Saturday, June 28, 2008

Summer Fun Activity # 3

What Are You Reading?

What are YOU reading this summer? Do you have a favorite author that you are reading? One of my favorite things to do is to pick an author and read everything they've written. This is a good thing for you and one of your parents to do together. Go to the public library or to the book store and thumb through some books until you find one that really appeals to you. Then check out as many books as you can find by that author. You did that kind of author study when we read so many of Eric Carle's book in kindergarten. If the book is a little hard for you to read, then ask one of your parents to read it to you. You can understand books that you listen to at a much higher level than you can actually read. Make sure to log them on your summer reading chart (we're going to ask for it when we get back to school!) If you can't find your log sheet, just keep a list of the books that you are reading to turn in. You can put the books that you read all by yourself and also the books that are read to you on the list. All of that counts in reading!

Here is our Camping Trip in Ocala National Forest

Here is a glimpse into our six days camping. We are off to Disney for a couple days and then to visit family. At the end of our two weeks we will be going to Longboat Key to vacation with friends. Don't forget to check in and let me know how things are going!



Friday, June 27, 2008

Summer Fun Activity #2

Web sites

We thought maybe one of the first things we could do together is to take a look at some interesting computer sites that you might enjoy over the summer. Here are some that we recommend. Just click on the underlined game to try it out.

1. Activities include letter sounds to intermediate reading. You may remember this site from school because this is the one that we had set on the computers.

Star Fall



2. At this site you can read Clifford books and fill in words or you can play games. I'm a fan of the big red dog. Try out this site and see if you are too.

Clifford



3. See how well you remember how to make patterns with this game practice with patterning.

Patterns



4. Lots of number games and activities can be found at this interesting site. Let us know which ones you like!

Number Time




If you try any of these games, leave us a comment and let us know if you liked them (or if you didn't) by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of this post.




Parents: Your child will need help finding the comment button and with the process of leaving a comment, but try to let them type and sound out the words for any post that they might be interested in writing. Leave the spelling as your child writes it (I know it's hard not to correct it!), but we want the children to know that they can communicate on their own! Happy Summer!

Summer Fun Activity #1

Words on the Shirt
Parents: You may have noticed that when your child's field trip tee-shirt came home for the summer that on the back of the shirt are "100 Sight Words"! They were put there for a reason- so that parents have a list of words at their fingertips for their students to practice over the summer. The first thing to do is to see which of the words your child knows. The standard is that kindergartners should leave the grade level with at least 20 words that they know in a "snap." They know these words so well that they can say them faster than you can snap your fingers. You may find that your child knows more than 20 words! Wooo hoo!

This is a list of the words on the shirt that you can copy:
a about after all an and are as at back be because big but call came can could day did do dog down for from get go going good got I if in is it had have her him his home just like little man me morning mother my night not of off on one onto our out over people play ran saw school see she so some soon started that the their them then there they this three time to too two up us very water we went were what when will with would you

After you see which words your child knows, work with those words adding a couple of new ones when they know all the old ones three times in a row in a snap. One way to do this is to copy the entire list and then just highlight the words as your child masters them. You can make flash cards, of course, and review the words each night when you are reading to your child but it should be more fun than drill. Another way to practice the words is to have a list in the car in front of your child and when you are driving or waiting, play games with the words.

These are some hints that you might give.
Find the word that rhymes with not (got)...
Find a word that ends with -ill (will), -ack (back), -ig (big), -all (call), -ad (had) -an (man)... Say the sounds, not the letters.

Find a word that begins with /sh/ -when the letters have slashes around them, it means to say the sounds- (she)How many words can you find that start with /th/? (that, the, their, them, then, there, they, this, three - 9!)

Find the word that is the opposite of big (little) opposite of front (back), opposite of night (day), opposite of up (down), opposite of he (she), opposite of bad (good)...

After the child gets the "gist" of the game - you can make up any questions that you like - let him/her ask the questions and you find the words. This is a really great car game! The only thing you have to do is make the list of words for the car.

Happy summer!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

What's up?

Right before we moved temporarily out of our house for two weeks (we are doing a major renovation) I received my first letter from Mia. How great it was to get a handwritten letter from her. Thank you Mia for taking the time to write.

Well I am in the center of Ocala National Forest at the moment. Believe it or not we were able to hook into the campsites office for internet and I was able to get on-line. How great is technology. The weather has been crazy for the last 6 days. Rainy with thunderstorms every afternoon. But the mornings have been great. We have gone to some great places. I can't wait to get onto my computer and load up the pictures. We are hoping to get into the house for an hour or so in the next couple days and I can load them up!

I am also hoping to get the fun summer activities from the last two weeks posted by the end of this week. While being out of the house and away from our things, I have not been able to do all the things I wanted. So, stay posted and hopefully I will have it all soon.

Hope everyone is having a summer blast! ~ Mrs. Harbour

Thursday, June 12, 2008

This is our summer!

Mrs. Harbour's summer ~
It is our first couple days off and I am still working on getting our house ready for the renovation. I will take a before picture and an after picture and post those as we finish it in August.

We leave to go camping next week for six days. I'll of course have my camera to post when we return. :)

Summer Is Here...

Just like the kids, we look forward to summer break. The end of the year is so busy and things like blogging somehow get put to the side for a while. But now that school is over and the room is clean, it is time for all of us to have a little fun. This summer I thought it would be great for us to use our blog in a different ways. First, a couple teachers and I will be posting new fun summer activities to do. Each week we will post a way to use all the great things you learned in Kindergarten with what you are experiencing this summer. It will be lots of fun things. Also, I want to know what you all are doing during these two months. I will set up a separate section for you to post a comment about your summer fun. If you have a picture, you can e-mail it to me and I will post it on as well.

I look forward to hearing all the great places and things you will be doing. I too will be taking pictures of our travels and posting them along the way. I hope everyone has a great safe, fun summer.