It is tradition here at CHA that students make gifts for their parents. This year in Preparatory Kindergarten we made three beautiful ornaments! I love this tradition because it is so fun to see the kids faces when they present their presents to mom and dad. They are so proud of their work and it makes them feel so happy to be able to give something to people who give so much to them!

Merry Christmas!

Ms. Sally Jo, Ms. Sally Ann, and Ms. Erin R.'s classes would like to wish all of the CHA family a very Merry Christmas! Check out our holiday tree with kid made ornaments in the hallway by our rooms!

GUEST APPEARANCE

This month in Ms. Sally’s Kindergarten class we are learning about Food and our 5 Senses. Last week we were talking about crunchy food, so for show and tell we all brought in different “crunchy” items to test. While we were having our show and tell, Ms. Patty came by and joined us!! It was really fun to have her help decide who brought in the crunchiest item! She also taught us about Deductive Reasoning!! Thanks for coming Ms. Patty!

Cornucopia Mania!!!

In both of the Preparatory Kindergarten classes we have been learning about the food groups. When learning about fruits and vegetables we made our own Cornucopias. These turned out beautifully, and they are so festive! Check them out!

We Love November!

In Preparatory Kindergarten we have been loving November! Now that the month is in full swing we have begun talking about Thanksgiving. We have had a great time reading Thanksgiving stories, and doing Thanksgiving art projects! We can't wait until next week when we get to dig in to turkey and pumpkin pie!

Dia de los Muertos

Today is Dia de los Muertos also known as Day of the Dead. In Spanish, Ms. Gabi taught us all about this special holiday that they celebrate in Mexico. Check us out in our AWESOME party masks!

Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten Class

Changing a Tire for Ms. Erin R. (Thanks Pablo!)

Changing a Tire

As teachers, we spend a great deal of time, making our curriculum great.
Often we are blessed with great teachable moments that fall in our laps.
Sometimes, even with great planning, the kids are more interested in what
is happening outside the window. This was the case on Thursday as Pablo
was changing a car tire. Everyone was instantly drawn to the window,
asking questions about what he was doing and why.

I could have pulled them all back to what we were doing, but I choose to
indulge their choice of activity. As we began talking about why you
change a tire, I was able to connect the conversation to tracker tires,
and how farmers have to take care of their machinery. This was great
because all month we have been talking about farms and machinery. It was
also great because they were so excited about the conversation.


Erin R.

Our Favorite Things about the Pumpkin Patch by Ms. Mariola's Kindergarten Class

Jessie - My favorite thing at the Pumpkin Patch was going on the slide and
eating chocolate ice cream and pumpkin pie. I also like the hayride, it was
fun. I liked everything!

Arianna - My favorite things were doughnuts and pumpkin patch. I loved the
hayride too, and going on the ship and I even loved baby goats and baby
pigs, I love all the animals.

Crimson - My favorite things at the Pumpkin Patch were the same as Arianna'
s.

Wiley - I liked when I was trying to feed the baby chick hay and I liked the
calf and the piggies, and I liked going on the Hay Ride, and patting the
goats.

Sam - My favorite things at the Pumpkin Patch were Gummy Spiders and
watching making apple cider.

Logan - I liked going on the hayride and on the ship, and the maze, and
having lunch. I liked playing with Will in the maze; we were playing 'Rock
Paper Scissors'

Will - I liked the Hay Ride and getting pumpkins. My favorite thing was
going in the maze.

Pumpkin Fun!

Last week in Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten Class we studied pumpkins. For a fun art project we decided to paint pumpkin patches. We started by golf ball painting the vines then used cookie cutters to stamp our pumpkins. It was sooo much fun!!

Pretty Pigs in Preparatory Kindergarten!

Who knew that Pigs could be so pretty?? We did! The Preparatory Kindergarten is learning about Farms in October and we made our Parade of Pigs in the hallway across from our classroom. We used three different mediums to make these pink pigs! Check them out!

Who Let the Cats Out??

Last week in Ms. Sally’s Kindergarten Class we talked about cats. Some of our classmates have cats as pets and some don’t. We made some very cute cat faces; if you are at the Meridian Campus make sure you come down and check them out!!

The Letter "O" in Preparatory Kindergarten

In Preparatory Kindergarten we have been studying our vowels. We started with A, then E, and I and last week we learned about the Letter O. We sang an O sound song, listed O words like octopus, otter, ostrich and olive, and made some O art projects! Here are some pictures of a couple of the O projects we made! Learning the vowels can be so much fun!

Making Sheep in Preparatory Kindergarten

October is Farm Month in Preparatory Kindergarten. The first week we are focusing on farm animals, specifically cows, horses, sheep, pigs and chickens. Each afternoon we learn some cool facts about an animal and then do a project about the animal. So far our favorite facts are that cows have four stomachs and horses can sleep standing up.

Today was sheep day. We learned that sheep live in flocks, because they do not like to be alone. We also learned that sheep have wool to keep them warm when it is cold out. In the spring, when it is warm the sheep are sheared. We can then use their wool to make blankets or clothes. We made our own sheep today using cotton balls. We then wrote one thing we learned about sheep underneath our sheep.

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

This week in Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten Class, we talked about Fall and how the leaves change colors. We went on a nature hunt around the school to find proof that the leave really do change colors in Fall. Here are some pictures of our findings!

Apples Galore!

Ms. Sally’s Kindergarten Class was CRAZY for apples this week! We talked about how apples grew, what colors they were, and which ones are our favorites to eat. The class even got to PAINT with apples. We cut them in half both length and width wise along with into slices and then dipped them in paint and stamped them onto our papers. If you are at the Meridian Campus you should come and check them out!

Learner's Licenses

That’s right, preparatory kindergarten now has the license to learn! This was an exciting project to start the school year with. First we talked about driver’s licenses and how they allow adults to drive. Well of course we are to young to drive but not to young to learn.

The next step was to collect the data. We spent an afternoon measuring our height and weighing ourselves. We then recorded that information along with our birthdays on our licenses. Now, if anyone asks what we are doing, we can show them our license to learn!

"All About Me" in Mr. Alex's Class

This week all the friends in my class have been learning and speaking about homes, families and themselves. Throughout the week when we finished speaking one of the above subjects I had the children illustrate a picture to go along with what we spoke about that day. The pictures they drew were put together and stapled to make their own " About Me Book".

Family Trees

We have been busy learning all about ourselves in "All About Me" month! This is such a great social studies topic for the first month of school! We have talked about our features, our families, our favorite things, and we will be working on learning our address and phone numbers. Here is one of the big projects that we have done, Family Trees!

Apple Painting

What better letter to learn about in the first week of school than A? None! The first week of school Erin R’s preparatory kindergarten class explored the letter A. One afternoon we painted with apples. We took several different size and shaped apples and cut them in half. Then with green and red paint we painted with the apple halves.

This was a fun twist on the traditional school apple!

Macaroni E's

This week Erin R’s class preparatory kindergarten class has been learning out the short E sound. We have made books, coloring pages and painting. On Friday to celebrate the end of the week we made macaroni Es. It was interesting to watch the different approaches. Some friends just dropped the macaroni in the glue, while other meticulously placed the macaroni on the glue. The next step was the put the glitter on, and the finally to back our Es on colorful paper. The final product is sure to catch your eye and we had a blast making them!

Kindergarten News- Ms. Mariola's Class

Our first days of Kindergarten were wonderfully smooth and fun. The children are
adjusting well to the new schedule and routines.

I feel lucky to have such a wonderful group of smart and sweet kids.

For the last few days we reviewed class rules and practiced forming good
habits, like sitting properly at the table, holding a pencil the correct way,
looking at the person who is talking to you and following instructions and
directions.

Learning more about our friends and telling every one about our family and things
we like is a great way to make everyone in our class feel comfortable and
a part of one big family/ school community.

My friends are practicing writing their names, letters and numbers, getting
familiar with computer room, doing lots of art and more. We keep very
busy.

I was very glad to see so many grandparents for the Grandparents Social. I
hope all of the grandparents got their Cards for Grandparent's Day.
Thank you to all who came and we are sorry we weren't able to see others.

I'm looking forward to a fantastic year of learning and exploration.

Cursive! Say what??!!!

Today in Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten Class we started learning how to write cursive!! We started with the letter “I” and everyone did a FANTASTIC job. Stayed tuned for updates throughout the year on how awesome they are doing!

Update from Ms. Mariola's Kindergarten Class

The naughty little monkey from Margret Rey and H.A. Rey's beloved children's stories was our companion all of this week. We read about his adventures playing baseball, making pizza and pancakes and flying a hot air balloon. We baked Banana Muffins, had a fun Water Play Day, and made science experiments with balloons and static electricity.

Next week we have only two more days of Summer Camp. On Monday we will have another Water Play Day and on Tuesday we will celebrate end the fun camp with a Fantastic Carnival. We have planned many fun activities like Face Painting, Bounce House, Ring Toss, Tug of War, Fish Pond and more.

On Wednesday, September 1, we will start Fall Preparation. The school will be closed for all the children until the end of the week. The teachers will be setting up the classrooms and making sure that all of the children who are returning to our school in the Fall, feel welcomed and excited about being here and learning.

Lady Bug Wind Kites Made by Ms. Erin R.'s Class

During Eric Carle week we read “The Grouchy Ladybug.” As an art project we decided to make ladybug wind kites. This was a fun project because it took several days to make, building the excitement. On day one we painted paper plates, one red and one black. On day two we cut out dots and made faces. We then assembled our wind kites. As it happened it was windy outside on the day we assembled the kites. We were able to take them outside and run with them, watching the wind tails fly in the air.

Seed Exploration in Preparatory Kindergarten

One of Eric Carle’s treasured books is “The Tiny Seed.” We read this story during Eric Carle week this summer. We read the story and talked about the journey the seed took. This allowed us to talk about what things seeds need to live and grow. We discussed, water, sun, and food. We also discussed how seeds cannot get too hot, or too cold. Seeds need to be planted in grass not in cement or rocks, and they need to be buried deep enough that birds cannot find them.

We looked at three different types of seeds (corn, squash and peas). We discussed how they look different and how they need the same things. We planted two seeds to watch them grow.

For afternoon snack, in honor of the tiny seed, we made dirt cups. Everyone had so much fun smashing up the oreos and mixing the pudding. Most of all I think everyone enjoyed eating them!

Monkeying Around in Kindergarten

Last week Ms. Sally’s Kindergarten class read a variety of Curious George books. On Friday we had a special Mom come in and help us with some fun monkey masks! We had a great time cutting, gluing and just plain monkeying around!

Buggy in Kindergarten

Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten Class wrapped up their Eric Carle unit by reading The Very Grouchy Ladybug. We thought that the ladybug was very cute even though he was very grouchy, so much so that we made our very own ladybugs. The class did decide to make happy bugs though. You can find this cuties hanging from our ceiling so come and check them out!!

Thank You CHAF!

A huge thank you to the Children's Hour Academy Foundation and parents like you for all of your support! With funds raised from our annual CHAF Auction last May we were able to purchase these three heavy duty tricycles for our outside play area! Thanks again for all of your contributions!