Jingle All The Way!

Healthy and Happy!

We are so happy to see all of our Super Skyhawks healthy and ready to learn and celebrate before the upcoming holidays. We are looking forward to our Holiday celebration lunch this Thursday at our lunch time. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers for providing this special lunch for all of kindergarten.
You are invited to join us this Friday, December 19 for an all Lower School Sing along in the gym at 10:30. Friday is a noon dismissal. After the Sing A Long in the gym please meet your child in their classroom for dismissal. Below you will find the invitation.

Families Helping Families

Kindergarten had a ball this morning wrapping and preparing gifts for the Families Helping Families Project. A great big thank you to all of the parents that helped to support this project.

Academic Awareness

During this final week before the holidays, all classes are catching up on missed skills and reinforcing ones already learned.

In our Sight Word Study we have completed our study of the Blue Sight Words. All students should keep their blue sight words at home.  Please reinforce these words at home by making sentences then practicing writing and reading them. We will be adding the purple set in January.

Don't Forget to READ, READ, READ over the holiday!

Merry Math this week involves introduction of the Dime. You will find the Dime Poem below.

Dime Poem

Dime, dime

Little and thin,

 I remember

  You're worth ten.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                 

                          

 

 



 

Happy Holidays to all our Kindergarten Skyhawks!

See you next year

You Know Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixon

Kindergarten Reindeer?

Be sure to check out Santa's reindeer and elves all lined up in the hallways.
HO! HO! HO!

 

 

 

 

Merry Math

During the month of December, the kindergarten classes will enjoy problem solving activities to develop logical thinking while integrating reading skills with mathematics. We will be counting with understanding and recognizing "how many" in sets of objects. We will use a variety of methods and tools to compute, including objects and mental computation, as we develop and understanding of adding and subtracting whole numbers. Holiday baking is an ideal time to give your child hands on experience using math skills!

Below are a few  holiday recipes for you to try at home. Enjoy!!

Edible Reindeer

Ingredients:

1 half piece of bread (cut diagonally)
2 raisins
1 cherry
2 pretzels
Peanut butter

Directions:

1. Spread peanut butter onto one side of the bread.
2. On one corner of the bread, place the cherry.  This is your reindeer's nose!
3. Add the 2 raisins for eyes.
4. Attach the pretzels to the long side of the bread so that they stick up like reindeer ears.

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Resurrection Rolls

Ingredients:

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
8 large marshmallows
Melted butter
Cinnamon and Sugar mixed together

Directions:

1. Give each child one  rectangle section of dough. This will represent the cloth wrapped around Jesus' body.
2. Give each child one large marshmallow. This represents Christ's body.
3. Let each child roll their marshmallow in the melted butter.  Then, dip the marshmallow into the cinnamon sugar mixture.  This represents the oils and spices that prepared Christ's body for burial.
4. Have each child place the marshmallow on their section of dough and carefully wrap it.
   Make sure all edges are pinched tight!
5. Place the rolls in the oven. Tape the door shut and place a guard - stuffed animal or child. The oven represents the tomb.
6. Bake the rolls, following the directions on the package.
7. Open the tomb/oven.  Only the cloths remain! Christ's body is no longer there! 

Read accompanying passages from Scripture, such as John 19: 38-42 and John 20.

 

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Snowman On a Stick

Ingredients:

3 large marshmallows
1 skewer
White icing
1 thin mint
1 mini Reese's Cup
1 6 inch strip of a Fruit Roll-Up
Squeezable tube icing
Plastic knife

Directions:

1. Slide one marshmallow onto the skewer.
2. Spread a little bit of white icing on the top portion of the marshmallow.
3. Slide on the second marshmallow.
4. Spread a little bit of white icing on the top portion of the second marshmallow.
5. Fold the Fruit Roll-up to resemble a scarf and then slide it onto the skewer.
6. Spread a little bit of white icing on top of the scarf (only near the skewer!).
7. Slide on the third marshmallow.
8. Slide the thin mint onto the skewer - carefully and very slowly so as not to break the mint in half!
9. Slide the mini Reese's Cup onto the skewer.  (This is his hat!)
10. Use the tube icing to make two eyes, a mouth, and some buttons on your snowman!

 

Sight Word Study

as, do, for, from, they, was

• Have fun creating your own holiday story using the sight words studied this week along with the remainder of the blue set of words.

December Is Here!

Welcome Back!

     We have enjoyed hearing all about the special family time had during the Thanksgiving holiday. Our journals are filled with exciting entries.

     Since December is here and it is a very fun-filled time of the year, we ask that all toys (including Elf on the Shelf and Elf Magic dolls) remain at home in order to keep them safe.

     Thank you for your understanding and support. 

Writer's Workshop 

The kindergarteners are beginning to write their own creative stories. We are encouraging them to use their best "kindergarten sounds" for spelling words. some of the spelling strategies we are using in the classroom are:



• Stretch out the word - listen to the sounds you hear
• Think about what the word looks like
• Is it a short or a long word? How many syllables/parts does it have?
• Use spelling patterns (word families: at, ag, am, etc.) 
• Use resources in the classroom (word wall, dictionary, or ask a friend)

Sight Word Study December 2nd-9th

With, his, said of, on, you

 

Suggested Activities and Games to reinforce sight words

• Place sight words in a container. Invite your child to shake the container, spill out the words, and read the ones that fall face up. Give your child a score that is equal to the number of letters in the words he/she reads. Record the total, then place the remaining words back in the container, shake and spill again. Add the total to the first score. Continue until all words have been read.
• Choose a newspaper article and see if your child can spot one or two sight words at a time. Use a highlighter and count how many times the word appeared.

Please share any of your ideas on activities reinforcing sight words.

Simply send a note in to your teacher and we will be happy to post new ideas to our list.
Have fun learning your sight words!

Merry Math

     During the month of December, the kindergarten classes will enjoy problem solving activities to develop logical thinking while integrating reading skills with mathematics. we will be counting with understanding and recognizing "how many" in sets of objects. We will use a variety of methods and tools to compute, including objects and mental computation as we develop an understanding of adding and subtraction whole numbers. Holiday baking is an ideal time to give your child hands on experience using math skills!





Happy Thanksgiving From Hammond Kindergarten!

We are so thankful for the opportunity to be with your kindergarteners each day.

 We are filled with

THANKFULNESS.

We wish for each of you a safe and enjoyable holiday.

We are looking forward to hearing all about your special time with family and friends.

Please return the Tuesday envelopes and clean rest mats on Monday, December 1st. 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Look how big and Thankful Henry Hawk has become!!

Kindergarten Team Work!

Everything But The Turkey

Please remember that the kindergarten classes are collecting cans of  SWEET POTATOES throughout this week for our "Everything but the Turkey" project. Thanks to everyone for participating and sending in cans to help feed families in need. These families live in our state, South Carolina, and are very thankful for receiving a meal on this Thanks giving holiday. Kindergarteners have enjoyed working together with all Lower School Skyhawks on this service project.

A Published Author visits Hammond Kindergarten

A great big thank you to the author of the book

 Charley's Columbia Backyard,

Caroline Bennett,

 for visiting kindergarten last week. The children enjoyed hearing a story about their city, Columbia. It was very exciting for our young writers to hear how a professional author publishes a book from start to finish. If you would like to purchase an autographed copy of her fantastic book please turn in the order form that was included in last Tuesday's envelope.

Sight Word Study November 17th-24th

Please review all blue sight words we have covered to help your kindergartener gain more self-confidence in reading and writing. It is fun to take the words off of the ring and make sentences. You can add words to make the sentences complete. Practice writing and illustrating the sentences when complete.

Sensational Science experiments with Mrs. Dreesen

Kindergarteners enjoy science experiments with colors.

November in Kindergarten

Columbia, Our Capital City

We are very excited about our special guest author, Mrs. Caroline Bennett, visiting with us today. She will be reading her book, Charley's Columbia Backyard. This is a perfect introduction activity for our Social Studies curriculum as we introduce our study about the city in which we live. We will be discussing why our city is important to the state of  South Carolina and sharing our favorite places we know about in this big city. Be sure to look in today's Tuesday envelope for an order form to purchase a personalized copy of this book.

                         

Math Matters

Now that November is here we have introduced the Nickel.
The children are learning this nickel poem. You may enjoy practicing it at home.

"Nickel Poem"

Nickel, Nickel

Thick and fat

You're worth five cents

I know that.

 

  

 

Sight Word Study of Number Words Continues This Week

Number words one-ten
(Please note that the number words, with the exception of one and two, are not blue or purple words). We will be studying these sight words at school this week. The children will be making their own number word flash cards to bring home and practice.

 Please share any of your ideas on activities reinforcing sight words.
Simply send a note in to your teacher and we will be happy to post new ideas to our list.
Have fun learning your sight words!

Suggested Activities and Games to reinforce sight words

While riding in the car, have your child look for familiar sight words on billboards and signs. If you keep a Magna Doodle or a small writing pad in the car, have them write the word when they see it.

See if your child can find the words on items around the house (cereal boxes, packaged goods, newspaper headlines, magazines, etc).

 Everything But The Turkey

Please remember that the kindergarten classes are collecting cans of sweet potatoes throughout the next two weeks for our "Everything but the Turkey" project. As always we are encouraging our children to earn the money to purchase the food by doing various selfless acts. We would love to hear the different ways our kindergarteners have worked towards their goal by filling in feathers to help Henry Hawk get ready for the holidays. Thanks to everyone for participating and sending in cans to help feed families on this Thanksgiving holiday.

Help Henry Hawk earn more feathers!

It's Always A Fun Day in Hammond Kindergarten!

 Happy Halloween!

The kindergarten classes enjoyed every minute of Halloween last Friday! Thank you for the special Halloween treat provided by Homeroom Moms. As you can see below, the costumes were awesome!



Happy Halloween from Pete The Cat (AKA your kindergarten teachers)

Happy Halloween From The Tiger Cubs

Happy Halloween From The Ducklings
 



Happy Halloween From The Bear Cubs

Happy Halloween From The Friendly Frogs

                                                    

Nutrition Update

Last week the kindergarteners enjoyed eating the various parts of plants. We tasted the seeds (sunflower and pumpkin), roots (carrots), stem (celery), leaves (spinach), flowers (broccoli), and fruit (tomatoes). This was a fun activity for all, and we were excited to learn which "parts" grew above the ground, and which grew below. Each class read the book Tops And Bottoms, by Janet Stevens which fittingly opens from top to bottom instead of from side to side making it the perfect choice for understanding where various foods grow.

Reminder

We have enjoyed seeing the disguised turkeys which have been strutting into our classrooms! As a reminder, please return your turkey no later than this Friday, November 7th. The "turkeys" will be displayed in the hallway then sent home before Thanksgiving break. Have fun and be creative!

Math in Kindergarten

In class we have been learning the number poems for proper formation of numbers zero through ten. We encourage children to say these poems as they are writing numbers because we find that it can greatly reduce reversals. Please remind your child to say these poems when practicing at home.

A copy of the "Number Poems" will be inside today's Tuesday envelope.

Sight Word Study November 4th-11th

Number words one-ten
(Please note that the number words, with the exception of one and two, are not blue or purple words. We will be studying these sight words at school this week. The children will be making their own number word flash cards to bring home and practice.

New This Week!
 Please share any of your ideas on activities reinforcing sight words.
Simply send a note in to your teacher and we will be happy to post new ideas to our list.
Have fun learning your sight words!

Suggested Activities and Games to reinforce sight words

While riding in the car, have your child look for familiar sight words on billboards and signs. If you keep a Magna Doodle or a small writing pad in the car, have them write the word when they see it.

See if your child can find the words on items around the house (cereal boxes, packaged goods, newspaper headlines, magazines, etc).

Science Update

Yesterday, the kindergarteners enjoyed a field study at City Roots in Columbia. We were able to see and feel the hot compost piles, visit with the hens, see a live tilapia, dig up worms in the greenhouse where microgreens grow, and watch the many honey bees fly around their hives. This was a fabulous, fun trip that reinforced many of the facts we have been learning about in science. We also learned many new things about how farmers grow and maintain their crops on a sustainable farm. City Roots is the only in-town sustainable farm located in the city of Columbia.

 

 

NEEDED ASAP!

Please send in to school a WINTER change of clothes. With the cooler temperatures here, we are in need of an extra change of clothes for those "just in case" times.

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kindergarteners Choose Nutritious Foods

A Successful Learning Adventure on our First Field Study

All Kindergarteners enjoyed their first field study to BI-LO last week. The staff taught us how to shop for healthy foods and how to make good food choices. They also demonstrated how the grocery store is divided up into the 5 healthy food groups. Hopefully your kindergartener saw a new food they would like to try. Please continue to send in notes if your child has tried a new food so that we may issue a food badge. A big thank you to all of the parents who have embraced trying and eating healthy foods.

Happy Halloween!

We look forward to seeing all kindergarteners all dressed up this Friday, October 31st. We will start the day off with a fun Halloween Parade that will begin promptly at 8:15. Please send in a uniform change of clothes for your child to wear after the parade. Be sure to label all parts and pieces with your child's name. Please remember no masks or weapons of any kind can be brought to school.

Sight Word Study - October 29th - November 3rd

brown, gray, white, pink

Math Update

In class we have been learning the number poems for proper formation of number zero through ten. We encourage children to say these poems as they are writing numbers because we find that it can greatly reduce reversals. Please remind your child to say these poems when practicing at home.

It's Turkey Time

In this week's Tuesday envelope, you will find a letter with directions for your family to disguise a turkey so that it won't get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner! This has proven to be an exciting project for the kindergarten students and their family members to enjoy each year. Please return your turkey no later than Wednesday, November 5th. The "turkeys" will be displayed in the hallway then sent home before Thanksgiving break.
 Have fun, and be creative!
The pictures below are a few examples of turkeys from years past.

 

 

It's Great To Be A Skyhawk!

Fall Fest A Huge Hit!

What a fun time! Everyone enjoyed Fall Fest last Friday night! A great big THANK YOU to all of the parents that volunteered. Everyone has been talking about it nonstop!

Kindergarten's First Guest Speaker

Your Skyhawks enjoyed a special treat last Wednesday!  Mrs. Mary Ann Grainger is a registered dietician, and she helped us understand how to make healthy choices with the foods we eat. We played informative games and learned how to check the grams of sugar and fiber content in packaged food items. Don't be surprised if your child asks you to check the food labels and requests that you make another choice if the sugar content is more than 10 grams! They may even request 100% fruit juice or whole wheat bread!

Parsa, Addie and Jackson play Spin and Win with Mrs. Grainger

Kate Lindsey tries a Star Fruit


 


 

     As an extension activity to our study of Nutrition and healthy eating habits, the kindergarteners will experience how we get food from plants. We will discuss and taste the edible parts of various plants (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers).

 

First Field Trip This Week

As we continue our study of nutrition and healthy eating habits the kindergarteners will experience their first field trip of the year this week.

The Bear Cubs and Ducklings visited the local BI-LO on Forest Drive this morning.
The Tiger Cubs and Friendly Frogs will be visiting BI-LO this Thursday.

This field study is a good way for the children to discover fruits and vegetables after they have been picked, cleaned, and shipped from small and large farms. The staff teaches our kindergarten students various ways to make wise decisions about the food they eat.

Sight Word Study

black, green, purple, orange

Suggested sight word activities and games.

• Place sight words in a container. Invite your child to shake the container, spill out the words, and read the ones that fall face up. Give your child a score that is equal to the number of letters in the words he/she reads. Record the total, then place the remaining words back in the container, shake and spill again. Add the total to the first score. Continue until all words have been read.
• Choose a newspaper article and see if your child can spot one or two sight words at a time. Use a highlighter and count how many times the word appeared.
• Turn the sight words into rainbows. Ask your child to write a sight word on paper in big letters. Using different crayons, have your child trace around the word again and again, reading the word each time.
• Have your child write the sight words on the driveway using sidewalk chalk.

 

 

 

Healthy Skyhawks

Welcome back!

We hope everyone had a very fun, restful Fall Break!

The kindergarteners are continuing discussions about healthy eating habits and the importance of good nutrition. Tomorrow is an exciting day! We have our first guest speaker coming in. Mrs. Mary Ann Grainger, a registered dietician, will be here to talk to the kindergarten about how to make healthy choices. Be sure to ask your child what they learned.

 In an effort to encourage our students to try new healthy foods, we are offering a food badge for each NEW food tasted at home. Please send in a note stating which food your child tried. You can jot the name of the food on any piece of paper, then have your child draw a smiley face or a frown to indicate what they thought about the new food.
 Happy Eating!




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Science Update

Using cross curricula connections, the kindergarteners will be spending the month of October learning about healthy eating habits. Eating is the most important thing we do each day, and this unit of study will explain why

We will find out:

• Which foods you need to eat everyday
• Where food goes after you swallow it
• Why it's good to eat breakfast
• What vitamins and other nutrients are for
• Why you can't eat only candy!!

 

Sight Word Study for the Week of October 14th

• this
• that
• will
• red
• yellow
• blue

 

Healthy Days Ahead!

The kindergarteners are beginning discussions about healthy eating choices as we study Nutrition. We will learn that healthy habits include getting plenty of rest, eating healthy foods, brushing our teeth, and exercising. This unit of study is always a favorite!

Sight Word Study for the Week of October 7th

• he
• she
• we
• be
• have

Be sure to look back at our first post for ideas and activities to reinforce these words. Don't forget to practice the sight words we have previously studied. We can now make sentences with all of the words we know. You can even write them!

Math in Kindergarten

We have started introducing money. We are beginning with the penny. The children are learning this penny poem that you may enjoy practicing at home.

 

 

"Penny Poem"

Penny, Penny

Easily spent

Copper brown

And worth one cent.

Reminder! All Bedroom Maps Are Due Tomorrow

We are very  excited about seeing your child's map! Some maps have already made their way to Hammond and look fabulous with lots of details and labels! We can't wait to showcase them in the hallway.
As a reminder, these maps should be drawn on a sheet of 8.5 x 11 inch paper, that was supplied in last Tuesday envelope, then colored to reflect various items in your child's room. Please help your child label the larger items such as a bed, dresser, table, toy box, etc.

Thanks again for helping our students gain a better understanding of map making.

Blog News!



The kindergarten teachers are very excited about our new blog! We just want to make sure our Parents  receive our news each week. You can do this one of two ways. You can continue to get the Tuesday e-Note E-Blast from Kelly Augenstein each Tuesday in which you just need to scroll down and click on our link. Or, while you are visiting our blog you can take the time to join the blog. As soon as any news is posted you will get an email instantly. Thanks so much for staying connected!



Math Update

Be sure to ask your child about reading Grandma's Button Box at school. After reading this book, we learned four ways to sort objects: by color, size, shape, and number of button holes. We also played sorting games on the SMART Board, sorting buttons into categories.

________________________________________________

Whether we are participating in calendar, lining up during transitions to and from activities, or busy in classroom stations, we are reinforcing the following skills:

• Counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, & 10's to 100
• Number Recognition
• Correct formation of writing numerals
• Exploring Even and Odd
• Ordinal Numbers
• Grouping & Sorting
• Graphing
• Patterns
• Tallying

Sight Word Study

Below are the sight words we will be covering the week of September 30th- October 6th.

For a list of suggested activities to practice the sight words please see last week's blog post.

go, to, here, are


 

The Tiger Cubs

Spirit Week Fun! 

 We are Skyhawk Nation!

The Friendly Frogs

The Bear Cubs

The Ducklings



Me on the Map

Maps

The kindergartners are busy learning about maps. We have enjoyed reading Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney which gives us an overview of our foundational unit. We have also read As the Crow Flies by Gail Hartman which gives a bird's-eye view of the world around us to help the children understand this perspective. Additionally, we read Mapping Penny's World by Loreen Leedy which led us into making a map of our classroom. We then challenged each child to draw a map of their own.

To Be Done at Home

Now that the children have created  their classroom map, we invite them to create a map of their own bedroom to share with the class. These maps should be drawn on a sheet of 8.5x11 inch copier paper, that is supplied in today's Tuesday Envelope. Then the maps should be colored to reflect various items in your child's room. Please help your child label the larger items such as a bed, dresser, table, toy box, etc. We would love for all maps to be completed by next Wednesday, October 1st. You may also return the maps in next week's Tuesday envelope.

Thanks so much for helping our students gain a better understanding of map making. We hope that you enjoy working together on this activity!

Sight Word Study

The sight words we will be practicing this week:

in, is, it

Below you will find a list of suggested sight word activities and games.

• Place sight words in a container. Invite your child to shake the container, spill out the words, and read the ones that fall face up. Give your child a score that is equal to the number of letters in the words he/she reads. Record the total, then place the remaining words back in the container, shake and spill again. Add the total to the first score. Continue until all words have been read.
• Choose a newspaper article and see if your child can spot one or two sight words at a time. Use a highlighter and count how many times the word appeared.
• Turn the sight words into rainbows. Ask your child to write a sight word on paper in big letters. Using different crayons, have your child trace around the word again and again, reading the word each time.
• Have your child write the sight words on the driveway using sidewalk chalk.
• "Write" a sight word on your child's back with your finger. Can he or she guess the word? Trade places and let your child "write" on your back.
• While riding in the car, have your child look for familiar sight words on billboards and signs. If you keep a Magna Doodle or a small writing pad in the car, have them write the word when they see it.
• See if your child can find the words on items around the house (cereal boxes, packaged goods, newspaper headlines, magazines, etc).
• Make your sight words yummy! Use pretzels, carrot or celery sticks, Twizzlers, gummy worms, or other long skinny candies or snacks to spell out the sight words.

Science Update

The kindergartners received a treasure map that we enjoyed following. It led us to a fabulous treasure...Mr. Mancke! He was standing high above us on his watch tower, and after he climbed down, we were invited into his cabin. Mr. Mancke showed us a variety of maps as he shared great stories of his many adventures. He then told us about the compass he always wears. Each class watched as Mr. Mancke guided us step by step through the process of making our own compass. We then floated it in water and watched it turn in the direction of North.