Holiday Customs and Traditions

During the month of December, we have been focusing on different Holiday Celebrations.  Students decorated a paper shoe to put out for St. Nick and made hats for St. Lucia. Mrs. Thao came and shared pictures about Hmong New Year and the traditional clothing she wears for that.  After learning about a Holiday Celebration, students completed a page in their Holiday Customs booklet.  Please take time to have your child share and tell you about the various celebrations.

Thank you for helping your child complete his/her Holiday Traditions booklet! Students enjoyed sharing them with the class.  As students have shared their Holiday Traditions booklets over the years, I too have learned about other traditions from this Holiday Season.

Please enjoy the Winter Break with your family!  As you go about your various traditions, talk to your child about your traditions. 

Hmong New Year

St. Lucia

Superkids Fun!

Thanks to Mrs. Nygaard’s daughter, we were able to bring one of our Superkids, Tac, and Super Smart Book, “Join the Band” to life through the tuba. In this book, we learned about a marching band and some of the instruments in it.  We also saw and heard the instruments Mrs. Nygaard brought, the tuba, flute, clarinet and bassoon.  We had instrument demonstrations by: Mrs. Nygaard on the flute, Mrs. Steckbauer on the clarinet, and Mrs. Rossetti tried to play the tuba (she played the baritone when she was in school). We enjoyed having the real instruments to see and hear!

We are Thankful!

Thank you for helping your child work on his/her quilt square!  The students enjoyed sharing what they are thankful for, and continue to enjoy looking at each others' squares.  In Social Studies, we've been learning about the First Thanksgiving and how the Pilgrims had a feast with the Wampanongs, giving thanks for the bountiful harvest they had.

We also will have a "Feast" next Tuesday. To prepare for that, we will make Cranberry Bread using Mrs. Nygaard's family recipe. Yum!!

Table of Champions

Each week 5 students from our school are chosen to sit at the Table of Champions, on the stage, for lunch.  Students chosen have shown the lunchroom staff they know the Lunchroom Expectations: number 1 voice, take everything you need in line, and clean up after yourself.  A few weeks ago, the table include numberous kindergartners.  Way to go!  Let's keep the Table of Champions full, showing the school Kindergarten know what to do!

Fall Fun

On Wednesday, November 4, students are dismissed at 11:30 so teachers can prepare for conferences & mark Report Cards (Kindergarten students do NOT get a report card at this time).  In our classes, we will celebrate Pumpkins and Fall!  We are not dressing up but will be playing some games and enjoying the pumpkin ice cream we'll make earlier that week.

Kindergarten in October

We've been busy learning all month!  Here are some of the highlights from each academic area:

Reading/Writing: With our Superkids, we've been learning letters and sounds.  We now know the letters and corresponding sounds for c, o, g, a, d and s!  Recently, we started blending letters together to make words.  Sal is our current Superkid who loves sports...especially ones that start with 'S.' In writing, we are becoming great at drawing a picture story.

Math:  We've been learning how to write numbers & understanding how many a number is.  Lately, we've been working with the 5-group and using it to show 6, 7, 8 & 9.  For example, 6 is 5 & 1.

Science: We have enjoyed the beautiful Fall Leaves!  Using paper, we made our Fall Tree for our book.  After tracing a leaf, we measured how tall & wide it was with cubes.  We covered our leaf with cubes to see how many could fit on it.  We started focusing on wood by doing an experiment to see how wood floats.  We then added paper clips to the wood to determine which kind of wood would sink first. Next, we will be making our own plywood.

Social Studies:  Our focus here has been learning about school:  reviewing Tucker's Solutions, routines, school workers, tools and schools today and long ago.

Teddy Bear Clinic

On Wednesday, October 21, our classes will be going to Teddy Bear Clinic.  Your child will need to bring a stuffed animal to school the day before (Tuesday) so we can fill out the Emergency Sheet for the animal.

Also, we need 4 volunteers per class to attend this trip.  Mrs. Nygaard's class is going 9:00-11:00 am.  Mrs. Rossetti's class is going 12:30-2:30 pm.  To sign up to volunteer, you need to go to the Wausau School District Website, click on "Parents," scroll down to "Volunteer Opportunities,"and click on "For Volunteers."  You can also use this link Wausau School District: For Volunteers.  If you have questions about the volunteer process, please contact Roxane Hagedorn at 715-261-0584 or rhagedor@wausauschools.org.

Thank you for helping us make this a wonderful trip!

Online Scheduling of Parent/Teacher Conferences for November 5 & 9

New this year...we have decided to go online to schedule conferences.  It's really quite easy!  Until the note arrives, there are no worries.  A school messenger announcement will be made the night before the note is sent (mid October) to let you know that your child should have the conference information in his/her red folder and when the scheduling window will open.

If you do not have access to the internet, once you have your note and login information, you may call school at 715-261-0220 to speak with Mrs. Lenzner or Mrs. Steckbauer and they will be happy to assist you in this process.

Again, once the window opens, go online early for the best selection of dates (November 5 or 9) and times (3:45-7:45 pm).  Thank you for helping us make this a smooth process!

It's Apple Time!

It's been apple time in Kindergarten!  Ask your child how we made applesauce and how he/she liked it.  We also tasted apple cider and apples...yum!  Then we graphed our favorites.  We cut apples the "star" way so we could easily see and count the seeds.
 

In Science, we've also been learning about trees.  Have your child tell you the different parts of a tree (roots, trunk, branches, leaves).  As the weeks progress, we'll be learning more about trees:  why leaves change color and what things are made from wood.

Welcome to Our Blog!

It has been a busy couple of weeks in Kindergarten!  We have been singing, dancing, learning about school safety and rules.  As a Kindergarten Team, we are presenting our news via this blog.  Feel free to bookmark it and share it with other family members as well.  We will use it to update you about what's happening in Kindergarten, upcoming events and times we need volunteers.  Please get in a routine of checking the blog on a regular basis. We will update it the first week of every month. We have enjoyed working with your children these past two weeks.  Thank you for sharing them with us!  We look forward to a year of fun and learning.

Volunteers

Just an FYI...to Volunteer for Field Trips, or for any events at school or in our classrooms, volunteers needs to have filled out a Volunteer Background Form, and be approved, through the Wausau School District.  This is a district policy for the safety of our students. This form is available online at For Volunteers in the Wausau School District Website.  The Background Check needs to be approved prior to starting/attending the Field Trip or Volunteer Opportunity.  A background check only needs to be completed once unless there are changes, and needs to be complete and approved prior to volunteering.  If you have any questions, please contact Roxane Hagedorn at 715-261-0584 or rhagedor@wausauschools.org. 

Our First Field Trip will be in October to Teddy Bear Clinic.  Once we post the Volunteer Positions, we will let you know.  You will sign up to volunteer through the Wausau School District Website: Wausau School District: For Volunteers.