Firefigher Kyle

Happy Sunday!! Did your kindergarten kid tell you that we had a super special visitor on Friday?!? We were so lucky to have Fireman Kyle come to discuss fire safety with us! Kyle works at Station #9 in Lincoln and is the daddy to a special kindergarten kid named Sidney!! We were SO excited to hear all of the stuff he had to say!

Fireman Kyle talked to us about how we can use our 5-Senses to detect fire! We can see fire, we can hear fire, we can smell fire, and touch fire. We DON’T want to taste fire! We talked about having smoke detectors in our house and how IMPORTANT they are!! Mrs. Schroeder even learned that we need to sleep with our doors shut because that can help keep fire out! I started sleeping with my doors shut last night!

A favorite activity was practicing crawling on the ground. We learned that smoke goes up so we go down! We talked about how having two exits is very important. First, we should go to the door and then a window. We practiced crawling to these two spots….it took us back to our baby years!! Fireman Kyle also told us how important it is for us to use the back of our hand to feel the door because it isn’t as sensitive. If we see smoke or fire when we crack our door we need to go the second exit!!

Next, we talked about the difference between tools and toys. We have spent a lot of time talking about tools lately so this was perfect!! We even talked about what an emergency is and when we should call 911….some of our ideas were; if people get hurt, if there is a fire, if you get poked by a needle or knife, car accidents, and bike accidents (we NEED to wear our helmet to prevent these!)

The last thing we did was watch Fireman Kyle put on all of his awesome fire gear! He told us that when he puts his gear on he is going to look different and sound different. Many of my friends thought he sounded like Darth Vader!!! We discussed that we need to have a plan on where to meet our family if there is a fire and that we should NEVER go back into a fire for ANYTHING!!!!! Thanks so much Fireman Kyle for a great time!! We LOVED having you come visit!!

PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO OF THE GREAT PICTURES FROM ALL OF THE FUN!!!

So Smart!!

Hello everyone!!! We have been SUPER busy in kindergarten the past few weeks:) Mrs. Schroeder has been super busy with conferences….THANK YOU to everyone that attended. I loved getting the chance to talk with you about your sweet kids!!!

In literacy we have been working very hard on our SIX high-frequency words!! We read, spell, and write every day……and we have really COOL cheers for each word!! You can even do the cheers with your kids at home since you have directions on how to do them!!!! These words help us write sentences and read books…YES I said READ!!! We have been reading every day!!! The kids are loving guided reading and working in a small group:) Our puppet Spot has also been helping us blend words. He says 3 sounds

 like….c-a-t….and we have to say the word….cat!! This is super tricky so you could practice with your kids at home throughout the entire day!! This week we have been learning about how tools can help us learn and work. Last week we discussed how we can explore using our senses!! As we read books we talk about what kind of text it is. Is it informational or fiction?? Ask you kindergarten kid to tell you what they know….they know about all kinds of books!! We have been working hard on nouns ( a person, place, thing, and animal) and they know these VERY well!! This week we started learning about verbs (action words)!! I know they LOVE to practice action words, like running, jumping, and hoppingJ We have LOTS of energy!!! This week we have been talking a lot about the letter ‘P” and last week we talked about the letter ‘S’….we have been making crafts for our alphabet books (ask your kids about the starry sky and the playful piano:)) We can even sort pictures by their first sound and ending sound!!!

Reviewing at guided reading

Story time on the computer!!

In writer’s workshop we continue to write stories from our lives. We work hard on matching our pictures and our words. We also try to add lots of detail to our pictures. Many of our friends are using turtle talk (sounding out words) to write their own labels and words!! We use a lot of what we learn during literacy (blending, alphabet letters, and high-frequency words) to write!! Please encourage your children to practice writing and drawing at home. They have AWESOME stories to tell you!!

In math we work hard on building arrangements for numbers 6-10!! We just finished up the assessment for numbers 1-5 and I must say we have some SMART kids:) This past week we were introduced to the 5-finder!! The kids love the 5-finder and finding groups of 5. They are understanding that it is easier to count sets when we have groups of 5!! At hoe you can even find groups of 5…..they are SO good at it!! Thanks for helping your kids do homework….please make sure that you are just helping them and not doing it for them.... It really does help them get smarter at our math skills!!

5-finder!!

In unit studies we finished talking about American Symbols (you got your awesome book at conferences:)) I will be posting a video from Constitution Day in the very near future. Thanks to everyone that returned their family constitutions!! The past couple of weeks we have been talking about the five senses. We have a fun song we sing! Ask your kindergarten vocalist to sing it for you!! They know it well!! We read books about each sense and we popped popcorn to finish up the unit. We discussed how the popcorn sounded when it popped (loud), how it smelled (delicious), how it felt (smooth), how it looked (white), and OF COURSE HOW IT TASTED!! It was so yummy and buttery!! We even through some sweetness into eat by adding m&m’s!! The kids loved this activity and so did Mrs. Schroeder :) Who doesn’t love to snack!!

Listening to the popcorn!!

Looking and feeling the popcorn!!

We continue to learn new songs. We learned the fish song the past couple of weeks ( a very silly song!!) We learned a owl song (guess whoooooo loves owls?? We do!!!) If you ordered books they came home today and thanks for all your participation in silly sock day!!! We had some great silly socks!! As a reminder we will have popcorn Friday next week and October 14^th and 15^th is fall break!! I hope you have a marvelous weekend (I hope it is not freezing!) 

Fish Song!!

Sleeping day time owls!!

Silly Socks!!

Thanks for my teacher socks Lily!!

Love-Mrs. Schroeder

Happy Birthday Zaylee!!!

Mrs. Schroeder's Rock Stars want to wish this rock star a happy 5th birthday on September 30th!!! We hope you had a great day away from school celebrating! Happy Birthday Zaylee!!!!

Happy Birthday to Zaylee!!!

Birthday Girl!!!!!

Mrs. Miller & Mr. Lusk Rock!!!

We have 2 Rock stars this week!!! First we have Mrs. Miller. She helps us out in the mornings!! She is married to her husband Darin and they have 3 kids together. Their oldest, Shelby, is 18 this year and just started college!! She also has a 13-year old name Kaylin and a 10-year old named Cooper. She also has a cute puppy named Charlie….he is 2…and energetic!!!! This is her 6^th year at Meadow Lane. She moved to Lincoln 15 years ago after growing up in Trumball, Nebraska. She went to Hastings College and she LOVES sports!! In her spare time she enjoys coaching volleyball at Lux Middle School and she is also a volunteer coach for the YMCA. When not coaching she enjoys going on walks with her family and dog!

Second, we have Mr. Lusk. He helps us out in the afternoons. This is his first year at Meadow Lane and last year he was at Eastridge. He is from Shelby, Nebraska. He moved to Lincoln to attend Doane College. He has now been here for 5 years! During college he worked for the family service program helping kids in the morning and afternoon. He also enjoys most sports and in his spare time he goes camping and he also travels!!

If you see these awesome helpers around please make sure to say hello!! Enjoy the video of them with our rock stars!!!

Happy Birthday Mya!!

Mrs. Schroeder's Rock Stars want to wish this rock star a happy 5th birthday!! Mya brought us a treat today and we all loved singing happy birthday to her!! We hope you had a great birthday!!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Birthday girl!!

Birthday treats!!

Smart Kids!!

Hello everyone!! I really can NOT believe we are already half way through September!! I am having such a great time with all of your kids. I hope they are telling you about all of the fun stuff we have been doing! As many kids may have told you, if someone gets on orange they get to go on our wall of fame!! We already have 56 stars on our wall of fame….which is so AWESOME!!

In literacy we have been working on making text-to-text connections. We have also been talking about how to treat our friends. Ask your kindergarten kid to sing our friendship song!! The past couple of weeks we have been working on the high-frequency words ‘can’ and ‘the’! We are becoming great readers already!!  We have also been working on rhyming and beginning sounds. This week we got introduced to Spot, he is our dog puppet that helps us read. We LOVE Spot!! We learned about the letter ‘M’ and the sound it makes…ask your kindergartener to tell you!! In writing we have been working on telling stories from our lives. We have begun to write words and match our words to our pictures!

Our MEMORY literacy station!!

 

Our new friend Spot!!

 

Writing our high-frequency words!!

In math we have been working on numbers 1-10. Thanks so much for doing homework with your child. This will help you better understand all of the cool stuff we have been doing. We love our math mats and building numbers!!

Math Mats!!

We just finished up talking about safety. I know we have some super safe kids!!  Please remember to discuss these things with your child. This week we started talking about American symbols. The symbols we will learn are the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, the American Flag, the White House, and Bald Eagle. We are making another awesome book and doing some cool crafts. On Tuesday we will celebrate Constitution Day. Please be watching for a family project that will be coming home that day.

Bald Eagle!!

We also learned a new song this week called the Tooty-Ta. We love the song and dancing to it!! Take a look:)

Great Dancers!!

Also, I will be starting home visits next week. I can’t wait to see all of you!! You will also be getting a form about conferences. Please return all of your papers by September 26^th!! Have a great weekend and GO BIG RED!!

Love- Mrs. Schroeder

Rock Star!!

Hello everyone!! I hope you have been enjoying our pictures over the last couple of weeks!! Next month we will be starting something called “Rock star of the Week”. Your child will each have a week when their pictures will be on display and they will tell us all about themselves!! I love seeing all of the pictures! This week I shared my pictures and favorite book. Therefore, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a little about myself. I was born and raised in Syracuse, Nebraska, a small town about 30 minutes East of Lincoln. I graduated high school in 2002 and came up to college at UNL. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher…I even played it every day when I was little!! I know a lot of my kindergarten friends do this as well!! I graduated college in December of 2006 and became a long-term substitute at Holmes Elementary. In May of 2007 I married my high school sweetheart AND we had our first “baby”, a dog, named Basher. He sounds tough, but really he is just a 7- pound fur ball!! In the fall I started my first job at Holmes Elementary teaching kindergarten!! I was SO excited to FINALLY have my own classroom. After 2 years at Holmes I moved to Meadow Lane and taught kindergarten. I have loved this school and all of the staff and am so lucky to get the chance to work here. In March of 2012, my husband Aaron, and I welcomed our first child, Jackson. I have to say being a mom is so rewarding….and tiring!! I have so much respect for stay-at-home moms! The last 2-years I have been working on my masters through UNL and the Primarily Math program. This program was the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done!! I spend my spare time hanging out with Aaron, Jack, and Basher. We love to go on walks and go swimming at the YMCA. I want to thank you for letting me have the chance to get to work with your kiddos every single day!! Next week we will have Miss Miller on here. She works in our classroom every morning. I have attached some photos of my family and a video of me with my kindergarten kiddos!! 

Love-Mrs. Schroeder

Basher!!

Best Friends :)

Schroeder Family