Pajamas and Pancakes

Many Thanks!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful gifts! I was touched by your thoughtfulness and generosity and was amazed at the class gift, as well as the individual gifts. I cannot say enough to show my overwhelming appreciation! Thank you to you all, and please have a safe and happy holidays!!

Nutcracker and Lunch Photos

Nutcracker Field Trip

The children are extremely excited about our field trip to the Nutcracker tomorrow! It’s such a beautiful show, and I know that it will be a memorable experience. Please remember that children need to come to school dressed up in nice clothing for the trip. We are leaving PK Yonge at 9:15. Parent chaperones can follow the bus at that time, or they can meet us at the Performing Arts Center; we plan on arriving at 9:30.

After the show, we will return to school to make our special lunch together. We should be back at school around 11:30. Parent chaperones are welcome to join us for lunch; having a few extra hands while making our reindeer sandwiches would be helpful!

A few parents have already asked about taking their children home early. You are welcome to do so, but please make sure that you go to the attendance office to check your child out of school officially.

Book Clubs

Beginning in January, some parents will be changing schedules and, therefore, we will be adjusting our book club schedule. Right now, we are in need of one more parent to run book clubs from 7:55 - 8:20, beginning January 8th. We could use help on Thursdays, but I could re-adjust the schedule for Tuesday or Friday if that would work better. If you are able to help out, please let me know as soon as possible. If you are already a book club leader and would like to change days or would be able to make another day work in your schedule, please let me know. Thanks!

December Photos

Leftover November Pictures

December Book Club Ordering

I want to make sure that we have time for Scholastic book ordering in December, because there are a lot of great holiday books available!  In order to get the books here in time, we will only do online ordering this time, and all orders will need to be submitted by Friday, December 5th.

You can go to www.scholastic.com/parentordering to view this month's flyers.  Or class user name is Krank, and the password is books.  On the site, there are the two regular order forms, as well as a special Holiday Gift Book flyer that includes books for children of all ages.

If you place an order and would like the books to be kept "secret," please let me know, and we can arrange that! 

The Giving Center

Beginning next week, we will have a “Giving Center” in our classroom. At this time of year, children are often focused on what they want; my hope with this new center is to teach children how good it feels to give to others. While at the Giving Center, children can make cards or wrap small presents for classmates or family members.

In order to get this center up and running, please consider donating any of the following items:

• Wrapping Paper Scraps or Leftovers (any style, wrinkled paper is fine)
  
• Old Bows or Ribbon (smushed bows are ok)
  
• Blank Gift Tags
  
• Small Gift Boxes (jewelry size)
  
• Used Greeting Cards (any style, just the front picture is needed)

Please don’t buy new items; just look through your gift wrapping supplies for things that you won’t use any more. You can begin sending in items on Monday.  Thank you so much!

Feasting Families

Feast Prep

Thanksgiving Feast

Thursday is our Thanksgiving Feast! The children will be performing as turkeys and need to come to school wearing brown or tan clothing.

We will begin our singing performance right at 11:30, so please plan on arriving around 11:15. The show will be in our backyard; please enter from that way. There will be signs guiding you.

Most of the feast seating will also be outdoors. With the cold weather, please dress accordingly. The feast will end at 12:30.

Reminders for set-up and clean-up helpers will be sent home in Spot folders tomorrow. Thank you to all of the families who have sent in items already; we are so appreciative of all of the generosity.

We look forward to seeing you Thursday! The children have been working very hard to get all of the food and decorations ready and are so excited to sing for you.

If you wish to take your child home with you after the feast, please make sure to see me or Ms. Stacy first. We will have a clipboard with a sign-out sheet from the attendance office.

Apples

While at Publix, each child picked out two apples. When we returned to school, we compared and graphed the apples. On Friday, we turned our apples into homemade applesauce for the feast!

Field Trip to Publix and Westside Park

More Feast Needs

As I learn more and more about all of our feast preparations, I am realizing how much we need to make it work! Please feel free to send in any of the following items:

-Ziploc Freezer Bags, gallon size
-Dish soap, Dawn or Joy
-Disinfectant hand wipes (not Clorox wipes, ones made especially for hands)
-Styrofoam trays (from meat or produce)
-Small, natural-colored craft feathers (available at Michael's)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Our pumpkin activities this week were a lot of fun! On Thursday, we cut into a pumpkin, counted the seeds, roasted and ate them, then graphed whether the kids liked them or not. On Friday, the children went to five different pumpkin stations -- decorating mini-pumpkins, testing whether pumpkins will sink or float, measuring heights, weights, and circumferences of pumpkins, making pumpkin life cycle crowns, and creating a pumpkin patch with pumpkins in size order. Check out the pictures below:



The children also learned the song "Five Little Pumpkins" by Raffi. Together, we came up with motions to the song, then put it into our poetry notebooks with a matching illustration. Check out the kids singing along to the song:

Picture Update -- 10/13 - 10/29

Pumpkin Day / Halloween

The children started some of the pumpkin activities today and are excited about Pumpkin Day tomorrow! Thank you to all of the families who sent in pumpkins! Please keep in mind that children will not be wearing costumes to school tomorrow, as not everyone celebrates Halloween.

If you do celebrate Halloween as a family, please be safe when out trick-or-treating! Make sure that your child can easily be seen, even in the dark.  Also, you can search for child predators in trick-or-treating area by going to www.flsexoffender.net.  

Butterflies for Blue Wave!

The children were fabulous in the parade today!  The butterfly costumes were absolutely adorable, and they did such a good job marching together.  We had a few "busted" proboscises from all of the uncurling, but overall it was a huge success. I was so proud to hear all of the cheers of "Go Butterflies!" as we marched past the other classes. Here are two videos of the day:

Marching Out of Our Classroom:

In the Homecoming Parade:

Here are the pictures of us preparing for the parade and marching in it!

Butterfly Farm Pictures

What a great day!



Thanks to the Ivines family for contributing to our album!

Butterfly Farm Video

The children were so excited to get to feed butteflies at Greathouse Butterfly Farm.  Check it out!

Book Club Orders

Please remember that all Scholastic book club orders for October are due Friday, October 17th. You have two choices for ordering:

1. Select your choices, fill out the order form, and return it to school with cash or check (made out to Scholastic).

2. Place your book orders and pay with a credit card on-line by going to www.scholastic.com/parentordering. Our class user name is Krank, and the password is books.

Pictures (9/29 - 10/10)

Homecoming Week

Next week (October 13 -17) is P.K.'s Homecoming Week. There have been changes made to the special dress-up days that were listed in the school newsletter mailed home. Here is the new schedule (with some additional information for our class):

Monday, October 13 = Represent Your Class Day -- All elementary students are invited to wear orange. Faculty and staff members will be wearing yellow.

Tuesday, October 14 = Sports Day -- Wear something to show support for your favorite sports team. This is also the day of our field trip to the Greathouse Butterfly Farm. Please remember to have your child wear comfortable walking shoes (i.e. sneakers).

Wednesday, October 15 = Clash Day -- Wear mismatched clothing!

Thursday, October 16 = "Back in the Day" Day -- Children can dress in 60's, 70's, or 80's style clothing.

Friday, October 17 = PK Spirit Day -- Children are asked to wear blue and white to show school spirit. However, we are going to be walking in the Homecoming Parade at 9:00. Children need to come to school wearing all black clothing to look like Monarch butterflies. If you would like to send a blue and/or white shirt for your child to change into after the parade, that's fine.

Friday will also be Hat Day as a fundraiser for the 5th Grade Safety Patrols. If your child would like to participate in Hat Day, the cost is $1.00. Money can be turned in any time between now and next Friday.

Friday is also the day of the Fall Carnival. Come out for the fun from 4-7 pm.

Recent Pictures

Field Trip!

All three kindergarten classes will be heading the Greathouse Butterfly Farm on Tuesday, October 14th.  The butterfly farm is off Route 26 on the way to Melrose.  Check it out on-line at www.greathousebutterflyfarm.com.  

Permission slips and an informational email were sent home today.  The cost of the trip is $5.00.  All money and permission slips need to be turned in by Friday, October 3rd.  Please send in cash or a check made out to the University of Florida.

If you are interested in chaperoning, please fill out the second page of the permission slip form.  There is no limit on the number of chaperones who go on the trip.  The cost for chaperones is also $5.00.  All chaperones will need to plan on driving or carpooling, as there won't be any extra seats on the bus.

We are looking forward to this exciting event!

From Egg to Butterfly

Caterpillars, Chrysalises, and Butterflies -- Oh, My!

What an exciting week!  The science center has definitely become a popular spot, as the children are eager to watch all of the changes occurring inside of our butterfly house.  This week, we found another caterpillar crawling on a milkweed plant, saw one of our chrysalises turn clear, saw our first butterfly emerge, found our first egg on a milkweed leaf, and we set our first butterfly free.  

I am so proud of how well the class has been taking care of the caterpillars and soon-to-be-butterflies.  When we set our first butterfly free this afternoon, it was a touching moment.  We sang a "Good-bye, Butterfly" song and watched it fly up and land in a nearby tree.  The children waved, blew kisses, and were hugging each other with delight -- all spontaneously.  It brings a smile to my face as I write about it!  We have such a great group of kids!

This weekend, ask your child about what changes they've been seeing in the butterfly house.  Ask them what they are hoping will happen next week.  I will try to post many of my science pictures some time this weekend, so check back soon for a butterfly slideshow!

Week Three Photos

Guess the Baby

We had so much fun trying to figure out the baby pictures today! Look at how we've grown and changed!

Week Two Photos

Book Club Orders

Scholastic Book Club's September order forms will be sent home in Friday folders tomorrow. There are also some book recommendations listed in this week's newsletter. Ordering with Scholastic helps our class earn bonus points that we can redeem for free books and learning materials! Please look over the flyers and consider purchasing some books for your child(ren). Scholastic has some great books at really affordable prices -- some are just $1.00! This year, you have two options for ordering:

1. Select your choices, fill out the order form, and return it to school with cash or check (made out to Scholastic).

2. Place your book orders and pay with a credit card on-line by going to www.scholastic.com/parentordering. Our class user name is Krank, and the password is books.

All September orders are due by Friday, September 12th.

Picture Day

Picture day for elementary students is Tuesday, September 2nd. Our picture time is 9:20. Information about purchasing pictures will be sent home in Friday folders.

Our Classroom

Our First Week of School

School Closed Friday!

What a difference an hour makes . . . School will be closed Friday, August 22 due to bad weather from Tropical Storm Fay.  Please stay safe, and I will see you on Monday.

Weather Days

There has been some confusion about weather days at PK. We operate on the same schedule as the University of Florida, not the Alachua County School District. You can check www.ufl.edu for information about closings. As of right now (4:00 pm Thursday), we will be open tomorrow. Please check the news / internet tomorrow morning to make sure that the University remains open. We are certainly looking forward to having all 18 kindergartners come together!

Specials Classes

We will go to a specials class (Music, Art, or PE) on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10:10 - 10:50. The classes will always rotate in that order (music, then art, then P.E.). I will normally post the schedule in our weekly newsletter, but here is the schedule for the first two weeks:

Monday, 8/18 -- P.E.

Tuesday, 8/19 -- Music

Wednesday, 8/20 -- Library
Thursday, 8/21 -- Art

Friday, 8/22 -- P.E.

Monday, 8/25 -- Music

Tuesday, 8/26 -- Art

Wednesday, 8/27 -- Library

Thursday, 8/28 -- P.E.

Friday, 8/29 -- Music

On P.E. days, it is especially important for children to wear shoes in which they can run and exercise. Please chose sneakers or tennis shoes on these days.

On Wednesdays, we will always visit the library from 11:10 - 11:40. Kindergartners will begin checking out books once they have all been entered into the system.

The First Week of Kindergarten

Please remember that kindergarteners only come to school three days during the first week. School begins at 8:00 each day.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Alyssa

Emilie
Ethen
Icel
Jamey
JaNae
Miles
Nolan
Portia
Travis

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Carstyn
Catherine
Christopher
Damien
Gabrielle
Jiovanni
Sebastian
Tabitha

School Supplies

This year, we are requesting $20.00 (cash or check made out to me, Michele Krank) for supplies. This money will buy identical items like pencil boxes, notebooks, and folders for individual children, as well as markers, crayons, glue, scissors, and other supplies to be used by everyone.

Additionally, each child will need:

·Backpack -- Make sure that your child’s book bag is large enough to hold books, folders, and other papers. However, please do not send a rolling backpack.

·Juice / Snack Money (for first semester, due by Open House) -- $20 for regular lunch students, $15 for free / reduced lunch students

·Rest Mat -- Please purchase a thin, foldable mat (about 1” thick when folded). Larger mats or mats that do not fold will not fit inside our cubbies. The red and blue rest mats are available at Wal-Mart for around $5.00.

·Change of Clothes -- Please place a complete change of clothes (including socks and underwear) in a large zip-lock baggie. Mark all items with your child’s name, and label the outside of the bag.

·One bottle of hand sanitizer

·One box of tissues

·Two containers of Clorox disinfectant wipes

·One box of zip-lock baggies – any size

To support our beginning of the year curriculum, each child should also bring:
·A baby photo (preferably one that we could keep)
·An outfit worn when your child was small
·A framed family photo (to be kept in the classroom all year)

Please clearly mark the rest mat, backpack, baby picture, and clothing with your child’s name.

Welcome and Introduction

I am so excited to be your child's kindergarten teacher and am looking forward to a great year together! I can't wait to meet you all at our Popsicle Party on Friday, August 15th from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm. Our room is H-123.


Our class mascot this year will be Spot the Dog. There are lots of great books written about Spot by Eric Hill. Check out Spot's website at: http://www.funwithspot.com/house.asp?locale=US


If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at mkrank@pky.ufl.edu.