Ms. Kim's Class

This Week

2012-02-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

     This week the students will be finishing up their Superkid book, Hot Rod. They will hear the story Hot Rod's Sharing Solution and draw their own adventure picture. Make sure to ask your child what happened in the story. We will also be starting the last book in this level of the Superkids. As a way to end, the students will be doing some writing about which of the Superkids is their favorite and why.

     In math, the kindergarteners have started looking at addition as joining two groups together. We will continue to work on addition by using pictures and learning about the plus sign (+) and the equal sign (=) this week. Also, the students will continue to practice skip counting skills.

     In religion this week, the second graders will continue learning about the works of mercy (feed the hungry, visit the sick, pray for the dying, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, give clothing to the poor). Also Ash Wednesday is this week, so we will also talk about what will happen at mass on Wednesday and begin looking at Lent.

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

     Happy Valentine's Day! The kids had lots of fun today passing out their valentines to each other. They had time to look and read over all the valentines they received from their friends.

     We also have met the final Superkid, Hot Rod. Hot Rod wants to be a race car driver and is building a race car. I think he may be a favorite of many of the students. I am sure you have probably heard your child talking about him at home. They were so excited to finally meet him.

     I am very excited that in math the kindergarteners will soon be beginning addition!

Photostory

2012-02-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

Sorry the video accidentally got deleted. Here it is again.

I was finally able to get our class photostory uploaded that we worked so hard on earlier in the year! The students drew a picture of an animal they would like to pretend to be and then wrote a sentence describing their picture. Each one then found a real picture of their animal and recorded their voice over it.

The students had a great time working on the photostory, especially being able to record their voice and then hear themselves.

100th Day

2012-02-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated the 100th Day of School! It is hard to believe that we have been in school that many days already. To help celebrate this day the kindergarteners made bead necklaces using 100 beads. They were to put 9 round beads and then a star bead to represent the 10th bead. This pattern continued for the whole necklace, 9 round, 1 star, 9 round 1 star. The students practiced counting by 10s up to 100 while making their necklace. It was wonderful that the 100th day just happened to fall right in with our current math unit of counting to 100 by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s.

Working hard on their 100 bead necklaces

Counting by 1s and 10s to make their 100 bead necklaces

Counting beads

Working hard counting

Proudly showing off her completed 100th Day necklace!

Showing off their completed 100th Day necklaces!

What we Have Been Up to in Class

2012-02-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

On Friday the students enjoyed a prayer service in church. This was a great end to Catholic Schools week. The students also got their throats blessed to celebrate the feast of St. Blaise.

In math class the kindergarteners answered number riddles using their hundred chart and plastic stars to cover the number. They were very excited to figure out what number I was describing. The students did an excellent job recognizing numbers up to 100. We also played a game where the students had to toss a beanbag on to the number that I said. This was a big hit with the students.

     We also played a game where the students had to toss a beanbag on to the number that I said.

     This week the kindergarteners will continue to use their hundred charts to look at different patterns and to help us count to 100 by 2s, 5s, and 10s. On Thursday we will be doing different activities to celebrate the 100th day of school, which just happens to tie in perfectly with what we are studying in math. Next up will be addition!!

Preschool Buddies

2012-01-31T13:48:00.000-08:00

     Today the students were paired up
with the preschoolers in Ms. Margaret's
room. They helped the preschoolers
write about things they like to do at
school.

Everyone worked hard and did an excellent job!

Catholic Schools Week Mass

2012-01-29T16:06:00.000-08:00

It was great seeing so many of the students today at mass. They did an excellent job singing "Awesome God!"

The rest of this week will include many fun activities for the students, including writing with the younger students in preschool and teacher swap day. It should be a great week.

Tic, Tac, and Toc

2012-01-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

The students have been working hard on the Superkids book, Tic, Tac, Toc, the letter T, and writing words and sentences. They have been enjoying reading the different stories in their Superkids book as well as playing the game, Tic Tac Toc, which is played similar to Tic Tac Toe, except each player has to say a word that starts with the letter T before putting their character on the board. You can play this game with your child when the students bring their books home.

Cernan Space Center Field Trip

2012-01-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

The students had a great time today on our field trip to the Cernan Space Center. Before seeing two shows the kids were able to explore some of the Earth and space exhibits in the main lobby. The students got to see the Apollo/Mars Landscape Diorama, an Apollo 10 Spacesuit, a Brachiosaurus footprint, and many other things.

Standing in the Brachiosaurus dinosaur footprint


Students looking at the Apollo/Mars Landscape Diorama

The students then got to see two shows in the theater. Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and the kids learned about the sun, stars, and planets.

Scientist of the Week

2012-01-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

Donovan was our scientist of the week today. He showed us a great experiment on growing mold. The kids got to see some types of food that had mold on them. It was a great experiment. Thanks Donovan!

Welcome Back

2012-01-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

     We have been back in school for a week and the students have dived right back into our routine and have been very busy. The students have really been enjoying the current Superkids book, Icky. Icky likes watching and making TV shows. The front cover of the student books has been cut so that the kids can pull strips through and pretend that each picture is a different TV channel. The students will also be drawing their own TV show and writing a description for it.

     We are working hard on blending sounds together and writing words that we hear. The students are also beginning to work on writing sentences. We are discussing how there needs to be a space between words and that the first word is capitalized and a period goes at the end of a sentence.

     In math the kindergarteners have begun using a number line to help order numbers. They are also working on adding one or two more or taking one or two away. The students draw pictures to show this.

   Continue to practice with your child at home. When the Superkid books come home with your child make sure you go through the book with your child. This is a great way for the students to show you what they are learning and great extra practice on reading the words in the book as well as comprehension practice when they can retell some of the stories that are in the books now.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Photostory

2011-12-19T11:53:00.000-08:00

Today the students took home CD's containing their completed photo stories. The students listened to a story about pretending, then they thought about something that they would like to pretend to be and drew a picture of it. They completed a sentence about their picture. I then took pictures of everyone with their papers and then had the students choose a picture of the real animal that they were pretending to be. Each child recorded their voice over this picture saying what they are pretending to be and why they wanted to be that animal. The students all did a fantastic job and were very excited to record their voices for the story. I hope that you enjoy seeing and hearing their photostory!

Village Christmas Tree

2011-12-16T13:00:00.000-08:00

Today the kids all walked to the village hall to decorate a Christmas tree. The kids did a great job on decorating the tree! :) Thank you to all the parents that came to walk with us and help us decorate the tree. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

-ad Word Family and Rainbow Writing

2011-12-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Today the kindergarteners made an -ad word family book. All of the words in the book end in -ad. Students chose three different colors and rainbow wrote the words in their book. We spelled the words together as we traced over the letters in the words with a crayon. Each word was spelled and traced over three times. These books will be coming home today with your child. Please practice reading the words with your child.

First Reconciliation

2011-12-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the second graders for making your First Reconciliation! The boys did a great job.

Second Story

2011-12-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

The students read their second library book from the Superkids library called "Oswald Adds". We read the book together and then students broke into groups of two or three and buddy read the book with each other. Students also sequenced the events of the story and made their own small version of the book. They will be bringing this book home. Please practice reading the story with your child. Also ask your child what the story was about, after having them read through it.
We will be starting our next Superkids book, Lily, tomorrow! So make sure to ask your child what Lily likes to do.

Shaving Cream Letters

2011-12-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

Today the students had some fun writing letters, words, and their names in shaving cream! They all thought it was really cool to be writing in shaving cream and wanted to know when we will do it again. Enjoy the pictures from today. This is a great activity you can do at home with your child too to help them practice their letters. You can use shaving cream or sand works well too.

What We Have Been Up To

2011-11-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

We met the next Superkid, Sal. The students found out that Sal likes all kinds of sports that start with the letter S. We are continuing to work on blending sounds and writing letters. The students have learned enough letters now that we can begin making words out of them. So far we have practicing writing and reading the words - odd, add, dad, Doc, and dog. You can practice with your child at home reading and writing these words.

Just a reminder conferences are tomorrow, November 30.

Our First Reading Book

2011-11-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

The students read their first library book from Superkids today called Doc. In the story Doc looks through a photo album from when she was a baby and then pictures of herself now. We read through the book together and then they read the book again with a buddy. This story helped the students to work on their blending of sounds and then reading real words.

Reading

2011-11-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

     The students are continuing to work on blending skills and reading some words. For example we are blending the sounds ca, co, ga, ac, oc, da, and then thinking of words that begin with your sounds. We have also been reading the words odd, dog, Doc, and dad. This is very exciting to hear all the students blending the sounds together. Some of the students have already been reading and this is still an important skill to keep practicing. Next week we will read through a short book together and then with partners. You can work at home with your child on blending sounds and reading CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant).

     We are also trying to create a photostory. The students have all drawn their pictures and written their sentences. I am working on getting them all scanned and then we will be able to start adding their voices to go along with the pages of the story. I am very excited about this!

     Don't forget about our Thanksgiving feast next Tuesday. I hope to see everyone there.

Class News

2011-11-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today we started our next Superkid book, Doc. The kids are always so excited to meet the next Superkid. In this book we will begin working on blending sounds. Make sure to ask your child all about what they are learning in their new Superkid book, Doc.

Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm

2011-10-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

The kids had a fantastic time today on the field trip to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm. They began by watching a video about farms and then went on a hayride. Afterwards we had time to walk around and see the animals. The students enjoyed seeing many different types of animals. They were even able to go up and see the giraffes face to face. The students were allowed to give the giraffes some carrots which they really enjoyed. All the kids got to take home a pumpkin, gourd, and indian corn. Enjoy the pics below from our wonderful field trip to Goebbert's.

Scientist of the Week

2011-10-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Victoria F. was our scientist this week. She showed us the bottle xylophone. The kids all got a chance to play it too. Thank you Victoria. Great job!

Scientist of the Week

2011-10-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

Nate was our first scientist this week. Nate and his grandpa showed the class how to make a tornado in a bottle. He did a great job explaining what to do and the kids all got to try it out themselves too. Thanks Nate for a great experiment.

Grandparents Day

2011-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was grandparents day at the Academy. Students had a great time spending time with their grandparents or another older person that they brought with them. The students created posters with pictures of them with their grandparents and write why they love their grandparents. It was a lot of fun for everyone.

Pet Blessing and Safety Town

2011-10-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday the whole school celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Students were able to bring in their stuffed animals to get blessed. They were so excited to show off their animals.

The students also got to go to Safety Town at the HIP. While there they listened to a police officer about stranger danger. Heard a story about when to dial 911 from a 911 dispatcher. Students then went outside to learn how to get out if there is a fire in their house and about stop, drop, and roll from the firemen. It was then time for students to meet Eddie the Eagle and learn a song about what to do if they found a gun (stop, don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult). The students ended their time at Safety Town learning how to cross the street. Overall it was a lot of fun for the kids.

Fun With Cass

2011-09-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this week our kindergarteners were finishing up their first Superkids book, Cass. So the whole class made Cass caps. The kids had lots of fun decorating their caps and wearing them. We are now starting our second book, Oswald.

Weekly News

2011-09-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

Another great week as past. We are learning a lot and having a lot of fun while doing it. The kindergarteners will be finishing up our first Superkids book, Cass, and are very excited to find out who the next Superkid will be. We will find out this week, so be sure to ask your child who the next Superkid is.

Also as a reminder please make sure you are reading with our child every night for at least 15 minutes. This is very important for them. I have been looking at the reading logs that have come back on Fridays and I am happy to see this being done.

Here are some pictures of things we have been doing in our math centers. Enjoy!

An Exciting Week

2011-09-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

This week kindergarten started Superkids! It is so wonderful to see how excited they are about Superkids and they can't wait to meet the next one.

In math we have been enjoying working in our centers. The students are loving the math games. On Friday we also played a counting game using beanbags and a giant watermelon that I drew. The students loved tossing their beanbag onto a section of the watermelon and then counting how many seeds there were. We also expanded on that and figured out which section had more or less.

Thank you to everyone who brought their reading logs back on Friday so that I could check them. For those of you that forgot please put them in your child's folder on this Friday. At the end of the month I will collect these and give out a new one. Also tomorrow, Monday, our first homework assignments will be given out. The kindergarteners will get one reading and one math sheet. They will both be due on Wednesday, September 14. Please look for these sheets in your child's folder.

Welcome Back!

2011-08-31T15:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome Back!! It was so nice to see everyone again for our first day of school. The kids had a lot of fun drawing, writing, playing math games, and getting a tour of the school. I look forward to another great year at the Academy.

New Computers

2011-06-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Over the past week the children have been really enjoying the new computers that we have in our room. They have been thrilled to have the chance to play different games from one of my favorite websites www.literactive.com during center time.

What We Have Been Up To

2011-05-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

As school draws to a close we are still very busy learning. We have been working on our grow and change unit this month. The students painted a spring garden using their hand prints for flowers, painted the stems and leaves, and stamped butterflies. I added everyone's picture to their hand print flower and it looks great hanging in our hallway.

The students have also planted some plants in the room and we very been busy watering them and waiting for them to grow.

The students have also been working in small groups with me to work on their counting skills by doing some sunflower subtraction and butterfly addition activities.

Our latest scientist was Victoria F. She showed us a very cool experiment on how to launch your own astronauts using ping pong balls and a hair dryer. The students really enjoyed learning about gravity and seeing the balls floating in the air.

Last Thursday the students had a safety presentation from Crossing Guard Bob. He talked to them about crossing safety and then took the students outside and had them cross the street in groups. Crossing Guard Bob had some other officers come to help me and before they left the students all got to take a picture in front of the police vehicle and got to hear the sirens and see the flashing lights.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank all of our moms that were able to come for our tea party on Friday.

I hope all of our moms have a Happy Mother's Day!

Scientist

2011-05-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

Cholly was our scientist this week. He showed us an amazing experiment about static electricity. The students thought it was so cool to see the tissue paper rise up off the table and stick to the ballpoint pen or balloon.

Happy Easter

2011-04-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Easter. I wanted to thank all of the parents who came for our Holy Thursday Stations of the Cross. The kids were so excited to finally be able to sing the songs they had been learning for the past couple of weeks. Also I wanted to put up the pictures from the students making their lambs with the Morris Group. I hope everyone continues to enjoy Spring Break and hopefully the weather will get better for the rest of break.

Holy Week

2011-04-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

This week will be busy to with our daily activities. Monday the students will enjoy a Seder Meal, Tuesday they will have their Easter Egg hunt, Wednesday we will celebrate Earth Day, and Thursday we will have the Stations of the Cross. I hope everyone will join us in church Thursday at 1:00 for the Stations. Preschool has been working very hard on learning two songs that they will be singing.

Week of the Young Child

2011-04-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great week celebrating Week of the Young Child. The students enjoyed having new people in to read stories to them. Our readers included Crossing Guard Bob, Sgt. Dissldhorst from the Norridge Police Department, Chief Deputy Kovalcik from the Fire Department, Pat McCaskey, and Father LoBianco. Wednesday the students also enjoyed a field trip to the library where they got a tour, went on a scavenger hunt, and listened to some stories.

Week of the Young Child

2011-04-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

This week we are celebrating the week of the young child. Monday we enjoyed a breakfast with community members and many of our parents. Thank you to everyone that was able to come and everyone who was able to bring something for the breakfast. The children are also enjoying hearing the stories from our guest readers. We will continue to celebrate this week with a field trip to the library and more guest readers.

Scientist

2011-04-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Last week Mateo and his mom showed us what happens when black marker and water combine. All the students got the chance to write their names on coffee filters in black marker then dip them into the water. We were all amazed to see all the colors that make up the color black.

What We are Working on

2011-03-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

We began learning about our senses. The students made texture collages and then told me what each thing felt like, some of the things are pretty cute. I also gave them time to play with three different types of playdoh, regular playdoh, moon dough, and play foam. The students rotated around so that they would have the opportunity to feel the different textures of each one. We have also talked about what we use each of our senses for and that sometimes we can use more than one sense at a time. This week we will continue to work on our 5 senses.

Also, we have began our new reading story, The City Mouse and the Country Mouse. During this unit we are learning about arrows and long and short as well the differences between the city and the country.

Scientists

2011-03-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

We had two scientists this week, Adam and Victoria P. I am very impressed with the excellent experiments everyone has been showing us. The children love scientist of the week and look forward to seeing what experiment will be done next. Here are some more pics.

5 Senses

2011-03-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

This week we will be learning about our 5 Senses. This should be another fun filled week. The students will be making various collages, art projects, and engaging in different Smartboard and other games involving our senses. They will also have the opportunity to paint with Kool-Aid so that they can smell the flavor that they are painting with which should be lots of fun and make our room smell really good.

International Week

2011-03-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Last week we celebrated International Week. I would like to thank all of our parents that were able to come in and talk about where they are from. The children really enjoyed hearing the presentations. In class we also took the opportunity to learn about some other countries including Japan and France. We looked at where the countries are on the globe and map. The children really enjoyed creating the Eiffel Tower out of Legos.

Prayer Buddies

2011-03-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning we met with the Morris group for the first time this year. The Morris group worked with the children to create crosses using tissue paper. They turned out really well and everyone had a great time interacting with each other. We will be meeting with the Morris group during lent to do various activities. It is a great opportunity to reach out to the parish community.

Getting Ready for St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

The students have also been busy decorating the room for St. Patrick's Day. The students all helped paint a big shamrock for the hallway. We mixed blue and yellow together to get our shade of green that the students used. They have also each made their own shamrock.

This week we will continue doing some things for St. Patrick's Day. We will also being learning about other countries all this week.

Mardi Gras

2011-03-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

Mardi Gras was Tuesday. The students made bead necklaces using green, gold, and purple beads. Then they got to wear them the rest of the day. Also on Monday the students had made masks in art class.

Scientist

2011-03-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

Eric was our scientist this week. He and his mom showed us how magnets work. The students got to each use magnets to see what would stick to the magnet and what would not.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

2011-03-02T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today was Dr. Seuss' birthday. We celebrated by eating green eggs. Most of the children loved the green eggs. Also we made cat in the hat hats. The rest of the week we will continue reading Dr. Seuss stories and doing different activities to go along with our Seuss theme.

Scientist of the Week

2011-03-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

Anjelise was our scientist of the week. She showed us how to make a salt volcano. The students are really enjoying all of the fun experiments.

February Fun

2011-03-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures from what the students have been up to in class this past month.

Painting with cars can be fun

Working with our older buddies to write a story.

Our older friends were a big help.

Dental Health Week

2011-03-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

We started our dental health week off with a visit from Dr. Bubna. She talked about how to take care of our teeth and even checked out some of our students' teeth. The children also got to practice brushing Spot's teeth.

We also painted teeth with a toothbrush and white paint. The children just found that hilarious to being using a toothbrush to paint with. Also we conducted an experiment using hard boiled eggs and Pepsi. We dropped the eggs, which represented our teeth, into the Pepsi and let them sit in the pop overnight. The children discovered that the pop stained the eggs (our teeth) brown, but using a toothbrush and toothpaste they discovered that they could brush them clean again. The conclusion was that pop will stain our teeth and if we drink pop sometimes then we need to brush our teeth to help keep them white.

Busy

2011-02-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

The students have been very busy this month. We have celebrated our 100th day as well as Valentine's Day. Also we just finished talking about nutrition and healthy and unhealthy foods. This week we will be talking about dental health and doing a fun experiment that will demonstrate what pop does to our teeth. This will be a fun hands on activity that I'm sure you will hear your children talking about when they come home.

Welcome

2011-02-12T09:30:00.001-08:00

Another new student recently joined our class. I would like to welcome Chaz to our class.

Space

2011-01-31T13:46:00.000-08:00

We have just completed our space unit. The students had lots of fun learning about space and the names of all the planets. We made constellations, telescopes, the solar system, and even visited the Adler Planetarium.

The students also learned the following song:
    The Earth goes around
    The Earth goes around
    Once a day, every day
    The Earth goes around

    The moon goes round the Earth
    The moon goes round the Earth
    Once a month, every month
    The moon goes round the Earth

    The Earth goes round the sun
    The Earth goes round the sun
    Once a year, every year
    The Earth goes round the sun

Scientist of the Week

2011-01-31T13:38:00.000-08:00

We have started doing scientist of the week weekly. So far Samantha, Griffin, and Gemalyn have had the opportunity to be scientist of the week and show us some great experiments. Samantha and her dad showed us how to create glitter globes.

Last week Gemalyn and her dad showed us how to make an egg float.

Our New Classroom

2011-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to have the opportunity to teach preschool and I am looking forward to all the learning and fun that we will have during the rest of the school year.

I would like to welcome Lilly to our class. She joined a few weeks ago.

The students have been enjoying our new classroom as you can see.