Twas the Night Before Christmas

One of the fun things about the holidays is that we get to do all kinds of things that are just plain FUN! Enjoy the photos below of some of the FUN!

The other reason this is so much fun is because all week parents have been in and out to help with centers and treats and gifts. Below is one student’s "MiMi" (grandmother) who dropped by on the last day before the holiday to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to our students. The children were so excited as they sat thoroughly engaged in this traditional holiday favorite. We love the chance to meet the moms and dads, sisters and brothers, and extended family that the children talk about. We love to share with them all of the joy and excitement that we see every single day.

As we come to the end of 2007 we want to say a special thank you to each family. Thank you, of course, for the thoughtfulness of your holiday gifts, but so much more than that, thank you for sharing your most prized possession, your child, with us. Your children have touched our hearts. They make us so proud. They make our hearts sing! 2007 has been such a memorable year! We can't wait until 2008! See you then...

Standard Snapshot

You should have received a Standard Snapshot on purple paper at the end of the week. Below is the student work and an explanation of the work in case you missed it! Attached to this piece of standard work should have been a piece of your child's work.

The children have been working on instructions for something that they feel they are experts. Sometimes this is called functional, "how to," or procedural writing. We are delighted that the work that was featured in this Kindergarten Standard Snapshot that went home to the entire grade level was selected from OUR class! This is Madison's work and we are so very proud of her! Madison tells how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! She s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s each word and writes the sounds that she hears and uses spaces between words. She includes a list of materials that she needs and sequences the steps. This is exactly what we expect our kindergartners to do this time of year. Congratulations Madison on representing our class so well!

S-A-N-T-A

Shared Reading is when we use an enlarged text to read together as a class. Sometimes this is a big book and sometimes it is a song or poem on a chart. One of our favorite shared readings right now is the song above, sung to the tune of Bingo. Make sure to ask your child to sing it for you! While we are singing about Santa, we made sure to complete a Santa craft!

Thanksgiving Vacation

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Some people travel (like Ishaan who is in Hong Kong!) and some people stay at home. Mrs. Timmons' visited her husband (Coach Timmons') family near Tampa. They enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and dressing on Thursday. Mrs. Timmons brought a pumpkin cake that was Coach Timmons' favorite and she helped her husband's cousin make mashed potatoes. Mrs. T was there, of course, and she brought pumpkin muffins and the "green stuff" which is a special lime gelatin which has been at her family Thanksgiving table for years. They enjoyed time together with aunts, uncles, sisters, parents neices and cousins.

On the way back to Jacksonville, they all stopped at Universal in Orlando. Mrs. Timmons posed at the Curious George exhibit since that's the theme of our blog!

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Did you travel or stay at home? Did you have something favorite to eat for Thanksgiving Day? Did you remember to be thankful for all the special things in your life? Let us know through a comment to this post. We'll also begin posting some of the children's responses on our blog!

Added 11-26-07

Felix wrote this about his Thanksgiving vacation:

I wit to set tmdos for denner.

I ped wat mi frnd Mario and

Tobe. I plad wut futboll

and i wach Spitman 3.

Teks faw mi family and fris.

I went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.

I played with my friends Mario and

Toby. I played with football

and I watched Spiderman 3.

Thanks for my family and friends.

Maria wrote this about her Thanksgiving holiday:

IHavFuNuNMIHODa

IHavRISandSOLTFORTaNkS

gIVIgDNR

IPLaJUPRO

AYTSID

NFEDtheRaBITS

I have fun on my holiday.

I have rice and salt for Thanks-

giving dinner.

I played jump rope

outside

and fed the rabbits.

We Are Thankful For...

A very fabulous center at our Powwow last Friday was the Storytelling Center, held inside the large Teepee on our primary playground. At the conclusion of the storytelling, a "talking feather" was passed around and each person holding the talking feather told the group what they were thankful for. Here are the Timmontes' responses:

Emily- my mommy came over to my school

Alexis- the sun

Hunter- the Teepee

Unique- the Teepee

Michael- my teachers

Nathan- the Teepee

Dominic- cowboy

Eleana- the whole world

Matthew- Jesus

John- My dad getting money

Evan- God and everything

Maria- my parents were here

Alyssa- my house

Maya- my family

Crawford- the sky

Ishaan- for the the peoples in this Teepee

Taniyah- God and Jesus

Chloe- God

Natalie- Mary, God and Jesus

Felix- water

Caleb- the earth

Parker- my mommy and daddy

Mikayla- the Iroquois-they help keep us safe

Elissa- my brother

Madison- Jesus

Jaden- my family

Pow Wow - WOW!

Pow Wow was a magical day. We marched into the Pow Wow arena as the proud Iroquois Nation in our authentic costumes. We did a special dance to honor the harvest of the "The Three Sisters" (corn, beans, squash) with our turtle shell rattles, and then danced and sang to the "Dance of the Skunk" and the "Sunset Song." Chief Chets Creek danced and Chief Jumping Frog told us a special story. After we had pictures made, we spent the rest of the day in Centers hearing about the great outdoors, tasting native foods, making clay medallions and painting with native dyes. We went on a Scavenger Hunt for things Native American boys and girls would have looked for, and SingUm Song helped us keep the beat with drums. We went into the great teepee where Peaceful Waters told us about the great paintings inside the tent and invited us to share something we were thankful for. It was a WONDERFUL day. Below are some of our Pow Wow photos. If you have digital photos that you would like to share with the class, just e-mail them to Mrs. T at timmonsd@dreamsbeginhere.org as an attachment and she will add them to our collage below.

Alex's Lemonade Stand

Alex was four years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. She asked her parents if she could make lemonade and sell it so she could donate the money to research. Alex held the first Lemonade Stand before she succumbed to the disease. You and your child may be interested in reading more about Alex and her Lemonade Stand at http://www.alexslemonade.org/

Our class has joined with all the kindergarten classes at Chets Creek to host Lemonade Stands this year to help raise money for research for childhood cancer. We were honored to be asked to host the first Lemonade Stand on our first Parent Night at Chets Creek. During class the children learned how to make lemonade. Some of them even wrote the directions so other classes would know how to make it when it is their turn. Some of the students came with their families at night to sell the lemonade and the children kept tally mark of how many glasses they sold. The class even showed their experiences by posting it on this month's bulletin board, When Life give You Lemons...Make Lemonade! Make sure to stop by and check out our board!

It's a Family Affair

Tonight parents joined us to help celebrate our Native American unit. We have learned so much about our Native American tribe, the mighty Iroquois Nation. We have learned that they ate corn, beans, and squash and that they called these vegetables the "Three Sisters." We have learned that they made music by beating drums and shaking rattles that were sometimes made of turtle shell. In fact, we have made our own rattles to dance with at our Pow Wow on Friday. We have learned that the Iroquois wore feathers in their hair and we have made special head feathers to wear with our Iroquois costumes. In fact some of the moms in our class have been working on making Native American costumes for us that are like the ones that would have been worn by Iroquois boys and girls many years ago. You and your family might enjoy reading more about the Iroquois Nation at http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/iroquois_kids.htm.

Tonight we enjoyed working with our families on making longhouse which are the houses that the Iroquois lived in. If you would like to see our longhouses, just stop by the lobby in the front office and see our display! Below are some pictures of some of our families as we enjoyed the night together.

We hope to see you at the Pow Wow!

This is Fire Safety Week and the children were delighted by a simulation of a real house fire in the Dining Room. They watched as a pretend tissue paper fire along with smoke (a fog machine) was piped into the darkened room. Then they watched as fire fighters crept low to the ground in full gear to save the teacher that was sleeping. The children couldn't take their eyes off the fire fighters.


Next the children asked questions and were reminded about calling 911 in case of emergencies, having a family meeting place outside with their family in case of fire and and were even given a homework assignment. They were told to go home and ask their family when they last changed the batteries in their fire alarm(s). There will be prizes for those children that remember to ask!

Finally the children were invited outside to see the big red engine and all of the fire fighter gear. Make sure to ask your child about this life saving assembly!

Fall Traditions

Today we came dressed as our favorite book characters and then paraded around the halls for all the school to see. Below are some of the characters that walked the parade!

Next we had centers in the classroom. We enjoyed making orange and black necklaces with patterns; playing Number Bingo; making Fall hats with letters, leaves and pumpkins; decorating pumpkin shaped cookies; practicing our color words by coloring a seasonal booklet; and making seasonal shapes with play dough. Thanks to all the parents that joined us for the fun and games!

After our fun day, we asked each child: What was your favorite part of today?

Alexander - making a cookie
Alexis - playing Bingo because we got to eat two candy corns
Alyssa - doing Number bingo... and winning!
Caleb - doing the centers!
Chloe - making crowns and necklaces
Crawford - giving high fives when we marched in the parade
Dominic - being Robin!
Eleana - when I saw our patrols in the parade
Elissa - eating candy corn
Evan - decorating the cookie
Felix - eating my cookie!
Hunter - making cookies and being the Cat in the Hat
Ishaan - I can't wait for the Carnival tonight
Jaden - playing outside with my friends
Joey - when we made the necklaces and the cookies and everything
John - when the kids gave us high fives in the parade
Madison - I like the Bingo and when I decorated my cookie
Maria - being a dancer and eating a cookie
Matthew - playing Bingo
Maya - I liked the bead "thingees"

Michael - I like the sprinkles on the cookies

Mikayla - being the good witch!

Natalie - making a pattern with my necklace

Nathan - giving everybody high fives - including my cousin

Parker - I loved every single thing!

Taniyah - wearing my Princess costume

Unique - doing play dough with those cookie cutters

Will it Sink or Float?

Thank you for sending in all the pumpkins! We have pumpkins in all shapes and sizes and have been enjoying lots of fun activities. Below is our representation of our favorite read aloud, Goldilocks and the Three Bears - designed with pumpkins! We hope you will stop by and see our presentation in the school lobby!We have been working on lots of pumpkin activities including measuring the circumference of a pumpkin; making pumpkin pudding; singing our favorite poem, Five Little Pumpkins; reading lots of books about pumpkins; and learning lots of pumpkin facts! Today we went up to the Science lab to see if pumpkins sink or float.

First we made predictions about whether we thought the pumpkins would sink or float.

Then we tried some little pumpkins. Some of us were surprised when the little pumpkins floated.

Next we decided to try a great big, heavy pumpkin.

Some of us were very surprised with what happened...

Did the big, heavy pumpkin sink or float? If you want to know, you'll just have to ask your child!

Hooray for Pumpkin Pudding!

As part of our study of non-fiction text and pumpkins, the Timmontes followed a recipe and made Pumpkin Pudding. Of course, the students were not thrilled that we had to let it "chill" for an hour, but in the end, they gave raving reviews of the delicious treat topped with graham cracker crumbs and cool whip!

Retelling Theater

Before children learn to read a book, they enjoy acting out the parts of a story as it is retold. In the pictures below you can see the children retell one of their favorite "Star" books, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The narrator reads. Each child has a part and says his part when it is time. At the end of the story all the characters take a bow as the audience applauds!

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Whether it was Little Miss Muffet or Little Mister Muffet, the spider got them every time! We enjoyed acting out this nursery rhyme this week, but we also worked on rhyming and the sounds we hear in words. As a little review, ask your child to complete these rhyming sentences.

I'm thinking of a food that Miss Muffet might like.
It rhymes with _____ (horn). It must be _____. (corn)

Furnish the first word each time and then invite your child to finish the sentence with a rhyming word. Try these others:
cape-grape
reach-peach
rare-pear
seat-beet
dime-lime
sees-peas

Frightened has also been one of our vocabulary words. Make sure you ask your child to show you his/her frightened face! It's not to be missed!

Wonder Filled Wonderings

This week's "Wonder Filled Wondering" was submitted by our most amazing and beautiful Chloe M. Chloe was wondering what hermit crabs eat. Well we were completely stumped Chloe, so we decided to do a little research. Here is a bit of information we hope will satisfy that curiosity of yours we love so much.

Hermit crabs can eat all sorts of things like dried fruit,crab apples, bananas, lettuce, cucumbers, popcorn, crackers, peanut butter, carrots and even dandelions right out of your backyard! It is a great idea to provide a calcium source for them as well. . . such as dry egg shells or cuttle bone. The two latter items are available in the bird section at the pet store.

Most pet stores carry "hermit crab food" which is a mixture of powder with ground up shrimp bites in it. Crabs eat very slowly and very little at a time. You always need to make sure your crabs have plenty of drinking water too! And believe it or not you can buy "treats" for your hermit crab like hermit crab cookies and fruit salad for special occasions. Watch out feeding those "hermies" too many treats though or you may find yourself looking for a bigger shell for that little guy.

You all know we can't ever resist a teachable moment so we thought we would throw in this tidbit of extra information. Did you know hermit crabs have mouths just like you and me, except you will probably never see a hermit crab's mouth due to it's small size. They do however have a body part very different from you and me.
Hermit crabs have a "miniature elephant-looking trunk" that scoops up their food. If you look closely, they will pick up food/water in their claws and then their little "trunks" uncurl out from underneath to grab it and put it in their mouths. You will find this body part curled up near their abdomen when they are not eating.Simply extraordinary!!!

Thanks Miss Chloe for wondering about hermit crabs. Do you or any other Timmonte have a "hermie" of your own? If so we would love to learn and share more!!

Retelling

Students have begun to bring home a "book in a bag" each night. In each bag is a book that the student has taken out of his individual book bin to bring home. For students who are not yet reading conventionally, they choose a good story book from their book bin. Each child is expected to "read" the book by looking at the pictures. When the child brings home the book, an adult should read the book to the child first and then let the child "read" by retelling each page. As your child gets better and better at this you will notice that he uses much of the same language that you use as you read the story. If you use a deep voice for the big bad bear, he will begin to use a deep voice for the bear. Before long your child will sound like he is reading the story even though he doesn't really know how to read the words.

At school the children hear the same good story books over and over. We call these good story books, "Star Books." The children practice reading these books to themselves and to partners during Independent Reading every day. Later they make props and practice retelling these books using the props. In the pictures below you can see students practicing one of the class favorite books, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, with stick puppets of the troll and each of the three billy goats.

Make sure to take out that "book in the bag" every single night. That is the way that children learn to read!

Star Book Survey

For this post, we encourage you to ask your child which of the following "Star" books he/she likes the best, and then add the response as a comment below.

Caps For Sale



The Three Billy Goats Gruff



Where The Wild Things Are


Goldilocks And The Three Bears

The Gingerbread Boy

Harry The Dirty Dog

Egg Over Easy

What about that egghead? Humpty Dumpty has been walking that wall all week! Ask your child about the day that we actually had a real egg up on a wall and watched it fall. We figured out why the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty back together again!

Humpty has introduced our little ones to some new words this week. We have found these sight words in our rhyme: a, the, had, on (notice the green tape over those words on the chart below). Maybe your child can find some of the words at home this week. We have also learned to say the first sound we hear in words? What’s the first sound you hear in the word Humpty? Answer: /h/ When a letter has slashes before and after, it means that it’s the sound that “h” makes. Ask your child to tell you the first sound s/he hears in these words:
Dumpty Answer:/d/
wall /w/
fall /f/
king /k/
We are also still working with words that rhyme – words that sound the same at the end. Ask your child to make a nonsense rhyming word with his own name such as Maria Baria, Caleb Naleb, Madison Radison and with all the names in your family. We have had fun all week making rhyming names. For a copy of the rhyme to read with your child, go to http://www.kinderfriends.com/humptydumpty.doc. It has been an egg-specially great week!