Have a wonderful break!

Mrs. Parnell and Mrs. Hoyt wish everyone a wonderful break and a Happy New Year!  Be sure to write in your new journals!  Let us know about what you do during your time away from school.  We will be looking forward to getting back to work and learning about creatures in the ocean in January!

Polor Express Day!

What a wonderful time we had celebrating our Polar Express Day!  Clad in our pjs, we visited the library with our stuffed, fury friends, for a special reading of The Polar Express.  Then back to Room 101 we went for a wide variety of fun activities.  We re-created an image of the Polar Express train with ink and stamps, frosted holiday trees, played the dreidel game, made festive frames, and more!  Our afternoon was topped of with a special viewing of the movie version of our theme for the day!

We put the FUN in Fundations!

We sure put the FUN in fundations today!  Actually it was our lesson on the new Touch IT  board that was installed in our classroom!  What a fun time we had this morning practicing our letter recognition and letter sound connections!  We are very impressed by how well everyone did with both the letters and the board!

We have been reading and working with various editions of stories as well.  We have read and discussed various editions of The Nutcracker.  Mrs. Parnell is even teaching us some of the dances.  If you have The Nutcracker music at home, play it for your children.    We are also exploring the story The Polar Express.  Tomorrow will be our Polar Express Day!  Mr. Lyons will be reading to us in our PJs.  This afternoon we hope to start our comparison by previewing some of the Polar Express movie on our new Touch IT board.

The board is sure to be a new and exciting addition to our classroom!

We learned about Electricity, Electricity!

Mrs. Parnell shared an enlightening lesson about electricity this morning!  Thanks to hands on resources from the Science Center we were able to test various items to see if they are conductors or non-conductors.  Then we created electrical circuits!  We created light and sound.  Be sure to check with your child and ask him/her about the fun we had today.

Math Time in Room 101

Math is done in the afternoon in room 101.  We use many approaches to our lessons.  Small and whole group, lots of manipulatives and discussions.  A favorite of the kindergarteners is time on the computers and ipads.  One of our favorite current math activities is called break the trains.  Students create a "train" of connecting cubes that is made up of repeating patterns  "the cars".  After the train is created (using about a dozen cubes), students must record the train on paper and then segment, or break the train, into cars.  It is pretty challenging.  Try it at home.  You could use colored cereals, different coins, or even Lego pieces to create trains. 

Supplies Needed

Room 101 needs foam trays........the kind fresh fruits and veggies come on.  If you have a few, please send them in with your child. 

Thank you!

Bus Safety

The Burlington Police Dept. Safety Officer visited us this week to help us review and practice bus safety.  After a brief presentation Room 101 boarded a bus in front of the school and practiced what to do in an emergency situation.  We were such great listeners that each student was given a special badge sticker!

We have been doing a great job at listening to special presentations.  Ms. May, our guidance counselor,  sent a special star eraser home earlier this week!