Ms. Yoerges' Green Gators Kindergarten

Journal Writing in Action!

2011-01-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Let your child choose a book (any book will do!) and read away!

Step 2: Every few pages, when there is a detail you want to discuss, when your child asks a question, and at the end of the book DISCUSS together!

Step 3: Let them draw a picture (with markers, colored pencils, crayons, paint, whatever!) about the entire story or just one part

Step 4: Ask them what they want to write and let them go! Only help them sound out when they absolutely need it. Remember: It doesn't matter if it is spelled correctly. They should just be sounding out the words by breaking them down into individual sounds.

Step 5: Have an author party and read what your child wrote. Don't forget to praise, praise, praise because you have a very talented, very smart kid!

Journal Writing!

2011-01-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

After reading the book Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats, our January author,we talked all about secret hideouts. In the story two boys and their dog Willie hide from the "bigger boys" in their secret hideout/fort. We talked about our favorite hiding places in our house or if we were to build a fort, what it would look like. We browsed google images of kids' forts, talked about ways to build them, and who would play with us. WE listened to secret agent spy music like the theme song from Mission Impossible to get us into the mood! The stories the kids came up with were awesome! So good there was a trip to the treasure box in store for many kids after we finished! Check out four students and their stellar work!

Donor's Choose Project

2011-01-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

Help get our class's next project funded!
Interested in seeing more great videos of your children learning on the blog? Pass this web address on to your friends and family so we can get a flip cam for us to use!

http://www.donorschoose.org/we-teach/596995.1181621141

Home for the Holidays

2011-01-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos from my trip home to northern Virginia. I had a very merry, white Christmas. I went to a bird sanctuary and saw a beaver dam. Also pictured, is my dad's dog, Carley enjoying the snow!

A trip on the Polar Express

2011-01-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

Celebrating the end of Stanford and beginning of the holiday season we had a Polar Express day! Students wore their favorite pajamas as though they were whisked away on the northern-bound train.

This month we did a lot of crafting, art projects, and exciting story times too! Happy Holidays to all the green gators and their families!

Celebrating Diwali!

2011-01-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

We were so lucky to visit with Dhrish's mom and learn all about the holiday their family celebrates, For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in India,Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore,and Fiji.

We painted beautifully and Dhrish's mom shared delicious sweets they typically eat during the festival of lights, Diwali. THANKS FOR COMING IN!

Article about bullying

2010-11-17T12:19:00.001-08:00

This is an interesting article about bullying and how interaction with infants can help teach children about empathy and feelings. Parents, this doesn't mean you must have another baby but it is a good article!

http://blog.speakaboos.com/2010/11/childhood-bullying-may-be-solved-by-babies/

Sight Word Clubs Champs!

2010-11-15T04:32:00.000-08:00

Our newest BLACK club member, Enrique Perez, now knows 122 sight words! Great job, Enrique! We are SO proud of you!

Our first BLACK club member was Evan Nava! Evan reached 122 words before the first grading cycle was even over! Rock on guys:)

The Land of I Can Ceremony

2010-11-02T10:41:00.001-07:00

Every grading cycle, students are rewarded for their efforts in citizenship, Land of I Can skills, sight word clubs, science, athletics, music, and other special areas.

We are so proud of our kindergarten kiddos for knocking our socks off with how smart they are! Great job, everyone!

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Creative Literacy

2010-11-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Three cheers for the awesome parents and students who created some incredible pumpkins! Students chose their favorite book characters and decorated pumpkins. All second, first,kinder, and prekinder classroom hallways were line with our book characters. Check our our hallway's pumpkins!

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Field Trip to Main Street Theater

2010-10-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Main Street Theater where we saw Richard Scarry's Busytown. The acting was hilarious, the songs were lighthearted, and the costumes were so creative! We then enjoyed lunch at Hermann Park. What a wonderful day!

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Writing Projects

2010-10-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

First...we were nature spies.
Then, we were authors.
Then, we were painters.
Now, we are publishers!
Check out our writing projects for Denise Fleming's in the Tall, Tall, Grass.
Denise Fleming is our first author study. She writes her stories by brainstoming action words and illustrates with dyed paper. We used paper, paint, and action words to create our own Tall, Tall Grass masterpieces.

Nature Spies!

2010-10-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

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Community Gardening Day 2010!

2010-09-26T19:22:00.001-07:00

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It was GREAT to see so many parents and students helping this weekend! Shout out to Ramon's family and Evan's family...they worked so hard and now our garden is beautiful! If you missed it, don't worry there will be plenty more!

More pictures on our school website: http://lantripelementary.com/index/Home.html

My New Kittens!!

2010-09-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Comment on these photos to help me name this cutie pa-tooties!

I decided to browse the weekend pet adoption with NO intention of getting pets but these two little monsters were SO cute! I love animals and am so happy to have little friends to take care of at home when I'm not taking care of my little ones at school :)

I need name suggestions, though. The little gray on is a CRAZY runt and a girl. The brown/black tabby is her brother. Any ideas, send them my way!

Super Smelly Projects

2010-09-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

We are learning our 5 senses and created some SUPER smelly projects! Presenting your scientist's first projects! They did a great job! Thank you for all your help, we can't wait to share more projects! Mr. Cairey will be video taping all their presentations for them to watch later!

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The Land of I Can!

2010-09-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

We have kicked off the Land of I Can! Here is the video from open house. Cheer on your little scholar!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLN2J8TR8ME

LOVE PBS KIDS!

2010-09-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

There are so many great games on PBS Kids. This one is great to do at home because it can help your student recognize sounds in words and then find the letter that makes that sound. Give it a try!
http://pbskids.org/lions/games/ears.html

Watch Us Learn Math Work Stations

2010-09-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

We have started to practice math work stations. We are doing great with sorting and classifying objects, counting objects, and creating patterns. We have also been graphing a lot! Ask your student about their favorite math center.

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Welcome to Our Blog!

2010-09-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Parents, family members, friends, and students,

Welcome to the Magnet Kinder Green Gator Blog. I am so excited to share important events, pictures and videos of what we are up to, special songs I love to play in class, and books we have read. I usually update it when something that makes me say "WOW!" happens! Please follow me so you can get updates sent to your email when I update pictures. How easy is that?!

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Teach for America in a nutshell.

2010-06-14T03:27:00.000-07:00

One Day Started. And it never ends.

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Camp-Read-A-Lot

2010-05-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

During the month of April we were caught always reading everywhere (C.A.R.E.)! All around the school there were pools, tents, lawn chairs, and more to make us feel like we were camping as we read. We had an author, Melissa Willias, visit the school and talk about her books in the Iggy the Iguana series. We also had lots of guest readers like Ms. Turkall and many of our parents! We also made solar s'mores and sang camp cheers and songs. We LOVE to read!

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We Know 100 High Frequency Words!

2010-05-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

We worked all year at home and at school and we did it! WE made it around the sun and now we know 100 (or more!) High Frequency Words! We had a celebration with green gator cookies and ice pops! I am so proud of this class!

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Here we come to the Garden Show!

2010-05-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

The Garden Show was a huge success! Your students were STARS! Thank you so much for your help, parents!

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Kindergarten Easter Egg Hunt!

2010-04-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

The day after Easter the kindergarten classes hopped around looking for math and candy-filled eggs!

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Ms. Yoerges in Los Angeles

2010-04-04T14:58:00.001-07:00

Over spring break I had the opportunity to fly an airplane! Check out these pictures!

Field Trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science

2010-04-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

On April 1st the magnet kinder classes took a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We saw a 3D IMAX called Bugs, checked out the exhibits, explored the butterfly garden, and had a great time in Hermann Park. It was a beautiful, extremely educational day!

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Reading Buddies

2010-04-04T14:21:00.001-07:00

Every Friday the students of Ms. Taylor's Second Grade Class and the Green Gators meet to share our smarts and read with each other. The 2nd graders have been reading oodles of Dr. Seuss to us so then we share our very own D.E.A.R. books (individual bags of books on each student's reading level), and our journals. We LOVE to read, read, read! Thanks Ms. Taylor's class!

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Field Trip to the Houston Zoo

2010-04-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

Our Field Trip to the Houston Zoo!
Kindergarten went wild at the zoo. We saw all the animals and had fun monkey-ing around. Check out this wild scrapbook!

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Learning About the Chinese New Year

2010-02-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year started on February 14th and goes until February 28th. It is a 15-day celebration follows a lunar cycle and ends with a full moon. This year we are celebrating the year of the TIGER. We made animal puppets and speech bubbles to represent the different animals in the Chinese calendar. Your students were either born in the year of the goat (2003) or the year of the monkey (2004). I was born the year of the ox!

We have also made dancing dragons an Chinese fans. We painted the fans with delicate flowers and Chinese characters (letters). Out in the hall we have been workiong all week to create our dragon with different bright colors and materials. We will be making a dragon head for the parade on Friday. We made drums, will use instruments, carry our fans, lanterns, and dragons in our parade.

On Wednesday, our very own Lantrip 5th grader, Jonathon Tran come to speak to our class about his family's Chinese traditions. We can't wait for our celebration on Friday!

Great Olympic Videos!

2010-02-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=481e7266-e705-41c6-b154-4140b4ef319e.html

Follow the torch here:
http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/olympic-torch-relay-interactive-map/

Blogging is back in action!

2010-02-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you for being so patient with me, parents! I will be uploading lots of pictures and videos as we venture into some exciting units.

This week we are starting our Olympics 2010 unit. We will be visiting each country through google maps, investigating the winter Olympic Games sports and athletes, graphing medals, and reading lots of books about the Olympics. Please watch the opening ceremonies this Friday, February 12th at 6:30 on NBC. Each Kinder class has chosen a different country so next week our class will start to cheer on Canada! Join us as we track the amount of medals Canada wins!

There are many activities on the Olympic Committee website: http://www.vancouver2010.com/.

Next week we will be tracking the Olympics AND starting our Chinese New Year Unit! More to come on that! Here is a great website to get a head start learning about the Chinese New Year: http://www.theholidayspot.com/chinese_new_year/.

Finally, Valentine's Day is on Sunday so we will be having a sweet, Valentine exchange on Friday. We will be doing a Valentine writing project, graphing candy hearts, and enjoying our loving classroom. Some kind vocabulary words we are learning are: love, friendship, "excuse me," "please," "thank you," and respect. Help you student think of other kind words so we can add to our kind word chain!

Field Trip to the Houston Arboretum

2010-02-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

We Love Trees!
Magnet K-2 took an awesome trip to the Houston Arboretum. Check out some of our pictures and the website: http://www.houstonarboretum.org/. We learned about the different habitats within the park like the pond, in trees, and under logs. We also became track detectives to find which animals leave certain tracks. We found decaying logs, trees that woodpeckers hunted for insects in, and scary, hairy vines that we found out were poison ivy!

Sing this great song with your students to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell:
A Habitat's a Home,
A Habitat's a Home,
Food, water, shelter, space,
A Habitat's a Home!

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Winter Pictures!

2010-02-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

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2009-12-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

Here's an artsy one!

Happy Holidays from the Green Gators!

2009-12-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

Past and Present Thanksgiving Feast

2009-12-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

All of Magnet Kinder (Mrs. Moore and Ms. Yoerges's classes) celebrated Thanksgiving by comparing the first Thanksgiving of 1621 with the present-day Thanksgiving. We performed songs, dressed as traditional Wamapnog Indians and Pilgrims, and acted in our reader's theatre production of "Thanksgiving Mice." Ms. Turkall came to our feast and read, "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving," --what a treat! Thanks to all the parents who helped cook and serve! We had a great day!Check out the pictures on the right-hand side of the blog.

Look how wonderful "I Am" Art/Writing Project

2009-12-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

Each student created a name pattern to not only fulfill higher-level thinking math objectives, but also to express their creativity. We spent some time talking about characters and emotions and talked about characteristics of ourselves. They wrote their own poems about everything they are ("I Am Poems"). Look how creative your student is!

Trick or Treat!

2009-11-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Labs, measurement of pumpkin circumference, and spooky goodies!

2009-11-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

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It's PUMPKIN week!

2009-10-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Get ready for Halloween, it's pumpkin week! We will be doing pumpkin experiments all week, and doing lots of spooky activities. Here is one of the poems we have been acting out. You can recite it with your student at home!

Thanks for Gardening!

2009-10-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day for gardening last weekend. A HUGE thank you to all the parents and young gardeners who came out. Our class will have our own flower bed. We will be planting vegetables too!

2009-10-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

We read the book, "Hello, Goodbye Window" and painted our own windows of wat we imagine outside our window. We then wrote short poems: Outside my window I see...
Outside my window I see...

To make the window we sketched with pencil first then put painter's tape lightly over the construction paper to make a window pane. Then, we painted the window with watercolors. Finally, we let the windows dry and peeled the tape off to reveal our windows! Ask your student what he/she sees outside the window!

2009-10-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

Mr. Penton (Lantrip's awesome Literacy Specialist) came to teach our class about the book, "Hello, Goodbye Window." We talked about what we can see outside our window using our brains and our imaginations. He even brought his crazy monkey friend, Marvin! Your student came up with some SMART thinking!

Check out our adventure!

2009-10-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

We visited Main Street Theatre to see the play of the beloved children's book, Click, Clack, Moo! Thanks to all the parents who came, we had so much fun!

Field Trip to Click, Clack, Moo!

2009-10-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

October 13, 2009 Field Trip!

Events this week:

2009-10-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 12th- Parent Workshop from 5-6pm. Come get some supplies to help you students at home. We will also discuss our goals for the upcoming 9 weeks.

Tuesday, October 13th- Field Trip to Main Street Theatre. We will leave school at 9am and head to Hermann Park for sack lunches. After the kids get their wiggles out and we eat, we will head to Main Street Theatre for the fabulous production of Click, Clack, Moo.

Theatre Address:
4617 Montrose Blvd.
Houston, Texas 77006

Check out the website: http://www.mainstreettheater.com/youththeater/moo.html

Wednesday, October 14th- Early Release at 12:45pm

2009-10-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

We made treasure boxes for our books at home. Put your treasure box in a safe place and open it each night to read your Open Court books. Also, check out some of our literacy workstations. We have added library, computers, syllable count, Hop Along letter sounds game, writing center, and rhyming. This week we will add even more!

We use our nose to smell...

2009-09-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

What's going on this week...

2009-09-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Gators won this weekend and are still #1 in the country, just like our #1 Class!

Please bring an empty shoebox. We will be decorating them to put our Open Court books in. We have to start treating our books like treasures not trash:)

Important Dates:
Sept. 24- Kinder Planning Day--your students will all have subs but we will be in the building.
Sept. 28- NO SCHOOL

Science Home Project: A message from Mrs. Espinosa-
Parents, please work with your child to make a display of five different smells. Your child needs to be able to identify each of the odors or smells of each item. The materials can be placed in baggies or containers, or glued on a chart. The project works best when the class can not identify the items using sight. The students will present their project to the class on Friday, September 25th.

Fundraiser: Kinder will continue to sell paletas after school for $1. Help us reach our goal so we can go on our field trip!

High Frequency Words: Please make flash cards and practice with your student at home. We need these words to read! This week: are, you at. Letters and sounds: Hh and Tt.

We are a Blue Ribbon School!

2009-09-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Lantrip Elementary We are EXEMPLARY AND a BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL!
On September 15 2009, the 2009 National Blue Ribbon Schools were announced by U. S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. 314 public and private schools will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., November 2-3. Two people from each school, the principal and a teacher, are invited to the ceremony. Each school will receive a plaque and a flag to signify their Blue Ribbon School status.

More info. on Blue Ribbon: http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/index.html
This is an INCREDIBLE HONOR making me so proud to work at Lantrip and even more proud of your kids! Give yourselves and your students a HUGE high five...we did it!

2009-09-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

Science Projects: Sense of Touch

2009-09-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Check out our awesome science projects! Here are a few--click the Flickr link on the right sidebar to see all the pictures in an album.

Important Dates

2009-09-13T15:24:00.001-07:00

THIS WEDNESDAY: September 16th- Early Release (12:45pm)
TPRI Testing: Until September 29th
September 28th- NO SCHOOL
October 14th- Early Release
October 15- Field Trip to Main Street Theatre

Green Gator in Training!

2009-09-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ashley's baby brother came to get her sporting Alligator gear! He's got a few years before he's in kindergarten but he's already supporting his sister. Go Gators!

Meet our Magnet Science Teacher Mrs. Espinosa

2009-09-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Espinosa has been teaching in HISD for 16 years. Her love for teaching began when she started as a special education teacher assistant. She received her degree from Texas Southern University in Bilingual Education. She has taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades. She is excited to be part of a wonderful school and can’t wait to make a difference at Lantrip. Mrs. Espinosa believes in developing students’ knowledge, social consciousness, and their ability to be stewards of our great planet Earth. Science is part of our everyday experience and something that students enjoy and can connect with while developing their critical thinking skills. Her goal this year is to create active learners who succeed not only in science but in their lives. She encourages her students to be creative, engaged and active learners.

Birthday Bonanza!

2009-09-07T08:17:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to Natalie and Antony! We had so much fun celebrating! The kids were covered in florescent icing and happy as can be.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I can't wait to see the Green Gators! I had a wonderful time at the wedding and the Gators (UF) won the first game of the season 62-3!

Our Frist Week!

2009-08-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

Our first week was WONDERFUL! The students are quickly making new friends as we explore a community based on friendship, sharing, listening, and kindness. I am currently conducting diagnostics with each student to assess their present skill levels in math and literacy. The data from these will give me an idea of how to pace the class, and set rigorous standards. Please talk with your student about all the fun things we did this week and ask them about our team and how we treat each other. Check out the pictures of us practicing sharing, keeping our hands to ourselves, raising our hands, saying nice things, respecting each other, and walking slowly. Show your student these pictures and constantly go over the rules.

How we Line up, How we Check/Move the team, and Our Rules

2009-08-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

We "check the team" 5 times throughout the day. Each student has a star and if they followed our rules, worked hard, did a good job in line/bathroom breaks, and used kind words, they get to move with the team. If the did not do one or more of these things, they have the opportunity to join us on the team the next time with check it if they have changed their behavior. If your student is not on the team at the end of the day, you will receive a note home.

Each student has a number and we line up according to number. This helps us practice our numbers and makes lining up quick and easy! Ask your student what his/her number is!

We read the book, "No, Bono!" and talked about rules in the classroom. Kids came up with these rules all by themselves! We added pictures to help demonstrate those rules.

Google Calendar

2009-08-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

If you gave me your email, I sent you an invitation to our Green Gator Google Calendar. It is a great place to find:
1. Important Lantrip Dates
2. The day your child can bring in snack
3. Classroom dates/field trips, etc.

I will also print a snack calendar every month for you.

2009-08-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our mean, green, kindergarten machine! I am beyond excited for this year and can't wait to get to know each of your little ones and your families. I will see you all at the meet and greet on Friday, August 21st from 1-3. Please add the Open House date to your calendars--September 2nd from 5:00-6:30. Contact me with any questions.