Ellie's Weekly Newsletter. 11 February 2014

We enter a week of LOVE with random acts of kindness.  Stay alert; I hope the little ones remember their "homework" with random acts!   We will be practicing at school!

Friday we will bring our Valentine wishes to share.  We still need lots of empty tissue boxes or shoe boxes for this project.  Please send them by Wednesday.

I hope you are having fun planning invention models or illustrations!  They will be displayed for all to see on Grandparents Day March 12.

Ellie's Weekly Newsletter. Ground hogs day or Super Bowl Sunday!

Since THE GAME is in full swing, you may not read this too soon, but it includes yet another message for saving something!  Please save empty tissue boxes and/or shoe boxes.  And we are in need of them by next week Wednesday!  (Good ideas come slowly to me now days...!  Or else I am like the dear ground hog who, on seeing his shadow, runs and hides a few more weeks!)

Let's hope we are on a 5 day school run this week!   It really is hard to push 5 days into 3!  This week we will master coin counting (or at least get a good introduction!).  We will begin with counting and grouping pennies, add nickels, then dimes, and include quarters.  We'll play a home buying game adding five dollars and ten dollars (inexpensive houses!).

Science will include experimenting with miscible and immiscible liquids and masses.  Ask about what miscible means (after Wednesday).

We will additionally study measurement -  some of us might even be "perfect squares!"  And we will begin a study of mapping skills.

After Valentine's Day, we will have More /m/  as we will include experimentation with magnets, more mapping, magnification, M and M Math, and a study of mold (the you will be asked to send in a piece of any kind of bread for our mold study).

Speaking of Valentine's Day - yes, we will celebrate by exchanging Valentine wishes.  Remembering there are 21 children in the class, it is not necessary to personally address Valentines with names, although please DO have your little one sign his/her wishes.  The children do like to know which message is from whom.

One last note:  Beginning tomorrow, we are fortunate to have an OPRF Senior student aiding in our classroom.  Miss Melina is also a former Grace kindergartner who is now interested in pursuing a career in Early Childhood Education.  It will be fun having Melina return, and to be extra hands in the classroom.

Friday color wear

Tomorrow's color to wear for Lutheran School's Week is Indego (blue jean blue!)

Ellie' s Weekly Newsletter. 26 Jan. 2014

This week is Lutheran Schools' Week! How convenient for it to occure the week we are emphasizing /l/!   

Each day this week has a different theme.  Monday's attire is to be "dressing for my dream job."  Tuesday is PJ day!  Wednesday: red and white day (school colors).  Thursday is crazy hat or tie dye day.  And Friday is class color day.   Look for the note telling what color the SKs have chosen for our color.  Each day there is a competition for which class has the most children "in costume."    Let's see if we can win!

So it is this week, that we will study living vs. non-living things;  listing the needs of living things.  Math will concentrate on the concept of Larger than, more vs. less, and learning to begin with the larger numeral when mentally adding two numerals. ( I think I was taught that in fourth grade!).   Love will also be big in our study!

I realize we sent home notes requesting snow pants, but since this whole week will have temperatures too cold for outdoor play, you need not send them this week - unless you want your little one to wear them too and from school to the car!  That might not be too bad an idea Monday and Tuesday!   Will this cold and snow ever end!?!?

I hope you had fun learning about your child's invention idea!  It was fun collecting ideas!   Never before has there been such a variety of ideas!

Keep the milk/water/juice jugs coming!

Ellie's Weekly Newsletter. 19 January 2014

You should have received your child's Invention Idea in his/her school bag on Friday.  The next assignment is to have FUN creating a model or drawing a picture of the invention.  This year's class is most unique in that we only had 2 robotic inventions!   We have quite a variety of ideas - just like the personalities of our little ones!  Our Invention Fair will take place on Grandparents Day in March, so you will have plenty of time for construction.  We have emphasized with the little ones that their models will not "work."  We have even used the word "prototype!"  

Please, please, please label snow pants!  To me, all black snow pants look the same, and it seems to be that way with the little ones, too!  Once they are taken from the "bags," they hit the floor and all look alike!

Since we are on the subject of cold weather wear - if you would like to have a pair of slip-on slippers or shoes stay at school when boots are removed, feel free to do just that.  Slippers should have a sole to them and not be slippery.  We still need gym shoes for PE class on Wednesdays.

This week much of our math activity will have a keys theme.  With keys we will skip count, order, solve subtraction problems, review addresses.

Kazoos are also on our list of things to make, so please save empty TP and Paper towel tubes!

The week will begin with activities centered around life during Martin Luther King, Jr.'s lifetime.

Thank you for saving milk/water/juice gallon jugs!  We have received 75, and have a nice start!  Keep drinking!

Ellie's Weekly Newsletter. 12 January 2014

It sounded like a good idea at the time - how hard can it be to chisel through 3 inches of ice at the end of a driveway that has been driven over by a truck all week?  Conclusion - I'd much rather be teaching your little ones!

It never ceases to amaze me, how after introducing a discussion explaining what an invention is and how inventions help us, that immediately little minds are at work, creating their own invention ideas!  This week we should be sending home Invention Ideas papers, explaining in some detail the invention your little one wants to "Invent."  Our Invention Fair, happening in March on Grandparents' Day, will display these Invention Models and Illustrations.  This annual event has become quite a popular one!  It is hoped that it does not become a stressful experience, but a fun time for parents and little ones to brainstorm and create simple models.  We emphasize that invention idea models do NOT work, they are prototypes!

This week we will also be creating paper insects.  But we will make them fly!   it will be magnetic!

Measuring objects using inch measurement, using the "ing" ending, and writing with invisible ink are a few other topics for the week.

Have you heard about our new LOFT?!  It is the result of an Eagle Scout project, thanks to Carter Knupp (a once upon a time ago Kindergartener!)

Ellie's Weekly Newsletter. 6 January 2014

This is the first time I've written our new year!  May it be a happy one for all!

We will not be meeting tomorrow, but I wish for everyone to enjoy a warm day off!  

I also thank each of you for the outpouring of  generosity at Christmas!  Your monetary gift paid for my plane ticket to visit my daughter and her family!!  Thank you for making my visit FREE!  I spent my every thought on getting to know my grandsons!  Bythe way,they are positively perfect!

This week we will celebrate Ephiphany a day late, but we can always remember the arrival of the three kings!

We will also concentrate on inventions.  Those of you new to Grace May not be familiar with the Sr. Kindergarten Invention Fair.  It has become an annual event, amazing all who view our Invention Ideas. This week we will investigate what inventions have changed our lives, have made our work and play easier, more interesting, or more convenient.  You will be receiving your little one's Invention Idea later this week.  At a future date, we will display our ideas in model or illustrated form.  Right now, just enjoy hearing about you child's creative idea!

Another "annual" happening is our igloo- quite appropriate for this season!  I hope you have saved gallon milk/water jugs!  We will need over 300 of them to complete our construction!

Until we gather, stay warm!