patron saint of vision, she holds a special place in my heart for my gift of sight!)
Centers:
We will be having Centers on Monday and Wednesday. Lisa (Hannah's mom) is scheduled for Monday, but I still have an opening for Wednesday afternoon. Let me know if you're interested!
Other Partner Activities this week:
On Thursday we'll partner up with the 4th Grade and decorate gift bags for the Christmas Store!
That's all for now!!! Have a very wonderful and blessed week!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Break as much as I did! It was so nice to spend time with family and friends!
Here's what we'll be working on this week:
Language Arts: We'll revisit some of the stories that we've been reading in this past section all about families. We'll focus on characters, setting, noting details, compare and contrast, evaluating and classifying. We'll also learn about our new alphafriend: Nyle Noodle! Please be sure to look for him and his song on the newsletter going home this week!
Math: We'll be working with numbers and counting and making graphs this week! We'll start to learn some of the number words, so keep practicing them at home!
Religion: We have started the season of Advent! It is the beginning of a new church year. We'll learn about preparing ourselves for Jesus' birth, to be celebrated on Christmas Day! We'll also be learning about prayer. There are so many different ways to pray and things to pray about. Our focus will be on prayer as 'talking' to God. It is important for the children to understand that God hears them and will listen to them whenever and wherever they are!
Science: We'll be starting to learn about our senses! We'll do an activity where we sort out and organize a variety of items, and then we will graph them into which senses we could use to identify them and we'll identify the properties of each object. We'll also talk about how our senses help us.
Social Studies: We'll be learning about a different culture; that of the Eskimos. We will hear a story about the eskimos and how they live and compare/contrast on how it is different from where we live. We'll also try our hand at building some sugar cube igloos!
Centers: Monday & Wednesday:
Center One: The children will make wreaths using green paint hands and red thumbprints. They will each make 2...one to take home and one that we will be sending to the Senior Center in town.
Center Two: Shiny Ornaments! We will use light corn syrup to 'paint' over ornaments cut from tag board. After they are dry we will secure a ribbon on each and they will be sent home to be hung on your tree!
That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!
~Mrs. Westlund
Here's what we'll be working on this week:
Language Arts: We'll revisit some of the stories that we've been reading in this past section all about families. We'll focus on characters, setting, noting details, compare and contrast, evaluating and classifying. We'll also learn about our new alphafriend: Nyle Noodle! Please be sure to look for him and his song on the newsletter going home this week!
Math: We'll be working with numbers and counting and making graphs this week! We'll start to learn some of the number words, so keep practicing them at home!
Religion: We have started the season of Advent! It is the beginning of a new church year. We'll learn about preparing ourselves for Jesus' birth, to be celebrated on Christmas Day! We'll also be learning about prayer. There are so many different ways to pray and things to pray about. Our focus will be on prayer as 'talking' to God. It is important for the children to understand that God hears them and will listen to them whenever and wherever they are!
Science: We'll be starting to learn about our senses! We'll do an activity where we sort out and organize a variety of items, and then we will graph them into which senses we could use to identify them and we'll identify the properties of each object. We'll also talk about how our senses help us.
Social Studies: We'll be learning about a different culture; that of the Eskimos. We will hear a story about the eskimos and how they live and compare/contrast on how it is different from where we live. We'll also try our hand at building some sugar cube igloos!
Centers: Monday & Wednesday:
Center One: The children will make wreaths using green paint hands and red thumbprints. They will each make 2...one to take home and one that we will be sending to the Senior Center in town.
Center Two: Shiny Ornaments! We will use light corn syrup to 'paint' over ornaments cut from tag board. After they are dry we will secure a ribbon on each and they will be sent home to be hung on your tree!
That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!
~Mrs. Westlund
Sunday, November 13, 2011
November 14th-18th
Hello! What a gorgeous weekend! Ben and I were able to join some neighbor friends down at the Mason park on Saturday for some fun...we sure aren't going to have many more days as nice as that one! Looking ahead, it's hard to believe that Parent Teacher Conferences are this week already, Opening Gun Hunting Season starts this weekend and Thanksgiving is next week!
Here's what we've got planned for the week ahead:
Language Arts:
We are continuing to focus on families. We will read 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', 'Shoes from Grandpa' and 'Baby Bear's Family'. Our new alphafriend is Benny Bear and we'll be focusing on the letter Bb! Try to ask your child to come up with words that start with the 'b' sound! We'll also continue to practice our sight words: I, see & my. We'll also add to that list of sight words this week with the new word: like. We'll be writing in our journals at school during small group time and practicing these new words with the sentence "I like my..." I'll help them with filling in the blank. I often do this by writing the word that they've dictated to me on a little post it note, and they just copy it onto the page to complete the sentence and then add an illustration.
Religion:
We're starting a new chapter on prayer. We will learn about talking to God and learn about how prayer can be recited with the prayers we memorize, but it can also be just simply talking to God. We'll also talk about how God can hear our prayers always.
Math:
We're continuing with counting! We're practicing counting to 100 at school...practice this (and higher if you can!) at home too! We're also learning about numbers that show more and less.
Science:
We'll have a special treat this week...Brad Gingras (Bradan's dad) will come in on Tuesday afternoon to show us his various animal skins and preserved animals and talk about Hibernation, Migration and animals that 'tough it out' during the winter.
Social Studies:
We'll be continuing to learn about life way back when the first Thanksgiving happened. We've read stories about the Pilgrims coming to the Americas and how the Native Americans helped them to live off the land. We celebrate the different gifts that God has given us and how we can all share them with each other. We'll read a simple story called 'Pilgrim, Pilgrim'. There are some of our sight words in this story, so we will be identifying them, as well as trying to sound out some of the tougher words as we read together. Your child will be bringing this home on Thursday...be sure to read it through with them, they are so excited to be able to read new words every day!
Centers:
No Centers on Monday because of the Early Release Day.
Centers on Wednesday will be with Mary Jo Gingras and I. Together we will be helping the children to make Native American Headbands. Also, earlier in the week I will be making Pilgrim hats with each of the children in small groups. The children will be able to choose which hat they'd like to wear down to the All School Thanksgiving Luncheon!
Parent Teacher Conferences!!!
Thursday ~ After school!! Please let me know as soon as you can if you're not able to make it that night. I will do my best to accomodate you and find a time that works for both of us to get together!
Here's what we've got planned for the week ahead:
Language Arts:
We are continuing to focus on families. We will read 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', 'Shoes from Grandpa' and 'Baby Bear's Family'. Our new alphafriend is Benny Bear and we'll be focusing on the letter Bb! Try to ask your child to come up with words that start with the 'b' sound! We'll also continue to practice our sight words: I, see & my. We'll also add to that list of sight words this week with the new word: like. We'll be writing in our journals at school during small group time and practicing these new words with the sentence "I like my..." I'll help them with filling in the blank. I often do this by writing the word that they've dictated to me on a little post it note, and they just copy it onto the page to complete the sentence and then add an illustration.
Religion:
We're starting a new chapter on prayer. We will learn about talking to God and learn about how prayer can be recited with the prayers we memorize, but it can also be just simply talking to God. We'll also talk about how God can hear our prayers always.
Math:
We're continuing with counting! We're practicing counting to 100 at school...practice this (and higher if you can!) at home too! We're also learning about numbers that show more and less.
Science:
We'll have a special treat this week...Brad Gingras (Bradan's dad) will come in on Tuesday afternoon to show us his various animal skins and preserved animals and talk about Hibernation, Migration and animals that 'tough it out' during the winter.
Social Studies:
We'll be continuing to learn about life way back when the first Thanksgiving happened. We've read stories about the Pilgrims coming to the Americas and how the Native Americans helped them to live off the land. We celebrate the different gifts that God has given us and how we can all share them with each other. We'll read a simple story called 'Pilgrim, Pilgrim'. There are some of our sight words in this story, so we will be identifying them, as well as trying to sound out some of the tougher words as we read together. Your child will be bringing this home on Thursday...be sure to read it through with them, they are so excited to be able to read new words every day!
Centers:
No Centers on Monday because of the Early Release Day.
Centers on Wednesday will be with Mary Jo Gingras and I. Together we will be helping the children to make Native American Headbands. Also, earlier in the week I will be making Pilgrim hats with each of the children in small groups. The children will be able to choose which hat they'd like to wear down to the All School Thanksgiving Luncheon!
Parent Teacher Conferences!!!
Thursday ~ After school!! Please let me know as soon as you can if you're not able to make it that night. I will do my best to accomodate you and find a time that works for both of us to get together!
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7th-11th
Hello!
We're having a great time in Kindergarten and the children are learning so much! They are such good readers and helpers throughout the day! They are very proud of their ability to read some of the stories, calendar words, etc!
Last week we ended our Reading theme on Colors. We are now into the theme of Families! Last week we also finished up our Patterns and Movement section of Math. We're moving right along and doing well!
This week:
Reading ~ We will introduce a new theme and a new Alphafriend: Tiggy Tiger! We are learning lots of new words. So far we've focused on I & see; this week we will add 'my'. Not only are the children excited about reading these words, but also incorporating them into their writing. In writing, we're also working on letter sounds and trying to 'sound out' words to figure out how they are spelled. If a child uses inventive spelling to figure out a word, at this level...it's FINE! =) 'Sound spelling' is completely appropriate for the Kindergarten age level. For instance, if a child spells 'city' with 'sity', they have used the knowledge that they know that the first sound in 'city' can be produced by the letter s. Later, as they get older, they will work on remembering the 'correct' way of spelling the word. If a child asks me if they spelled that word ('sity' or others with sound spelling) correctly, I simply tell them 'I like the way you sounded out the word!' I never want to hinder a child's desire to write, so I hesitate to correct them with their inventive spelling.
All sight words, however, should be spelling correctly...in their writing I will correct them on the sight words simply by calling their attention to it and having them write it over correctly. We have a wonderful word wall in our classroom, and the students know that they are free to go up and use it at any time during their writing. It is color coded, so if a child asks me "How do I spell 'see'" I can easily tell them, "It's under the letter 'S', it's the train track that is red." All of the letters are on train cars, so the words below them are on different colored train tracks.
Math ~ We are on to Counting and Matching. One to one counting can be challenging for a child, so this Chapter is very important. At times children may count too fast or miss a number. This Chapter will focus on the one to one counting; on which number shows 'more' or 'less'; and on rote counting (1,2,3,4...). We've been adding a number to our line every day that we've been in school and have been practicing counting to 100! The children do a great job and are excited for the 100th day of school, which will come sometime in February! =)
Religion ~ We're working on learning about God as our Father in Heaven. The children have enjoyed talking about special people in their lives. We learn about God's love for us through the many gifts that He gives us. The special people in our lives are one of those gifts...and our families are very special people! (This ties in SUPER with our Reading Chapter!)
Science ~ We continue to learn about living things. This week we'll learn about Sea Otters with our National Geographic Young Explorers. Our interactive whiteboard is not quite ready yet, so we'll travel to the 1st Grade room to view the interactive lesson there.
Social Studies ~ We're learning about life 'way back when' in Colonial Times and how it compares to life now. If the children have a chance, visiting with Grandma or Grandpa or another older person and asking about what life was like for them would be a great activity to tie into this!
This week we celebrate being Drug Free! All week the children will wear red wrist bands to remind them of this and Mr. Bell will call off names each day...if the names that he calls off are wearing their bands, they get to come to the office for a prize!
Also...Friday, Nov. 9th we will celebrate Veteran's Day. The Veteran's Program will start at 2 PM, please join us if you can!!
That's all for now!
Thanks for stopping by!!!
~Mrs. Westlund
We're having a great time in Kindergarten and the children are learning so much! They are such good readers and helpers throughout the day! They are very proud of their ability to read some of the stories, calendar words, etc!
Last week we ended our Reading theme on Colors. We are now into the theme of Families! Last week we also finished up our Patterns and Movement section of Math. We're moving right along and doing well!
This week:
Reading ~ We will introduce a new theme and a new Alphafriend: Tiggy Tiger! We are learning lots of new words. So far we've focused on I & see; this week we will add 'my'. Not only are the children excited about reading these words, but also incorporating them into their writing. In writing, we're also working on letter sounds and trying to 'sound out' words to figure out how they are spelled. If a child uses inventive spelling to figure out a word, at this level...it's FINE! =) 'Sound spelling' is completely appropriate for the Kindergarten age level. For instance, if a child spells 'city' with 'sity', they have used the knowledge that they know that the first sound in 'city' can be produced by the letter s. Later, as they get older, they will work on remembering the 'correct' way of spelling the word. If a child asks me if they spelled that word ('sity' or others with sound spelling) correctly, I simply tell them 'I like the way you sounded out the word!' I never want to hinder a child's desire to write, so I hesitate to correct them with their inventive spelling.
All sight words, however, should be spelling correctly...in their writing I will correct them on the sight words simply by calling their attention to it and having them write it over correctly. We have a wonderful word wall in our classroom, and the students know that they are free to go up and use it at any time during their writing. It is color coded, so if a child asks me "How do I spell 'see'" I can easily tell them, "It's under the letter 'S', it's the train track that is red." All of the letters are on train cars, so the words below them are on different colored train tracks.
Math ~ We are on to Counting and Matching. One to one counting can be challenging for a child, so this Chapter is very important. At times children may count too fast or miss a number. This Chapter will focus on the one to one counting; on which number shows 'more' or 'less'; and on rote counting (1,2,3,4...). We've been adding a number to our line every day that we've been in school and have been practicing counting to 100! The children do a great job and are excited for the 100th day of school, which will come sometime in February! =)
Religion ~ We're working on learning about God as our Father in Heaven. The children have enjoyed talking about special people in their lives. We learn about God's love for us through the many gifts that He gives us. The special people in our lives are one of those gifts...and our families are very special people! (This ties in SUPER with our Reading Chapter!)
Science ~ We continue to learn about living things. This week we'll learn about Sea Otters with our National Geographic Young Explorers. Our interactive whiteboard is not quite ready yet, so we'll travel to the 1st Grade room to view the interactive lesson there.
Social Studies ~ We're learning about life 'way back when' in Colonial Times and how it compares to life now. If the children have a chance, visiting with Grandma or Grandpa or another older person and asking about what life was like for them would be a great activity to tie into this!
This week we celebrate being Drug Free! All week the children will wear red wrist bands to remind them of this and Mr. Bell will call off names each day...if the names that he calls off are wearing their bands, they get to come to the office for a prize!
Also...Friday, Nov. 9th we will celebrate Veteran's Day. The Veteran's Program will start at 2 PM, please join us if you can!!
That's all for now!
Thanks for stopping by!!!
~Mrs. Westlund
Thursday, October 6, 2011
October is here!
Hi! Hard to believe that September slipped by so quickly! The Kindergarteners are off to a FANTASTIC start of the year!
Last week we studied APPLES!! On Monday we celebrated Johnny Appleseed's Birthday!! Thank you to Becky, Lahaela's mom, for helping us on this day. We celebrated with hearing the story 'The Little Red House With No Windows, No Doors and a Star Inside'...we then made our own colorful star prints with the apples. To finish up we had some cider and apple slices with caramel. The kids loved it! Earlier that day we watched 'Johnny Appleseed' by Disney (an old favorite of mine from my childhood) and learned the song 'The Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord...for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the appleseeds. Oh the Lord is good to me!'
Later that week we traveled north to Bayfield, WI to visit the Bayfield Apple Company. It was an overcast rainy day in Bayfield, but we all piled in the vehicles and went. We were able to tour their facility, watch how they make apple cider and got some fresh apple cider of our own to take home with us. We ended up skipping going to the Coastguard Park in Bayfield because of the weather. We returned home and had a nice picnic lunch on our ocean carpet. We all really did have a fun time that day!
Last week we also received our first letter from our pen pals in Proctor, MN. We will be pen pal-ing with Mrs. Meredith Salus' Kindergarten class at St. Rose Catholic School in Proctor, MN. Mrs. Salus is a good friend of mine and we have both enjoyed this project very much. We did this for the first time last year and it was a HUGE hit. The first couple of letters we send our 'class' letters....the children dictate to me what to write and we make one large letter all together. St. Rose's letter to us is posted in our hallway if you ever want to pop in and take a look. Then, we will break them up into pairs or small groups (she has a slightly larger class than we do). The children, with my help, will write individual letters to their friends at St. Rose. At the very end of the year, we meet each other as both classes come together at the UMD Planetarium for a Space Exploration Field Trip and have lunch together at Playfront Park. I'm so excited to start this again with a new class. I know that they will enjoy it throughout the year!
October 3rd - 7th:
We've been continuing to work on recognizing and writing our letters. We are learning about starting our names with capital letters and writing the rest of our name in lowercase. Also, we've been focusing on reading and writing going from our left to our right.
In Math we have been working on classifying and putting things into groups based on different attributes such as color, shape and other similarities. We are now starting patterns and the children are having a really fun time with this using different items and colors. We'll also be exploring our left and our right, which I'm confident will go well because I notice that when we all stand for the Pledge of Allegience that our right hands are where they should be! =)
I've really enjoyed doing Science with the children. We've just started our new National Geographic for Young Explorers and the kids were eager to look through them. October's issue has three themes...A Tree's Life, Spiders, and Animals that Columbus Saw. The pictures are amazing AND National Geographic has interactive whiteboard lessons to go with their magazines. As of right now, we don't have one in the Kindergarten room (but please help us raise money for this during our Pancake Breakfast on October 16th after Liturgy!)
In Social Studies we've been learning about our families and our friendships. This months core value is Respect, which ties in nicely with our Friendship theme. We'll soon be talking about Christopher Columbus and what life was like a long time ago. A couple of weeks ago now we celebrated Native American Cultures and had a special Liturgy. The Kindergarteners really enjoyed seeing the Native attire that was worn during this Liturgy and we were able to watch a couple of nice videos on some different dances...the jingle dress dance and the hoop dance. We talked about traditions that we have in our own families and traditions that others may have.
In Religion we've been learning about God as our Creator. We've read the story from Genesis about Creation and shared the things that God has given us that we are the most thankful for. We also discussed our many talents and gifts that we have and how we can and should share them with others.
***If you have a special talent or hobby, please let me know. I'd love to have you come in and share during some time throughout the year.
This upcoming week we have TWO days off. Monday, October 10th ~ Teacher Inservice at our school AND Wednesday, October 13th ~ Diocesian Inservice at Rice Lake.
On Tuesday, October 11th, we'll be learning about Christopher Columbus. We'll also get to do an October activity with the 4th graders. We've worked with them before...in September we worked together to make our Apple Core mobiles and both the Kindergarteners and the 4th Graders did a great job and had a wonderful time!
We'll finish off that week (Thursday and Friday, October 14th and 15th) by learning about Fire Safety. Friday, October 15th we'll get a Fire Safety Presentation from our local fire department. The children will get a goody bag of Fire Prevention items to take home. One will be a map for an escape plan for your home...make sure to go over what to do and where to go if there would ever be a fire in your home!
Later this month, we'll be traveling to Don's Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze with the 2nd Graders. This will be on Friday, October 21st. Please watch your child's folder for more info.
The following week we will have a "It's the Great Pumpkin" night with Kindergarten and 2nd Grade. We'll be doing Pumpkin Math, having pumpkin treats and end with some pumpkin carving (with mom and dad's help, of course).
That's all for now!!! Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
Last week we studied APPLES!! On Monday we celebrated Johnny Appleseed's Birthday!! Thank you to Becky, Lahaela's mom, for helping us on this day. We celebrated with hearing the story 'The Little Red House With No Windows, No Doors and a Star Inside'...we then made our own colorful star prints with the apples. To finish up we had some cider and apple slices with caramel. The kids loved it! Earlier that day we watched 'Johnny Appleseed' by Disney (an old favorite of mine from my childhood) and learned the song 'The Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord...for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the appleseeds. Oh the Lord is good to me!'
Later that week we traveled north to Bayfield, WI to visit the Bayfield Apple Company. It was an overcast rainy day in Bayfield, but we all piled in the vehicles and went. We were able to tour their facility, watch how they make apple cider and got some fresh apple cider of our own to take home with us. We ended up skipping going to the Coastguard Park in Bayfield because of the weather. We returned home and had a nice picnic lunch on our ocean carpet. We all really did have a fun time that day!
Last week we also received our first letter from our pen pals in Proctor, MN. We will be pen pal-ing with Mrs. Meredith Salus' Kindergarten class at St. Rose Catholic School in Proctor, MN. Mrs. Salus is a good friend of mine and we have both enjoyed this project very much. We did this for the first time last year and it was a HUGE hit. The first couple of letters we send our 'class' letters....the children dictate to me what to write and we make one large letter all together. St. Rose's letter to us is posted in our hallway if you ever want to pop in and take a look. Then, we will break them up into pairs or small groups (she has a slightly larger class than we do). The children, with my help, will write individual letters to their friends at St. Rose. At the very end of the year, we meet each other as both classes come together at the UMD Planetarium for a Space Exploration Field Trip and have lunch together at Playfront Park. I'm so excited to start this again with a new class. I know that they will enjoy it throughout the year!
October 3rd - 7th:
We've been continuing to work on recognizing and writing our letters. We are learning about starting our names with capital letters and writing the rest of our name in lowercase. Also, we've been focusing on reading and writing going from our left to our right.
In Math we have been working on classifying and putting things into groups based on different attributes such as color, shape and other similarities. We are now starting patterns and the children are having a really fun time with this using different items and colors. We'll also be exploring our left and our right, which I'm confident will go well because I notice that when we all stand for the Pledge of Allegience that our right hands are where they should be! =)
I've really enjoyed doing Science with the children. We've just started our new National Geographic for Young Explorers and the kids were eager to look through them. October's issue has three themes...A Tree's Life, Spiders, and Animals that Columbus Saw. The pictures are amazing AND National Geographic has interactive whiteboard lessons to go with their magazines. As of right now, we don't have one in the Kindergarten room (but please help us raise money for this during our Pancake Breakfast on October 16th after Liturgy!)
In Social Studies we've been learning about our families and our friendships. This months core value is Respect, which ties in nicely with our Friendship theme. We'll soon be talking about Christopher Columbus and what life was like a long time ago. A couple of weeks ago now we celebrated Native American Cultures and had a special Liturgy. The Kindergarteners really enjoyed seeing the Native attire that was worn during this Liturgy and we were able to watch a couple of nice videos on some different dances...the jingle dress dance and the hoop dance. We talked about traditions that we have in our own families and traditions that others may have.
In Religion we've been learning about God as our Creator. We've read the story from Genesis about Creation and shared the things that God has given us that we are the most thankful for. We also discussed our many talents and gifts that we have and how we can and should share them with others.
***If you have a special talent or hobby, please let me know. I'd love to have you come in and share during some time throughout the year.
This upcoming week we have TWO days off. Monday, October 10th ~ Teacher Inservice at our school AND Wednesday, October 13th ~ Diocesian Inservice at Rice Lake.
On Tuesday, October 11th, we'll be learning about Christopher Columbus. We'll also get to do an October activity with the 4th graders. We've worked with them before...in September we worked together to make our Apple Core mobiles and both the Kindergarteners and the 4th Graders did a great job and had a wonderful time!
We'll finish off that week (Thursday and Friday, October 14th and 15th) by learning about Fire Safety. Friday, October 15th we'll get a Fire Safety Presentation from our local fire department. The children will get a goody bag of Fire Prevention items to take home. One will be a map for an escape plan for your home...make sure to go over what to do and where to go if there would ever be a fire in your home!
Later this month, we'll be traveling to Don's Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze with the 2nd Graders. This will be on Friday, October 21st. Please watch your child's folder for more info.
The following week we will have a "It's the Great Pumpkin" night with Kindergarten and 2nd Grade. We'll be doing Pumpkin Math, having pumpkin treats and end with some pumpkin carving (with mom and dad's help, of course).
That's all for now!!! Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Off to a great start!
It's hard to believe that we're halfway through September already! The students are doing wonderful!! I am truly blessed with another fabulous class this year! Thank you parents for choosing to send your children to our wonderful school!
During the first few weeks of school we have been busy learning about the routines of our school day. We've really acclimated well to our morning routine, beginning with Mr. Bell leading us all in prayer and the reading of the gospel message and then leading us in the Pledge of Allegience. After this is finished, we have our 'lunch tally' helper make tallies as I go through and check who is having hot, cold or a salad for lunch. Great math skills! Our 'office helpers' then take any notes, attendance and lunch count to the office. The 'milk helpers' take the count down to our cook, Ms. Sherry, and she fills their bag with the milk that we'll need for snack later in the morning.
After that is finished, we all head to the carpet area to do calendar and weather. We have helpers for both. Our job board is located next to our calendar and this year it's a Dalmation themed one entitled "Job Squad". The children have all enjoyed rotating through different jobs throughout the weeks.
We have started Show-N-Tell; we have 2 children do this each day. We do this right after calendar/weather time.
We then get into Reading. I love starting this time with a fun song or a poem. One of the children's favorite right now is 'Hip Hop Alphabop' by Jack Hartmann. I picked up this CD last year when I attended the Wisconsin Kindergarten Conference that was held near Madison.
We'll then get into our lesson, listening and reading a story and discussing the focus that we need to have while we read. Last week we focused on using the pictures to help read the story. This week we are focusing on noting details and discovering characters.
After Reading, we go to use the bathroom and wash up for snacks. Thank you for all the wonderful snacks that you've brought! I send home a 'OLL Kindergarten Snack Bag' with each child the night before it's their turn for snack...this seems to be working wonderfully!
After Snack we have a special...depending on the day we may have Computers or Gym class. Wednesdays are a bit different...due to Liturgy, we go to Liturgy at 9 AM, THEN we have Snack.
When the children return from their specials class of that day we do Math! They've been breezing through our Sorting and Classifying Chapter...we'll be into a new chapter next week! The children really enjoyed when we sorted by colors, as I treated them to M&Ms and had them sort them into color groups before they could eat them. Today we learned about Venn Diagrams and sorted by color AND shape. They all did wonderfully on this activity and enjoyed my use of hoola hoops to show the different sections. They also enjoyed fishing into the bucket during their turn to find a shape and tell which section it belonged to.
After Math, the children break up into small groups. I have Small Groups each day. Each day the children are broken up into 5 groups and rotate to do each activity throughout the week. This is wonderful because it really allows me time to work with one group closely each day to improve their reading skills. The group that I work with usually does some Guided Reading. It really gives me a great opportunity to work on each child's individual needs.
At 11:00 Mrs. Levings comes to our room and I go to her room to teach the 1st Graders Religion. The Kindergarteners go with Mrs. Levings as she takes them to use the bathroom and wash up to get ready for Lunch. The Kindergartners eat lunch at 11:15. I return to them down in the lunch room at 11:30, after Religion with 1st Grade is done and I've brought them down for their lunch time.
We eat lunch together and then go out for Recess around Noon. Recess is done at 12:30, and they come in and use the bathroom, get a drink and get ready for Rest Time. Rest Time is usually 20-30 minutes and I play some nice calming, quiet music. I let the children know that they don't HAVE to go to sleep, but they can if they want to, and I'll wake them when rest is done.
After Rest, we have Kindergarten Religion. We've really enjoyed talking about Creation and God's love for us. We've discussed all of the wonderful gifts that God has given to us and how we need to be thankful for them EVERY DAY! Along with Religion class, the Kindergarten go to Liturgy (Mass) on Wednesday mornings. Our Mass Buddies are the 5th graders. I must say that I am very impressed with how well the children are doing. Sitting still for Mass for 30-40 mintues can be hard for them! It's been so helpful that the 5th graders have been there to be good examples and help us know when to sit, stand and pay attention. We're all excited to buddy up on Friday to walk to Kreher Park with the 5th graders and get to know our Mass Buddies more and look for signs of God's creation (for religion), signs of Autumn (for science) and things that are Living and Nonliving (also for science).
After Religion, on Mondays and Wednesdays, we have Music; on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have Science or Social Studies. In Science we've been having lots of fun looking through our National Geographic for Young Explorers. This month we've learned about the weather, names of different animals groups and about living and nonliving things. In Social Studies we been talking about ourselves, our families and about the symbol of our flag for our country and saying the Pledge of Allegience.
At the very end of the day, the children then have Free Time. During this time they may choose to play with the blocks, cars, games, puzzles, dramatic play area, art area, paints, stamps and more! I love observing the children during this time...it's a great time to see how they interact with each other. It's also a great time for them to learn some problem solving skills and communication skills. It allows them the chance to practice what we talk about when we talk about using our words instead of hurting; compromising and getting along with others. And that's just the social/emotional aspect of playtime...they learn so much more with each different station or set of manipulatives.
When Free Time is done, we sing our little 'Clean Up' song and go back to our seats. I pass out their folders and notebooks and have the children go to their mailboxes and get their mail. Before they leave, I stamp each of their notebooks with either a green (for a good day), yellow (for an okay day) or red (for a 'not so good' day).
If you ever have any questions about school or about our day...please let me know! I can be reached at school during regular school hours at 715-682-7622 or by email at awestlund@ourladycs.org.
Please remember to get our Walking Field Trip permission slips in for this Friday and our Bayfield Apple Company Field Trip permission slips in by next week for Thursday's trip! We're still looking for drivers, so please let me know if you can! Thanks!!!
Have a blessed week!! I'm certainly enjoying the cooler temps and the Fall colors starting to emerge!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
During the first few weeks of school we have been busy learning about the routines of our school day. We've really acclimated well to our morning routine, beginning with Mr. Bell leading us all in prayer and the reading of the gospel message and then leading us in the Pledge of Allegience. After this is finished, we have our 'lunch tally' helper make tallies as I go through and check who is having hot, cold or a salad for lunch. Great math skills! Our 'office helpers' then take any notes, attendance and lunch count to the office. The 'milk helpers' take the count down to our cook, Ms. Sherry, and she fills their bag with the milk that we'll need for snack later in the morning.
After that is finished, we all head to the carpet area to do calendar and weather. We have helpers for both. Our job board is located next to our calendar and this year it's a Dalmation themed one entitled "Job Squad". The children have all enjoyed rotating through different jobs throughout the weeks.
We have started Show-N-Tell; we have 2 children do this each day. We do this right after calendar/weather time.
We then get into Reading. I love starting this time with a fun song or a poem. One of the children's favorite right now is 'Hip Hop Alphabop' by Jack Hartmann. I picked up this CD last year when I attended the Wisconsin Kindergarten Conference that was held near Madison.
We'll then get into our lesson, listening and reading a story and discussing the focus that we need to have while we read. Last week we focused on using the pictures to help read the story. This week we are focusing on noting details and discovering characters.
After Reading, we go to use the bathroom and wash up for snacks. Thank you for all the wonderful snacks that you've brought! I send home a 'OLL Kindergarten Snack Bag' with each child the night before it's their turn for snack...this seems to be working wonderfully!
After Snack we have a special...depending on the day we may have Computers or Gym class. Wednesdays are a bit different...due to Liturgy, we go to Liturgy at 9 AM, THEN we have Snack.
When the children return from their specials class of that day we do Math! They've been breezing through our Sorting and Classifying Chapter...we'll be into a new chapter next week! The children really enjoyed when we sorted by colors, as I treated them to M&Ms and had them sort them into color groups before they could eat them. Today we learned about Venn Diagrams and sorted by color AND shape. They all did wonderfully on this activity and enjoyed my use of hoola hoops to show the different sections. They also enjoyed fishing into the bucket during their turn to find a shape and tell which section it belonged to.
After Math, the children break up into small groups. I have Small Groups each day. Each day the children are broken up into 5 groups and rotate to do each activity throughout the week. This is wonderful because it really allows me time to work with one group closely each day to improve their reading skills. The group that I work with usually does some Guided Reading. It really gives me a great opportunity to work on each child's individual needs.
At 11:00 Mrs. Levings comes to our room and I go to her room to teach the 1st Graders Religion. The Kindergarteners go with Mrs. Levings as she takes them to use the bathroom and wash up to get ready for Lunch. The Kindergartners eat lunch at 11:15. I return to them down in the lunch room at 11:30, after Religion with 1st Grade is done and I've brought them down for their lunch time.
We eat lunch together and then go out for Recess around Noon. Recess is done at 12:30, and they come in and use the bathroom, get a drink and get ready for Rest Time. Rest Time is usually 20-30 minutes and I play some nice calming, quiet music. I let the children know that they don't HAVE to go to sleep, but they can if they want to, and I'll wake them when rest is done.
After Rest, we have Kindergarten Religion. We've really enjoyed talking about Creation and God's love for us. We've discussed all of the wonderful gifts that God has given to us and how we need to be thankful for them EVERY DAY! Along with Religion class, the Kindergarten go to Liturgy (Mass) on Wednesday mornings. Our Mass Buddies are the 5th graders. I must say that I am very impressed with how well the children are doing. Sitting still for Mass for 30-40 mintues can be hard for them! It's been so helpful that the 5th graders have been there to be good examples and help us know when to sit, stand and pay attention. We're all excited to buddy up on Friday to walk to Kreher Park with the 5th graders and get to know our Mass Buddies more and look for signs of God's creation (for religion), signs of Autumn (for science) and things that are Living and Nonliving (also for science).
After Religion, on Mondays and Wednesdays, we have Music; on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have Science or Social Studies. In Science we've been having lots of fun looking through our National Geographic for Young Explorers. This month we've learned about the weather, names of different animals groups and about living and nonliving things. In Social Studies we been talking about ourselves, our families and about the symbol of our flag for our country and saying the Pledge of Allegience.
At the very end of the day, the children then have Free Time. During this time they may choose to play with the blocks, cars, games, puzzles, dramatic play area, art area, paints, stamps and more! I love observing the children during this time...it's a great time to see how they interact with each other. It's also a great time for them to learn some problem solving skills and communication skills. It allows them the chance to practice what we talk about when we talk about using our words instead of hurting; compromising and getting along with others. And that's just the social/emotional aspect of playtime...they learn so much more with each different station or set of manipulatives.
When Free Time is done, we sing our little 'Clean Up' song and go back to our seats. I pass out their folders and notebooks and have the children go to their mailboxes and get their mail. Before they leave, I stamp each of their notebooks with either a green (for a good day), yellow (for an okay day) or red (for a 'not so good' day).
If you ever have any questions about school or about our day...please let me know! I can be reached at school during regular school hours at 715-682-7622 or by email at awestlund@ourladycs.org.
Please remember to get our Walking Field Trip permission slips in for this Friday and our Bayfield Apple Company Field Trip permission slips in by next week for Thursday's trip! We're still looking for drivers, so please let me know if you can! Thanks!!!
Have a blessed week!! I'm certainly enjoying the cooler temps and the Fall colors starting to emerge!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
Monday, June 27, 2011
Summer is here!
What a wonderful year we had! I'm so proud of all of the Kindergartners!! At the end of this year we had an awesome time meeting up with our pen pals from St. Rose Catholic School in Proctor, MN. We went to the planetarium in Duluth and then had lunch together at Playfront Park. It was a very windy and cool day, but the kids had a great time.
Blessings to all over the summer! Have fun, stay safe!! I can't wait to see everyone again in the fall! =)
~Mrs. Westlund
Blessings to all over the summer! Have fun, stay safe!! I can't wait to see everyone again in the fall! =)
~Mrs. Westlund
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