OH WHAT FUN...
The snow outside is beautiful, and I can only imagine how much fun the boys and girls are having.  Looks like it was perfect for building a snowman! Today has been a day of relaxing for me and life has slowed down now that Christmas has passed.  If you were wondering how our Polar Express Day went, here is a recap...
As soon as the boys and girls arrived in class at 8:00, the gifts starting piling up on the back table.  They were all so excited for me to open each one of them, so at 8:30, that is what I did.  We opened gifts for about 30 minutes, and they were so excited to see all of the things the parents had purchased for the class!  We received tons of class supplies and some great toys too.  There were also all kinds of goodies donated for the party that day and extras to use for snack time in January.  Next, our cadet from the high school, Miss Paige, came over and gave the kids their gifts from her.  More excitement!  They played with her gifts for the next thirty minutes or so and enjoyed each others company.  Once we settled down about 9:40, I read them The Polar Express.  They loved it!  It was so neat seeing the story click in their heads as we read each page.  After the reading, they went outside for recess.  When they came back in, we did a few simple Christmas activities before library.  While they were in library, someone made a surprise visit to the classroom and dropped off bells from Santa's sleigh.  When the boys and girls walked in the class after library, their eyes were huge and they were in shock!  They could hear the bells ringing and knew Santa must have dropped them off while they were gone. For the next few hours we continued with our regular routine and enjoyed lunch and recess.  Afterwards, we settled in the floor to watch the movie The Polar Express.  While the boys and girls watched, I made hot chocolate, with marshmallows, of course.  Once the hot chocolate cooled off, they enjoyed their warm drinks, just like they did in the movie.  The kids were still super happy from all of the exciting events from the day.  After the movie, we enjoyed our Christmas party with lots of junk food and drinks, and it was finally time for the kids to open their gifts from me.  They had been begging me all day, but I told them they had to wait until the afternoon.  I passed out the gifts and they had to wait to open them all at the same time.  When they finally got to open their presents, they were all happy to see a few toys and a special book they knew by name--'Twas'the Night Before Christmas. We had read it a few times in class that week and many of them have some of the lines memorized.  I was happy to give that book to them as a gift, and so happy to see the joy on their faces when they recognized it.  Overall, it was my favorite day of the school year so far.  We enjoyed ourselves and shared many laughs.  My heart was so full of love that day.  I am one blessed teacher!!! 

CHRISTMAS PARTY:

Our party will be December 19th.  We will not have a student gift exchange in our classroom; however, the kids will receive a gift from me. 
This is also Polar Express day in the elementary school and all of the classrooms will read the book, watch the movie, and enjoy hot chocolate.  The boys and girls will also be wearing their pajamas, just like the kids did in the Polar Express. 

LETTERS TO SANTA:
The Letters to Santa will be printed in the December 23rd issue of the Dexter paper.  We were not told when they would be printed in the Bernie and Malden papers, but I would be expecting them within the next week or so. 

SANTA AT THE BANK:
We will be visiting Santa at First Community Bank on Friday the 14th.  Please sign and return your child's permission form as soon as possible. 

BEHAVIOR POLICY REMINDER:
In our class, we use a color coded system:
Sparkle: The child was “caught being good” or recognized for going above and beyond in the classroom.
Green: The child followed school procedures and was respectful to his/her teachers and peers.
Yellow: The child misbehaved after a verbal warning and had recess reduced by 5 minutes.
Red: The child’s misbehavior was severe and s/he missed all recess.

Every student will begin each day on green and will be given one verbal warning before any discipline action takes place. After a verbal warning, if additional rules are broken the student will be moved to a yellow behavior status, followed by red for more severe behavior. At the end of the day, if the student was respectful and well behaved, s/he will receive a green status. This behavior is expected, but also something to be praised. Green means your child did a great job at school and is something to be very proud of by the teacher, parent, and student! If a student has been exceptionally helpful or kind, that child will receive sparkle status. Sparkle is a prized recognition and is intended to encourage the children to demonstrate respect and compassion towards each other. Typically, a child will only receive sparkle once or twice a week, so please praise your child for both green and sparkle days.

LETTERS TO SANTA:

 Der Santa,

I wut a rel four whelr and gas! I wut a rel dog! I am a good boy! I luv Santa!

Lov,

Nicholas

Dear Santa,

I want a dog! Can I have a DS? I wout you to cm to my haws!

Love,

Rylan

Dear Santa,

I wunt a pup.  I was a good boy and I wunt a play bow and erroo.  I love you.  You ar the best!

Love,

Cooper

Dear Santa,

Can I have a DS? I wood like anoher mostr truk! Yoo rock Santa!

Love,

Chris

Der Santa,

Can I have a scootr, ipod, a pet chiwowo, and a barbe?  I have ben a good grl.

Love,

Kerri

Der Santa,

Can I have a mosdr hi dol?  I wot a DS.  I am a good grl.

Love,

Rylie

Dear Santa,

I wot a little pup and a monstr truc!  I luv u!

Luv,

Albert

Dear Santa,

I wnt lagos.  I love Santa.  I have ben a good boey.

Thanks,

Cade

Der Santa,

I luv u Santa Claus. I woyt a chuwowo, ipad 2, borbe, and a borbe hoas.

Luv,

Alicyn

Dear Santa,

I hope everyone is on the good list! I want a jeep that I can drive!

Love,

Jackson

Der Santa,

I wot a DS.  I luv u Santa. I am a good grl. 

Luv,

Gracie

Der Santa,

I love u! I wich u to cum to my hos! Can I hav a furbe and a camru?

Love,

Landri

Der Santa,

I wot a chiwowo and a ipad.  I luv u!

Luv,

Kayla

Der Santa,

I ben good! I would like a toy gun! I ben playing with Kelly!

Luv,

Jase

Der Santa,

I luv u! I woud like a little puppy! I woud like sum mor hamstr stuf!  Can I have a little cabint? Can u try to get this stuf for me? Thank u for getting this stuff!

Luv u,

Bailey

Dear Santa,

Yor the best. Wud you bring me a ipad, ipod, and furbe? I luv you! I like you!

Love,

Jastyn 

REMINDER:

BERNIE THE ELF WROTE US A LETTER!!!

BERNIE THE ELF:

After last recess we came back to class and Bernie was stuck in one of the globes hanging from our ceiling!  Looks like he got out last night and made it back to the North Pole, because he isn't in our classroom anymore.  I wonder who he will visit next?  I know Mrs. Williams' and Mrs. Powell's kids are excited for his visit!

 

Christmas Fun!

Yesterday the boys and girls helped me decorate our two Christmas trees.  They are little trees, but the kids think they are wonderful and asked me all morning when they could help me add the ornaments. 

 

We also started hanging our stockings in the hallway.  They are so pretty and make the hallway bright and cheery!  Try to have your child's stocking returned to school by this Thursday so we can have plenty of time to enjoy them over the next few weeks.   

 

Bernie, the Elf that visits our school each December, should be making his stop here in the elementary school very soon.  I can't wait until he visits our classroom.  He stays around all day and watches the kids, then reports back to Santa about their behavior. 

 

 

YEARBOOK REMINDER:
Order your Bernie Elementary School 2013 yearbook today!  Order before November 29th and receive a discount.  Order online at www.jostensyearbooks.com.

Communication Arts Skills for Second Quarter
These are the communication arts (reading, writing, language) skills your child should have mastered before we leave for Christmas break. Please be practicing these at home.

1. Sight Words (I am the little have is we my like he for me with she)
2. Color Words
3. Write First and Last Name
4. Write All Letters (capital and lowercase)
5. Identify All Letters of the Alphabet
6. State All Letter Sounds
7. On a Book…locate title, pictures, author and illustrator

THANKSGIVING BREAK:
No school November 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.  Enjoy this time together and remember to be thankful. 

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS:
Book orders are due back in class or online by this Friday.  If you order online, the class gets a free book and so do you!  You will receive a $5.00 gift certificate to purchase a book with your next order. 

TOM THE TURKEY:

I hope you have started camouflaging your turkey.  I can't wait to see them! They are due back in class this Friday, and they will be displayed in the kindergarten hallway until Thanksgiving. 

NEW VIDEO:
Check out the new video posted on the right side of the blog.  You can make it full screen by clicking at the bottom of the video.  It is a link from youtube.com, where you can find tons of educational videos for your child to watch.  Be sure to monitor your child and watch each video BEFORE you let him/her preview it, because not all of the educational videos are as appropriate as they initially seem. 

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd!!!

Congratulations to the Bernie Mules Volleyball Team for making it to the Final Four! The girls will play this Friday at Cape Girardeau and students are dismissed from school so they can show their support at the big game!



HOW MUCH LONGER???

The boys and girls have been talking about trick-or-treating for days!  They look at the class calendar and count down each morning and tell me how many more days until Halloween.  This morning, when they entered the class, so many of them immediately looked at the calendar and told be excitedly that there is only one more day to wait!  I hope each of you have an enjoyable time, and I am sure the kids will all look too cute! 

MISS ANDREA'S LAST DAY IN KINDERGARTEN

We are very sad to say it is almost time for Miss Andrea to move on to her next student teaching experience.  Monday, October 15th is her last day at Bernie.  She has been with us for eight weeks, and we have become very attached to her.  We will definitely miss her, but we are also very excited for Miss Andrea to be one step closer to graduating and having her own classroom one day.  We have learned so much from our eight weeks together and hope she comes back to visit us throughout the school year!  Thank you for everything!

OCTOBER BOOK ORDER
Your child will be bringing home a few Scholastic book order catalogs this afternoon. Along with the catalogs, you should find an informational letter in his/her blue folder.

Here are the basics to ordering online:

1. SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.

On the parent page, click the "Don't have a User Name and Password?" link, then register for your own username and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation: GQVPR . This code ensures that your order is sent to me. Or LOGIN at the link above with the username and password you previously created.
2. SELECT the books you would like to order from over 500 titles available online...and take advantage of online-only specials and discounts.
3. SUBMIT your order to me online by the due date. Your credit card payment will go directly to Scholastic’s secure server, and the books you ordered will be delivered directly to our classroom for your child to take home.  For every parent order placed online, the classroom gets a free book coupon and so do YOU!!! :)

The order is due online or in class by October 5th. 

Snacks 

An afternoon snack will be provided by the school on a daily basis. But, if you would like to send an additional snack to school for all the students, you may. The students love getting a variety of snacks and are always excited when parents send new snacks to school! These are some snacks the kindergarten kids always seem to enjoy:
-cheese and crackers
-goldfish
-dry cereal
-fruit rollups
-granola/cereal bars
-fruit snacks

We LOVE Apples!

This has been a busy week, but the kids have loved the learning activities.  As a class, the kids tasted red, green, and yellow apples during snack time. When tasting the apples they decided which apple they enjoyed the most. We then made a graph to figure out which color apple was the class favorite.  Ten of the seventeen kids loved green apples!  We read a book about Johnny Appleseed and how the apples grow from dormant trees in the winter to apples in the fall, then to apple pies.  As we read the book, the kids thought about our previous plant science lesson and recalled that a seed was planted, watered, sun shined on the seed, grew roots, stem, leafs, and finally apples!  After reading the book and discussing how Johnny planted a seed to grow the apple tree, the kids all wanted to go home and plant an apple seed.  The kids favorite part of apple week was making the apple pies. We made four pies.  Each kid got the chance to add apples, sugar, cinnamon and apple pie filling to a bowl.  They then mixed everything together and poured it into the crust. The kids thought it was awesome to cook in the classroom.  After the  pies baked we were all excited to try the apple pie while drinking apple juice.  The halls smelled of apple pies for the rest of the day, which reminded the kids how much they loved apple pies!! 

Miss Andrea

Apple, Apple, Apples!

During snack on Wednesday the students tasted apple juice, apple jelly, apple cereal, applesauce, dried apples, and several different apple bars. It seemed the class favorite was apple cereal.  This was a surprise to me.  I figured the kids would love applesauce.  Today we will be tasting red, yellow, and green apple slices and then as a class we will graph the kids favorites.  Watch for the graph to be sent home in the blue folder.  Hopefully during the next few days the class will be making apple pies!  I can't wait to see how excited the kids are about making the pies! :)

Miss Andrea  

RECYCLED BOOKS
Recently your child brought home a few children's books. These were extra books that kindergarten was not using anymore. Your child got to browse the books and pick two of his/her liking.  Enjoy! 

IT HAS BEEN A GREAT FIRST WEEK!

It has been fun getting to know all the boys and girls in Mrs. McGarity's kindergarten class.  I am thrilled to say I finally know everyone's names.  I look forward to spending the next seven weeks with your child.  

Miss Andrea