Weekly Facts...

What an amazing week it has been in the classroom!  We have all settled in and are learning so many new skills!  This week during our handwriting time we worked on correctly forming the letters E, D, P, B, and R.  These are all "frog jump" letters because our pencil has to jump like a frog back to the top to form each letter.   We are also learning the sounds of these letters as well as the sounds for the letters g, c, r, m, and u during our OG time.  The key words for these letters are a goat, cat, rat, man, and up.  We have been working hard at identifying rhyming words as well as counting the number of words in a sentence during this time too.

We had a lot of fun talking about names this week and working on patterns as well when we made this Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree with each child's name on it.  We read the book in class and talked about how alphabet letters climb up a coconut tree. We have been really stressing one capital letter in each child's name and everyone is doing a great job with this skill!

Every morning we have some time to practice independent reading in class.  We have been working on building up our reading stamina- our ability to read quietly on our own.  This is a favorite activity for several of the children every day.

During math time, we have been working with pattern blocks and building patterns.  Right now, we are working on simple repeating patterns (ABAB).  We discussed how the rule of a pattern is it needs to repeat.  We also had each child create a pattern and then switched spots to extend the pattern that was in front of each child. 

Finally on Friday, we did math stations for the first time.  During this time, the children rotated through different math games that worked on number identification skills, basic adding/subtraction skills, and patterning.

Friday Facts

Wow!  What a crazy ending to our day this week.  If your child hasn't told you about our afternoon recess today, you are going to want to ask them how it went.  We went outside with some darker clouds off in the distance thinking we could get in our recess without a problem.  Boy were we wrong!  We didn't get much warning before the sky opened up on us.  I have never seen 80+ children run and laugh at the same time.  We all made it inside with just a few sprinkles on us thankfully.  I told our classroom that this will be a fun memory for a while!

It has been a great week in class!  I have been amazed at how well everyone is working together and the class has been moving right along.  We managed to continue to work on new centers and even got a little bit of writing time in.  This week, we have talked about the letters l, f, h, p, and s.  The key words for those letters are a lamp, fish, hat, pig, and snake.  Ask your child to see if they can name the letter, keyword, and sound for you this weekend.

We have just about finished up our shape and color study.  We have one more shape to go next week, the cube.  We will be reviewing these shapes in the next few weeks.  During this unit, the class has learned how to cut all of the different shapes from Mr. Square (a square). 

We have finished up our math portion of the NWEA on Friday.  The class has been doing a great job on this assessment.  Next Monday and Wednesday we will be taking the Language Arts portion of the assessment.

On Friday, we have started our first chapter in our Social Studies program.  We are learning about how to take turns and how to get along with others.  Today, we discussed what it would look like to take turns when working with a partner in the classroom.  We also talked about three different levels of our voice- a whisper, table talk, and a strong speaker.  We will continue to work on this next week in class.

We have also started to work in our handwriting books.  We use the program Handwriting Without Tears in the classroom.  Today we worked on how to correctly form the letter F.  When we work in this program, I am looking for correct letter formation and for the children to start their letters at the top.  We have a fun song in the classroom that we have been using to help us remember!


Below is a message from our Student Services Coordinator:

Carmel Elementary is partnering again this year with Chaucie’s Place, a child advocacy organization in Hamilton County, to bring Smart Steps™:  A Body Safety Program for Children to our Kindergarten, 2^nd and 4^th grade students.  Smart Steps™ is a child sexual abuse prevention and education program that empowers your child to say “NO!” to any unwanted touches that make them uncomfortable from anyone.   Carmel Elementary’s program is scheduled to take place on November 10^th during the school day.

We invite you to attend a Chaucie’s Place Parent Night to learn more about the Smart Steps™ program. Towne Meadow Elementary will be hosting from 6:30-7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 13^th and Cherry Tree will be hosting on Thursday, September 29th from 6:30pm-7:30pm and.   These meetings are open to all parents and/or guardians of Kindergarten, 2^nd and 4^th grade students.  Please be advised that Parent Night is not open to children.  To learn more about Chaucie’s Place visit: www.chauciesplace.org.

Finally, a message from the front office about visiting for lunch:

Just a reminder that students are not allowed visitors for lunch unless they are the parent/guardian or have been listed as an emergency contact!

Parents/guardians can provide permission by emailing the teacher and having the teacher forward permission to the front office!  This should be done in advance so that we have time to check all confidential paperwork to ensure there is not a conflict

Have a great weekend!

Classroom Behavior

This week and last week, we are spending time in our day talking about classroom behavior. We have special monsters in our room to help learn about this concept. You may have heard your child coming home talking about an above the line monster or "thumbs up" behavior or below the line behavior which is "thumbs down" behavior. We also have bottom line behaviors that are "deal breakers".

7 Habits

We are learning about the 7 habits of effective learners at school. Today we reviewed habit 1: be proactive. We talked about what that would look like and sound like at home and school. 

Mat Man

Today we met a new friend in class to go along with our handwriting instruction. His name was Mat Man. We were learning to include details in our drawings by using big curves, little curves, big lines, and little lines. Here are some examples from our room today. 

Indoor Recess

We had our first indoor recess on Friday because of the rain. We still had a great time, just inside!

Center Time Fun

First Week of School

Welcome to our classroom blog!  This is where you can find information about what is going on in our classroom.  What a great first week of school it has been!  We are having a lot of fun getting to know everyone in the classroom!  

We have spent a lot of time learning about the many different routines. It is a lot of talking and there is a lot of new learning happening but all of the kids are doing great. 

We have started doing centers. This is our time during the day when we reinforce our standards that are being taught.  

Our first week of specials classes has been great!  We have gym and music class on Monday and Wednesday (don't forget to wear your gym shoes).  Art class is on Tuesday. Computer Lab and Media are on Thursday and Friday. Library books are due by Friday each week. 

One of our learning targets this week was learning about recognizing and creating shapes. This week, we have learned about a square, rectangle, and a diamond. When working with the shapes the children are learning how to make all of the other shapes from a square that we call Mr. Square.

We have also learned about the colors red, blue, and yellow. We will continue to work on more shapes and colors next week. 

Another focus this week is learning about the letters a, t, and b. We are learning about the proper formation of these letters as well as the sounds. 

We had a busy week and I can't wait until next week!  Don't forget to join us on Wednesday, August 17th at 6:00pm for Meet the Teacher Night. This is an opportunity for the parents to come in and learn specific information about what happens on a daily basis in our classroom. 

Have a great weekend!

Welcome Back to Another Great Year!

Welcome to another great school year at CE!  I am so excited to start a new school year.  I look forward to meeting all of the new faces and seeing some familiar faces as well during our Kindergarten Round Up on Thursday, August 4th at 6:00 pm.

Don't forget to join us for our ice cream social on Monday, August 8th from 4:00-5:30 pm.  

Our meet the teacher night is on August 17th at 6:00-7:00 pm.  This is a night for parents to get to learn specific information about their child's classroom and to learn about what happens during a typical school day.