Weekly News (Jan. 6-10)

Happy 2014!  Two extra days off of school...what a way to start the new year!  With the two unexpected days off of school, we tried to squeeze in as much as we could this week.  It's amazing how quickly the children have gotten back into the swing of things!


All About Me
Both classes enjoyed a "Me Box" presentation this week.  Take a peek below to learn more about Zhara and Aleena!

The children had a great time learning about some of Zhara's favorite things.  We were very impressed with her chef set, and it was easy to see how much she loves baking and cooking with her mom, who is a phenomenal baker!  Zhara is also a talented ice skater, and she loves doing gymnastics.  She is an avid reader and loves reading with her mom!

Aleena shared a beautiful handmade book with photos showing different events in her life.  She loves to play tennis and golf, and she is a big fan of chocolate!  Aleena also shared a beautiful outfit that she loves to wear for special family celebrations!

Math

We explored calculators for the first time this week, and it was great to see how many children were already familiar with how to use one!  We also looked at the similarities and differences between squares, rectangles, triangles, and a circles, and we introduced the terms corner, side, and angle.  We learned about the minus sign and practiced solving some subtraction problems too.

Jolly Phonics

The students didn't miss a beat this week jumping right back into learning two new Jolly Phonics sounds.  This week we learned the following sounds:

qu as in "quack"

ou as in "ouch"

We have just four sounds left to learn, which we will introduce next week.  Please continue to practice and review the sounds we have already learned--especially the short vowels and two-letter combinations.  The more confident they are with their sounds, the easier it is for the children to express their ideas in writing and to read new words.  Thank you so much for your support with this at home!

Literacy

We enjoyed several snowy stories this week including: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow, The Snowy Day, and The Hat.  We learned a song called Five Little Snowmen and used our handprints to make an adorable snowman art project.  Take a peek below!

The morning class also enjoyed listening to two stories read by Emma's mom--The Cupcake and The Gift of Nothing, which were both big hits!  Joe's mom shared two fabulous stories to the afternoon class as well--Bear Snores On by one of our favorite authors, Karma Wislon, as well as a cute story about all the great things kids can do to have fun during winter!  A big thank you to our guest readers!

Dolphin Do's

Mrs. Sessler came in this week to talk to all of the kindergarteners about our new "Dolphin Do's."  There are three things that all Dryden Dolphins need to practice doing each day, and they are:

Be Safe

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

The children enjoyed Mrs. Sessler's presentation, and we are eager to start practicing our Dolphin Do's!

Train Display
Over the winter vacation, we ran into Mateo from our morning class at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.  He was setting up some of his trains for the display case in the children's section.  If you're at the library, be sure to check it out.  It is an impressive collection! 

Winter Fun

Thank you to everyone who sent in photos from the winter break.  It looks like everyone had an AMAZING vacation!  Click here to enjoy the slideshow below!