Jr. K News REMINDER - Dec. 20

I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is our last day before Christmas Break and our class party. If you haven't already sent a book for the book exchange please send that first thing in the morning, also $2 to help cover the cost of the pizza. School will let out at 11:45 however for those students who normally stay extended care will be available until 6:00.

I want to take this time to thank all the parents for all you do to encourage your children. We have had a great year so for and I can not believe that we are half way through. I am looking forward to the second semester. We have a lot of things planned and I know that everyone will have a great time.  Have a safe holiday and we will see you all next year (2013).

Jr. K. News - Dec. 17

The students had a great time on Friday as they participated in Santa's Workshop.  They made several different crafts and drank hot chocolate with their cookies at snack time.

This week we will be focusing on the real reason that we celebrate Christmas and that is the birth of Jesus.  On Wednesday we will have a birthday party for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday to him.  They children will enjoy a piece of cake and juice after our weekly chapel. 

Each class will also have a Christmas Party on Friday at 11:00.  Our class will exchange books before they eat pizza and decorate cookies.  Please sign up to bring some of the supplies needed.  We are also asking that you donate $2 to help cover the cost of the pizza.

Jr. K. News - Dec. 10

Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!

We had a surprise visit from the Gingerbread Man himself today.  He dropped a few clues for us to follow and we searched for him all over the school.  Mrs. Langford's class came along to help us look for him and when we finally did (back in our classroom) he invited us to sit down for a little taste.  The students really enjoyed their gingerbread treat.

Don't forget that the Christmas Programs are Tuesday night at 5:30.  Students need to meet in the Choir room at 5:15 in full costume.

We will also have our bi-monthly safety class on Wednesday as Ms. Kitty Jones comes to our class to present a new lesson.  We always look forward to her visits.

Friday CCS will be hosting Santa's Workshop.  Each class will be guided from one room to another by some wonderful volunteer parents.  The teachers will remain in their own rooms and supervise the activities while the students create several projects.

Only two weeks until Christmas Break!!!!!   Ugh!!!!!

Mrs. Keever

Jr. K News - Dec. 3

Hello to All,

I can't believe that it is December already!  We will finish reading a variety of Gingerbread books this week as well as discuss differences and similarities about them. 

Sight words for this week are with and my.  Please keep reviewing all of the previous sight words.  I will work on getting the rest sight words put together and send them home after the new year.

The students are learning new words all the time and are beginning to sound out words so encourage them to read and also read to them.

More later.

Mrs. Keever

Jr. K. News - Nov. 26

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday.  I know that many of you traveled and some are still on the road so we will continue to pray for you.  We cannot wait to hear about your adventures.

WOW!!!! I cannot believe that we are already nearing Christmas.  This is my favorite time of year; not because of all the presents and gift giving and receiving; but because of family.  I so treasure mine and love to spend time with them talking about days gone by.   I love the traditions that we have and the opportunity to pass these on to our children and yes grand children. 

We will be looking at traditions in Social Studies and talk about where that might have started.  If you have any fun ones please share them with your child so that we can discuss them in class.

The students will begin having two sight words a week in Language.  This weeks are come and me.  Which is funny because one of the songs that they will sing for their Christmas program is "The Little Drummer Boy", and the first line says, "Come they told me...".

The Gingerbread Man is also a really big hit around this time of year and we will be reading 9 variations of this story during the next two weeks.  We will compare and contrast them and predict the ending of each.  At the end of the lesson the students will enjoy a snack of gingerbread cookies.  Yum, yum!!

Reminders:

Dec. 6   - St Nicholas Day

Dec. 11 - The Christmas program will be held on Tuesday Dec. 11 at 5:30.  Students need to meet in the Choir room at 5:00 pm.  Our class will be angels.  Please dress your child in solid white clothing.  You can make a garland wreath to place on your child's head for a halo.

Dec. 19 - Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Dec. 21 - Class Christmas Party (Early Release)

Mrs. Keever

Jr. K. News - Nov. 12

Last week we had time to slow down and catch our breath after two really busy weeks.  We began talking about Thanksgiving and how the Pilgrims and Indians celebrated it in 1620.

Next week we will celebrate our Sharing Feast on Friday.  Jr. K will be making Sweet Potato Casserole while the other classes are preparing other great dishes to share with the school.  There is a sign-up sheet posted near our classroom.  Please indicate which item(s) you will be able to send.  We will need these by Wednesday.

Don't forget this is the last week for our food drive.  Jr. K and Kindergarten won again for the most food collected.  Congratulations!!! 

We have one week until Thanksgiving break and in Language we will be reviewing our sight words and blending sounds.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Keever

Jr. K News - Oct 29

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch.  A big Thank You goes out to First United Methodist Church for hosting it again this year.   It was a little cold but the rain held out so we could enjoy the many activities that were planned.

A few reminders for this coming week:

Wednesday Oct 31 is All Hallows Eve.  It is also a Chapel day.  Students should come dressed for Chapel.  (NO costumes)

Thursday is our 50th day of school and our class will be celerating the 1950's so come dressed in your best poodle skirt, or rolled-up blue jeans and white t-shirts.  We will have many fun 50's activities including a Sock Hop and lunch at the diner topping it all off with an ice cream float.

Friday is the park workday and parents are invited to come and help out.  We will have a picnic lunch at the park.

Mrs. Keever

Jr. K News - Oct 29

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch.  A big Thank You goes out to First United Methodist Church for hosting it again this year.   It was a little cold but the rain held out so we could enjoy the many activities that were planned.

A few reminders for this coming week:

Wednesday Oct 31 is All Hallows Eve.  It is also a Chapel day.  Students should come dressed for Chapel.  (NO costumes)

Thursday is our 50th day of school and our class will be celerating the 1950's so come dressed in your best poodle skirt, or rolled-up blue jeans and white t-shirts.  We will have many fun 50's activities including a Sock Hop and lunch at the diner topping it all off with an ice cream float.

Friday is the park workday and parents are invited to come and help out.  We will have a picnic lunch at the park.

Mrs. Keever

Jr. K. News - Oct 19

Hello there,

We had a good but busy week.  I forgot to thank all the parents that came to Conferences last week and this.  They all went very well.  It is good to here what is going on at home as well as here at school.

The field trip to see the "Three Little Pigs" was a big hit.  The students loved it and the students from UMHB did a great job.  Today was Canterbury Faire and again the children really enjoyed all of the activities.  Make sure you look at the school's Face Book page for pictures. 

This week we started a new unit in Language/Reading we have been talking about our Five Senses and doing some fun outdoor exploration activities. 

New sight words for the unit are see, we, a, to

In Science we are going to be looking at the Life Cycle of a Pumpkin and on Friday is our Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  We will walk over to the First United Methodist Church.  It is also an early release day.

See you all next week.

Mrs. Keever

Jr. K News - Oct 12

We have completed Unit 1 "Friendly Faces" in Reading.  Please continue to review the sight words and have them look for them in other reading materials.  The students become very excited when they start recognizeing words they know.

Sight words: I, like, the, and

This week in Math the students explored Ordinal Positions, first, second, third, fourth and last.  We have also been looking at AAB Patterns on our Calendar.

Reminders:
Next week is our visit from SAES.  They will be with us Sunday through Wednesday

Wednesday is our Field Trip to the CAC.

Friday is Canterbury Faire.  Students may wear NON-scary costumes (NO weapons) to school that day.  It is also a half day for the elementary students.  Pick up is at 11:45.  ECO will be provided.

Jr. Kindergarten News

I hope that you all had a great Spring Break.  For the next few weeks the students will be studying Spring.  This time of year brings a change in the weather, a focus on the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ and many other events.  Our class will be working with Mrs. Keever's son,  Mr. Drew Keever.  He has an AAS degree in Early Childhood and has worked with children from 1-12 over the past few years.  He completed his student teaching in two different preschools in the Cleveland area before moving back to Temple/Belton.  Most recently Mr. Keever worked in Round Rock before being hired by Immanuel Baptist Child Development Center to work with the school age program. 

There is only three weeks until Easter.  Mr. Keever will be helping the children discover how plants grow by planting several types of seeds.  In Math the students will explore cylinders, work with nickels, and experiment with tangrams.  Continue working with your child on their sight words.  This week they will be using said and good. 

I am sorry that I did not get a March calendar out but you can follow the school calendar and watch for upcoming event in the school newsletter.

Mrs. Keever

Jr. Kindergarten News

We have had a very busy past couple of months.  I am in the process of creating a site that will include all of the fun activities we had done in December and January.  There is too much to place on this blog.  As soon as it is available I will place a link here for you to access it.  Meanwhile, I will update you on some current event as well as some that are coming up soon. 

In December the students participated in several community projects that included Adopting a Foster Child for Christmas, Operation Christmas Child, Churches Touching Lives for Christ (CTLC) and the collection of coats for the needy.  Our class also celebrated St. Nicolas Day, Jesus Birthday and went on a Gingerbread Man hunt. 

January brought with it the study of winter that includes a science experiment where the children observed what happens when you mix Borax with hot water.  We made snowflakes.  As the water cools crystals form on the pipe cleaner that we formed into six pointed shape. The students will also be doing another experiment next week with tissue, glue and shaving cream. It will be quite interesting. 

The students have been working very hard learning new site words and practicing their reading skills.  They are combining site words with phonics to enable them to read simple stories.  Remember the more they practice at home the more confident they will become.  A list of the site words introduced so far are: I, like, the, and, see, we, a, to, come, me, with, my, you, and what.  Next weeks sight words will be are and now.

It is hard to believe but our 100th day is coming soon.  February 3rd the school will be celebrating.  There will be some more news to follow.  Meanwhile we will taking part in International Days.  This year will be focusing on Japan with a presentation from Mrs. Wagner.  The school is also teaming up with the church community to raise money for Nets for Life Outreach Project.  We are hoping that every family will donate $12 dollars which will be used to purchase a mosquito net for families in Africa.  The nets fit over the beds and are big enough for three people.  They protect them from being mosquitoes that are known to carry Malaria.

Donuts for Dads is also coming to our school on January 27th.  All Dads, grandpas, uncles, cousins or friends are invited to attend from 7:45-8:15.  There will be a table set up in the front of the building where "Dads" will pick up there donut and/or breakfast taco and coffee and/or orange juice.  They can then take them to their child's classroom where the students will be served a donut and milk/water/juice.

Mrs. Keever