Lunch

If you want to order from Bomber Grill please let me know. I will call it in.

I already have orders from Tammy Gill and Waldon.

Thanks!

Whitney Nichols

4th Grade Math

Ballard County Elementary School

270.665.8400 ext.2213

"Ready for the next level"

No 21st Century

Just a reminder, 21st Century ended last week. If your child normally attends please make sure that other after-school arrangements are made for them this afternoon and for the remainder of the year.

Thanks!

Whitney Nichols
Kindergarten Teacher
Academic Team Coach
Ballard County Elementary School
270.665.8400 ext.2213

"Ready for the Next Level!"

Upcoming

Families,

Happy Friday! We have had a great week in Kindergarten learning about seeds. We discussed a lot of different kinds of seeds and the things they need to help them grow. Next week we are going to plant some seeds and watch them grow in our room! We are so excited.

We are really looking forward to our Field Trip next Friday to LBL. We hope that you all can join us! Due to the lack of space, we cannot allow younger siblings to attend. So sorry for any trouble this may cause.

We are good on snacks for right now, so please do not send anymore. If that changes, we will let you know, but I think we may have enough to make it through the rest of the year!

Thanks so much & have a wonderful weekend!

Whitney Nichols

Kindergarten Teacher
Academic Team Coach
Ballard County Elementary School
270.665.8400 ext.2213

"Ready for the Next Level!"

Wants vs Needs

Families,

Today we learned about wants and needs in our classroom. We read the book, "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" by Mo Willems to kick off our discussion. The kiddos LOVED this book. It is a quick read, but so much fun. They begged for me to read it again, which I gladly did. We laughed all the way through. If you’ve not read this book you MUST check it out. So cute!

We discussed the differences between wants and needs and what made something a want vs a need. Today in your child’s folder you will see where they identified their own want and their own need. Their want could be anything that they would like to have. Their need had to be something they could not live without. (Food, water, clothing or shelter). We had a wonderful discussion and reflection of this concept.

Just a reminder for tonight:

Our program is at 6 in the gym, please have your child at school in the music room no later than 5:45. They need to wear their Sunday best.

I am so excited for tonight and can’t wait to see everyone all dressed up and singing Christmas songs. It is going to be a great night!

Happy Thursday!

Whitney Nichols
Kindergarten Teacher
Academic Team Coach
Ballard County Elementary School
270.665.8400 ext.2213

"Ready for the Next Level!"

Marvelous Monday

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a great Monday. The weather was beautiful today. We thoroughly enjoyed being outside at recess time. Though it was a little windy, we will take it:)

Here is what is happening in our room this week:

Letter of the week: F. We are learning how to write the letter, what the letter looks like in sign language, the letter sound, words that begin with our letter, and so, so much more

Language: We are beginning out Thanksgiving unit this week. We will focus on learning about Indians this week and next week we will be learning about the pilgrims. Tomorrow, we start learning about the different tribes of Indians, where they lived, etc.

Math: We did a pre-assessment today over our 2D/3D shapes. Alot of our students recognize and can identify the 2D shapes, so we will touch on that briefly. The main focus of our shapes unit will be 3D shapes. (Look for pictures of our unit coming to our homeroom app coming soon!)

We are also learning to recognize dot patterns (like what we see on dice and dominos) and getting to where we don’t have to count the dots, we are just able to recognize them. We use lots of ten frames for this type of practice too.

Centers: Our language center this week is a rhyming center, our math center is a 10 frame center where students are making ten frames to show numbers 1-20.

We do so much each and every day, there is no way that I could put down all that we do in a week, or even in a day. I want to do all I can to keep you all informed and up-to-date on all that is going on in our classroom. I appreciate each one of you so much and am so thankful for you all. Being your child’s teacher is a dream come true. I am here to do all I can to help your child learn and be the best they can be. Thank you for your commitment to your child and their education. I appreciate all that you do!

Whitney Nichols
Kindergarten Teacher
Academic Team Coach
Ballard County Elementary School
270.665.8400 ext.2213

"Ready for the Next Level!"

Pumpkin Book Project– Family Night!

Families,

Next Thursday, October 23rd we will have Kindergarten Family Night at BCES. As part of our family night, we are asking our students to decorate a pumpkin like their favorite book character. This is a family project and is meant to encourage family fun and the importance of reading. We will display the projects in the library starting next Monday and will accept them until Thursday. Attached, you will find some of the pumpkins that students did last year to help give you some ideas. This project is so much fun and the kids LOVE it! All of the pumpkins look so cute on display in the library and we can’t wait for you to see all of them when you come out for family night!

If you have any questions or need the guidelines again, please just ask:)

(The only guideline we really have is no carving the pumpkins.)

I can’t wait to see what book characters we have on display this year!!

Whitney Nichols
Kindergarten Teacher
Academic Team Coach
Ballard County Elementary School
270.665.8400 ext.2213

"Ready for the Next Level!"

Tasting Apples!

Families,

The week before fall break our letter of the week was "A". We learned about "apples" all week and one day we tasted different types of apples. We tried red, yellow, and green apples and graphed which apple was our favorite. Pictured, you will see our graph, as well as some of the students coloring their apples to put on the graph after we tasted the real thing!

We had so much fun!

Magnificent Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!

Here is a peak at our week:

Letter of the week: T. We are learning how to write this letter, say this letter sound, how to make the letter in sign language, and so much more! Look for our phonics pages coming home this week to see how we are using the letter t to help us read words and hear the "t" sound!

Math: We are working on several different things in math. We are writing the #6. We are also working on ordering our numbers 0-10 as well as counting out objects using 1-1 counting (saying only one number with each object as we count). We are doing a great job!! If you would like to work with your child on these things at home you can take some index cards and put numbers 0-10 on them. Have your child order the numbers for you and see how they do. Some of our students had some trouble recognizing the number though they could say it, they had trouble knowing what it looked like. We will be working on this not only this week but throughout the coming weeks!

Writing: Our chart this week is "I will…". These charts are so wonderful and helpful at providing our students examples of sentence structure..we look at capital letters, spaces between our words, and punctuation. We are doing such an awesome job with this!!

Language: We are working on community helpers and transportation to prepare for our upcoming field trip! Today we learned about police officers. In your child’s folder you will see a copy of "Tools of the Trade". Students cut and colored the tools a police officer does/does not use.

I am so, so proud of how hard your child is working each day. They give their best ALL the time!! Thank you for your support and communication. I appreciate you and I know your child does too!!

I can read!!

Today when we finished reading our predictable chart, we began having a discussion about what we are doing with our sentences. I asked the students, "What are you doing when you come up here to the chart?" Several students raised their hands. When I called on one, they responded "I am reading!" I looked around at all of the faces of students sitting on the carpet. They were all smiling so big and together we all proclaimed, "I can read!"

These charts that we do each week are the first step to preparing our children to becoming proficient readers. These charts include sight words that our children will be learning this year while providing several opportunities and different ways for them to read the words. We are looking at capital letters, spaces between the words and punctuation marks. These charts make such a difference!!

I want you to know how proud I am of your child and how far they have come in 6 short weeks. I also want you to know how proud your child is of what they can do! It was like a light bulb came on when they realized that they are reading these sentences each week. When they come home today, ask them, "What did you do today?" Chances are, they will tell you "I read!" If not you may need to ask a little deeper, but be assured they are reading! We are laying a strong foundation and taking preparations for the reading books that we will be sending home soon.

Your child is already becoming a wonderful reader and I am SO proud of them!! I know you are too:)

Whitney Nichols
Kindergarten Teacher
Academic Team Coach
Ballard County Elementary School
270.665.8400 ext.2213

"Ready for the Next Level!"