Reading: We studied 2 versions of the same story: The Gingerbread Man and The Gingerbread Boy – characters/setting/problem/solution; sequencing story details; author/illustrator; key differences in story details. We also read in class: Snowmen at Christmas, There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow, How Santa Got His Job, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Elf on the Shelf, The Biggest Best Snowman, Mooseltoe

English and Language Arts: Word Sort – Comparing Letters Rr and Ss; beginning sounds for Gg; Correct formation and sounds for the letter Gg (hard G sound, like “gate” and soft G sound, like “giraffe”); Letter Gg book; vowel fill-in-the-blank for CVC words.

Math: Number recognition and writing 1-20; comparison tall/short, long/short, light/heavy; counting to 100 by ones and tens

Writing: Continued How-To writing. Prompts included: How To Build a Snowman and How to Make Your Bed.  We are really trying to get everyone writing independently in preparation for the next writing assessment. A holiday elf showed up in the classroom, and the students named him Rudolph.  🙂 We write about where the elf is located and what he is doing. They are having great fun with it!

Theme: December holidays – traits of each, where they are located on the calendar, how families celebrate different holidays and have different traditions.

The Voyage character word of the month: COURAGE – Doing the right thing, even when the task is hard.

We took our Reading Inventory assessment this week, and the kids’ scores improved! Great job!  Our Math Inventory is next week.

We hope you have a great weekend!  Good luck to those of you in the Drama Club performance on Saturday!!! Break a leg!  🙂

Reading: We continued our study of Turkey Trouble – characters/setting/problem/solution; sequencing story details; author/illustrator. We also read in class: This Book Does Not Have Words, A Perfect Day, Count the Monkeys, Just So Thankful

English and Language Arts: Continued last week’s lessons and groups – Sight word coloring; Word Sort – beginning sounds for Aa; Correct formation and sounds for the letter Aa; Letter Aa book.

Math: Ways to make 9 (dice, ten frame, counting objects, tally marks, base ten blocks); Number recognition, comparison, counting to 100 by ones and tens

Writing: Continued How-To writing. Prompts included: How To Dance, How To Enjoy Thanksgiving, How students disguised their turkeys, How students get to school. We are really trying to get everyone writing independently in preparation for the next writing assessment.

Theme: Thanksgiving – Native Americans (Wampanoag) and Pilgrims, being thankful, how people celebrate Thanksgiving in different ways and with different traditions

The Voyage character word of the month: COURAGE – Doing the right thing, even when the task is hard.

In case you didn’t hear, Cheatham Hill students donated over 13,000 items to the Thanks-for-giving food drive!!! We are so proud of our school for being so generous to help families in need this holiday season!

And…. speaking of helping families in need, the Giving Tree is up and running! The informational paper came home last week. If you would like to purchase a gift for a Cheatham Hill student in need, send us a note with your permission and whether you want your student to get a star for a $5 or $10 gift. The counselors also love to get Target and Walmart gift cards so they can purchase gifts for students whose ornament wasn’t chosen.

We hope you had fun at the Scholastic Book Fair last week.  We heard lots of stories from the kids about their shopping trips, and it’s super awesome how excited they are to get NEW BOOKS!!! (Fun Fact: Mrs. Sexton LOVES the smell of books – old and new!).  Thank you to those of you who donated books to our class!  The kiddos have loved them! In case you didn’t make it to the Book Fair and you want to buy some reasonably priced books for holiday gifts, a Scholastic order form is coming home. PLEASE place orders online with the class code W267D. I will submit the order at 2:30pm on Thursday, December 5th so the books will make it back in time before the break. The books are shipped to the school and will be sent home in your student’s backpack. Let us know if it’s a gift so we can try to conceal it! 🙂

Next week is hopefully very relaxing for you all, filled with love and food and hugs! We are thankful for every single one of your babies, and we love them dearly! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  ♥

Hello and Happy FriYAY!

Reading: Books read in class this week – The Relatives Came; Goldilocks and the Three Bears; Turkey Trouble; Bear Says Thanks; There Was an Old Mermaid Who Swallowed a Shark

Writing: Continued our unit on How To writing.  We also wrote a little narrative about soldiers, in honor of Veterans Day. We practiced Informational Writing by writing facts about Bald Eagles.

English and Language Arts: Sight word coloring; Word Sort – beginning sounds for Aa; Correct formation and sounds for the letter Aa; Letter Aa book.

Math: Number recognition, comparison, counting

Theme: Veteran’s Day, bald eagles (U.S. symbol)

Music: In music this week the kids got a chance to play the glockenspiel! They are learning about high/low notes and fast/slow tempos, as well as singing lots and lots of songs!

The Voyage character word of the month is COURAGE – Doing the right thing, even when the task is hard.

We love that the kindergarten team hosts the Cheatham Hill Veteran’s Day parade each year! It was so awesome having Mr. Menhorn (U.S. Marines) and Mr. Dietzel (U.S. Army) visit our class and walk in the parade with their kiddos!

Thanks to those of you who were able to have Thanksgiving Lunch with us! The food was delicious  and the kids loved seeing their family members during the school day.  The kids are very thankful for their families, and we are thankful for you, too!!  🙂

We hope you all have a great weekend! Only 5 school days until Thanksgiving Break!

Here is a community event your family might be interested in:

Hello and Happy Friday!  We had another wacky week with no school on Election Day! We hope your kids had a fun day off! We continued our groups from last week, since we didn’t get finished because of Monster Mash.

Reading: Books read in class this week – Bear Snores On; By the Light of the Moon; In November; Thank You, Omu

Writing: Continuing our unit on How To writing. Writing prompts this week included How I Get to School, How I Pack Up to Go Home, One Time When I Got Hurt

English and Language Arts: Sight word coloring; differentiating between Qq, Ss and Oo; Correct formation and sounds for the letter Oo; Letter Oo book.

Math: Ways to make 8; counting, number recognition

Theme: Day and Night Sky; American Symbols – bald eagle; Veteran’s Day

The Voyage character word of the month is COURAGE – Doing the right thing, even when the task is hard.

This is the last week for the Thanks for Giving Food Drive!

Next Thursday, November 14 is kindergarten’s Thanksgiving Lunch in the cafeteria. You are invited to come and have lunch with your kiddo! Our lunch time is different from normal. We will eat from 11:50am – 12:20pm and we will be sitting at tables A7 and A8. Guest meals are $4.00.

We hope you have a great weekend!

Whew! What a busy week we had in room 174! Here are some highlights:

Reading: The Apple Pie Tree, Bat Loves the Night (nonfiction book about bats), Room on the Broom (sequencing and using  words and concepts of “first, next, last”)

English and Language Arts: Letter Oo – correct letter formation, words that begin with and contain the letter O, letter sounds (short and long vowel sounds); sight word game; beginning word sound bingo

Math: Counting by tens to 100, ways to make the number 7; counting to 100 by ones. Please keep working on this! Students are expected to be able to count to 100 without help by the end of this 9 weeks (December)

Writing: Informational writing using first, next, last. Guided writing about carving jack o’ lanterns. Independent writing about trick-or-treating or what students did at home on  Oct. 31.

Theme: Day and night sky.

THANK YOU for a super fun Monster Mash afternoon! Thank you to our room moms for organizing the event, to the wonderful moms and dads who volunteered, to the amazing families who donated supplies, and to everyone else who wanted to do something, but got busy and forgot because, let’s face it, life is busy!  🙂

The school-wide Thanks-for-Giving food drive is up and running! You can send your donations in with your student and we will get it to the collection bin. The goal is 15,000 items to help feed many needy families in the area! It’s such a great lesson for kids about generosity and thankfulness!

It was a real bummer that our field trip to Still Family Farms had to be canceled AGAIN, but the much-needed rain was nice. Once the kindergarten team makes a decision about a replacement field trip, we will let you know!

We hope your kids get LOTS of rest this weekend! We hope the same for you, too! 🙂

It felt great to resume our regular schedule this week! Everyone does better with consistency! 🙂 (myself included!)

Reading: Crankenstein, Pumpkin Jack, Pumpkins Everywhere, Who Can? Daniel Can!, Where is My Mummy?, The Library Dragon. Mrs. Kiger’s differentiated reading groups will continue, and send home books for your student to read to you.  Please sign the post-it note and return the book to class. These books are then placed in the student’s “book box,” which they use and read after finishing their work.
English & Language Arts: Letter Cc – correct letter formation, letter sounds, words that begin with and contain the letter U. Sight word game, trying to locate the hidden acorn. Please work on the sight word paper that came home in your student’s folder. These words are specific to your student – they are the next 6 words they need to learn.  Thank you!
Math: Count to 100 (by ones); Writing numbers 1-20;  writing simple math sentences up to 6; counting objects to 20. We now have 13 students on our 100 Club counting wall!  Keep practicing counting to 100 (without any help)!
Writing: Continuing our unit on informational writing, using the words First/Next/Then/Last or First/Second/Third/Fourth. This week we focused on how to carve a jack o’ lantern.  This is difficult writing and we will be working on this a LOT. The students should write an introductory sentence, be able to sound out words, spell sight words correctly and use punctuation.
Theme: Motion (push/pull)

The Voyage character word this month is PERSEVERANCE. The students are getting better with not giving up so easily on challenging work. Writing is more difficult and perseverance will keep improving.

Thank you to Cobb EMC and Gas South for our illustrator visit! It was fun watching an artist in action! I hope you enjoyed seeing the pictures on SeeSaw!

Next Thursday (Halloween) Cheatham Hill will have a Relay for Life fundraiser.  Any student who brings $1.00 to donate to Relay for Life can wear their pajamas to school! They should be weather- and school-appropriate, with no house slippers allowed. Students cannot wear Halloween costumes or masks to school.

We hope you have a great weekend!

Mrs. Kiger had a great time seeing the families at conferences this week.  Thank you for partnering with us in your student’s learning.  It does take a village to raise kids!

Reading: Creepy Carrots!, The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin. The kids had great fun making their own “creepy carrots” and placing them around the room, in hopes of scaring us.  🙂

English & Language Arts: Letter Uu – correct letter formation, letter sounds, words that begin with and contain the letter U.  Sight word game, trying to locate the hidden acorn.

Math: Continuing and reinforcing previous lessons

Writing: Beginning our unit on informational writing, using the words First/Next/Then/Last or First/Second/Third/Fourth. As an introduction, we wrote about the book Creepy Carrots! in order. This is difficult writing and we will  be working on this a LOT.

Theme: Christopher Columbus

The Voyage character word this month is PERSEVERANCE.  The students are getting better with not giving up so easily on challenging work. Writing is more difficult and perseverance will keep improving.

Next week we will resume our normal schedule in the classroom. After school clubs resume next week. As always, please send in a written note if your student’s transportation is changing.

Have a great weekend! Stay warm!

Hi, families! We hope you are enjoying these updates and glimpses of your student’s week! It is finally fall weather, so recess is EVEN MORE enjoyable now! Please send a light sweater or jacket (labeled with his/her name!!!) to wear outside when the weather is cool. It is often chilly in our classroom, too!!

Reading: Otis, Otis and the Puppy, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever, Scarecrow Magic, Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash, Storm is Coming

ELA: This week we reviewed all the letters we have learned so far – letter formation, letter sound, rhyming words.

Math: Continuing to work on number recognition and writing 1-10; counting 1-20; sorting; different ways to represent numbers (digit, number word, tally marks, ten-frame, dice/dominoes); 2D and 3D shapes; more/less. Please continue to practice counting to 100 at home. We now have 11 classmates on the “100 Club” wall!

Writing: This week we continued  to write about events in our lives (times when the kids were happy, sad, scared, had fun, etc.).

Theme: We had a ton of fun being scientists this week! After discussing different objects’ physical attributes, we conducted a science experiment to see whether each one would sink or float in water. We also learned that sometimes scientists’ hypotheses are wrong, that being wrong is okay, and we should use that as a learning opportunity! GROWTH MINDSET.

Computer Lab: We had the students log into the Headsprout Reading Program (also called kids a-z).  They have taken a brief placement test, so the reading activities are specific to each child. It is a fantastic website, and the kids seem to love it!

Mrs.  Kiger is almost finished with class assessments – reading, writing, math, phonics, science/social studies. The results will be on report cards (which you will get at your student’s conference or will be sent home, if you aren’t attending a conference).

Just a reminder that next week is conference week and is early release, with a 12:15pm dismissal. I look forward to discussing your child’s progress with you at that time. Please arrive promptly at your scheduled time. Also, please knock on the door at your scheduled time so that I know you are waiting. I do try very hard to remain on schedule especially for our families who have back to back sibling conferences. PLEASE CHECK THE TIME ON YOUR CELL PHONE AS THE HALL CLOCKS MAY BE INACCURATE. 

The school is continuing its character education program called The Voyage. This month’s focus is on COOPERATION: working well with others. We incorporate these words and traits into our day to make it more meaningful to the kids. Because we are often in learning groups (Daily 5, writing and math small groups), cooperation and teamwork is a must in our classroom! The kids usually do really well when working together!

Hi, families! We are working REALLY hard in class and learning LOTS of new things!

Reading: Scaredy Squirrel – We worked on sequencing story details; describing the setting, characters, problem/solution, beginning/middle/end details. We also read Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, Splat the Cat & the Pumpkin Picking Plan. Chick ‘n Pug. Don’t forget to keep up with your Rocket Reader forms and add our books (plus library books) to your list! It was so awesome that 11 students are participating in Rocket Reader!

ELA: This week we focused on the letter Ii – letter sound, correct formation when writing, words that start with I. Please continue to work on recognizing letters (out of order) and sight words at home. We give extra emphasis on one letter a week, but we work on all the letters every day. The kids have a very hard time writing when they don’t know their letters and letter sounds.

Math: Continuing to work on number recognition and writing 1-10; counting 1-20; sorting; different ways to represent numbers (digit, number word, tally marks, ten-frame, dice/dominoes); 2D and 3D shapes; more/less. Please continue to practice counting to 100 at home. We now have 11 classmates on the “100 Club” wall!

Writing: Continuing to write personal narratives in our writing journals and using “and” and “because.” We are trying to get them ready for their writing assessment coming at the end of the quarter – sounding out words (why knowing letters and letter sounds is important), finding sight words on the word wall (why knowing sight words is important), and working independently on writing (why overall independence is important)!

Theme: Goods and Services

The school is continuing its character education program called The Voyage. This month’s focus is on COOPERATION: working well with others. We incorporate these words and traits into our day to make it more meaningful to the kids. Because we are often in learning groups (Daily 5, writing and math small groups), cooperation and teamwork is a must in our classroom! The kids usually do really well when working together!

Hi, families! We are working REALLY hard in class and learning LOTS of new things!

Reading: Wemberly Worried –  We talked and wrote about things that make us feel worried; sequencing story details; describing the setting, characters, problem/solution, beginning/middle/end details. We also read Chick ‘n Pug.  Don’t forget to keep up with your Rocket Reader forms and add our books (plus library books) to your list! Reminder that Rocket Reader forms are due October 1st (and this program is optional – not a requirement of our class, but we strongly encourage participation in the program!).
ELA: This week we focused on the letter Mm – letter sound, correct formation when writing, words that start with M. Please continue to work on recognizing letters (out of order) and sight words at home. We give extra emphasis on one letter a week, but we work on all the letters every day. The kids have a very hard time writing when they don’t know their letters and letter sounds.
Math: Continuing to work on number recognition and writing 1-10; counting 1-20; sorting; different ways to represent numbers (digit, number word, tally marks, ten-frame, dice/dominoes); 2D and 3D shapes; more/less. Please continue to practice counting to 100 at home. We now have 11 classmates on the “100 Club” wall!
Writing: Continuing to write personal narratives in our writing journals and using “and” and “because.”  We are trying to get them ready for their writing assessment coming at the end of the quarter – sounding out words (why knowing letters and letter sounds is important), finding sight words on the word wall (why knowing sight words is important), and working independently on writing (why overall independence is important)!
Theme:  The Georgia State Flag and the U.S. Flag (meaning, compare/contrast, describe) and the Pledge of Allegiance.

The school is continuing its character education program called The Voyage. This month’s focus is on COOPERATION: working well with others. We incorporate these words and traits into our day to make it more meaningful to the kids. Because we are often in learning groups (Daily 5, writing and math small groups), cooperation and teamwork is a must in our classroom! The kids usually do really well when working together!

Hope you all have a restful, fun fall break!!!