Cards for Our Soliders...

A few days ago we went to the Library and made cards for the U.S. soliders who will be away from home for the holidays. We had lots of winter and holiday paper shapes to choose from. We got to pick a few to use to decorate our cards. Each class in our school made cards for the soliders. All the cards will be mailed to them in time for the holidays! We hope the cards will let them know we appreciate what they do, and that we wish them all the best for the Holidays and most of all our wishes for a safe trip home soon!

Halloween Party '09...

We had a lot of fun at our Halloween Parties. It was fun to dress up and parade around the school in our coustumes. Can you guess who we are?:

Meet Some of our "Pets"...

We have been working to help the Almost Home Foundation which rescues and fosters pets who need a home. We thought it might help us gain some appreciation for fostering pets if we could try it out in some way. We have several pets to chose from, 3 cats and 3 dogs. Between our AM & PM classes 4 children get to "Foster" a pet for a few days each week. We have a little pet carrier to help the pet travel safely. We also have a journal to help record events that happen while away from school. Take a look at a few kids from our class and the pets they chose to take home for a few days:

Fostering Jade...

One of the "pets" we have for Fostering is "Jade". She is a cute little (stuffed) black kitten that loves to go home with Kindergartners. Take a look at some of the fun she had when Jade went home with JonLuca:

Foster Pet Parents....

After our experience with Freddy the Cat, we thought it would be both fun and interesting to try fostering pets in our homes. Obviously, we can't take REAL pets home, but we have several stuffed dogs and cats that would LOVE to go home with a Kindergartner for a few days. We have several pets. Our cats are Maggie, Jade and Tiger. Our dogs are Mocha, Onyx and Mr. Maxx. We all wrote our names on a little paper "doggie bone" and every few days Mrs. Blakely pulls a name from the can. That child can choose a pet to take home for a few days. They can journal about their adventures and take photos to share. Take a look at the adventures Onyx had when she went home with a couple of our friends.

Helping Pets in Need...

This year we decided to reach out to our community in a new and fun way. We thought it would be nice to help pets in need. We contacted the folks at the Almost Home Foundation and are joining with them to do what we can to help pets that have been rescued and are living in "Foster Homes". We think of it as taking time to help, or pausing to help pets.
Thus we say: PAWS to Help Pets! :-)
Each month we plan to collect items to donate to the Almost Home Foundation. Our first collection was "Pennies for Pets". We sent out notes and asked families to send in pennies. We think it was a huge success. Our school collected $394.07!!! Then Mrs. Rose, of the Almost Home Foundation came to visit with her special friend Freddy! We were so excited. First she talked with us about what a "rescue" does to help pets. She also used a puppet to show us the proper way to greet a dog we don't know. She said always ask the owner if you can pet the dog. Then let it sniff your hand and rub gently from under the chin. Then she brought out Freddy to meet us. He was very patient as each child got a chance to come up and pet him. We hope that we will inspire some of our blog visitors to see what you might be able to do to help pets in your area! Our local PetsMart hosts pet adoptions each week. Maybe yours does too!

Same and Different...

In Kindergarten, part of becoming good readers and writers is being able to notice how things are the same and how they are different. One day in class, quite by accident, a few friends came dressed almost the same. Take a look at our little video to see what is the SAME about them; and what is DIFFERENT. What do you notice? Take a second look to be sure! ;-)

Learning Letter Sounds...

We are working hard to learn all the letter sounds. We have several games and songs to help us with this. Sometimes pictures help us learn. Videos like this help too....

Poetry in Motion...

As part of our "Being a Writer" curriculum, we are exploring writing about things we can do. We read a poem called "Just Watch" by Myra Cohn Livingston. We thought it would be fun to act out the poem. Take a look at how some of our kids interpreted the poem. (Note: Michael, I am still working on getting your part to work...sorry!)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bubble Gum in Class...

We made a book about bubble gum. It took a few days to finish, but we got it done! Each child made their own book to take home to begin a nice collection of books that we'll make and that they can read at home. On the last day of bookmaking, we got to have bubble gum. We tried to blow a bubble. Most kids are still learning how to do it. We had a little poem we were chanting... BUBBLE GUM BUBBLE GUM JUICY AND WET, CAN YOU BLOW A BUBBLE YET? Take a look at our video to see who can blow a bubble, and who can't just yet: