May 16- May 20

This week we talked about Ocean Animals! We made jellyfish, sharks, and rainbow fish to put in our ocean in the classroom! We also made submarine port holes that had sand, fish, and seaweed inside. We talked about the different types of water, saltwater and freshwater. We also got to look at, touch, and even taste both kinds of water! Most of the kids preferred the freshwater :) We then talked about animals that live in freshwater and animals that live in saltwater. Some of the animals we talked about were: the pufferfish, bass fish, the basking shark, jelly fish, guppies, dolphins, and beluga whales. We also talked about how some fish like to live at the bottom of the ocean where the water is cold, and others at the top where it's warm. The kids guessed why it's hotter at the top and they got to see an experiement where they watched the hot water come to the top of a jar.

The kids worked on syllables by saying the names of different ocean animals on flashcards and then putting a clip on the correct number of syllables it had. They did an octupus tentacle match, where they matched up lower and upper case letters. They went fishing for fish that had letters and numbers written on them and they would have to say what was written on their fish. We also played a game where they had to find the right color fish and put it in their boat.

We continued to work on Nursery Rhyme notebooks, and added Hickory Dickory Dock, Wee Willie Winkie, and Rub-a-Dub-Dub Three Men in a Tub. This week we will be learning the last two nursery rhymes in our notebook! We also continued to work on our handwriting, recognizing numbers 0-20, the letter sounds, counting to 100 by 5's and 10's, and recognizing our sight words.

And on Friday we had a special treat by getting to see the Zoo Man! We had lots of fun getting to see the different animals and learn some more about them!

Playing in the water with the fish

Making rainbow fish

Playing the color fish game.

Looking at our ocean!

The octopus tentacle match.

Working on our nursery rhyme notebook.

Our bean from last week have grown!

Making our submarine port holes.

The Zoo Man!

Corrina got to go up and hold a hissing coakroach!

I can't believe it's already the last week of school! This year just flew by! But this week we'll be talking about summer and ways to stay safe during the summer. We'll finish up our Nursery Rhyme notebook and then have our party on Friday!

Don't forget that this week is a uniform-free week!

Stephanie Ray

May 9- May 13

This week we talked about plants, how they grow and also the different parts of plants. We also got to plant grass seed and some beans! So far, nothing has come up above the soil...but we're hoping that on Monday we'll get to see something growing! In art, we made scented flowers (be sure to stop by and smell them sometime!), we also made flowers with roots and stems, and we colored pictures of the things that a seed needs to grow. We read several books about plants too, The Curious Garde, Whose Garden Is It?, The Carrot Seed, Planting a Rainbow, and Growing Vegetable Soup.

We did a math sheet were we counted and added beans and we got to taste carrots and then we graphed if we liked them or not. Only one person didn't like them! Each day we also talked about a different fruit or vegetable and the kids guessed if they grew on a tree, on a bush, on a vine, or underground. They put their guess up on our graph and then we got to see a picture of how that food really grew! After reading the story Growing Vegetable Soup we drew pictures of our favorite vegetables and wrote the names of them (by sounding out the letters). And then we made our own class vegetable soup!

The Nursery Rhymes that we learned this week were Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, and Mary, Mary Quite Contrary. The students enjoyed finding the rhyming words in each of them and also by sequencing pictures from the stories and making thier own Humpty Dumpty!

Mrs. Jones also came for her last visit and we got to do a little quiz and review all of the safety tips she has taught us over this past year. The kids did a great job on it!

We are still reviewing all our letters and the sounds that they make and being able to recognize the numbers 0-20. We are also counting to 100 by 10's and most of the kids can do it all by themselves! Next week we are going to start counting to 100 by 5's!

Planting our seeds!

Our new garden center toys!

Counting and adding seeds!

Coloring pictures of what a seed needs to grow!

Keifer and Grant being gardeners!

Our graphs from the week!

Next week we will be learning about Oceans and Ocean animals!

Have a great weekend!

Stephanie Ray

May 2- May 6

This week we talked about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Cinco de Mayo, and Mother's Day! We had a very full week! The kids got to see a blown-up globe and talk about how we can keep the Earth clean. We talked about where we are on the globe and they learned about the land and the oceans. We read a few books about recycling and talked about ways that they can recycle things.

For their Nursery Rhyme notebooks, they added Hey Diddle, Diddle, The Muffin Man, and Jack and Jill. They are getting very good at remembering the past ones that we've done! We acted out a few of our nursery rhymes, and then they sequenced pictures from them. We also worked on sorting pictures based on what letter they start with and we played a game called "Letters in my Name." The kids each got a piece of paper divided in half and they had to go around the room and write letters that are in their name on the happy-face side, and then letters that are not in their name on the sad-face side. They did a great job at this and had a lot of fun trying to find all the letters in their name!

We also had a great day on Cinco de Mayo! We got to see a map of Mexico and also found it is on the globe. The students got to pass around a blanket from Mexico, maracas from Mexico, and pesos! We practiced counting in Spanish and then they got to watch some Spanish dancing! We had a fun snack of chips and salsa, capri suns, and cheese roll-ups! They colored Spanish pictures, made maracas, danced with the maracas, and got to hit a pinata! They all ended up getting lots of candy from it too :)

And on Friday, we had lots of fun getting to eat muffins with our moms and giving them are card with pictures of us on it!

Playing the "Letters in my Name" Game

Cinco de Mayo! Decorating our bags to collect candy in from the pinata

Watching the Dancers!

Snack!

Our Pinata!

Making maracas!

Zachary ended up knocking our pinata down!

Then Mrs. Ray threw the candy so we could get some!

Dancing and shaking our maracas!

This week we are talking all about plants! Have a great week!


Stephanie Ray

April 26 - April 29

This week we talked about Earth Day and also ways that we can help the Earth! We read stories called It's Earth Day, Biscuits Earth Day Celebration, and The Great Trash Bash. All of them talked about how we want to pick up litter and recycle. We also talked about what it means to be a litterbug and how being one can be harmful to the animals and plants. The kids all made a Litter Bag, which they can hang up in the car and collect trash, to make sure it all gets put in the trash can and not on the ground. They also made rain sticks, they recycled old paper towel holders and turned them into something new, instead of throwing them away! We sang a few songs about picking up litter and keeping the Earth clean and also one about going on a picnic.

We started our Nursery Rhyme notebooks this week! This week we learned Baa, Baa Black Sheep. We added it to our notebook and sang the song several times throughout the week. We also got to act the poem out, find the rhyming words, and also words that were the same.

We also started counting to 100 by 10's, and a lot of the kids can do it all by themselves! And on Friday, they wanted to count all the numbers on our Hundreds Board, so we counted all the way to 100! They loved being able to do that. We have also learned a song that teaches us the months of the year, and they are all doing a great job with that too!

This week we found a cricket in the room, and Mrs. Ray tried to catch it but it was too fast and hid under the shelf, so the boys volunteered to catch it for her! Here are some pictures from the process :)

First, they tried shoving toys under the shelf to get it to come back out. 

 Then they needed a flashlight so they could see if it was still under there.

 Finally it hopped out and Gage caught it with the net!

 Carried it to the trash....

 Then they piled some trash on top of it and looked to make sure it would stay in there :)

This next week we will be talking about Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! We will continue work on our Nursery Rhyme notebook, and on Thursday we will celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

On Thursday for Cinco de Mayo, students do not need to wear a uniform! And they are encouraged to wear brightly colored clothes for our celebration!

And on Friday, we will have Muffins for Moms in the morning! We're hoping all of you will be able to make it to come and eat some muffins with your child on the day!

Have a great weekend! See you all on Monday!

Stephanie Ray

254-598-8101

April 18- April 21

This week we talked about Easter! The students got to hear the Easter story several times: in class from a few different books and also in Chapel when Mrs. Keevers class acted it out. We talked about how Jesus died for our sins and the students saw a glass of water and how it was clear and white, just like our hearts were when we were born...but then we talked about times when we do things that are not right; not listening to our parents, hitting friends, etc...and our heart turns a little darker (we added food color to the water). Then we talked about how Jesus forgives us when we mess up! He still loves us! And we added some bleach to the water and it turned back to white!

We also had a cross in the room and everytime Mrs. Ray caught someone doing something good, they got to go put a heart on the cross. By the end of the week our cross was filled up! In art, we made three crosses on a hill, a fingerpainted cross, some eggs in a basket, painted Easter eggs, and made little chicks.

We learned about syllables this week and sorted objects based on how many syllables they had, we also matched up eggs by upper and lowercase letters. We worked on writing our letters and writing our last names. We also reached into an Easter basket and tried to guess what was inside, we had to describe it to the rest of the class as we felt it. We also got to hunt for the eggs in the room, and then graphed what everyone had inside theirs.

This week we are talking about Earth day and how we need to take care of the Earth. We are also going to start doing nursery rhymes. We will be doing two nursery rhymes a week probably until the last week of school!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Class Picture Order Forms :: Due May 2