Today Ms. Stevenson brought in paint cards. We used them as tens and ones machines. In Mrs. Kozlosky's room somebody had to be a teacher and the students had to write the double digit number. Then the students had to subtract 10. In Mrs. Gengler and Ms. Stevenson's room we used the paint cards to count numbers and we used cubes too. If the card showed 5 tens, then we picked five ten towers. If the card showed 4 ones, then we picked 4 little cubes.  Gavin said, "I like Math."

More fun with tens and ones.

Today Alyssa H and Sofi brought in a treat. If we only get one tally we get one treat. If we get two or three tallies, we don't get a treat. We wonder what the treats are. They are kind of a surprise. If you get zero tallies, you get both treats. Alyssa said, "The treats are for people who have perfect behavior."

Dear Families,

We've had a fun week learning all about different kinds of whales. The children are making a fun book about whales which includes some of their new learning. We have been watching some interresting You Tube videos about the sounds whales make and the tricks they can learn. 

In Math we are continuing to work on adding, counting and comparing tens and ones. Some of the children are working on numbers up to 20. Some are working on numbers up to 100. We played a game of shaking four cubes with double digit numbers written on them and the children had to put them in order from smallest to largest. It was challenging but fun.

We also welcomed Ms. Jessica Stevenson to our classroom. Ms. Stevenson is from Carroll University and will be with us for the rest of the school year. She has already started working with groups of students during Math and Phonics and she is enjoying getting to know your child. Please say hello to her if you see her before or after school.

Have a great week.

Mrs. Kozlosky
Mrs. Gengler
Ms. Stevenson

Working hard on our whale books.

We went to an assembly.  The assembly had a lot of people. We watched a video.  The video had pictures of us.  Some of us got ribbon or bracelet awards because we are making good choices and are ready to learn.

We learned about beluga whales.  Baby whales stick with their moms. Beluga whales don't have a dorsal fin. They squeak.  We watched a video about beluga whales. The man was training them to play catch. Beluga whales swallow their food whole.  Sofi said, "Baby whales get lifted up by their moms to get air."

Introducing Ms. Stevenson

It was very very cold out today. Parents had to decide if their children would go to school. It was too cold and we didn't go out for recess. We had indoor recess. We  didn't go outside because it was too cold. Nathaniel said, "I hope it is warmer tomorrow." 

Thoughts from the teachers

We had a really exciting assembly today. An Olympic athlete, Debbi Sullivan, came to talk to us about her experiences. She participated in four Olympics as a race walker. Ask your child to demonstrate how to "race walk". She also asked the students what their dreams were and talked about how important it is to have goals. She told us that we were the best behaved group she has ever had. That made us all very proud. Did you know that we have a "walking" club at our school. Students can choose to walk with Mr. K during their lunch hour and earn feet for a bracelet.

We are diving into an inquiry unit on whales.  The entire kindergarten and first grade are learning about the Arctic and Antarctic areas of the world. Each team is choosing to learn about a different animal from those areas. We choose whales and boy are we excited about them.  Please take time to investigate whales on line or at the library with your child.

Conferences are on Wednesday next week. If you do not have a scheduled conference but would like to talk with us, please let us know.

Report cards will be sent home on Friday.  Please sign the brown envelope and send it back to school.

Have an exceptional weekend and enjoy another day off.
Mrs. G and Mrs. K.

Meeting an Olympic champion.



She is teaching us about making our dreams come true.

Mrs. Kozlosky wins a race.

We are learning about Whales. We learned about the holes on top. There are beaked whales. There are many different kinds of whales.

We did centers. We made snowflakes. We went on IPads and computers. Some of us made snowmen. We cut out snowballs. Trinity said, "It was good." 

Dear Families,

It's been a fun week. The children came back from break really settled into our daily routine. It's been nice to see their growth over this first semester.

We finished up our unit on solids, liquids and gases. The students enjoyed the experiments. We have posted a couple of the experiments on the blog. We are also working on remembering some of the new information we are learning and writing facts about the topic. Some of the students are drawing new learning while others are able to write facts.

In math we are working on larger numbers. Some of us are building numbers to 20. Some of us are building and comparing numbers to 100. Some of us are adding a double digit with a single digit number. The students who are able to count to 100 easily are able to catch on to these concepts easily. We are practicing starting from a higher number, for example 43, and counting up to a given number, for example 53. This is something you can do at home to help your children be successful at school.

Next week we will be starting a unit on arctic animals, specifically whales. We are excited to begin. Our Art teacher, Mrs. Collins is already planning collaborative projects.

Have a great week.

Mrs. Kozlosky and Mrs. Gengler

Making pudding is a chemical change.

We had a lot of experiments today. We put milk in chocolate powder and we mixed it up. When it was done, it looked like pudding. We found out, it was pudding. At first we thought it might be chocolate milk or brownies or hot cocoa. And Aryana, Deja and Lexi did a papertowel experiment. It stayed dry even though we put it in water. It stayed dry because the air stayed in the cup. The air is a gas. Trinity and Sophia did an expeiment. They put vinegar and baking soda together. First we guessed what would happen. What happened is it overflowed. Videos of this to follow. Aria said, "It was totally cool!"

Stiring helps it change.

Eating yummy pudding.

Experimenting with gases, liquids and solids.

We had a lock down drill.  We had to move to a small space in the room.  We turned off the lights. We had to lock the door.  Our voices had to be silent. Mrs. Wall walked around to see if she could see us through the door window but she couldn't.  Afterwards, we ate popcorn.

We got a new App. You can make your own snowflake. You only get to save five or six in the gallery. A gallery is a place where you can keep your snowflakes that you made on the device. Device means I-Pad.  Josiah said, "It was fun."

Dear Mrs. Gengler,

     Aryana L. said, "We miss you so much." We cannot wait to see you tomorrow. Jasmine said,"The first graders did a hard math today." Sophia said, "I hope the funeral was okay." Mrs. Kozlosky said, "I hope it wasn't too sad." Kamahdi said, "I want you to come back." Krystal was back today! and said, "I hope you got to do something nice on your day off." Ariana D. said, "All of us love you." Aria said, "It's 2013, did you notice that?!" LuiSandro said, "Happy New Year."  Lexi said, "We had fun with Mrs. Murray." Jocelyn, who brought snack today, said "We had fun today." 
        

We had library. We divide up in to two groups. Some of us have found Lego Books. Some of us found Ninja Turtle books. Mason found a book about animals being rescued. It was a Diego book. We get to take two books. Aryana found a book about fog. That is a book with a gas in it.

LuiSandro, Evan and Alyssa share what they learned about water.

Happy New Year

We had an awesome first week back. The kids came back ready to learn and boy did we learn.  We started a really fun science unit on solids, liquids and gases. The kids really enjoyed some experimenting with water, baking soda and lemon juice.  These experiments are easily done at home.
We are building our stamina with writing by setting a timer and seeing how much we can write before the timer goes off. Some of us can write an entire page. In math, we are moving on to bigger numbers and using tens and ones to create those numbers.  Soon we will be comparing big numbers adding those numbers together.

It is really cold outside and the children really like to play in the snow. Please make sure your child comes prepared to be outside. Lunch recess is about 25 minutes. If your child does not have snow pants or boots, please let us know. We have some that we could lend to your child to use here at school.

Conferences are coming up and we are scheduling the first grade students first. All first grade parents should have received a conference note from us.   If you are a kindergarten parent and would like a conference let us know.

Stay Warm,
Mrs. Gengler and Mrs. Kozlosky

Science is fun.

We did science experiments.  We learned about liquids, solids and gases.  All of these things are matter. We mixed baking soda and lemon juice to make a gas. The gas blew up a balloon. We put ice in a cup. We heated it up. First it melted and then it evaporated. Sophia said, "It was a smart day".

A cool experiment. why did the balloon blow up?



We are floating in the air like a gas.




We are moving like a liquid.

We are good listeners during the assembly.

We were talking about safety, fire drills and lock down drills. We were good listeners during the meeting. One day of the week is Bulldog day colors for Central. That same day of the week is Huskie day colors for Hale. That day is Thursday. We get to wear these colors to help us think about the future. We like the colors. Our t-shirt color day changed from Wednesday to Tuesday.

We had a great day. It was our first day back after 11 days off. We had cookies and juice boxes for snack. It was Kevan's birthday.  It was a snowy great day outside. Some of us got stuck in the snowbanks but we pulled each other out. Some of us had a choice to stay in or go out. We had centers. Kevan said, "We had fun".