March 21- March 25

This past week we talked about the letters S and T and learned all about zoo's and zoo animals! We had a zookeeper station set up, where students could dress like zookeepers, go bird watching, catch fish, and feed the animals. The students could wear animals stickers and then act like the animal that they had. We did several fingerplays and songs about different animals and read the stories "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?", "The Baby Beebee Bird," "I am Pangoo the Penguin," and "Good Night Gorilla." (which we read about 6 or 7 times because all the kids liked it so much!). We talked and made a list of all the things that a zookeeper is responsible for, we talked about the different kinds of habitats the animals in the zoo live in, and we made lions, monkeys, hippos, and drew zoo animal in cages.

We talked about what an adjective is and the kids listed adjectives for several different zoo animals. They practiced counting how many eyes, noses, mouths, legs, tails, horns, and wings different animals have, and then they practiced writing their numbers. We sorted zoo animals based on characteristics they have in common and we saw how tall we all were next to an Emperor Penguin.

We talked about ordinal numbers, by moving an elephant through different rings. We worked on our number recognition skills by rolling a die and coloring the number on our zoo worksheet page. We also "painted" animal crackers with corn syrup and food coloring.

We really had a fun week pretending to be zookeepers!

This week we'll be talking about Texas and the letters U and V. We are also going to be learning about pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters!


Don't forget that the Book Fair is going on this week! Be sure to stop by!


Stephanie Ray

Important Reasons to Learn Spanish!

1. Spanish is the third most widely spoken language in the world! In about 25 countries, Spanish is the first language! Travel is lots more fun, if you speak the language of the people who live there!

2. Spanish and English share many words in common - most are of Latin origin. Plus, it is easier to learn other romance languages (those derived from Latin or "roman") such as Italian, Portuguese, and French!

3. Learning a second language makes one a better student! The more conections you feed your brain, the smarter you will be! AND - it is proven that students who learn a foreign language excel in college entrance exams!

4. To learn another language opens our hearts and minds to other peoples and their cultures - "to know another's language is to begin to know his heart . . ."!

5. It is FUN!

*This information is taken from Risas y Sonrisas Spanish Program for Kids by Leticia Smith

March 7- March 11

This week we worked on the letters Q and R. We read a story about Quilla the Queen and Rowdy the Rat. We also talked about wind and what the wind can do. We did a science experiment to see what kinds of things the wind can move, then graphed the results. We also made windsocks and got to bring them outside to see how well the wind could move them! We read several stories about the wind too!

We also talked about St. Patrick's Day this week! We read a book about the holiday and one about leprechauns too! We painted shamrocks, painted a clover field, made a rainbow and a pot of gold, and made "leaping" leprechauns. We also made a class book about what we would wish for if we caught a leprechaun and we also got to drink a magic leprechaun drink! We mixed blue and yellow to make our special green drink! We also played a game called "Leprechaun, Leprechaun, Where's Your Shamrock?"

This week we continued to work on rhyming words, and the kids helped to spell the rhyming words they were coming up with by sounding them out! They are getting really good at sounding out words and trying to figure out what letters they are hearing! We also worked on number recognition and also on writing numbers 0-10. We worked on simple addition using gummi bears and continued to work on recognizing our last names and are beginning to work on writing our full name.

When we get back from Spring Break we will be studying the letters S and T and studying zoo animals!

Hope you are all having a great Spring Break! See you next Monday!


Stephanie Ray
254-598-8101

Feb 21- March 4

Sorry I haven't blogged lately, but I've had a real busy past couple weeks! But anyways, these past two weeks we talked about the letters M, N, O, and P. We read several books about the letters and we practiced writing them and tried to come up with words that start with those letters. We also learned about clocks, worked on rhyming words, and making patterns. The students each made thier own clock and we talked about the big hand and the little hand. They also learned that we look at the big hand to decide what hour it is, and the little hand tells us the minutes. We saw how long a second was, how long a minute was, and how long an hour was.

We also worked a lot on our writing. They made number books and also practiced writing the days of the week after we read the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." We are also starting to practice recognizing and writing our last name.

We went fishing for numbers, played an eye spy game, searched for different letters, sorted shapes, reviewed our colors, and learned about our fingerprints. We got to take our fingerprints and then graph what kind of design they made. We learned that everyones fingerprint is different!

We continued to add words to our word wall and letters to our Alphabet Book! The pockets with the popsicle sticks is still going well too! We've already had a few students who've gotten 5 sticks and got to pick out a prize!

This week we will be talking about the wind, St. Patricks Day, and the letters Q and R!

March 10th is the last day for box tops! So bring them in this week! The winning class gets a uniform-free day on Friday!

And don't forget that Spring Break is next week! :)

Stephanie Ray
254-598-8101

Spring BoxTops Drive

It's time to start turning in BoxTops 

for our spring BoxTops drive. 

The contest is now underway and will conclude next Thursday, March 10. The class with the most BoxTops will earn an out of uniform day on Friday, March 11! Woo hoo!

Feb 14- Feb 18

This week we talked about the letters K and L and we studied transportation. We talked about all the different ways we could think of that we can get from one place to another; boat, car, train, airplane, hot air balloon, bike, motorcycle, ship, racecar, truck, etc. And we read lots of books about different modes of transportation- the kids loved talking about and seeing different kinds of boats and trucks! We made traffic lights, train names, and painted cars and put them on the road, all driving to different places! We ran cars and trucks in the paint and drove them over paper and we also had a car wash in our classroom, where we got to scrub and clean our cars before they went driving.

We practiced adding and subtracting marshmallows this week, practiced counting and writing numbers 1-10, and made predictions about whether different items would sink or float and graphed the results, then we got to see a state map and talked about where we live on the map. The kids worked to come up with words that started with letters L and K this week also!

On Friday we also talked about President's Day and we learned who our president is and we also talked about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and learned that their pictures are on the quarter and the penny.

This next week we will be reviewing the letters M and N and also studying about time and reviewing all our colors and shapes too!

Don't forget about conferences on Monday! There will be no class that day, but extended care students are welcome to come! They do not need to be in uniform, but please remember to pack a sack lunch!

We are also starting to collect box tops again, and the winning class will get a uniform-free day the Friday before Spring Break! So start saving those box tops!

Hope you all have a great weekend! See you on Monday!

Stephanie Ray

*Let me know if you need to be reminded of your scheduled conference time on Monday.

Jan 31- Feb 11

Sorry I didn't blog for last week, but we've had some pretty weird two weeks with the snow days and everything! So last week we studied rainforests and jungles. We read several books about different animals that live there and got to make snakes, toucans, and monkeys. We did a collage using different things that we get from the rainforest- coffee grounds, coffee beans, tea leaves, and cocoa. We also did a taste testing of things that are grown in the rainforest. We tried chocolate, mangos, bananas, coconut, macadamia nuts, tapioca, and pineapples. Then we graphed which ones we liked (chocolate won! everyone liked the chocolate!). We talked about the letters G and H last week too and added them to our Alphabet book.

This week we learned about community helpers. We talked about and read stories about doctors, dentists, mailmans, chefs, vets, construction workers, and several other jobs. We worked on counting to 100 by ten's this week and putting the numbers 1-20 in the correct order. We also practiced our writing this week and worked on making stuff for our Valentine's party! We also added I and J to our Alphabet book.

This next week we will be studying transportation and the letters K and L!

Don't forget that our Valentine's Party is on Monday! It will start at 11:00, but if you would like to get there early (around 10:45ish) to decorate the classroom, that would be great! I'll have someplace for me and the kids to go, so that we won't be in the way :) 


Make sure you bring some Valentine's for your child to hand out to the other kids too! And if you haven't already brought 4 dollars for the happy meals, please bring it on Monday! Thanks!


Also, if you haven't signed up for a conference time already, you can find the sign up sheet outside the classroom. Let me know if the 21st won't work for you to meet and we can figure out another time.


Have a great weekend!
Stephanie Ray