Ingredients are ready!
First, we add the stone!
Next, we add potatoes...
then, onions...
then, carrots...
then, meat...
then, celery...
then, corn...
then, tomatoes...
TIME TO EAT!!
Our finished 'Stone Soup'!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Stone Soup pictures!
then, onions...then, carrots...then, meat...then, celery...then, corn...then, tomatoes...
Sunday, January 6, 2013
January 7th-12th, 2013
Hello! Looking forward to starting this next full week of school. The children and I had a great last week as we both got back into the swing of things with routines of school. It was nice that it was a short week, I could tell some of the children were getting tired by Friday. The three day week really helped to ease them back into school.
This week's activities and happenings in the Kindergarten room...
Language Arts:
We are about to start one of my FaVoRiTe weeks!! We start this week off with the story of "Stone Soup". So, the children will each be bringing something to add to our own stone soup. I will bring the stone, meat and barley; the children will bring in other vegetables. We will read through the story once, then I have the children help me act it out and they get the be the townspeople and add the various items to our pot. I was certainly reminding them all to bring in their items for Monday and that we'd have 'soup that is fit for a king!' (a line from the story) and most of them looked at me like I was crazy! I will be certain to take lots of pictures and load them on to the blog later this week, maybe even tomorrow afternoon if I get a chance.
We'll also be working with our 'at' word family. We'll continue to sound out words and do more and more fabulous reading! We'll review our sight words and I hope that they are all able to do a little of this at home too! We worked on making our '2nd sight word mat' last Friday; they will go home on Monday. We play a little flashcard game together (the kids and I) and if they get the word right, they get the card...I they get it wrong, I get the card! I heard mumblings on Friday "We're gonna get her now...we'll get all the cards this time!" intersperced with giggles. Music to my ears!
Math:
We will wrap up our section on numbers and move on to geometric shapes! We will be reviewing various 2D shapes that most of the children are pretty familiar with, but then move on to exploring 3D shapes! The children always enjoy exploring with shapes and finding them hidden in our world around us!
Religion:
We will talk about the Epiphany, which was the official end of our Christmas season, that happened this past Sunday. We will talk more about the three wise men and the star they followed to find baby Jesus. We will also start our chapter dealing with learning about Jesus as a teacher.
Science:
We will explore weather! We will first talk about winter and the weather that comes with this. We will read about Polar Bears and other winter animals and what they do to survive the cold temperatures. During our winter weather discussions we'll also do a little experiment with snow. It's fun to have the children go out with their clear plastic cups, fill them up and then have the guess where the water will be when it melts. What's even more interesting is that I will allow the snow water to sit a bit longer and after awhile bacteria will start to grow. It doesn't always grow in all of the cups, but it usually does in at least a couple...and then we talk about (again, because they've been told not to before) why we should NOT eat snow. =)
Social Studies:
To go along with our cold weather science talk, we will also explore those groups of people who also live in areas where it is very cold. We will compare and contrast how they live with how we live. We will talk about their various traditions and why they may have to do some of the things differently than we do.
As always....
please be sure your child gets plenty of rest and a great healthy breakfast in the morning to help them do their best at school. The MAPS test will be coming up soon and if I get a chance I will be taking the Kindergarteners to do some 'pretesting' to get them acclimated to the computer test system. I want them to have the best chance possible to show all that they know...doing a pretest with them will allow them to do this even more!
Parents...thank you for all that you do!!! The snacks you bring are wonderful and scrumptious! Thanks also for all of your volunteer time and donations!!! We have had some generous donations to our school...some that have come to our room...supplies, etc. and coming soon we will have a Leapfrog Tag system and books to go with it! Yay for more reading opportunities!
Thanks for stopping by...have a wonderful week ahead!!
~Mrs. Westlund
This week's activities and happenings in the Kindergarten room...
Language Arts:
We are about to start one of my FaVoRiTe weeks!! We start this week off with the story of "Stone Soup". So, the children will each be bringing something to add to our own stone soup. I will bring the stone, meat and barley; the children will bring in other vegetables. We will read through the story once, then I have the children help me act it out and they get the be the townspeople and add the various items to our pot. I was certainly reminding them all to bring in their items for Monday and that we'd have 'soup that is fit for a king!' (a line from the story) and most of them looked at me like I was crazy! I will be certain to take lots of pictures and load them on to the blog later this week, maybe even tomorrow afternoon if I get a chance.
We'll also be working with our 'at' word family. We'll continue to sound out words and do more and more fabulous reading! We'll review our sight words and I hope that they are all able to do a little of this at home too! We worked on making our '2nd sight word mat' last Friday; they will go home on Monday. We play a little flashcard game together (the kids and I) and if they get the word right, they get the card...I they get it wrong, I get the card! I heard mumblings on Friday "We're gonna get her now...we'll get all the cards this time!" intersperced with giggles. Music to my ears!
Math:
We will wrap up our section on numbers and move on to geometric shapes! We will be reviewing various 2D shapes that most of the children are pretty familiar with, but then move on to exploring 3D shapes! The children always enjoy exploring with shapes and finding them hidden in our world around us!
Religion:
We will talk about the Epiphany, which was the official end of our Christmas season, that happened this past Sunday. We will talk more about the three wise men and the star they followed to find baby Jesus. We will also start our chapter dealing with learning about Jesus as a teacher.
Science:
We will explore weather! We will first talk about winter and the weather that comes with this. We will read about Polar Bears and other winter animals and what they do to survive the cold temperatures. During our winter weather discussions we'll also do a little experiment with snow. It's fun to have the children go out with their clear plastic cups, fill them up and then have the guess where the water will be when it melts. What's even more interesting is that I will allow the snow water to sit a bit longer and after awhile bacteria will start to grow. It doesn't always grow in all of the cups, but it usually does in at least a couple...and then we talk about (again, because they've been told not to before) why we should NOT eat snow. =)
Social Studies:
To go along with our cold weather science talk, we will also explore those groups of people who also live in areas where it is very cold. We will compare and contrast how they live with how we live. We will talk about their various traditions and why they may have to do some of the things differently than we do.
As always....
please be sure your child gets plenty of rest and a great healthy breakfast in the morning to help them do their best at school. The MAPS test will be coming up soon and if I get a chance I will be taking the Kindergarteners to do some 'pretesting' to get them acclimated to the computer test system. I want them to have the best chance possible to show all that they know...doing a pretest with them will allow them to do this even more!
Parents...thank you for all that you do!!! The snacks you bring are wonderful and scrumptious! Thanks also for all of your volunteer time and donations!!! We have had some generous donations to our school...some that have come to our room...supplies, etc. and coming soon we will have a Leapfrog Tag system and books to go with it! Yay for more reading opportunities!
Thanks for stopping by...have a wonderful week ahead!!
~Mrs. Westlund
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas!!! Our Christmas break is moving quickly and we are fast approaching the new year!! I can't wait to see all the smiling faces back to school in 2013! Here are some highlights from the past month of December...
Language Arts:
We've really been working hard on learning new sight words! The children are doing a fabulous job as we start reading short stories. They are very excited about their new skills and love using the highlighter to find our new sight words in there printable take home readers.
We also started a word family..the 'at' word family! It's been great to hear the children discover new words as they are able to use the sounds they know to figure out words!
Math:
The children have been working really hard on counting and identifying numbers. We've been practicing counting to 100 and are excited as we get closer to our 100th day of school! The children have been working on identifying and writing numbers 0 - 10 and also being able to read those number words. We also continue to practice skills such as identifying shapes, colors and patterns.
Religion:
We've talked a lot about Jesus as we were all getting ready to celebrate his birthday! The children heard many stories of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We talked about the wonderful 'gift' that God sent us in His son, Jesus. We also learned about St. Lucia and St. Nicholas as we celebrated both of their feast days.
Science:
We talked a lot about living and non living things and what they need to survive. We had fun identifying different items that are living and that are not living and talked about the 'why' of each choice. We've also had a lot of fun talking about science in various topics that have come to us in our Weekly Readers!
Social Studies:
We've talked about traditions that we often have during this holiday season. We identify that different groups, even different families may have different things they like to do during the holiday season. We also talked more about our families and even did a family tree with our families at home. The children brought them back and we have had fun talking about grandmas, grandpas & aunts, uncles, etc.
The Christmas Concert was wonderful! The Kindergarteners were little snowflakes (thanks Mrs. Punjak for putting extra work to make their little headbands!) to go with the songs they sang.
All of the school children did an excellent job!
The last week of school before Christmas break brought a lot of fun! We did the 'OLL Polar Express' on Monday afternoon...we got to wear our pajamas that day, watch 'The Polar Express' on the big white board, and have a treat of hot cocoa and cookies with our 5th grade Mass buddies.
We got to listen to lots of great Christmas music that week too. We listened to the Preschool Christmas Program and also listened to the Jazz Band from Ashland High School. Some of the children even got to go up and help with the bells with the jazz bands fun tunes. Mrs. Hulmer (the Jazz Band director) also talked to the children about the instruments the high schoolers played. I loved hearing the trombones!! (I played trombone in high school and college!)
That week we also got to go shopping! The children were all a-buzz with excitement as they chose gifts for their family members and then had our special elves (parents and volunteers) help wrap them. It was a great time and so fun to watch. (One of the highlights of our Christmas was watching Ben, my son, watch US open the gifts he picked for us. I just love that!)
Our Christmas Party was so fun!! We had treats and juice, played games and exchanged our gifts! Each child brought in a gift (less than $5, and if the child was a girl, they brought in a girl gift, boys brought in a boy gift) and I put all the boy gifts in one box and the girl gifts in a different box. I attached a ribbon to each gift that draped over the side. Each child picked a ribbon (not their own) and we unwrapped! They were all thrilled with their gifts and really enjoyed our party!
Language Arts:
We've really been working hard on learning new sight words! The children are doing a fabulous job as we start reading short stories. They are very excited about their new skills and love using the highlighter to find our new sight words in there printable take home readers.
We also started a word family..the 'at' word family! It's been great to hear the children discover new words as they are able to use the sounds they know to figure out words!
Math:
The children have been working really hard on counting and identifying numbers. We've been practicing counting to 100 and are excited as we get closer to our 100th day of school! The children have been working on identifying and writing numbers 0 - 10 and also being able to read those number words. We also continue to practice skills such as identifying shapes, colors and patterns.
Religion:
We've talked a lot about Jesus as we were all getting ready to celebrate his birthday! The children heard many stories of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We talked about the wonderful 'gift' that God sent us in His son, Jesus. We also learned about St. Lucia and St. Nicholas as we celebrated both of their feast days.
Science:
We talked a lot about living and non living things and what they need to survive. We had fun identifying different items that are living and that are not living and talked about the 'why' of each choice. We've also had a lot of fun talking about science in various topics that have come to us in our Weekly Readers!
Social Studies:
We've talked about traditions that we often have during this holiday season. We identify that different groups, even different families may have different things they like to do during the holiday season. We also talked more about our families and even did a family tree with our families at home. The children brought them back and we have had fun talking about grandmas, grandpas & aunts, uncles, etc.
The Christmas Concert was wonderful! The Kindergarteners were little snowflakes (thanks Mrs. Punjak for putting extra work to make their little headbands!) to go with the songs they sang.
All of the school children did an excellent job!
The last week of school before Christmas break brought a lot of fun! We did the 'OLL Polar Express' on Monday afternoon...we got to wear our pajamas that day, watch 'The Polar Express' on the big white board, and have a treat of hot cocoa and cookies with our 5th grade Mass buddies.
We got to listen to lots of great Christmas music that week too. We listened to the Preschool Christmas Program and also listened to the Jazz Band from Ashland High School. Some of the children even got to go up and help with the bells with the jazz bands fun tunes. Mrs. Hulmer (the Jazz Band director) also talked to the children about the instruments the high schoolers played. I loved hearing the trombones!! (I played trombone in high school and college!)
That week we also got to go shopping! The children were all a-buzz with excitement as they chose gifts for their family members and then had our special elves (parents and volunteers) help wrap them. It was a great time and so fun to watch. (One of the highlights of our Christmas was watching Ben, my son, watch US open the gifts he picked for us. I just love that!)
Our Christmas Party was so fun!! We had treats and juice, played games and exchanged our gifts! Each child brought in a gift (less than $5, and if the child was a girl, they brought in a girl gift, boys brought in a boy gift) and I put all the boy gifts in one box and the girl gifts in a different box. I attached a ribbon to each gift that draped over the side. Each child picked a ribbon (not their own) and we unwrapped! They were all thrilled with their gifts and really enjoyed our party!
December pictures!
Fun in the snow!!
Celebrating St. Lucia
on December 13th!
Christmas Concert night!
Monday, October 8, 2012
September Memories 2012
Hello! Time has certainly flown by! My apologies that it's taken me so long to post again!! So many things to do and so little time!
Here are some highlights from the month of September:
Making Gingerbread after we read 'The Gingerbread Man'!
We had Cook Sherry bake him while we were in Gym Class. We were excited to return to a tasty treat waiting for us!
But he escaped! So we searched the WHOLE school looking for him...he left notes with all the teachers!
We were lead back to our room after all the chasing and looked high and low for our gingerbread man.
We finally found him hiding in our kitchen area under the table cloth!
After a long search through school and getting to meet all the teachers and staff, we were ready for our treat!
Having fun in the September sun!
Fun on the playground with friends!
So cute!
Here are some highlights from the month of September:
Making Gingerbread after we read 'The Gingerbread Man'!
We had Cook Sherry bake him while we were in Gym Class. We were excited to return to a tasty treat waiting for us!
But he escaped! So we searched the WHOLE school looking for him...he left notes with all the teachers!
We were lead back to our room after all the chasing and looked high and low for our gingerbread man.
We finally found him hiding in our kitchen area under the table cloth!
After a long search through school and getting to meet all the teachers and staff, we were ready for our treat!
Having fun in the September sun!
Fun on the playground with friends!
So cute!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
WELCOME!! We're off to a great start of a new school year! We started our first day of the 2012-2013 school year off with a special school blessing from Fr. Paul and Fr. Ed. It was so wonderful to see all of the children's bright and shining faces!
We headed into school and put our things away and started off the day! Prayer and pledge come first, and then we went on to 'business' stuff...attendance and lunch count. The children to were thrilled to learn of their jobs for the week!
We did calendar and weather and then listened to a story about Liturgy. We talked about good behavior in church and being a good listener for Fr. Paul and Fr. Ed and learning about God. We were then off to Mass and got to sit with 5th grade buddies! The Kindergarteners did an excellent job at Mass and I was very proud of a couple of them who were brave enough to answer some of Fr. Ed's questions during the homily. =)
Snack was next after Mass ended and I treated the children to yummy watermelon! They enjoyed it down in the lunchroom (Social Hall). We then returned to our classrooms and worked on a school time coloring page that we will finish cutting and glueing later this week.
We ended the morning with some much needed and deserved playtime! The children really enjoyed the toys and things around the room. BIG thanks to the Pliss family for the donation of a large kitchenette set for our house area.
Lunch was PIZZA!!! The kids loved it and did a great job at lunchtime. They then headed outside (thankfully the rain had subsided) and had recess with Preschool through 4th grade.
The afternoon went by quickly! We started with a quick drink of water after our hard playing outside and then laid down on our mats for some rest time.
After rest, we listened to 'The Kissing Hand' by Audrey Penn. The children really enjoyed the story and said that "Chester is so cute!!" We were then able to do a handprint activity and poem to go along with the story before heading to Music with Ms. Betzold. Ms. Betzold reported that they did super well in Music and was all smiles when I came to pick them up!
We ended the day with a light snack of pretzels (if they wanted) and some water and playtime. We don't usually have snack in the afternoon, but some were asking for it, so I was certainly happy to let them sit and nibble on something before playtime.
All in all, a very very good start to the year! The morning did find some "I miss preschool" as they walked into our room and not they're old room at preschool from last year...which isn't uncommon. I was SO happy to hear, however, later that day some of the children saying "I like Kindergarten BETTER than preschool!" That certainly made my day!
I look forward to many many more days with the children and families and lots and lots of fun and learning throughout the year!
That's all for now...stop by again later in the week for more tidbits for the month of September!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
We headed into school and put our things away and started off the day! Prayer and pledge come first, and then we went on to 'business' stuff...attendance and lunch count. The children to were thrilled to learn of their jobs for the week!
We did calendar and weather and then listened to a story about Liturgy. We talked about good behavior in church and being a good listener for Fr. Paul and Fr. Ed and learning about God. We were then off to Mass and got to sit with 5th grade buddies! The Kindergarteners did an excellent job at Mass and I was very proud of a couple of them who were brave enough to answer some of Fr. Ed's questions during the homily. =)
Snack was next after Mass ended and I treated the children to yummy watermelon! They enjoyed it down in the lunchroom (Social Hall). We then returned to our classrooms and worked on a school time coloring page that we will finish cutting and glueing later this week.
We ended the morning with some much needed and deserved playtime! The children really enjoyed the toys and things around the room. BIG thanks to the Pliss family for the donation of a large kitchenette set for our house area.
Lunch was PIZZA!!! The kids loved it and did a great job at lunchtime. They then headed outside (thankfully the rain had subsided) and had recess with Preschool through 4th grade.
The afternoon went by quickly! We started with a quick drink of water after our hard playing outside and then laid down on our mats for some rest time.
After rest, we listened to 'The Kissing Hand' by Audrey Penn. The children really enjoyed the story and said that "Chester is so cute!!" We were then able to do a handprint activity and poem to go along with the story before heading to Music with Ms. Betzold. Ms. Betzold reported that they did super well in Music and was all smiles when I came to pick them up!
We ended the day with a light snack of pretzels (if they wanted) and some water and playtime. We don't usually have snack in the afternoon, but some were asking for it, so I was certainly happy to let them sit and nibble on something before playtime.
All in all, a very very good start to the year! The morning did find some "I miss preschool" as they walked into our room and not they're old room at preschool from last year...which isn't uncommon. I was SO happy to hear, however, later that day some of the children saying "I like Kindergarten BETTER than preschool!" That certainly made my day!
I look forward to many many more days with the children and families and lots and lots of fun and learning throughout the year!
That's all for now...stop by again later in the week for more tidbits for the month of September!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
Sunday, May 6, 2012
May 7-11, 2012
Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Ben and I really really enjoyed the wonderful Spring Concert! Everyone sounded and looked SO good! Great job to all the kiddos and a special thanks to Ms. Betzold for all of her hard work in coordinating and teaching all of the music students at OLL! She does a fabulous job with the kids!!!
We also spent the weekend hanging out with my sister. Ben and I had fun swimming with her on Saturday at Splashland!
Sunday brought rainy weather but a WONDERFUL First Communion Mass for the 2nd graders! Congratulations to all!!
Hard to believe the weekend is ending so quickly, but Monday is just around the corner again...
Here's what we're up to this week:
Language Arts:
We'll be learning our last consonant Alphafriend: Jumping Jill! We'll be exploring the sound of 'Jj' and practice writing it in words we can think of with this letter!
We'll be starting our final section in our Language Arts series "A World of Animals". We will hear stories this week about various animals and make a list of animals we can think of that we see in our area. We will use this list in our journal writing during small group time!
Our reading strategy focus will be on asking questions before and during our reading of the stories. Our comprehension strategy focus will be on thinking about and identifying the beginning, middle and end of the story.
Math:
We will start our chapter on measurement! This week we will explore concepts of longer/shorter; longest/shortest; capacity and weight. We will have time to explore these concepts using a variety of manipulatives and with a small group center on capacity.
Religion:
We will talk about forgiving others. We have talked a lot about God's forgiveness for us, and now we will discuss God's desire for us to be forgiving. We will talk about friendships and how, at times, they can get damaged and discuss ways that we can repair this damage by being forgiving, as Jesus asks of us. Saying "I'm sorry" is a difficult thing for some, but if we are to live the life that God wants us too, it is something we have to do at times.
Science:
Our National Geographic for Young Explorers has a section on Family Life, not from a human perspective, but from that of an elephant. (This fits in well this week as our main story from Lang. Arts is about a baby elephant.) We will read this article and talk about what the baby elephant learns from his parents and then discuss what we, as humans, learn from our parents. We will compare these lists to see how they are different and how some aspects are the same.
We will also learn about the different 'tools' that the elephant has on his body to help him with day to day tasks. We will then identify 'tools' that we use each day that make it easier for us.
Social Studies:
We will review past cultures that we have explored throughout the year. We will talk about how they have been the same and different. Some of the differences in these cultures have to do with the area of the world that they live in (e.g. eskimos live in igloos made of ice). We will talk about Africa and what it would be like to live there (differences from the other cultures) and then ready the National Geographic for Young Explorers section on the Maasai tribe from Africa.
Important Upcoming Dates:
May 18th ~ Field Trip to the Duluth Zoo **please get in permission slips and money!
May 24th ~ Moments with Moms from 2 PM to 3 PM (can be mom or another friend...just not dad!)
May 28th ~ No School - Happy Memorial Day!!
May 30th ~ Kindergarten & 1st Grade Liturgy - 9 AM to 10 AM
June 8th ~ LAST DAY!!! - half day of school!
We also spent the weekend hanging out with my sister. Ben and I had fun swimming with her on Saturday at Splashland!
Sunday brought rainy weather but a WONDERFUL First Communion Mass for the 2nd graders! Congratulations to all!!
Hard to believe the weekend is ending so quickly, but Monday is just around the corner again...
Here's what we're up to this week:
Language Arts:
We'll be learning our last consonant Alphafriend: Jumping Jill! We'll be exploring the sound of 'Jj' and practice writing it in words we can think of with this letter!
We'll be starting our final section in our Language Arts series "A World of Animals". We will hear stories this week about various animals and make a list of animals we can think of that we see in our area. We will use this list in our journal writing during small group time!
Our reading strategy focus will be on asking questions before and during our reading of the stories. Our comprehension strategy focus will be on thinking about and identifying the beginning, middle and end of the story.
Math:
We will start our chapter on measurement! This week we will explore concepts of longer/shorter; longest/shortest; capacity and weight. We will have time to explore these concepts using a variety of manipulatives and with a small group center on capacity.
Religion:
We will talk about forgiving others. We have talked a lot about God's forgiveness for us, and now we will discuss God's desire for us to be forgiving. We will talk about friendships and how, at times, they can get damaged and discuss ways that we can repair this damage by being forgiving, as Jesus asks of us. Saying "I'm sorry" is a difficult thing for some, but if we are to live the life that God wants us too, it is something we have to do at times.
Science:
Our National Geographic for Young Explorers has a section on Family Life, not from a human perspective, but from that of an elephant. (This fits in well this week as our main story from Lang. Arts is about a baby elephant.) We will read this article and talk about what the baby elephant learns from his parents and then discuss what we, as humans, learn from our parents. We will compare these lists to see how they are different and how some aspects are the same.
We will also learn about the different 'tools' that the elephant has on his body to help him with day to day tasks. We will then identify 'tools' that we use each day that make it easier for us.
Social Studies:
We will review past cultures that we have explored throughout the year. We will talk about how they have been the same and different. Some of the differences in these cultures have to do with the area of the world that they live in (e.g. eskimos live in igloos made of ice). We will talk about Africa and what it would be like to live there (differences from the other cultures) and then ready the National Geographic for Young Explorers section on the Maasai tribe from Africa.
Important Upcoming Dates:
May 18th ~ Field Trip to the Duluth Zoo **please get in permission slips and money!
May 24th ~ Moments with Moms from 2 PM to 3 PM (can be mom or another friend...just not dad!)
May 28th ~ No School - Happy Memorial Day!!
May 30th ~ Kindergarten & 1st Grade Liturgy - 9 AM to 10 AM
June 8th ~ LAST DAY!!! - half day of school!
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