3rd Quarter in Review!

We have had an amazing time in our room since Christmas. We lost a friend to another town, which made us sad; however, we gained a new friend as well. A week after we returned from Christmas break, we welcomed a student teacher from Arkansas Tech University to our room. She is AWESOME, and we love her!!!

Amidst many days where we have not been able to be at school due to this...

(ice and snow and ice and snow x 8 days)

Yes, amidst all of that slushy, frigid fun...we have had REAL fun doing so many things! Our class has been so fortunate to have had several volunteers from the community come and do lessons and demonstrations for us. Our special guests have included a local farmer, a mom (to read with us), two college professors, and a veterinarian who brought a dog! What have we done with these guests? Well, just look!

(Dr. Itza showed us the order of the planets in the solar system)

(Gus only likes Dr. Parker and kids...not teachers!)

(Dr. Parker and Gus)

(Dr. Parker showed us how he listens to hearts!)

(Gus loved this boy! He just flopped right over for a belly rub!)

We also have had a couple of celebrations since I last posted about our days in Kindergarten. The first was Valentine's day. Originally, we weren't supposed to have had school on the actual day, BUT because of all of that white stuff falling from the sky so often, we used it as a make up day.

(yummy dairy-free chocolate cupcakes)

(a card made especially for someone special at home)

(a little something from the teacher)

(the 'owl-dorable' Valentine bags we made the day before)

(having a great time, checking out all of the goodies)

(passing out our Valentine cards)

(There is our new friend, Mrs. Donathan!)

Then there was a Seuss-tastical time as we enjoyed a day in recognition of Dr. Seuss. We even had green eggs and ham!

(Mrs. Knight and Mrs. Donathan cooking our Seuss Special!)

(Green eggs and ham)

(Listening to Dr. Parker as she eats!)

(Not so sure about these green eggs guys...)

(Heading out with our hats!)

(I think they liked them)

Needless to say, it has been a big few weeks, full of a lot of laughs and a lot of terrific, hands-on learning! On top of all of this, we are all AR testing now. Time sure is flying by!

Family Christmas Night

Each  year at our school, we have a special night dedicated to a celebration of the Christmas season. It is considered a literacy event because there is a reading of a Christmas book for the children and their families. At this reading, there is ALWAYS hot cocoa and cookies! After the story and snack, guests are taken on a tour of our elementary and kindergarten buildings. Why? You would think that they had all seen it by now! No, really, it's a tour of the buildings...all gussied up for the holidays!!!

This year, the theme of our family Christmas night is "Light Up the HALLidays." In the kindergarten building we always coordinate our decor so that our entire building is the same general theme. Last year, we were 'Gingerbread Lane,' and I promise you, it was super cute! We were a little stumped on our theme for this year. Other than hanging lights from the ceilings, how do you 'light up' classroom doors? Then, it was suggested that Rudolph has a bright and shiny nose...one that can light up the whole sky for Santa's sleigh...so, the birth of an idea began. So this year, we are Santa's Stable. The door to the kindergarten office shows Rudolph, leaping with excitement over Christmas Eve's rapid approach. Each classroom door is decorated as one of the other reindeer, with a description of that door's reindeer on display. Let me tell you, it is uh-'door'-able!!!

 Our door showcases "Prancer." 

Prancer is Santa's navigational expert! However, she is rather clumsy. I chose to have her tangled up in her holiday decor, with her compass dangling from her antlers. She also has her handy dandy map in hand, ready to fly on Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Time!

Thank you so much to all of the students and parents that sent gifts, goodies, and books for our book exchange yesterday! The kids all loved their books and were so proud to take them home and get started reading. Merry Christmas y'all!!!

Love their faces!

Christmas Break is A Week Away!

The kinders are so excited! I don't think they really KNOW what is going on, or why they feel the way they do...but I can tell that they are super pumped about something. Christmas is in the air! There is a feeling of anticipation everywhere. I know that I am certainly excited about two weeks at home!

We have been up to a lot of Christmas type things this month, such as learning to draw snowmen and Christmas connect the dots. The classes all gathered up to watch the 1st grade students present a program about Christmas Eve that was very cute. On Tuesday, we will be taking a trip to the movie theater to watch a Christmas movie on the big screen! Talk about exciting! We also decorated a little tree to make our classroom have a bit of Christmas cheer. The kiddos made their own ornaments to hang on it for our decorations. They turned out so cute...I hope they survive until I can send them home to your trees!

A Big Fat Turkey!

To teach our kinders about Thanksgiving, we put on a program each year that tells the story of how the Pilgrims came to America. The students begin practicing lines and scripts immediately after Halloween. It is a LOT of work! This year, I had more Indians than Pilgrims, so I had to do a little costume creating. I also made myself a new costume. It all looked a bit like this...

This is what all the Indian costumes looked like before.
Now they are the Indian boy costumes.

Supplies...yes, those are chocolate drops with vanilla creme...necessity.

The basic shape. The fabric was this great fuzzy stuff...no clue what it was called!

Finished!!! They were so cute!

A few of the wild Indian Boys!

And the adorable Indian maidens!

I had plenty of Pilgrim costumes for the boys and the girls. They don't change much anyways, so I couldn't spruce them up any. My cute lil' Pilgrim kids looked like this...

Finally, there was a Turkey Hunt in our play. The Big Fat Turkey was one of my sweeties! Wouldn't you love to catch this Turkey?

The kinderbabies did such a fantastic job! We performed twice, once for the school as a dress rehearsal and again for the parents in the evening. They all did great on their lines, songs, and motions. It might have been the best year for our Thanksgiving play yet!

Fabulous Fall FUN!!!

Fall is officially here! Well, it has been for a good bit, but on Thursday of last week, those terrific Agri students at the high school hosted "Kindergarten Fall Fun Hour." They had set up a petting zoo...

They also had sliding ducks...

And the kiddos got to meet 'Llama, Llama' while they listened to "Llama, Llama Red Pajama," by Anna Dewdney...

There was also a pumpkin hunt...and the kinders (and the teenagers) drew faces on the pumpkins they found!

I truly am thankful for the Agri teacher and these awesome 'big kids' who so often take time out of their day to teach and show our 'little kids' a thing or two!

Sorry it's so dark...and some kids are cut out of the shot...one of the kinders took the pic for us!

It was definitely a long walk back to kindergarten! Thankful for beautiful weather!!!