Jr. Kindergarten News

CHURCHES TOUCHING LIVES FOR CHRIST (CTLC)
CTLC has a food pantry open to those in need in our community.  This year, we ask that:

*The Pre-School children in Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Langford’s rooms bring canned corn and boxes of macaroni and cheese.  This will be our YELLOW group;

*The Junior K and Kindergarten children bring cans of sweet potatoes and carrots.  This will be our ORANGE group;
*The First Graders bring canned green beans.  This will be our GREEN GROUP;
*The Second and Third Graders bring canned fruit.  This will be our PURPLE/PINK group;
*The Fourth Graders bring canned meat such as tuna, salmon, or chicken.  This will be our BLUE group.
 *The Fifth Graders bring canned cranberries and cranberry sauce and/or 1-2 pound bags of rice.  This will be our RED group;
*Faculty and Staff bring canned soup, stuffing mix, 1 lb. bags of pasta, or 1-2 pound bags of pinto beans.  This will be the JEANS group.

Each group will have a color-coded box that matches the group’s color, so that when your child brings his or her donation, it will be easy to put it in the correct box.  All food items should be brought to school by Thursday, November 17.  On Friday, November 18, each child may wear the color of his or her group to school instead of uniforms.  At the Sharing Feast, each group’s food will be brought to the altar in the Parish Hall and             blessed by Father David before it is delivered to CTLC later that afternoon. 


Last week we celebrated Veteran's Day on Friday by having a school wide prayer at 11:11 on the playground.  We then paraded around the block carrying flags and singing patriotic songs.  We had several people pass and even one gentleman that slowed, stopped and then parked his truck.  When asked if he was a veteran he said, "Yes, that is why I am taking my time."  He paused for a moment while the children passed him.  Please view the pictures that have been posted on CCS facebook page.


As far as class work you will find that we have added sight words up to the word a to our list.  We also talked about color words and how they are adjectives that describe what something looks like.  We began segmenting onsets and rimes which is just the opposite of what we had been doing with the blending of onsets and rimes.  This coming week we will add the word to and talk about numerals.  The students will also begin blending phonemes in order to sound out words.  The letter sounds that we have worked on so far are; /m/, /s/, /a/, /t/, /k/(c) and this week /p/.  With just these few sounds we will be able to create many words.

In math we will be look at telling time to the hour this week.  The past few weeks have been review and discovering the penny.  The penny will continue to be a big part of the next few lessons.


Our Sharing Feast is on Friday.  Our class will be making Sweet Potato Casserole.  If you have not signed up to bring something to add to the receipt please the list posted outside the classroom.  There are a lot of giving opportunities during this time of year.  Please read the CCS news letter for a full description of all these fantastic ways to give back. 


Remember Barnes and Noble in Waco is hosting our Fall Book Fair.  You may purchase items on line but we want to encourage you all to make a trip to the Waco store.  The School will get a percentage of all sells but the Waco store will only benefit if you purchase items in the store.  Many of the teachers will be present at the store on Saturday morning so you can make a family outing of it and get some Christmas shopping done at the same time.  See you in Waco!!!!


Mrs. Keever

Jr. Kindergarten News

Last week we changed our Alphabet Chant to a Halloween Chant.  You might have heard your child singing it a little differently over the past two weeks.  They really enjoyed it and seem to learn the chant faster and better then I did.

In Language we added we to our sight word list as well as reviewed the previous five words.  All the students are doing really well with learning them.  We also began blending onsets and rimes (no this is not misspelled).  What this means is we took the first sound of a word and blended it with the rest of the word.  For example I would say /s/ and then /at/ the student would then say sat.  This can be a difficult concept so if you could work on this at home it would help them.  Also if you actually point to an object and do it with them they will be able to relate it better.  Point to the table and then say /t/--/able/ and then ask the student to blend the two sounds together to make the word table.  Another option would be at dinner find something on the table to blend and have the student try to guess as to the item you have chosen (Tell the student that you are going to blend a word that they can find at the table, say /c/ - /orn/, what food item am I saying) the student can look around the table if they are having trouble and find the corn.

We used buttons for sorting in Math this week.  The students were asked to sort them by the number of holes each button had in them.  We had some with 4, 2 and even 1 (shank) hole in them.  At home many of you found a variety of objects to sort.

We ended the week with a study of our bones in Science.  We talked about how our skeletal system helps us move and do all types of activities.  We even used candy bones in Math while we counted, sorted and graphed them.  In Reading we are making a class book about how our bones work.  This should start coming home with the students beginning next week.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS for next week:

Monday we will be celebrating All Saints Eve: students may wear a costume that represents their favorite Bible Character - They should be able to tell the class who they have chosen and something about them.

Thursday November the 3rd is our 50th Day of School.  Our class will be celebrating by learning about the 50's; events that happened, popular games, candy and activities.  We will have a Sock Hop in the gym and will share a 50's style lunch followed by a banana split for dessert.  Lunch items are being provided by the room parents and the banana splits will be served up by my father who in his time was an actual soda jerk in an ice cream shop owned by my grandfather.  Lunch will start around 11:00 in our classroom.  They children are encouraged (but do not have to) dress in 50's attire (Poodle skirts and bobbie socks, rolled up jeans and t-shirts).

Friday is a NO SCHOOL day.  All teachers and administrators will be in Dallas for the SAES conference.  However, ECO will still be open for those students who normally attend.

Please check out this weeks CCS Newsletter for other updates.

Mrs. Keever

Jr. Kindergarten News

We have been very busy the last couple of weeks.  In the mean time my personal computer crashed and I have been unable to upload any of the wonderful pictures that have been taken.  I will continue to work on this and hopefully it was just a wrong setting on my camera.  Today was our 40th day of school.  I cannot believe how fast the year is moving along.  Unfortunately Sofia's last day was last week and the students have asked about her.  However, we have been really busy with so many other activities.

Last week we spent an hour painting and getting ready for Friday.  On Friday the whole school went on a walking field trip to the Pumpkin Patch sponsored by the First United Methodist Church.  The students saw pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colors.  There was a story time and a picture to color.  A bean bag toss through a giant pumpkin was the highlight of the event.  Each student received a small pumpkin to bring back to the school.  We will use these later for an art project.  When we arrived back at school we made paper bag pumpkins, paper plate scarecrows and did Fall M&M Math. 

This week we began making a book about The Life Cycle of a Pumpkin.  Each day we complete a different page.  We should be finished by next week.  In addition to our week long Science project we learned a new sight word as we began anew unit in Reading.  As you help your child practice, add the word see to the list.  Friday we also celebrated the Renaissance by participating in the schools annual Canterbury Faire.  There were games and prizes, a bake sell and even a pony ride.  All the children had fun.


Next week we will continue to work on our pumpkin book.  We will also start discussing the skeletal system and make class book about our bones.

Jr. Kindergarten News

This week was FILLED with birthday celebrations.  We started the week with Johnny Appleseed's birthday, on Tuesday we enjoyed Zachary's and we ended with Brinley's on Wednesday.  Needless to say this has been a very busy week.  During our study of Johnny Appleseed we learned that his real name in John Chapman.  He lived about 200 years ago and he lived playing outdoors and planting things.  As he move west he would plant appleseeds and when they became little saplings he would sell them to settlers moving west.  He also planted many orchards of his own.  We enjoyed learning about different types of apples and tasting three of them in class.  The yellow, red and greed apples were all so delicious, however, we all had our favorite.  We made a pictograph the showed that the class favorite was the red and green leaving the yellow apple with only one vote.  Come by and see our graph hanging on the bulletin board outside our room.  We also made patterns using pictures that represented Johnny Appleseed and read a story about a little red house with no windows, no doors and a star inside. 

Our sight word flash cards are almost complete we just have to add our color words and they will be ready to be sent home.  We have learned I, like and the.  Next week we will learn and.  Your child should have brought home two books this week.  Baby Bear's Family is a pre-decodable book that was sent home early in the week.  Friday the students should be bringing the decodable book The Party.  Their homework is to read to anybody or anything that they can get to sit still and listen.

Next week begins the month of October, which brings with it many exciting events.  Most of them you should have received in the flyer that explains all the celebrations we will have this year.  However, two new ones that we just confirmed this week are the trip to the Pumpkin Patch at First United Methodist Church on October 14th and a visit from the Temple Fire Department on October 18th (pending no emergencies).

The first of these celebrations will be this coming Tuesday.  St. Francis Day is a day the commemorates St. Francis.  He is the Saint of Animals.  As a young man he loved animals so much that he would rescue injured animals and nurse them back to health.  We remember him on this day by offering a blessing to our pets.  You may bring your pets on Tuesday morning to the big field across Main St. for a blessing.  We ask that pets be brought and taken home by parents.  They may not stay at school during the day.

We start a new lesson next week focusing on people in the work place.  We will concentrate on the /m/ sound make another class book about Fall.

Jr. Kindergarten News

Sorry for the lateness of this post.  I had an out of town family event to attend this weekend.

We had another busy week of learning.  We finished up our All About Me and our Five Senses units in Social Studies and Science.  The children made books for both of these lessons that will be coming home next week.

Since Friday was the first day of Fall we will begin our Fall unit next week.  First the students will learn about Johnny Appleseed.  Monday is his birthday and we will be doing a lot of fun activities around the apple.  We also have two birthdays this coming week.

Aside from celebrating birthdays we began a new lesson in Language and have a new sight word to learn.  We now have three words, I, like and the, that we will be reviewing.  You should have received your child first book that has words in it.  This is a decodable book and you will start seeing both a Pre-decodable (pictures only) and a decodable book (with words) come home each week.  The decodable books have our new sight words in them.  The words are introduce in an order in which the student can begin making sentences with them.  We are also still working on our sight word flash cards.  I am hoping that these will be finished by the end of the week.  I will then put them together and send them home for you to use to help your child review.

October is a busy month and I have many activities planned for the students.  We also have several celebrations that we will observe as a school.  You should have received a print out of all the celebrations for the rest of the year.  If you have any questions about any of these please feel free to ask.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Keever

CCS Parents Plus Spirit Night!

Papa Murphy's Pizza Fall FUNdraiser!

$2 donated to CCS Parents Plus for EVERY PIZZA SOLD

Return order forms & payment by Monday Sept. 26
Best Part: DELIVERY at School on Wed. Sept. 28
. . . in the drive through, on the foyer or at extended care!!!!

Take them home for an easy week night meal AND stock your freezer for fall parties, birthdays and family nights!

Jr. Kindergarten News

Wow!  We had a really busy week.  It started out with a birthday celebration on Monday.  Happy birthday Ailish.

       

 

On Wednesday Kitty Jones from the Temple Fire Department came to school and taught us some safe ways and places to walk.  Always walk on a sidewalk and cross streets only at the corner using the crosswalk.  If you have to walk at night you should wear light colored clothing and reflective vests or strips and carry a flashlight.

On Thursday the students used their five senses to explore the garden during a Science lesson.  We used our tongue to taste our snack before going outside and....

Friday brought a bright change of pace when three of the girls spent almost the whole recess on the swings singing a song.  Listen carefully to hear them sing, "Aaahhh, aaahhh, sing a happy song".   They repeat these phrase over and over while they swing.  They were sooooo cute I just had to share.

We began a new lesson in reading and have a new sight word.  I and like are the words were are learning.  While you are reading with your child let him/her read along and see if they can pick out these words.  We are working on creating flash cards that will include all the sight words for the year as well as some other ones like the color words.  When these are finished they will be sent home so that you can help your child review them.

Mrs. Keever