Read-A-Thon

Today we had a chance to CELEBRATE all our hard work during
I LOVE TO READ month!  We had a school-wide read-a-thon

!

New Posters

We have some new posters at school that will help our students better understand and use the 5 C's:  Care, Contribute, Collaborate, Cooperate and Celebrate!

Posters

Character Parade

Class Published Books Arrive!

The book that our class wrote about Penguins has arrived.  Four or five of you ordered copies, and I have misplaced my list telling me who gets one!  I have 4 copies at $20. each and one deluxe version that was $25.

Please get in touch with me if you ordered a class book.

Sorry for the confusion!

Sincerely,

Kimarie Tacke

classroom:  763-682-8447
cell:  612-618-5747  (unlimited texting but not unlimited minutes)
ktacke@bhmschools.org

PARADE on Thursday!

Announcing teh Discovery I Love to Read Book Character Parade
Thursday, February 27 at 2:40

Parents and siblings are welcome to observe as the children parade through the halls of Discovery.  The parade will begin in the gym and wind through Commons A and the outer hallways.

Guidelines:
*  Dress up like a character from a BOOK!
*  Bring the book along to carry in the parade.
*  Think of costumes that can be easily put on over your child's clothes or require just a few additional props.
*  Children should be able to bring their costume to school independently.  Please make sure it can fit inside of a bag to carry to and from school
*  STUDENTS WILL BE IN CHARGE OF GETTING DRESSED THEMSELVES... QUICKLY!

Take a Look!

100 Days Smarter!

Today we celebrated the 100th day of school!  We did many, many math activities all day long.  One was a table team challenge to count out 100 of something.  Here is what they did:

100 cubes... organized in two trains of 50 each!

A 100 fortress of blocks... with a space every 10 to help count.

100 circle builders in 10 towers of 10 each.

100 Jacks put into 10 piles of ten.

100 Dominoes organized into 10 rows of 10 dominoes each!

Active Heart Word Activities!

Let's Move!  That is what happened today when parent Melissa Mulder came in today.  She is an exercise physiologist, and offered to come in and help us move while we practice our heart words.  It was a great way to combine movement, heart words, and Valentine's Day.

She shared an agenda for the activities...

Heart Word Hopscotch.  Read the word the rock lands on.

Second time read the sentence made when you put all the words together.

Heart Word Jump up.

If you know the word, jump and say it!

Heart word search:  Find one hidden valentine and read the two heart words written on it.

Receive a Heart notebook and pencil for writing!

A BIG THANK YOU to Melissa for adding so much learning and fun to our day!

SAVE THE DATE!

Spring Field Trip!

On Thursday, May 8th students in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade will have the exciting opportunity to venture to the Minnesota Zoo!  Students will learn about animal habits, classification, and other interesting facts about animals!  

We are excited to have 12 chaperones per classroom join us on this fun adventure!  All chaperones must have a completed background check on file with Mrs. Uttke in the DES office and will need to ride the bus to and from the zoo.  If more than 12 chaperones sign up in a classroom, a lottery drawing will be held.  This educational trip is for our school-aged students only, so please note that younger siblings are not able to attend.  

We are excited for a fun filled day of learning!  Watch for more information to come home in April!  

Excitedly,

Mrs. Grams, Ms. Tacke, Mr. Mueller, Mrs. Schrick, Mrs. Schroeder and Mrs. Samuelson

Leadership Opportunities

One of our founding philosophies at Discovery is that children will grow and learn to contribute when they are given leadership opportunities.  It is very obvious when you look at our 5th graders.  We keep them very busy with programs and transitions around the school with children of all ages.

But that doesn't just magically happen when I student hits 5th grade.  It starts in Kindergarten.  There are so many ways each child can experience and grow in their skills of being a leader!

Kindergarten Leadership Opportunities include:

Line Leader
     -Checking if the line is ready to go
     -Setting a good walking example
     -Leading the daily calendar routine
     -Holding the story of the day while a CD reads the words
Word Checker - knowing todays heart word and teaching it to those who don't know it
Picking/leading the activity song for the day
Sound Can - leading the letter/sound learning activity
Sharing Day
     -Reading a book to the class
     - Reading a piece of writing to the class
Having a license to tie shoes means you help those who are still learning
Helping others when you are done with your work

I bet I am missing a bunch, too, as I stand here brainstorming what all we do to encourage confidence and leadership in the classroom.  Your children are amazing in how much they grow and change.  You have every reason to be proud of their hard work and bravery and trying new things!

VALENTINE'S DAY

This completely snuck up on me, but Friday is Valentine's Day!

We spend the last 20-30 of the day celebrating by opening cards from classmates and choosing one treat to eat.  It is completely up to you if your child brings a card for their classmates or not.

The children will make a bag here for their valentines.  There are 20 children (8 girls and 12 boys) and 3 adults who work with our class.  I ask that you NOT put specific names on the valentines.  The bags will be lined up here at school and the children can just drop a card in each box.

My apologies for being so late with this information!!!

Meet the Principal

From the Office:

"Parents you are invited to come meet with the Principal, Dr. Mathew Nelson.  Come discuss how we can continue to collaborate and grow together at Discovery!

Monday, February 10th

6:30 - 7:30 Open Discussion in Commons A"

Basket Update

A parent has donated an adorable Penguin Cupcake Decorating kit and the movie "Happy Feet" to go in our basket.  Please let me know if you would be willing to donate a cake mix (any flavor) and/or some white frosting!

We also still need a basket or container to hold the items.

Wanted!

When we are doing centers, it is really nice to have a small classroom set of some items so we don't tie up supplies when we really only need 5 of something.  Right now we are running low on our set of 5 colored pencils and our set of 5 watercolor paints is looking pretty used up as well.  If you would like to donate one box/set of either of those, we would be very appreciative!!!!

Centers: 2/5/14

We got out the new Magnetiles that were donated to the Kindergarten program!

a

Making Kk is for kitty book marks.  All readers need bookmarks and we are readers here!

Floor Puzzles

Reading: I think this group found a really good book!

Play dough:  Making "cookies" to sell!

Silent Auction Basket

Our class is going to be putting together a basket (or two?) for the silent auction on Family Fun Night.  If you have ideas or items to contribute, please do!!!!

I ordered an extra class book that the children wrote about penguins.  If you can think of some items to put together around that, wonderful!  We need an actual basket or container.  We also need some other items that would fit with the penguin theme.

If you have another idea for a themed basket that fits Kindergarten, we could put a second one together as well.  The more the better!!