Join us for lunch!

The cafeteria will be holding it's annual Winter Meal (Turkey with all the fixings) on Thursday, December 9th (at our regular lunch time--10:45). If you would like to join us, please send in the yellow reservation form (or e-mail me) by December 2. Please let me know how many adults and children (NOT including your kindergartner) will be eating. Lunches are $3.00. (Do not send money--you pay at the door). Vegetarian plates (macaroni and cheese) are available.

Mmmm...Pancakes!

The PTA will be holding its annual Pancake Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 11 from 8:00-11:-00 am in the cafeteria. There will be pancakes from IHOP, sausage from Rudy's and Ugly Mug Coffee. And of course, Santa will be there!

Tickets are $6 per person (or $5 in advance). I hope to see you there!

Brown Santa Toy Drive

We will be collecting toys for the Brown Santa Toy Drive from now until December 11th. We will be collecting toys for children aged newborn to 18 years old. The toys will be distributed throughout Williamson County. Your children can drop off the toys in the box outside our room.

Send Us Your Pull-Tabs

The school is collecting pull-tabs from the top of cans to raise money for the Shriner's Hospital in Houston. So find a safe place to collect them, and when you have some, send them in for a good cause!

Book Order Time

Look in your Thursday folder and you will find our first book order for the year! Scholastic book orders are a wonderful way to get inexpensive, yet quality books for your children. You can order on-line--just follow the link in the sidebar on the right (it's under the lunch menu link). Then you enter our super-secret user name and password (that I will send in an e-mail). Or, if you prefer, you can fill out the paper order form and send cash or a check. Ordering is always optional, but every purchase does help us buy new books for our classroom!

Happy Reading!

Lunch!

The question always arises about 8:30 am--

When's lunch??

The kids definitely look forward to lunch! They are finally getting to the point where they can navigate the lunch line pretty independently! Here are a few things moms, dads and grandparents should know about lunchtime at Patsy Sommer.

There are always 3 sides available with a lunch tray. They vary from day to day. The children buying a lunch must choose at least 1 of these sides (they may choose all 3 if they want).

In addition, there are several extra items available for purchase. The items are whole pieces of fruit, seasonal fruit, juice, yogurt, or baked chips/snacks. These items range in price from 50-75 cents a piece. I never let the children choose more than 1 "extra" a day. If you would prefer your child NOT get these extra items, please e-mail me. If you do allow your child to purchase these extras, please monitor their lunch account balance so that they always have plenty of money.

(Shhh.....there is ice cream available for purchase, but I prefer that kinders do not purchase it until 2nd semester. Even then, I prefer they only purchase ice cream on Fridays. Otherwise, they only eat their ice cream and not their lunch!)

When we eat our lunch, we may talk quietly with our friends. We have to stay in our seats and use quiet, "inside" voices. We need to sit on our bottoms and not on our knees.

Although sharing is always nice, we are not allowed to share our lunches at Patsy Summer.

Please feel free to join us for lunch. We would love to have you! Our lunch time is from 10:45-11:15 am. There is a link to the lunch menu in the sidebar on the right!

Do You Tweet?

Because starting Tuesday, September 8, Ms. Warner's class will officially start doing daily class updates on Twitter. This is a GREAT way to know what we're doing in class everyday, so you can talk to your children at night about what they did that day. You can ask them specific questions, like "Tell me about Bear's New Friend," (the book we're reading on Tuesday).

The "Tweets" are going to be straight from the Children's mouths...I'm just the typist. As always, safety comes first...I will not be including any children's names on the Tweets. I will however, include initials, so you can know who said what. I will also not mention Patsy Sommer at all on our Twitter Page (although I doubt seriously with all the millions of Tweets that happen everyday, anyone will notice us!)

You can follow us in several ways. If you don't have a Twitter account, and don't want one, you can simply read our Tweets in the sidebar on the right. If you don't have an account, but want one, it's VERY easy to sign up. That way, all of our tweets will be on your Twitter homepage. Here's a link:

http://www.twitter.com/

If you have a Twitter account, you can have all of our Tweets sent as text messages to your cell phone. That way, you'll be notified immediately with any earth-shattering kindergarten news! Let me know if you have nay questions. I know both you and the kids will love this!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Well...we survived the first day!

We have started learning routines and procedures for everything. If we take the time to do it now, it will leave so much more time for quality instruction in the long run!

I didn't get folders or first day packets out today--I was so focused on getting everyone home safe and sound. So, look for them tomorrow.

Today was a little crazy (especially arrival and dismissal). But it will get better--I promise!

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with your children today. They are a sweet bunch of kids and I know it will be a great year.

Remember--we will meet in the cafeteria again tomorrow morning. Don't forget their purple tags again. Thanks! See you then!

The Farm is Back On...

The field trip to Crowe's Nest Farm has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 20th.

Busses will leave at 9:30 am. I am starting over with chaperones...if you would like to attend, please e-mail me ASAP! Thanks!

Writers...Hard at Work

We have been very busy writing, and we have all of the basics down. We are writing high frequency words correctly, have excellent phonectic, or "kindergarten" spelling, are starting to use our knowledge of word families to transistion to conventional, or "grown-up" spelling, and are beginning to use capital letters and punctuation correctly.
Now we need to take it a step further. We are beginning to learn new ways to organize our writing and ways to make our writing more descriptive. So next week, we are going to write about our favorite toys. Please have your child bring in one toy that they love. Please make it small enough to fit in their backpack, and do not send anything electronic or expensive--like Nintendos or PlayStations...We will bring the toys home after a few days. Thanks!

Look at how they concentrate when they write...so cute!

Bad News...

Due to the flu scare, the carnival and our Crowes Nest field trip have been canceled. As soon as I find out about possible rescheduling, I will let you know about money and refunds.

We Are Germ Busters!

If you've been watching the news at all, you're probably a little worried about the current flu scare. Although we haven't seen any evidence of this flu at Patsy Sommer or RRISD, we are being extra careful. We are washing our hands several times a day--especially before we eat. We are also using a lot of hand sanitizer (don't worry--we have plenty!)

I also took this opportunity to review germs and hand-washing habits with the kids. Here's what we're learning:

We reviewed the correct way to wash our hands.

• We get our paper towel ready before we begin, so we don't have to touch the paper towel dispenser once our hands are clean.
• We get one squirt of soap and a little water (but we turn the water off while we're scrubbing so we don't waste it!)
• We scrub...scrub...and scrub some more. We remember to scrub all parts of our hands--front, back, and in between fingers. We have a fun little song we can sing, so we know exactly how long to scrub for (to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat--Sing it twice).
  

Wash, wash, wash your hands,

Wash the dirt away.

Scrub 'em...Rinse 'em...Shake them dry,

Germs go down the drain.

• We rinse and shake.
• We turn the water off with our elbow (so our clean hand doesn't touch the dirty faucet).
• We dry off!
• We wash our hands after using the bathroom, after sneezing or coughing into them, after blowing our nose, and before we eat.
  

We also reviewed what do do when we sneeze or cough...we cover our mouths with our elbows! That way we do not spread our germs with our hands!

We can also use a tissue. We always wash our hands after using a tissue.

Even bears...

E-I-E-I-O

Our Field Trip to Crowe's Nest Farm is this Monday, May 4! So much to see and do--cows, horses, ostriches, snakes, turtles, prairie dogs, chickens, hens, lizards, and so much more...

Please remember:

1. Have your child wear comfortable shoes--we'll be doing a lot of walking.


2. Dress for the weather. It will probably be hot, but this is Texas, so who really knows. (Just checked the forecast--30% chance of rain! Let's hope for a nice sunny day!)


3. Don't forget to pack a lunch (if you didn't order one from the cafeteria). Please do not pack glass, and leave the lunchboxes at home (we want all disposable).


4. Please let me know if you plan on attending! Anyone can come, whether your an "approved" volunteer or not!

It's Carnival Time!

The First Annual Pasty Sommer Spring Carnival is this Saturday, May 4 from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. It sounds like it's going to be so much fun! There will be inflatables, human hampster balls, laser tag, a rock-climbing wall, a dunking tank, lots of games and food, and much, much more! Please visit the school website for more information and ticket information. I hope to see everyone there!




We need volunteers to work in our booth! The kindergarten team is in charge of the Bean bag Toss. If you plan on attending the carnival, please help us by signing up to work a shift at our booth. It will be a lot of fun! You can even do a 30 minute shift! If you can volunteer, please contact Kristi Isaacs: kristidisaacs@austin.rr.com . Thanks!