Dec 6- Dec 10

We had a lot of fun this week talking about Christmas, the gingerbread man, and the letter "G." The students loved decorating the classroom! They can decorate our two trees in the room during center time and one day they even put garland up in the kitchen area. They also love seeing all their Christmas artwork up around the room and in the hallway. This week we made sparkling snowflakes, a Christmas tree mobile, gingerbread men, cinnamon-smelling gingerbread men ornaments, and a "G" garden. For the letter "G" we had a puppet named Gus the Goat and read a story about him.

This week we also practiced sorting gingerbread men and when on a gingerbread man letter hunt. We played a jingle bell listening game, and a matching game using hershey kisses that had letters on the bottom of them. We practiced counting gingerbread men and also got to make some patterns. Ian also brought us some gingerbread cookies to eat one day! We read lots of good Christmas books this week like "Toot and Puddle," "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies," "Merry Christmas, Little Critter," "Oliver All Alone," and "Gingerbread Baby." When we read the book "Gingerbread Baby" each student got to hold a mask of one of the characters from the story and afterwards we talked about what their character did in the story. They love playing with those masks too!

On Wednesday Mrs. Jones came to visit our class again to talk to us some more about fire safety. The kids got to practice crawling under the "smoke" and learned what to do if there's a fire in our house.

We had lots of fun today at Santa's Workshop! We made star ornaments, santa ornaments, chocolate-dipped spoons, reindeer ornaments, reindeer food, decorated gingerbread cookies, danced ballet, and got to see Santa!

Don't forget our Christmas Program is Wednesday the 15th at 8:30. It is probably only going to last 10-15 minutes and we would love to see you all there! The kids are very excited about it, we've been practicing for weeks and they all have a special part to play! And don't forget about the costumes....if you have any questions about what you need to bring, please ask!

And on Friday the 17th at 10:30 we're having our class Christmas Party! Thanks to everyone who signed up to bring stuff and remember we would LOVE for you to come! We'll have plenty of food to eat and fun crafts to make.

If you have not yet brought your 10 dollars for the Gala project, if you could bring it by the paty date, that would be great!

I have some pictures from this past week and of today from Santa's Workshop. Enjoy!

Nov 28- Dec 3

This week we took down all our Fall stuff and started decorating for Christmas! We also talked about safety and the letter C. We brought out a new puppet, "Curtis the Cow," and read a story called Cathy Cook. We practiced writing c's by making a chain filled with c's and also by writing rainbow c's. We are continuing to work on our letter sounds and talking about how important it is to know the sound that the letters make so that we can learn to read! We are only working on the sounds of the letters that we've learned so far: S, F, Y, A, K, H, Q, O, N, I, and C. It would be great if you could review these letters with your child at home for some extra practice! And we are working really hard on being able to write our names by ourselves. I have seen lots of improvment with this!

We have worked in small groups this week to review letters and we played a letter hunt game, we worked on our cutting skills and on making groups of ten. We also worked on sorting by colors and then counting our different groups.

For safety this week we talked about the number 911 and how it is a very important number, but it's one that we never call for fun. We talked about what an emergency is and when we might need to use that number. The students practiced "calling" 911 by using the phones they cut out. We talked about how to be safe in the car, at school, when crossing the street, and at home. We sorted items that were either dangerous to play with or safe to play with. We read a story called First Aid and talked about what to do when we get hurt. We also played a "find the matches" game. I made fake matches and hid them around the room and if a student found one they would bring it to me (an adult, because it's not to play with) and then they would get  a hug. They had a lot of fun with that! We practiced stopping, dropping, and rolling and did an experiement with a candle and talked about how fire needs air, so that's why we don't go running if our clothes are on fire. But we stop, drop, and roll. We also talked a lot about strangers and how we never go with someone we don't know, even if they seem nice or try to give us something.

For art this week we did marble paintings, made shape snowmen, decorated some ornaments, decorated shirts to hang on a clothesline, made poinsetta flowers, practiced mixing colors together to see what new colors we could make.

Next week we'll be talking about gingerbread men and the letter "G."

Don't forget about Santa's workshop next Friday! And we need parent volunteers to help out with the craft in our classroom!! Let me know if you would be interested in helping!

Also our Christmas party sign-up sheet will be up on Monday. I hope all of you will be able to make it to the party, it's going to be lots of fun!

We still need 10 dollars per child for the Gala art project if we haven't gotten it yet. And we are moving the work day to finish it up to next Wednesday (December 8th). We'll start pulling kids into the art room to finish it up after chapel...around 8:45. If you would like to come help out with that, that would be great!


Hope everyone has a great weekend! See you all Monday!


Stephanie Ray
254-598-8101

Candy Cane Lane next Wednesday, December 1

You most certainly will not want to miss the First Annual Candy Cane Lane Children's Holiday Fashion Show and Luncheon benefiting the Children's Hospital at Scott & White on Wednesday, December 1.

The fashion show will feature some of our adorable students modeling holiday fashions from My Vintage Baby, Orient Expressed and original designs from Amanda Duggan, a mom of a CCS student!

The luncheon will begin at 11 a.m. and is catered by Megg's Cafe. Tickets are $20. Space is limited so we urge out parents and friends to reserve a chair as soon as possible. To make your reservation, please see Kathy Barnes in the office or call 774.8622.

Parents Plus is also hosting a Holiday Bazaar in conjunction. Talented parents and friends of the school will have lots of gifts on hand to purchase. It is really going to be a fabulous day. The Bazaar will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission to the Bazaar is free.

Nov 15- Nov 19

This past week we talked all about Thanksgiving and the letter "I." We read several books about Thanksgiving and turkeys. We talked about how the pilgrims came to America in a boat called the Mayflower and met the Indians who taught them how to plant corn and they became friends. We also talked a lot about things that we are thankful for. The students really enjoyed talking about Thanksgiving this week!

We made handprint turkeys, thankful trees, a Thanksgiving placemat, and an Indian vest and hat. We had a lot of fun at the sharing feast; dressing up like Indians, trying new food, and bringing the apple juice for everyone to share. Thanks to all the moms who helped set our class table!

We had a new puppet this week, "Izzy the Iguana," and read a book about an inchworm. We practiced tracing and writing the letter "I," continued working on our letter sounds, worked on making AB patterns, made a number flip book, and sorted feathers and turkeys.

This next week we only have two days of school, so we'll be reviewing our letters and continuing to talk about Thanksgiving! (We will be offering extended care on Wednesday until 3:00).

We started working on our Gala art project today! It's looking great so far- thanks to the moms who came and helped with it! Don't forget that we're asking for 10 dollars per child to help pay for the cost of the art supplies. If you would, plesae bring it by our class Christmas party (December 17th) Thanks!

We are also starting to plan our Christmas party! It will be on December 17th and will start at 10:30. We're still working out all the details of what we'll be eating and what everyone needs to bring, but just be thinking about it!

Hope you all are having a great Monday and that you enjoy your Thanksgiving break!

Stephanie Ray
254-598-8101 (I got a new phone this weekend...so new number, you can get rid of the old one :) Thanks!

Nov 8- Nov 12

Sorry this post came a little late! Most of you know I was sick and then I went out of town for a wedding...so it's been kind of a crazy weekend!

But last week we talked about health and nutrition, the letter N, and the color brown. We had a new puppet this week, "Nellie the Nurse" and a book about her. We practiced cutting and gluing brown paper on the letter N, painted the letter N, traced it, found it the newspaper, glued noodles on it, and sorted "n" items. We also talked about the number one and practiced writing it, we have also worked on tracing the numbers 0-4.

We read the book "Little Raccoon Catches a Cold," "Germs Make Me Sick," and "The Beastly Feast." We  talked about a poster of the different food groups and learned about some new fruits and vegetables. We made tissue Tina and tissue Ted. We sorted food based on color, made a plate with breakfast and lunch food, made a carrot person, and did a nutrition painting (we used fruits and vegetables as the stamps for the paint). We learned some new fingerplays and listened to a rhyming song and practiced saying and coming up with words that rhymed with some of our fruits.

We also had Mrs. Jones come visit our class again this week. She brought Buckle Bear and talked to us about how important it is that we, and everyone in the car, buckle our seat belts.

This week we are talking about Thanksgiving and the letter "I."

Don't forget about the Sharing Feast on Friday! And our class is responsible for bringing the apple juice for all the students, so we are asking that each child brings one carton of apple juice by Friday to share with everyone. Thanks!


Have a great night!

Stephanie Ray

CCS Celebrates Veterans Day

Please join Christ Church School as we celebrate Veterans Day on
Thursday, November 11, at 11 a.m.

Students are encouraged to wear a white or red shirt. Uniform pants/
shorts/skirts are still required.

At 11 a.m. we will have our own Veterans Day Parade to honor all
veterans, especially parents and grandparents of students who are
veterans. We would love it if you could join us on this special day!

Nov 1- Nov 5

This week we started talking about Fall! We talked about the changes in the weather and how the leaves change colors. The kids collected leaves and talked about how they are the same and different. We counted leaves and acorns and they sorted leaves based on their colors. We did leaf rubbings, made leaf bracelets, water painted leaf cut-outs, made glitter leaf magnets, painted a leaf using eye droppers, and also painted using spray bottles (they really enjoyed that....it was messy though! :) The students also colored their own Leaf Book, it helps them to review some positional words. There is a leaf attached to the book that they can put on, under, behind, between, above, etc. the pictures (you should check their backpacks for it, they were excited about getting them made!). We also read several stories about Fall, including a book about how seeds get around. We then sequenced cards about an oak tree growing. 

We worked on making patterns this week too. We read a book about patterns and the kids tried to find different patterns around the room. We are still working on learning our letter sounds and recognizing and writing our numbers 1-10. We also saw our first and last names written and traced both names. 

We also learned about the letter O this week. We met Ollie the Octopus and read a book about Octopus Stew. The students practiced writing the letter O, wrote O's in oatmeal, and made "olives." 

Next week we'll be talking about Health and Nutrition, the color brown, and the letter N.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

Stephanie Ray

CCS Book Fair Saturday! Support CCS!

Oct 25- Oct 29

This week we talked about pumpkins! We read several books about pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and we had a "Mr. Pumpkin Head" that the students could put different faces on. We cut the top off a pumpkin and got to feel the inside. We made pumpkin books and talked about how the pumpkin feels, how it looks, what it smells like, etc. We made pumpkin prints, paper bag pumpkins, and also some pumpkin spiders, ghosts, and handprint bats to help decorate our classroom for our Halloween Party! Thanks again to all of you who came to help! It was so much fun!

We are continuing to work on recognizing numbers 1-10 and reviewing letters we've learned about and knowing their sounds. We are still working on graphing and making patterns too.

This week we also told the story of Zaccaeus for chapel and it turned out so cute! They all did such a great job! I know they were happy to see some of their parents there to watch also. And we enjoyed going to the pumpkin patch later on that morning and getting to bring back some pumpkins! Thanks again for those of you who walked over there with us!

This upcoming week we will be talking about Autumn, the color orange, and the letter "O."

Have a Happy Halloween!

Stephanie Ray

Oct 18-Oct 22

This week we talked about kings and queens to get us ready for Canterbury Faire! We also talked about diamonds and the letter Q. We read several different books about kings, queens, dragons, and castles and we made dragon puppets, crowns, and jeweled necklaces. We used our "Quilla the Queen" puppet and read the book about her. Students practiced tracing and writing the letter "q." We also made a class "quilt" which is hung up outside our classroom above the cubbies. The students made diamonds with pipe cleaners and also put different diamond puzzles together.

We are continuing to work on recognizing numbers 1-10 and practicing to trace/write them. We have also started working on learning the sounds that the letters we've already talked about make.

This week we are talking about pumpkins! There is no new letter for the week, so we will just continue to review letters we've already learned about.

Have a great night!

Stephanie Ray

Oct 11-Oct 15

This week we talked about our body and movement. We read the book "From Head to Toe" several times and would act like the different animals in the story. We sang and danced to the "Hokey Pokey," and played body part musical squares. We did several fingerplays that would have us touching our chins, knees, shoulders, heads, etc. We read the story "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More," and then we traced our bodies and got to color them. We also made funny faces on paper plates.

We talked about the letter H and met the puppet Harry the Hippo and read his story. We talked about words we know that start with H and practiced the sound that the letter makes. We also learned about the rectangle. We talked about how it's different from a square and met Ricky the Rectangle. We made rectangle collages and practiced sorting shapes.

We are continuing to work on our scissor skills, writing our name, and recognizing the numbers 0-10. I've recently added some new materials to our centers- some that work on our fine motor skills and also ones that require matching and sorting. The students are really enjoying playing with them!

Next week we'll be talking about Kings and Queens, the letter Q, purple, and diamonds.

Also, we have some new Spanish words that the kids are working on. They all seem to really be enjoying Spanish and it's fun to hear them use the words in class, so if you would continue to review with them, that would be great!

Song: "Los Colores" (The Colors)

Red is ROJO, red es ROJO
Blue es AZUL, blue es AZUL
Yellow es AMARILLO, yellow es AMARILLO
VERDE green, VERDE green.
Black es NEGRO, black es NEGRO
BLANCO es white, BLANCO es white
Purple es MORADO, purple es MORADO
Brown CAFE, brown CAFE.
Pink es ROSA, pink es ROSA
GRIS es gray, GRIS es gray
ANARANJADO es orange, ANARANJADO es orange
Shout Hooray, Shout Hooray!

*I've heard them sing this song when they're playing in the centers sometimes, so I'm sure if you asked them about it, they would be able to sing it, or at least part of it.

"Partes de el Cuerpo" (Parts of the Body)

Brazos- arms
Nariz- nose
Ojos- eyes
Orejas- ears
Boca- mouth
Mano- hand
Manos- hands
Pie- foot
Pies- feet
Dedos de las manos- fingers
Dedos de los pies- toes

"Numeros" (Numbers)

Once- eleven
Doce- twelve
Trece- thirteen
Catorce- fourteen
Quince- fifteen

More Upcoming Events!

Just letting you all know that we are going to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday October 27th. I think we are probably going to leave to walk over there around 9:00 (and then be there for 30 minutes). If any of you are interested in coming with us, please feel free too! We would love to have you! Students are allowed to wear jeans and a school t-shirt that day. Also that morning for chapel our class will be doing the bible story. You are invited to come watch that too! We will be teaching the story of Zacchaeus.

For our Halloween Party on October 29th we are letting students know that they will not be allowed to wear costumes BUT they can wear crazy socks! Our party will start at 11:00 and all of you are welcome to come! Thanks to those of you who are already helping with the party!

Don't forget about Canterbury Faire next weekend on October 23rd! I will have a sign-up sheet out tomorrow if you would be willing to sign up for a 30 minute time slot to run our class's booth. 

We are also starting to think about ideas for our Gala project! If you have an idea that you want to share with us, please let me know, or you can contact Barbara Johnson. Every class will be asked to create a project that can be sold at the auction (we are supposed to be finished with the artwork by Winter Break). The theme for the Gala this year is Starry Knights.




Hope you all are having a great week!


Stephanie Ray

Royal Volunteers Needed for Canterbury Faire

BAKE SALE
We are asking for everyone to donate one large item (such as a cake, pie, or bread) and one batch of small items individually wrapped (such as cookies, brownies, rice krispy treats).
• Label everything with tags or printed labels from your computer, be sure to mention if the item contains nuts. Don’t worry about pricing, we will handle that.
• Presentation is everything! Large items sell much faster if they look great. Check the dollar store for Fall or Halloween plates to display your creation.
• Individual items don’t need to be wrapped as fancy, most of these will be sold and eaten at lunchtime. These will be priced at 50 cents each, so package accordingly (one brownie per bag, two cookies per bag, etc.).
• Delivery times: Friday, October 22 before 4pm at the front of the school, or Saturday October 23 before 10am at our table by the Parish Hall.

CLASS BOOTHS
Sign up for a time to help at your classroom booth. Each class has a booth and parents need to sign up for 30 minute time slots. If you are unable to go into your child's class and sign up, send your teacher an email and let her know when you can help.

RAFFLE
Ready for a fall getaway? The Canterbury Faire committee is so excited to announce a raffle for a weekend getaway to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. It is a kid's dream and fun for parents, too! Tickets for the raffle are available in the office. Tickets are $10 per ticket or 3 tickets for $20.
A special thank you to our generous raffle sponsor Sherri and Graves Erskine, Geico Local Office serving the Killeen/Temple area.

Questions? Don't know what you can do to help? Contact Holly Steele, Canterbury Faire Chairperson. Thanks everyone for supporting this Parents Plus fundraiser!!

Oct 4- Oct 8

This week we learned about our five senses. We learned a song and played with our "5 Senses Man." We would sort pictures based on what sense he would use. We made binoculars, felt braille, talked a little about sign language, made shakers, and looked at different things using a magnifying glass. We also played a "guess that sound game" where we tried to guess what sounds our friends were making. We also got to touch different items and we talked about how they felt, we got to play with goop and also with balloons filled with different stuff (gel, rice, sand, sugar). For the sense of smell we made smelly flowers and for taste we tasted limes, skittles, potato chips, and cocoa powder, and then talked about each of them tastes different on our tongue. We had a really fun week learning about our different senses and getting to use each of them!

We learned about the letter K this week and met Katy the Kangaroo and read a story about her. We painted K's and have also started to "drive" on our letters. I have a big sheet of paper with a K written on it that students get to follow the arrows and "drive" thier car on the line. We also talked about the shape oval and how it's different from a circle and met Opal the Oval.

Next week we'll be learning about our bodies and movement, rectangles, the color green, and the letter H!

This week Mrs. Jones from the fire station came and talked to us about fire saftey and then today we go to see a real fire engine and meet some real firefighters! We really enjoyed it! We also read several books about firefighters.

We have already started planning for our Halloween Party! We will be collecting 2 dollars per child to cover the cost for sandwich meat, cheese, and bread. If you could please turn that in by Friday October 22nd, that would be great. Also, if you are interested in bringing/making a side dish, helping with decorations, helping with the day of, etc. please contact Barbara Johnson (Ian Johnson's) mom at Barbie1030@gmail.com.

Don't forget about conferences on Monday! There will be no school that day, except for extended care. Students don't need to wear their uniform that day but we are asking that they bring a lunch.

If you have forgetten (or just want to be reminded of :) your time for conferences, let me know! See you all on Monday! Have a great weekend!

Stephanie Ray

Sept 27-Oct 1

This week we learned about apples, the letter A, and the color red. Students met the puppet Artie the Alligator and we read the story "Apple Annie" all week. They looked for the letter a in the stories that we read this week and practiced tracing the letter a also. We also read "Apples, Apples, Apples" and "Minerva Louise and the Red Truck." We learned about the parts of an apple: the skin, the seeds, and the stem. We got to taste apples and we will be making another class book about our favorite apple treat to try. (Thanks to everyone who brought apples for us to taste!).

We made torn paper apples, painted apple trees, made cinnamon scented apples, glued small apples on the letter A, and made worm apples. We practiced graphing this week. I would ask a "yes" or "no" question and the students would come up and put an apple with their name on it on either the "yes" or the "no" side. We would then talk about which side had more, which had less, and count how many said yes and how many said no. We rolled a dice and then would put that many apples into our basket. We played an apple match up game, where we had to find the apples that had the same design drawn on them. We also learned some apple songs and sang them this week.

Students started computers last week and we'll start going every Friday for about 30 minutes. Spanish is also going well! Senora Johnson says we have a great class and it's so fun to hear them using Spanish words in class! Here are some things they are working on:

Numbers:
1- uno
2- dos
3- tres
4- cuatro
5- cinco
6- seis
7- siete
8- ocho
9- nueve
10- diez
11- once
12- doce
13- trece
14- catorce
15- quince

Colors:
Red- rojo
Blue- azul
Yellow- amarillo
Green- verde
Black- negro
White- blanco
Purple- morado
Brown- cafe
Pink- rosa
Gray- gris
Orange- anaranjado

This upcoming week we'll be learning about the five senses, blue, ovals, and the letter K. Don't forget Monday is the day we'll be blessing the pets! Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Stephanie Ray

Halloween Party

Just letting you all know that we're going to start planning our halloween party soon! If you are interested in helping with the party, by providing food, party supplies, treats, coming the day of to help, or even if you have some good ideas, please contact Barbara Johnson (Ian Johnson's mother). You can email her at Barbie1030@gmail.com. 


We hope to hear from you soon if you are interested in helping, because then we can decide on what food we want to have, the treats we want to serve, and any decorative items that we need to get!


Thanks!

Christ Church School Sunday :: October 3

We hope you make plans to join all of us for Christ Church School Sunday this Sunday, October 3.

CCS is the primary ministry of Christ Church and the parishoners always appreciate seeing "their" students. At the 11 a.m. service the church will offer prayers for the school and will recognize the faculty, staff, school board, but most importantly our students. Upper School students will also sing.

Following we will have cake and fellowship in the Parish Hall. It is a lovely morning and we hope you will be there.

Students are encouraged to wear their Chapel uniforms.

Christ Church School Sunday :: October 3

We hope you make plans to join all of us for Christ Church School Sunday this Sunday, October 3.

CCS is the primary ministry of Christ Church and the parishoners always appreciate seeing "their" students. At the 11 a.m. service the church will offer prayers for the school and will recognize the faculty, staff, school board, but most importantly our students. Upper School students will also sing.

Following we will have cake and fellowship in the Parish Hall. It is a lovely morning and we hope you will be there.

Students are encouraged to wear their Chapel uniforms.

Upcoming Events!

Just a reminder that we are still collecting box tops. Check your pantry to see if you have any box tops that you can contribute to our class. If we win we get to have a pizza party! The competition will only be going on for a couple more weeks, so find those box tops! :)

CCS Sunday is this Sunday! Remember that there will be a reception afterwards. The service starts at 11 a.m. Your children will sit with you during the service.

St. Francis Day is next Monday. If you are planning on bringing a pet, remember they must be on a leash or either in a cage, and that a parent needs to come and bring it. We can't keep them at school. Your child is also welcome to bring a stuffed animal, drawing, or picture if they would like (if their pet is not able to come).

Conferences are on October 11th and I think that most of you have signed up for a time already, but if not, let me know if you need to reschedule for a new day or anything like that. Also, there is NO SCHOOL that day. Unless your child is in extended care, there are things planned for them during the day.

On this Friday (the 1st) we are having an apple tasting day. I have a sign-up sheet outside the door if you would like to bring something for us to try. If you bring apples, I would ask that you bring 3 of one kind (because we'll be talking about which one was our favorite).

Thanks so much!!

Sept 20-24

So this week we talked about the letter Y and met Yippy the Yack, we talked about our homes, and focused on the color yellow. We found read a book about Yippy and found the Y's in it and practiced writing the letter Y.  We traced the letter Y, glued yellow things on Y, and painted Y's.

We worked on sorting for math this week, we sorted items into different rooms of the house and sorted dinosaurs into different groups. We also started making patterns using unifex cubes.

We talked a lot about our houses and the things that we find in it. We did some rhymes to talk about who lives in our house, we made houses out of shapes, and found pictures from magazines and put them into houses.

We read the book "Shelter" this week and also "The Three Little Pigs." We made the 3 pigs houses, one made out of straw (shredded wheat), one made out of sticks (pretzels), and the last one made from bricks (cheez-its).

We built houses with blocks and with playdoh, painted a sun yellow and made prints using a lemon. We also talked about yams, and got to see, feel, and smell an uncooked one, and then see, feel, and smell a cooked one. We talked about what is different and the same with them.

This upcoming week we will be learning about apples, the letter A, and the color red. On Friday the 1st we are going to do an apple tasting day, so if you would be willing and able to bring in a few apples or some apple juice, applesauce, or anything else apple, that would be great! I'll have a sign-up sheet available on Monday.

See you all tomorrow!!

Family Shields

Family Shields on display at Canterbury Faire 2009

Canterbury Faire is just around the corner (October 23!). We are asking each family to help with decorations by designing their own family coat of arms on the shield provided. During medieval battles, knights would put their family coat of arms on their shields so they could easily be identified as friend or foe on the battlefield. Have fun with it and make this a family project to do together with your children. If you still have your shield from last year, please send back so we can display the shields for others to view.

Shields will go home with students Friday. Keep in mind that this project is per family, not per student.

Please have the project completed and returned to school no later than Monday, October 18, so we can display them on the that week. On the day of the Faire they will be displayed outside on a castle wall to add to the medieval theme of the event.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Sept 13-17

This week we talked about Families, the letter F, and triangles.

For the family theme, we read the book "Families Are Different," and talked about how our families are different but still all special. The kids made their families using popsicle sticks, yarn, construction paper, and googly eyes. They all seemed to really enjoy making and talking about their families! we also read "Are You My Mother?" and colored cranes and birds from the story, we read "I Go With My Family to Grandma's," and "I Love You Always and Forever." We made our own "family trees" and made handprints and talked about why we love our families.

For the letter F this week we met Frank the Frog and traced the F/f's on his stomach. We read a story about the letter F, looked for F's in the books that we were reading, traced the letter F on strips of paper, and practiced writing an uppercase F on the board. We also wrote F's and then glued yarn to it, and also glued triangles to a big letter F.

For triangles we met Terri the Triangle and counted all her sides and then all her corners. We sang a song about triangles, practiced cutting them, sat in a big triangle on the carpet. We also got to make a triangle by rolling a ball of yarn to each other to make one big triangle. We practiced sorting shapes and finding triangles. On Thursday for art we painted construction paper with vinegar and stuck tissue paper triangles on it. After it dried, we pulled the tissue paper off and the triangle shape stayed on the paper. They also made triangle fish, by gluing different shaped triangles together to make a fish.

We also went "fishing" in class, we took turns to see what we could catch (circle, square, triangle, F, or S) and then showed and told the class what we caught.

Next week we'll be talking about the color yellow, the letter Y, and the theme "My House."

Also the Feelings book that we made from last week I will start sending home with one child for a week at a time. When it's your child's turn to have it, just make sure you send it back by Friday so we can send it out again on the following Monday. See you all next week!

Email or call me if you have any questions about anything.

Stephanie Ray
stephanieray613@live.com
402-540-1735

Sept 6-10

This week we talked about our feelings, the letter "s" and squares. We pulled out a felt board with a face and the students had a lot of fun making his feelings look different, by changing his mouth and eyes and eyebrows. We also read a story called "The Way I Feel," and talked about how we feel in different situations. I also took a picture of each student making a face (bored, sad, happy, surprised, etc) and am going to put it together to make a class book called "Our Feelings."

For the letter S we brought out Sammy the Seal (a puppet) the students came up and traced the S on his stomach and helped him find all the letter S's in our book. They also got to practice writing a big S on the dry erase board. For art, we made snakes, stamped with stars, the letter s, and squares. We also made sand art (which the students really enjoyed!) and painted on big squares.

We also met Susie the Square and practiced sorting items that were "squares" and "not squares." We sang some new songs at circle time and learned a new fingerplay. The students also played a "sneaky snake" game.

They are continuing to do well with calendar time, music class and also with spanish. In Spanish they have been practicing words like hola (hello), adios (goodbye), hasta pronto (see you soon), aqua (water), leche (milk), el (he), ella (she), and gracias (thank you). So if you would like to practice with them at home, that would be great! They are also working on numbers and colors in Spanish too. If you would like a full list of what they're learning, let me know!

This upcoming week we'll be talking about our families, the letter F, and triangles!

See you all on Monday!

Aug 30- Sept 3

This past week we talked a lot about circles and about friends. We read the book, "Minerva Louise at School," and "I'll be Your Friend, Smudge." We talked about how we can be good friends to the other kids in our class and also about the kinds of things we do with our friends.

For circles, we practiced tracing them, cutting them out, gluing them, painting them, drawing them, making them in shaving cream, and finding them around our classroom. Students were also introduced to the concept of zero. We will work more on that this week also.

For math we practiced sorting shapes. The students did great at this! We used a felt board and would take turns putting the shapes into the right group, we also talked about how the shapes are different and also ways that they are the same.

This upcoming week, we will be talking about feelings, squares and the letter "s."

Hope you all had a great long weekend! See you tomorrow!

Mrs. Ray

Show Some Spirit!

Back by popular demand, we are offering the navy blue CCS Knights shirt in short sleeve. Please return this form to the office to place your order. Orders are due no later than Friday, September 10. The cost is $12.

We do have some long sleeve Knights t-shirts available as well. The cost for the long sleeve t-shirt is $15.

New Schedule

Hey! Just letting you all know that our daily schedule has changed a little bit, we had to switch some things up. So here is the new one:

8:00am
   Meet and Greet
8:10am
   Calendar Time
8:30am
   Table Activities (small group or one-on-one math concept)
   (Wednesday- Chapel)
9:00am
   Snack and bathroom break
9:15am (T/TH)
   Spanish
9:30am
   Recess
9:45am (M/W/F)
   Music
10:00am
   Center Time (small group art activity)
11:00am
   Circle Time (story time, sharing time, fingerplays, puppets, etc...)
11:20am
   Outside
11:45am
   Dismissal and lunch for EC students

First Full Week

We made it through our first full week of school! This week we really focused on getting to know the classroom, we opened up the sensory center (which the students loved!) and the writing center, where we practiced using letter stamps and dry erase boards. We started our calendar time in the morning, where we learned a song for the days of the week and talked about the weather.

We also worked hard this week to be able to recognize our names. We painted our names, colored them, did rainbow writing with them, and glued paper to the first letter of our names. And we even have some students who can spell their own names already! We worked with using scissors and glue sticks the correct way also.

For math, I introduced the counters that we'll be using this year. We practiced counting and sorting by colors. We also worked a little bit with making patterns using our counters.

For this upcoming week,we'll be focusing on the the theme of "friends." We will talk about how to be a good friend and we'll also be working a lot with circles and the number zero.

First Days of School

We had a great first two days last week! We spent time learning the routines of the class, playing in centers, practicing using scissors and glue, reading books, and singing songs. The theme for this week is "My Classroom," so we're still getting used to how everything is done! We'll be reading the book "Pipo, the Puma," "Hello!" and some other back to school books. We'll also be learning some new songs to help us out during calendar time. We're learning about our different centers and we'll also be practicing counting and making patterns during math time. Looking forward to a great week!

Weekly Themes for 2010/2011 School Year

8/23         My Class

8/30         Friends- Circle

9/6           My Feelings- Square/”S”

9/13         My Family- Triangle/”F”

9/20         My Home- Yellow/”Y”

9/27         Apples- Red/”K”

10/4         Five Senses- Oval/Blue/”O”

10/11       My Body and Movement- Rectangle/Green/”H”

10/18       Kings and Queens- Diamond/Purple/”Q”

10/25       Pumpkins- Black and White

11/1         Autumn- Orange/”A”

11/8         Health and Nutrition- Brown/”N”

11/15       Thanksgiving- "I"

11/22       Sharing Feast

November 24-26 Thanksgiving Holiday

11/29        Safety- "C"

12/6          Gingerbread Man- "G"

12/13        Happy Birthday Jesus- Star/"J"

December 20-31 Christmas Break

1/3             Winter Fun- "M"

1/10           Animal Homes- "B"

1/17           Dinosaurs- “D”

1/24           All Kinds of Animals- “P”

1/31           Community Helpers- “X”

2/7             Transportation- “T”

2/14           Hats

2/21           Valentines- Hearts/Pink/”V”

2/28           Rhymes and Stories with Three- “R”

3/7             Movement in the Wind- “W”

March 14-18 Spring Break

3/21           Zoo- “Z”

3/28           Texas- “L”

4/4             Spring Weather- “U”

4/11           Insects

4/18           Easter- "E"

4/25           Insects and Spiders

5/2             How Plants Grow

5/9             All Kinds of Plants

5/16           Ocean and Sea Life

5/23           Summer Activities and Safety

Let me know if you would like a printed copy of this or if you have any questions!

Welcome to my Blog!

This is going to be a way for you to see what's going on in our classroom and what we are learning about every week. I am so excited for this school year to start! We're going to have a great year with lots of fun and learning!

Mrs. Ray