Pennies for Peace!

Our class had fun counting our pennies that we collected for the "Pennies for Peace" fundraiser! We made piles of tens then put them in groups of tens...we finally estimated cups of pennies by the dollar! We raised approximately 36 dollars for the cause! Good job room 116!

Native American pictographs...fun!

This past week we spent time learning about how Native Americans told stories using pictures. See if your child can retell you the story about the Little Brown Duck Shinnabis? See if your child can retell the Thanksgiving story by using their re-telling beaded bracelet?

We enjoyed using a punch set and some leather to make name plates with pictures...check them out!

We are THANKFUL!

We had a wonderful time at the Thanksgiving Feast! The food was fabulous and the company even better!

Thank you to all those who helped make it possible...parents, cafeteria, janitorial, friends, volunteers and administration!

THANK YOU!

No Bones about it...we loved learning about animal skulls!

We had a great visit from Mr. Benenati. He is a science teacher at another school (and Cascade's dad!) but he came to school to teach us about animal skulls. He has a collection and brought a few to our class to share with us. We became very interested in parts of skeletons a few weeks ago when we explored owl pellets(regurgitated matter) and found the actual bones from mice and other small rodents! It was very cool! Ask us about the skulls that we saw...the picture about shows me holding a (stuffed!) owl and the skull of a Great Horned Owl! Thank you Mr. Benenati!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun day on Halloween. We paraded around the bus circle and enjoyed a little party before heading out for our own celebrations!

(Yes, we adults were a few of the letter people!) If you are interested and would like a closer look at the costumes... we have a book in class that we made from the day called "Boo, Boo, Guess Who?" Check it out!

What was for snack? "Mice Crispie Treats" of course!

Last week we were learning about the color "brown" and Tyler's snack day fell on brown day. As a special treat we made "mice crispie treats" using chocolate rice crispies..they were measy but GOOD! Thank you.

Who, who is crazy about owls? We are!

We learned all about owls last week...and once again borrowed a stuffed REAL owl from the old science class's collection for a hands on chance to see owls up close and personal. This is a Great Horned Owl. Ask your child about owls!

Thanksgiving Feast!

Dear families...please forgive me for my lapse in blogging...I have been busy and although all moments in kindergarten are fun...sometimes there just isn't time to do it all! That being said...

FRIDAY is the THANKSGIVING FEAST! Our class will be eating at 10:37. You or your loved ones may come to our class at around 10:25 and then walk to the feast with us. I believe we will have all of the tickets in our classroom...line up with family...(in bus order of course :-) ) and hand out the tickets to everyone. We will then walk up to the gym, where we will be eating and enjoy the feast together. It should be a fun day. During the feast we will have a chance to see a short video of the whole school singing the Thanksful song...it is adorable and will move you like it did me I am sure!

We have been spending the week learning about real...live...turkeys. This turkey is part of the RC Buclkey science collection and has been a great learning tool. Ask your child what they learned about turkeys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Engels' kindergarten votes....guess the lucky color?

Yes, it was election day and although kindergarten children cannot vote for candidates...we can vote on something relevant in the life of a 5 year old...our favorite color! Our class voted and the color "pink" won by a slight margin with 4 votes...but green blue and red were right behind with three votes apiece! Congratulations pink!

Tulip Test Garden planted at RC Buckley Elementary

The kindergarten grade level planted their tulips today as part of the TULIP Project through the Journey North site. The children planted their bulbs 8 in. in the ground (which seems a little deep given our climate...but we do as we are told in kindergarten!)... then we covered them up. We will be registering and signing up to be a part of the project over the next few days. We look forward to seeing our beautiful red tulips in the spring!

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tulip/index.html

Happy Fall!

It was a remarkable day here in Lansing NY. The weather was perfect and the fact that the track was otherwise spoken for made us use the bus circle which ended up being a "happy accident"! The circle worked out perfect! The parents had a great place to stand, a good view of the various costumes and the children (and adults) had a nice short route around the circle before heading into the classrooms for the parties! Our class enjoyed dressing up and the adults even got into it by representing their favorite LETTER PEOPLE! Yes it is B for Mr. Beautiful buttons, S for Mr. Super Socks and C for Mr. Cotton candy.

We made our own snacks for the parties and had some delicious individual apple turnovers!

A good day was had by all. Enjoy the fun and exciting weekend!

Big gains made on the "Courtesy Kid Graph"!

The class has figured out how the courtesy kid graph works! Kids are quickly figuring out their behaviors, acts of kindness and friendship skills move them up the graph rewarding them with a trip to the "heart box". The kids have really come together as a group. We have a great group of kids who are developing some nice friendships! Keep up the good work!

We drank purple milk!

We had fun last week mixing colors to make the color purple...ask your child what two colors we mixed together to make purple ...and what they drank (purple milk!)? See if your child can recall the purple cow song?

Fall Fun at Grisamore Farm!

We had an incredible fall day at the farm. When we arrived at Grisamore Farm we seperated into two groups and went off on our way! Our class started by touring the farm and the animals (mules, chicken, sheep, goat ,and a miniature horse) then we walked down through the apple orchards where we picked an apple to eat...right off the tree. It was a juicy delicious apple as you can see! We continued on our way and stopped to see some sheep grazing way back in the pasture behind some orchards. We ended up by the wagon and had our turn on the hay wagon ride. We saw orchards and fields of all differnt kinds of fruit. The ride wasn't complete without getting off to pick our very own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch! We got back on the wagon for a ride back to the farm where we ate our lunch in the pavillion. After lunch we had a chance to go inside and see the apple press. Unfortunately they weren't making cider today!

We went through a small c0rn maze with pumpkin people in it and looked at the animals one more time. We did happen upon a "pallet" and were able to squeeze our whole class on a pallet...with a little team work that is! (in case you didn't know...it is "P" week!) It was a great day on the farm...one in which we were very proud of our class. They did a great job enjoying the day,being good listeners and courtesy kids!

Lansing Library and one room school house visit a big success!

We had a couple of really nice days at the Lansing Library this week. We enjoyed a story and snack as well as a trip to the one room school house! Mrs. Susie read us a story and talked about the library. We looked around the library and saw the children's room as well as the new space in the downstairs. We enjoyed a nice little snack of goldfish crackers before heading off to the one room school house. When we came out of the library we heard a loud bell clanging...it was Mrs. Bement ringing the bell at the school...calling all the children in! When we entered we came around the corner to find a little classroom with desks, a teachers desk and a chalk board. While we were there she told us about what it was like in the old days in a one room school house. Ask your child about how they kept it warm? What the children used to eat lunch? Where they went to the bathroom? What the desks were like? It was an exciting day. Your child will be bringing home their library card and a brochure listing the library's events and hours. We hope you and your child enjoy the library and develop a love of reading like we have! Special thanks to the Lansing Library staff, Mrs. Susie and Mrs. Bement! Check out the Lansing Library at www.lansinglibrary.org

Lansing Community Library Visit Tuesday and Wednesday!

Dear Families:

We will be visiting the Lansing Community Library on Tuesday and Wednesday. We look forward to visiting the library, hearing a story, doing a craft and having a little snack. We will also be visiting the one room school house and hearing about it's history! It should be a fun day. Please return your child's form regarding a library card if you have not done so already. Thank you! Click on the library to go to the Lansing Community Library website!

Lansing Fire Fighters do it up big for kindergarten kids!

What a day was had by the kindergarten kids at RC Buckley Elem. today! Our local firefighters did an awesome job teaching our kids about their job, their equipment and ways to stay safe regarding fire and emergencies. The children of course enjoyed getting to see the different fire engines but really enjoyed pretending to be firefighters and following the hose, climbing a ladder,getting their hat and trying on the Fire Fighter's coats! The kids learned a lot and loved the day. The best part was that they made "friends" with firefighters and eased their fears should they ever come face to face with a firefighter in an emergency. Thank you Lansing Fire Fighters!

NO SCHOOL Monday! Hurray for Christopher Columbus!

In class we will be learning a Christopher Columbus song...and once you hear it you will be singing it too! Ask you child to sing the "Hurray for Christopher Columber" song. (It will be printed on the Christopher columbus page as well) Due to the excitement of Fire Safety week and the visiting fire trucks...we will focus on Christopher on Tuesday...after the celebrated Monday holiday. Have a nice long weekend!

It's not easy being green!

It's not but we love it...almost as much as Kermit does! Click on Kermit to see the video!There was alot of green around our class today. The kids loved the "green" word stickers. Give me a G...R...E...E...N!

Lansing Firefighters Coming to RC Buckley Elementary!

Lansing Firefighters are on their way! Yes...they will be visiting RC Buckley tomorrow to show us the different fire engines and equipment! Click on the fire engine to play and learn about fire safety like we have been doing this week!

Lansing kindergarten participates in "Read for the Record"!

It was an exciting day in kindergarten today! All 5 kindergarten classes gathered in the hall to participate in Jumpstarts Read for the Record. We wanted to be a part of the (hopefully) new world record! For more information click on the hungry caterpillar above!

The book selection was perfect since we just finished our monarch butterfly unit...and coincidentally The Hungry Caterpillar is celebrating 40 years. We love to read in kindergarten!

Not only was it Read for the record...fire safety...but also GREEN day! Ask your child how to spell the word green!

Happy Fall!

The weather today on the playground was WILD and windy! The kids danced about with screaming voices and twirling leaves...couldn't help but snap the kodak moment! Remember??

The leaves were here,

the leaves were there,

the leaves were everywhere...

even in our hair!

Fly...be free!

We freed the last of our Monarchs on Monday and wished them well on their journey to Mexico.

Once again they were in no hurry...but it was a very windy day and they were reluctant so we put them in the tree. When the tree was checked later in the day they were gone!

We have our fingers crossed for our monarchs and we will be checking with Mr. Little to see if he gets a report of any of our tagged monarch butterflies being found in Mexico. He tells us that for each tagged butterfly found the local people get 5 Pecos! Maybe they will find one with our Lansing numbers on them!!

Gotta Go, Gotta Go, Gotta Go to Mexico!

We set a butterfly free today on our kindergarten hill. She was reluctant to take off...surprising since she escaped from the net in our classroom...while we were at centers!

Half Day Friday!

Friday will be a half day. Dismissal will be at noon...just a reminder!

Picture Day!

This is the link for Life Touch, the company that will be doing school pictures on Oct. 7th! It is "green Day" but we will celebrate the color green on Thursday due to pictures...we know that there will be special outfits for kindergarten picture day! A flyer is coming home today so that you will have time to make your selections.

http://schoolportraits.lifetouch.com/picturedate/Detail.aspx?lid=50122&pgm=1