First Steps of Kindergarten

The first steps of Kindergarten are full of many emotions for all of us!!!  Your child is growing, learning so many new things, and becoming more independent.  It is a transition time for all involved and I want to make it the BEST experience possible!  I think it works best when we all work together!!! Your child has to know that we are ALL here for him/her and that we know that each learning moment is very important.  Please help me create the BEST experience for your child as we embark on our journey through Kindergarten together...

 

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Last day of November!

Wow...where did November go? We have been having a blast in Kindergarten and not even noticing the time going by!!! I hope your child is coming home and sharing all that he/she is learning and that you are seeing their growth and progress in all areas. I am so proud of their hard work and determination!

I would also like to thank all of our parents! You have stepped up time and time again to help in any and every way that I have asked. It has been awesome to have your support in whatever way you are able to give. Today we had our annual Christmas Craft Day in Kindergarten and it was a huge success thanks to all that contributed with their time and supplies. A SPECIAL thank you to Erin's parents, Emma's parents, and Asher's mom!

Our newest adventure has been working on iPads in our classroom. I never thought I would be using this tool in Kindergarten but they are handling them nicely and enjoying educational apps. If any of you have an iPad or iPhone and are interested, I would be glad to share our favorite apps list so your child can use them at home too.

Until next time, remember that together we can do more!!!

Melissa McDow

Bennett Farms Field Trip

We had a wonderful day at Bennett Farms on Wednesday!!

Our class with pumpkins

                      

Running through the maze

Thank you to all the parents that came along!!!  I hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did! To all the parents that could not be there: your children behaved well and enjoyed their day!!!  Our day included: petting farm animals, a hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick their own pumpkin off the vine, jumping in the corn crib, sponge painting a cute owl, dressing scarecrows, going through a hay maze to find a pumpkin and then their way out, learning about how to make syrup and how to cook pork rinds, and a fun picnic lunch on the farm.  The weather was perfect and the bus ride was fun for all!  Thank you to the staff at Bennett farms for great day! 

Dressing our scarecrows

Micah found the pumpkin

The Yummy Letter A

   Yesterday we had a yummy time   celebrating the letter A and its sound by making apple turnovers.  We followed a recipe and made turnovers while wearing our A aprons.                         

Thank you to Houston's mom, Micah's mom, and Josey's mom for their help! Thank you also to the parents who sent in the ingredients to make it ALL possible.


Today we had our apple taste test.  Which kind of apple is your favorite: green, yellow, or red?  After our taste
test, we created a Apple Math Glyph to show how we like our apples best!

Next week we move on to the letter S!  Look for notes in Monday folders to see what we will be doing and how you can help!  

Have a great weekend!  GO BIG O and ROLL TIDE! 

    

Pumpkin Seeds

We have planted our pumpkin seed and are keeping watch of our plant as it grows.

                                      Day Five

Black and Gold Day

Thanks to Erin and her mom, we have a black and gold tree in our classroom.  We have been working hard and with help from Houston's mom we have decorated it with yellow jackets and footballs.  Carson's mom donated pom-poms to our class for pep rallies and we used them as our tree skirt.  Thank you to all the parents!!!

  GO JACKETS!!!  

Barefoot Stations

We filled our bucket!!!! 

As their reward for filling the bucket, our class had our reading stations while barefoot this past week. 

What a simple yet satisfying reward for them! 

Book Order Reminder

Our book orders are due tomorrow!  If you were wanting to place an order, send it in tomorrow or place the order online by tomorrow afternoon.  I will be placing the order over the weekend.  Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Mrs. McDow

First week of Kindergarten

Our first week of Kindergarten has come and gone!  We had a great week adjusting to our new schedule and getting to know one another.  Thank you to all of our wonderful parents that have volunteered either their time or supplies already and to those that have signed up to help in the future.  Because of the help and support we received, our first week was a HUGE success!  Your child, most likely, was exhausted and ready for a restful weekend (as was I).  Now, as I plan for our second week, I look forward to our moments together as we explore, learn, and share!  Please remember to contact me whenever you have a question, comment, or concern.

TOGETHER WE CAN!

Melissa McDow
Email: mmcdow.oe@oxford.k12.al.us
Phone: OES 256-241-3844
           CELL 256-282-2849   

First Day of Kindergarten 2011

We had a wonderful first day of Kindergarten!!!  Thank you to all my parents for filling out their paperwork and turning it in.  We sent home our first Monday folders yesterday and I hope you received them, looked through them and returned them today.  I am looking forward to day two!!! 

Last week of Kindergarten!

                           

                           
I cannot believe the time has come for the 2010-2011 Kindergarten class to graduate!!!   Your children have been a blessing to me and will always have a special place in my heart!  I hope that they have gained everything that you thought they should from Kindergarten and MORE! 

Here are a few pictures that I wanted to share from this week.  We celebrated another bucket filling by taking our socks off and having some toe wiggling time! Something about having their socks off always makes them want to giggle!!  FUN TIMES!!!

 

Have a safe and healthy summer and enjoy the time with your child!  I know they will all do GREAT in first grade!  I will miss them but I look forward to seeing them around town and in the hallways next year!!!      

Pumpkin Patch

What a great day we had on our field trip!!!  The weather was perfect and your children had a wonderful time!  I am SO proud of their behavior and I want you to know that they were complimented by the staff of the farm we visited.  I hope they came home with excitement and full of stories to share about their day.  It was a fun and educational day spent at Bennett's Farm in Heflin.  Here are a few pictures of some of the fun we had. 

This week we have been learning about the letter "P"  and the sound it makes.  We started it by wearing pink on Tuesday.  Open House night was a HUGE success and I would like to thank all of you that were able to come and visit your child's classroom!!!  After our trip to Cici's, your child should be able to tell you how to make "P"izza dough.  The "P"umpkin "P"atch was another fun way to celebrate the letter "P"!  Friday, we are having a "P"ep Rally and "P"opcorn.  Oh what fun the letter "P" can be!!!

Until next time, thank you for ALL of your support at home. 

Apples come from trees and we can perform random acts of kindness!

We began studying about trees with a few apple lessons.  Our apple turnovers were SO yummy!  Thank you to those that contributed by sending in ingredients.  It was hard for us to decide if we liked turnovers, fresh cut apples, or applesauce best.  We talked about how those yummy apples began with a seed that grew into a tree.  I hope you all enjoyed your nature walk to find leaves.  We sure enjoyed sharing and comparing leaves found.  We sorted them by looking at different attributes including size, shape, and color.    

We have almost filled our second bucket with only 3 more acts of kindness to go!

We had two days this past week that everyone earned a super star.  I was SO proud of them that I let everyone get a treasure chest prize! 

We are going to the library daily in partner groups.  Mrs. Stephens and Mrs. Simpson have both complimented us on good behavior and manners.  You should be very proud of your children!  I sure am!!!

I am looking forward to another great week at OES!  I cannot wait to meet all the grandparents tomorrow!  Please continue working hard at home with your child!  Together, we can do more....SO much more!!! 

Bucket Filling

We have had a great adventure this week!  We began the week learning about "Fix-It Duck" and how he tried to help others.  We talked about how we can all be helpers.  We ended the week reading about "Plaidypus" and how sad we are  when we lose something and how happy we are when it is found!  We are traveling through the alphabet and are counting everything along the way!

Most of our friends earned a trip to the treasure chest which has been filled by Kristen and her mom.  A big thank you from us because we are loving the prizes every Friday! 

Thanks to Haley's mom and her time devoted to tracing and cutting,  we will be able to make many fun projects.  This week we made our "Bucket Filling Handprints" and "Summer Trees".

Our big announcement for the week has to be our very FIRST bucket filling!!  We worked together all week and on Friday morning our bucket was full!  Our reward was a free gift and I don't think we could have done anything more rewarding!  We all kicked our shoes off for reading stations and loved EVERY minute of it!  :)

SOME of the precious bucket filling moments brought to you by Mrs. McDow's class: ( I wish I could remember them all...I should write them down.)

"Mrs. McDow, I love you!"  said by Destiny. 

Aniya noticing that her friend did not have a pencil gave him hers and then got up to get her own. 

Friends giving Haley hugs after her being absent two days.

Thank you to my parents for all that you do everyday!!!  Your children are a blessing to me and I look forward to next week already! 

 

What a wonderful first day!

We are "crazy" about school!

The friendship rug is so "cool"  Learning and

  making friends along the way.

Oh, what a wonderful first day!

Here are a few pictures of our classroom.

The door to our classroom says "Mrs. McDow's Sea of Possibilities".

The large view of our "Under the Sea" themed room.

Our listening station, book area, and part of our word wall.

 This is our ocean wall complete with cubbies. 

  This is where we will begin our day for "Friendship Circle" time. 

Our two pet turtles live here.  We like to feed them mealworms and crickets.

This is the wall where our work will be displayed for everyone to see.