Learning Makes Me Hoppy

l St. Josephs Schoo

Week of January 9-13

Whats Hop-pening in Kindergarten

Waddle While We Work!
We learned where penguins live, what they eat and how they stay warm. We also learned that some make nests using rocks! We sang many fun penguin songs. Ask them to sing the pocket chart song we learned about Peter the Penguin. We practiced beginning sounds by deciding which foods we could feed him, so he wouldnt sneeze. So silly, but so fun! We learned that the male penguins care for the eggs while the females leave to gather food. The males balance the eggs on the tops of their webbed feet. So we tried walking around the room balancing plastic eggs on the tops of our toes. Difficult to say the least! Especially when we waddled.We learned that some Emperor penguins are as tall as us and weigh more!! We also made some adorable penguins using Styrofoam cups. These are hanging on our new hallway hooks! Thanks Mrs. Charles and Mrs. Zens for hanging those! We made paper plate penguins by gluing tissue paper squares onto the body pieces. We also painted penguins using POTATOS! We later embellished these with google eyes and colored beaks and feet! another. We practiced our shapes again using a matrix formation and played the Which Piece is Missing Game? The kids were individually assessed this week on their sorting skills as well.

Handwriting
We worked on writing the lowercase letters w and i this week. Piece of cake they told me! :)

Science
We looked at our globe to see where penguins live. We compared that location to where the polar bears we learned about last week lived. Many were surprised that they do not live in the same place. We used a flashlight as the sun and tried to guess why it was so cold at the South Pole. They figured it out quickly! We viewed some live webcams from various zoos and observed penguins. Dr. Terrific made cold water boil. This simple experiment simply forces air through a piece of cloth and that in turn creates bubbles, kind of like when you force air through a straw and blow bubbles in your drink.

Reading
We read the story titled Penguins to the Rescue. One of our vocabulary words was ice floe. This is a chunk of seawater that is frozen. Much like an iceberg, but apparently an iceberg is freshwater that breaks away from a glacier. It was awesome to hear them use this word as they played penguin. We compared and contrasted the baby penguins in the story to the adult penguins. We further discussed the /b/ and /n/ sound at the beginning and the end of words. We continued to talk about verbs. The kids had to identify which word was the verb in different sentences. We also identified verbs or action words in all the stories we read this week.

Religion
The kids took turns looking inside a special bag this week. The kids were not allowed to tell what it was but we hyped up how special the thing was that they would be able to see. When the kids looked inside they could see themselves. So special. We drew pictures of what we could see. We also discussed how God gives us many talents. We also talked about how we can learn new things, by watching others and by practicing again and again. We sequenced the order of different activities.

TUESDAY RECESS HELP

We are in need of a parent/family member to supervise the noon hour recess time from 1212:30 for the rest of the school year. You can bring your children from home if needed. Thanks!

Math

We used linking cubes to create towers of cubes that matched a printed pattern. Then we sorted these towers. All the AB patterns MILK JUGS!! were in one pile, all the ABB patterns were in We are halfway there.we have only counted another, and all the AABB patterns were in 23 so far. Keep sending them in until further

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notice. Thank you!! Check out our web page for update wish list items. I also removed some items from the Things You Can Save for Us section. Thanks!

Sugar Cubes
Please send in a box of sugar cubes for your child to use for various activities during the week of January 23rd. Please send them in by Monday January 23rd. Thanks!

Mystery Readers
We have openings for February!!

Career Day
K4 & K5 are looking for guests for our own Career Day event on January 31st, during Catholic Schools Week. You are invited to come in and speak to us! If you have a friend or relative that would be interested in talking to us, please have them contact me ASAP.

Book Collection
We will be collecting those new and gently used books during Catholic Schools Week. Set them aside for a great cause!

Blankets of Love
There are more blankets available for cutting only in the office. If you are interested and able, please contact me or the office in order to assist us with this project.

EXTRA Socks and Gloves

Many had to borrow socks from the office on Friday. Please wash and return ASAP as their supply is limited. Please consider sending 2 PAIRS of extra socks and gloves/ mittens, one for each recess, with your child. Place them in a labeled baggie. If you are missing white gym socks, please contact me, I have 2 unidentified pairs.

Next Weeks Theme Snowmen Next Weeks Words: me, she, with, book, run

BOOTS
My general rule for boots is if you sent them to school with your child, your child will be asked to wear them at recess.

Important Dates
Monday, January 16:

January Family Project

These will be due on January 25th. These will be on display for Catholic Schools week. Please keep these at home until the 25th...No place to store them!!!! Thanks!!

Library Books Due Bring letter /r/ food for Sound Muncher. Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Martin Luther King Day!

Tuesday, January 17 Angel Choir Practice @ lunch recess

Angel Choir
The Angel Choir had their first practice this past Tuesday during lunch recess. There was a great turn out! Thanks to those who signed up! The kids will practice again on the 17th and the 24th.

Wednesday, January 18: Show & Tell **Letter R** $1 Dress Down

Thursday, January 19 Bake Sale @ Lunch

K4/K5 Mass
Our Mass is this Friday! I sent home some of the readings with your children. The rest will come home Monday.

Friday, January 20: K4 & K5 Host Mass @8am Early Release @ 10:30am End of 2nd Qtr.

Wish List

Questions or comments? Please email kkawczynski@stjoesbb.com or call 262-662-2737